Tag «Monday/Wednesday Featured»

Four Types of Church Members Based on Their Frequency of Attendance

Four Types of Church Members Based on Their Frequency of Attendance

The New Testament, from Acts 2 to Revelation 3, is about the local church. That is a big portion of the Bible! The local church is God’s plan A to carry out his mission on earth,  and He did not give us a plan B. Sure, the local church can be messy. It’s made of…

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One of the Most Powerful Ways to Revitalize Your Church that Almost No One Does

One of the Most Powerful Ways to Revitalize Your Church that Almost No One Does

Prayer walking can revitalize a church. At Church Answers, we’ve heard some incredible stories of how a church started a prayer walking ministry and experienced revitalization. The problem is not enough churches are emphasizing this spiritual discipline. Those that do are seeing powerful results.  What is prayer walking? The concept is simple and can be…

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A Dog, a Confession, and a Prayer Request

A Dog, a Confession, and a Prayer Request

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…

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Please Destroy Any of My Recorded Sermons

Please Destroy Any of My Recorded Sermons

Most of my recorded sermons are on cassette tapes. I know what you are thinking. I am old. I served as pastor of four churches and as interim pastor of nine churches. Many of the churches recorded my sermons and distributed them via cassette tapes. There are a lot of my sermons out there. I…

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The Public Nature of Pastoring and the Inescapable Reality You Always Represent Your Church

The Public Nature of Pastoring and the Inescapable Reality You Always Represent Your Church

“. . . 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…

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Ten Suggestions for Church Members When They Read Negative Things about Their Pastors on Social Media

Ten Suggestions for Church Members When They Read Negative Things about Their Pastors on Social Media

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…

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Five Ways to Honor the Past While Not Losing the Future

Five Ways to Honor the Past While Not Losing the Future

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…

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How to Evaluate Your Church’s Discipleship Program

How to Evaluate Your Church’s Discipleship Program

*This article is an excerpt from Disciple: How to Create a Community That Develops Passionate and Healthy Followers of Jesus. Some months ago, I published the book Disciple: How to Create a Community that Develops Passionate and Healthy Followers of Jesus. In that book, I point out that many churches that think they’re disciplemaking churches…

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20 of the Most Difficult Things Pastors Have Done in Ministry

20 of the Most Difficult Things Pastors Have Done in Ministry

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…

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Seven Insights from Churches about the Recent Easter Weekend

Seven Insights from Churches about the Recent Easter Weekend

We’ve done a lot of listening and learning the week after Easter. We at Church Answers are grateful for consulting and coaching clients and for the large community at Church Answers Central. Though our information is more anecdotal rather than data-based, it is nevertheless insightful. Here are seven key takeaways we gleaned from church leaders…

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