Saturday Lagniappe: "8 Resources for Your Church's Easter Guests" and Much More

8 Resources for Your Church's Easter Guests

Your church likely sees more foot traffic on Easter than any other holiday. Since some of these visitors may only visit church once or twice a year, it’s important to engage them in a meaningful way in the few hours you have with them. Here are eight resources to help your church connect with Easter guests in a manner that will hopefully see them return the following week. Read More

31 Ideas for Your Church’s Easter Impact

How to maximize the holiday most likely to draw someone far from God to your worship service. Read More

Try This: Care for College Students During Easter

“Adopt” students who aren’t able to go home for the holiday and celebrate with them. Read More

Christmas, Halloween, and Thanksgiving are other holidays for which a church may want to "adopt" students and to celebrate with them. Since I moved to Murray Kentucky 11 years ago this coming June, I have been involved in a number of ministries to foreign exchange students studying in the United States. Murray is the home of Murray State University. On the longer holidays some foreign exchange students will travel, visiting places in the United States that they want to see while they are studying here. Others will stay in the university dorms. A few may stay with an American friend. Church members can impact lives of foreign exchange students by "adopting" them for both long and short holidays and opening their homes and their lives to these students.

5 Grave Dangers for the Local Church

These five signs of mission drift can spell danger for your church.Read More

Don’t Confuse a Church’s Slow Pace with Complacency

Complacent churches are self-satisfied and are unwilling to address problems. Unfortunately, far too many churches are complacent. But don’t confuse complacency with a slow pace. Some congregations are willing to move forward; it just takes them a little longer. A few factors may influence the slow pace of a church. Read More

8 Signs of a Pastor People Will Follow

Brian Dodd identifies eight signs (or marks) of a pastor whom people will follow. Read More

3 Questions Pastors Must Ask

Our lives are, according to David Hansen’s book The Art of Pastoring, to be lived out as parables of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If we’re going to do that well, then we’ll need to know the answers to some tough-to-ask questions. Read More

Maximizing Mentorship

Mentorship is a wonderful and powerful tool in the hands of an effective leader. It’s an opportunity to invest deeply into the lives of other people in a unique, impactful way. Mentoring is something I believe every leader should be involved in. But it’s not easy. It requires a tremendous amount of time and energy and is a big commitment for a leader. That’s why it’s important that we learn to maximize our mentoring relationships. So here are a few things that you might find useful to help maximize your mentorship. Read More

Crafting Expository Sermons

True expository preaching strives to be faithful to the text and clear in the presentation. It is for this reason that introductions, illustrations, and conclusions should matter to the expositor. It is not about being creative, eloquent, or impressive in the pulpit. It is about preaching the word faithfully and clearly to the glory of God and for the salvation and sanctification of the hearers. Read More

What is the Most Recent Manuscript Count for the New Testament?

Since we do not have the original New Testament writings (the autographa), textual critics aim to determine the reliability of existing copies. For any particular work or collection of works, the greater the number and the earlier the dating of the manuscripts, the easier it is to reconstruct a text closer to the original and identify errors or discrepancies. Read More

3 Keys To Overcoming Barriers To Bible Engagement In The Church

In North America, we have more Bibles than ever, but less and less real engagement. Why? Read More

5 Ways Pastors Shouldn’t Use Facebook

Social media is a tool, not an escape. Read More

To Join God’s Mission You Have to Listen

If we truly believe God’s activity is greater than ours, then we have to take steps to seek his will.” Read More

9 (More) Things You Should Know About the Opioid Epidemic

On Monday, President Trump is expected to release his administration’s plan for dealing with opioid-related overdoses and deaths. Since writing about the issue two years ago (see: 9 Things You Should Know About the Opioid Epidemic), the crisis has worsened and the need for public awareness has increased. Here then are nine more things you should know about the opioid epidemic.... Read More