Leading in Perpetual Crisis (10 Keys)

I received two notes yesterday from highly committed parishioners.  Both thanked me for effectively leading the church through “crisis.”  My first thought was “which crisis?”  Since 2016 or so, the church world has been in a perpetual state of crisis.  The tornados keep touching down and the tornados already on the ground never seem to

Know What You are Going to Do! (2020 Edition) #UMCrapstorm

  I have played competitive softball since I was fourteen years old at every imaginable level.  Up to a handful of years ago, I played over a hundred games each season and now in my late fifties, I still play twenty or thirty.  For much of that time I was a shortstop.  The shortstop is

“We Want Out!” (the loudest voice the #UMC isn’t hearing)

  There is an increasingly resonant voice in the United Methodist conflict emerging from both congregations and pastors.   It is a voice not being heard.   It does not receive invitations to the negotiating table.   It is a voice becoming too loud to ignore.   “We want out!”   As the United Methodist

Shaking Hands (While We Still Can) #UMC

Sometimes you just need to shake hands and go your separate ways while you can still shake hands…

United Methodist Mania (And what we can do about it)

Were I to assign one word to American culture circa 2018, it would be manic.  Manic derives from a Greek word meaning “inclined to madness.”  The adjective refers to “characterizing, denoting or afflicted by mania.”  The noun is a person afflicted with mania and synonyms include “anxious, hysterical, worried, demonic, unhinged, unbalanced and feverish.”  I

Things Growing Churches Understand (that dying churches do not)

There is a lot of stuff about “how to make your church grow”  flying about.  A whole lot.  Some of it is terrible.  Some of it is really good. Here are my thoughts: 15 Things Growing Churches Understand: Your mission statement is your best friend Pastors must be strategic leaders  National events affect local congregations  

Does Your Church “Get” It? (10 things churches must “get” to have a future)

  We all know that most churches are in decline.  We also know that some churches are growing and some are growing exponentially.  There are clearly some things growing churches “get” that declining churches do not. Here are ten things churches need to “get” to have a future.   Get strategic A decreasing number of

Hopeful Signs for United Methodists Abound in Len Wilson’s 2017 “Top 25 Fastest Growing Large Church Report”

I am thankful to Len Wilson for compiling his Top 25 each year but even more grateful for his analysis of the statistics. http://lenwilson.us/top-25-fastest-growing-large-umc-2017/ Here are a few statistics Wilson reported that I find very encouraging as a United Methodist: 1) 13 of the 25 have joined the list in the past two years! We have

Does the American Church Have a Future?

Does the American Church Have a Future? Fifteen years ago everyone was using the word “post-modern.” I used it a lot. Made me feel like a hipster preacher before there were hipster preachers.  I had more hair back then.  It was an easier sell. The definition of post-modern generally centered upon the premise that the modern

Ten Things Churches Must “Get” (To have a future)

    We all know that most churches are in decline.  We also know that some churches are growing and some are growing exponentially.  There are clearly some things growing churches “get” that declining churches do not. Here are ten things churches need to “get” to have a future.   Get strategic around the mission