Brian Thorstad, Author at Helping Churches Thrive

The Pastor’s Salary: An Alternative View

Note: My thoughts below relate to Senior or “solo” (the only one the church has) pastors. Another note: This is a hard subject for pastors to talk about. Now that I’m no longer a pastor of a congregation, I can share my thoughts on the subject freely. My viewpoint is quite different from that of…

Ten Questions To Identify Your Church’s Actual Mission

Does your church have a mission statement? If it’s an evangelical church, it probably does. What does it say? More than likely, it says something to the effect of: “We exist to make disciples” – defined as growing, devoted followers of Jesus. Writing a mission statement is a “slam dunk” because this imperative is so…

Seven Marks Of The Closed-System Church

Let’s get right to it. In the business world, a closed-system at the leadership level means that the senior leaders are listening to themselves and each other, but to no one else. Those in production are shut out of the decision-making process, as are the front-line workers, as are the customers. These companies go from…

Keeping The Band Together: Maintaining Unity As Your Church Grows, Part Three

A wise, young pastor whose congregation is experiencing healthy growth put this question to me: “I love the unity we have in our church right now. How can we maintain it as we continue to grow?” Here are the answers I’ve shared so far: (Read the first full post here and the second post here.)…

Keeping The Band Together: Maintaining Unity As Your Church Grows, Part Two

Sometimes our success can be our own undoing. Oh-so-happy is the experience of the small, united church! Such congregations tend to grow spontaneously: “Come and check out our wonderful little church! I think you’ll love it.” And they do come, and they do love it, because we’re all looking for love, and this kind of…

Keeping The Band Together: Maintaining Unity As Your Church Grows

Would that every church leadership team would be faced with the challenges of significant church growth! A pastor who is dealing with that happy situation put this question to me: “I love the unity we have in our church right now. How can we maintain it as we continue to grow?” Again: wouldn’t it be…

This Old Church: Begin Your Revitalization With An Assessment

I heard it again on Sunday, described a little more eloquently this time than in the past. The homeowner and contractor told me how he had remodeled several homes, each time living in them during the process. He was grateful to have had the same wife with him throughout the whole adventure. As I had…

Pastors Turning Inward: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

“Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by the LORD that if you don’t go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall.” Secretary of Defense Joab, to King David, in II Samuel 19:7 “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at…

Don’t Be Bashful: Most People Are Still “Lost In America”

“I am not ashamed of the gospel…” Romans 1:16 Back in 2001, Tom Clegg and Warren Bird gave us great encouragement with their book, Lost In America. The subtitle was “How You And Your Church Can Impact The World Next Door.” Before you change channels because I’m reviewing an “old book,” give this post a…

Jesus’ Bride Is Not A Building

It’s time to just stop it. It’s time to stop referring to buildings as churches. As evangelicals, we know that they’re not, of course. Every pastor explains this once in a while in a sermon: “We talk about our church building, but of course we all know that in the Bible, churches aren’t buildings, they’re…

To Get The Best Pastor Possible, Part Two

Periods of transition between senior or solo pastors are crucial for churches. This seems to be the case in all sizes of churches and in almost all denominational “tribes.” We wish it wasn’t so, but most of us know that the calling/accepting of a new pastor can make or break a congregation. This being the…

To Get The Best Pastor Possible

Looking for a new solo or senior pastor for your church can be a stressful, fearful, experience. We know that we should just “trust God” of course, but we also know, all-too-well, how important this process can be. The right pastor can greatly bless your church. The wrong pastor can all but destroy your church….

Eight More Helpful Hacks For Beleaguered Pastors

The Super Bowl is history. As usual, the team that won the “time of possession” battle won the game – not by much, but they did win it. The Bible gives us plenty of excuses for using the language of military conquest and athletic competition. We are to endure hardship, to storm the gates of…

Seven Helpful Hacks For Beleaguered Pastors

After sending you Seven Ways To Get On Offense last week, I sensed a need to get more specific and down to earth with my suggestions. Our big, challenging subject is the need for pastors to be able to transition from a reactive, back-on-your heels type of ministry, to doing the kind of proactive, intentional…

Grace Doesn’t Indulge Sin

I’ve heard stories like these again and again: The obnoxious deacon literally poked his finger in the chest of the new pastor in the church foyer and told him – in no uncertain terms – what he could and could not do. The overbearing old accountant spoke harshly to the young financial secretary, telling her…

Reversing The Church’s Supply Chain Crisis

Last week I wrote about Pipelines, Pathways And The Church’s Supply Chain Crisis. It wasn’t about computer chips, potato chips, toilet tissue or gasoline, it was about the lack of new attendees, and much more importantly, new converts to Christ, coming in our church doors. This paragraph was the heart of the post: Even in…

Pipelines, Pathways And The Church’s Supply Chain Crisis

Everybody knows that we have a supply chain problem in America in 2022. It’s irritating. It’s frustrating. And it’s hard to put a finger on exactly what the problem is. All I know for sure is that there are a lot of items “missing” when I go to the store. After twenty-two months of the…

The Pastor As A “Player’s Coach”

I’ve really been enjoying football lately. The fact that I’m from Wisconsin probably has something to do with this, but I promise that I won’t say anything more about that. But Sunday evening, a couple of broadcasters were singing the praises of Matt LaFleur as a “player’s coach.” They went on to describe a player’s…

Wanted: The Pastoral Flight Simulator

An old friend and I were having one of those conversations that old friends (or married couples) repeat regularly: Brian: “It’s so hard to be a young pastor! There are so many landmines, so many ways to get in trouble!” Old Friend: “The young guys have all the energy; the old guys have the wisdom…

The Three Keys To An Effective Church Revitalization

Most evangelical congregations in America need some degree of revitalization in that they are on the downside of the church lifecycle. This means that there was a time in the past (near or distant) during which the congregation was more effective than it is currently, at making devoted, growing, followers of Jesus out of the…

Nickels And Noses: Better Ways To Measure Church Effectiveness

Are we really getting anywhere? Are we actually making disciples, or just going through the motions, doing what we’ve always done while getting what we’ve always gotten? These are hard but important questions for church leaders to ask. I’m assuming that you agree with me that the church’s #1 “job,” its mission, is to make…