Subscribe to RSS feeds
Categories
Index (4,154)
Adult Bible Classes (703)
1 Corinthians (109)
- 1 John (19)
- 1 Kings (1)
- 1 Samuel (12)
- 2 Samuel (11)
- Acts (46)
- Amazing Grace (69)
- Apologetics (52)
- Blue Parakeet (29)
- Creation 2.0 (36)
- Faith Lessons by Ray Vander Laan (51)
- Galatians (35)
- John (140)
- Luke (2)
- Psalms (1)
- Revelation (16)
- Sermon on the Mount (42)
- The Story (36)
- Bible Study Resources (39)
- Blogging (7)
- Book Reviews (349)
- Church Refugees (11)
- Covenant: God's Purpose, God's Plan (7)
- Gordon Wenham’s Story as Torah: Reading the Old Testament Narrative Ethically (7)
- Honor & Shame, by Roland Muller (3)
- How God Became King (3)
- John Nugent’s Endangered Gospel (9)
- Kingdom Conspiracy by Scot McKnight (21)
- Misreading Scriptures with Western Eyes (14)
- Muscle & Shovel, by Michael Shank (32)
- N. T. Wright's After You Believe (5)
- N. T. Wright's The Day the Revolution Began (108)
- Naked Gospel, The (5)
- NT Wright's Surprised by Scripture (1)
- Paul and the Faithfulness of God (22)
- Sitting at the Feet of the Rabbi Jesus (3)
- The Advantage, by Patrick Lencioni (24)
- The Case for the Psalms, by N. T. Wright (4)
- The Death of the Messiah and the Birth of the New Covenant, by Michael J. Gorman (7)
- To Change the World (17)
- Vines: God and the Gay Christian (6)
- Christian Disciplines (27)
- Christian Evidences/Apologetics (62)
- Archaeology (7)
- Scientific Creationism (17)
- Church & Politics (50)
- Church Finances and Business (44)
- Taxes (13)
- Church of Christ Doctrinal Issues (647)
- Age of Accountability (17)
- Assembly 2.0 (13)
- Christmas (7)
- Church of Christ Deism (16)
- Congregational Autonomy and Mergers (22)
- Denominationalism (2)
- Discipline (6)
- Divorce and Remarriage (72)
- Ecclesiology (24)
- Church 2.0 (22)
- Communion (2)
- Deacons (5)
- Fork in the Road (115)
- Instrumental Music (129)
- Real Restoration (52)
- Real Worship (32)
- Renewing Our Worship (52)
- Role of Women (91)
- Sacramentalism (12)
- What Must be Preserved of the Churches of Christ? (25)
- Church Plants and Foreign Missions (56)
- Church Trends (67)
- Churches of Christ (246)
- Commenting (13)
- Communion Meditations (42)
- Counseling (1)
- Evangelism (1)
- Grace (206)
- Amazing Grace (103)
- Facing Our Failure (3)
- Faith That Works (24)
- GraceConversation.com (15)
- Hermeneutics (207)
- Holy Spirit and Providence (124)
- Jewish Roots of Christianity (6)
- Leadership (491)
- Adult Bible Classes (9)
- Church Growth (104)
- Direct Hit (6)
- Megachurches (16)
- Replanting a Church (28)
- What's Wrong with How We Do Church (12)
- Church Ministries (29)
- Small Groups (7)
- Spiritual Formation (7)
- Church Refugees (11)
- Deacons (12)
- Elders (129)
- Advice to a New Elder (42)
- Bad Elders (9)
- Good to Great (3)
- I Sold My Soul on eBay (7)
- Leading a Small Church (3)
- Leading Change (31)
- Litigation Between Brothers (2)
- Ministers (31)
- Multi-generational/Orange Ministry (15)
- Multisite Churches (1)
- Organizing Your Church (7)
- Overseeing the Moderate Church (7)
- Preacher Searches (10)
- Preaching (4)
- Racial Diversity in Church (10)
- Sexual Ethics (17)
- Teams (2)
- The Advantage, by Patrick Lencioni (24)
- The Pain of Disappointment (15)
- Vision (1)
- Worship/Assembly Planning (8)
- Missional Christianity (129)
- Everything Must Change (4)
- Ministry Ideas (21)
- Radical (8)
- Resident Aliens (8)
- Simply Missional (11)
- New Wineskins Magazine (26)
- Parenting (2)
- Race (1)
- Restoration Movement (55)
- Sacraments (210)
- Baptism (180)
- Lord's Supper (34)
- Sexuality (119)
- Technology (1)
- Textual studies (591)
- 1 Corinthians (108)
- 1 John (19)
- 1 Kings (1)
- 1 Samuel (13)
- 1 Thessalonians (30)
- 2 Samuel (12)
- 2 Thessalonians (18)
- Acts (46)
- Colossians (13)
- Ephesians (18)
- Galatians (40)
- Hebrews (1)
- Luke (10)
- Philemon (2)
- Revelation (62)
- Romans (163)
- Sermon on the Mount (42)
- Theology (585)
- Afterlife, The (117)
- Atonement (54)
- Available Light (46)
- Calvinism (107)
- Election (60)
- God Is Not Fair (1)
- Neo-Calvinism (8)
- Perseverance (12)
- Searching for a Third Way (21)
- The Pope, the Salvation of the Jews and Calvinism (16)
- Christology (1)
- Connection of Church with Israel (74)
- Cruciform God (17)
- Gospel, What Is the? (47)
- Inerrancy and the Canon (14)
- Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (6)
- New Perspective (19)
- Pacifism (29)
- Soteriology (103)
- Salvation 2.0 (78)
- The Salvation of the Christians (9)
- The Salvation of the Jews (16)
- Universalism (11)
- Story theory (10)
- Theodicy (How God can allow bad things to happen) (7)
- Truth, What Is? (5)
- What Is Sin? (8)
- Thought Questions (83)
- Youth Ministry (10)
- Uncategorized (5,140)
Category Archives: Church Growth
Church Growth: Hiring the Right Preacher, Part 2
Just for fun, you know, I thought I’d take a look at the latest Abilene Christian College data on preacher salaries in the Churches of Christ. They gather data each year to help churches know what to pay and preachers … Continue reading
Posted in Church Growth, Uncategorized
Tagged All, beyond megachurch myths, church growth, church growth movement, Churches of Christ, dave travis, megachurches, preachers, scott thumma
Comments Off on Church Growth: Hiring the Right Preacher, Part 2
Church Growth: Hiring the Right Preacher, Part 1
Let me start by saying that I’m very, very happy with our preacher. This is a post for churches looking to hire a preacher — and for Christian college presidents — and for churches who already have an excellent preacher. … Continue reading
Posted in Church Growth, Uncategorized
Tagged All, beyond megachurch myths, church growth, church growth movement, Churches of Christ, dave travis, megachurches, preachers, scott thumma
Comments Off on Church Growth: Hiring the Right Preacher, Part 1
Church Growth: Introduction
I’ve been reading Beyond Megachurch Myths by Scott Thumma and Dave Travis. I was flipping through the channels, looking for something appropriately manly, like ESPN, and saw Thumma speaking on CPAN2 about his new book. He had a lot of … Continue reading
Posted in Church Growth, Uncategorized
Tagged All, beyond megachurch myths, church growth, church growth movement, Churches of Christ, dave travis, megachurches, preachers, scott thumma
Comments Off on Church Growth: Introduction
What’s Wrong With How We Do Church?: And So, In Conclusion …
After 9 posts on the same topic, it’s time to draw some conclusions. But this will all have to be taken as very preliminary. After all, Willow Creek hasn’t finished their study of 500 additional churches. Nonetheless, while I wouldn’t … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized, What's Wrong with How We Do Church
Tagged adult education, All, Bill Hybels, church of irresistible influence, Greg Hawkins, little rock bible fellowship church, Missional Christianity, Reveal, robert lewis, spiritual disciplines, spiritual formation, Willow Creek Community Church
Comments Off on What’s Wrong With How We Do Church?: And So, In Conclusion …
What’s Wrong With How We Do Church?: Blue Like Jazz
Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz (2003) is a favorite book of mine. I’m teaching it to a class at church right now and posting my lesson notes as I prepare them here. I was getting ready to try to summarize … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized, What's Wrong with How We Do Church
Tagged All
Comments Off on What’s Wrong With How We Do Church?: Blue Like Jazz
What’s Wrong With How We Do Church?: Escaping Our Denial
Let’s start with what the Bible says about what the church is all about. I’ve already quoted Jesus’ words in Matthew 25 saying we’ll be judged by how we treat the poor and needy. The lesson is found in lots … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized, What's Wrong with How We Do Church
Tagged adult education, All, Bill Hybels, church of irresistible influence, Greg Hawkins, little rock bible fellowship church, Missional Christianity, Reveal, robert lewis, spiritual disciplines, spiritual formation, Willow Creek Community Church
Comments Off on What’s Wrong With How We Do Church?: Escaping Our Denial
What’s Wrong With How We Do Church?: The Church of Irresistible Influence
As I’ve been pondering the problem the Willow Creek Community Church is struggling with, as described in their Reveal study, I’ve begun reading Robert Lewis’s The Church of Irresistible Influence. I happened across this quote in this 2001 book– We … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized, What's Wrong with How We Do Church
Tagged adult education, All, Bill Hybels, church of irresistible influence, Greg Hawkins, little rock bible fellowship church, Missional Christianity, Reveal, robert lewis, spiritual disciplines, spiritual formation, Willow Creek Community Church
Comments Off on What’s Wrong With How We Do Church?: The Church of Irresistible Influence
What’s Wrong With How We Do Church?: On Being a Benevolence Program
There are doubtlessly hundreds of ways for a church to care for the poor. This is just one of many ways to go about it. My congregation has just these last few months tried this, and the early results are … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized, What's Wrong with How We Do Church
Tagged adult education, All, Bill Hybels, Greg Hawkins, Missional Christianity, Reveal, spiritual disciplines, spiritual formation, Willow Creek Community Church
Comments Off on What’s Wrong With How We Do Church?: On Being a Benevolence Program
What’s Wrong With How We Do Church?: The Jesus Piece
This is not the complete answer to the problems identified by Willow Creek’s REVEAL study. But, I’m persuaded, it’s a big piece of the puzzle. We’re not going to find the answer in our culture (American or church)–which pretty much … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized, What's Wrong with How We Do Church
Tagged adult education, All, Bill Hybels, Greg Hawkins, Missional Christianity, Reveal, social gospel, spiritual disciplines, spiritual formation, Willow Creek Community Church
Comments Off on What’s Wrong With How We Do Church?: The Jesus Piece
What Wrong With How We Do Church?: Problems with Authority
I found this on-line book by Andrew Strom helpful. Strom has spoken with many who’ve left the institutional church and quotes countless emails giving a sense of their discontent. Ultimately, however, Strom finds many who’ve left are so anti-authoritarian that … Continue reading
Posted in Organizing Your Church, Uncategorized, What's Wrong with How We Do Church
Tagged adult education, All, Andrew Strom, Bill Hybels, Greg Hawkins, Out of Church Christians, Reveal, spiritual disciplines, spiritual formation, Willow Creek Community Church
Comments Off on What Wrong With How We Do Church?: Problems with Authority
