Archives For Pastors

Taking the Cult Out of Culture Part 2 – Explain the Why Behind the What

April 30, 2012 — 2 Comments

As a leader one of the most valuable practices you implement for your emerging leaders is to systematically explain the why behind the what.

We’ve all probably heard the story of the scientific experiment about the monkeys, banana, and water.

Five monkeys are locked in a cage, a banana was hung from the ceiling and a ladder was placed right underneath it.  As predicted, immediately, one of the monkeys would race towards the ladder, to grab the banana. However, as soon as he would start to climb, the researcher would spray the monkey with ice-cold water. But here’s the kicker – he would also spray the other four monkeys. When a second monkey tried to climb the ladder, the researcher would again spray all the monkeys with the cold water. This was repeated again and again until they learned their lesson – climbing equals a spray of cold water for everyone, so no one climbs the ladder.
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Pastor – What are you sowing?

March 30, 2011 — Leave a comment


I think most pastors have seen the law of sowing and reaping at work in the lives of people who make up their church.  Most pastors probably have memorized

2 Corinthians 9:6
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

And

Galatians 6:7-9

7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

But I wonder if sometimes there’s a disconnect in our preaching of these verses and what our organizations and we personally actually practice. Consider this, if we feel that our churches are not as generous as what we observe in scripture, could it be because as pastors we are not being as generous as we ought with the seed we are sowing.

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Your Church Pet Peeves

March 2, 2011 — 1 Comment

The local church is the hope of the world! Many others have said that before and I believe that statement is true, in context. Because really Jesus is THE hope and the church is His bride. The church is not THE hope but part of the Hope’s plan of redemption.

With that in mind it is natural that He is passionate about the church and so should His people be. That’s probably why I got a lot of passionate responses from people when I recently asked on Twitter, “what are your pet peeves about church?” (The responses I received were from people who want to see the church at it’s best – not just ripping on church.)

I can’t saying that I agree with or even know the full context of everything on the list. However, I do know that is healthy to get feedback from people in order to see and address blind spots we may have as leaders. With that in mind here are some of the responses I received.

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Seven Deadly Sins of Christian Fund Raising

March 1, 2011 — Leave a comment

Scott Rodin, author of “The Sower,” has a great list of what NOT to do when it comes to fund raising. In his list of the Seven Deadly Sins of Christian Fund Raising, #4 really stood out to me – The Unwillingness to Invest the Time. I think this is a major trap for pastors when it comes to building a culture of generosity. But look why Scott says leaders must be willing to invest the time:

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