Five Reasons Ministry Is Moving Bi-Vocational & Para-church/Secular Employment
The future of congregational ministry is where the minister is either bi-vocational or working a full time job outside the church (either parachurch ministry or secular employment). Todd Wilson is the first person I heard say this and I was skeptical. Now, in post-COVID church, I think he is absolutely right. Here are five reasons […]
What is a Faithful Church? It Is Not What You Were Told
Is a faithful church one that has found the pattern in the New Testament and copied it? Is a faithful church one that has apostolic succession back to the first century? Is a faithful church one that is filled with the Holy Spirit? Is a faithful church one that is on mission for Jesus? What […]
Two Looming Questions For the Restoration Movement’s Future
There is a question that looms over the Restoration Movement that probably hits Churches of Christ as hard as anyone. Where does the Restoration Movement go from here? It seems to me that we have an identity crisis on our hands. A Quick Review of Why We Are Confused Step 1 – We were about […]
Why Some Christians and Churches Never Get Well
Our culture is obsessed with pathology. The moment you feel a symptom you rush to WebMD to find out that you think you have some rare South American fungus that is stopping up your intestines. Anyone who studies abnormal psychology walks away thinking they have a dozen psychological disorders. No one goes to the doctor […]
Tips for Recording Sermons for Livestream, Facebook, and YouTube
With so many preachers now preaching to empty rooms while we are all maintaining distance during the COVID-19 pandemic I would like to share a few ideas to help you get up and running to record and stream your services to continue to get a weekly message from the Bible to your congregation. Video – […]
How Healthy Are Ministers? I Ran the Numbers.
As a minister it is important to me to understand the potential ramifications of how ministry affects my health and the health of my family. I ran the numbers on this in 2017 and want to share a few significant findings with you here. I assessed health in multiple areas and then ran correlations and […]
Why Are We In Decline? What Appears to Be a Math Problem is Actually a Spiritual Problem
Imagine the AAA Widget Company. AAA Widget was started 80 years ago by an energetic team of entrepreneurs. They had a vision and they executed the vision for 50 years with excellence. The problem today is that they haven’t added a new customer in the last 30 years. The only way to add customers is […]
Hard and Hopeful Words About Our Future in Churches of Christ
Decline. It’s the word of the day. Most of our congregations are in decline. The projections are that the decline will get faster over time. But that isn’t a foregone conclusion. God can do whatever he wants whenever he wants. With God, all things are possible. It seems to me that it does help if […]
Announcing My New Podcast!
Hey everyone! Big news on the blog today. A few weeks ago I launched a new podcast that I thought you might really enjoy. Similar to this site we will be doing a lot of informing, equipping and discussing things about church, faith, ministry, discipleship, and so much more. I would be honored if you […]
What We Look For When We Read the Bible Influences What We Find
I was once in a discussion about women passing communion on Sunday morning. One brother’s “gotcha” verse (that only men can serve the Supper/pass trays) was Acts 6:1-4, “In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews[a among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in […]