Category Archives: Healthy Church

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What Changes to Make as a Leader (And When to Make Them)

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Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

One of the things leaders do is make changes. It is in our DNA. Leadership is about influencing those around you to a better, preferred future. That future is different from the past or the present.

What trips leaders up is knowing what to change and when to change it.

This is crucial to understand if you are a new leader or new to your church or organization.

When I arrived at Community Covenant Church, I learned much about the church. While I knew things about the church (I thought I knew a lot when I came), you don’t know what you don’t know. And you need to make sure the data you have is accurate, which can be a challenge in a church. But that’s a different post!

How to know what to change in your church and when to change it as a pastor.

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As I was meeting with leaders and people in the church, getting to know them, asking questions, and simply observing things, I started a list of things to change. This list grew through my meetings as people shared ideas. What is great about being a new leader is all the ideas that people share with you. These are often ones that haven’t happened in the past, thoughts they’ve been holding on to until the new leader comes, or things ripe with potential you need to know about.

Here is the problem: There are too many good (and excellent) ideas for you to get to right away.

You can’t change everything and go after everything all at once even if you want to!

You can’t change everything and go after everything all at once. Even if you want to!

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How do you prioritize as a leader, what to change and when to change it?

This depends on the situation, the age of the church, what the previous leader was like and their style of change, how ready the church is for change, and how dire the situation is.

The need for change is high if you go into a church that is about to run out of people or money. The desire for change might not be, but the need is.

You might be in a situation where the desire for change is strong, but the need isn’t, or the resources for change aren’t there.

You must consider these things as you set your strategic plan as a leader.

When I moved to New England, I had a simple question I asked myself and our team as we thought about what to do and what not to do. This question has been a guide for us.

Ready?

Will it matter if I/we don’t change this in two years?

The question I ask myself about change in our church: Will it matter if I/we don’t change this in two years?

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If I don’t change this in two years, will it matter?

Look at everything in your church: kids and student ministries, worship services, online ministry, groups and discipleship, theology, mission, and strategy. This question can help to clarify what to focus on.

There are a lot of things you could do, a lot of things you could focus on, but if you don’t do anything with them, in two years, it won’t matter. At least not compared to other things.

Just because it needs to be changed doesn’t mean now is the moment to make that change.

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3 Questions to Lead Your Church into the Future

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Photo by Edward Cisneros on Unsplash

Covid gave the church some opportunities.

Yes, I know that statement might seem odd because it has sped things up and made a lot of things about being a pastor more difficult. But, leading your church into the future has many potential opportunities if you look for them.

What are they?

While there are some universal ones, some are just for your church.

How to not miss the opportunities waiting for your church.

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First, you have to decide to embrace it. Many pastors are trying to get back to what it was, getting people back into the room, etc.

You can’t go back. And while some things about the past are nice, there are some things you’d like to leave in the past.

Where is your church? Once you know, you can lead her into the future.

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Second, you need to know exactly where your church is. Many pastors don’t know who is a part of their church, who is still engaged, or what things are or are not working.

Too many pastors make decisions based on feelings. It feels full, and that service felt good. But, you can’t lead simply on what feels full or good.

I would encourage you to pull your team together. Whether that is staff, volunteers, elders, or a combination of these. Ask them some simple questions about every ministry (kids, students, groups, worship, outreach, etc.):

3 questions every church needs to be asking right now.

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Why did we start this? Everything your church does begins with a need (or it should). Someone saw a need and started something to meet that need.

Do you know why you do everything that you do as a church? This is the time for every ministry and program to be clear on why it exists and why it is taking staffing and resources. Gone are the days when churches could do all things.

Does it still meet that need? Once you know what needs you are trying to reach or what caused you to start doing something as a church, you can ask the following question: Does it still meet that need? Is that still a need we are called to meet? The reality is that just because it is a need or a good idea doesn’t mean your church needs to complete it or do it. Also, just because you used to meet that need doesn’t mean you must keep meeting that need. Maybe you no longer have the vision or passion or lack a leader or skill set to do it well.

One of my favorite questions is, What problem created the meeting that resulted in this answer? Every ministry or program or way of doing church started with a problem. That problem resulted in getting some people in a room to solve it. What came out of that meeting is the way your church does church.

Every leader must regularly ask, “Is that still a problem for us to solve? If so, what is the best way to solve it?”

You see, it might not be your problem to solve; it may not be a problem anymore. The things you started 10-20 years ago may no longer be issues or things your church is passionate about.

3 questions every pastor needs to be asking right now.

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Where is Your Church? Really?

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Photo by Karl Fredrickson on Unsplash

Do you know where your church is?

Most pastors think they do, and most church members and elders believe they do, but do you?

Do you know where your church is? Especially after covid?

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After going through these last several years of people coming and going, people decided to stay or leave based on how you handled masks, vaccines, opening and closing, people moving because of jobs, or simply deciding that it is nicer to watch church in their pj’s. Do you know where your church is?

Really?

Taking a new job at a church towards the end of covid and the church gathering had some disadvantages, but it gave me some advantages. It helped me see more clearly where the church is and ask some questions because “I wasn’t in it” as much as others.

But even if you haven’t changed churches or jobs, you can still step back to see where your church is.

This matters because you as a pastor might think your church is one spot on the map, your elder team or staff believes it is somewhere else, and then throw in the people who volunteer and attend your church. If you don’t know where you are on the map, you won’t be able to lead people to the next place in the journey.

When I arrived at Community Covenant, I found documents of 4 different sets of mission statements or values in the last decade. When I asked people why we existed, I got the answer based on when they started attending and what they heard repeated the most. Consequently, we weren’t on the same page.

This happens in churches, even if the pastor doesn’t leave. Churches slowly lose their way, lose focus on their mission, go to a conference and hear a new idea they have to implement immediately and gradually; the direction they had isn’t laser-focused anymore.

In his excellent book, Resilient: Restoring Your Weary Soul in These Turbulent Times, John Eldredge tells us what to do now: “The first thing you should do when you are lost is stop! This is critical – stop moving and get your bearings. Even if it takes some time.”

The first thing you should do when you are lost is stop! This is critical – stop moving and get your bearings. Even if it takes some time. -John Eldredge

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Many of us, as pastors and leaders and churches, are lost. We are lost in the fog of covid, unclear on who is still a part of our church, and unclear on what church looks like in this post-pandemic world.

And we need to stop.

We must pull everyone together, figure out who is with us and where we are on the map, and then set a destination together. 

When I arrived in New England, I interviewed almost 40 people in our church. People who had been a part of our church for decades and some who came in the last year. I asked them the same eight questions and those answers were invaluable to me. They helped me figure out where we were, so we could determine where we were going.

Once you know where you are, it makes it easier to know where you’re going.

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Here they are:

  1. What is going well at Community Covenant Church?
  2. What is not going well at CCC?
  3. What is one thing about CCC you hope doesn’t change?
  4. What is one thing about CCC you hope does change?
  5. What burning questions would you like to ask me?
  6. If money weren’t an issue, what would be your next full-time hire(s) and why?
  7. If you were in my shoes, what would you focus on first?
  8. How can I pray for you?

Here’s the fantastic thing, 90% of the answers were the same.

Whether you are new to your church or not, you can ask these questions or questions like them to find out where you are. You might tweak them to find out what you learned in covid, what did covid reveal about your church, and what has God put on your heart in the last 2-3 years that you need to pay attention to. 

But as I’ve said before, this is a season where pastors need to think like church planters as they move forward. Church planters are pioneers; they are starters, forging new ways of doing church and risking, and more and more pastors need to have this mindset. 

How you need to be thinking as a pastor right now.

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Red Flags in a Job Search

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Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash

So, you’re searching for a job. You are excited, talking with churches and maybe narrowing down the list of potential places to move. 

It is easy in a job search to talk yourself into a place. You might imagine that it is better than where you are, or that you can be the hero that finally does what no other pastor did before at that church. Don’t buy those mirages. Make sure you ask the right questions to find a church’s heart. 

But, how do you see through your emotions and desires to see red flags that you might be missing?

Now, before listing these out, let me say these red flags aren’t necessarily a reason not to take a job, but things you need to pay attention to, even though they aren’t always obvious. 

Red flags to pay attention to in a job search.

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You don’t want to live there. I think this is a big deal. I remember talking to a large church in the midwest. I clicked with the elders and team there, and they were renovating their building and making it more prominent, but as I talked with Katie about it, she said, “But you don’t want to live there.” I got defensive and started to tell her all the reasons we wanted to be at that church, and then she said, “But you’d still have to live there.” 

Now, we don’t always get to choose where we live, and sometimes, the doors to the place we want to live don’t open. We tried in our search to move to several areas that were closed to us. Sometimes, the family determines where you can or can’t live. But, as a pastor, you need to live in that place and love the people and the culture that makes up that place. 

Make sure you want to live there, and that you like the worst season of the year there. Because it will be winter, or a blazing hot and humid summer. 

The elders are mad at the previous pastor. In my first conversation, I could tell the elders were still angry at the last pastor in one church I talked to in our search. They weren’t mad at what he did or carried any bitterness from his time; they were furious that he left them. 

Listen to how the people talk about the previous pastor and what stories they tell. Do they tell stories of a mythical time you won’t be able to replicate? Do they tell stories of hurt? Anger? Bitterness? This is a red flag because some churches are so hurt and don’t know it. Some churches need more time without a pastor to truly understand what they had and took for granted. Some churches must deal with their hurt and not take it out on the next pastor. 

When interviewing with a church, pay attention to how a church talks about the previous pastor.

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As a pastor, you need to know what you are walking into in this regard. You will be the one to pastor these people through whatever feelings they have about the previous pastor(s). 

Tons of turnover. Ask about staff, elder, and volunteer turnover. One church I talked to had over 50% of its staff turnover in three years. No matter how big or small the staff, that’s a significant number. In this church, it was over 20 staff members. When I asked questions about it, there were good reasons and stories. However, it also revealed some things about the culture. It is easy to spiritualize staff transitions in a church, but you must ask questions about it and what it reveals about the culture. 

Tons of staff turnover at a church tells a story.

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Long-tenured staff. The flip side of the turnover coin is a staff with no turnover. 

While this can be a healthy thing for staff, it can also be a red flag for a new staff member coming in. What has happened to previous new employees? Did they last? Why or why not? How open is this staff to new ideas and ways of doing things?

You meet someone you don’t click with. Depending on who this person is, it may not matter. But pay attention to people you don’t connect with in an interview process. Are they powerful? Influential? What rubbed you the wrong way? 

This person will one day be a part of your staff, board, or church, so make sure you click with people. 

They don’t want to change. Every church that hires a new pastor says, “We want to change and reach new people.” But do they? Like all things a church says, ask questions about it. Ask what change means to them, what kind of new people they want to reach, and what things they are willing to change and not change for this to happen. 

How to know if a church wants to change.

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Lastly, talk yourself out of it. 

Here’s what I mean. A friend who does a ton of hiring for his job told me that one of the things he encourages search teams to do is to figure out why they wouldn’t hire a candidate. Just like it’s easy to talk yourself into a job, it is easy to talk yourself into a candidate. So, create a list of why you shouldn’t move or take a position. Do some opposition research on a place. If you have difficulty doing that, ask your spouse or a friend to help you with it. They might see things you don’t see. 

7 red flags to pay attention to when you’re interviewing with a church.

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5 Ways to Lead When You Aren’t in Charge

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Recently, I got to speak to a group of young leaders on how to lead when you aren’t in charge.

It isn’t easy to be on a team, to follow another leader, especially if you don’t respect them or like their vision. Yet, we will have to lead at different points in our leadership journey when we aren’t in charge.

I spent years not being in charge, and I didn’t lead well. I was prideful and not a very good follower, and God taught me many things. I stumbled through my early years of leadership. Then, after being a lead pastor for 12 years, God put me in a second chair for two years. It was hard, but exactly where I needed to be to learn some lessons about myself and leadership. Those two years have changed how I lead today in meaningful ways, but that’s a different post.

If you find yourself leading when you aren’t in charge, there are some essential things you can do. Now, if you google leading when you aren’t in charge, you will find a host of articles and podcasts that will say a lot of the same things: be humble, be teachable, know that you have influence where you are, etc. And those are all true. I’m going to assume that you already know those things and are doing those things; that’s why you’re a leader.

So, with that in mind, here are 5 other things you can do to lead when you aren’t in charge:

5 other things you can do to lead when you aren’t in charge.

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Be content where you are. You aren’t where you want to be or where you will ultimately be, and that’s frustrating, but it is also a good thing. 

A lot of leadership and following Jesus is about contentment. 

Be content. 

Be thankful too. You aren’t having to make certain decisions and carry a certain weight. 

If you weren’t in charge through covid, you didn’t carry a weight that others did. 

If you aren’t the lead pastor, you probably don’t feel the weight of making sure your whole church is protected, that the bills get paid, or whether you’ll have to shut down again because of covid or something else. Yes, you feel those weights to a degree, but not the way your lead pastor does. 

You don’t have everyone coming to you about something. That is a good thing. Yes, people come to you, but what do you do with that? You often “pass it up the chain” to the one leading.

I led worship at a large college ministry in college and then went on staff at a church as the student ministry worship leader. For the first three months, I didn’t lead worship. My boss had me reset rooms, move chairs, take out the trash, follow up with people, etc. I was so annoyed, and I told him so, because I was 19 and knew it all. He looked at me and said, “You’ll be on stage when you are content to be off stage.”

God wants to teach you things about yourself, Him, and others in this season. 

I love what Crawford Loritts said, “God won’t give you what you want because you won’t stick around long enough to get what you need.”

God won’t give you what you want because you won’t stick around long enough to get what you need. -Crawford Loritts

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It is easy to quit; looking for an easy way out at this point, trying to force your way into a leadership position. But if you do, you might miss what you need for later.

Understand the person you follow.

As important as it is to know yourself and how you’re wired, and how your family and upbringing have affected you, it is equally important to know this information about the person you follow. 

Do they need time to process? Do they talk out loud? What do they value most, and why do they value that so much? What are their rhythms in terms of work? When is the best time to bring up an idea?

I had two bosses in one role, one wanted to speak in specifics, and when he said something, that was it. The other liked to process out loud and throw things at the wall. One wanted specifics when I came to him, and the other wanted me to share at the beginning of an issue so he could be involved. 

Could you get to know them, be a student of them? If you don’t know, ask them. If you are new to a church or team, ask a lot of questions of those you work with and work under. 

Know what you can change and can’t change under that person. 

Your boss, board, or leader cares about certain things. Some things are mission-critical that they are passionate about, and then other things they aren’t. You need to know what those things are. What is #1 on their list that they will protect against all costs?

Often, those things are non-negotiable, or you will have some difficulty changing those things. 

But what can you change?

Are there things they aren’t as clear on, as passionate about that you can experiment with? If so, spend some energy there. 

This also gets into understanding the team culture and dynamics. To change things, do you need to keep quiet, or bring them up? How does something get changed?

Be someone that can be counted on. 

The best thing you can do for those around you to gain more influence and move into the leadership roles you want is to be someone who can be counted on and gets things done. 

When you do this, you are making your boss’s job easier. 

One thing that people leading want to know is if their team is with them. Making sure your boss or leader knows you have their back in the meeting, and outside of the meeting matters greatly. 

In being someone who can be counted on, you also fulfill a vital leadership principle, making your boss’s job easier. 

Craig Groeschel refers to this as being the chief problem solver.

One of the best things you can do as a leader is dependable.

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Know where the power resides. 

This might be one of the most important and overlooked things you need to know when you aren’t in charge. If you miss this and underestimate its power, you will find yourself in a world of hurt and going down the wrong road.

You need to know where the power resides in meetings, who makes things happen, and who stops things from happening. And know, this isn’t always the person at the top. It could be the gatekeeper for someone, the person with more details than others. I remember starting at a church and going through orientation and then having an admin tell me, “Now, let me tell you how things get done here.” That’s power.

If you don’t understand where the power resides, it will create a lot of headaches for you and missteps as you try to build influence.

When you aren’t in charge, you need to know who you influence and in what area. What area does each person influence (this isn’t always clear in job descriptions)? Who makes the final call on something? Who is responsible for carrying something out? Who sways the meeting when they speak? Who speaks first and last, and what does that do to the room?

Every church has a hierarchy, but you need to understand that what is written down is not always the way it is.

In every setting, to get things done, you must know where the power resides.

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Know that you have influence.

Just because you are in charge doesn’t mean you hold all the influence. 

I’ve been at my church for almost a year. I have influence and power. 

The others on staff have more influence than I do because of how long they’ve been there. They have sat at more hospital bedsides and walked with more people than I have. Do not underestimate the influence you have in the seat you sit in. Relational influence is incredibly powerful in a church setting. 

As I was going through that hard season in Tucson, I had a mentor tell me something important: Know what you control, what you influence, and what is a concern. Too often, in our passion and excitement, we confuse these categories, and sometimes we need a friend or spouse to help us know the difference. 

Be clear on what you have control over or where you only have some influence. If you have some influence, know that it is more than none, and use what you have. Sometimes, it is something you are concerned about or don’t like, but you have no power or influence to change it. Too many leaders spend leadership capital on things that are a concern, something they’d like to change. That doesn’t make it not worth it, but it can be costly in the long run. 

5 ways to influence your boss.

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The Goal of Spiritual Rhythms

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Sunday I started a new series at CCC called Summer Reset: Reevaluating our Spiritual Rhythms. 

When new year’s goals and resolutions roll around almost every year, millions of people make a goal connected to their spiritual life. It might be reading their Bible more, praying more, or being more generous, which is fantastic. But often we fail to move the needle in those places, or at least to the degree we’d like to see.

Many times we get frustrated with ourselves, think something is wrong with us, and then fail to reengage with God.

Have you ever asked why that is? There are many reasons this happens, but I think one of them centers on our spiritual rhythms.

Have you ever asked yourself: What is the goal of spiritual rhythms or practices? When I read my Bible, pray, give, fast, or any other spiritual practice, what am I hoping will happen?

What is the goal of spiritual practices?

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I like the word rhythm and practice because it helps me see life as a rhythm. Rhythms get the idea of movement, timing, seasons, and life in that way. Practices help me to know that I am practicing, I have not arrived. Every time I fast, feast, pray, sit in silence or join in community, I am practicing. And, if I don’t get it right (which is often) or if things feel stale (which happens), I am practicing. 

Why I like to use the words spiritual rhythms or spiritual practices.

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What is your goal when it comes to spiritual practices? To your spiritual rhythms?

If you think about the question, you will start to think of things like growing close to Jesus, growing in my faith, and learning about Jesus. And those are good answers. 

Spiritual practices are how we connect with God and relate to God. But spiritual practices also do something else; they are how we become more present to God, others, and ourselves. They reorient our hearts and lives around the things of God, which is crucial in our world that is so loud and easily distracts us. 

Spiritual practices are the ways that we become more present to God, others, and ourselves.

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This is why the goal of spiritual practices is so important. If we don’t know the purpose, we won’t understand why we need to practice them or what we are trying to experience or accomplish when we practice them. We will also miss what God is trying to do in us, around us, and in those practices. We can read our Bible, pray, take a sabbath, and miss all that it could be.

While spiritual practices do many things, I think they bring about two important things:

  1. They are about our formation, becoming more like Christ, and how we walk with Christ as his disciples, as his apprentices, alongside him.
  2. They help us to be present with God, ourselves, and others. They help us be aware of what is happening in us, what is going on in others, and what God is doing. They help us not to miss things.

As we practice them, we look for how God is forming us. As we experience difficulty or struggle through practice, we look for what God is doing in us, how we are being shaped, and who we are being shaped into. 

How God shapes you.

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The Things that Sneak into the Heart of a Pastor

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Every week when a pastor preaches, they talk about the sin that binds the people in their church, the idols they battle, the lies they quickly fall into, and the truth of Jesus that frees them and destroys sin and death.

Pastors, by and large, often struggle to apply this same medicine to their sins.

Pastors, by and large, often struggle to apply the gospel they preach to their sin.

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Much of the identity and idols that pastors fall into are residing in what happens on a Sunday morning at church. High attendance, strong giving, and loud singing were good days. A pastor will float through Sunday night, post about all that God did on Instagram, and wake up ready to charge hell on Monday morning.

Low attendance, a down week in giving, few laughs, and no one sings, and the pastor will go home, look at social media, get jealous of the megachurch down the road, wake up Monday morning ready to resign, and get another job.

The difference between the two examples?

The heart of the pastor.

Over the years as a pastor, I’ve ridden this roller coaster more than I’d like to admit. It is easy to do.

So, how do you handle this as a pastor? How do you protect your heart?

5 ways to protect your heart as a pastor.

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1. Keep Sundays in perspective. What happens and what you feel as a pastor on a Sunday morning can be misleading. Just because it felt great doesn’t mean that it was. I’m amazed at how many times I feel like a sermon was so-so, and the response from people is, “That is exactly what I needed to hear.” And how many times do I get off the stage thinking I preached my greatest sermon, and no one says anything.

While Sunday matters, it does not tell the whole story of what God is doing in the life of your church or its people.

2. Be cautious about what you see on social media. A friend of mine who is revitalizing a church called me and said, “It’s so hard to watch the megachurch down the road baptize more people on Easter than we had in attendance.” And that’s a real struggle.

Be cautious about what you follow on social media and when you look at it. If you are exhausted and feeling down on Sunday night, Instagram may not be the best spot for your soul.

Another thing to remember is percentages. This is important. Every pastor would say that every life matters, but when you see thousands getting baptized or a massive move of God, it is hard not to feel jealous or inferior. But a megachurch and a church plant are not the same, just like the small start-up isn’t the same as Amazon. For example, if a church of 5,000 baptized 80 people on Easter, that is incredible, but they baptized 1.6% of their church. If your church of 250 baptized 10, that is 4%. Yes, they both matter the same, but, and this may seem silly to you, percentages have helped me to keep things in perspective when my heart gets out of line.

3. Celebrate what God does in the church down the road or across the country. The flip side of this coin is essential. Celebrate what God is doing in other churches, don’t despise it. Don’t say, “They must be watering down the gospel; that’s why they’re growing.” Just celebrate with them, and thank God for how His Spirit is at work.

Learn to celebrate what God is doing in other churches.

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4. Make sure you do something life-giving on Sunday or Monday. Many pastors, when they get home on Sundays, are entirely spent. While it is exhilarating, it is also exhausting to preach, counsel, pray with others, and often leave church shouldering the people’s burdens in your church. That is part of what a pastor does. But in that, you must make sure that you refill your tank.

Too many pastors go home and sit down in front of the TV or scroll on their phones. While there is a place for this, you need to schedule some life-giving things for you.

We try to take a long walk on Sunday afternoon to get outside and move our bodies. Some reading time or a family game, and one of our practices on many Sunday evenings is to have another family or friends over for dinner.

Whatever is life-giving for you, a hobby, exercise, community, reading, do that on Sunday or Monday. Refill yourself after pouring so much out.

Pastors, refill yourself after Sundays.

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5. Spend time with Jesus and friends. Friends and community are critical. And many pastors struggle with this. And I get it. It can be hard to have close friends within your church because you are always the pastor to them. It can be worked through, but you need friends, whether in your church or outside.

It would help if you refilled your soul after pouring it on a Sunday. On Mondays, make sure you spend time alone with Jesus and read a book that fills your soul that isn’t related to sermon prep. Grow yourself.

If recent studies are any indication (and I think they are), it will continue to be a challenge to be a pastor.

You must make protecting your heart a priority.

5 ways to stay in the pastoral ministry.

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7 Things a Pastor Must Do on Easter

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Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Sunday is the “super bowl” of the church year. I wish we didn’t call it that, but that’s another post.

We love Easter. It is the hope of our salvation and our world. In most churches, attendance will be higher than at any other time of the year. More unchurched people will be there more than any other week.

Here are 7 things a pastor MUST do on Easter:

7 things to remember this Easter weekend.

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Fill yourself up (before and after). You will likely be tired by the time you get to Easter morning. You will be tired on the Monday after Easter. The week of Easter is filled with special services and attention to different things. Make sure you take time leading up to Easter to eat well, get some sleep, keep your exercise going, and fill your heart up. Don’t preach on an empty tank.

After Easter, make sure you fill yourself up as well. Get up and exercise on Monday morning, read your bible, and listen to worship music. Be with Jesus.

Pastor, make sure you have a plan to rest and recharge after Easter.

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Be a pastor. Every week, I have no idea what people are carrying when they walk through the doors of our church or tune in online. Many people drag themselves to church on Easter, barely hanging on in some areas of their life. Be a pastor. Pray with people, smile at them, listen to them, walk around, and talk to people. Don’t hang out in the green room or backstage. Be a pastor.

Talk about the resurrection. You will be tempted to be cute and talk about something else for fear everyone knows about the resurrection.

Don’t.

The resurrection is our only hope. Without it, Jesus is still in the grave, and our faith is in vain (1 Corinthians 15:14). Without the hope of the resurrection, sin, and death can defeat us. The world will not be made right without the resurrection. Marriages cannot be saved, addictions cannot be defeated, and identities cannot be changed.

Challenge them. Don’t be afraid. Step up to the plate and tell them, “Today is the day.” For some, they need to be challenged to come back. For others, they need to be challenged to follow Jesus.

Remind them. While some will need to be challenged, some will need to be reminded that God loves and cares for them, that God has not forgotten them, that God has not left them, or that God is not disappointed in them.

Invite them back. I’m amazed at how many church services I’ve been to, and no one invited me back next week. Tell them, “I look forward to seeing you back next week.” Be friendly, walk around, and say hi to people. Lead the way in how your church should be welcoming.

Put as much effort into next week as you did this week. Easter was great, and you will be tired, but people will return to your church the following Sunday. Put as much effort into that. Hopefully, you started a new series on Easter that they want to hear part 2 of. Be ready.

7 things pastors need to do this Easter.

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Values & Culture Drive Your Church

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Pastors and church leaders spend a lot of time talking about strategy, mission, vision, and those things that matter. Yet, they are catalyzing forces for your church and what God has called you to.

However, it won’t matter if your culture and values do not support your strategy, mission, and vision. The words on the wall will be meaningless.

Peter Drucker famously said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” And he’s right.

Culture is a squishy thing. Simply put, culture is how things “get done” without telling anyone. It is the knowledge that this is who we are without being told.

Every church has a culture. It is how worship is done, what is expected of preaching, what can or can’t be changed, what the church would say is the most important thing.

I remember working at a church and going through orientation and learning all the church policies, communication, working with the social media team, getting things done, etc. After the meeting, my assistant pulled me aside and said, “Now, let me tell you how things get done.” That’s culture.

Culture is influential, and often in churches, no one knows how the culture started or why things are the way they are. One of the things I encourage leaders to do when they walk into a new job is to ask why and how questions constantly. Why did this get started? Why do we do this? How did this start? One of my favorite questions is to ask, “What was the problem or issue that led to a meeting that resulted in this decision or way of doing things?” It gets at the why and the beginning, and then, you can ask, “Is that still an issue or a problem?”

I heard of one church that started something because of problems in the parking lot, but when those problems no longer existed, they wouldn’t make changes to their ministry because “we’ve always done it that way.” That’s culture.

What’s important to know is that culture isn’t bad. But it does determine things. And make no mistake, every church and family has a culture.

In his excellent book Look Before You Lead: How to Discern & Shape Your Church Culture, Aubrey Malphurs lists nine reasons values and culture matter to your church:

  1. They determine ministry distinctives.
  2. They dictate personal involvement.
  3. They communicate what is important.
  4. They guide change.
  5. They influence overall behavior.
  6. They inspire people to action.
  7. They enhance credible leadership.
  8. They shape ministry character.
  9. They contribute to ministry success.

Here’s my encouragement for you. Look at this list and ask some questions:

  • Is our culture clear?
  • Are our values clear?
  • Do we like our values and culture?
  • Of the nine things listed above, would clarifying our values and culture help with any of those?

As we are starting a new year, figuring out what church in this polarized, covid world looks like, this is a perfect time to clarify who you are as a church and what matters most to you.

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Why Every Pastor Needs to Think Like a Church Planter (And How to do It)

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Covid did many things in our world and our churches and organizations. All crises do this: they accelerate things and show what was hidden beneath our success. As churches move forward, I think one thing is true: All pastors must think like church planters. 

You might wonder, why? Do they really? What if they aren’t church planters?

First, the why.

The reality is, everyone is a church planter right now.

Every church is a church plant, and every pastor needs to think like a church planter.

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Most pastors I talk to are seeing 40-50% of their church come back. Most pastors and churches aren’t sure who is a part of their church anymore. There is a constant wonder of where that person is or what happened to that family. As a church planter, you constantly think about who is coming back, who is a part of our church.

Not meeting for several months to a year in some places in many ways wiped the slate clean for churches. It took away a lot of security, a lot of programs of things you used to do, or “the way things have always been around here.”

And the last reason pastors need to think like church planters is in how church planters think. They are dreamers; they try things others won’t try because they are simply trying to survive. But, they are passionate and want to reach people. Now, I’m not saying pastors aren’t like that, but many aren’t. And this isn’t about personality type. I’ve heard many pastors push back on this idea, but that doesn’t mean a pastor can’t think this way.

Here’s how to think like a church planter:

4 ways to think like a church planter.

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Dream. When was the last time you dreamed about the future, the hopes and plans God has placed on your heart? Take some time to get alone and dream. Here are some questions to work through in that time. So many church planters start a church because they have a dream, see a church, and see a future. This is born in them over many years, and their passion grows and grows.

What do you hope and pray God will do in your church, in you, in your people over the next several years? What are you asking God for? What impact are you hoping to make? This isn’t necessarily about crowds and growth, but impact.

Clarity. What churches and teams need is clarity. So many churches and staffs are tired, demoralized, and exhausted right now. They have spent the last year feeling like they aren’t moving forward, that they aren’t doing anything. So many staffs have no idea what is important anymore. Most pastors lie down each night wondering what is working, who is a part of their church and struggling.

Many churches and staffs are tired, demoralized, and exhausted right now.

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This is why clarity matters so much. Your staff needs to know what matters right now. It doesn’t mean that is the most important thing for your church, just what is most important right now. Something has to win; something is more important than something else. So I told our team: right now, the most important thing is rebuilding through Sunday morning. This means re-engaging people, rebuilding teams, and helping new people and those coming back get connected to God and each other. This doesn’t mean we aren’t doing other things, but it gives us a list of priorities.

So, for the next 3 months, what is the most important thing? The next 6 months?

Don’t go further than that. Most church planters aren’t. They live in monthly cycles. This isn’t the greatest long-term plan, but you are rebuilding. You are restarting.

Look around on a Sunday. Look at your teams and what you do. What isn’t clear? What is confusing? This is the time to get clear on why you do what you do.

Patrick Lencioni describes the job of a leader this way, “Create clarity, communicate clarity, over-communicate clarity.” So if there is one thing pastors need to do right now, it is to create and communicate clarity.

Create clarity, communicate clarity, over-communicate clarity. -Patrick Lencioni

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Simplify. One of the things true of many churches is they begin things but never end things. And this makes sense because people are committed to something, someone started something. But over time, things become complex. Slowly, people can’t remember why something started or if it is even doing what it intended to do when it started.

This is an opportunity to simplify.

Church plants are often very simple, many of them meet in rented facilities or don’t have the staff, so they can only do so much.

This is a chance to ask of every program and ministry:

  • Why did we start this?
  • Does it still do that?
  • Do we still need it?
  • Do we need to tweak anything to make it more effective?

How to simplify your church.

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Start over. I just started at a new church. There are a lot of advantages to starting new, to starting over. A church planter is starting over, starting new. They can do all the things they were never able to do at their last church, all the dreams and ideas they’ve had to put on a shelf, they can take off. The same happens in a move; you take all you’ve ever learned and apply it.

What if you did that without moving?

I remember reading something Andy Grove said years ago, “If the board replaced us (the leadership team at Intel), and they brought in someone new to lead this. What would they do? Why don’t we do that?”

If the board replaced us (the leadership team at Intel), and they brought in someone new to lead this. What would they do? Why don’t we do that? -Andy Grove

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What a great question!

If someone new came in, what would they see? What would they stop? What would they start? Here is a list of questions I asked myself and influencers at my new church when I moved. I’d encourage you to ask yourself, your team, and influencers those same questions now. There is so much gold waiting for you if you will dig a little bit.

Leading right now is not easy, but leading was never supposed to be easy. This is an opportunity, a chance to reimagine what can happen and how God can use your church to reach your community and beyond.

Pause, dream, listen and move forward.

I’m praying for you.