"Good to Great," Book Review
Principles in “Good to Great” “Good to Great” by Jim Collins is a secular book on what makes companies go from being “good” to “great.” The main premise of the book is that being “good” is the greatest enemy of being “great.” Collins and his twenty-person research team studied 126 companies to find the best…
Read More"Simple Church," Book Review
Basic Overview of “Simple Church” Simple Church,” by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger is a must read for all “cutting edge” church planters, youth pastors, and senior pastors. The subtitle says it all, “Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples!” The whole idea of the book is to remove the clutter and unnecessary trappings of…
Read More"Natural Church Development," Book Review
Basic Overview of “Natural Church Development” “Natural Church Development,” by Christian Schwarz is a church growth book based on the massive research of 1000 churches in 32 nations and 4.2 million church members, observing nature, and studying Scripture. The principle is called the “biotic paradigm” and is described in contrast to the “technocratic method”…
Read More"The Seven Deadly Sins of Small Group Ministry," Book Review
Overview “The Seven Deadly Sins of a Small Group” by Bill Donahue and Russ Robinson is about teaching churches and small group leaders how to have a successful small group ministry. The book is based on the experiences of the Willow Creek Association of Churches and specifically Willow Creek Church in Chicago. The authors both…
Read More"Now That’s a Good Question" – Book Review
Overview “Now That’s A Good Question” by Terry Powell is a short-power packed book with funny stories, great insight, and easy to use principles for leading a small group discussion. The basis of the book comes from the need to teach small group leaders how to ask the right kind of questions and make an…
Read MorePurpose Driven Church Evaluation
Principles in the “Purpose Driven Church” I truly enjoyed the many principles given in this classic book on church growth by Rick Warren because they are easy to understand, based in Scripture, and highly functional. I will note five principles on church growth and development that stuck out to me; (1) The Five Dimensions of…
Read MoreSuccessful Strategic Planning in the Church
Definition of Strategic Planning Strategic planning in the church is “the art of devising or employing plans or stratagems toward a goal” (Webster). It is clear from the Bible God loves using strategic plans to accomplish His goals, for example: Creating the universe in six days, Building the nation of Israel, Worship in the…
Read MoreDiscipleship Small Groups
Introduction A pastor was speaking to fellow pastors at a conference for church growth when he asked how many of the churches present had small groups. About one-third of the pastors raised their hands. He then clarified his question by asking how many had churches where small groups of people worked together on tasks, got…
Read More"Leading a Small Group" Book Review
Overall Book Review “Leading a Small Group” by Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey is a powerful and informative book on the tools needed to lead a multiplying small group. The authors list 52 ways to help start a small group from scratch and develop it to 1,520 small groups in just ten years! The…
Read MoreMormons and Muslims!
I, along with Metro Praise, had the honor over the weekend of preaching at both a Muslim event and a Mormon event.Believe it or not, but the Mormons and the Muslims have many things in common.Here is just to name a few: 1. They both had a prophet that received a visitation from an angel…
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