Matthew | August 31, 2010
It seems that every preacher goes through these seasons of preaching. Maybe not, but I do. For months you will have great sermon ideas, a ton of them, and you will write some of them down, and you will be excited to preach them. It seems that you will never get to that next great [...]
Matthew | August 30, 2010
It seems that some people can never admit they are wrong. No matter what, some people will defend themselves, only look at the situation through their eyes, or just pridefully ignore reality. My mentor always told me to be quick to repent or humble yourself. People do not realize the nature of humility. In situation [...]
Matthew | August 27, 2010
Goals in churches are important. If a church selects the wrong goal, everything else will go wrong in a congregation. One of the goals that seems to be satisfying in congregation, which might be good in some aspects, but misses the divine mark of the church is the idea that congregations are striving to be [...]
Matthew | August 24, 2010
This book was hard to get. I wanted to own it, but on Amazon it was 99 dollars for a used copy. This is too much money for a little book. The sad reality is that the book is out of print, so even the range station at Longs Peak did not have a copy. [...]
Matthew | August 23, 2010
The momentum cycle is a powerful dynamic in a congregation. The way that this cycle is turning can have a long lasting impact on a church. There are few congregations that have no discernible direction to the momentum. Most congregations are turning either in a positive or negative cycle. If one can manage this turning, [...]
Matthew | August 19, 2010
A friend of mine gave me some advice this week on an opportunity that was presented to me. He had some wise advice, but mostly it boiled down to you are going to get criticized if you do and if you do not. This made me think through my value system. Then it moved to [...]
Matthew | August 17, 2010
I have really enjoyed Willimon’s writings on preaching. He focuses on the post liberal style which is fun to preach. Also, I feel that this is a good combination of the style and truth of preaching. You must use various elements of style while allowing the word of God to be intrusive. You are “bringing [...]
Matthew | August 16, 2010
I always feel that the attitude of a leader will influence the congregation. This goes for the eldership and the ministers. If those people that appear to be leading the flock have a negative attitude towards the future of the congregation than this attitude will prevail throughout the church. Right now, I feel the most [...]
Matthew | August 12, 2010
Congregations can get into habits. Certain ministries can take place every year with each passing year the ministry is losing effectiveness. After a while, these ministries become scared cows in the church. You do not dare to stop them because of the backlash in the church. So instead of flowing work into good ministries, the [...]
Matthew | August 11, 2010
This was a good quick read. It dealt with how to establish relationships. It provides five major connectors that are in the majority of friendships. Some of these are just natural, but having the knowledge of them is helpful. In a people business, having these skills, or maybe the knowledge of these skills can be [...]
