Firm Ground or Sinking Sand?

  Who deserves to be lavished with God’s love? Christians? Good people? Kind people? Many of want to be arbiters of God’s love. We see it as a commodity to be managed and/or dispensed. Last Sunday, I talked about John 3:16-17 which is: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that…

Most of you know where I am this week. I am at a summer camp called “Leadership Lab.” I am one of the directors of this 55-year-old camp. For the past 32 summers, I have returned to this place to serve. But it isn’t a place. Yes, we do rent Augustana College in Rock Island,…

  King Solomon was pretty smart. The Bible says that he was the wisest person ever to live (short of Jesus the Son of God). He is believed to be the partial author of 3 books of the Bible: Song of Songs, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. One of them is racy and the other two are…

By Thom Rainer Whenever I come across an article by Thom Rainer, I take the time to read it. He is one of the best church consultants and church “practitioners” I have come across. I have read many of his books and he is rarely wrong in his assessments. This past week, I saw an…

Here we are in 2020. My does time fly! In 1998, Community Lutheran Church was engaged in a strategic planning process called “Vision 2020” and here we are. Now I don’t remember the conclusions of that report but that doesn’t matter now. What does matter are the plans we make for the coming year. Maybe…

Structuring Your Church to Grow and Not Plateau By Rick Warren You must develop an unshakable conviction about growth. First and foremost, you need to settle on the idea that God wants his church to grow. And he doesn’t want it to stop growing! You don’t ever need to apologize for wanting your church to…