It's easy to become cynical as a pastor - the longer you work in ministry the more you can lose sight of why you got into this work in the first place. This is why it's so important to remind ourselves of what we have to be thankful for! Here are 4 things I'm thankful for as a pastor. In these I believe you'll find some things you can be thankful for as well.

Have you ever been criticized as a pastor?

Criticism is going to come at you from all angles when you’re a pastor. It’s not a matter of if, but when. This applies not only to preachers but all leaders.

Anyone who is trying to do anything of significance is going to face criticism.

Sometimes criticism is based in some truth and we can learn from it.

Other times the criticism hurled at us is based in simple misunderstandings.

When it comes to preaching in particular, sometimes people hear what you didn’t say and other times they don’t hear what you did say. In both cases, misunderstandings happen which are usually followed closely by criticism.

So how do you deal with criticism when it comes at you? In this video, we are going to talk about criticism and discover some helpful tools deal with it in a way that doesn’t derail the important work that God has called us to do. Check it out.

Criticism is going to come at you from all angles when you're a pastor. It's not a matter of if, but when. This applies not only to preachers but all leaders as well. Anyone who is trying to do anything of significance is going to face criticism. Sometimes criticism is based in some truth and we can learn from it. Other times it's based in simple misunderstandings. It turns out, sometimes people hear what you didn't say and other times they don't hear what you said. In both cases, misunderstandings happen which are usually followed closely by criticism. So how do you deal with criticism when it comes at you? In this video, we are going to talk about criticism and discover some helpful tools to begin to expect it and deal with it in a way that does not derail the important work that God has called us to do.

Have you ever wondered why some pastors seem to preach effective, compelling sermons on a consistent basis, and others struggle to get the sermon written and preached?

Is it that these preachers are smarter than the rest?

From what I’ve seen there is no ideal IQ or educational experience that can predict preaching success.

Is it that they have more time than other preachers? Maybe their days are 25 hours long?

Nope. Everyone has the exact same amount of time. 

Or is it that they have a big personality and that’s all it takes?

Personality may get you places, but it won’t get you all the way. To preach compelling, clear, Spirit-led, actionable, killer sermons consistently you’re going to need more than the force of your personality.

What every successful preacher needs is simple:

A calling from God and a desire to reach people.

Preaching, at its root, can be boiled down to those two things.

But I know what you’re...

Preaching plays such a vital role in your church's ability to attract and retain first-time guests. What can you do to position your preaching to reach more people and encourage your church to invite more people? Rich Birch of Unseminary is on today to share some practical tactics to leverage your preaching for growth!

As a pastor, I rarely get to experience what it's like to be a first-time guest at a church. Most Sundays, like many church leaders, I'm at my own church. But recently I was a first-time guest at a church where no one knew who I was. I couldn't help but make note of what it was like to be a first-time guest there. While the people were generally very friendly, their process for welcoming a newcomer was lacking in a few key areas. These few simple tweaks would better position them to retain first-time guests. I hope this is helpful to you as you think about what it's like to be a first-time guest at your own church.

Five years ago this week I launched Preaching Donkey! Preaching Donkey was born out of a desire to discover the most effective ways to create and deliver messages that captivate and inspire listeners toward life-change.

Discovering what works in preaching was, and still is, a passion of mine because of the disconnect between best-practices in communication and what is so often the norm in preaching.

I first noticed this disconnect while I was completing my undergraduate program. I majored in communication and learned how to connect and communicate with people. Then, in my graduate work in seminary, I learned how to bore everyone with the Bible.

The way preaching was taught, at least how it was taught to me and so many pastors I’ve helped over the years, was so stilted and technical that it would satisfy the rubric of a seminary professor, but it would put everyone else to sleep. I knew there had to be a better way to preach biblically sound sermons that were, at the same...

Sometimes we try to complicate vision-casting to our church. In this video, I discuss a simple way to cast vision every time you preach.

With Father’s Day just around the corner I wanted to shed some light on what I believe is a negative tendency in a lot of churches on Father’s Day. While Mother’s Day tends to be a day of honoring and celebrating moms, Father’s Day often becomes a day to beat up on dads and men in general. 

I propose a better way forward that continues to honor moms and challenge men, but also offers a more holistic approach to leading and caring for both men and women in our churches.

Have you grabbed my FREE 21 Day Guide to Creating Killer Sermons? In it you will find practical action steps that take you on a three week journey of discovering how to prepare a sermon that captivates and inspires your listeners. 

With Father's Day around the corner I wanted to shed some light on what I believe is a negative tendency in a lot of churches on Father's Day. I propose a better way forward.