Leading Through Preaching
Joshua was leading through preaching. He was wielding leadership influence through the proclamation of his words and the witness of his life. Let’s follow that example.
Series: Ministry Today
May 28, 2017
Called to Forgive
By Eddie Lowen If vengeance comes easier than forgiveness, I understand. But for every Christian, and most certainly for church leaders, there is a better way. Have you seen the movie The Revenant? In the gruesome film, Leonardo DiCaprio”s character, a fur trader named Hugh Glass, is attacked by a grizzly, assaulted by his companions, and left for dead. He somehow recovers, tracks down those who abandoned him, and takes violent revenge. But the real-life events that inspired the film may have played out differently. Glass was, in fact, mauled by a bear and left for dead. Historians believe he
May 24, 2017
A Different Spirit
By Tim Harlow Sure, I serve God wholeheartedly. But even then, sometimes it”s easy to see giants instead of what he wants me to do for him. Different can be a synonym for “weird.” “She”s kind of different” usually means, like, not in a good way. The elevator doesn”t go to the top floor. One taco short of a combination platter. Not the brightest crayon in the box. Every generation of teenagers talks about how they want to be “different,” and then they go buy the same labels and wear the same styles and listen to the same music as
April 29, 2017
Slow to Tweet
By Eddie Lowen This is no self-righteous rant about abandoning social media. But I do wonder if I””and many Christians I encounter online””have always thought through the implication of what we post. There were no newspapers, radios, or TVs. No blogs, podcasts, or social media. Sending a letter to 100 people meant scratching it out on parchment 100 times (that was a punishment when I was in elementary school). E-mail? Tweets? Voice mail? Unimaginable. In an age when no instant or mass communication tools existed, when fewer people lived on earth than in the United States today, James wrote, “Everyone should be quick to listen,
March 25, 2017
A Woman”s Place
By Tim Harlow In the wake of the 2016 presidential election, many women in the U.S. are feeling devalued. What should be the church”s response? Although many issues were debated during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, gender issues didn”t seem to be at the forefront. Most people seemed prepared for the possibility of a female president. It wasn”t a big deal. Even those who were dead set against Hillary Clinton for president seldom said it was because she”s a woman. And while many people were offended by Donald Trump”s comments and apparent attitudes toward women, they tended to overlook this
February 18, 2017
Sayings
By Eddie Lowen Build the culture you want with the phrases you repeat. Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon put some thought into his team”s 2015 season motto. He unveiled it at spring training: “Embrace the target.” The sports psychology behind the motto was sound, but it didn”t catch on. Some players began using their own motto: “We are good.” They were, but not quite good enough to reach or win the World Series in 2015. As the Cubs entered the 2016 season, Maddon joked that the team motto would be “Try not to suck” (note: though definitely slang, the word
January 19, 2017
Out of Network
By Tim Harlow My best advice for your ministry: share the Spirit. So Moses . . . brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. . . . However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. . . . Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran and
December 22, 2016
The Wrong Kind of Strong
By Eddie Lowen Three attributes we should seek when we say we want a strong leader. In Disney”s animated film Beauty and the Beast, a strapping young man named Gaston cannot fathom why Belle (the Beauty, herself) is so disinterested in him. After all, Gaston is Mr. Everything. As the song sung by Gaston”s sidekick exclaims, he”s the slickest and quickest, and his neck is the thickest! No one can “hit” or “match wits” like Gaston. And for the record, no one can spit like him, either! With a bio like that, what young French maiden could resist? Answer: Belle. She
November 26, 2016
Over Your Skis
By Tim Harlow When we get ahead of God, we”re getting ready to fall. Like you, I cringe every time a pastor flames out. For one thing, I know that there, but for the grace of God, go I. I also know my job just got harder. I know that people look at the fallen pastor, and then look at me and wonder what I”m really like. The apostle James warned us of this reality (James 3:1), but it doesn”t make it any easier when another teacher doesn”t make it. Somewhere, deep inside, we all love hearing stories about someone
October 2, 2016
Be the Lead Servant
By Eddie Lowen A question for church leaders: Do you make time to worry about whether or not people think you”re inclined to serve? I met the world”s best restaurant server. From the moment he approached our table, he was the personification of service. He flawlessly memorized orders. He was fast without seeming hurried, informative without being verbose. He was genuinely friendly. He succinctly offered great recommendations, anticipated all we needed, and even kept the table from becoming cluttered. But what registered with me strongest was that he enjoyed taking care of us. His final words were, “I”m glad I
September 23, 2016
“˜There”s Not a Jar Left” . . . the Epitaph of Many Churches
By Tim Harlow Erwin McManus says turning a church around is really just a matter of killing one church and opening a new one, and I”d have to agree. “Because of your faith, it will happen” (Matthew 9:29, New Living Translation). When I came to this 40-year-old church, it really took us 7 to 10 years to transition it to the place where we could start doing what we knew God wanted us to do. The upside was we had some people and some money and a building. But the downside was many of the people had a different vision
September 2, 2016
Costly””The Price of Avoiding Sermons about Money
By Eddie Lowen “Our minister doesn”t teach on giving, at least not very directly or often.” I haven”t counted how many times staff members or elders from other churches have said something similar to me, but I”m sure the tally is approaching 50 by now. It makes me wonder. . . . During the last year, how many churches have hosted a four-week series on biblical money management that emphasizes tithing (or growing generosity) to the church? How many churches regularly offer Financial Peace University or a similar series that equips people to master their finances? How many churches have
July 3, 2016
Worship””Filling the AbyssÂ
By Tim Harlow Financial campaigns are good because they remind us where to look for the help everyone is seeking. Blaise Pascal, a 17th-century French philosopher and mathematician, is often quoted as saying there is a “God-shaped vacuum” inside of us. That”s a preacher”s abbreviation of the following paragraph: What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help
June 6, 2016
Leadership Reincarnated
By Eddie Lowen With changing times has come fresh interest in leadership. That”s good, because a constantly evolving culture demands regularly rethinking how we lead. If there is a field of study that has been reclaimed or reincarnated by baby boomers, it is leadership. When I entered ministry, leadership wasn”t a hot topic. There were a handful of leadership books and a few gurus making the rounds, but not many. Dale Carnegie and Zig Ziglar talked leadership before it was cool, no doubt. But over the last 25 years, there has been an explosion of writing, speaking, tweeting, and blogging
May 23, 2016
The Weight of Leadership
By Tim Harlow There is always a great deal of chatter among my peers about succession planning and the right time to step away from leadership of the local church. I have been at my post for 26 years and would like to make it another 14. But I am only one year away from the senior discount at IHOP. If that weren”t bad enough, it also means that next year I qualify for the 55+ Ministers and Wives Conference. Ben Merold spoke this year! How can I be in the same category as Ben Merold? I interned under him,
April 25, 2016
Unveiled
By Eddie Lowen What I”m learning about becoming transparent, and how I”m trying to communicate that with the staff at the church where I serve. When Moses descended from the mountain in Exodus 34, his face glowed from having been in God”s presence. At first, he didn”t realize it. But soon, Moses sensed people were being weirded-out by his shiny face. His solution? A veil. Why? Here”s my best interpretation: it required less explanation. Paul recalls that event in 2 Corinthians 3. In verse 13, he surprisingly states, “We are not like Moses.” Paul explained his goal was to live
March 20, 2016
What Got You Here Won”t Get You There
By Tim Harlow There are some wonderful benefits to leading the same church for 26 years. It”s actually very difficult to make much headway into your community as a church leader without longevity. However, when people ask me for the hardest thing about longevity, this is my answer””what got us here doesn”t usually get us there. I don”t mind change. I don”t mind that I”ve preached through the years of overhead projectors to slide projectors to video to HD video. I don”t mind that I grew up in a church with a bus ministry and a puppet troupe, but I”m
February 26, 2016
Our Target? Everyone
By Eddie Lowen For a long time, I believed every church needed a target group: the irreligious, the unchurched, men, young families, singles, young adults . . . some group that is underrepresented in most established churches. But my thinking has shifted. I am now cautious about identifying target groups. Let me walk you through the New Testament passage that altered my philosophy and shaped our church”s mission language. Acts 10 introduces Cornelius, captain of the Italian Regiment. It”s safe to assume Cornelius looked and sounded much like the soldiers who brutalized and killed Jesus. That unsavory association made Cornelius
January 3, 2016
If You Build It, Will They Come?
By Tim Harlow On a recent trip to Malawi, my wife and I had a brief layover in London and were able to travel into the city for a spot of tea. We found a shop in the back of the sanctuary of a 900-year-old Anglican church. The place was incredibly beautiful and ornate, with lovely stained glass. However, it became painfully obvious the church wasn”t selling tea as a way to connect with the community, but because it was desperate for money. There was even a sign saying how much it cost to keep the building open. As I
January 1, 2016
Counting the Cost of a Growing Church
By Eddie Lowen Before you decide you want your church to grow, let me tell you the price you will pay. After taking the staff and elders of a former church to a leadership simulcast in the late 1990s, I learned that I still had a lot to learn. For several years, Rick Warren”s book The Purpose Driven Church had been making a huge impact on churches applying its principles. The simulcast was a way for our leaders to catch this kind of vision. Our church was already growing in size and health, but I knew there was another level
