When I arrived at my church, I had a few surprises early in my tenure. Unfortunately, one thing did not surprise me – the membership roll and the active body were imbalanced. Such is the trend in too many churches today. In my own denomination, 16 million people are claimed as members, yet only 7 million attend church on any given Sunday. Somewhere along the way, we forgot that membership matters. Our church is no different. In fact, we are one of the worst offenders. Our membership was inflated Read more [...]

It’s 65° and the sun is shining! Spring break has come to Southern Indiana. My wife, who is a teacher, decided to use her break to go with one of our mission teams down to New Orleans to continue with the rebuilding effort. In fact, our entire staff is down there, with the exception of me. So I’m all by myself [insert corny, sappy song here] this week at the church and at home. Needless to say, it’s been a slow, weird week at the office. And I’ve avoided going home to an empty house. Eight Read more [...]

Ellison Research recently released a study on how Americans view sin. Lynn Grossman of USA Today writes an excellent report utilizing the research on the notion of sin. Below is one quote from her piece: Topping the list are adultery (81%) and racism (74%). But other sins no longer draw majority condemnation. Premarital sex? Only 45% call it sin. Gambling? Just 30% say it's sinful. "A lot of this is relative. We tend to view sin not as God views it, but how we view it," says Ellison president Ron Read more [...]

Another snippet from my book, Essential Church?, and a conference I spoke at yesterday in Orlando: If we create fun activities for students they will stay…right? Wrong! Many churches fall into the trap of thinking games and other activities will keep youth in the church. Indeed, these types of events may help attract students from the community who do not know Christ, but they do not help to assimilate the students who have been in the church for a period of time. Our research has revealed that Read more [...]

Although today was beautiful, the past few weeks have brought some brutal winter weather to Southern Indiana, including a 15-inch snowstorm. And yes, I just happened to be scheduled to fly the day of the storm, but I eventually got to where I needed to go. Needless to say, my truck is desperate for a wash. It’s black, but right now it looks like a two-tone gray from all the salt leftovers. Today, a church member thought they’d take advantage of my filthy truck for a practical joke. On the driver’s Read more [...]