Here are some verses I have found personally challenging that inspire me to keep growing as a preacher. Scripture: Acts 9:22 says "Saul’s preaching became more and more powerful..." Question: Are my preaching skills getting sharper or duller? Scripture: One time when Paul finished preaching in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia the people begged him to come and speak to them again the following week (see Acts 13:42). Question: Are people begging to hear me speak? Scripture: Acts 13:44 says, … [Read more...]
Make It Simple
2 Timothy 2:15 says "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." To correctly handle the word of truth literally means to "cut in a straight line." This word is used of road making. If a road maker cuts a straight road the path will be easy to follow. So Paul is saying, in essence, that we ought to teach God's Word in such a simple and straight forward manner that our sermons are as easy to … [Read more...]
Using Copyrighted Work
Today, everything in the United States is licensed, issued, owned, and/or copyrighted. Unless your church is always creating original content for every service, your likely using someone else's copyrighted work. US Copyright laws create great confusion in general, and the church exemption adds to the confusion. Every church is exempt from US Copyright law to perform live music during their regular weekly religious service(s). That means you can hold worship during your service(s) each week with … [Read more...]
Wisdom Over Wealth
We have a Massachusetts based company called Wisdom Over Wealth do our taxes (for our staff) and perform an annual church audit (well, the church version of an audit anyways). Here's what I like about them: The founder and CEO, Bill O'Connell, is a great guy. They have extensive experience doing ministers taxes. They are reasonably priced. Before switching to Wisdom Over Wealth I was paying an arm and a leg for tax services. I have peace of mind knowing that I'll never be on the front page … [Read more...]
Is It Scalable?
One of the many mistakes I've made as a leader is implementing something at New Day that's not scalable. For example, when we first started I chose a website that couldn't grow with us as the church grew. This resulted in a lot of wasted time because once we grew and I needed more features than the current website could offer, I had to rebuild our site from scratch with a new company. After this happened two or three times, I realized, the hard way, that I don't want to use anything that's not … [Read more...]
Run to Conflict
One of the many mistakes I've made as a leader is to ignore a problem hoping it will go away. But I've learned the hard way that if you see a problem within the church (i.e. problem people or situations) you need to run to conflict. Things only get worse, not better - and problems NEVER solve themselves. Let me illustrate what I mean... I remember not shoveling my driveway one time after a snow storm. Well, after a couple days of driving over that snow, combined with freezing temperatures, my … [Read more...]
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