Our church hit a milestone this past weekend. It was one year ago we closed our in-person worship services because of COVID. At the time, I remember thinking, “we’ll close for a few weeks and open back up for Easter.” Yeah…that’s not what happened.   As pastors and church leaders, we’ve been leading through what is probably the most complex and confusing season of ministry we’ll ever experience. It has forced a lot of change, yet I believe there are still more changes ahead.  One of the most...

Where will your church invest its energy in 2021? You can’t be awesome at everything. In fact, you may only be able to make a significant impact in one or two areas.   I believe this is a critical question as there is so much uncertainty. Are our people still engaged? How many people will come back? Is virtual the future, or will people gather in person once again?   The direction we take in this moment is important. So, where are you going to invest in 2021?   Here’s where I’d like our staff...

It would be a vast understatement to say this season of ministry has been uniquely challenging, but I feel there’s no other way of saying it. This season has been UNIQUELY challenging. COVID alone brought numerous challenges for us to keep our congregations connected, and now, across the country the hardships of winter are adding fuel to fire. Places like Texas are experiencing unprecedented hardships from snow and cold, creating even more disconnection. (Texas and snow are not two words I...

“I wish there was more time in a day.”  “I wish there was another day in the week.”   “There’s just not enough time to get everything done.” These are common statements, and I’ve said them all. I’m sure many of you have as well.   Most of our resources are flexible and fluid— money, space, energy...but not time. We can’t do a thing to add or subtract time from our days.   To be functional and lead at the highest levels possible, you must learn to maximize your time. For this, an optimized...

In the circles I run in, no one complains sermons are too short. Most pastors are typically quite gifted at–and enjoy–explaining the biblical passage each week. As pastors, the danger we must fight, though, is delivering a dry lecture instead of a compelling sermon. One way to do so is through illustrations.  Illustrations can be a helpful tool to redirect the aim of your sermon from the head to the heart. The trouble is, it can be difficult to know exactly how to do this well. I admit my own...

As we move through the pandemic, one of the significant challenges ahead of us is volunteerism. Many ministries rise and fall with the number of volunteers we have. I think of our kids and student ministries. We wouldn’t be able to function without all of our invested volunteers.   Every ministry I talk to these days is struggling with volunteers. People have left. People are nervous. People like watching from home. People won’t serve if they have to wear a mask. People won’t serve if everyone...

I’m a parent of five kids. Through this pandemic, I’ve been around my kids A LOT. I’m looking forward to them having interactions with…other people. I have a feeling there are other parents out there feeling the same way. Also, to be real, with church online, my kids haven’t been receiving the same level of spiritual input as before the pandemic. Not because my church’s online children’s ministry content is bad, but rather because our family hasn’t been as consistent as we’d like to be and...

I’ve had the amazing privilege of speaking with hundreds–if not thousands–of churches as a Breeze support Advocate. Of the churches I’ve talked with, I have found it’s fairly split between those who have rolled out member access to Breeze and those who haven’t. In some ways, it’s a calculated move, but for the majority, they simply haven’t rolled out Breeze to their church members because: They haven’t thought about it. They don’t see a reason to do so. We actually have several articles which...

It feels like we’re nearing the end of the middle of this pandemic. Our senior pastor used this phrase a couple of weeks ago, and it stuck with me: “We’re clearly not at the beginning, and yet, the end is not in sight.” It feels like possibly this summer or next fall, we may be closer to being back to what church was like before the pandemic. And so...to me, we’re at the end of the middle. As church leaders, over the past several months, we’ve been in crisis leadership. We’ve done little more...

I don’t know about your church, but around 70% of our congregation is still attending online. Depending on where you live, this likely will be the norm for the foreseeable future. So, how do you effectively engage your online church audience? This is an important question to ask right now, but also for the future. Beyond the pandemic, it’s possible a percentage of church attendance will continue digitally.  I have some ideas I’d like to share on how we might effectively engage this segment of...