I’m a pastor, so Sunday is a “work day” for me. With that, I take a chunk of time on Sunday afternoon/evening to get the inboxes back to empty. Check this out:

That’s the way to begin a brand new week. Inbox zero! I’m ready to focus on the week’s priorities.

What’s the condition of your inbox?

A couple of weeks ago, I shared all of the details about the campus pastor opening at our Oak Leaf Campus in Cartersville, Georgia. We’ve received a great response. The selection process is going to be very competitive.

I just wanted to give the heads up to anyone who might be interested (or someone you might know) that we’re going to move forward with the next steps in the selection process next week. That means if you’re interested in applying, you’ll need to let us know by Sunday, January 23.

Here are all the Campus Pastor opening details including the downloadable position profile.

Chris Farley teaching at The River

A couple of weeks ago, I revived the “church spotlight” series on my site introducing you to Cornerstone Church. Today, I’d like to highlight The River Church in Semmes, Alabama where Chris Farley (no, not this one) is the senior pastor.

TONY: Tell us a little bit about your personal story.

CHRIS: I was born again at an early age, rededicated my life to Christ when I was 17 and entered the ministry my freshman year of College in 1988. After graduation, I traveled extensively both nationally and internationally speaking in churches and leadership conferences, and was serving on staff at a church in Ohio when in 1999 a small, traditional congregation in the deep South called and inquired if we were interested in being their pastor. I was 30 years old and there were around 20 people attending — and that was on a good Sunday!

TONY: When did your church launch?

CHRIS: Although this church had been in the community for decades,The River actually launched only 8 years ago. That’s when we discovered our true DNA as a community of faith and as a result we changed our ministry philosophy, our core values and the name of the church.

(more…)

I’ve been in the market for a vintage leisure suit for several weeks. After many stops at thrift stores, I finally concluded eBay was the only option. With that, I just purchased this ensemble:

I think I’m going to look good in that leisure suit. Don’t you?

Oh…by the way, if you are planning to attend Velocity, Exponential or The Whiteboard Sessions, you might actually see me wearing it. I’m sure there will be plenty of photo opportunities.

Long live the leisure suit!

Casey Graham

Casey Graham and I have become good friends over the last couple of years. His focus is on helping churches win with finances. His team, The Change Group, provides coaching, outsourcing of bookkeeping, payroll and a variety of other services. Here’s what Casey had to share about financial trends in the church:

TONY: What’s a current money-related trend that you’re seeing churches across the country begin to embrace?

CASEY: The biggest trend I’m seeing is churches understanding that you CAN go after financial increase on the operational side of giving. For too long churches were taught, “campaign for increase”. While campaigns have their place, fighting for 52-week increase has become a reality. Churches are “getting it” when it comes to fighting for people’s heart in regular giving! Senior leaders are embracing this idea and really running with it.

(more…)

Vision is important. So is leadership. You’ll find a lot of conference talks, books and blog posts on both. Regrettably, “systems” don’t get any love.

The other day this quote from Doug Conant, the CEO of Campbell Soup, grabbed my attention:

“You can’t talk your way out of something you behaved your way into. You have to behave your way out of it.” (HT: ManagerTools.com)

In church world, I think there’s a tendency to think that we can just preach our way to a new ministry objective. We fall into the trap of thinking that life change will happen solely through teaching. Preaching and teaching are an ingredient of change in ministries and in individuals, but I’m not convinced it’s the only ingredient.

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William Vanderbloemen

William Vanderbloemen leads the Vanderbloemen Search Group which helps churches and large parachurch ministries find the right senior leaders. Since William is regularly connected with churches working through staffing issues, I asked him to comment on the staffing trends he’s seeing in ministries today. Here’s what he had to share:

1. More Communications – I’m seeing more and more emphasis on communications and social media, even in the form of a Chief Communications Officer. In my estimation, every seminal Kingdom breakthrough has happened on the heels of a communication breakthrough. As we stand on the dawn of the web and social media, we’re on the verge of perhaps the greatest breakthrough ever. Smart churches are figuring that out and hiring around it. When I visit our friends at Lifechurch.tv, I’m astounded at the resource put into tech and communication, but more astounded at the reach of their ministry.

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John Saddington

John Saddington is one of my ministry partners at TonyMorganLive.com. Most recently, he helped me transition my site to the Standard Theme on WordPress. One of his other specialities is using WordPress to design and develop custom websites for churches and other organizations. That’s especially helpful when you don’t have a web expert on staff that knows how to use another content management solution. John is my go-to-person when it comes to new technology in the church. Here’s what he had to say on that topic:

One of the largest growing trends is using video technology to broadcast their services online, both in a sim-live (pre-recorded) environment as well as live one. The impact, though, has been difficult for many ministries and organizations to both quantify and qualify so their challenge is to target core metrics for what “success” looks like in terms of online engagement as well as the financial cost of management.

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Back in July, we asked for submissions for guest posts for people who wanted to contribute to TonyMorganLive.com.

We’re putting the call out again. If you have a blog post about ministry strategy, technology, leadership that you’d like for us to consider, please follow the instructions below.

If you pass the “this is a great thought” test, I’ll post your article and include a link to your church, ministry or personal website.  A few guidelines:

• Posts must be no longer than 500 words.
• Posts must be your original thoughts. If you draw information from another source, be sure to include a link.
• Posts that include bashing other ministries or individuals will be rejected. That’s not the way we roll around here.
• Once received, your post may undergo some light editing. Don’t worry. It’s nothing personal.

Challenge us. Stir up some controversy. Share a story.

Email me your questions and proposed articles.

Ed Stetzer

As part of my current “Church Trends” series, I recently caught up with the venerable Ed Stetzer. Ed is the Vice President of Research and Ministry Development for LifeWay Christian Resources. Additionally, he’s written quite a few books about the ministry of the church. Here are a couple of quick thoughts from Ed:

TONY: What’s a current trend that you’re seeing churches across the country begin to embrace?

ED: I think that many are seeking to move from a church of passive spectators to more mission-shaped and active disciples.

TONY: How do you see this trend impacting the future of churches?

ED: I believe we will see churches adopt and implement strategies that intentionally move people from sitting in rows to sitting in circles where they will provoke one another to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24) to live on mission in the world.

You can follow more of Ed’s writing on the LifeWay Research Blog.