Pastor Friend: “Why on earth should our church be on Facebook?”
Neil:  “Because that’s where an increasing number of your members are –everyday.”
Pastor Friend: “Our kids maybe, but our adults? It just seems so vapid, a colossal waste of time.”
Neil:  “Sigh….”
National Public Radio just released the results of their survey of their on “fans” who follow [...]

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As I walked out of a favorite restaurant the other night, the owner said to me, “You know I really appreciate every time you come here. Customers like you make the difference between us staying open and having to close the doors.“  So now, rather than “thinking about going again soon” –we’re planning on it.
A really [...]

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Tips for Old Eyes, and Remembering Names
Yes, I’m getting older, but “THEY” are also making things harder to see and find!
I have a beautiful 17″ laptop with a high resolution screen, –but darnit if I can’t regularly find my MOUSE POINTER on that screen!!!  Doesn’t help that I usually have 5 windows open at the same time.
“Duh” [...]

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This article posted at http://sundayresources.net/neil/2010/02/18/confessions-of-a-youth-minister/
I’ve been leading youth groups in one way or another for over 30 years. Started when I was 17 helping out with the Jr. High group in my church.
For many years, I thought I knew what I was doing, –mostly because I was doing what most OTHER youth pastors were doing, [...]

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Background:  For many years now, I’ve been an avid follower of the ongoing research into how the brain works, and how our memory works.  As a teacher, minister and software developer, I’m interested in how our students and listeners can best learn and remember our content. 
(I even designed a piece of software called Name Badger that [...]

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Do Pastors and their Congregations start to look like each other? I think so. And obviously, this can become unfortunate!
Most pastors that I know WANT to be leaders, but do NOT want to lay claim to just how much THEIR personality and style influences that of the congregation. Indeed, the congregation DEPENDS on and is [...]

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Note: This article has been updated at www.sundaysoftware.com/articles/chsermon.htm
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You can buy books with children’s sermons in them. Most are ho-hum or antiquated.  Most also don’t discuss “how” to deliver the children’s sermon. And that may be the most important thing to get right:  Children First, Sermon Second.

7 Tips to Better Children’s Sermons
an article for Children’s Sermon Leaders [...]

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There’s a relatively NEW form of communication spreading rapidly over the internet and cell phones. It’s called TWITTER (www.twitter.com) and every pastor who believes in staying in touch with parishioners should CONSIDER using it.  
Is it hype? Nope, it’s a tool that I think is BETTER SUITED to what a PASTOR is trying to do –provide timely [...]

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One of the problems facing the church is the quality of leadership available to lead them. The skill sets needed to move the church forward are often not the skill sets we look for when selecting leaders. We need to ‘hack’ this problem.
Quick Examples:
We focus the search on good preaching, but don’t focus on the prospective [...]

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It has been an eye-opening experience sitting in the pew these past 14 years being a seminary-trained preacher and pastor.
…..and I wish I knew then what I know now. Which is to say, the congregation and worship you experience as “the pastor” is quite different than how many of us “members” are experiencing it.
From time to time [...]

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This post discusses “Team Huddles” and what I’ve learned from the 6 church staffs I’ve worked with. It concludes with some good books to read.
I enthusiastically recommend that church leaders make it a habit to read books and magazines from the business world… articles about business, management, marketing, and leading an organization. There’s a trememdous wealth of experience, ideas, strategies [...]

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This post shares a few insights I’ve collected from various business sources, and encourages church leaders to learn from the vast amount of leadership and organizational literature that’s out there.
I’ve always been something of a eclectic reader. And especially in my days as a parish minister, I consider it one of my failings that I read [...]

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