chaddhunt.com

 Momentum makes church exciting; it makes people excited. It's easy to see momentum building as churches approach big days. We saw this just a couple of months ago. Spring was in the air; Easter candy overtook the shelves at Wal-Mart; and people were inviting their friends and family to church in hopes of seeing their lives changed.  New faces showed up and there was a buzz in the air! It was as if the church drank a case of Red Bull!  Nearly  every church experiences this energy rush during big days like Easter, Christmas, Mother’s Day and the first Sunday after New Year’s Day. Pastors live for these days...and then summer shows up.     Unfortunately the weeks after Easter usually don’t carry the same excitement. Most of the people who showed up for Easter don’t come back. Church people aren’t inviting people anymore because, well, Easter is over and the eggs have all been found.  Hot sunny days, vacations and the lake becomes our new com...

Creating A Healthy Team Environment  0 BY  CHAD HUNT   ON JUNE 27, 2015 OTHER I am passionate about working with churches and leaders. I love watching light bulbs come on as pastors discover God’s plan for their churches. Even though I typically go in as the teacher, I seldom ever leave a church without learning something that helps me lead my own church better. Earlier this year, I had the privilege to work through the  StratOp Process  with  New Song Fellowship Church  in Valparaiso, Indiana. We spent the weekend together building a strategic plan to increase their Gospel impact. During the process, one thing really stood out to me: This church seemed to have an exceptionally healthy staff team environment. I sat and listened as each one was completely honest about what was working, what wasn’t and what needed to be fixed. While some of the conversations had the potential to hit a nerve, they never did because each person on the...

I remember very vividly the day my sixteen year old daughter had her tonsils removed. I believe my wife and I were more nervous than she was. We sat in the hospital room, listening to the doctor explain the procedure, that ended with the promise of lots of ice cream. That morning, it seemed like the ultimate goal was to "get through this" and then everything would be ok. However, we learned very quickly the surgery was, in some ways, the easy part; the recovery room was where the most pain and anguish was experienced...pain that ice cream didn't seem to help.  This same principle is true when it comes to spiritual surgery. As a pastor, I have learned that God is always "cutting things" out of our lives that interfere with our relationship with him. Sometimes our surgeries are followed with little or no recovery, as if having a mole removed; like when God convicts us for being belligerent with someone. After repenting and offering an apology to the o...

   Attracting unchurched people should be the goal of every church. Churches who have contemporary worship and a modern  facility  typically  attract new people on a regular basis; but what's the secret to get them to return next week? The bottom line is, it’s not enough to be attractional. Lights and modern music will attract unchurched people, but it won't bring them back. There's lots of ways to get people to a building (Easter, children's programs, etc); that's the easy part. Getting them to come back is harder.     First time guests are handled in various ways. Most churches hand off a visitor’s card and a gift, like a t-shirt or coffee mug. However, if we take a look at this common strategy, we will quickly learn that t- shirts and coffee mugs aren’t causing people to come back...if they were, churches would be full and t-shirt and coffee mug companies would be making bank. Gifts are nice, but gifts do not  create an experience, and tha...

    My favorite books of the Bible are the gospels. In them, we discover who God really is by looking at Jesus' life. When we see the heart of Jesus, we see the heart of the Almighty God. Jesus showed us compassion, mercy and truth. He also showed us things that made him disgusted...one of those things being the local temple.    The story begins with Jesus and the disciples entering Jerusalem. It was a very busy time, as the passover was being celebrated. People from all around were making their way into Jerusalem to offer sacrifices at the temple. Jesus went into the temple himself. The Bible says " After looking around carefully at everything, he left because it was late afternoon ..." (Mark 11:11). In other words, Jesus came in to inspect what was going on.     The next day is when the story gets interesting...even a little confusing. Jesus and the disciples got up that morning and was heading back to the temple. On the way, Jesu...

    Most pastors agree his number one job in the local church is to "grow the church" by making disciples. Church growth takes more than relevant sermon series and strong home groups; it also takes another vital ingredient... growing leaders and leadership . One of the greatest responsibilities of pastors and leaders in the church is reproducing themselves. When leaders stop raising up leaders, a growth barrier is just around the corner. Why? Because your church can only grow as large as your leadership; and as talented as you are, your leadership alone cannot sustain consistent growth. Church growth is synonymous with growing your own leadership and raising up new leaders.      This is one of the reasons (not the only reason) most rural churches in America tap out around 80 people. In this scenario, the pastor is typically the only one leading. A decent leader can consistently lead around 80-100 people well. When a church begins...

    One of the greatest challenges in church is raising up church leaders. This topic comes up at nearly every speaking engagement I participate in. Most statistics show that only about 3-6% of people in an organization are strong leaders; that's a small basket to pick from.       When we think about those stats, we need to remember one thing; the 3-6% are only strong leaders because someone poured into them. While I agree, some people are born with extraverted and/or proactive personalities, the reality is, leaders are not born, they are raised up. So the question is, how do we raise up leaders in the church...especially a church who reaches unchurched people?    I believe the answer is clear; and most importantly...its gospel.     The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field . Matth...