pastor

It’s tradition to make new plans and set new goals at the start of a new year. From home to work to church, pastors and church leaders are asking themselves: "What do I want to do to make this year better than last year?

You know the scene. You succumb to your elementary-aged child begging to play Candy Crush on your phone. Ten minutes later, your phone is down to 50% and it's only 11:00 am. You're rushing to a lunch meeting and as you hand your child back to your spouse to take an urgent call from a church member in need on the way there, you discover that your phone is suddenly down to 25% by the time you get to Panera. It's only lunchtime and you have visits and errands before making it back to your desk where you can plug in. You could join a support group for pastors with old smartphones that don't hold a charge well, or you could employ some of these helpful smartphone battery-saving tips:

If you aren't already familiar with TED Talks, you'll want to pause and take some time to delve into this incredible resource. TED Talks are to non-believers as sermons are to Christians. The popularity of online education via video and podcasts haven't seen their full potential of growth yet as people continue to seek entertainment, education, and thought-provoking stimuli in the form of short video lectures, usually given at various TED Talks around the world.

Giving Tuesday - the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday - has turned into a phenomenon that delightfully transforms our focus, if only for one day, from shopping and consumerism to giving and generosity. According to WikiPedia, "Giving Tuesday was started in 2012 by the 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation as a response to commercialization and consumerism in the post-Thanksgiving season.

Bob Goff founded a law firm, wrote a New York Times best-selling book and serves as the honorary consul for the Republic of Uganda. The guy gets things done. But every Thursday he quits something. We could learn something from Bob. Maybe your church needs to quit: Quit that social media account with three followers. Quit locking up your Wi-Fi with a password. Quit pretending email isn’t important. Whatever your church is struggling with, give yourself permission to quit.

The best church sound systems in the world can suffer from one simple problem: Bad audio from the pastor’s microphone. What a travesty! If there is anything a church sound system is designed to do, it is to provide clear and accurate transmission of the spoken word.

Have you ever met or worked with a truly great leader? Someone who had to ability to call out the best in those around them and accomplish exceptional things as a team.