When the Pipeline Fails: A Rural Church’s Senior Pastor Search
St. John’s is a real church. The name has been changed, but the story is current. St. John’s is a healthy rural congregation. Faithful for decades. Strong lay leadership. A building paid off, a budget in the black. Last year, their senior pastor announced his...
Why We’re Launching Momentum Unfiltered
Church leaders are facing challenges that previous generations could hardly imagine. Communities have changed. Expectations have changed. The way people connect, learn, and engage with faith has changed. Yet one thing has not changed: the mission of God. Jesus still...
What the Data Will Not Tell You (And What It Will)
Walks and conversations are the heart of knowing your community. The data is the frame around them. In ministry, we often want to know all about the demographics and statistics and rely on those to shape ministry. Public data will never tell you why the young mother...
Empty Is Where God Starts
Scripture “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (Genesis 1:2 NIV) Three words describe the very first canvas: formless, empty, dark. Most leaders would call that a crisis....
How to Spot Called Leaders in Your Pews
Your next pastor is probably already sitting in your sanctuary. She is 47, teaches a Bible study on Wednesdays, has raised her children, and has been quietly wondering for two years whether the nudge she keeps feeling is a calling or just restlessness. Or he is 22,...
Let’s Start Meeting Up
Ministry is better with people who get it. You know the feeling. You hit on something that is working, or you wrestle with something that is not, and you wish you had a few people in the room who understand exactly what you are working through. People who lead the way...
Ask, Do Not Assume: Simple Questions That Open Real Conversations
Most pastors know a lot about their community that turns out, on closer examination, to be assumptions. We assume what the young families in the neighborhood are struggling with. We assume what the older residents are worried about. We assume why the new folks moved...
Yesterday’s Wins Don’t Fund Tomorrow’s Mission
Scripture “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23 NIV) Jeremiah wrote these words in the rubble of Jerusalem. Everything he had trusted was...
The Missing Ingredient: Apprenticeship in the Local Church
Ask an older pastor how they learned to do the job, and you will usually hear a name before you hear a degree. It will be the senior pastor who let them tag along on hospital visits at 23. The elder who taught them how to read a budget. The mentor who took a phone...