The difference between being a church attender and a church member is commitment. Attenders are spectators from the sidelines; members get involved in the ministry. Attenders are consumers; members are contributors. Attenders want the benefits of a church without...

As ministers, we approach each day as if we're working for God, and our mission is literally to save the world. But the fact is—there will always be more work to do in ministry, and that's why we must deliberately take time away from work. God did it, resting one...

Over the years, I've found these same four complaints common among those who don?t attend church: "Church services are boring, especially the sermons. The messages don?t relate to my life. Why should I go? I don?t understand it and it doesn?t really help me." In...

I first began to understand the importance of teams as a seminary student when I did a study of the 100 largest churches in the United States. I asked them a series of questions related to staff and ministry, and the study showed strong churches have a strong team...

Think about it: the most valuable asset people can give to your church is their time. If a man or woman comes to me and says, "Pastor, I have four hours a week to give to the church in ministry," the last thing I'm going to do is put him or her on some committee....

I believe one of the reasons so few churches engage in outreach is because they ask the wrong question. Too often, the first question asked is, "How much will it cost?" The right question is, "Who will it reach?" How much is a soul worth? If you spend $500 on a...

In ministry, some things must never change but others must change constantly. Clearly, God's five purposes for His church are non-negotiable. If a church fails to balance the five purposes of worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism, then it's no...

One of the reasons life is devalued in today's culture is that many people value their own happiness and fulfillment over God's purposes for their lives. As a pastor, one way you can protect the sanctity of human life is to help your people understand that the...

Several years ago, before Saddleback moved to its present location, we bought a big chunk of land. I thought, "This is great! We have the Promised Land!" But just like Joshua, I realized there were giants in the land. There were problems. For the next four years,...

Based on what we know about the rest of the world and how they live, would you consider those of us living in America to be unusually blessed? I think we'd all have to admit that our country has been blessed by God. That's wonderful—but with blessing comes...

Napoleon once pointed to a map of China and said, "There lies a sleeping giant. If it ever wakes up, it will be unstoppable." Today the American church is a sleeping giant. Each Sunday, church pews are filled with members who are doing nothing with their faith...

The Strategic Air Command—our nation's defense system—operates 24 hours a day as a shield of protection for our nation. This means that at any point in a given day there are airplanes carrying nuclear warheads in the air over our country. If these planes fly...