In Preaching Articles: "Personal Growth"

What Are You Improving At Your Church Right Now?

By Karl Vaters on Oct 26, 2022

"Every church should constantly be improving. And not just in general terms. We should always be working on specific action plans to make our church better tomorrow than it is today."

Tags: leadership, Church Growth, Healthy Church, effective, productivity, pastoral leadership, church leadership, good leadership, Leadership  (view more)  (view less)

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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The Hottest Thing At Church Today

By Tim Challies on Jul 19, 2022

According to a new study by Gallup, the hottest thing at church today is not the worship and not the pastor. So what is it?

Scripture: Romans 10:17

Tags: Teaching, Preaching, Church Growth, Expository, Biblical truth, Teaching God's Word, BIBLICAL TEACHING, preaching, teaching, expository  (view more)  (view less)

3 Things Our Culture Is Doing To Bible Reading And Discipleship

By Mary C. Wiley on Jun 24, 2024

"We live in a microwave meals, listen-to-podcasts-in-double-time world. We want more with less; work smarter not harder. However, the move forward or get left behind mentality of today is not a good transferrable principle for discipleship. Mostly because discipleship is all about people, and people can’t be boiled down to a series of tasks. People are messy and their needs aren’t linear."

Tags: Discipleship, spiritual growth, church community, TEACH THE BIBLE, call to discipleship, training disciples, guard the truth, Study the Bible  (view more)  (view less)

10 Things We Should Never Tell A Preacher

By Joe Mckeever on Oct 31, 2025

When I honor the Lord’s shepherd, I honor the Lord Jesus Christ. He takes personally my treatment of His servant. That should put the fear of the Lord into us. And keep it there.

Tags: Preaching, preaching

3 Casualties From Unresponsiveness

By Ron Edmondson on Jan 30, 2021

People will feel they’ve not been listened to, no one cares, or even they are unloved. They’ll take it personal enough to leave the organization. It should never be because we simply chose not to respond in a timely way.

Scripture: 1 Samuel 20:1-16

Tags: Preaching, preaching

The Barnabas Factor: Five Traits That Build Leaders

By Larry Osborne on Jan 30, 2024

Barnabas quietly shaped world-changing leaders. Discover five traits that made him a master encourager and team builder, and how they can transform your ministry.

Scripture: Acts 4:36

Tags: Growth, Discipleship, leadership, pastor, encouragement, Barnabas, development, lead, team building, Mentor, Leadership General, Pastor, Leadership, Encouragement, Team Building  (view more)  (view less)

Doing Ministry Without Losing Your Soul Part 3

By Lance Witt on May 22, 2024

When pastoring is your job, it adds complexity to simply loving Jesus. To live and lead from a healthy soul, we must learn the art of separating our own personal pursuit of loving Jesus from our “ministry” of leading in the church.

Scripture: Deuteronomy 30:19-20

Tags: time with God, pastoral leadership, Pastoral Ministry, soul care, avoiding burnout, Putting Christ First, Sincerity with God, church leadership  (view more)  (view less)

Why Some People Aren’t Happy With Your Preaching

By Peter Mead on Feb 28, 2025

Many pastors are blindsided when members quietly express frustration with their preaching. The reasons vary widely, ranging from communication issues to personality friction to the discomfort of genuine conviction. Preachers can respond well, shepherd wisely, and preach faithfully for the glory of Christ.

Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:16, Hebrews 4:12, James 3:1, Galatians 1:10, 2 Timothy 4:2, 1 Corinthians 2:1-5  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: Communication, Preaching, Criticism, church leadership, criticism, Sermon Preparation, communication, preaching, sermon preparation, Church Leadership  (view more)  (view less)

Not A Fan: The Hard Words Sparked A Church-Wide Revival

By Kyle Idleman on Jan 13, 2025

A preacher’s honest reckoning with crowd-pleasing sermons led to a bold call for true discipleship, sparking repentance, revival, and hundreds of unexpected baptisms.

Scripture: Luke 9:23

Tags: Love, Baptism, Jesus, Church, Commitment, Discipleship, Preaching, Disciples, revival, Church Growth, follower, preaching, church, love, Gospel call, Revival, Gospel Call  (view more)  (view less)

The Leadership Quality Nobody Talks About

By Lance Witt on Jan 4, 2022

Jesus did not come to cajole or manipulate people. He did not come to debate or lead by forceful personality. He never tried to gather a crowd or build an organization. He never marketed himself or developed his “brand”. Instead, he exemplified this quality that we all need.

Scripture: Matthew 12:19-20, Hebrews 5:2

Tags: Church leaders, Jesus' leadership

Do Churches Talk About Money Too Much?

By Kent Woodyard on Mar 13, 2021

“This is just a hugely distasteful example of the American money obsession gospel which us non-Americans find nauseating.” I stared at my inbox and read the response twice. Then three times. Somewhere, in some other country, some nameless person with an @hotmail.com email address was very upset with me.

Scripture: 1 Timothy 6:10, Matthew 10:17-27, Luke 21:1-4, Matthew 25:14-30, Matthew 18:21-35  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: Money, Giving, giving generous, Jesus and money

My 7 Part Strategy For A New Leadership Position

By Ron Edmondson on Mar 10, 2021

I realized I’m only one person and although everyone wanted some of my time and there were more ideas than we could ever accomplish, I knew I would burnout if I didn’t pace myself. This meant I said no to some things – really many things.

Tags: leadership, Preaching, Leadership, preaching

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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10 Things Healthy Churches Do Well

By Joe Mckeever on Jan 24, 2025

Healthy churches face problems with wisdom, unity, and Christlike leadership. These ten traits show how congregations grow stronger even through crises.

Scripture: Acts 6:1-7

Tags: Church Growth, Healthy Church, Pastors, CHURCH LIFE, Church General, Accept, Christian community, church leadership, Biblical wisdom, Church Leadership, Biblical Wisdom, Congregational Health, Christian Community  (view more)  (view less)