My ministerial resume can be summed up fairly well in three phrases: a suburban church, an inner-city church, and a small-town church. As dizzying as that varied list may sound, I feel fortunate to have had such a variety of…

My friend Derek and I have both served large churches, and we’re constantly looking for the perfect number—the exact size at which a church gets too big and loses its character as a Christian community. We want to know when…

The wise among us will carefully consider the special aspects of the role of senior pastor in a large congregation before leaping into it. I have been uniquely privileged to serve in a variety of congregations—from rural to small town…

Research has shown that leaders of large congregations deal with much more complex daily management issues than do small church pastors. But how do they do so while still providing a leadership that shapes a community of faith out of…

In American religious life today there is an upsurge of “church-hopping”—laity moving their membership from one denomination to another. Married couples do not always make this move together, however. A couple who began their marriage within the same denomination may…

“This stuff is way too churchy!” the marketing director proclaimed as my wife and I sat down to discuss how to tell the community that a new congregation was being formed in Naples, Florida. “Too churchy!” she advised as we…

Seminaries and other organizations offer a plethora of continuing education programs for ministers, but many of these same organizations are conducting research to discover new continuing education models that can provide even more benefit and impact. What is being discovered…