Do you feel like your church has been going through a long period of losing seasons? Do your councils, boards, and committees feel defeated and discouraged? Is there a lot of complaining about what you don’t have enough of to build on: people, money, resources? How do you build a winning team when there is …
One of the areas where teams often fail is the overlooked aspect of teaching the team. It comes as no surprise that one of the reasons people stop volunteering to help in the work of the local church is that they felt they were thrown into a job they were willing to do, but no …
OK, admit it, getting picked to be on a team was one of the most traumatic experiences of grade school. The popular and athletic kids got picked first. The unpopular, dorky, geeky, and less athletic kids got picked last. The worst feeling in the world was being the last kid standing, everyone is looking at …
Why Build a Team? A very frustrated pastor once confided in me about his congregation, “These people don’t know how to run the church. If I want something done right, I have to do it myself.” He was trying to explain why with a church of only about 30 active people he was overworked and …
Just as the Wesleyan movement changed the landscape and culture of England and spread around the world, so Starbucks has changed the culture of caffeinated America and now can be found in more nations than United Methodist Churches. In 1971 there were over 42,000 United Methodist Churches and 1 Starbucks. In 2016 there were less …
“You want me to say what?” I remember clearly the emotion being conveyed, and I remember clearly the words. A middle-aged woman, having lingered toward the back of the receiving line one Sunday morning, wanted me to know that she did not appreciate my liturgy. “You put words in my mouth that I would never …
What do people see when they walk into church? It is terribly important. Before you speak word one of your sermon, people have formed an opinion of you and your church based on everything they see in front of them. It is simply astonishing to me that many pastors have little or no understanding about …
I was attending worship with my daughter a few weeks ago when the pastor opened the service by welcoming everyone and then inviting newcomers to stand and introduce themselves if they wished. My daughter leaned over and in a quiet voice said, “Everyone knows that is not the best way to greet new people. The …
When Stephen Colbert comes out on stage at the Ed Sullivan Theater, there is no one in the audience that doesn’t know who he is. Yet, his first words every night are “Welcome to The Late Show. I am your host Stephen Colbert.” Curiously, as I visit local churches, I find that almost no one …
Sally had been home from college for about a month when she came up to me one Sunday with an angry frown on her face. “If I hear that one more time, I am never coming back!”, she declared. “Hear what?”, I gently inquired. So, she explained. For four weeks in a row she had …