Clif Christopher's nearly forty years in ministry as a pastor and President of Horizons Stewardship Company, he has witnessed the financial stewardship practices of thousands of churches. A few have exceptional records in acquiring and managing the necessary funds for mission and ministry, but the vast majority struggle every year to get by.In this important new work made even more relevant by our economic times, Christopher contrasts the traits of the most productive congregations with those who perennially fail to secure the funds to perform transformational ministry. Some churches practice the necessary financial habits that form the foundation of successful ministry, and others waste valuable resources and undermine ministry opportunities.Through Christopher's insight born out of years of experience and consultation, readers can assess the financial condition of their own churches.

    Each chapter spotlights a common mistake, gives real-life examples, uses a generous dose of humor, and provides a practical course of action to recover from the error. The book draws from the experience of Seacoast Church as well as pastors such as Craig Groeschel, Chris Hodges, Perry Nobel, Mark Batterson, Dave Ferguson, Scott Chapman, Dino Rizzo, Ron Hamilton, and Dave Browning, Church leaders will be encouraged to realize that they are not the only ones who struggle, and that turning their situation around may not be as daunting a task as they think. This is a field guide for the common pastor based on actual churches of all sizes.

     What Church Leaders are Saying About Church Growth Flywheel: “Rich is right again. Momentum is hard to catch, easy to lose, and most important. If Flywheel has any importance, it has loads of importance. Don't miss this book!” - Clay Scroggins, Lead Pastor, North Point Community Church “Rich Birch has knocked it out of the park with Church Growth Flywheel. His new book is full of practical helps for church leaders looking to reach more people in their communities. Rich cuts through the theory and offers solid advice and guidance that you can put into action right away." - Dan Reiland, Executive Pastor, 12Stone Church, Lawrenceville, Georgia “Rich Birch has been reading my mind! After reading the first 15 pages, I made this book mandatory reading for my entire staff.” - Hal Seed, Chief Mentor at PastorMentor.com and Founding Pastor of New Song Community Church “What an incredible book! Rich has a unique way of sharing real and relevant practices from his experience and conversations that will no doubt be a game changer for you and your church community. Church Growth Flywheel is a gift to church leaders filled with practical yet challenging steps to help initiate growth and change within your community. And what church leader doesn’t want to see more lives changed by Christ!” - Sonja Waltman, Executive Director of Ministries at LCBC Church “Rich brings a wealth of passion, knowledge and experience to the subject of church growth. He presents a treasure trove of best practices and learnings around engaging people in your city with the message of Christ. Church Growth Flywheel is full practical steps that you can actually start doing and growing in your church, today.” - Carey Nieuwhof, Founding & Teaching Pastor, Connexus Church “I’ve followed Rich Birch for many years as he has had a front row seat to some of the fastest-growing churches in North America. That’s why I got excited when I heard he was releasing a book with some of what he has learned. You will be energized, informed, inspired, and equipped after reading Church Growth Flywheel." - Tim Stevens, Vice President of Consulting, Vanderbloemen Search Group “Insanely practical... super simple... and absolutely essential! Rich Birch has captured the disciplines and behaviors that will allow your church to experience growth that enables you to thrive.

    For this very reason, Paul Nixon refused to lead a dying church. Paul invites you to join his commitment in refusing, ever again, to lead a dying church. This commitment entails six choices: choosing life over death; choosing community over isolation; choosing fun over drudgery; choosing bold over mild; choosing frontier over fortress; and choosing now rather than later.

    They have condensed their vast experiences down to ten points that account for the great majority of failures among church planters. For each point, the authors provide examples of the particular mistake and ways to avoid it. They speak in special sections to coaches and supervisors, showing them how to work with church planters to avoid the mistakes. The ten mistakes point in most cases to plans made on the basis of past experiences or unrealistic models that do not fit either the particular church planter or the mission field where the church is planned. The church planter must take the initiative to do God's work as directed by the Holy Spirit, not copy a religious superstar's methods or approach the works as defined by outside sources.

    It doesn’t matter whether a church is alive and growing or barely surviving on life support. God has a plan for it. It doesn’t matter whether a church is facing financial challenges, internal divisions, or strife among its leaders. God has a plan for it. God is able to deal with any problem a church will ever face--as long as his people earnestly seek him. As the pastor of The Brooklyn Tabernacle, Cymbala knows that God’s blessing and grace is available to us today just as much as it was in the early church, when thousands of people became believers despite the fact that the church lacked everything we consider vital: church buildings, seminaries, printed materials, sound systems, choirs, and money. None of these things mattered. What mattered was that God’s hand was on the church, working through his people to build the kingdom. Then, as now, God chose the church to manifest his presence to the world. In this companion book to The Life God Blesses, Cymbala describes the kind of church God wants to bless and use. Based on the Word of God and personal experience, The Church God Blesses describes the key elements found in a vitally alive church and offers church leaders and individual Christians a fresh and invigorating look at what God intends the church to be. The church God blesses is not necessarily the largest, newest, or loudest church in town. Instead, it’s a place where believers: * Receive solid spiritual nourishment *Can trust in God’s protection *Engage in vital praise and worship *Become effective in ministry *Learn that confession of sin is the channel to God’s power

    While serving as mentors, counselors, advisors, and even cheerleaders, women carry numerous responsibilities. Lori Wilhite and Brandi Wilson know about this first-hand as the wives of two well-known pastors in America. Everyone has an image in their mind of what they think a pastor's wife should be. The trouble with this picture is that it has never been and never will be accurate. Ministry wives and female ministry leaders face the same real-life struggles as their church members, but have the added stress of sharing in everyone's burdens as well. They are held to impossible standards by those they serve, and the more this ideal of women in leadership is expected, the more we turn up the intensity in the pressure cooker that is life in ministry. In Leading and Loving It, Lori Wilhite and Brandi Wilson offer a support system to help women make connections to get the encouragement that sustains them and become equipped for the ministry God has called them to pursue. They give readers tools for understanding that external pressures and expectations are only important if they fall in line with what God intends for your life and ministry and they give answers for how to deal with criticism, isolation, finding your personal calling, and what happens when you reach a place of burn-out, and more.

    In his signature style, he shares this expertise with pastors, lay leaders, and people in the pew who want to see their churches become more vibrant. The 12 practical steps include ways to help people become part of a community, develop a culture of serving, turn visitors into regular attenders, and much more. This short, easy-to-read book is one pastors will want to share with their leadership team.

    Every ministry leader wants to hear these words when they meet their Lord. But what does successful ministry look like?There are many books on leadership strategies and church structures, but this one looks at what matters most: the character and attitude of church leaders. It recognizes that the spiritual health of the church leaders in large part determines the spiritual health of the congregation and therefore the success of the ministry.In this short, punchy, challenging and at times surprising book, Rico Tice draws on decades of experience in church leadership to call fellow pastors and others with oversight of areas of church ministry to define success biblically, fight their sin, lead themselves and serve their churches.A must-read on pastoral leadership for pastors, elders, worship leaders, youth leaders and anyone else with a leadership role in church ministry.

    Luce issues a revolutionary wake-up call to the church and home about the cultural battle for America's teens' hearts, minds, and souls.

     Bob Farr asserts that to change the world, we must first change the Church. As Adam Hamilton says in the Foreword, "Read [this book] carefully with other leaders in your church. . . . You'll soon discover both a desire to renovate your church and the tools to effectively lead your church forward." If we want to join Robert Schnase and claim radical hospitality, passionate worship, intentional faith development, risk-taking mission and service, and extravagant generosity, we must also engage pastors and motivate churches. We must renovate and overhaul our churches and not merely redecorate and tinker with our church structure. With straightforward language and practical tips, this book will inspire and help you organize your church for new life on the mission field. Learn how to grow your church and discover the commitments that denominational leaders must make to guarantee the fruitfulness of local congregations.

    Not only do these pastors have to transition into a new congregation and community, but they also have to think about building strong relationships with other influential people in the area. Almost every day, pastors of new churches face unexpected hardships and challenges. Some of the issues are financial mismanagement from their predecessor, moral or ethical misbehavior, or unresolved conflict that has just been suppressed long enough to find a new pastor. The fact is, pastors of new churches need guidance. The First 100 Days is for these pastors who need some guidance and insight to help them lead with godly wisdom and purpose during the first few months.

    Kent Edwards recalls a story that late pastor J. Vernon McGee told about seeing children in South Africa playing a game of marbles in the dust with real diamonds. The precious stones were being handled with no regard for their true worth. Edwards fears the same thing happens today when preachers offer Scriptural truth to listeners without being completely overwhelmed by its greatness themselves in the process.Deep Preaching is his call to "rethink" preaching. Edwards helps preachers learn to preach the word in ways that will powerfully change the lives of hearers. He contends that sermons "need not settle comfortably on the lives of the listeners like dust on a coffee table." He encourages preachers to join him in casting off the lines that moor their ministries to the status-quo and make every effort to steer their preaching out of the "comfortable shallows." He urges them to preach deep sermons rather than superficial ones, moving "beyond the yawn-inspiring to the awe-inspiring, from the trite to the transforming."

    "Never before have there been so many important things for them to do."

    We continue to watch consistent church attendance shrink, and our desire to reach the lost is infected with a need for self-validation by growing our numbers at any cost. If we believe that God wants his church to grow, where do we go from here? What is the future of the church?Drawing from his 20 years and 15,000 hours of consulting, author Will Mancini shares with pastors and ministry leaders the single most important insight he has learned about church growth. With plenty of salient stories and based solidly on the disciple-making methods found in Scripture, Future Church exposes the church's greatest challenge today, and offers 7 transforming laws of real church growth so that we can faithfully and joyfully fulfill Jesus's Great Commission.