James Forrest is an attorney with Michael Best, and his specialty is working with churches and faith-based ministries. I interviewed him recently and was impressed by his story, his walk with Jesus, and the wisdom, skill and insight he and his team are bringing to more than 300 churches around the country.
Read MoreI had the opportunity to interview William Vanderbloemen from the hiring firm, Vanderbloemen, this week. I have been friends with William for a long time now and worked for him on staff for six years. He is a Founder and author, his most recent book is Be The Unicorn, is available on Amazon now.
Read MoreI had the opportunity to interview Tony Morgan from The Unstuck Group this week. I have been friends with Tony for over 20 years and worked with him on staff at Granger Community Church. He is a Founder and Lead Strategist at The Unstuck Group, which he started over 15 years ago.
Read MoreI had the opportunity to interview Chris Lewis and David Lee from Thrivent Church Financing last week. Chris and David are both Senior Relationship Managers and have been sponsors for LeadingSmart several times over the past three years. Both of them brought incredible insight into the current financial situation of our churches in 2023.
Read MoreI had the opportunity to interview Andrew Spikes from Missio Digital. Andrew's transitioned from corporate work to ministry-focused work, and he shares his experience in global advertising at UPS and his decision to start Missio Digital to help churches with their marketing challenges. He also touches on the struggle that churches face in measuring the effectiveness of their marketing efforts.
Read MoreAbout 20 years ago, I had the chance to meet Dr. John Jackson for the first time. He brought several dozen leaders out to Granger to learn about what God was doing in this start-up church in the middle of a cornfield.
Read MoreI recently had the opportunity to sit down with Bryan Rose from Auxano to talk about staffing, vision, leadership and disciple-making. It was a really insightful discussion about the increasing complexity of leadership in 2023 -- especially in the church.
Read MoreI recently sat down with two fantastic leaders from Thrivent Church Financing to discuss the current financial realities and the impact they’ve seen happening with churches.
Read MoreThis month’s sponsor of the LeadingSmart Executive Pastor Coaching Network is Generis, and I recently sat down with Jim Sheppard, the Principal and CEO of Generis to discuss Year-End Giving trends from 2022 and his forecasts for 2023.
Read MoreIn the last two years, I have been more aware than ever of the mental health of pastors, including my own. I sat down with my longtime friend Mark Waltz, a leader in the intersecting spheres of health, wellness, and ministry, to discuss the toll the past two years have taken on us.
Read MoreIt’s been a chaotic and adventurous last few years at Willow Creek as we’ve been rebuilding, restructuring, and regathering. I sat down with one of our Pastors, Todd Katter, who has been at Willow for 15 years and leads our Huntley location. We’ve been talking about what needs to change for pastors and churches in this post-pandemic season.
Read MoreAre you mystified by how to approach Generation Z and worried about their low attendance in church post-COVID? Let me introduce you to Faith Schiller and Hannah Gronowski Barnett, two leaders who have taught me so much about how to understand the generation that has become the majority of today’s “young adults.”
Read MoreOver his nearly three decades in ministry, Ray Johnston has built Bayside from a small campus to a thriving multisite ministry of over 20,000 people across multiple campuses in California. Ray has been focused on creating a healthy staff culture and sharing what has worked for his team with other pastors who are growing and equipping their own teams.
Read MoreA handful of years ago, Jeff walked away from his full-time Executive Pastor role to launch Church Central Office, an offsite accounting firm solely focused on serving churches and ministries in their accounting needs. We sat down today and I got to hear more of Jeff’s story and the heart behind Church Central Office.
Read MoreI love a good story. I love sitting down with someone to hear how they navigated life to arrive where they are today. Joel Mikell and I have known each other for more than two decades, and recently I had the chance to hear his story. He’s a classically trained pianist (and still plays amazing!), was a worship pastor for 25 years, and then moved into the world of helping churches grow in their generosity. I believe Joel is among the best and most experienced generosity consultants in the country.
Read MoreAmy Anderson has the kind of experience that gives her a unique and trusted perspective in the church world. With 12 years of experience as the Executive Director of Weekend Services at Eagle Brook Church, Amy was part of the leadership team that grew the church from one location of 3,000 to six campuses of over 20,000.
Read MoreWe were lucky enough to have Dan Reiland join us for Session 14 of the LeadingSmart Executive Pastor Coaching Network, and it was a valuable time where Dan discussed how to make teams strong and keep them healthy.
Read MoreWe started off our first Session in 2022 with Raul Palacios, the Executive Pastor at Church by the Glades in South Florida. Raul spoke on the importance of self-awareness in our role of Executive Pastors. Sometimes it can feel like there is a startling lack of emotional intelligence across our ministry teams, and Raul dug in with our Members to uncover how to strengthen our self-awareness.
Read MoreIn this coaching session, we were joined by Warren Bird, the Vice President of Research and Equipping at the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). My big takeaways were talking through the surprising ways Covid affected churches across the country, and discussing the anticipated (but not realized) major drop in giving.
Read MoreWhen Covid arrived in March 2020, many church leaders were cautioned to begin preparing for an economic disaster. As churches began to shutter, many wondered how they would stay afloat amidst the pandemic. I wanted to learn more about what these past 18 months have taught us - was there an economic disaster? How did churches respond?
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