It has been about four years since I left full-time pastoral ministry. The distance has given me perspective I could not get in the week-to-week of leading a church.

When you hire talented, committed people and pour everything into them, the congregation slowly learns, without anyone ever saying it out loud, that the mission belongs to the professionals.

I entered ministry in 1995 and spent more than twenty-five years serving as both an Associate and Lead Pastor. If you had asked me during those years what church growth looked like, I would have described something visible and measurable.

When a church gets out of alignment, every part of it starts fighting against every other part. Your teaching moves people in one direction. Your small groups are focused on something else. Your kids' ministry has a different aim. Your events stand alone. Everything is fighting everyone else.

When you ask an AI a question, any question, it doesn't flinch. It doesn't say, "You shouldn't ask that." There's no side eye, no weird face, no sermon about why you should already know the answer.

Albany, NY, at one point supposedly had the most bowling lanes per capita in the United States. I tried to verify that claim, but I couldn’t find a reliable source.

The holiday season is one of the best and hardest times to be a church leader. You're celebrating Jesus' birth with your church while also shepherding people in a polarized world, balancing a budget, preparing special services and year-end giving campaigns, and trying to be present with your own family and friends.

If you’re a church leader about to make the Thanksgiving-to-Christmas run, I want to leave you with three questions before the season begins.

Fishing reminds me of how often Jesus showed up in the disciples’ everyday world. From calling Peter right out of his boat, to filling nets until they nearly sank.

Ever walk out of a leadership meeting feeling frustrated, confused, or like you just wasted two hours? You're not alone. Most church leadership teams unknowingly sabotage their own strategic conversations by falling into five poor evaluation traps.

Discover how the Ministry Buffet Tool helps churches evaluate and prioritize their ministries by plotting Life Change Impact against Resources Required—ensuring focus on what truly matters.

Evangelism feels overwhelming and awkward for most church members. Help people map their "Personal Relational Reach Zone" …

Embracing your desires and emotions is an excellent way to discover your Ones’ desires and feelings. This hit me hard last week…

As you mobilize your Ninety-nines to reach and grow their Ones and lead them towards adopting the Great Commission as a personal mission statement….

So in this blog series, we will discuss some things that your One wants…

I am continually amazed by how modern discoveries confirm the life and teachings of Jesus. Notice that I didn’t say surprised; I said amazed…

My wife and I toured an open house while looking for our first house. We didn’t have a buyer’s agent, and when we passed on that house, that listing agent became our buyer’s agent…

Nearly twenty years ago, I received a call saying that a friend had given the caller my name. The caller explained that he wanted to come and clean one of my rugs for free…

My formative years in church leadership seemed to ask the same question in various ways: How do we attract people to attend one of our church activities?

Do you have Presbyopia?

I do. The videos on the Intentional Churches YouTube channel clearly show that I suffer from it…