Results from Christianity Today's biannual survey of 4,600 churches nationwide, which are featured in the new 2012-2013 Compensation Handbook for Church Staff, reveal the top 7 paid positions based on gender.

Even though the top spot for men or women is senior pastor, men ...

"You did such a great job. I have big shoes to fill!"

My words, meant to compliment, betrayed how intimidated I felt. My predecessor was as good a leader as her reputation boasted. As she slid the mantle of leadership from her shoulders to mine, I simply knew ...

The most efficient way to lead, if you want to be completely pragmatic about it, is via dictatorship. A system in which one person makes all the autonomous decisions is, at least for a while, the most efficient, the least messy.

But power corrupts, and ultimately, while ...

I am a control freak, like many women in ministry. When I began the women's ministry at my sweet church, I tried to do everything on my own, for many reasons. I enjoyed every aspect of ministry, of building something from the ground up. I was wired up with spiritual gifts in ...

No matter how far up the ladder of ministry you climb, you will always find those eager to analyze and judge your work. So how do you respond?

Maybe whenever you see one of your critics coming, your palms begin sweating. The hairs on the back of your neck may stand straight in ...

As a leader—of myself, of my children, of a ministry—I find no greater source of angst than making difficult decisions. I wonder and pray and talk with others about whether or not plan A or plan B or starting this and quitting that is "God's will."

The phrase itself has become ...

As I duck out of sight of the gathering congregation, the church's AV guy hands me a clip-on microphone. Patting myself around the waist and hip region, what I already know will be the case is confirmed: my lady clothes (ironically worn just for pulpit occasions like ...