Church Growth

Sermon Planning Tools

It is the time of year when I finalize sermon planning for the upcoming year. If you are a pastor, I encourage you to do the same. There is great benefit to be found in laying out your sermons for the upcoming year, or at least the next three to six months. For instance, at …

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You Can Tell Your Story

Go make disciples. That was the command Jesus left with his disciples (which includes you) before he ascended to heaven to be with the Father. The timeline of Jesus’s life looks like this: He was born of a virgin, lived thirty years in relative obscurity, ministered publicly for three years, was crucified on a Roman …

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How to Listen to A Sermon Without Dying

Have you ever caught a great nap during a sermon? You aren’t alone. In Acts 20:7-12 the Bible tells the story of a young man named Eutychus who was sleeping so hard during one of Paul’s sermons that he fell out of a window and died (don’t worry, Paul raised him from the dead). Hopefully …

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How to Lose a Pastor in 365 Days

I have just celebrated my sixteenth anniversary as the pastor of Malvern Hill Baptist Church. Often, as I reflect on my time at Malvern Hill, I offer advice or suggestions to pastors who desire a long tenure. Today, however, I am writing to churches who might desire to keep a good pastor. For a man …

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Your Past Does Not Have To Be Your Future

As Paul neared the end of his life, languishing in a Roman prison, he wrote to Timothy. Paul gave Timothy a list of instructions and warnings. Then, at the end of 2 Timothy, he tells Timothy, “Do your best to come to me soon.” As Paul looked at the end of his life, he wanted …

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Pastor, This Easter, Preach Like Jesus

Most of you read the title and thought, ” Yeah, I wish.” I know, none of us will preach as well as Jesus this Sunday or any other Sunday. It isn’t even the goal of a preacher to preach as well as Jesus, but to point toward Jesus. However, you should have it as a …

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A Perfect Place for Imperfect People

How do you invite people to church? A friend of mine invites people to church with one condition: “If you’re perfect, this isn’t the place for you, because we are a bunch of messed up people.” Most people really appreciate that honesty. We Christians, if we aren’t careful about it, can give off an air …

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Preach The Difficult Sermon

Is A the most famous chord on the guitar? Probably not. I doubt there is a “most famous chord,” and yet, in the hands of one man in a particular setting, nothing can bring a crowd to life like an A chord. I’m learning the guitar, so when I play an A chord, it is …

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Check Your System

A gasoline engine will not run on diesel fuel. I know that, and yet, several months ago I had to learn it all over. I picked up the wrong fuel can and poured five gallons of diesel into a gas tank. Everything was fine for a minute, but as soon as the fuel pump began …

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Church Comorbidities

Comorbidities. Preexisting conditions. These words rank up there with unprecedented in a competition for word of year in 2020. Prior to March of 2020, few of us ever used the word unprecedented, we didn’t speak of preexisting conditions, and we may not have even known what a comorbidity was. But, that was time before COVID. …

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