With Skillful Hands

Problem or Opportunity?

January 1, 2015 By Mike Leave a Comment

Sometimes our greatest opportunities in life are disguised as our greatest problems. For example, I once visited LifeChurch.tv - of the largest churches in the country. Know how they got so big? It started with a problem. LifeChurch.tv had merged with another church in the area and Craig, the lead pastor was preaching at his church, then traveling across town to preach at the other church. Well, when his wife had her 5th baby late Saturday night Craig had to call both churches and say "I won't … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership

The Key to Writing

December 30, 2014 By Mike Leave a Comment

The key to writing is rewriting. I usually type out the first draft of my sermon on Tuesday. After preaching the message to my staff on Thursday, I rewrite it in light of the feedback I received from my team. After reviewing it 1-2x on Saturday I rewrite again. After reviewing it Sunday morning I rewrite again. Then I break each point down into a blog post which makes me rewrite each section yet again. Why do I go through all this? Because each time I rewrite, it gets better.  In Jeremiah 36:2 … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Preaching

Write Thank You Notes

December 25, 2014 By Mike Leave a Comment

This is the time of the year where, as a pastor, you will be receiving Christmas cards from parishioners stuffed with movie tickets, gifts cards to your favorite restaurant, or maybe even some cold hard cash. When this happens, make sure you hand write a thank you note. We read in Luke 17:11-17, Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership

One Approach to End of Year Bonuses

December 23, 2014 By Mike Leave a Comment

If you decide to give out end of year bonuses to your staff, here are several things you'll have to decide: What kind of bonus will it be? Is it simply a Christmas bonus? Or is it an end-of-year performance based bonus? The Christmas bonus is given simply because it's Christmas and you want to be generous. The performance based bonus is determined by...you guessed it...how well that staff member did their job that year. I don't think one is necessarily better than the other. But you have to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Finances, Staff

Compensation Handbook for Church Staff

December 23, 2014 By Mike Leave a Comment

Richard Hammar's book Compensation Handbook for Church Staff is a super helpful resource I use to help me determine salary ranges for my staff at New Day. Here's how it works...First, the book evaluates a variety of factors such as: Position (i.e. executive pastor, worship pastor, associate pastor, kids pastor, etc.) Church income Worship attendance Longevity (how long the staff member has been in your employ) Education (i.e. bachelors degree, masters degree, doctorate or none of the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Resources

How to Determine Compensation (Subjectively)

December 18, 2014 By Mike Leave a Comment

If you have staff (or plan to have staff one day) one of the many things you must decide is what you will pay them. There are both objective and subjective factors that will go into determining this. In my previous post (click here to read) I covered the objective factors I use to help me determine salary ranges for my staff. In this post I will cover some of the subjective factors that help me determine where exactly my staff will land within their salary range. The subjective factors … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Staff

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