Do you think of yourself as a theologian? When we hear the word theologian, we often we picture some older intellectual man—a professional academic sitting behind a desk piled with thick books in ancient languages. And there certainly are professional theologians who fit this description, busily teaching at seminaries and writing books. But theologian is a label that belongs ...

Maybe you've heard the common expression, "church is a hospital for sinners, not a hotel for saints." If you got into ministry thinking that the church is a utopia inhabited by "good Christian people" and free of inappropriate sexual relationships, addictions, and embezzlement, we hate to be the ones to tell you, but it's not. If we take sin seriously, we know that the church ...

Scripture is full of one-liners. I'm not referring to jokes, although there is humor in the Bible. The one-liners I'm speaking of are people.

Significant people who are summarized in single sentences show up all over the Bible. But we don't notice them the same way we gravitate toward characters whose stories fill chapters. When we talk about examples of faith, we talk about ...

As I mentioned in my previous post on Gifted for Leadership there's a movement rising up within this generation of young adults. Among these young people are committed Christians who are determined to remain faithful to Jesus and make a positive difference among their peers. Not all of us know what this movement is calling us to do, but we do know we have an itch to participate. ...

When you look at statistics about young adults, their faith, and the church, well, they don't look pretty. More and more 20- and 30somethings are walking away from the faith of their childhood simply because they've yet to make it their own.

But there is a remnant––similar to Daniel and his young friends in Babylon––who desire to rise up and make Jesus famous in every part ...

You're investing thousands of dollars, hundreds of hours, and numerous headaches in planning a missions trip. You hope to save the world (at least the corner you'll be in) and return with photos, stories, and unforgettable memories of souls you've touched.

Nothing surges global vision in your church like team members returning from a cross-cultural experience with ...

Sometimes I'm embarrassed to admit that I would rather jam out to My Chemical Romance than contemporary Christian music. "His Banner over Me," frankly, gives me heart palpitations. But "Welcome to the Black Parade"? Now that preaches. This may seem inconsistent with my profession as a writer and professor of Christian spiritual formation and leadership, but actually, nothing ...

One Sunday before leading prayer in worship, it occurred to me that perhaps the most significant question of my entire ministry career was facing me that very morning. Standing in the sacristy (fancy word for room where the sacred stuff is kept), our Tech Guy mumbled a bit and nearly chewed off his lip with an anxious chomp, "Um, well, where do you want me to hook ...

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Leadership can be a lonely assignment, as a recent post here on Gifted for Leadership explored. By definition, leaders are often self-reliant and achievement-oriented. We can easily let tasks and strategy become more important than the people accomplishing those tasks or implementing that strategy.

That recent post offered some great strategies for engaging in authentic community. ...

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 typically are compensated more than their female counterparts. Some of this may be explained on the ...