Christmas Eve is a great opportunity to reach those outside the church that often goes unused. I’m usually arguing with several pastors during this time of the year. Seems like every year I have to convince a Senior Pastor that Christmas Eve is a powerful and great opportunity for outreach. Catholic churches have known this for centuries. Evangelicals are just now waking up to it. Here are the top 5 mistakes churches can make when planning their Christmas services. Give the staff Christmas Eve off. That’s a critical mistake that a lot of churches make. Christmas Eve is a great opportunity to reach out to people who want to connect with God and their families and who are looking for an opportunity to do so. Done well, your Christmas Eve service could be one of the best attended service of the entire year. If you are in ministry, working on…

I think it was Bill Hybels who said that “The Church is still the hope of the world”–not in a means unto itself, but as the messenger and conduit in which God uses it to reach out to those outside the faith and bring them into communion with Himself and with His people. Late Saturday my friend and client, Sal Sberna sent me a picture of his Easter service rehearsal. He gave me a challenge: why not text some of your clients and ask them to send you phone pics of their Easter services and share them with your team on Monday? As the pictures and reports of what God had done in many of these services came through my phone on Sunday, I felt compelled to share them not only with my team but with you as well. These pictures reflect literally hundreds of thousands of people who attended…

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. Nearly all churches will have a special Christmas service. However, most will miss out on the opportunity that it offers. In this quick video, I talk about the 3 key considerations for a successful Christmas outreach. Is your church thinking strategically about your Christmas services? What should you be doing differently?

I have the best job in the world because I love what I do. I have the privilege to working with people whom I believe in, helping them make a difference in our world. A few months ago I got a call from an old friend who sold his business to start a not-for-profit organization. While watching the heart wrenching footage of the devastating tsunami a couple of years back, Wayne saw a pair of shoes wash ashore. Being in the shoe business, he decided to do something about it and began to put shoes in people’s feet that needed them. In a little over two years, Soles 4 Souls, his ministry, has already given over 2 million pair of shoes worldwide. That’s amazing to me. Wayne Elsey challenged me to help Soles 4 Souls to develop a product that would impact people all over the world even more and…