A New and Improved Blog

Sam Rainer

Well, it’s at least new. Let me introduce a few of the changes.

New location. I started this site in 2006 when Outreach magazine contacted me about being a blogger. I was an avid blog reader at the time, so I was honored to be among the original four bloggers for their magazine. I was also a bi-vocational pastor then, working in the energy futures industry. I just knew God was going to keep me in the corporate world while I pastored small and struggling established churches. Things change, and God laughs.

I’ve decided to keep all the older posts from the original WordPress blog at the new SamRainer.com location. And if you subscribed to the old blog via email or RSS feed, everything should transition seamlessly.

Different look. The old blog design screamed mid-2000s because I never took the time to change it. With the help of a friend (who does great work), the new blog is more up to date. I was aiming for a simple design with a bright look. So teal blue it is.

Refined focus. The name of the old blog was “Church Forward,” and the focus was helping congregations move towards better church health. Much of the early content emphasized research findings and their impact on the local church. As I’ve grown as a pastor (hopefully, I still am), I have included more leadership theories as well.

The new tagline “Practical.Biblical.Leadership.” refers to a more refined focus. The goal of the new blog is to give practical insights from research and leadership theories for the everyday church most people attend. I also aim to connect current leadership theories and research with the biblical foundation on which all churches should rest.

Though I hope any person can glean insights from this blog, my primary audience is established church leaders. Established churches are those congregations with a history in a given community. These churches typically have set (or established) programming, staff structures, budgets, and buildings. Of the 400,000 or so churches in North America, most of them are established. If that is your church, then my goal is to serve you through this blog.