Why we do what we do

REZTwo yearly gatherings for church leaders top my list for the invaluable benefits they bring to the mission of Church Executive. These are the National Association of Church Business Administration (NACBA) annual conference, now in its 57th year, and XPastor’s XP-Seminar, a peer-to-peer learning and networking designed for executive pastors.

I’m blessed to have attended these conferences a few times. They afford me the priceless opportunity to personally meet many of our readers, editorial advisers and business partners; I can shake their hands and thank them for their support.

Their loyalty is what has kept Church Executive in publication for the past 12 years. To me, it means we can do what we believe we’re called to do only because people trust us with their time, ideas and advertising dollars. It’s a favor that keeps me, as an editor, on my toes — and sends me to my knees.

From the get-go, our mission was clear: We’re a publication that celebrates the efforts of large churches to transform lives. We want to be a part of this exciting work by becoming the leading resource for proven, practical and innovative solutions to business challenges church leaders face as they serve and lead their congregations and communities.

I must admit, I still sometimes shy away from mentioning “church” and “business” in the same breath. But, thanks to you — our readers and editorial partners — I continue to acknowledge an important perspective: For a local church to function effectively as a people transformed by God and commissioned by God to transform the world, it needs to follow sound business principles and practices. Just as there must be order in the human body for it to work properly, so does a local church need good systems to ensure healthy growth and effective witness to the community.

That’s the challenge we bring to the forefront in every edition of Church Executive. We might even say we help fill a gap — that precarious intersection where “secular” and “biblical” find common ground. It’s precarious because a church obviously isn’t a business and has very different goals, but it can become a better steward with businesslike management.

At the recently concluded XP-Seminar, where I listened to and broke bread with new and seasoned executive pastors, I was encouraged to know that what we do matters to our audience.

“I’m just glad that someone is talking about the business aspects of church,” said the pastor seated to my left. As the seminar came to a close, another church leader approached me and said, “I have a new appreciation for your magazine. I’ll never read it the same way again.”

That, in my book, is the good business we try to do at Church Executive.

Grateful to serve,

Rez Gopez-Sindac, Editor

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