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Can I Be an Effective Pastor If I Don’t Like Management?

Can I Be an Effective Pastor If I Don’t Like Management? Pastors are not managers, at least in a corporate-business-world-publicly-traded-company-sort-of-way. But pastors are shepherds. And shepherds manage sheep. Leading a church involves management. A church hierarchy assumes management. And most churches—even smaller congregations—are not completely flat in structure. Even at the most basic level, churches…

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Should Your Church Be Revitalized or Replanted? A Post-COVID Reality

Very few church leaders and members are opposed to their churches being revitalized. After all, revitalization is the process of your church getting reinvigorated. Revitalization literally means “life again.” It sounds pretty basic. The problem is that many church leaders and members really don’t want substantive changes with their revitalization. For them, revitalization is a…

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Why Do Some Churchgoers Stick with Bad Pastors?

Most pastors work hard, love their churches, and would sacrifice their lives for the people they lead. If you are reading this article for ways to get back at your pastor, then it’s likely you’re the problem, not your pastor. But there are some bad pastors out there. Why do people stay with them? There…

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Confessions of a Cynical Pastor

Note: We received the following story at Church Answers recently. The only changes I made were to protect the identity of the pastor. His self-awareness and prescriptions are very helpful. I spent the last week with my family at the beach on vacation. We really enjoyed ourselves. I wished we had another week! While there,…

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Five Reasons My Family Loves (Really!) Ministry Together

Shepherding my family and my church are intertwined. Some might advocate separating the two, but it’s impossible since my household is part of the local church. When I leave the church building, I come home to church members. The call to pastor a church is not an individual decision, but rather a collective determination by…

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Will You Join My Community?

I recently enjoyed a few days of rest with Margaret, my wife. We were able to spend time together doing the things that we love, right in the middle of the busy summer season. Now that COVID restrictions are changing, in-person events are coming back, which means my calendar is filling up again with incredible…

12 Strange Foods Brought to Church Potlucks

Many churches still have potluck meals. Some have them once a week; others celebrate this tradition once a year at a homecoming event. I remember them well in some of the churches where I served as pastor. One of the most challenging issues for me occurs when a church member asks me to try his…

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The Difference Between Curious and Caring Pastors (And Why It’s Better to Be Caring)

Both curious and caring pastors ask about members and staff. Both curious and caring pastors inquire about those who are not acting normally. An illness, family issue, or work-related problem should raise a leader’s level of awareness about a particular individual. Both the curious leader and the caring leader exhibit good management skills when inquiring…

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Patience, Partnerships, and Payoffs

I’m going to be honest with you—one of my favorite people in leadership is the incredible Rick Hendrick. Rick, known as Mr. H. to his people, is the owner of Hendrick Automotive Group—an organization of close to 100 car dealerships across the United States. If you were to drive onto the lot of any Hendrick…

How You (Yes, You!) Can Change the World

If I told you that the fate of the world rested on your shoulders, how would you respond? Would you take an action hero approach and confidently declare that you will handle it? Would you shrink from the responsibility and pass it on to someone else? Or would you simply shake your head, look me…