This Week in Leadership

Worship
Taming the Image
People engage electronic media an average of 8 hours a day. Do they really need more at church?
by Read Mercer Schuchardt

The band is rockin', arms are swayin', and you're about to come on screen in high definition with such stunning visual clarity that even people in the nosebleed seats can see your perfect smile.

Is this a rock concert? A beer commercial? Or just a typical Sunday morning?

These days, it could be any of the above. | Finish this article |

Soul & Spirit
Human Hands, God's Fingerprints
Can you plan worship experiences that generate worshipful people rather than spoiled consumers?
by Eric Reed

9 pastors respond with what they're doing to encourage Christlikeness.

We asked pastors and worship planners how they design times of worship that lead to Christlikeness, not just to more hard-to-please consumers of worship services. | Finish this article |

"How's your church doing?"
God's plans for your church may be bigger than you imagine
by John Ortberg

Somebody asked me recently: "How's the church going?"

How do you answer that?

Is it going well if you make the budget? Or fill a building? Or beat last year's average attendance? Is it determined by comparing your congregation to how other churches are doing?

Of course the tricky part is figuring out how God thinks we're doing. What does he want of us?

I can think of three possible gauges that might guide our response. | Finish the article |