Tis The Season

I recently shared with a few churches the concept of a church lifecycle bell curve.  It demonstrates the growth, maturation, plateau and decline most churches often experience.  When a congregation self discovers that it has plateaued or is experiencing decline, there is an important question the leaders need to ask.  The essential watershed query is,…

Healthy Foundations – Scripture This week I share the fifth of nine targets for healthy churches – Scripture.  The three targets under the category of Healthy Foundations are Gospel, Scripture, and Prayer.  From the church’s beginning they devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching (Acts 2:42). The apostle Paul commanded Timothy, pastoring in Ephesus, to be devoted to…

We all have heard of IQ (Intelligence Quotient) and EQ (Emotional Quotient) that measure our intellectual acumen and ability to relate well to others. As important as these things can be, Jesus had another quotient he said was an identification mark of his disciples, that is, our love quotient.  In John 13:34-35 he said, “I…

Years ago I worked as an electrician.  I wired buildings and help bring light and power for people to utilize.  One principle of electricity is that the more watts, the brighter the light.  A 75 watt bulb is much brighter than a 40 watt bulb.   In our two counties we must recognize that spiritual darkness…

I recently was at one of our churches and the minister declared, “Thy kingdom come.” and the congregation responded, “Thy will be done.”  It was a good reminder that regardless of the political agendas and in the aftermath of a recent election day, it is God who is sovereign over the affairs of our world,…

With Labor Day coming up I thought I would say a word about how important your work as a pastor is.  While our government leaders have been slow to consider churches “essential business” we know that our work is not only essential, it is eternal as well.  I am so thankful for our pastors and…