The Brain and Successful Church Change: 11 Insights you need to know
Wise leaders carefully manage church change. Healthy church management includes not just the bird’s eye view (big picture implications) but also considers the individual view, what’s going on inside the individual church member or leader when you, as the leader, present change. Neuroscience offers helpful insight about unconscious processes that go on inside our brains
Disapproval in the Church: What a Pastor can Do
Serving as a pastor brings many joys as well as headaches and hurts. One of the biggest hurts comes when others disapprove of us. Neuroscientists have discovered that a disapproving look from a person physically hurts. A disapproving facial expression stirs up the flight-fight part of our brain and heightens anxiety, even more than an angry
24 Words that Define a Leader’s Job
In this short post I suggest 24 words that define a leader’s job. Vision casting Problem solving Giving feedback Rewarding staff Influencing others Recruiting leaders Developing people Developing systems Communicating well Delegating workload Relationship building Establishing priorities What would you add to this list? What’s your strongest area? What needs more attention? Related post: 3
Hymns in a Contemporary Church: Bury them or Resurrect them?
Several years ago I attended an old fashioned Gospel sing at a church near our home. It was out of my comfort zone because the last 30 plus years I’ve served in churches that primarily used contemporary worship music in their services. Yet, from toddler age through college I attended churches that primarily used hymns. When
Are your Sermons Falling Flat? Is this Why?
Every week in North America, pastors preach upwards of 400,000 sermons. That excludes Bible studies taught by hundreds of thousands of Sunday school teachers and small group leaders. I’ve delivered in excess of 1,500 sermons and bible studies myself. But what difference have they made in people’s lives? Do they mostly fall flat? I suppose I
Six Ways to Encourage your Pastor
Being a pastor is a high calling, yet pastors often face loneliness and discouragement. Surprisingly, some surveys reveal that up to 80% of pastors face regular discouragement in ministry. If that statistic even remotely reflects reality, then your pastor probably needs your encouragement. Yet, it seems so rare. The influential writer Henry Nouwen even wrote
What do Toilet Repairs and Leadership Composure have in Common?
I learned a lesson about leadership composure from an unlikely source. Several years ago I had scheduled a plumber to fix minor leaks in some toilets in our home as we prepared to sell our house. My wife was to meet the plumber in my absence and give him the instructions I had given her. At about
Personal Identity: Three Probing Questions Pastors should Ask Themselves
Some time back I sat in a local McDonalds working on one of my books on a section on personal identity. I had set my iPhone to remind me to pause and be still each day at 10am and 3pm. I don’t always stop, but that day I did and read a portion of Pete Scazzaro’s book, Emotionally
Critics: Stay Away or Draw Close to Them?
Criticism hurts, especially the non-constructive kind. We tend to stay away from such critics. But is that the wisest choice? Should we draw close to them instead of pulling away from them? In this post I explore the idea of not shunning your critics. Murray Bowen, the father of family systems, coined the phrase “non-anxious
Energy Drinks for the Busy Pastor: Good or Bad?
Long before Red Bull was introduced to America in 1987 (and the plethora of energy drinks that followed,) caffeine had become the most widely used stimulant in the world. Over 90% of Americans drink coffee and slightly over half average three cups each day. Caffeine is now added to soft drinks, bottled water, gum, and
