Someone help me understand this: why does anyone believe that Preacher’s Daughters is something that they want to participate in? This originally came to our attention by way of a Daily Mail article that discusses how one of the fathers (who happens to be a pastor) demanded that his daughter take a paternity test when he learns that there is uncertainty as to the father of of his unwed daughter’s child. The show, if you haven’t yet [...]

We are in an era of authenticity, one where people place a high value on being transparent. A recent Leadership Freak post walks through how to do public disclosure well, and the proper reasons behind doing it. The heart of Dan Rockwell’s post puts it pretty plainly: Publicly disclose what serves, nothing more. Keep self-serving, self-affirming disclosure private. Public disclosure must enhance: Individual relationships. Organizational objectives. Leadership effectiveness. Conflict resolution. Leadership development. If this sounds [...]

Todd Henry, in a recent Accidental Creative podcast, discussed legacy systems and the impact that they have on our organizations. In the podcast he told the story of a hotel in Florida that had a series of cables running from the side of the building to a palm tree. Not knowing what the deal was, his wife asked a lady at the front desk about the wires and was basically told that the wires were [...]

Recently retired pastor John Piper has found a new way to keep himself busy during his retirement: a mobile app entitled “Ask Pastor John.” Each day Piper takes five minutes and answers questions submitted by listeners, sharing his responses through the app, which is available through iTunes. This got Todd and me thinking about a couple of things: This format sounds eerily similar to Ministry Briefing.  This is a great way to leverage available technology. [...]

Ministry can be a tough, lonely, profession. This is no surprise, but what has been alarming is the amount of pastors who are struggling with depression and related issues as a result of their jobs. According to an American Baptist Press article, the rising number of church scandals, financial pressures, and aging congregations are causing pastors more stress than normal. This morning, Todd and I discuss the article, the pressures that pastors face, and talk a little [...]

If you’ve been a pastor for more than ten minutes, you have heard of churches that churn through pastors and staff. For one reason or another, the church can not keep people for more than a couple of years before they are looking to go somewhere else. Sometimes it is the pastor’s fault, other times it is a stiff necked congregation, whichever it is, it is depressing… and significantly lessens a church’s spiritual impact. Earlier [...]

A couple years ago I heard Jim Sheppard tell a group of church planters that the quickest way to take down a church is for the pastor to have a moral failure. The truth is, a pastor’s falling not only significantly hurts the church, but it impacts the congregation in ways that we will never fully understand. This is why it is so important for pastors to not only be on guard, but know the [...]

DISCLAIMER: This is by far the worst Ministry Briefing video we have ever done. Ben Reed posted on his blog a while back about things he would never say. We thought it would start a decent conversation on ministry that would solve all the world’s problems. What resulted was a conversation that never quite took off, and the story of a cat that went on vacation… Watch this at your own risk:

With April 15th just a few weeks away, I asked Bill O’Connell from Wisdom Over Wealth to share some thoughts with us about the tax season, and how we should be preparing. It is tax season again.  The season we love to hate. But I want to offer a reminder of a couple of things that will make tax season a little brighter for you and your church. Personal Tax Returns Some denominations require that [...]

Leadership is tough. The day to day demands on a ministry leader can be quite intense, and leave us exhausted. Ron Edmondson recently shared five common thoughts that leaders have that they don’t feel all that comfortable sharing, how many of these have YOU experienced: I don’t know what to do I can’t keep up I’m afraid I don’t know if I’m in the right place I don’t feel appreciated or respected This morning, Todd and [...]