Blog

Reinventing Our Mission

I attend and serve in a small rural Alliance church in Iowa. While our town looks very much like it was an inspiration for one of Norman Rockwell’s paintings, looks are deceiving. Drugs run rampant in our little town. Brokenness and trauma mark nearly every family and person in this town of 5,500 people.  Our…
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I’m Back

This week, Lori and I got back into the swing of things in the Rocky Mountain District.  We are thankful for a few months of sabbatical where we enjoyed a wonderful time away with the Lord, our family and our beautiful country. We had the privilege at Christmas to see most of our kids and grandchildren.  We…
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Five Aspects of Local Church Missions

Jesus gave us the commandment to make disciples of all peoples and consequently the Church (including your church) has been pursuing that goal ever since. Therefore, it’s helpful for us to be able to step back and ask the question, “How are we doing?” While there are a number of different lenses through which we…
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Confession of a Recovering Chronic Overthinker

I’ll admit it, I’m a chronic over-thinker. I spend way too much time overthinking. Sometimes, I overthink about really good things like, “What do these kids need to know about Jesus deep in their beings that will keep them walking with Him forever?” Other times, I overthink about really dumb things like, “If I paint…
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Community Building

Shockingly, visitors decide whether or not they will return to your church WITHIN THE FIRST ELEVEN MINUTES of arriving (Mancini).  That’s before the service starts, before your worship team is up, and long before you begin your message. When you consider the hours spent on practicing the worship sets, on message prep, on AV presentations, perhaps it would be worth spending…
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Monday Motivation: Seven Essential Strategies Every Church Needs

Have you had those Mondays when you sit in your office and wonder if all your efforts are really helping your church be the Church, as the Bible defines it? Have you felt like busyness has consumed energy, but you weren’t sure it was energy toward the right direction? Here is a system you can…
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Conviction, Strategy, and Reaching Our Judea and Samaria

Well, it’s now mid-February, which means that a large percentage of the new gym members who signed up January 1st have stopped going and are getting ready to cancel their memberships. While this is typically a bit of a joke among gym regulars, I find it a bit sad. Everyone one of those new members signed…
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All You Need is Love (God’s Love)

Did you know that all kids grow up with an understanding that love has conditions? The love they receive is often directly related to what they do (or don’t do), what they say (or don’t say), or what they believe (or don’t believe). The simple fact of that matter is, that while we as Christ…
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7 Year-End Administrative Items You Can’t Forget

At the end of a calendar year it’s easy to forget important church administrative tasks because, well, they only happen once a year.  Here is a quick list of the most common items* that every church will need to ensure are handled as they move into 2021. W2s.  All church employees, including pastors, should receive a W2.  Because…
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Make Me Know the Way I Should Go

I’m big on goals (more about that here) and I bet you are, too. After a year like we just had, one might be tempted to throw up hands and not bother to make goals 2021. Sure, 2020 was not what any of us predicted, but many people accomplished more than we expected to. And we…
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