We are going to take some time as a staff to sit down before we launch the fall season and take a careful look at how we are working together as a team. To get ready for that discussion I am looking at what I need from my staff and what they need from me. […]
Beyond the buildings and programs and personalities that make up a Church community there is also going to be a culture, just like any organization or community. The dictionary defines culture as the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns characteristic of any community. It’s a style of social expression and activity that is deeply determining […]
From Michael For the next four weeks I am not preaching, and do not have to prepare a message. We are doing after Mass messages for our current series on the Bible and Tom and Chris are speaking. Without message preparation, my week looks and feels very different than usual. I am hoping to get […]
From Michael It’s August and we have about 5 weeks left until our fall programs start. Staff have been rotating in and out of vacations and down time. And it is obvious that many parishioners are away these days too. But there is a lot going on anyway. Here’s an update: 1. The evidence of […]
From Michael This past week I was on vacation, retreating to the Jersey Shore as is my custom, summer and winter. Another custom is the annual sandcastle construction I undertake with my nephew Jack. Jack is 10 and each year since he was a baby we have enjoyed building sandcastles together, but over time our […]
From Tom This summer, my wife and I are working on cleaning our attic. Over time it has become pretty cluttered and we both can’t take it anymore and are working to clean it up. We have started a few times on the project, but have failed. The problem has been a lack of focus […]
From Tom Below are a few quick unrelated thoughts on summer life at the Church. ● I have a bit of love/hate relationship with summer right now. I love summer and look forward to the chance to slow down, but that really hasn’t happened yet. Plus, it can be difficult when volunteers and staff are […]
This summer is a really interesting one for us, message wise. Currently we are offering a series called “What God Wants.” It is a message that we have given before, and we have been up front about that. It is also a video message: we film during the week and show the video after Masses […]
This past Sunday we published four of the seven “great practices” we had found in successful Churches. Below are the final three practices. Take a look. Practice Five: Not only are you only as good as your web site, you are your website. The Internet is the most important place and way your Church will […]
As we gathered together with Parish staff and leadership last week we spent some time looking at things we’ve learned from others, especially the very best practices of some of the most successful Churches in America. As an exercise, and for purposes of our current discussion, we identified 7…obviously there are many more, but 7 […]
