The vast majority of church leaders get into leadership with good motives. If that’s the case, then why do so many people end up leaving churches hurt, frustrated and angry? Why is church leadership often so toxic? At the heart of the struggle is that most leaders who end up exhibiting poor leadership never intend to. It’s not like they woke up one day and decided to practice bad church leadership. It just, well, happens. That ends up leaving scores of people hurt, frustrated, and walking out the door. That’s true for congregational members, staff, and board members, not to mention new people ..read more

“5 Worst Salary Negotiation Mistakes Pastors Make” is written by Sean Morgan. Sean is the founder of The Ascent Leader and host of the Leaders In Living Rooms podcast. Sean and Carey recently partnered together on The Art of Pastoral Succession, a new course in The Art of Leadership Academy. As a leader, mistakes are inevitable. But when it comes to salary negotiation and churches, the consequences can be dire – not just for the pastor but for the entire congregation. Unfortunately, many pastors lack the guidance and experience needed to navigate this delicate process. From personal experienc ..read more

So, you’ve thought about leaving your church, haven’t you? As the Barna group has chronicled, as many as 42% of pastors have given real, serious consideration to leaving full-time ministry in the past year. And while the stress of the job during COVID may have been part of that, it’s certainly not enough to explain the percentage of pastors that are considering leaving. Thinking of leaving your current job is a fairly normal phenomenon. And yet, leaving ministry has more serious implications than leaving a regular job. Here’s the dilemma. Leave too early, and you’ll never effect change. Stay ..read more

2022 was a year that a lot of church leaders started to see hope again. Despite all the challenges, the fall of 2022 saw more people returning to church than at any time in the last few years. We covered a wide range of topics on the blog this year and had some fascinating conversations. I can’t thank you enough for the encouragement, the interaction, the ideas and the friendships we made online. As has been the case for years, I want this space to be a place where the good people on the internet can hang out. It’s always fascinating to look back at the numbers and see which topics reson ..read more

You know how difficult church leadership can be. You work hard to reach people. Then you ask them to give meaningfully, volunteer their time, and invite their friends. And all the while, they’re volunteers. CEOs at least pay their team. You ask yours to give and sacrifice and never hand them a paycheck. And—because it’s a volunteer organization—people can leave anytime. Increasingly, people feel freer than ever to do just that. Being a church leader is a tough assignment (very worth it, but still tough). The real question is—do you make it harder than it needs to be? Unfortunately, for many l ..read more

“4 Reasons Your Team is Quiet Quitting” is written by Carly Voinski, Carey’s Executive Assistant and Social Media Manager. Carly lives in New Jersey with her family, where she serves local ministries as a Worship Leader and spends too much time growing tomatoes. Does it sometimes feel like your team is quietly on strike, yet they still show up and do their job? Well, you’re not crazy; something is brewing. At some level, you’ve experienced the impacts of the Great Resignation. Perhaps your team began to hand in their notices one after another, or your favorite restaurant had to drastically ch ..read more

“4 Reasons Your Team is Quiet Quitting” is written by Carly Voinski, Carey’s Executive Assistant and Social Media Manager. Carly lives in New Jersey with her family, where she serves local ministries as a Worship Leader and spends too much time growing tomatoes. Does it sometimes feel like your team is quietly on strike, yet they still show up and do their job? Well, you’re not crazy; something is brewing. At some level, you’ve experienced the impacts of the Great Resignation. Perhaps your team began to hand in their notices one after another, or your favorite restaurant had to drastically ch ..read more

Many Christians will treat sexual sin like it’s the worst of sins, but then gossip about sexual sin as though they did nothing wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you think back on your leadership, gossip is one of the most pernicious and pervasive challenges to the culture in your church or the progress you’re trying to make on your mission. Gossip rarely gets talked about in leadership circles, yet it can kill the morale on your team in a heartbeat, lead to high staff turnover, and kills healthy culture faster than a Tesla accelerates. Gossip is a strange bird: it’s almost ..read more

Every once in a while, you hear a question you can’t get out of your head. A while back, I was listening to Sean Morgan’s interview with Ashley Wooldridge from Christ Church of the Valley. It was a great conversation about succession, and at one point, Ashley dropped this question: Why is the pastor the product? The question hit me like a ton of bricks. Ashley raised the question in the context of succession (that’s why it’s so hard to replace popular pastors), but the implications of making the pastor the product go in so many directions. If you look at how many churches —not just megachu ..read more

“5 Essential Tips for Leading a Remote Team” is written by Jenni Catron. Jenni Catron is an author, speaker, and Founder and CEO of The 4Sight Group, where she and her team focus on cultivating healthy leaders and thriving team cultures. Did you know over 60% of new hires are requesting flexible work schedules upon interviewing? In the newest report from ADP Research Institute, “two-thirds (64%) of the workforce would consider looking for a new job if they were required to return to the office full time.” While the office may still be here to stay – its function may be changing. Because inter ..read more