The next step in preparing for a great discussion (after preparing yourself) is to develop a discussion plan. This involves a few things: preparing a place for the study, planning your time, and choosing the questions that will guide your group through a meaningful discussion. Environment Matters Preparing a place for the study is an essential first step. Your group’s meeting place will, in some ways, determine the intimacy level that your group reaches. Most groups succeed in places that are warm and inviting. If you are … [Read more...]

Large worship gatherings or a Sunday morning service may be the avenue that draws people to your church, but it’s the relationships developed in small group settings that actually bind people together. Through those relationships and the studying of God’s Word, lives are affirmed, sustained, and changed. Because of that, leading a small group Bible study is one of the most rewarding places of service within the church. As a leader, you will get the best of both worlds—the opportunity to lead and experience biblical … [Read more...]

I’ve always struggled with what it means to be a spiritual leader. I heard I was supposed to be a spiritual leader when I was dating my wife. Did that mean any more than I should keep my hands to myself? I think so, but beyond that I wasn’t always sure how to flesh it out. As a pastor, I’m supposed to be a spiritual leader. Does that mean that I am a professional Christian? I sure hope not. As a dad, I’m supposed to be a spiritual leader. Does that mean I pray before dinner and make my kids go to church? There … [Read more...]

And the story continues… Each week I get to live my childhood over again - climbing in the van, driving home from church with three young children, and listening to them recount the stories they learned from the Bible that morning. I remember the time in my life when I still found wonder and excitement in the stories of Moses & the plagues, David & Goliath, or Jesus walking on water. Nowadays? I barely flinch reading these passages (many probably for the hundredth, or event thousandth time or more), and I’d probably feel … [Read more...]

It was Saturday night at 10:30 when I closed the back cover of the book I was reading. It was designed to help pastors become better preachers, but that’s not what it did for me. It went deeper. I didn’t just get a few handy dandy tips, I was challenged to evaluate myself as a communicator. We all need this. We need to have our mind sparked, our cage rattled, our methods confronted. We need high ideals that keep us from settling for mediocrity. We need success stories to inspire us to persevere. We need challenges in all … [Read more...]

Last week we brought you the first installment of Margaret Feinberg’s list of must-knows for starting a young adult ministry. Here’s part two: Don’t pretend you have all the answers, because you don’t. If you pretend to have everything mastered or an answer for every situation, you’ll quickly lose favor and reputability with this generation.Be creative. The obstacles and challenges that you face whether it’s a lack of funds or location are opportunities for innovation. If you can’t do one … [Read more...]

If you’re thinking about launching a ministry to twenty- and thirtysomethings, you’re not alone. There are literally hundreds of others around the country who share the same passion and calling to encourage and equip this generation. We’ve interviewed several pastors, leaders and church planters around the United States to find out what they wish they would have known before launching into ministry to young adults. Here’s what we discovered: You can become so relevant that you become irrelevant. In other … [Read more...]

Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Seattle, has taken the idea of discussion to the pulpit. While preaching on the subject of relationships, he asked his staff to hook up a system that would allow people in his congregation to text him questions while he was preaching. Near the end of his sermon, he went to a monitor, took a look at the questions and answered some of the best. Real questions. Real answers. In real time. If a pastor can go to those lengths in a corporate worship service to generate discussion about the … [Read more...]

I don’t know how it happened, but I suddenly realized that I was spending much of my ministry trying to protect myself from other people. Maybe it was those late-night phone calls from dysfunctional people, accusations from critics, and hurtful relationships that started it. But I was starting to view ministry as a distraction to my otherwise peaceful life. So I put up gatekeepers that would protect my “pastoral schedule.” I guarded my privacy in the name of “good leadership.” And I established strict … [Read more...]