In Preaching Articles: "Guarding your heart"

7 Keys To Increasing Your Church's Footprint

By Jim Morgan on Dec 22, 2021

Jesus modeled discipleship and community engagement as an example for His Church to follow. He felt a small number of highly effective disciples would cover much more ground than a slew of casual followers.

Tags: Outreach, Missional, Make Disciples, local church purpose

4 Keys To Increasing Giving In Your Church

By Jim Morgan on Jul 17, 2023

Redefining members (not pastors and staff) as the “church” and the community (not members) as the “customer” would reverse the lens through which churches evaluate nearly every decision they make today.

Tags: Money, Giving, Generosity, Perspective, perspective  (view more)  (view less)

A Simple Exercise That Will Infuse Life Into Your Staff

By Charles Stone on Jul 25, 2023

Recently our church staff held our annual in-house evaluation retreat when we reviewed the prior year’s goals and plans. God had given us a good year and we wanted not only to discuss how we could improve, but rejoice in His blessings.

Scripture: Psalm 9:1, 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Tags: Thankfulness, gratitude, Leadership General, church leadership

This Killed Kodak And It's Coming To Your Church

By Karina Kreminski on Apr 11, 2024

It saddens me that some people see the need for change in the church, yet God’s people keep doing the same thing as if minor tweaking will stop the decline of the Western church.

Tags: Transformation, Culture, Missional, church culture, culture  (view more)  (view less)

3 Ways To Boost Your Preaching Creativity

By Brandon Kelley on Jul 4, 2022

Do you want more people to walk away from the church gathering and actually remember the big idea from your sermon? Of course you do. Who wouldn’t?

Scripture: John 3:36, Matthew 15:21

Tags: Preaching, pastoral leadership, Pastoral Ministry, poor preaching, Effective Teaching, Sermon Help, Teaching Prep, preaching  (view more)  (view less)

Honor Your Grandchildren’s Father And Mother

By Nancy Wilson on Jul 6, 2024

As grandmothers, we are to do more than simply cheer for our children and grandchildren and buy them Christmas jammies (though we should certainly do those things and more). Our foremost duty is to fear the Lord and obey him every day of our life.

Scripture: Psalm 103:7, 2 Timothy 1:5

Tags: family, parenting, Grandparents, GRANDCHILDREN, Prayer for Others, Family Relationships, future generations, Faithful Prayer  (view more)  (view less)

101 Easter Sermons And Ideas For Your Church

By SermonCentral .com on Feb 23, 2022

With these 101 Easter sermons and ideas for your church, you'll be ready to celebrate our risen Savior this year!

Tags: Easter, Preaching, easter invite, Easter Sermons, preaching  (view more)  (view less)

How To Discover Your True North Value

By Charles Stone on Apr 13, 2023

What are the core values that guide you as a leader?

Tags: leadership, Pastoral Ministry, Values, Leadership

5 Ways To Grow Your Church's Congregation

By Ricardo Hernandez on Apr 17, 2023

Dwindling church attendance is a concern faced by almost every established or newly-created church and should be strategically addressed. Here are five simple approaches that will make your church more inviting for your existing members and help attract new ones.

Tags: Community, Church, Church Members, members, Connect, Young people, social media, community, church members, connect, young people, church  (view more)  (view less)

Onramps To Connect Listeners To Your Sermons And Scripture

By Ed Stetzer on Feb 23, 2022

This article is the last of six in a series on preaching in light of cultural shifts and biblical illiteracy.

Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:16

Tags: Teaching, Preaching, Culture, sermon prep, sermon, Sermon Prep, Sermon, preaching, teaching, culture, culture shifts, Sermon prep  (view more)  (view less)

5 Things That Are Not A Badge Of Honor In Leadership

By Carey Nieuwhof on Oct 31, 2023

There are some things I wore as badges of honor as a young leader I no longer wear as badges of honor today. What breaks my heart is I see many leaders falling into the same patterns I did.

Tags: Ministry, leadership, pastoral leadership, avoiding burnout, Leadership, ministry  (view more)  (view less)

Finish Your Sermon Strong: 10 Mistakes To Avoid

By Peter Mead on Jul 19, 2024

Finishing a sermon is neither easy nor natural. Peter Mead offers some observances of poor sermon endings and some hints on how to finish strong.

Scripture: John 19:28

Tags: Preaching, hermeneutics, Leadership General, preaching

You Can't Please Everyone With Your Preaching

By Peter Mead on Feb 28, 2025

The challenge with criticism is to sort it through and preach for our audience of One, yet with a loving sensitivity to the many who sit and listen.

Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:16

Tags: Communication, Preaching, Criticism, criticism, communication, preaching  (view more)  (view less)

8 Ways To Make Your Church More Accessible

By Rod Arnold on Mar 14, 2025

Here are some smart, practical things you can do to connect with more people in your community and give them a chance to get to know your church.

Tags: Love, Forgiveness, Church, Compassion, Preaching, Together, Church General, Evangelism How To, preaching, church, love  (view more)  (view less)

4 Ways To Keep Your Evangelistic Edge In Preaching

By J. John on Apr 2, 2020

"I believe that if a preacher will take these four principles and apply them, then the Lord will honor them, and they will see people turn to Christ."

Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:5

Tags: Evangelism, Preaching, Evangelism How To