According to the Social Security Administration, the oldest male name in the United States is Elmer, with a median age of 66. I want to make a point about how younger pastors relate to older generations in the church, so I’ll use Elmer as my example. Let me tell you about two Elmers. Both are close to being octogenarians. Both are grumpy. Neither want their church to change. If you were to wipe the dust off the library bookshelves, then Elmer One and Elmer Two would remind you it was there before Read more [...]
People talk. They talk behind your back. They talk about you. They talk about your leadership decisions. It’s normative. Expect it. And don’t call this talk gossip. Most of the time it’s not. If you’re a leader, then you probably lean towards being a control freak. It’s expected. Laissez-faire leaders don’t typically last long. In many ways, leadership is simply interference with the status quo. When people talk, you want to shape the conversation. That’s healthy. That’s leadership. What Read more [...]
This column originally appeared in a local magazine in the region where I pastor. Last month I began writing a regular column for the magazine. At times, I’ll post them on this blog. I have vague memories of “stealing” from the church pantry as a child. My father tasked me and my two brothers with grabbing a couple of items. I probably went for peanut butter and SpaghettiO’s. We were poor, living in the heart of the densest county in Florida. My dad was the pastor of the church. Few in Read more [...]
Is your church healthy or not? It’s a difficult question to answer. When people ask, I often reply, “What is your definition of ‘healthy?’” There are many metrics that point to—or signal—the health of a congregation. If attendance has declined for 50 years and the church has not baptized anyone in 10 years, then the likelihood of that church being unhealthy is high. But a fast-growing church may or may not be healthy. Defining church health is a bit of a moving target. As most established Read more [...]
Not every church leader will face a vision-crushing blow. But they exist. They hurt like a heavy-weight sucker punch. You didn’t see it coming, and it was hard like an Acme anvil. Church leaders (especially us pastors) can overreact. We can cry wolf when it’s just sheep around. There are cases, however, when one event jars everything loose, when something unforeseen grinds the church to a halt. The vision stops. No one moves. How do you respond when your church experiences collective blackout? Read more [...]
She was adamant about going through with the baptism. I tried to convince her to put it off a week. The heating element in the baptistery had gone out. It was January. The morning’s temperature was somewhere below zero. It wasn’t a crisis, but it felt like it. We spent the Bible study hour boiling water and pouring it into the fiberglass pool, pot by pot. The effort helped. At least some of the chunks of ice melted. The church gasped with her when she came up out of the water. Leadership Read more [...]
Followers can bring distractions to leaders. A few years ago, I received a phone call I’ll never forget. It was someone telling me a prominent and faithful church member had died suddenly. He was a doctor, well-respected in the community. The town was already talking about his passing. We huddled together as a staff. We prayed. We began to grieve. We ordered flowers. Then we called his office to find out how we could serve them: “We’re praying for you all during this time.” “Uh, thanks, Read more [...]
The best follower is not always compliant. It may seem counterintuitive, but no leader should want complete compliance all the time. Such a situation produces zero accountability. Orders are given. Orders are followed. No questions asked. That works so long as the order-giver is perfect. Most of us would last less than a day. Since leaders are fallible, followers must be given an opportunity to hold the leader accountable, while at the same time respecting the leadership role. The best followers Read more [...]
I’ve had a few dramatic stumbles when I stand quickly, only to realize one of my legs has mysteriously fallen asleep. The numbness makes it feel like the leg has suddenly gone missing, only to give sharp tingling reminders that it indeed is still there. A foot, arm, or leg falls asleep because of too much pressure over a period of time. This pressure cuts off nerves and arteries, and signals stop going to the brain. The asleep member is still there; it’s just not communicating anymore. And Read more [...]
My Facebook news feed recently captured several images of gas pump prices. Ubiquitous posts of ubiquitous subjects are nothing new to social media images. Purchasing gas below $3 per gallon, however, was worthy of a little celebration. So I clicked like. I’m not old (relatively). But I do remember buying hard copies of music in brick-and-mortar stores. I can also remember buying gas below $1 per gallon—back in the days when maps were folded in the glove compartment. I miss the gas prices. Read more [...]
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