Lean Church Staff

April 15, 2010

I’m tempted to make a joke about pastors and potlucks, but I think I’ll pass… By lean staff, I’m referring to how much of the budget a church allocates to personnel costs. How much should a church allot to paid staff? It’s a great research question. The Leadership Network and Your Church magazine released results from a survey they conducted on this subject. Here’s a few of their findings: Lean-staffed churches averaged 1 paid staff member per 86 attenders compared to a 1-to-70 ratio Read more [...]

NOC2010: Don't Miss It!

April 14, 2010

The National Outreach Convention—or “NOC”—is one of the largest annual gatherings in the US focusing on one simple question: how do we reach more with the message of the gospel? It’s a 3-day experience full of practical and innovative teaching from some of the top church leaders and experts. If it’s germane to the church today, then it’s covered at the NOC. Topics this year include assimilation, community transformation, church planting, multi-ethnic outreach, ideation, digital strategies, Read more [...]

Millennials: One Major Difference from the Boomers

April 13, 2010

The Pew Research Center released the following comparison between the Boomer generation and the Millennial generation: If one were to assume that the Millennial generation, like the famously-large Baby Boomer generation, encompasses everyone born over an 18-year span, the two generations would be about equal in size (77 million). However, this is not because fertility rates in recent times have been especially high -- they were about 70% higher during the baby boom from 1946 to 1964 -- but because Read more [...]

Staffing the Church in 2020

March 25, 2010

The latest issue of Church Executive recently hit the stands. It has some great articles in it—you can subscribe here. Below is an excerpt from my article in the issue. If your church remains healthy, then the staff structure will probably look much different in 2020 than it does right now. Church leaders will work for long periods of time to implement new visions for their congregations. They will labor for years to simplify the structures of their churches. They will lead their churches to Read more [...]

Kids These Days

March 22, 2010

I am self-conscious about using the term “kid.” I served for two years at a church where a loving member would adamantly correct me when I used the word in a sermon. “Kids are baby goats. We have children, NOT kids!” She would chastise me every time. It seriously upset her. But what about kids children these days? Excerpts from two separate research projects caught my attention. The first is from the Perspectives on Psychological Science Journal (reported by UPI): Today's teens are no Read more [...]

Leaving a Local Legacy

March 11, 2010

No one knows Sam Rainer, Sr.—at least outside of Union Springs, AL. My grandfather was the mayor of the town and president of the local bank. He didn’t write books. He didn’t have speaking engagements. I don’t think he ever did a radio interview. He just poured his life into the town my grandmother endearingly called “Onion Sprouts” (she never told us why). The Lord took him home in 1984, but his legacy remains. He was a war hero who flew D-Day. He sided with civil rights activists in Read more [...]

I Want to Be an Old Man Some Day

March 7, 2010

I want to be an old man some day. My wife’s friends called me “old man Sam” when we started dating, but it doesn’t count. I am older than her, but not that much older. At 30, however, I think I’m more in the younger category than older. So one day I want to be an old man. One with lots of stories. I look up to the older guys in my church. We young guys need to. There are a few things that I pray don’t disappear with the older generation. There are amazing stories to be told. And stuff Read more [...]

How to do a Guided Prayer

February 27, 2010

I recently blogged on baby dedications, and I mentioned we do them during our guided prayer time in the worship service. A pastor posted a few questions about our guided prayer, and I’ll answer them in this blog. Here’s what he asked: I am interested in your guided prayer time. We are having a problem as we are a quickly growing church and have lots of events and activities added to our schedule every week. We have gotten to the point that every ministry wants to make some sort of announcement. Read more [...]

Dear Maggie

February 15, 2010

Below is a letter to my daughter—arrival date June 28th—that I included in our church’s weekly newsletter. I thought I might share it with you as well. Dear Maggie, We can’t wait for you to arrive! I love you so much. Mom loves you. And our church family loves you. In many ways, you are already blessed. You will be born into a family that loves Jesus, supported by another family—First Baptist Church Murray—that loves Jesus too. You will be born into a great community in a great nation Read more [...]

How to Do a Baby Dedication

February 9, 2010

Most of you may know from my Twitter and Facebook updates that I’m going to be the dad of a little girl. Maggie Elizabeth is expected to arrive in this world on June 28th! My wife and I could not be more excited. I’m mentally preparing for a new world of pink and purple. I grew up in a household of boys, so I’m one of those clueless, first-time dads. One of the joys of pastoring is dedicating children to the Lord. It will be special day when Erin and I get to dedicate Maggie. A child dedication Read more [...]