small-church
Church, Pastors,

Why our small church gave a megachurch $1000

by 7 days ago3 comments

Every pastor, no matter the size of your church, has experienced the frustration of someone leaving your church for something “bigger and better.”

During those seasons it’s easy to feel like your leadership and church is “less than,” and the rich are getting richer. Before you know it bitterness and jealousy creep into your heart and we start making excuses why other churches are growing and ours is not. We assume that anyone who is experiencing results—results that we secretly wish we were experiencing— has cut a corner or sold their soul; We take cheap shots at the megachurch in our town; or make broad generalizations about growing churches and their lack of biblical commitment. When we’re angry, bitter, jealous, and discouraged, we’ll say or do anything to make ourselves feel better about our insecurity.

Courageous Pastor
Pastors,

4 Qualities of Courageous Pastors

by 2 weeks agono comment

When you first felt called to ministry, your dreams of future opportunities were probably big, bold, and courageous. I doubt your goal was to maintain the status quo— it was probably to innovate and break barriers. Over time, though, after you’ve seen enough members walk away, the fear of people leaving the church can kill your courage, and you become a manager instead of a leader

You might assume the churches with the most to lose play it the safest, but it’s’ usually the opposite— the churches with most to lose experiment the most. They understand that leaders who are afraid of subtraction never experience multiplication. If you’re willing to be a courageous leader, being led by the Holy Spirit in spite of what might go wrong or who may leave, you will take new ground, reach new people, and seize new opportunities.

the-end-is-near
Uncategorized,

When the World End: How to Know Who To Believe

by 2 weeks agono comment

If you spend much time reading the parts of the Bible having to do with the end times, it’s easy to assume you are living in the last days.

You may be. We will only know in hindsight, but what’s interesting is that every generation of Christians since Jesus ascended to Heaven has believed He would return before their death. My great grandfather believed with all his heart Jesus would return while he was alive because in his opinion sin was rampant, there were wars and rumors and wars, and the government was assigning social security numbers.

pastor-planter
Church, Pastors,

5 Things Pastors Want To Tell Church Planters

by 3 weeks ago4 comments

I can’t speak for everyone, but I love the church planting revival happening in the church right now.

The stats don’t lie, planting a new church in a community is the best way to reach new people with the gospel. I’ve never felt called to plant a new church, but I love partnering with church planters financially and spiritually to help them get started. Over the past 10 years our church has given away $500,000 to help missionaries and church planters and that has allowed me the chance to talk to a lot of planters.

exit-img
Pastors,

How I shrunk my church from 400 to 200

by 3 weeks ago3 comments

Every leader is hungry for knowledge and insight from those who have breathed the rare air of church growth. I bet you’ve read hundreds of blogs and books about the topic.  I love those blogs, but this isn’t one of those. Instead, let me tell you how I shrunk my church. Hopefully, I can save you from some of my mistakes. Let me give you a little backstory first.

Looking back now it was inevitable; I started pastoring at the age of 24, which was probably not the wisest decision at the time, but you couldn’t have convinced me otherwise back then. I was a cocky, stubborn, opinionated young leader convinced I knew what needed to be done to grow a church.

neonbrand-258972
Christian Living,

“I can’t afford it” and 5 other bogus reasons Christians don’t tithe

by 3 weeks ago6 comments

I still remember like it was yesterday.

I was 16 years old sitting in my youth group on a Wednesday night when my youth pastor began to do what he always did at that point of the service. He grabbed an offering bucket and began to walk around the half circle of chairs laid out in the small room.

When he got to me, he stood and waited for me to put something in, I hadn’t given much thought to my offering that night, and I certainly wasn’t prepared to give anything so I reached into my pocket hoping to find a few dollar bills to throw in the bucket. I was out of luck, no cash only a few coins, so I shuffled them around and gathered them together to give in the offering. My youth pastor did something no one had ever done, and I’ve never seen done since. He looked at me and said, “Keep it. God doesn’t want your spare change.” A preacher turning down an offering, go figure.

launch-team-poster-2
Pastors,

Join the Toxic Soul Launch Team

by 2 months ago

I’m excited to announce my new book, “Toxic Soul: A Pastors Guide to Leading Without Losing Heart” will be released on July 11.

Written with my brother Jeremy Isaacs, Toxic Soul is a book for pastors and church leaders. We’ve spent our life around pastors.

will-ferrel-pic
Life,

The World Needs Less Will Ferrels

by 3 months ago

The other day a buddy of mine sent a group text to me and another guy that said, “I love you guys.”

I stared at the phone for a few seconds a little rattled; I wasn’t sure how to respond. Obviously, the appropriate response was, “love you too.” And if we had been face to face I would have had no problem saying “I love you” back, but for whatever reason, at this moment texting “I love you” to another dude was intimidating. It felt like the equivalent of sending heart and kiss face emojis.