Lead, Care, Proclaim

Years ago, LifeWay’s focus on pastoral ministry was contained in three words — lead, care, proclaim.  Lead included church administration with its committee meetings, planning sessions, and member training.  Care involved pastoral care of the congregation, and the pastor’s training of and relationship with caregivers such as deacons.  Proclaim covered the pastor’s preaching and teaching [...]

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Leading Your Church To Change

“How can I get them to change?”  As a small church pastor, I think I’ve asked myself that question at least once a day in every church I have pastored.  Wanting the churches we pastor to change is part of our DNA.  We see opportunities for improvement, expansion, growth, outreach, and progress, and we think [...]

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Living Into vs. Talking About

Seth Godin asks How long before you run out of talking points? His point is that those who “live into” rather than just “talk about” (my words, not Godin’s) what they espouse are the real deal.  Then he says, Then compare these passionate leaders to a pundit, spin doctor or troll (for just about any [...]

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The annual Beloit Mindset List is out

I look forward to this every year — the annual Beloit College Mindset List.  Created by two of Beloit’s staff, the Mindset List was designed to give Beloit professors clues to their incoming freshmen class.  Professors who thought listening to Kurt Cobain made them cool, might be surprised to learn that Nirvana is now on [...]

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How I Spent My Summer

Where did summer go?  I’m sure yours has been busy, too; but, I can’t believe how summer has flown by.  School starts tomorrow here in our community, and we resume our regular Wednesday night schedule at the church starting this Wednesday. June was taken up with Vacation Bible School — getting ready and then the [...]

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A Must-read Conversation With Rick Warren

You need to read The Future of Evangelicalism:  A Conversation With Rick Warren over at The Pew Forum.  It’s long, and covers a lot of territory, but in it Rick talks about how megachurches do the small church thing (my words, not his).  Here’s a quick excerpt: WARREN: For example, our church, while we have [...]

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Blessing of the Backpacks for back-to-school

Pamela Gordon is the creative pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Paducah, Kentucky.  She and her church’s EcoFair outreach idea will be featured in an upcoming issue of Outreach magazine, in my column Small Church, Big Idea. But apparently that’s not the only idea that Pam and her folks have had.  This past Sunday they [...]

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