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This week, my wife, Marty, and I had the honor of attending a church planter's retreat sponsored by the Converge Northwest District and held at the beautiful Cannon Beach Christian Conference Center on the rugged Pacific coast in northern Oregon. Read on to discover just a small amount of what was seen and heard at that relaxed gathering. Maybe you and your church can learn from my observations.

Are you developing or re-developing your church website? If so, please allow me to suggest what people should see when they go on your site to find out about your church.
A.T. Pierson once said, "There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer." If there's ever a time for prayer in your church, it's during a season of transition between lead pastors. Consider the huge need for change and preparation in your church before a new pastor is called. Consider the following needs:
I hate to write this blog. I've seen too many of these intentional mistakes made by church planters or pastors whose churches end up headed for trouble, splits, or dysfunction. Read on to discover when your pastor or church needs help because they are headed for trouble.
 n consulting with many churches over the years I've come across some that need to pause, celebrate with thanksgiving what God has done over their existence, then send their members out to other churches and ministries with a blessing and close their doors. Here are some signs that they should do just that.
This morning I was looking forward to a day of rest when the power at our house went out. It has now been out over four hours and we're still waitingÐand waitingÐand waiting. In this electronic world, it's hard to get things done when your power goes out, things like writing this blog, for instance. So this brings to mind an important question, "What powers your church?" Consider the following answers.
 Most churched people in North America and maybe around the world attend or are being ministered to by small churches. I am defining a small church as one that has fewer than 125 in face-to-face, average attendance during worship services. These churches and their leaders need not apologize for being small and seemingly insignificant. In fact, they are the churches that may have the greatest impact for the Gospel in their communities. They matter! This blog offers some reasons why, so keep reading to find out why the small church matters to God and to its community.
For some time I have been thinking about what pastors from the Millennial Generation need to understand and accept. It's difficult to generalize generational behavior when speaking about a particular group of younger pastors, but after studying, observing, and helping to place millennial pastors, I will take a risk and state my observations. My hope in doing this is to not only help this group of pastors, but also to help the multigenerational churches they want to serve. What follows is a starter list of my observations and ideas.
When coaching someone, there is power in using a "what if" question. In this blog, I want to encourage you to use the "what if" question as you coach others and seek to help them assist others to come up with solutions to the problems they might face in life, leadership, and ministry. Read on to discover more about using this helpful "tool."
There are four important principles that should be used in developing or revising any of your church guiding documents. When we talk about guiding documents for the church, we are referring to such documents as articles of incorporation, by-laws, policies, job descriptions, etc. Follow the principles below and you will improve your ministry effectiveness and relevance, plus you may reduce the number of organizational headaches that go with leading a church. Read on to discover what these four principles are.