Blog
Why We Stopped Doing Fall Fest
Our church had been hosting an annual Fall Festival for decades when we decided to switch to a Christmas community ...
The Power of Catharsis
The date was May 21, 2008. I was meeting with a local pastor talking shop when an urgent phone call ...
How to Get Through What You’re Going Through
Ever felt like the odds are stacked against you? Like whatever you try goes bad? Yeah, well then you're in ...
What Should be Our Response to the Supreme Court Ruling on Gay Marriage?
Unless you've been in a coma for the last few days, you've heard that on Friday, June 26, 2015, the ...
3 Things Church Shoppers Look For
Ah, summer. That time of the year when disgruntled church members, under the cloud of vacation season, do a little ...
The Undeniable Test of Character
A preacher asked the audience, "If you squeeze an orange, what comes out?" "Orange juice!" someone yelled out. "Wrong!" he ...
5 Principles of a Powerful Family Ministry
When I first came to Oak Ridge there was only one other family with young children. As the leadership worked ...
How a Ministry Disappointment Turned into a Powerful Development!
(Live or Memorex? This is a picture of our video feed from our Unplugged Service in our Theater Venue) In ...
10 Questions First Time Guests are Asking
Every church I know of holds weekend worship services. Most of them hold at least 52 a year. Nearly all ...
4 Reasons Our Church Does an Annual Recommit Covenant
One of my favorite movies of all time is Braveheart. This movie is chock full of life and leadership lessons ...
The 3 Most Deadly Mistakes Nearly Everyone Makes
One of my favorite parables from Jesus is found in Luke 12:16-20: “Then he told them a story: “A rich ...
Do NOT Set Goals for Yourself This Year!
I know, I know. This doesn't sound like me at all, but hear me out. I just finished reading a ...
Lessons from Mars Hill
Over the past several months my heart has broken as I watched the demise of one of America's largest multi-site ...
The Kind of Members Every Pastor Dreams Of
This past Sunday night we celebrated the retirement of our Family Pastor, Janice Bailey. Her and her husband, Bob, are ...
Four Lessons from International Missions
I just returned from a trip to Japan where I assisted Saddleback Pastor Dave Holden. We trained Japanese pastors on ...
You Could be Infected Right Now!
Nearly every Christian is familiar with the story of the Prodigal Son found in Luke 15. However, many do not ...
Dealing with Disappointment
Disappointment is an unavoidable reality in life. Disappointment is when my expectations do not match life's realizations. Whether it is ...
4 Positions Every Team Must Have
It takes a TEAM to fulfill a DREAM. It takes TEAMWORK to make the DREAM work. Most people have heard ...
Take this Job and Shove it!
As Americans enjoy this Labor Day holiday away from work, it occurs to me that work is one of the ...
The Secret to Spiritual Growth
I have never met a long term Christian who has not experienced the ebb and flow of spiritual growth. Most ...
Why You Need a Small Group
Choosing the right fit for the right reason is a big deal. That's why God created different environments for different ...
10 Ways You Can Go Missional Using Social Media
The beauty of using social media as a church is that every member of our community is already empowered to ...
The Idol of Expository Preaching
When I was at seminary, one of my preaching professors became quite zealous while lecturing our class one day. Waving ...
Is America a Christian Nation?
I just watched a sermon on TV from the pastor of one of America's largest evangelical churches. He stated emphatically ...
