Easter is only 33 days away. If you haven’t started gearing up for this big day, time is running out. So let me get right to the point. Here are some keys to making sure you leverage the biggest day on the church calendar: #1. Mobilizing the congregation is the top priority this Easter That means we need to arm them with invites and opportunities to serve the community if we want to reach more people than ever this Easter. #2. Do Multiple Services Easter is a family day, so we need to make sure we have multiple options for … Read More
Book Mania!
I love books… I love getting deals on books… So I wanted to share with you some news about a couple of my books that’s happening right now… 1. My book Pull: Making Your Church Magnetic is only $2.99 on the Kindle. This sale ends in the next day or two, so pick it up before it becomes $9.99 again. Get it here. 2. My book Leadership Blurbs: Bite Sized Strategies for a Growing Church is finally available on the Kindle. (Leadership Blurbs is a reboot of my book, “Zero to Sixty”. It has 5 new chapters that are worth checking … Read More
My All-Time Favorite Leadership Books
I get this question all the time: “Bob, what are your favorite leadership books?” I’ve never really sat down to write out my top 5 all-time picks, but I figured if you’re a senior leader in a church, these are the books I would highly encourage you to read. So here’s my top 5 books on leadership… #1 – Leadership Gold by John Maxwell – I wrestled between this book and The 21 Irrefutable Laws on Leadership. You should read both, but if you’re been in leadership for a while, Leadership Gold will really help. #2 – Good to Great by Jim Collins … Read More
4 Keys to Maximizing the Summer
Summer is here in Miami. That means temperatures that reach “surface of the sun” levels and daily rain at 3PM. That also means a season where we focus on deepening and training our congregation. Lots of churches batten down the hatches and hunker down, praying for Fall to arrive. We take a different approach. Not only in our strategic outreach, but in our investment into our church and each other. So here’s 4 things you can do this Summer that will bring depth and health to your church: #1 – Theology Classes – every summer we host what we call … Read More
What I’ve Been Reading
I get questions about what I’m reading almost every day, so I thought I’d share what I’ve read over the last month. (For those who want to know how I read as much as I do, you can read this post here) So here’s some of the books I’ve read in the last month or so… Smart Kids, Smart Money by Dave Ramsey & Rachel Cruze – I really enjoyed this book. With 3 young kids at home, this gave me gray ideas to help them win with money. Also, after reading this book I decided to start a wedding fund … Read More
When Leaders Fail You, Who Do You Follow?
I heard about another pastor who fell into sexual sin this week. My heart hurts for the congregations and families involved. This recent news brings up some feelings in me as I’ve watched a friend and mentor fall into sin in recent weeks. As I’ve processed and walked through this situation with friends and some in my congregation, certain feelings people have expressed have made total sense to me. Feeling of… …Sadness …Anger …Betrayal …Loss …Fear But there’s another emotion/ attitude that I’m a bit surprised by. It’s the attitude that says, “We don’t follow a man; we follow Jesus”. … Read More
How to Join the Top 4% of Churches
I’m convinced that the 500 barrier is the hardest barrier to break for churches. That’s why 96% of churches never grow beyond 500 in attendance. The average church is hovering under 100 in weekly attendance, but even churches committed to growing bump up against the 500 barrier and stop growing. So what’s the problem? What’s keeping churches that want to grow from actually growing? Here are 3 changes that need to happen in you and your church if you want to grow beyond 500… #1 – What Got you Here won’t get you There – The things you did to … Read More
Measure Everything
My kids were walking around the house the other day with a tape measure. They were measuring the lamps, the walls, and each other. They were curious about how big things were and how they measured up compared to the other things they measured. In the same way, I am a firm believer that church leaders should measure everything. Not for the sake of pride or comparison with other churches. Instead, it’s nearly impossible to evaluate and improve without measuring key areas of ministry. Here’s what I mean: How do you know if your outreach dollars are well spend? You … Read More
Where Does the Pastor Go?
This story begins in late 2004. There were some great things were happening in my life at this time… …The Red Sox finally won the World Series after 86 long years …The Patriots won another Superbowl … I had lost 70 pounds and gotten to the lowest weight I had been since High School But there were some other things going on that were keeping me up at night. …things at my 3 year old church plant weren’t going so well …My mother-in-law had gone to be with the Lord unexpectedly …After 8 years of marriage, my wife and I … Read More
4.5 Big Ideas to Help you Reach Families on Mother’s Day
I’ve been telling people forever that Mother’s Day can a huge day for your church if you promote it correctly. Mother’s Day has historically been our 2nd highest attended Sunday of the year (2nd only to Easter). I hear from Pastors all the time who are asking what they can do to make Mother’s Day big. So I complied 4.5 simple things we do that you can easily implement at your church to make Mother’s Day a very effective outreach day. #1 – Invite everyone who came on Easter to Mother’s Day We write a letter to everyone who attended on Easter … Read More
