January 1, 2026
With careful planning, clear communication, financial foresight, and sensitivity to personalities, churches can not only survive transitions, they can thrive through them.
May 15, 2024
Recent postings: A director of campus ministry is needed at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign). Stillwater (Pa.) Christian Church is looking for both a lead pastor and a youth pastor. Lexington (Ohio) Church of Christ is seeking a full-time senior minister. Norwin Christian Church in North Huntingdon, Pa., needs a full-time worship minister. Lycoming Christian Church in Linden, Pa., is seeking a minister of children, youth, and young adults. Michigan City (Ind.) Christian Church needs a senior minister. And more . . .
August 11, 2021
Mosaic Christian Church (Elkridge, Md.) established a program last year that offers all full-time staffers at least a monthlong sabbatical after every seven years of full-time ministry.
May 1, 2020
By Drew Sherman Over the last 13 years we have hosted more than 3,000 of our church family in our home. (That’s not a misprint!) During that time, our church attendance has grown from 1,500 to more than 6,000. God called my wife and me to Highland Meadows Christian Church near Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in the summer of 2002. Four years later we changed our name to Compass Christian Church because we thought it better fit our plan for multisite ministry. We were excited about our rapid growth but concerned we were growing too busy to get to know
February 2, 2019
By Ryan Rasmussen When I was a kid, I had a notepad that traveled most places with me. Hidden inside were doodles of, well, a little bit of everything. Floor plans of my dream house were wedged between drawings of my favorite comic book characters and sketches of Ariel from The Little Mermaid. I know it seems odd to think of a 13-year-old boy drawing princesses, but my dream at the time was to become an artist for Disney and I was trying to sharpen my craft. Don’t judge me. Eventually my notepad and I grew apart and I found
September 13, 2018
Rick Rusaw has announced plans to step down as lead pastor of LifeBridge Christian Church, Longmont, Colo., by September 2019, and transition to serving with the Spire network, formerly known as the North American Christian Convention. Rusaw and his wife, Diane, have served in Longmont for 28 years. LifeBridge averaged 3,264 in weekly worship attendance last year. “We knew there would be a time when we would pass the leadership privilege to someone new,” Rusaw wrote in a letter to the church posted at lbcc.org. “Now, as I look to the future of our church’s opportunities and needs, it has
August 11, 2018
By Caleb Kaltenbach SACRAMENTO, CA—In an effort to increase effectiveness of lead pastors who have grown too comfortable, a search firm has been created for the purpose of scaring them into working harder. “Basically, when an elder board hires us, we make it look like they’re considering candidates to replace the lead pastor,” said Ben Campbell, president of The Faux Search Group. “The anxiety and stress naturally scares their lead pastor into giving more effort and working longer hours.” “I guess I’m candidating for the job I have,” said pastor Chris Hayden of First Christian Church in Silmore, Kentucky. “One
June 10, 2018
By Kent E. Fillinger “Is monthly attendance the new norm?” asked the headline of a recent article by Warren Bird, director of research at Leadership Network. The trend for several years is that regular churchgoers attend less frequently. Bird said his research shows the typical church reaches 1.8 times its average weekly attendance in a month. He said the average doesn’t change much regardless of the size of the church, age of the church, or age of the lead pastor. Therefore, a typical church can determine how many different people attend each month by multiplying the average weekend worship attendance
May 23, 2018
By Caleb Kaltenbach MALIBU, CA—Pastor Paul Porgman needed an executive pastor, so he went on The Lead Pastor: XP Edition. The show is patterned after the hit series The Bachelor, which features a single man who spends weeks with many attractive women until he chooses his future wife. In The Lead Pastor: XP Edition, Porgman spent weeks with many unattractive, out-of-shape, type A personality men until he chose one to be his executive pastor. “It was . . . bizarre,” Porgman said. “We never got in a hot tub, but I walked on the beach with each one of them. I also had to take them out
May 10, 2018
The church grew in 2017, despite being warned attendance possibly could drop 15 percent under a new pastor. By Andy Rector Tyler McKenzie says he was “raw” when he was hired as teaching pastor at Northeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2012. In April 2016, McKenzie became lead pastor. Former lead minister Bob Cherry, who helped start Northeast in 1977, saw something in McKenzie during the initial interview process. And Cherry doesn’t mince words about McKenzie’s subsequent promotion: “Tyler is the right guy” for the lead pastor role. A year before McKenzie joined the Northeast staff, Cherry began
March 7, 2018
By Jessie Clemence The church gymnasium, once filled with the sound of squealing children and bouncing balls, fell silent. The church bank account, once bolstered with tithes from generous givers, dropped to a frightening low. The elder board had vacancies. The pulpit lacked a minister and the worship team was missing vocalists and musicians. Children were missing from Sunday school classes, but that was OK because there weren’t enough adults to teach them anyway. The church had split, and those of us who stayed walked through an endless succession of losses. I grew tired of trying to explain to
June 18, 2017
By Justin Horey Downtown Phoenix, Arizona, is home to a burgeoning art scene. In the center of it all””on Central Avenue, in fact””is New City Church. Lead pastor Brian Kruckenberg describes New City as “a church in the middle of the city, for the city.” In Phoenix, being “for the city” means reaching the local artists” community. New City”s first building was a house that doubled as an art gallery. New City Church worshipped in the house on Sundays, but it was also used by local artists who stored supplies on site and even taught classes in the building. Kruckenberg
By Ken Idleman I call it “ecclesiastical matchmaking,” playing cupid to help a local church get together with a minister or a minister together with a church. Part of the experience involves coaching leaders and churches through the courting/calling process. And I”ve done quite a bit of it. After decades of church consulting, including 30 years of helping churches and leaders as a Christian college president, I”ve logged some experiences and come to some conclusions about ministerial succession in local churches. Here are my observations. Defining Terms First let”s define some terms. Pastoral transition and pastoral succession are not the same
August 24, 2015
By Steve Reeves A megachurch minister with decades of experience explains why and how staff members” spouses and children””including his own son””serve together with him. I have been lead pastor at Connection Pointe Christian Church, Brownsburg, Indiana, for almost 29 years. When my wife and our three preschoolers moved here in July 1986, there was a paid youth minister and a church secretary. It proved to be a wonderful place to minister and an encouraging environment in which to raise our family. Life, church work, and family matters were much simpler when we arrived, although my wife probably wouldn”t use
September 1, 2014
By Michael C. Mack Your attitude as a leader can either kill or build your team, says Carey Nieuwhof, author of Leading Change Without Losing It and lead pastor of Connexus Community Church in Barrie, Ontario. What can you do to cultivate a better attitude? Nieuwhof gives three solutions: 1. Get more sleep. Someone once told Nieuwhof that 70 percent of discipleship is a good night”s sleep. How holy, passionate, and kind can you be when you”re exhausted? 2.Create white space on your calendar. Be sure you create margin in your life””space on your schedule that is not filled with
July 27, 2014
By Vince Antonucci (From our series “The Best or Worst Advice I”ve Ever Received.”) The best advice I”ve received is from one of my spiritual mentors, Dean Trune. In fact, you can find this advice in every e-mail Dean sends out. The advice is that the most essential thing I can do today is spend quality time with God. Jesus said we can accomplish nothing apart from him. He said as we stay connected to him, we will produce much fruit. Intimacy with God leads to influence in the world. Dean lives that, and I want to. Vince Antonucci serves
July 23, 2014
Caleb Kaltenbach grew up as an agnostic with two homosexual parents. Now the lead pastor with Discovery Church in Simi, California, he challenged North American Christian Convention attendees to “Preach the Truth in Love.” Hear his thoughts about how to balance grace and truth, especially with homosexuals, in this exclusive interview here.
May 12, 2014
By Chris DeWelt “With great power comes great responsibility” (Voltaire, not Spiderman) The megachurch missions minister occupies a new and unique role. In their article, “U.S. Megachurches and New Patterns of Global Mission,”1 researchers Robert J. Priest, Douglas Wilson, and Adelle Johnson make several important observations. One is that the American megachurch missions pastor is a gatekeeper who watches over a very significant portion of the megachurch budget. Their survey found the average annual foreign missions budget in the megachurch was $690,000. Outside of general payroll and facility needs, the missions budget of the typical megachurch easily eclipses all other
October 11, 2013
By Aaron Brockett Six months after the grand opening of our church plant, I hit a wall. The combination of seeing the last of the “well-wishers” depart, watching our first disillusioned family leave the church, and experiencing the drought of summer attendance was too much. I”d given everything I had to get this young church started, and now the needle of my emotional tank was firmly planted on empty. I wanted to bail. To be honest, I was irritated with the stories of church planters turned megachurch pastors who made it look so easy (or so I thought). On paper,
July 17, 2013
JAMIE SNYDER Lead pastor, Lakeside Christian Church, Lakeside, Kentucky I have long subscribed to the Christian leadership axiom, “The best indicator of future performance is past performance.” Now, to be sure, it is not the only indicator; but the track record of any emerging Christian leader should not be ignored, especially in the area of their character. This being true, it is encouraging to see the picture and name of Jamie Snyder on CHRISTIAN STANDARD”s list of “40 Leaders Under 40.” Even from his student days at Ozark Christian College, Jamie has been a young man with genuine humility and
April 7, 2026
John B. Penrose Jr
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David Faust
March 27, 2026
Rick Cherok