Recently, I had the honor of being interviewed by Dr. Steve Greene for Charisma Podcast Network. We talked in-depth about assimilation, or how to turn first-time guests into fully engaged members of our congregations. You can check out the full 31-minute podcast here: Your partner in ministry, Nelson P.S. – If you’d like to go deeper … Read More
How to Protect Your Family as a Pastor (Part 2)
Last week in the first of this two-part series, I started the conversation about how, with a little intentionality, you can keep your spouse and children from being sacrificed on the altar of ministry. We talked about setting boundaries and what it would look like to draw a boundary line around your home life in order to protect and nurture what’s … Read More
4 Ways to Create a Short Sermon Series from a Big Bible Book
Today’s guest post comes to us from EvangelicalFocus.com. You can preach the landmarks of a Bible book over the course of a few Sundays. Let’s say you want to preach from a bigger book, but you like the idea of shorter series – is that possible? Here are a few suggestions: 1. Preach a shorter section – instead of feeling … Read More
Sunday Scripture: Use Your Gifts!
“If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.” – Romans 12:8 (NLT)
Billy Graham on the Power of Adversity
“Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as much as adversity has.” – Rev. Billy Graham, Greatest Evangelist of the 20th Century
Fusion Fridays: Four Components of a Successful Pre-service
“There are four initial areas of contact through which you can influence your guests during the pre-serivce – through controlling how they are greeted, directed, treated, and seated. Greeted: Welcomed with a smile Directed: Simply and politely shown to where they need to go Treated: Happily surprised with comfort food/drink Seated: Led to comfortable, appropriate seats” … Read More
100% Adult Participation in Small Groups is Possible!
Thank you to Bookshout for their recent 5-star review of the revised and expanded Activate: An Entirely New Approach to Small Groups. Kerrick Thomas and I wrote this book together with the goal of helping churches build a small groups system that motivates 100% adult participation. We’ve been using these principles here in NYC for the last 16 years and regularly see … Read More
Love Your Family (Part 1)
With a little intentionality, you can keep your spouse and children from being sacrificed on the altar of ministry. Average pastors put their marriage and family life on autopilot, hoping that, because they are called to God’s work, everything will stay on track through the years — but not doing a lot to ensure that outcome. They love their families, … Read More
Closes today – last chance to join
Final enrollment for my new Senior Pastor to Senior Pastor Gold Coaching Network ends today — this is your last chance to sign up! I can only hold this open through end of day or once the last spot is taken (which could be soon). Go here now to secure your spot: www.ChurchLeaderInsights.com/gold All these sign-up bonuses will also go … Read More
Edwards on the Power of Conversion
“There is no one thing that I know of, that God has made such a means of promoting his work amongst us, as the news of others’ conversion.” -Jonathan Edwards, America’s First and Most Pre-eminent Pastor-Theologian (1703 – 1758)