Economic Crisis: What Goes Down Should Go Up

The dominoes have begun to fall for many churches as a result of the economic crisis. Here are some things I have heard:
 

Churches are terminating ministry and support personnel. In my circle of friends I heard of three churches terminating staff.

Churches are cutting current and future compensation of ministry and support by up 20% or [...]

What Got You Here Won’t Get You Where God Wants You

I am amazed at the church leaders who are essentially doing ministry the same way today as they did ten or even two years ago. A ministry consultant made a presentation at my church a few years ago, after which a church member asked him why the church needed to change anything. The consultant asked, [...]

Apathetic in Christ: What “Reveal” Fails to Reveal

In recent days the Willow Creek Association has turned a focus upon the lack of spiritual growth in their churches. There have even been some admissions that the focus of some of the churches appears to lean toward “entertainment” rather than God honoring worship and spiritual growth. Please don’t misunderstand, as many have accepted Christ [...]

Pharisees and Pastors

I recently attended a conference of Christian leaders from around the world. I love to go to conferences like this to talk to the people, hear of the exciting things Christ is doing “out there,” and gather new ideas for my own ministry. I also like to tour through the displays of books, media, and [...]

Good to Great: Insights from Jim Collins @ Catalyst 2008

I just left the Catalyst 2008 conference sponsored by Pastor Andy Stanley’s North Point Church in Alpharetta, GA. There were over 12,000 people from all over North America attending with standing room only. The music was great for those of us who think under 40, which includes me. It was LOUD, inspiring, and did I [...]

Turnaround Churches: An Untapped Source

I have been the pastor of three turnaround churches. My first one grew about 40% while I was pastor and when I went to another church, they went back into decline below the level they were previously. They were not what I would call hungry for leadership. Instead they were committed to the status quo [...]

Economic Crisis: The Church Will Thrive!

Let’s take a deep breath together. The background for the present article is the two previous posts (http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2008/09/19/economic-crisis-is-the-church-ready/) (http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/economic-crisis-how-to-get-the-church-ready/) …During the last several weeks we all have been under the stress of the never ceasing threat of an economic meltdown. The executive and legislative branches of government have now taken unprecedented action to nationalize mortgage companies, [...]

LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATION

I don’t know about you but I’m feeling rather stressed these days by the constant barrage of high volume political ads, obnoxious car commercials, screaming Oxiclean infomercials and so on. Reflecting on this, it occurred to me that church leaders often make similar communication mistakes. I can probably illustrate it more effectively with current headlines:

 

From [...]

Economic Crisis: How to Get the Church Ready

On September 19, 2008 I posted an article Economic Crisis: Is the Church Ready? (http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2008/09/19/economic-crisis-is-the-church-ready/). Several things have happened since the posting of that article. The investment markets around the world have reflected significant volatility; the U.S. Congress has been in constant meetings and conflict over legislation to avert economic disaster resulting from the break [...]