Churches experiencing numerical and financial decline may dread the day when they can no longer afford a full-time pastor. Freeing up funds that would go to a full-time salary sure would help the budgetmaybe even enough to turn things aroundbut is it even possible to run effective ministries with just a half- or quarter-time professional? Journalist and part… Read more…
In Romans 7:15, St. Paul expressed frustration with something all of us can relate to, saying, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” Despite our best efforts to live our lives as we ought to, we repeatedly fall into the trap of “not understanding what we do,” and constantly perpetrat… Read more…
Smart leaders learn from their own mistakes. Smarter leaders learn from other’s mistakes and their successes.Bestselling author and leadership guru Dr. John C. Maxwell wants to help you become the smartest leader you can be by sharing Leadership Gold with you. After more than forty years of leading and teaching, Maxwell has mined the gold so … Read more…
Having a clear, compelling vision--and getting buy-in from your team--is essential to effective leadership. If you don't know where you're going, how on earth will you get there? But how do you craft that vision? How do you get others on board? And how do you put that vision into practice at every level of your organization?In The Vision Driven Leade… Read more…
We have a leadership problem, and we all know it. When we look at our churches, we see two glaring problems: a lack of qualified leaders, and a general mistrust of leadership as a response to sinful leadership. But churches need leaders. What do we do? The answer is in The Leadership Formula. In the New Testament, qualified leaders are i… Read more…
Outreach Resource of the YearThe Gospel Coalition Book AwardWhat does it mean to be an analog church in a digital age?In recent decades the digital world has taken over our society at nearly every level, and the church has increasingly followed suit—often in ways we're not fully aware of. But as even the culture at large begins to reckon with the limit… Read more…
Do you want to reignite your passion for the local church and see your congregation live out the Great Commission by growing and making disciples? If so, implementing the revolutionary Intentional Growth Planning™ operating system will benefit you, your church, and your community!Just as laptops and smart phones have an operating system, the churc… Read more…
Outreach Resource of the YearWhy Does Narcissism Seem to Thrive in Our Churches?We've seen the news stories. Maybe we ourselves have been hurt by a narcissistic church leader. But what is narcissism, really? And how does it infiltrate the church? Chuck DeGroat has been counseling pastors with narcissistic personality disorder, as well as those wounded by… Read more…
The most effective leaders know how to connect with people. It's not about power or popularity, but about making the people around you feel heard, comfortable, and understood.While it may seem like some folks are born with a commanding presence that draws people in, the fact is anyone can learn to communicate in ways that consistently build powerful conn… Read more…
A 100-Day Plan That’s Practical, Realistic, and Actually WorksYou see the problems in your church, and you truly believe it could be better. Not perfect, but healthier. If you want more for your church but aren’t quite sure how to get there, 100 Days to a Healthier Church was written for you. It teaches you how to: Identify your church’s… Read more…
Master Teacher is the teacher’s quarterly to be used with Adult Christian Life and College and Career. Each lesson contains extensive biblical exposition and specific instructions for the teacher. The outline of the lesson is reader-friendly, and includes suggestions for maximizing teacher/student interaction and topics for making the study informative and… Read more…
We hear and say short Christian clichés all the time, such as “Jesus was a social justice warrior,” “Just have faith,” and “It’s not my place to judge.” These trite statements often go unquestioned. Sometimes they even substitute for truth, leading to a fragile and shallow faith. But what if a close study of t… Read more…