When a productivity system fails, it feels like a personal failure. For over 20 years in ministry, I’ve battled that feeling. It’s demoralizing. Work and motivation grind to a halt. What I've learned is that it’s not often your motivation failing—it’s your system failing you. The system breaks, and then you find yourself struggling just to keep up. Over the past few years, I’ve refined my own approach to managing my day, keeping up with projects, and handling the constant demands of ministry....
19 days ago • 2 min read
I love Acts 1:8. In those last words before Jesus’ ascension, we get a cascading approach to the mission of the church. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” As “witnesses, we are called to give testimony not just of the gospel of Jesus, but our personal knowledge and experience of it. Then we get this spiral of geographic and sociological markers of how this...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Hey Friend - Pursuing holiness with a busy schedule can feel complicated. I travel for work. Often. As the list in the back of my Bible tells me (yes, I keep track of these sorts of things in a weird way), I’ve spent 91 nights this year in a hotel. My job as a congregational developer in the UMC has me covering an entire state. Many days, I am by myself, I wrap up meetings in the evening, and then return to a hotel room. When I was in my 20s and getting serious about Christianity, I was...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
I want to share what might be my biggest leadership lesson in ministry from the past few months. Trust is everything. I taught a workshop this summer called Trust as a Leadership Action. I've been adapting it for the next episode of Productive Pastor, but I want to give you a short run-down on it. Before we do that, let me ask you a question. How much has trust been a part of ministry for you? Have you ever served in a ministry that struggled with trust? Have you ever lost staff, leaders, or...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
I’m 45. The youngest member of Generation X. Across the internet, Gen X loves to point out how many times we get left out of writing on generational dynamics. With fewer births than both the Baby Boomer generation (birth cohort from 1946-1964) and the Millennials (1981 - 1996), Gen X (1965-1980) does get stuck in the middle. Compared to the 76 million (Boomers) and 62 million (Millennials), our 55 million is significant, but sandwiched between two larger age ranges. This isn’t just meme...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Learn to do big things by doing small things. Do you like to experiment? I am a serial experimenter. I spend time trying to figure out how things work. Sometimes, what I learn affects the larger way I work. At other times, my experiments finish, and I store what I learned in my brain if I need something in the future. Experiments can be handy. I want to share with you how little things learned can be helpful for big things. I also want to talk about the dangers of experiments and how to avoid...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Hey Friend - I’m a practical guy. I like systems, processes, and data. I can’t imagine how one would work in ministry, lead a church, or do the job I do right now as a congregational developer without these practices. On a more personal side, I am obsessed with the classic devotional life. Those Spiritual biographies. Spending time in scripture and prayer (using the daily office), and other well-trod practices. I have the privilege of working with awesome folks here in Louisiana. One of the...
3 months ago • 2 min read
“When nostalgia becomes the test of faithfulness, we’re not guarding the truth - we are exporting a culture.”-James Bell In the last few articles, I’ve been riffing on an encounter I had at a workshop. The question “What about our seniors?” was asked by a well-meaning person during a conversation on reaching new people and guest integration. In both emails, we covered plenty of ground on the idea. What about our Seniors? I shared a question I received from a workshop participant nervous that...
3 months ago • 5 min read
Last email, I wrote about ministry walls. Have you ever come up on a situation in ministry that you know will be difficult? If you could find a way to move through it, both you and your ministry will be able to bear more fruit. That’s a ministry wall. Understanding ministry walls is important. Ministry walls, if left unscaled, have the ability to create blockades. Personally and congregationally, these blockades limit how we fulfill the great commission. Ministry walls also chase the pastor....
4 months ago • 3 min read