You are probably going to have some sort of announcement time this weekend at your church. The worship music is about a transcendent connection with God and the teaching is about understanding his purpose for our lives. The announcements move people to take action and engage with the church: join...

Church leaders worry about money. They worry about the church being able to pay its bills. They see the gap between the vision they believe God has given them and the reality of the contents of the offering plate. They're nervous about what will happen if they can't finish the...

Your website is more important than the front door of your church. It serves as your ministry's public face to the community you are attempting to reach and serve. Long gone are the days when your website was a "nice to have" frill for your ministry ... it's now a...

Have you heard that our attention spans are shorter than a goldfish's? It's true. A recent landmark study done by Microsoft found that the average human attention span lasts 8 seconds. Trusty goldfish can pay attention for 9 seconds. The study goes on to show that our ability to concentrate is...

Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself. - Henry Ward Beecher All of us work for somebody. Even if we sit in the senior pastor role at our church, we most likely report to a board. Often, we think more about how...

Please stop talking about the weather in the announcements at your church. Seriously. The reason some church leaders end up talking about the weather is that they are looking for a common point of connection with people in the congregation. If we keep using this verbal crutch, we will train...

  Hey, everybody, and welcome to the unSeminary podcast. This week’s guest is Lane Sebring of the website PreachingDonkey.com and author of the new book Preaching Killer Sermons. Coming out of seminary, Lane saw that much of the focus was on having a biblically accurate sermon about the life and teachings of...

We're honored to have Ben Stapley guest posting for us today. He is the Executive Pastor at The Life Christian Church — and he's a fantastic, multi-talented leader! Ben provides oversight and leadership for a wide variety of areas at his church. Many churches use video testimonies in their services to...

At some point, most church leaders think about how they are going to use marketing to reach their community. They're ready to make an impact in their city or town and wonder if there is a way to leverage better communications to reach the people close to them. These leaders...

At the core of your ministry is a pile of information about people. Registration data from special events, check-in data from your kids ministry and donor data from first-time givers are all examples of information that can give you insights on how to serve your community better. Having a robust...