The Sunday before Thanksgiving feels like the beginning of a sprint to January. It’s a great time of year but there is so much ahead for us as a Church. As we look to this holiday season and the new year I see so many opportunities for our Church community. We have a really inspiring Advent […]
Friday evening I was with a bunch of Pastors and other Church leaders. Saturday I spent the morning at a Church conference, for Pastors and Parish staffs. These recent back to back experiences got me thinking and reminded me of some things I struggle with when it comes to “Church-world” and “Church people.” Here are […]
Most all of us want to be generous. Even if you don’t want it, you want to want it. You want to be a generous person. That word, “generous” means to act with nobility. We’d all like that, we’d all like to act with nobility. And that’s what God would like from us too. […]
We are into the second week of our annual Stewardship Series. This message is so important in any Church setting, but especially in a Catholic setting. In Catholic Churches the message of giving has been confused with fundraising for schools and capital projects, rendered less critical because Churches were staffed with free labor (and Catholics […]
There is an unmistakable correlation between the miracles God accomplished throughout the Bible and the unusual and sometimes seemingly unnecessary or even banal commands he gives to his servants. Over and over he asked his servants for obedience in little things, as a prelude to some big thing he is going to do. Obedience is […]
We are finishing up our first series of the season and we’ve been saying that our heavenly Father wants to put us on the right path in life. God wants to direct our steps and lead us down the path of a successful life. Sometimes when we take the wrong path, we blame God for […]
In whatever organization or group you’re leading its not only important to keep focus on what you’re doing but also how you’re doing it. I know I am interested in how well everyone on our team is progressing and what kind of success they are experiencing. But I also want to know how they are […]
We hosted our annual fall “launch” last weekend, and if you were here you know it was obvious there was a buzz going on, or what Pastor Craig Groeschel calls “it.” Here is what he says: “I can’t tell you exactly what it is. Part of what makes it it is that it defies categorization. […]
This week we’re taking time for some staff reflection and development before our big “fall launch” weekend. In that time we are going to be looking at our staff culture and values. I have been thinking about things I want my staff to know. But the other side of that are things my staff needs […]
We are getting ready for a staff development session on September 9, looking at our staff culture and values before we jump into the busy fall season. In preparation for that session I have been thinking about and reading about what I expect to see in our staff and what they need from me. Here […]
