Those of you that read this blog on a regular basis know that I love the Red Sox more than a well-adjusted adult should. But something happened happened yesterday in Red Sox Nation that I believe can encourage us as Pastors and leaders to do something that we already know. The new co-general managers of the Red Sox were hired from within the organization, even though the Sox ownership interviewed many people with tons of experience from other teams. Why did they stay in-house with 2 guys that are 31 & 32 years old respectively? Because “They understand the type … Read More

I just got back from having dinner with Alex McManus from Mosaic in Los Angeles.  Myself and 4 other Pastors met Alex at Larios on Miami Beach.  The food was good and the conversation was great!  Alex talked to us about some of what God is doing in other parts of the world and his vision to establish a mentoring network in Miami.  His belief is that Miami is the capital of Latin America and our city could become a "Hive" to train Pastors and church planters to reach the Spanish speaking world.  It was great to meet with Alex … Read More

Tony McCollum continues to knock the ball out of the park with another great post about encouragement.  This is so huge.  Check it out here.  And if you don’t have Tony in your Bloglines, what are you waiting for?

"On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"  (John 6:60) There’s times in the life of your church when it’s time to comfort and other times when you have to give a hard teaching.  Sunday was one of those times when I had to give the hardest message I have ever had to give.  I had to talk about apathy and complacency.  I talked about what it really means to put God first and to walk with Jesus.  We talked about laying down our gods and giving God all of us … Read More

Perry’s post today…WOW! 

Sunday morning was a weird experience for me. When I don’t teach on Sunday, it’s usually because I’m either on vacation or teaching somewhere else. But today I wasn’t teaching and I just went to church. I did this a month ago but today I sat in the audience with my wife for the entire service. I hadn’t done that in a while! But it was an interesting experience. I documented all the stuff I hadn’t seen in my Treo for discussion in our Wednesday morning Staff meeting. Try it sometime. It’s interesting to see what those who attend your … Read More

Greg has a great post today about his experience with Rick Warren and an important lesson we all need to learn.  check it out here…

As I mentioned previously about how we budget, I got several requests to e-mail our guidelines. I’ve posted them here so you can download them and use them. Let me give you a couple of tips that we use in preparing a yearly budget: #1 – Be realistic – I know you’re sure that outreach event is going to take your church from 200 to 2,000 in just one week, but why not look at your past and say, “We’ve grown by 25% each year, I think we can expect the same this upcoming year.” #2 – Consider the church’s … Read More

Attention Pastors: This Sunday (The one after Thanksgiving) is the lowest attended church service of the year in the United States. This is a great weekend to take off. I’m not teaching. I’m thinking about checking out another church and seeing what’s happening somewhere else to get some ideas. So find someone to fill in and enjoy a weekend off. The best part is that 1/2 your church will be out and they won’t even realize you were gone… We have always used this weekend to break in a new teacher into the mix. It’s low pressure since there aren’t … Read More

I was reading up on my favorite artist, John Mayer, and came across a quote that stopped me in my tracks. In speaking about his live performances, he said, “There’s a deep responsibility to move every last soul in the room.” When we prepare a series or I’m putting together my Sunday message that is my aim, to move every last soul in the room. Where do we want to move them? For everyone, it’s different. For some, it’s to consider starting the journey with God. For others, it’s to deepen their level of commitment to God and experience Him … Read More