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My wife and I recently relocated to the Lake Cumberland area in Bronston, Kentucky. We love our new home, new friends and the lake isn’t bad either. But there are a few things I miss about our previous home. For example, I miss our large deck that was surrounded by huge oak trees. The oaks provided plenty of shade in the summer, but they also provided something else… squirrels. During the first few years we lived there, they weren’t an issue. Fast forward several years and the squirrel population grew. After that, it didn’t take long to learn that squirrels could be a real nuisance, especially when they found their way into the attic. Fortunately for me, I didn’t have to get rid of them because the people who bought our house inherited the new fluffy-tailed family. Staff meetings are another place squirrels seem to invade and cause problems. Obviously I am not talking about the nut-eating animal who lives in the trees (and sometimes your attic). I am t...

Growing a church isn't easy. It takes dedication, hard work and good planning. Even though there are tons of books and blogs out there about it, many  churches  still struggle in  attracting new people.  Despite the latest greatest growth strategies, friends inviting friends is still the most effective way to bring new people to church. When people become intentional about bringing their unchurched friends to church, they get to witness life change up close and personal...and when that happens, the church moves into a culture of invite.  Here’s three things to help build an invite culture in your church:  Design a gospel-centered invite culture Determine  your invite platforms Develop  people to be path leaders  Creating the Design  A healthy invite culture must be designed around the why more than the what . When we focus on the  why , it removes us from the what and automatically answers the who ...

I have heard the word sick used in the context where it meant good or awesome . But in this case, we'll use it by it's true  origin . There’s nothing more frustrating than sick budgets. There are different levels of budget sickness. Some budgets have a weak cough; others are running a fever; and some are bleeding to death. I have worked with churches where Sunday offerings determined the weekly attitude of the team. The entire team rides the rollercoaster of emotions. Not a very healthy environment for anyone.  There are a lot of different reasons budgets get in trouble. Here are three common factors I see that contribute to  financial sickness. Too Little Talk I have heard pastors and leaders say, “We don’t talk about money in our church.” When I ask why, the reply is usually, “It makes people uncomfortable.” What’s even worse, some tie a theological string to it. The truth is, talking about money makes a lot of pastors uncomfortable because of pos...

  I am privileged to be a part of The Unstuck Group, where I have the opportunity to work with churches around the country. I get to meet wonderful people and hear great stories about how God is impacting lives through the ministries of the local church.   I primarily work with churches who have 500 or less in attendance, which is a totally different dynamic than the larger/mega churches The Unstuck Group normally work with. One major difference in working with smaller churches is the visibility of growth...or the lack thereof. For example, if five families leave a church that's averaging 1,200 people each weekend, it's unlikely their absence would be noticed the following Sunday. That's like throwing a stone into a lake; it makes a ripple, but very small. However, when five families drop out of a church that's running 120 people, that's like throwing a stone into a puddle. The following Sunday the pastor sees the empty space. T...

Some of my fondest memories as a boy were hanging out with my neighborhood friends. In those days we were influenced by movies like Rambo, (Sylvester Stallone) and Missing in Action (Chuck Norris). My friends and I spent hours in the woods, fighting invisible enemies with plastic guns. We were typical boys. There was hardly a day that went by that someone didn’t go home with a scrapped knee or bloody elbow.  When that somebody was me, I knew what to expect. My mom would wash the wound and then pour liquid hell on it. We called it, “the red stuff,” but the correct name was Merthiolate. If you’re my age or older and spent a lot of time playing outdoors, you probably know exactly what I am talking about. It was usually in a little brown bottle and lived in the medicine cabinet. And if you’ve ever had it applied to a cut, you can testify that the red stuff hurt much worse than the rock that scrapped your knee.  In the world of church, we don’t see a lot of scrappe...

Growth and impact doesn't come easy. It's hard work. In addition to the organizational challenges, the church also has to tend with a spiritual foe, who relentlessly tries to discourage the work of the gospel.  When leading churches through strategic planning, I ask them to identify the top risks that could slow down or stop growth and impact. While different churches identify different risks, there is one that usually makes it into the conversation, the lack of unity. Disunity is a risk. Dividing a church usually starts by dividing the team that's leading the church.  In Bible, the Psalmist talks about the beauty and importance of unity. He writes, Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity!  It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running on the collar of his robes! Psalms 133:1-2, ESV In this passage, we see four important pieces of unity t...

In Acts 3, we find Peter and John going to an afternoon prayer service at the temple. As they approach, they see a lame man at the gate. There, he sat and asked people for money as they walked by. When Peter and John came near, the lame man asked for an offering. Peter answered,  “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene,  get up and  walk!” (Acts 3:6, NLT)  The formerly crippled man's life was changed forever. He was healed.  While  this was probably the man's first Jesus experience , it wasn't his first begging experience.  He was 40 years old and was born crippled.  It's even likely he sat in the same spot for years.  In those days, most of the handicapped were totally dependent on the benevolence of others.  Over the years, I have thought about this story. I can see this guy sitting on the ground at the gate called Beautiful, week after week, year afte...