Breeze Blog

Do you have a development plan? If you don’t, consider asking your supervisor or board to help you craft one. I have found a development plan to be helpful in growing me as a leader and pastor. Also, I have found development plans to be similarly helpful for just about everyone on our church staff.   Part of my development plan called for me to hire several preaching coaches. The goal for this project was to broaden the sources of feedback. I found the experience to be incredibly helpful, but...

One thing we all have in common: Our churches run on volunteers. Big or small, one location or many, mainline or non-denominational, every church needs a bunch of solid and committed volunteers to thrive, which is why it’s so disappointing when volunteers quit.   Understanding why volunteers walk away from their roles is critically important to volunteer retention.  Let’s talk about six reasons volunteers quit serving in your church.  The truth is that many people sign up to volunteer because...

The new year is a great time to reevaluate your church’s approach to marketing.  (And if you’re still asking, Is church marketing biblical? ….then you’ll want to check out this article on how the Apostles used a form of the Internet in the 1st century).   Post-holiday season, many people are looking to start fresh new habits that can help them get the new year off to a good start. This doesn’t just mean a regular gym membership, either. Regular church attendance can actually improve mental and...

If there is one thing that will improve your leadership it’s making better decisions. Good decisions build trust with your staff and your board. Good decisions create opportunities and build toward a better future. But, we all know the impact of bad decisions. And, as a leader, there’s nothing quite as frustrating as looking back on a decision with regret.   So, how do we make better decisions in leadership? The most accurate and painful answer is that we learn to make better decisions by...

Every once in a while, I have to fight to get my life back. What I mean is that the demands of ministry and my propensity to try to keep everyone happy land me in a space where I generally hate everything and want to quit. Maybe that was overly dramatic, but I think you get the picture.   Every once in a while, I have to reset my schedule and my priorities so that I can get my life back and return toward health and happiness.  I’m guessing you’ve been there or are there now. It’s mid-fall in...

The latest news on inflation and its impact on our economy came in the form of the announcement of an 8.7% hike in social security benefits. In case you were wondering, that’s the biggest hike in more than 40 years. This is significant because this number is considered by many as a standard for cost of living increases across our economy.  I think this is important for churches. Inflation isn’t going away anytime soon, and it will impact your church. We could be in for an interesting and...

Right about now is when I start thinking about sermon series for the winter and spring. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, I spent a couple days with our senior pastor on a retreat, planning out the winter months of preaching.  I thought it might be helpful to share my best sermon series ideas. You can decide if they are actually decent. Emotions We experienced very high engagement in our fall kickoff series, called “Emotions.” We spent four weeks exploring anger, sadness, anxiety and desire....

Have you ever lost a good one–someone you thought might be the future of a particular ministry or even the next senior pastor? Ugh. It hurts to see gifted people leave your church.   It’s particularly difficult to hire great people right now. So, it’s all the more important to retain your best staff. How exactly do you do that? Here are a few strategies I’ve learned along the way.   Tell Them  Keeping your best people starts with telling them that they’re your best people.   A few years ago, I...

Ministry is hard. Yep, that’s obvious. But why? Well, consider some of the negative emotions you might have experienced over the last few weeks:   Envy. That church across town is growing like crazy while your church growth is flat.  Anger. That four page letter you received from a congregant about your sermon last weekend. Let’s just say it wasn’t flattering.   Resentment. That staff member who left. It’s not that he left. It’s when he left and how he left you hanging.   Anxiety. You’re...

As a leader, what has you anxious right now? Staff morale? Church attendance? Volunteer shortages? Giving? A sermon that is just not coming together?   In my experience, it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in leadership, there’s this constant battle with fear and anxiety. It’s just part of the pressure of leadership. However, there’s a big difference between experiencing fear and anxiety and allowing these challenging emotions to dominate our lives and leadership. When we allow fear and...