Ministry Articles

Published on: September 24, 2020

10 Ways Leaders Blow Their Influence

Leadership

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Ministry

You realize by now that influence is a precarious thing. What can take years to build can be lost or squandered overnight. It happens every day to leaders, and often they’re the last to see it. So how do you end up losing influence as a leader,...

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Published on: September 22, 2020

What to Do for the Unemployed Pastor Among You

Career

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Ministry

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Calling

Now, preachers and ministers come in all stripes and varieties, I understand that. In the denomination I serve, there are some who are called “jack-leg preachers,” and it is not a compliment. No dictionary defines that term, but mostly it means th...

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Published on: September 17, 2020

Is Your Church Like Walmart?

Leadership

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Ministry

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Success

Walmart, with all of its success as a company, has continued to come under public criticism in recent years. A quick Google search will provide a litany of articles about the company devaluing employees in order to pad bottom lines and the big box st...

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Published on: September 16, 2020

Stop Imitating Other Leaders

Leadership

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Ministry

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Calling

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Success

If you’re like me, you like to track with people who are ahead of you in what they’ve accomplished, both in terms of their lives and in terms of their leadership. Chance are you do this in real life (I hope you have mentors). But the online world...

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Published on: September 8, 2020

3 Words of Wisdom for Selecting Church Elders

Leadership

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Ministry

I have been blessed to serve with the best board members and key leaders I know, truly extraordinary men and women, but not everyone is as fortunate. From secret meetings against the pastor to elders and deacons who would rather build a new kitche...

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Published on: September 7, 2020

When Is it Time to Create a New Position?

Ministry

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Hiring

Feeling under pressure? Overworked? Are you and your team working hard but can’t seem to keep up, let alone get ahead? You are not alone. Those of us who hire and lead staff live with the tension of knowing how many staff is the right number, what...

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Published on: September 3, 2020

6 Reasons Why Longer-Tenured Pastorates Are Better

Job Search

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Leadership

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Ministry

“I wish I had stayed.” I’ve heard that sentence from many pastors. Given the perspective of several years, they wish they had not left a church as soon as they did. Indeed, I was one of those pastors. For certain, there will be times that pasto...

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Published on: August 31, 2020

When You Don't Fit in With Your Coworkers

Career

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Leadership

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Ministry

I beat the culture drum a lot in my Vanderbloemen blog posts. For me, it’s one of those “shout it from the rooftop” things. I spent a lot of years working for companies I loved and respected, but ultimately I just didn’t fit with. I was searching for...

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Published on: August 26, 2020

Churches: You Are Who You Hire

Ministry

As a kid, I can remember being coerced into eating my broccoli with phrases like, “You are what you eat.” Well … that and a lot of melted cheese. And while that’s true when it comes to eating healthy, the principle also holds true when it comes to...

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Published on: August 26, 2020

When Should a Pastor Retire?

Career

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Leadership

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Ministry

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Calling

There are a lot of us Baby Boomer pastors and Christian leaders around. And it’s cliché, but we aren’t getting any younger. It’s a quiet question that many are asking, but they are asking it nonetheless: What age should I retire? Instead of respon...

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Published on: August 19, 2020

5 Words of Caution to Control Freaks

Career

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Leadership

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Ministry

It’s amazing to me how many leaders I know that tell me they struggle with control. I come by the subject honestly because I, too, am a recovering control freak. Most people have a love-hate relationship with control. Control freaks love it whe...

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Published on: August 17, 2020

4 Ways to Find & Fight Laziness in Ministry

Career

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Leadership

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Ministry

If it is true, as some pastors have warned, that “ministry can be a great place to hide out and a great place to burn out,” then ministry attra...

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Published on: August 16, 2020

Is It Time for a Ministry Do Over?

Career

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Leadership

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Ministry

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Calling

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Success

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Spiritual Growth

I’m the new guy once again. As a kid, I hated being the new guy because there was a lot of unknown. As an adult, there still is a lot of unknown with being new and that’s okay. In fact, it’s better. It’s goin...

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Published on: August 13, 2020

7 Lies Even Good Pastors Tell

Leadership

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Ministry

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Spiritual Growth

I’m a pastor, and, I hate to say, I sometimes tell lies. Don’t get me wrong, I hate lying. And I try very hard to live a life of integrity. I’m guessing you do too. But do you ever let a lie…slip? Pastors are under relentless pressure to be...

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Published on: August 12, 2020

7 Ways to “Disagree and Commit”

Leadership

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Ministry

Jeff Bezos of Amazon fame wrote a well-circulated article to his shareholders. You can read it here: Jeff Bezos’ Shareholder Letter In m...

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