There is a lot of conversation right now in podcasts and blogs about the future of the church in America. Did the pandemic speed up the slow decline of the Church? Will we be post-Christian in a decade?   What about your church? Will you recover? Will you move forward stronger and more resilient? Or, will you be closing your doors in a few years?   These are challenging questions that are keeping many of us up at night. What can we do?   I believe we have a tremendous opportunity to come...

Is your church attendance down 20-30%? Mine is. That’s the national average right now. It’s confusing and scary. What does it mean? Are people coming back? Is our church much smaller now? I believe we won’t have clear answers until the fall ministry season. And so, what do we do until then? Quietly freak out?   To protect my sanity and keep my focus, I’ve made some decisions about what I’m going to do and not do this summer. I’m hoping my decisions might encourage or challenge you as well. I...

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be putting together performance reviews for my staff.  Sounds like a blast, doesn’t it?!   Joking aside, performance reviews are actually a crucial element of our staff development plan.  Do you use this tool as you lead your team?  Even if you only have one other person on staff or a small team of volunteers, I think it’s worth conducting reviews. Allow me to try and convince you to start (or perhaps return to) conducting regular performance reviews with your...

One of the joys in my life right now is my wife Katie’s role in our church. She is a small group leader in our student ministry. And, if I could brag a little, she’s excellent at it!   This is fun for me because for 15 years, I was the student ministry person in our household. Katie would care for our kids while I was out Wednesday and Sunday nights. Now, the roles have flipped. I’m home with our kids for dinner and bedtime while she is pouring into teenagers. I love it.   Being an effective...

Recently, a former student in our high school ministry reached out to me to ask whether he should pursue a career in student ministry. What a huge decision! How do you respond in a helpful way to a question like that?   Maybe you’re the one asking the question, “Is God calling me into that?” or “Away from this?”   How do you discern whether or not God is calling you? How do you help others–co-workers, people you lead, your kids–discern these questions? These are big and important questions that...

This past week we had our first all-staff gathering in what feels like forever. It was outside. It was socially distanced. It wasn’t as amazing as our pre-COVID gatherings because of the awkwardness that comes with the restrictions, but we’ll get there. Plus, there was BBQ brisket, so that was a huge win. Come to think of it, I believe BBQ brisket can fix anything. I realized something as I watched our staff reconnect. We aren’t what we were before. The five years before COVID struck, we worked...

I look out over our church sanctuary as I prepare to speak on Sunday morning. A twinge of disappointment hits me. The crowd is smaller than I anticipated. It looks like our attendance may be down since Easter. What is happening? Will everyone eventually come back? Did our church shrink?  I suspect I’m not the only one struggling with disappointment and fear as we await our society fully reopening. There’s so much uncertainty.   In the midst of all this, my senior pastor recently shared some...

What will you bring with you, and what will you leave behind? What learnings, practices, and strategies will you carry forward after this pandemic, and what old ways will you return to? To use a word that has become anathema, what pivots will be permanent in your church?   I have some ideas on what we should keep post-pandemic. Here are five strategies I plan to pursue moving forward. Better Hospitality  I believe virtual church has taught us better hospitality. We learned to think more about...

Over spring break, my wife and daughter took an epic road trip from Michigan to Florida. In my family, either my wife Katie or I take a trip with each child on their 13th birthday. It’s a great opportunity to create memories and engage in meaningful conversations.   On their road trip, everything was going swimmingly until a disagreement developed between my car’s engine and the transmission in the middle-of-nowhere Georgia.  The thing about cars is they break down. They have a lifespan. No one...

I’m scrolling through my Facebook feed, and there it is again. A picture of a family attending church. It seems like a nice church. They look happy. But it’s not my church. They used to be at my church, but they left.   This is a family who attended our church for years. They attended every weekend. They served. They were givers. I loved seeing them and being a part of the same local church family. I’m not sure if it was because we asked them to wear masks. Maybe we didn’t open in-person...