Stress' Unintended Victims

The comments I’m hearing from the pastors I’m dealing with are growing in their consistency and intensity. They are all feeling overwhelmed (“The burden of leadership is so heavy!”, disillusioned (“I didn’t sign up for this!”), and perplexed (“I don’t know what steps to take!”).

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5 Top Tips for Hiring

One of the surprising things that I’m hearing from pastors these days is that they are sensing the need to hire more staff to meet the new needs that have surfaced in this season. And by shifting around their church budgets, some dollars have been freed up to do so.

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Celebration: The Unexpected Soul Care Practice

In this season of prolonged stress brought on by the repercussions of a global pandemic, the need for good soul care is essential – especially for pastors and leaders. Without it, we may find ourselves headed toward burnout, depression, addiction, and/or damaged relationships.

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Keeping Relationships Bigger Than Problems

One of the primary responsibilities of leadership is solving problems. It simply comes with the territory. The problems may arise from circumstances that are not really anyone’s fault.

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Let the Winds Blow!

Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, scientists constructed a research facility in Arizona called Biosphere 2. Its purpose was to study the interactions between life-systems in a controlled environment, ostensibly to explore the possibility for usage in outer space.

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Preaching Ideas for the Next Season

For most of my years as a Senior Pastor, I took time off during the month of July to rest, think, pray, and plan. In addition to allowing me to slow down and engage in personal renewal, I also used this time to do long-range sermon planning and study.

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Predictable Patterns for the Scattered Church

In last week’s post, I talked about how the recent shutdown during the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic actually presented the 21st-century church with a wonderful opportunity. Almost overnight we went from being the church gathered to being the church scattered.

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Gathered and Scattered

As often happens when we go through hard times, somehow, someway, something good comes out of it. I think that’s true for the western church in this current crisis. The shut-downs brought on by COVID-19 have forced churches all over the world to rethink the ways we “do church.”

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Needed: Humble Leaders

Without a doubt, 2020 been one of the most challenging years our country has faced. A pandemic with over 100,000 dead in just 10 weeks. Economic upheaval leaving millions jobless. And now protests in the streets decrying racism and police brutality against African Americans. These are days when leadership is desperately needed.

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#SayHisName

Millions of people have now viewed the horrifying video as George Floyd was murdered on camera by Minneapolis police while bystanders pleaded with officers not to kill him. As he lay helplessly in the street with the policeman’s knee on his neck, Floyd’s haunting last words were, “Please! I can’t breathe.”

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The Master's Plan for Discipleship

Jesus was the greatest leader who ever lived. He inspired multitudes with His teaching. He performed miracles before thousands. Yet, for all of His interaction with large numbers of people, His primary investment was with a small group of individuals.

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Leading Your Stressed Staff

One of the unique challenges that pastors have in these difficult days is that of shouldering responsibility for the well-being of others. The role requires wearing multiple hats: spouse, parent, child (if there are elderly parents involved), and shepherd of the flock.

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Your Anxious Thoughts

Like it or not, all of us are establishing new patterns during this time of crisis. These patterns are reflected in adjusted rhythms of work and rest. They’re seen in the ways we relate to people virtually rather than physically. They’re evidenced in the ways we shop and the places we worship. All of these carry a significant impact. However, one of the most crucial patterns that we need to consider is the way we think.

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