Thursday's Catch: Pivoting in the Midst of a Pandemic and More

Pivot the Way You Connect With Your People

Prior to COVID-19, we could connect with those in our congregation and communities almost whenever we wanted. We could have lunch with them, meet at local sports games and of course see them before or after the worship experience. However, now those options really do seem to be things of the past. I am sure though that we would all agree that connection in life and in church are of the upmost importance. But how do you pivot? Read More

Faith, Freedom and Face Masks

People in other countries are genuinely dumbfounded by our “mask” divide. To have something as basic as wearing a mask in the midst of a pandemic in order to control its spread become a partisan issue is confusing to many Americans as well. Why is there such a belligerent attitude toward wearing a mask in public in the name of public health? Read More

I read a lot of articles from around the world. From my reading I gather that the United States is more divided over how to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic than any other country in the world. Where divisions do occur outside the United States, they can be traced to the United States. The United States has often been a positive influence in world affairs but, in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is emerging as a negative influence. How this came about is complicated. But it does suggest that the United States may no longer be the world leader that it once was and the events of the past four years have contributed to its declining leadership role. The leadership role of a nation in world affairs is tied to the positive influence that it exerts. As that influence shrinks so does its leadership role.

Ministries Face the Real Trafficking Crisis During COVID-19

Desperation and isolation put vulnerable populations at risk. Read More

Do Christians and Muslims Worship the Same God?

Here are three alternative questions which help to elucidate the underlying issues that the question-as-posed obscures. Read More

Top 10 Practices of the Best Leaders I Know

This following list of practices may appear simple. My challenge to you is, don’t focus on the level of simplicity or difficulty to understand each one, instead, evaluate how well you do in each area. Read More

Leadership Savvy Doesn’t Make a Pastor

I imagined pastoral work would be pedestrian and marginal—a sacrifice of my potential and plans. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Read More

On Sermon Introductions

Here are nine ways to get your sermon off to a good start. Read More

Your Online Worship Services AFTER Live Gatherings Resume

This is NOT a post about when live worship gatherings should resume, which is a highly debated and increasingly divisive topic.... But this post is about what a church should do with their online gatherings after the church starts to meet again, whenever the church starts to meet again. Not all of the people in a church will be ready to gather. Read More

Who's Really Discipling Your Congregation?

The American Church has a discipleship problem. The issue is not a lack of discipleship, however, but rather a glut of discipleship coming from the wrong sources without being filtered through the only right source. Read More

I would define the problem as both "a lack of discipleship" AND "a glut of discipleship coming from the wrong sources," based upon my own observations. One way that you respond to the latter is to increase your discipling of church members and attendees. A lack of discipleship creates a vacuum which the wrong sources that Aaron Earls identifies will fill. Where the influence of Jesus' teaching and example are absent, political views, for example, can fill the empty space and become the dominant influence in a Christian's life.