There are many good races, but only one matters most.
It doesn’t matter if you win a race if it’s the wrong race. We can’t declare ourselves winners of a marathon for winning a boat race.
It’s winning. It’s just winning at the wrong thing.
Which is a form of losing.
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Perhaps you’ve heard the often-told adage that 80 percent of all new church plants fail. Not true. While there’s no comprehensive research on the total number of new churches started annually, the most recent research on literally thousands of new church starts show that 99 percent of all new churches survive the first year, and 68 percent survive to year four. Moreover, of the churches that survive, more than 70 percent are self-sufficient financially by the fifth year.
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There are many very important aspects to making a good hire. They include a good job posting, posting to the right places, reference calls, résumé review, the interview process, crafting the right job description, prayer, more prayer, and many more. However, one key stands out above the others. What is it? It’s your gut.
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As your church settles down from Christmas celebrations, things are no doubt getting into full swing for the person managing all your church’s accounting. If that person is you, you likely still have several time-sensitive tasks on your horizon that need to get finished by January 31. Putting a good system in place can help keep you on track — and that’s what we’ve outlined for you below.
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At Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville, TN, hope is not a strategy. Rather, when disaster strikes — as it has, twice — the church has been able to sustain its rapid growth and expansion with preparation and perseverance.
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You probably noticed that this new series of articles has been retitled to Never Again: Beyond Insurance. But, how does a church organization get “beyond insurance” — and should it even try?
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In my ministry in visiting, encouraging and partnering with literally hundreds of churches, there are five essential aspects of church leadership that I am committed to never forget. Here they are in a condensed form. To make it interesting, the most important is actually the last one on the list.
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It seems we’ve all grown too accustomed to settling for being told ‘half-truths’ obviously designed to deceive. Politicians are likely at the top of the list of half-truth-tellers — but half-truths are also featured regularly on our nightlight news, radio ads, commercials, the Internet, and even many companies’ sales reports.
The problem with any half-truth is it’s actually a whole lie.
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Calm is the “unicorn” of virtues in a world gone mad.
all-is-calmSomewhere along the line, it became cool to be loud and bitter.
It became an expectation that, for us to change the world (our job, apparently), we had to become social activists. Not the good kind — the Rosa Parks type of social activist. I mean the other kind. The abrasive, snarky, shaming, Jesus-juking, share-button-hitting, constantly outraged kind of social activists.
Read More >I want to take a moment to encourage you, as a leader, to embrace it, cherish it, and make the most of it. We can get so busy with the hustle and bustle that we can find ourselves looking forward to it being over. I get that — but truly, what a mistake that is.
Let me encourage you to do a few things to make the most of your holidays together at a family and spiritual level this year.
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