We are now solidly two years into the pandemic. With most restrictions lifted and churches back in full pre-pandemic operation, one thing is still lagging behind - attendance.

A recent study shows that attendance patterns have plateaued over the last six months with very little increase even as churches are back in full swing.

What does this mean for church leaders? What can we do about it? We dive into all of that in this episode.

Developing your skills as a preacher is a lifelong endeavor. You never "arrive" and that's part of what makes preaching such a challenging, but incredibly rewarding task.

This is why I love talking about how to find your voice as a preacher. Your voice is the only one God gave you. My voice is the only one God gave me. However, as preachers, it's tempting to try to fit someone else's voice into our own. This results in us being a less effective version of (insert your favorite preacher here).

In this episode, Mike Ash discusses how to find your voice as a pastor and how to best serve your listeners with what God has equipped YOU with. We dive into a plethora of other topics as well including sermon prep, preaching teams, research and study and the various trends and waves in evangelical Christianity over the last few decades.

There is a lot packed into this one, and I know you're going to enjoy it.

When it comes to fulfilling your church's vision and impacting your community, you won't get far without funds.

This is why giving is so important to churches. But the method in which we receive donations has changed over the last few years - especially in these last two years of the pandemic.

In most churches, we've seen a shift from a long-standing tradition of in-person, pass the plate style giving to some form of digital giving online.

There are many benefits to this shift and some cautions. We'll get into all of it in this episode.

It would be fair to guess that someone in your church or someone you know has been going through a deconstruction process.

What is deconstruction and why does it seem like everyone is talking about right now?

And what's the difference between deconversion and deconstruction? And how does this affect our ministries day to day as we're leading our churches?

In this episode, we will dive into all of these questions and aim to get a better understanding of what's going on in our culture right now.

When it comes to sermon length, how long is too long? How short is too short? Do people care how long the sermon is? Someone should look into this! Well, they did. By "they" I'm talking about a recent survey conducted by Grey Matter.

They discovered what congregants think about a variety of factors affecting preachers from the length of sermons, to asking for tithes and offerings, to dealing with social issues.

There is much in this study for us to discover as preachers. We dive into all of it in this episode of the podcast!

In this episode, Lantz Howard of Champion Hope joins me to discuss how to be calm.

In a season of chaos and stress, as leaders we must manage ourselves well. Self-management and self-leadership include training ourselves to be calm even in times of stress.

As 2021 is coming to a close and 2022 is right around the corner, putting into practice what Lantz reveals in this episode will serve you and your ministry well.

According to a recent article in Christianity Today, worship songs do not last as long as they used to.

Thirty years ago a worship song would be sung in church for a decade or more.

These days, that time is cut by two-thirds or more.

Why has this changed and what does it mean for the way we select songs for our congregations?

In this episode, we'll dive into all of the *fun* surrounding music, worship styles and song selection in church.

A recent Barna survey revealed that 38% of pastors want to quit ministry. Many of them would if they had any other way to make a living.

What has led to this trend? Why are so many pastors burned out, tired, frustrated and wanting out?

There are many facets to this, and we'll dive into all of it in this video.

When you finish writing a sermon, it's important to make sure it's completely ready to go before you preach it.

But this can be complicated if you don't know what to look for or how to determine if your sermon is complete.

In this episode, I'm going to give you three simple questions you can ask yourself before preaching any message to make sure it's 100% ready to go!

The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill Podcast by Christianity today has been the best podcast to come out in a long time. In it, host, Mike Cosper, profiles the story of Mark Driscoll who rose to prominence as the leader of Mars Hill Church, President of Acts 29 and a #1 New York Times Bestselling author.

The podcast holds nothing back in telling the story - the good and not so good parts of the journey and ultimate fall of Mark and his church.

Listening to this podcast has been a journey for me in itself. I admired Driscoll in my formative years of ministry. He was different, but in the end proved to be the same as so many pastors who have fallen.

From the first ten episodes of the podcast, I have drawn out three important lessons that I believe are important to share with you.