The power of equipping and empowering others Jesus didn’t just send instructions to a group of people to go and share good news—he had a systematic way of training disciples, who trained disciples, who trained disciples and several generations later trained you and me. Now we are called to train the next generation of leaders. … Continue reading "Developing Leaders" Read the article
Lending With the Promise of Repayment Written by George Hart, retired GCI pastor My first memories of Lent are not particularly positive, but not necessarily negative—more indifferent. I remember when I was six years old, in the first grade, and the Lenten season approached. I was given a Lenten coin folder, the type with slots … Continue reading "A New Look at Lent" Read the article
The Value of Life-on-Life Mentoring Written by Anthony Mullins, National Coordinator for pastoral residents. interns and coaching. Have you ever had a parent, teacher, coach, pastor or mentor tell you something you did not want to hear, but you knew you needed to hear? I mean the kind of words that hit you like a … Continue reading "Being Called Up" Read the article
This article is written by Randy Bloom, US Regional Director In the early years of my ministry I was mentored within an omni-competent pastoral leadership culture. You know the drill: the pastor had all the answers—how to run a youth ministry, how to minister to the elderly, how to reach out to the community, how … Continue reading "REAL Teams" Read the article
This article is written by Tim Sitterley, GCI Regional Director “Team-based pastor-led is how I want to lead,” one pastor shared, “but I don’t have a good record choosing the best leaders for the congregation.” Her statement reminded me of a telling scene in the 1990 movie “Crazy People.” When his coworkers start believing that … Continue reading "Leadership FATE" Read the article
The Call to Engage, Equip, Empower and Encourage By Heber Ticas, GCI pastor and Superintendent of Latin America It was a daunting Sunday afternoon. My wife and I were exhausted from the demands and responsibilities of a growing congregation. As a bi-vocational pastor with a demanding “tent-building” job, it was tough to find time to … Continue reading "Leading Leaders" Read the article
Join us this new year in celebrating how God is working in and among our fellowships. To download and print the January Prayer Guide, click on the image below. (For a copy in Spanish, click here.) Read the article
Brochures and postcards are effective ways for congregations to make their presence known in the community and connect with visitors. Below are two GCI-branded templates for postcards, and two for brochures. Click on each image to download a template and instructions for use. To download GCI’s standard type font (GCI), click here. Postcard #1: Postcard … Continue reading "Congregational Brochure and Postcard" Read the article
Now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor. 13:13) At the Last Supper, Jesus washed his disciples’ feet and told them to serve others in like manner. He then said he was giving them “a new command.” I’m sure that perked their ears. He already had … Continue reading "Three Venues of Ministry" Read the article
Is the leadership in your church pastor-led, team-based; or team-based, pastor-led? Though the difference between these two models of congregational leadership may seem to be semantics, as we’ll see, there’s more to it. Here’s a related question for lead pastors: is your approach to leading your church primarily hands-on or is it primarily eyes-on? Pastor-led, team-based churches Most GCI pastors … Continue reading "Healthy Leadership is Team-Based, Pastor-Led" Read the article
