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After almost 32 years of marriage, my wife and I adopted a rescue dog a couple weeks ago. I grew up with dogs, but Pam has never been around a dog for any length of time. Still, though, we took the plunge after hosting/fostering this dog for three weekends so he could get acclimated to…
The post A Dog, a Confession, and a Prayer Request appeared first on Church Answers.
“. . . because you’re the pastor.” Most pastors have heard the end of this sentence at some point. Perhaps you bristled at hearing it. Maybe your feelings were justified, depending on what preceded the phrase. But there’s truth in “because you’re the pastor.” The call to shepherd a church is a call to shepherd…
The post The Public Nature of Pastoring and the Inescapable Reality You Always Represent Your Church appeared first on Church Answers.
It will happen to most pastors. They will wake up one morning to texts or emails. The wording will say something like, “Pastor, you need to see what Mike Smith wrote about you on Facebook.” The pastor’s day is already messed up. Most pastors will feel the need to read the post. Many will feel…
The post Ten Suggestions for Church Members When They Read Negative Things about Their Pastors on Social Media appeared first on Church Answers.
Who or what do you lead? There are books, conferences, blogs, podcasts, and masterclasses on how to be a better leader, but we often forget that the person we lead first and most is the one in the mirror. It is easy to spend all of our time trying to figure out the next strategy…
The post The Most Important Leadership Tool appeared first on Church Answers.
I once caught a deacon throwing choir robes out of the second-story window into a giant fire on the ground below. “What’s going on?” “Fire hazard.” By the look and smell of the robes, I agreed and went about my business. There were probably one hundred burning robes in the fire—enough for every person in…
The post Five Ways to Honor the Past While Not Losing the Future appeared first on Church Answers.
The question was straightforward: What are some of the most difficult things you have done in ministry? I asked this question on some of my social media channels, so it was an informal survey. The responses were high, over 600 in the first eight hours. While the quantity of the responses was indicative of the…
The post 20 of the Most Difficult Things Pastors Have Done in Ministry appeared first on Church Answers.
Can you lead a church without proper authority? Yes, but it is more challenging and complex. I’m assuming most church leaders would rather not step into a situation where they have the responsibility to shepherd without the corresponding authority. But there are churches with misaligned power structures in desperate need of good pastors. What if…
The post Leading a Church When the Wrong People Hold Power appeared first on Church Answers.
Admittedly, it’s a tricky thing to find a precise beginning and ending point to a pandemic. We could accept the declaration from the World Health Organization that COVID-19 began on March 11, 2020. But the virus was rapidly spreading around the world prior to that date. The ending date is even more of a challenge…
The post Seven Things We Didn’t See Coming in Churches at This Point after the Pandemic appeared first on Church Answers.
A habit is an ongoing tendency with a pattern of behavior that is difficult to change. Bad habits can develop in church workplaces like in any other place of employment. I’ve assembled a top-ten list of some common bad work habits among church leaders. 1. Procrastination. It’s harmful at any level, but the effects of…
The post Ten Bad Church Work Habits Every Pastor Should Avoid appeared first on Church Answers.
It would be the last time I met with Billy Graham before his death. He was not feeling well enough to get out of bed, but he welcomed Nellie Jo and me like when we were long-time friends. The reality was that we had only been with the famed evangelist a few times. This visit…
The post The Confusion about Boundaries between Men and Women in Churches appeared first on Church Answers.