There seems to be renewed interest in the "women in leadership" conversation in the local church. I've recently bumped into a number of posts, articles and discussions online about this topic. Here are just a few: 3 Questions Church Leaders Should Be Asking About Women in Leadership (Amy Anderson on...

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. - Colossians 4:5 How do first-time guests go from not knowing anything about your church to being engaged in your ministry? There are at least four distinct stages that I believe the guests who arrive...

We may be heading into another economic recession soon. Over the last 3 decades, they have come around with uncanny regularity, although we seem to be caught by surprise every time. The fact is that we will once again face widespread economic pressure in the future. I'm not an economist...

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...