Last weekend, The New York Times ran a front-page story about Chris Thomas, pastor of First Baptist Church of Williams, Alabama. In early 2017, President Trump had been inaugurated the week before, and the new administration was already making headlines with a travel ban that included...
If the current season of crisis and change doesn’t end “strategic planning” and consign it to the dustbin of history, nothing will. Speaking of dustbins, go into most pastors’ offices, and there on the highest shelf you will find the last four strategic planning reports, with...
In a recent Ministry Collaborative podcast we were talking with Tod Bolsinger, who teaches and directs leadership formation at Fuller Seminary and is also a member of our advisory board. Tod was asked what he learned after writing the widely read Canoeing the Mountains that...
We can only imagine the items on your church board’s agenda as you head into June. If/when/how to open the building and for what purposes. If opening, how to establish new cleaning and seating and singing and greeting protocols. Which programs to postpone, and which...
Digging a Deeper Well will return on June 4. Our 18- month archive of past articles is available at any time, here. Also, if you would like a more focused conversation about the challenges and opportunities of engaging your church board, the Macedonian Ministry Team would...
For some time before the Covid-19 crisis (if we can remember back that far), we were hearing concern from pastors that they were becoming “soft targets” for the frustration boiling over in our society. Clergy told us that they were increasingly on the receiving end...
by: Elizabeth Lynn and Mark Ramsey I May 7, 2020 8 …You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes,...
by: Elizabeth Lynn and Mark Ramsey I April 30, 2020 Recently we invited you, our readers, to tell us what issues you would like us to address in the area of church board leadership. Among the responses we received, one theme predominated: the challenge of thinking together deeply about how...
Some things that seemed rock solid before the global crisis are suddenly not so reliable anymore, a reality humorously captured in this three-minute video from Julie Nolke. Think regular haircuts. In-person doctor visits. Annual conferences. The right to accompany your loved ones into surgery. Other things,...