Dr. Stephen A. Macchia, a contributing writer to Church Executive, is founder and president of Leadership Transformations Inc., Lexington, MA [LeadershipTransformations.org] and is the author of five books on church assessment and leadership.
Read More >In commuting the 30 miles to and from the office I probably pass 30 congregations, each of them laboring in the vineyards in their individual ways. Most of them are small, landlocked churches and likely neither purpose-driven nor prevailing.
Read More >Ministry can be wearing and draining for the best of us. It’s people-intensive and problem-pervasive. How many pastors are ready to quit every Monday morning? Virginia Todd Holeman and Stephen L. Martyn call it “losing your soul for ministry” in their new book Inside the Leader’s Head: Unraveling Personal Obstacles to Ministry (Abingdon, 2008).
Read More >When most churches think of a building project, often images of bulldozers, fundraising consultants, bricks and mortar come to mind but rarely a Web site. Although, countless studies have shown that the Web site is the first stop for many people looking to discover more about the church and determine if it might be a place where they could belong.
Read More >Tom Harper, a contributing writer for Church Executive, is president of the Society for Church Consulting, Louisville, KY [churchconsultation.org] and of ChurchCentral.com, a free church health news and information site.
Read More >In the fall of 2007 our church completed an 18 month strategic planning process which resulted in a five-year ministry plan complete with vision statements and measurable goals.
Read More >JESUS. PRESIDENT? Embodying the change we seek in our culture. By Ronald E. Keener Pastors and politicians don’t often mix well. The current election season has shown that — writ large. John Hagee said he’d never endorse another candidate when an initial endorsement of John McCain went awry. Rick Warren said he doesn’t believe pastors […]
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Erwin McManus calls himself a cultural architect. His college major was philosophy, and he spent most of his early, secular career as a futurist working with companies and organizations — and still does as he pastors Mosaic Church in East Los Angeles.
Read More >The news is mixed among larger churches surveyed about the impact of tough economic times on their congregations. The 105 large churches surveyed by Leadership Network this summer said they were minimally or not at all affected (56 percent) by the downturn in the economy, while 41 percent gave a somewhat negative and 3 percent said very negative to the question.
Read More >Dr. Fletcher is a contributing writer to Church Executive and founder and host of XPastor.org, executive pastor of Grace Covenant Church, Austin, TX, a professor with ETS India, and adjunct professor at Dallas Theological Seminary.
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