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One of the factors that we look for in churches that are plateaued or shrinking is the passion element. Passion is the vital fuel of an organization’s mission…and it’s not intangible. For instance, do people care about the organization and its mission…and how do they express it? Do they feel a sense of ownership for the vision? Are they eager to serve when opportunities present themselves? Are they willing to lead when asked? What is the organization doing to encourage indivi

I had a crazy front row seat watching a church grow from a house group to 6000+ people on a weekend. Whether that’s good or bad and something to celebrate or deride, I’ll leave that to you. At one point, in a survey we found that 40% of the people attending our weekend gatherings had either never been to a church before or only went once or twice a year. Again, depending on your ecclesiastical roots and theological stance, you can determine for yourself whether that’s good or

Years ago when I was pastoring, we had a group of people who would go to a particular place where the homeless in Cincinnati would meet and serve a simple lunch with everyone, hang out, talk, play cards, and pray with folks. Every Saturday—rain, sleet, snow, or hail. One summer morning, the homeless community pulled a surprise on them. A friend of mine emailed me about it. He wrote: “When we were through, we packed up as usual. But then the team was asked to stop over acros

Over the last few decades, there’s been a shift in evangelicalism in particular from the hyper-individualistic message of “personal salvation” to a more holistic, communal, and cosmic interpretation of the New Testament teachings. Or in other words, Jesus is about more—much more—than simply a personal “fire escape” message. I think that’s a shift that is way overdue. Jesus preached a far more expansive view of the Kingdom of God...cosmogonic in scope. I loved the way the An