People are sometimes surprised to find out I don’t attend the church I serve during the week. Occasionally people question my ability to fully support the mission of my work church. But for me, working at one church and worshiping (and volunteering, studying and bringing something for the potluck) at another is the healthy choice…
Church and Ministry
10 posts
Long hours, juggling multiple deadlines from several departments all while feeling isolated because—let’s face it—no one truly understands your job? Recipe. For. Burnout. “Try self-care,” they said. “It will be easy,” they said. Ha! You are already feeling like you don’t have control over your work (deadlines, workload, responsibilities) and chances are you don’t see…
As communication professionals often tasked with coming up with killer creative ideas, you should know by now that lightning rarely strikes. If you sit around waiting for inspiration to show up, you’re going to be sitting alone for a while. Instead, the creative life is built on habit. The late writer Octavia Butler put it…
15-year-old Danny Herrera and his girlfriend were crossing the street one evening in October when a driver failed to yield and plowed into them. The two went up over the car, resulting in a dislocated knee for Herrera and a concussion for his girlfriend. This kind of accident is all too common, and our response…
I always feel super old when I say this, but can you believe another year has come and gone? We’re square in the middle of CCT (Crazy Christmas Time) for those of us working in churches, and I know it probably feels like an extra-caffeine-required sprint to make it to the end of the year.…
Too often we think of limits as things that hold us back. They stop us from doing more. But limitations are powerful: Limits keep us safe: Speed limits literally save lives. Limits narrow our focus: Being limited to a certain area allows you to focus and go deeper. Limits keep us from doing too much:…
Ah! Advent is here. It’s almost Christmas. Deep breath. It’s okay. You planned (somewhat). You have things done (mostly). You have time for last minute emergencies (not really). You could use a little something extra to engage people in the season itself (like all of us). Social media is a great and easy way to…
Let’s be honest—we as church leaders would not be able to do ministry without volunteers. Church staff members work hard, but there’s only so much we can do. Which is why free labor is crucial for any church. And no time is this more true than during the Christmas season. Christmas volunteers selflessly give up…
I am working with several nonprofit organizations regarding the alignment of incentives in a way that gets everyone pushing and pulling toward shared outcomes, rather than competing or unwanted results. An Example of Misaligned Incentives One missions organization is working hard to recruit, train, send, and care for more and better missionaries to some of…
Church Marketing Sucks started on July 22, 2004. We’ve had more than 15 years of helping churches communicate better. Yes, in internet terms that makes us a dinosaur—just like our ‘That’s how we’ve always done it’ graphic. We don’t want to do it the same way we’ve always done it, so we’re taking a break…