Several months ago, I took a new position with a brand new church plant in my hometown. My responsibilites include leading the team for Family Ministry (Children’s, Students, and Young Adults). One of the things that we’ve been processing is how to we reach out to families and let them know about our church. Here are a couple quick ideas to help your creativity!

1. Parades: Our small town LOVES parades. If you are in a similiar situation, think about asking the parade director if you can sponsor the treat bags. Our floats always throw out candy and you can give everyone attending a bag with your church name on it and a flyer with basic church information. This is a great way to get the word out about your church to the families that normally attend parades. Continue Reading…

I just finished season two of Mad Men on Netflix. Whatever your feelings are towards the show, I find it better than reality TV. Each episode I watch, I’m reminded of how America and the world has changed. A couple episodes ago, the Draper family was enjoying a nice family picnic at the park. When they finished and decided to leave, they just dusted off the blanket and left all of their trash on the grass. It shocked me and I was like, “WOW–THEY JUST LITTERED! I would never do that!” The same goes for the countless efforts to find happiness in affairs and office politics. Smoking/drinking while pregnant, women in underwear being considered “hard porn,” and the obsession with power all strike me as from another world.

After finishing two seasons, I will say that I’ve learned a couple things from Don Draper and the Mad Men crew. Continue Reading…

When I was in youth ministry, I was responsible for preaching every week. That requirement (and passion) didn’t lend itself to visiting others churches often. The majority of sermons that I heard were my own, our senior pastor on Saturday night, and anything I downloaded. My perspective was limited.

Now we’re taking advantage of being able to attend church. It’s fantastic.

One of the observations that I’ve noticed is that a lot of pastors preach for an hour or more! Don’t get me wrong, I love a good sermon just like anyone reading this blog, but an hour is so far removed from my previous experience it’s shocking. When I was preaching every week, we only had 20-25 minutes set aside in the service for me to preach. A long sermon might have been 30-35 minutes but never an hour (or more.)  Continue Reading…