I’ve been in ministry for long enough to understand that when someone hurts another person it’s often because they themselves are hurting. When someone seeks to hurt you as the pastor, either consciously or subconsciously, there is often something deeper at play. The issue is not the issue. What they are presenting is likely not the [...]
I have seen ministry leaders be less effective because they are chasing too many rabbits at once. In my backyard I have plenty of rabbits. I don’t like them. However, it is often fun when my young children try to chase and catch a rabbit. As you well know, they never catch the rabbit. A [...]
One of the most important things to be passionate about is the communication of God’s Word. All the tasks, duties and responsibilities of the children's pastor can never eclipse the beauty of God’s word. The Bible should not take a secondary place to order, organization, volunteers or check-in systems. Keep the main thing, the main [...]
A number of years ago, while sitting in an airport, I saw an interesting book by a name that I vaguely recalled. The author was Brian Tracey and it turns out that Brian Tracey is a productivity guru. The book is entitled Eat That Frog. Let’s imagine that you sit down to dinner with your [...]
I made a significant mistake early on in my ministry career. I made several decisions that were unpopular — but that was not my mistake. We are going to make decisions that don’t please everyone. That is a good case of the normals. My mistake was in recruiting some of the individuals who were the [...]
You know, God has created the universe in such a way that things go from order to disorder — from order to chaos. It literally takes effort to build a ministry, like it takes effort to build anything. It takes energy to take blocks and stack them on top of one another. It doesn’t magically [...]
You know, I’ve been in ministry for a long time. Early on, when our nursery director would text me or call and let me know that four people have called in sick at 7 p.m. on Saturday night, I would freak out! I would freak out because we were going to be massively short-handed. And [...]
Do you want your kids to follow Christ all the days of their life? There are no magic levers for parents to pull to ensure their child will walk with Christ. Yet, there are things we parents can do, while our kids are still under our roof, to lead our children to taste and see [...]
I have influence as a parent. While my kids are still under my roof, I want to lead my children to taste and see that it is a beautiful thing to serve Christ. I’ve shared the insights from kids in two different families in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series. I interviewed a [...]