One of the biggest limiting factors we face in ministry is our level of self-awareness. For me, it has taken years and I am still on the journey of truly understanding myself and being aware of what makes me, me. But the truth is, everyone is wired differently and has strengths and weaknesses that make us who we are. When we can embrace those strengths, weaknesses, and how they in turn influence how we act and interact we are able to lead from a place of freedom and clarity. On the flip side, when we are not self-aware it is like operating in the dark, not only for us but for those we interact ..read more

I recently led my team in a planning day that resulted in an entire year of sermons, events, and leader training/events placed securely on the calendar. The realization of the necessity of this day came as I was meeting with one of my team members who I could tell was a bit overwhelmed with everything that ‘needed’ to be done, but no clear direction on where to start. It became clear we needed to get everything planned out so the focus could be on executing the plan.  Planning is one of the most neglected and often stereotyped negative traits embodied by youth pastors. The truth is most p ..read more

Ministry demands your time, and so does your family. The problem is, we can’t pause time to get stuff done or make more time appear out of nowhere. Knowing both your family and ministry need time, and both demand a very rigorous schedule, what do you do? Since you cannot manipulate time itself, you must acknowledge and understand a few things about your time when it comes to ministry and family. Here are 8 things to help you acknowledge and understand time, ministry, and family… 1. Know what you’re getting into This does not mean throw in the towel and give up on balancing your time. I am not ..read more

Marriage is hard! Ministry is hard! Navigating marriage and ministry is very hard. But there is a way to make it work. From navigating long hours to stressful situations there are many hurdles that stand in the way of a thriving marriage while doing ministry. It is no secret that many ministry marriages end ugly and publicly. A simple google search will result in a plethora of articles about moral failures, pastoral divorces, and terrible marital situations from people in ministry. Why is that? Ministry people should be the ones whose marriages are thriving, right? We are the ones who know God ..read more

Pastor, director, admin, high-capacity volunteer it doesn’t matter the title being a parent and involved in ministry is a tricky balance. As a pastor for the last decade and a half and a parent of 5 kids, I know it is not easy. Kids need our time, ministry needs our time, how do we do both? I think we’ve all heard stories of pastor’s kids who’ve left the church or hate the church because they feel like it stole their parent. We probably all even know someone personally who has major wounds from the church and a parent in ministry. But that does not have to be the case. The other side of the co ..read more

Being involved in ministry and being involved with your family can sometimes feel like they’re at odds. The mix of ministry and family creates a tricky situation because you want to do both well, but in order to do anything well it requires time. Since cloning has not yet been invented, we must carefully select where and how we spend our time which makes the “balance” between ministry and family a difficult one. In the coming weeks we will dive into different aspects of Family & Ministry, but before we dive into specific topics within that umbrella here are 5 things to remember as we start ..read more

Thus far in this series we have focused on improving the craft of standing in front of an audience and presenting a message. We have covered topics such as the structure of our message, self-awareness, tools to help us improve, and tips for presenting to students. However, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the actual content itself. We can craft and deliver the most wonderful messages, and pretty words are great, but to what end? What’s the point? Our job is not to just deliver a well-presented message. A well-presented message is merely a vehicle to get the important information to our ..read more

No matter what the setting is, public speaking is not easy. But speaking to students can be even more difficult. It’s so strange that speaking to adults is hailed as the thing people get “promoted” to when in reality speaking to students is so much more difficult. Not only do all the normal public speaking difficulties apply but on top of that you deal with — a generation that has been raised almost entirely on screens and short clips, shorter attention spans, many students don’t care, they get distracted easier, there are more distractions present, and the list goes on. If you speak to studen ..read more

Public speaking, including sermon creation and delivery is a craft and like any craft can be improved with the proper time and attention. Nobody is the perfect speaker which means we all have room for improvement and an opportunity to take our speaking to the next level. I could give you practical tips, and I have some like “4 Things That Will Take Your Speaking to The Next Level” and they’re extremely valuable and should be heeded. However, for the purpose of this series I believe tools and resources to help you cultivate those tips will be more helpful. I was talking with a young leader who ..read more

We all have blind spots, and especially when it comes to our teaching. Besides blank stares and disinterested audience members we often go no further in truly evaluating our speaking. It’s easy to ‘just do your thing’ and then think no more about it. You pour hours into researching, writing, practicing, and delivering your message and then move on. There are other responsibilities demanding your time and attention, and since speaking is just a piece of most church workers job description, we usually just speak and move on until we need to do it again. But how do you improve? How do you take yo ..read more