Defining and Assessing Biblical Leadership & Church Success

(Click here to read in pdf) Many pastors today in the U.S. have become discouraged by the past 15 years of popular leadership training in the church (and for very good reasons). Such leaders like John Maxwell, Bill Hybels, and Rick Warren have had many great things to write and say about leadership, however, they have…

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The History of Metro Praise International Church

Metro Praise International church, which began in October 2012 in Chicago, traces its roots to Metro Praise church, started in March 1999 in New Orleans by Joe Wyrostek. At 22 years of age, after graduating in New Orleans with an Associate Degree from the School of Urban Missions (SUM), Joe started the first Metro Praise…

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Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Patrick Lencioni’s book, Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team, is a very helpful and practical guide to overcoming the five most destructive traits in teams and learning how to become and maintain the best team possible. Though this book is primary focused on teams that work together in a secular work place, the information…

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Top Five Reasons Why Christians Don’t Street Witness

I want to introduce this lesson by giving the reader a “wake up call” with some hard-hitting facts concerning the state of churches in the US: 95% of all Christians have never won someone to the Lord! 80% of Christians never even share their faith! Only 2% of all Christians are active in evangelism ministries…

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Discipleship Assessments

Below are the slides and printouts used for the assessment portion of the book, “Discipleship Based Churches,” by Joe Wyrostek. Please feel free to use the copyrighted materials in any waythat is beneficial for your ministry as long as they are not (a) plagiarized or (b) sold without notifying MPI Publishing for permission. For more…

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For the Glory of God Alone!

I really felt inspired to write this blog after seeing so much hype and self-promotion as of late in Christian circles on Facebook and the like.  Many of the posts and comments come across like, “Watch our church baptism video- its so awesome what we did.  We had shirts made, rented a blow up house…

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Mega Church Growth Not So Mega

“At least three in four of those “new” attendees left another church to attend the growing megachurch. In other words, the majority of that “growth” is not growth but transfer of existing evangelicals,” Dickerson, “The Great Evangelical Recession.” As a matter of fact Dickerson, in his revealing book, also states that “Of the 3.7 million…

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Making Every Sunday Count

As a child I was always expected to be in church every Sunday. Even if I wasn’t feeling well. Only if I was really sick was I allowed to stay home- and in all my years I can’t remember if that ever happened once. My parents taught me to go bed early and make sure…

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Ten Attitudes to Avoid in the Church

So often I as a pastor have to deal with attitudes in the church that are not “Christ-like.” So I thought I would share the “top ten” to avoid. Remember, if you do the opposite of these you’ll be all good! Ten Attitudes to Avoid in the Church Rebellious Attitude: This kind of attitude leads people to…

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Three Ways to Love the Church in Your City as Much as Jesus Does

I’ve been noticing the division that exists among churches in the same city and thus wanted to write an honest blog that shares some things God has shared with me to do.  Plus, the most common reactions I have while trying to do what God said. Three Ways to Love the Church in Your City…

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