Over the past few weeks I’ve visited well over 1,000 individual, local church websites.
Let me tell you: There’s a lot of truly crappy church websites out there.
Next to word of mouth recommendations from the people in your church, your church website is the most important connection tool you have.
There’s a lot of leadership language flying around church circles these days.
I’m at the point where I find the irony too much to bear.
My definition of a leader is, “Someone who takes you where you otherwise wouldn’t go alone.”
I have heard some form of this phrase a million times. Go to any gathering of youth workers, ask about public schools, and someone will say it.
Guaranteed.
Researchers in Sweden have found a link between kids who get in trouble and kids who grow up to become entrepreneurs.
Hiring a staff member is not Moneyball. That’s what Google has learned. Adam Bryant of the New York Times sat down with Laszlo Bock, Google’s SVP of People Operations and asked what they’ve learned at the Goog about hiring people. (source)
We exist for all people to know Jesus.
That’s an oversimplification for most church vision statements. On paper, they are for all people.
But in a brick and mortar reality, churches make decisions every day which largely determine who they reach.
Do you have friends? Maybe that sounds like a weird question.
But the truth is that I know a lot of people who really don’t have many friends.
Scott Rubin summed this up in his rant at the Middle School Ministry Campference last year… “Do you have people in your life with whom you can put your worst foot forward?”
@mclanea #MoodyPC is primarily intended for #pastors. #refocus #refresh #equip church leaders. Praise God for other conferences #Heprovides
— Moody Conferences (@MoodyConference) May 15, 2013
11 years ago this week I graduated from Moody Bible Institute. The moment of walking across that stage, shaking Joe Stowell’s hand, and knowing that I had done it, goes down in history as one of the greatest accomplishments of my life.
I had defied every odd stacked against me.
I’m always impressed how much retail space exploits psychological advantage to prepare people to spend money. I can run into a corner store and quickly grab the 5 items I need. But the same 5 items in our local grocery store? It’s at least 15 minutes as I walk from end to end of that building.
I think most would agree that the church is one of the last places around that you’ll still see the primary/sole mode of teaching/transformation be a lecture-style sermon, monological preaching. Folks in education have been experimenting with different forms of pedagogy for years, and have moved past the “talking head” format for quite awhile now. Sure, there are times in a large lecture-format course where it still makes sense to give information that way – but most students would probably tell you there are more engaging ways to learn and actually have the information stick, than listening to a lecture.
Yet, it’s a safe bet that you can show up at church on a Sunday morning at your typical church, and expect, for the most part, to sit back, listen, hear and be a passive recipient of a worship service, particularly during the sermon.