February 6, 2015 By Phil Maynard (Part 2 of an 8-part blog series) If you have identified a team of people passionate about worship at your church, and if you truly want to empower them to produce worship experiences that connect experientially with your congregation, the single greatest gift you can give this team is [...]
January 30, 2015 By Phil Maynard Part 1 -- Building a Team -- (an 8-part blog series) The classic view (perhaps romantic, somehow spiritually heroic) is of a lone pastor, tucked away in a study by candlelight, weighty bound commentaries stacked around him as he toils late at night awaiting inspiration by the Holy Spirit, who swoops [...]
January 23, 2015 By Eddie Pipkin Every year, the week before Advent begins, I drive to the church storage unit with the Director of Children’s Ministry for the local congregation that she and I serve, and we load my ragged old Honda Odyssey right up to the roof with all of the Christmas decorations. Then [...]
December 30, 2014 By Phil Maynard Encouragement to Take Personal Responsibility for Spiritual Growth (Part 5 of Top 5 Things People Need from the Church to Grow as Disciples) As people move toward maturity they should become less dependent on the local church to provide for their spiritual growth. They should begin to take responsibility [...]
December 23, 2014 By Phil Maynard The Challenge to Grow and Take Next Steps (Part 4 in the Top 5 Things People Need From the Church to Grow as Disciples) This may come as a surprise for some, but the Willow Creek survey indicates that a large percentage of those beginning and starting to grow [...]
December 16, 2014 By Phil Maynard Leaders Who Model and Reinforce Spiritual Practices (Part 3 of Top 5 Things People Need From a Church to Grow as Disciples) It is often said that where the leaders go, the people will follow. I think this is especially true in the Church. I worked with an Administrative [...]
December 9, 2014 By Phil Maynard 2 - Help developing a personal relationship with Jesus Developing a personal relationship with Jesus doesn’t happen by accident. It isn’t transferred by osmosis. We don’t ‘catch’ it by sitting next to another Christian in the pew on Sunday morning. In unpacking the tools of how to aspire toward [...]
December 2, 2014 By Phil Maynard Series…Top 5 Things People Need from the Church to Grow as Disciples 1 – Help Understanding the Bible Research by Willow Creek (as reported in the book Move: What 1,000 Churches Reveal About Spiritual Growth) identifies ‘help in understanding the Bible’ as a need reported by around 75% of [...]
November 25, 2014 By Phil Maynard Chvches (pronounced “churches”) isn’t a religious group at all. They’re a Scottish ‘electronic’ band that is currently touring the U.S. behind its 2013 album release, The Bones of What You Believe. In an interview this past summer with Chicago Tribune writer Luis Gomez, the band mates related what they [...]
November 4, 2014 By Eddie Pipkin You’d have to be a hermit in the deepest cave in the most remote mountain range not to have heard a kid belting out the Disney movie Frozen’s signature song: “Let It Go.” The characters and the song are cute enough, but the enormous popularity of the tune (just [...]