In Preaching Articles: "How to pray"

5 Ways To Shorten Your Sermon

By Peter Mead on Aug 20, 2024

It's important to think about what to include in your sermon, but it's probably just as important to carefully decide what to exclude. Learn how (and where) to trim your sermon down with these tips from Peter Mead.

Scripture: 1 Samuel 17:1-58, Matthew 28:18-20

Tags: Communication, Preaching, Edit, Time, communication, preaching  (view more)  (view less)

Crafting A Culture Of Honor

By Lance Witt on Oct 22, 2020

In the middle of this election year, the amount of vicious attack and trash talking has reached a new high (or low). I think it is time that we as pastors take the lead in helping our congregations and communities know how to treat one another.

Scripture: Ephesians 4:32, 1 John 4:7-8, John 13:35, Romans 12:10

Tags: honor

Doubt Busters

By Lance Witt on Jun 28, 2024

"One of the things I love about the Bible is how honest it is. The pages of Scripture don’t gloss over the flaws and sins and weaknesses of people. Even the great heroes of the faith are not airbrushed or photo-shopped to make them look superhuman."

Scripture: Psalm 77:4-14, Isaiah 40:26

Tags: Faith, doubt, Remember, Trust, God's Character, God's faithfulness, doubt and fear, Crisis Of Faith  (view more)  (view less)

Adjusting To Reality: Loss And The Christian Life

By Joe Mckeever on Feb 4, 2020

Earlier this year, author and pastor Joe McKeever lost his beloved wife of more than 50 years, Margaret. In this moving article, he reflects on what it means to "adjust" to the new reality--and how faith requires an adjustment, as well.

Scripture: Ephesians 5:14-17

Tags: death in Christ

Growing Grace In God's Garden: The Church

By Ray Hollenbach on Mar 22, 2023

We have created a Christendom where we can choose churches the way most people choose restaurants: according to our individual tastes. How can we grow in grace when we a free to wander from one family to another?

Scripture: Luke 15:1-32, Ephesians 2:5-10

Tags: Preaching, preaching

Listening In A Noisy World

By Steve Smith on Feb 21, 2022

So much talking. So many words. So many meetings. So much information. How can we ever take in what we really need to receive to make sense of our lives, our days and most importantly, one another.

Scripture: Luke 10:38-42

Tags: Leadership Listening, Listening, MINISTRY OF PRESENCE, listening vs hearing

You Won't Accomplish Your Vision Without This

By Lance Witt on Mar 11, 2021

In my ministry Replenish, I am often asked “how do you know if a church is healthy”? What I know for sure is that the size of a church or it’s rate of growth or what happens on the platform in a weekend worship service is NOT a sure-fire indicator of health.

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3 Ways To Defeat Leadership Discouragement

By Charles Stone on Dec 11, 2023

Discouragement comes with the territory for ministry leaders. Unmet goals, putting out fires, staff issues, displeasing people, and general tiredness all contribute to discouragement. When it weighs us down, how can we dig out? The life of the prophet Elijah gives us hope.

Tags: Perseverance, leadership, Discouragement, Depression, Elijah's faith, Pastoral Ministry, Elijah's Depression, Fighting for Joy, Leadership  (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

Will The Real Jesus Stand Up? Part 1

By Lance Witt on Dec 28, 2023

"It may be that the great sin of the church in our generation is the trivializing of God. The Jesus Christ, in whom the fullness of deity dwells, is not to be boxed in, airbrushed, made over, tamed, explained or explained away. I am deeply convinced that the way you live will be a direct consequence of how you see God."

Scripture: Hebrews 12:28-29, Colossians 1:15-17, Jeremiah 23:23

Tags: Jesus is Lord, Deity of Christ, christian testimony, authority of Christ, Identity of Christ, False View of God, God of the Bible  (view more)  (view less)

10 Mistakes Churches Make At Christmastime

By Jonathan Howe on Dec 21, 2024

Unfortunately stress can lead churches to plan poorly and make unnecessary mistakes. Here are ten such mistakes to avoid in your church this Christmas.

Tags: Christmas, Advent, Holidays, prepare, focus on GOD, Christmas Gospel, church priorities, church leadership  (view more)  (view less)

5 Ways Christian Leaders Can Approach The Rapidly Changing Moral Culture

By Carey Nieuwhof on Mar 15, 2021

So as a church leader – as views on sexuality, family, parenting, drugs, finance and other values change – how do you respond? What do you do when the world for which you trained—maybe even the world where your approach was once effective—is disappearing before your eyes?

Tags: Morality, strategy, Unchurched, Cultural Change, e  (view more)  (view less)

No One Follows Their Heart

By Jon Bloom on Oct 8, 2022

"No one actually follows their heart. I know that sounds odd, given the prevalence of our cultural creed to "follow your heart." But if we think carefully about what the "heart" really is and how it functions, we will see that this creed doesn’t make sense, and why it ends up confusing and misleading people."

Scripture: Matthew 13:44, Proverbs 3:5-6, Matthew 6:21, Ephesians 1:18, Hebrews 12:2, Matthew 22:37-39, Psalm 97:10  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: Sin, Deceitful, Walking by Faith, fixing eyes on Jesus, Follow Your Heart  (view more)  (view less)

Pastor? Or Christian?

By Lance Witt on Jan 8, 2022

If you have been in ministry very long, you know how easy it is to get the two intertwined. When you feel called and when you have great passion for ministry, the lines between person and position can get fuzzy. You move from simply being a Christian to now being a professional Christian.

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6 Reasons Pastors And Leaders Need Adequate Sleep

By Charles Stone on Jun 20, 2023

For many years scientists and philosophers have pondered why we need sleep besides to not be sleepy. Of course we all intuitively know how important sleep is to our bodies, relationships, and walk with God. But as neuroscientists are learning more about the brain, they are discovering many positive brain benefits from sleep. This list below includes some of those benefits.

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 5:12

Tags: sleep, Walk with God, decison making, paying attention