Thom S. Rainer

Latest

• 
  Jun 26, 2016

  5 Reasons It's Painful for Pastors to Lose a Member

  "I don't want you take this personally, pastor, but we are leaving the church."

• 
  Jun 22, 2016

  8 Indicators That Pastors Are Expected to Do Most of the Ministry

  Okay, I admit it. I can't stand the terms. When you even speak of clergy and laity, you are implying that Christianity has a social caste system. There are the professional Christians and the ordinary Christians. Ugh.

• 
  Jun 14, 2016

  5 Church Types That Must Change or Die

  Change or die. You read that correctly. In fact, if your churches don't make substantive changes in the next few years, your church will die.

• 
  Jun 11, 2016

  9 Distractions That Shouldn't Happen Right Before a Sermon

  In a previous post, I noted several things you should not say to the pastor right before the sermon. I was amazed at the number of responses I received.

• 
  Jun 8, 2016

  12 Weird Items in Church Bylaws

  Sometimes reading a church's bylaws is like taking a trip to the twilight zone.

• 
  Jun 4, 2016

  15 Crazy Things That Happened at Funerals

  As I promised in last week's article on weddings, I have fifteen stories from pastors about funerals.

• 
  May 29, 2016

  15 Crazy Things That Happened at Weddings

  Pastors and other church staff have a plethora of stories to tell about weddings they have officiated. Unfortunately, they are often constrained from telling the stories lest their church members become offended.

• 
  May 26, 2016

  7 Common Changes to Church Outreach

  "So what are churches doing to reach people today, Thom?" I hear some version of that question on a regular basis.

• 
  May 22, 2016

  5 Questions Prospective Pastors Rarely Ask Search Committees (But Should)

  It is critical that prospective pastors ask questions about the church. There are five questions, however, which are rarely asked. These questions could be key toward avoiding some of the unpleasant surprises many pastors encounter.

• 
  May 19, 2016

  7 Relational Skills of Great Church Leaders

  Much has been written in the past decade on leadership skills. The body of literature on the topic is massive and growing. I certainly have little to add in a brief blog post.