articles

Shelly Johnson on struggling with your set list: It’s the age-old question that perhaps every worship pastor and worship leader wrestles with at some point in their ministry. A question with no clear-cut answer, no formulaic solution. It’s up for debate and strong arguments could be made on all sides.…

David Gibson lists the crazy things pastors do to draw a crowd: A California pastor made headlines this month when he announced that he will live like an atheist for a year to see what it’s like on the other side of belief. But Ryan Bell is actually just the…

Bob Kauflin encourages us to choose singable songs for our congregations: I’ve read a number of posts and articles about how to determine what’s best for your congregation to sing. Kevin DeYoung did a two part series a couple years ago here and here that was excellent. As the new…

Bobby Gilles brings to light an interesting quote on musical complexity: Kristen and I have written often about the need for theologically sound, gospel-centered lyrics in our worship songs. It’s important that our songs enable us to “teach and admonish one another” (Col. 3:16) as we praise the only true…

Manuel Luz discusses the definition of “church:” something that happens or a community of believers: I’m witnessing a growing trend in some churches these days. And that is to quietly retire older worship leaders and musicians in favor of younger, more hip-looking equivalents. And let me be clear on this:…

Chuck Warnock predicts an end to the Christian celebrity culture: In keeping with end of the year predictions, here are mine. Of course, several years ago I predicted $5 per gallon gas. Thankfully, we never got to that point. But in light of my obvious fallibility I’m framing my prognostications…

Leah Norton asks if it’s time to rethink the name of your ministry: Hi, I’m Leah. What’s your name? What’s your church’s name? Why do I ask? Why do I care? Why should you care? Because names matter. Your name is what you lead with. As a person, family, school,…

Todd Rhoades offers tips for the process of leaving your ministry: Pastoral resignation letter writing is tricky. No one ever wants to write them. Everyone knows what they’d like to say (deep down), but many times don’t know how to say it. Well, it’s 2014… time to gear up for…

Gary Durbin helps us give focus to our congregations in January: As a worship leader, I have felt the effects of the Christmas hangover. This is the time that church leaders and worship leaders need to rise up and help people refocus on worshiping God for the next 12 months.…

Thom Rainer gives insights into church trends: More large churches will function like mini-denominations. These churches will have multiple locations. They will have one senior or lead pastor, and several other campus pastors. They are more likely to fund their own missions priorities, even if they are also contributing to…

Worship leader David Santistevan shares his new year resolutions for ministry: To start things off, I’m going to share with you my commitments for 2014. What I’ve done is taken all my different roles (Christian, Husband, Dad, Worship Leader, Business Owner) and created a declaration about what I want to…

Sutton Turner spent his first 35 years accumulating everything a man could want: a successful business, a beautiful wife and kids, a golf swing, lots of money, and plenty of free time to enjoy the finer things. But he could not buy enough, earn enough, or drink enough to escape…

Warren Bird offers interesting statistics on megachurches: Big churches, for right or wrong, get a disproportionate amount of media attention. This happens especially Christmas and Easter, and in year-end tallies. Below I profile the latest megachurch statistics. Keep in mind that the average church globally numbers fewer than 100 in…

Phil Cooke asks for a moratorium on megachurch criticism: As the saying goes, “The world is going to hell in a handbasket.” There’s never been a greater challenge for world evangelism, there are plenty of social problems like hunger and homelessness we face here in the United States, Christians are…

Thom Rainer on shrinking sanctuaries. A seismic shift is taking place in American church facilities, a shift that will become even more noticeable in the years to come. Church worship centers or sanctuaries will become smaller than they were the past 40 years. As church leaders decide to build, a…