– Awesome day at Calvary! – We did 1 combined service today and it was great! – I love doing combined services on days that are generally low attended. It turns a low day into a win for the church. – I taught a prophecy update from Ezekiel 38. Lots of excitement about the message – I normally teach for 40-45 minutes. Today I taught for over 75 minutes :) – The amazing part is that no one moved. People were really into the message. – Next week we're kicking off a topical series called "The Blessed Life". I'm really … Read More
Signs of Health
I am firm believer that one of the signs of a healthy church is the ability to raise up staff and leaders from within your church. When a church has to consistently look to other churches to supply them with quality staff, it shows a lack of health. Let's be honest, discipleship is hard work. Leadership development is hard work and that's why many leaders don't want to do it. Developing leaders isn't an area of ministry that's going to scream for your attention… until you hit a leadership crisis. Once you realize you're short on leaders, it's too … Read More
Maybe it isn’t deep enough
I hear Pastors talk a lot about church people who leave because the teaching "Isn't deep enough". I know sometimes church people are fickle and leave for many reasons (but they say "the teaching isn't deep enough" because it sounds spiritual). But here's my challenge to Pastors: Is your teaching deep enough? Do you ever go beyond the basics to teach people the things that mature them in Christ? I scan the website of churches all over the country and what I see (quite honestly) is a lot of fluff. Lots of pop culture series titles, lots of copycat stuff, … Read More
Sunday Stuff… (Monday Edition)
– Awesome day at Calvary! – I taught Judges 16 as we explored the tragic end to the life of Samson – Samson is such a mixed bag. He finally "got it" at the end of his life, but it's a shame that he didn't get it until the very end – The band sounded great. – I loved the fact that they have been incorporating Christmas songs in their own style. – Only 2 weeks of Judges. Can't believe how fast its gone. – Looking forward to doing a prophecy update on January 2nd. We'll be talking about Ezekiel … Read More
Q and A: New Believer s are falling through the cracks!
This is a question that I get in various forms every month. The #1 reason new believers fall through the cracks is because there's no clear system that leads the new believer to next logical step. Sometimes there is a next step, but it's such a big step that the new believer is afraid to take it (i.e. attend a small group after on being at the church twice). Following up with new believers is something we need to be experts as church leaders. That's why I'm leading a tele-seminar tomorrow (Wednesday December 8th) at 1PM EST called, "Connecting New … Read More
Sunday Stuff… (Monday Edition)
– Great day at Calvary! – It felt great to be back. – I love helping other churches, but my first passion is being the Pastor at Calvary. – I taught Judges 15 and we celebrated communion. Awesome time! – The band sounded great. I'm always blown way by them when I've been out for a while – I've been sick for the last 8 days or so. I feel OK to do some normal activity and then I et really tired. – I taught both services (even though I sounded like a chain smoker with my coughing and hacking), … Read More
A Tele-Seminar, a Free Report, and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
2 things I want to share with to this morning: 1. I'm leading a tele-seminar on December 8th (1 weeks from today) called, "Connecting New Believers". With Christmas around the corner, we need to be ready to follow up with those who decide to follow Jesus during our Christmas outreaches. I'm going to lay out the system we use for following up with new believers. We've seen over 1,000 people make first time decisions at Calvary in the last 18 months, so this is an area of strength for us. I want it to be an area of strength for … Read More
Is Your Church Healthy? Free Report
I just got done writing a brand new special report called, "Is your church healthy?" In it, I talk about the 6 pillars that leaders need to establish for a church to be healthy. I have found in churches that I work with, when a church is unhealthy it's because one of these 6 things is either missing or out of whack. You can get the free report here.
5 Insights for Promoting Christmas Eve
With Christmas Eve around the corner and lots of churches planning to do direct mail, I thought I'd share 5 things about effective direct mail that was NOT in the direct mail piece I received at my house yesterday: 1. It wasn't in English (even though I speak Spanish fluently, English is still my first language) 2. There were 5 dates on this postcard (it was letting me know the title of every week of the series and the date they would be taught). Instead, give me the big picture of the series, write copy that will pique my curiosity … Read More
Sunday Stuff… (Monday Edition)
– First thing: I think Sunday Stuff will be posted on Mondays. I'm too busy on Sunday afternoons to post this, so it will coming to you on Mondays. – Yesterday was a great day at Calvary! – I taught a message called "Unsung Heroes" on the judges we don't know much about. – Technically, I covered Judges 9:1-10:6; 12:8-15 – I purposely skipped over Jephthah, since we'll be covering him this Sunday – I love talking about obscure Bible characters. I find it challenging, since there's very few commentaries on them. – Funny enough, I've gotten 2 requests for … Read More
