This week I'm doing a series of posts about our upcoming Dirty Water Rock and Run.  After being spurred on by Warren Bird's post about the event last week - I thought it might be fun to document our progress before the run actually happens. In our first time at...

This week we're talking about why small churches are better than big churches. Small churches don't have security guards in flack jackets at kids check in. We do.  Seriously . . . you should see the vests our security guards are sporting for 2010.  They look like the latest in...

90% of first time guests decide against staying at your church - this should be a concern for us. Before we move onto some tactics that we working on around Liquid . . . first we need to figure how deep the hole is. Do you know how many visitors...

Most churches have a pretty significant dirty secret that they don't like talking about . . . For every 10 new people that arrive at church . . . 9 of them don't "stick". Is that true at your church?  Do you know what that number looks like? I'd be...

Tension: 1) The act or process of stretching something tight. 2) The interplay of conflicting elements. Some bad news for church leadership wonks out there: church is not cool. Really. We try to play it all cool because we know that "sells" in our culture.  We're concerned about stage presence...

Tension: 1) The act or process of stretching something tight. 2) The interplay of conflicting elements. “Realize that change is here, and embrace it. Don't just try to survive. Take the challenge to thrive.” - Melanie Sojourner “Keep focused on the substantive issues. To make a decision means having to...

Tension: 1) The act or process of stretching something tight. 2) The interplay of conflicting elements. Is it possible to package authenticity? Can you manufacture a sense of honesty? Do excellence and realness ever really happen at the same time? Why do so many church leader types seem so plastic?...

Tension: 1) The act or process of stretching something tight. 2) The interplay of conflicting elements. Tech: Video screens, websites, email, social media, kids check in systems, lighting, sound reinforcement, podcasts, web streams, efficient systems, evites, invites, devices . . . everywhere we look the modern church is permeated with...

So this week we've been chatting about the value of saying thanks. Make sure to drop by the other posts to see the discussion so far! Phil Thurman from Lifebridge Church in Madison, MS does some great stuff when it comes to thanking his team.  During their quarterly leadership development...

The paradox is real.  There is a group of people who are vitally important to the weekly operation of your ministry but often are over looked when it comes to thanking.  I think if we all took 5 minutes this week and reached out this group of people to simply...