You have more material than most professional authors. You spend multiple hours per week writing sermons to bless your congregations. Each sermon is potentially a chapter for one or more books. You can write, design and publish a book in a matter of days with the simple tools of today’s technology. During today's podcast I share the simple steps you can take to publish it at little or no cost. Thousands of new authors give up after receiving a boatload of rejection letters. With Amazon, those da...
Aug 15, 2016•15 min•Ep. 53
Change is at the heart of what we do as church leaders, but you remember I said this is a bit ironic. The irony is, that by and large, church leaders are typically people who don’t change at all! What if you were an alien from another planet who visited your church. What would you see and experience? Would the report you give to your superiors reflect New Testament Christianity? Principles must remain unchanged, but methods ARE changeable to intersect with the culture we want to reach. We can ea...
Aug 08, 2016•14 min
I am always amazed, particularly at national restaurant chains and how they operate. Millions are spent to get a franchise, build a building and open for business. Before you walk in the door, literally millions have been invested by seemingly astute businessmen. What amazes me in many of these establishments is first: the employees. In many fast food places, you can see dirty floors. You can see into the kitchen and notice sweating workers with shirts unbuttoned handling food. All that money an...
Aug 01, 2016•13 min•Ep. 51
If I asked pastors what their most important ministry is, many would say family. A great answer, but wrong. Your most important ministry is to the Lord. Now before you roll your eyes and think, “O brother, that is obvious,” listen to the podcast and allow me to explain myself. This is crucial to your present and future ministry. David ministered to the Lord. That single dynamic caused scripture to identify him as a man after God’s own heart. Time and time again, we see him in battle, pulling awa...
Jul 26, 2016•12 min•Ep. 50
Have you noticed that reports of the miraculous are much more plentiful in third world countries than in the U.S. or Europe? For our part, we pretty much dismiss most of it as ignorance, superstition and unimportant. A philosophy governs society and permeates our educational system. It affects how we view ourselves and the world. To a large extent this philosophy deeply hinders gospel efforts by both churches and leaders. The worse thing is, the vast majority of us are not even aware of this. It...
Jul 18, 2016•14 min•Ep. 49
Numerical growth is one gauge people use to determine the effectiveness of any ministry. It is a legitimate gauge, providing we are talking about actually reaching lost people. Throughout the United States and other parts of the world, growth tends to be cosmetic. Only about 5% is due to new converts. Without realizing it pastors can unwittingly become the ringmasters of a circus. Our time is spent trying to keep the crowd happy by the next trapeze or clown act, not realizing that much of the ef...
Jul 11, 2016•18 min•Ep. 48
Most pastors do a lot of things in ministry. By the end of the week or year, we look back and wonder if all the preaching, counseling, budgeting, seminars and meetings were actually productive. Ephesians 4:11-16 states that there are five specific leadership callings in the church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. We talk about what this means in present-day terms during the podcast. At the end of the day, the number one question we all must answer when we stand before Chr...
Jul 05, 2016•14 min•Ep. 47
How much of what we do or practice as a church is sending the opposite message of what we are trying to convey? Is our church saying, "All Are Welcome" outwardly, but in reality, saying, all are welcome if you become like us as soon as possible? About 80% of people come to your church through personal invitation. Included in that statistic is checking you out on the web before they come. During the podcast we attempt to look at your church through the eyes of guests. Other than telling people to...
Jun 20, 2016•16 min•Ep. 46
Christians tend to move around. They come to your church from another church across town because they are searching for something they haven’t found elsewhere. When people come from other churches, we can be faced with several ethical dilemmas. For example, what about people who come to us as victims of spiritual abuse? What if it is a pastor we know? During the podcast, we delve into solving these ethical questions and offer real solutions. I can attest from personal experience that coming away...
Jun 06, 2016•13 min•Ep. 45
Someone says, “How are you doing?” Our #1 answer is: “Busy.” Busy is a great word because it means absolutely nothing. People who are not in ministry honestly don’t understand fully what it means to work for God. You decide on what activities will be productive towards reaching the goals heaven has set for your life, family, and ministry. I have always worked in non-denominational settings, so for the most part; I am master of my own time. That can be great or disastrous if a person is not disci...
May 31, 2016•14 min•Ep. 44
How does a hate-filled young man, mixed up in Kung-fu Karate and eastern mysticism find a path to Christ? Today, I share my journey that eventually led to full time church ministry. During the podcast, I mention a free offer. You can get a free audio of the first 3 chapter of my (now published) book, When A Good Church Goes Bad . Listen here or get the entire book free at audible.com...
May 23, 2016•14 min
In this second part of a two-part series, we address heresy INSIDE your church. How do you address people who intend to siphon people away from your church to build their own? We offer a free download today, How To Address Heresy In Your Church . I also mentioned MileIQ which is a great free tool to help you track the miles your drive to take advantage of legitimate tax breaks from the IRS. More information about MileIQ here ....
May 16, 2016•16 min
Heresy inside and outside our churches is a serious responsibility all leaders must face at one time or another. How do we address it biblically? I spoke of a national ministry that serves as an example of heretical teaching. I also mention a website you can use to verify whether rumors are true before you pass them along on social media. It is called, Snopes.com . I also invited you to submit a question for future podcasts on a new feature on our website at www.ministerstoolbox.com ....
May 09, 2016•16 min
Can church leaders "fake it till they make it?" For a while, but our ministries can never truly have impact unless they are authentic. We are called to deliver fresh bread to our audiences, not stale sermons. How do we do that week in and week out? I will be doing a survey to our email list. Please sign up to get a free eBook on how to be more effective with social media.
Apr 25, 2016•13 min
Church leaders often do their work unnoticed and under-appreciated. How do you respond to people who fail to acknowledge the hard work you do month after month or year after year? Some insights on today's podcast. I also talked about a new affiliate tool that can be helpful this coming year for your taxes. It is called MileIQ. Click on this link for more information.
Apr 18, 2016•16 min
What did Jesus mean when he said, Judge not, or you will be judged? Does that mean we cannot judge under any circumstances? How can we do our jobs as leaders if we are not allowed to judge? Does this even make sense? Today we mentioned the best seller, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. We also mentioned Audible books where you can get a 30-day free trial....
Apr 11, 2016•15 min
The majority of people in western countries believe in Jesus, but see no connection between belief and participation in a local church. Why? Has the gospel lost its relevance or are our church services at fault? During today's show, I recommended a book by Watchman Nee entitled, The Latent Power Of The Soul. Click here to read a chapter on Amazon.
Apr 04, 2016•17 min
We do a great deal of praying in public, but does it really impact anyone? Is there a way to make a difference when we pray and ditch formal prayers that are quickly forgotten? We offer a free download on today's show that give you the salient points from both this episode and last week. You can get it here .
Mar 28, 2016•16 min
Ministers are often called on to pray at public gatherings. Do these prayers ever impact anyone? How should ministers pray in public? A book I recommend for personal prayer devotions is The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds . Very practical and inspirational.
Mar 21, 2016•15 min
As church leaders, we are called to know, understand and be led by God's voice, but what does He sound like? How can you tell if you are hearing Him or just your imagination? Today, we chat about 3 sure ways to hear God speak. I also mention a free download which sums up each point that you can get here .
Mar 14, 2016•17 min
Listening both to God and people is an essential skill for anyone seeking to minister on behalf of Christ. Today, I share five simple tips that you can do right now to become a better listener. Click here for a free download summarizing these tips. Since this podcast, my book was published. If you would like to read the first three chapters for free, click here ....
Mar 07, 2016•15 min
A “loose cannon” is a person lacking insight. Their whose actions and/or speech jeopardizes the safety of people in their proximity or under their authority. In the body of Christ, we have powerful and gifted people who can do great good or great harm. The only way that power and gifting have focus and ultimate effectiveness is when each cannon is under the authority and command of the captain. Cannons left to themselves always damage other Christians, and if left unchecked can bring down the wh...
Feb 29, 2016•15 min•Ep. 32
We spend many hours readying, praying and studying to preach sermons each week, but after a few hours they are often forgotten. People get busy doing other things and we have seven more days before another sermon is expected. Are there effective ways to make our sermons last longer? On today's podcast, I mention two: First - record your sermons and put them on your website. You can do this for free or at little cost by going to www.sermon.net . There, you can upload MP3 files and post them on yo...
Feb 22, 2016•15 min•Ep. 31
You're a leader in God's Church. What exactly does that mean? In Ephesians 4: 11-12, Paul told us that Christ gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to His Church. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people. By definition, a leader trains disciples with their gift. If you cut me open, you would not find a pastor, functionally speaking. Teaching forms the foundation of my calling. I teach spiritual truth to whoever is willing to listen. If you are around me for any length ...
Feb 15, 2016•16 min•Ep. 30
Minister's Toolbox is all about tools to help you do ministry more effectively. Today, I share 4 that I highly recommend. They are: Evernote Sermon Central Sermon.net Canva Visit our Tools Page for links to these and other resources.
Feb 08, 2016•13 min•Ep. 29
Rodney Dangerfield became famous for opening his act with the words, "I don't get no respect." What about you? Do you get the respect you deserve? Are there things you are doing that signal to people you are not worthy of respect? Without respect, people will not apply your preaching to their lives. How can you gain respect from people that belittle your ministry? During the podcast, I offered a free download of the show notes. You can get them here ....
Feb 01, 2016•15 min•Ep. 28
Anger is more of a problem for church leaders than we care to admit. If we are not careful, it can ruin our current and future ministry. Today, we talk about ways to change anger to a more productive approach. Download a free download of Tips to Overcome Anger For Ministers here .
Jan 25, 2016•17 min•Ep. 27
Ministry is stressful. Nearly all church functions center around food. Many church leaders struggle with their health. Today, we share some actionable steps towards living a more healthy life as a pastor. Want the show notes? Download here. During the podcast, we mentioned myfitnesspal which is free. We also mentioned audiobooks by Amazon which is free for the first month. To try it out and receive a free book, click here....
Jan 18, 2016•15 min
Happy New Year? Not if you haven't laid out plans for the year ahead. We talk about goals today and I mention some useful affiliate links. The first is The Three Battlegrounds by Francis Frangipane. The second is The Slight Edge by Jeff Olsen. Both are great resources in their own right. Be sure to check out our Tools page for additional resources.
Jan 04, 2016•15 min
Did Jesus use a repeatable method throughout his teaching ministry? Can you incorporate the same method into your own sermons? Yes, and yes! Jesus used an amazing amount of questions to teach both his followers and his opponents. Click here to see how often.
Dec 28, 2015•13 min
