healthy pastors Archives » GProCommission

March 31, 2020

Author Barry Voss gives practical how-to's on how to develop your church's strategic plan.

How to Develop A Strategic Plan in 7 Steps

This article on how to develop a strategic plan is a continuation of author Barry Voss’s previous article here where Barry addressed why a strategic plan is necessary in Part One. Develop Your Church’s Strategic Plan Here are some basic steps to use when developing a strategic plan: Step #1: Organize a strategic planning group. The first thing you want to do is to put a team together who will develop the plan. You should pick key people who have appropriate skills or background in what you are planning. Step #2: Outline your Plan. The starting point to any plan is a simple […]

March 26, 2020

Strategic Planning

Planning is an important element in church or ministry leadership. Robert Schuller, author and former Pastor of the Crystal Cathedral in California, says, “those who fail to plan, plan to fail.” Having a clearly defined plan helps a church or ministry organize its resources and apply them in such a way as to best achieve their vision. Without a plan, churches and ministries waste limited resources and valuable time, and inevitably fall short of achieving what God has called them to do. Having a plan does not restrict a church or ministry to a prescribed course of action, but rather lays […]

March 24, 2020

How do we keep our churches focused on the Great Commission?

How to Keep Your Church Focused on the Great Commission

This article on the Church and the Great Commission is reshared with kind permission from Breeze church. Something that scares me is that it’s possible to do church without actually doing what a church is called to do. It’s possible to gather people together, sing songs, listen to words spoken from a stage, pass offering plates, and not even come close to the mission that Jesus gave the Church. Does that scare you? I don’t ever want to be a church that isn’t accomplishing the Great Commission of reaching lost people and discipling them into Jesus followers. And yet, we know from […]

March 19, 2020

Disappointment in ministry is inevitable but

5 Ways to Handle Disappointment in Ministry

If you are in leadership or ministry long enough, you will have seasons and moments of disappointment. It might be someone you are counseling that walks away and doesn’t want your help. It might be a leader who decides they aren’t on board anymore, and they leave. Some will create division or hurt in your life. Maybe someone is mean to your wife or kids. The list is endless. What do you do in those moments? For many, these moments are when someone leaves for a new job — explaining how God has called them to a church that will […]

January 14, 2020

Fight Your Fears

reshared with kind permission from Author and Pastor Joshua Reich. All of us have fears. It might be the dark, failure, snakes (that’s one of mine!), heights, being alone, or being in a crowd. How do you know if you fear the right things? If we aren’t careful, we can be afraid of things that aren’t worth being afraid or we can let fear dictate what we do and don’t do. One pastor said, “What you fear establishes the boundaries of your freedom.” What you fear establishes the boundaries of your freedom. -Erwin McManus CLICK TO TWEET One way to know […]

December 4, 2019

A Leaders Defection: The Goodby Kiss Part II

Dr. Richard’s article on Christian leaders defection and our response reshared and cont’d from PART I. The clincher for me on the issue of eternal life is the very meaning of eternal in that life. If eternal life can be lost for any reason at all, it is not eternal by any definition. In addition is the question of proportionate contribution. To the extent to which one contributes to salvation, to that extent it can be undone. Contribute much to it, undo it easily. Contribute a little bit, undo it eventually, with one too many sins. Contribute nothing, and simply […]

December 3, 2019

Baby monkey clinging to his mother, showing the monkey example of grace.

When Christian Leaders Defect: “The Goodbye Kiss”

Dr. Ramesh Richard shares his wisdom and insight on how to reflect and understand as well as react when high-profile leaders defect from the faith. God has patiently put up with a history of leaders who defect—of whom I am one. I defect often. Although I am more aware of my sins of commission than omission, my every sin denies and defies allegiance to the Lord I love. I must return to the One I belong by confession, quickly and regularly, about attitudes and actions not aligned to His standards. Short History Two higher-profile defections in 2019—a mega-church pastor and […]

June 27, 2019

How to Lead Through Imperfect Conditions

Let’s face it, you’d love to have ideal conditions to lead in. Who wouldn’t? And while, ideally: Your team would be perfectly motivated to achieve the mission No good team member would ever leave You’d be inspired to write every day The people you’re trying to reach would be open and receptive You’d introduce change without any fear or pushback All your ideas would be great ideas Life isn’t like that. At all. And yet it’s easy to get into a place where you’re hesitant to act, constantly frustrated and thinking of quitting because things never seem like they’re as […]

July 31, 2018

Singleness and the Church: Not overlooking the overlooked in our midst

In this classic episode, Dr. Darrell Bock, Dr. Abraham Kuruvilla and Kari Stainback discuss singleness, focusing on how the church can better minister to singles. Timecodes: 00:16 Kuruvilla and Stainback share their stories of singleness 04:50 the church’s struggle to minister to singles 08:16 Singleness comes in different forms and different circumstances 15:30 1 Corinthians 7 and practical implications in the local church 21:57 Advice for pastors and church leaders in ministering to singles 28:40 Singleness and small group ministries 31:45 Experiencing community as a single person 38:25 Advice to singles for gaining greater community 41:00 Ministering to those who have reentered singleness through death or divorce 47:45 Singleness […]

July 24, 2018

The Sins of a Pastor || Your Bible is for More than Sermon Prep

Guest Post by Pastor Joshua Reich, reshared with kind permission. Pastors, like any person sin. While this may be surprising for some people as they put their pastors and their wife on a pedestal, it is true. Because of the nature of being a pastor and the life they live, their sins are often not obvious and ones that no one will ever know about. In fact, some of the most hurtful and dangerous sins are ones that a church and elders can unknowingly encourage. These sins are not in any particular order, just the order I wrote them in. This […]