The Exponential Power of a Church-Wide Campaign
What is the most powerful way to impact your entire congregation? Many believe that a church-wide campaign, what Rick Warren refers to as a spiritual growth emphasis, is the most important spiritual innovation in the last 50 years…maybe the last century. Why? Read on. Although there are very basic church-wide campaigns that simply offer a…
Read MorePreparing for Church-Wide Campaigns
Getting ready for fall? If you want to have a really effective church-wide campaign, you need to begin early. Churches that understand how to do this begin a minimum of 4 to 6 months in advance. There are just too many details to get right, and the stakes are too high, to wait until the…
Read MoreThe Role of the Senior Pastor, P. 3
In addition to championing community regularly among the staff and congregation and casting the vision for community beyond the core of the church, the Senior Pastor is also the key to coordinating messages and themes for the year to emphasize community. This again is an area of ministry that requires the engagement of the Senior…
Read MoreWhat Do You Call Your Small Groups?
Important Note: Every day a few dedicated small group ministry champions (staff and volunteers) find this post. Can I be honest? I hope this blog post (written in 2009) gives you an idea or two. My real hope? I hope you’ll subscribe to MarkHowellLive.com so you can get the latest in small group ministry strategies,…
Read MoreThe Tangible Kingdom Primer
Some time back I wrote about The Tangible Kingdom by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, an engaging and challenging book about creating incarnational community. I love it. If you haven’t picked up your copy yet, you can order it right here. Couple weeks ago I received a copy of the new Tangible Kingdom Primer, designed…
Read MoreThe Role of the Senior Pastor, P. 2
In the first post in this series we talked about how important it is that the Senior Pastor function as the small group champion. What’s next? Let’s talk about how to cast the vision of life in community beyond the core of the church, in fact reaching out into the crowd and community itself. This…
Read MoreThe Role of the Senior Pastor – P. 1
Some questions come up almost every time I’m at a conference. “Does the Senior Pastor need to lead a small group in order for a church to set group life as a high value?” “Is it enough for my pastor to be in a small group?” These are just two of the questions I get…
Read MorePlanning an Alignment (Church-Wide Study)
It’s that time of year. The very detailed people on your team are already thinking about September and October. The play-it-by-ear crowd hasn’t even thought about Memorial Day (FYI, it’s early in the month this year!). Where are you on the continuum? Here’s the thing. Wherever you are on the continuum, September 13th is coming…
Read MoreHow To Recruit HOSTS
What’s the best way to recruit HOSTS for your upcoming alignment (church-wide study)? You might say it depends on what you’re hoping will happen. Bottom line, the way you recruit HOSTS will determine who you are able to recruit and who you recruit will absolutely determine who ends up doing the study. How’s it worked…
Read MoreLife-Change at the Member Level
We talk a lot about life-change in small group land. We often say that the optimal environment for life-change is a small group. I regularly tell people that the weekend service—even with inspiring worship and practical teaching—is closest in kind to a defibrillator. You know that thing they use on you when you’re on the…
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