How is the ministry at your church among teenagers? Student ministry is frequently a challenge in congregations. All too often, adults feel like they have to dream up activities to “entertain” the youth in a “Christian environment.” Increasingly, I see a good trend among high school students. They are open to […]

God literally has all resources available to Him, so if He has not released as many as you think you need, you must examine the reason why. But we will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the sphere, which God apportions to us as a measure, to reach even as far […]

There seems to be a great deal of discussion these days regarding church government. Small committees, large committees, lots of committees, no committees; the dialog goes on and on.
Can a church function in a “no committee” environment? If the lead pastor makes critical church decisions, is the church headed for chaotic closure? Is a church […]

Perhaps you saw Outreach magazine’s annual report of the 100 fastest growing and 100 largest churches in America (October/November 2007 issue). We are all indebted to Outreach for the effort they make to provide us with this amazing information on an annual basis.
We must continue to work, as Christians, to come to the day when we […]

Call me Mr. Scrooge or the Apostle Paul–your choice. What were they thinking at the contemporary worship service on Christmas Eve? They sang songs like “Joy to the World, the Lord is Come,” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem” with the word “Thy” throughout. To top it off, they sang “Gloria in Excelsis Deo…”–it’s Latin!
Don’t […]

For 30 years I have prayed for revival in North America. Consulting over 1,000 churches, I have come to the conclusion that, generally speaking, there are five major areas of roadblocks keeping the Christian movement from reaching its potential. Here they are:

The inability to deliver the Gospel in forms indigenous to 21st Century, unchurched Americans.

The […]

Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Walnut Creek, CA, (www.saintmatthew.org ) is about to build 12,000 sq. feet of new buildings. We have been challenged with the idea that the “mission field” of dozens of contractors and laborers will be coming on our campus for the next six to nine months. We simply asked the question, […]