Helping Churches Thrive

A Ministry of Church Health Consulting

Seven Reasons To Not Publicly Criticize Your Pastor

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Here’s something that never ceases to amaze me.  Church members sit in their favorite spot in the worship service on Sunday morning.  They pray, praise, sing, listen and, through the words of hymns, creeds, prayers and covenants, they commit themselves anew to following Jesus and loving the brethren. The service ends, there’s a ten-minute break, […]

When The News Is Terrible

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Back in 2022, I wrote some posts which touched on one of my favorite Old Testament prophets, the sensitive, justice-loving, heartsick, singer-songwriter (I think), Habakkuk. (He mentions his stringed instruments in chapter three, verse nineteen.) The writer of the fifth to the last book in our Old Testament was a contemporary of Jeremiah, and a […]

Models of Board Member Ministry

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Almost every church has some variety of leadership team which meets regularly (or occasionally) to make decisions and help and/or hinder the work of the congregation’s professional staff.  These groups are variously called: the board, the elders, the deacons, the consistory, the session or the council.  The degree of authority which they wield varies greatly.  […]

“Pastor: How’s Your CHURCH Doing?”

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I have many conversations with pastors which include this question.  We talk about lots of other things, from illnesses to children to football, and then I invariably get around to the “How’s your CHURCH doing?” question. Some pastors have the privilege of leading churches which are building the Kingdom of Christ with some real God-given […]

Exposing Ten Church Revitalization Myths, Part One

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rēˌvīdələˈzāSH(ə)n,rēˌvīdlˌīˈzāSH(ə)n Noun – The action of imbuing something with new life and vitality. “The city has seen revitalization of its economy” Thanks to Mr. Google for the above. The idea of church revitalization assumes that at some point in time the congregation in question was teeming with life. While this is clearly not the case with every church, […]

Exposing Ten Church Revitalization Myths, Part Two

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In my last post I launched into exposing ten myths about the revitalization of churches.  I began with this “googled” definition: Revitalization is the “action of imbuing something with new life and vitality”. In light of this, admittedly, secular definition, instead of asking if every church needs revitalization, maybe we should be asking if any church doesn’t need […]

Lame Ducks Can Still Fly – Twelve Projects Retiring Pastors Can Work On

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There’s something happening in a church near you: the pastor is moving toward retirement.  I’m told that the average age of pastors in America has risen to about sixty. While many pastors continue on in full-time ministry way past the typical retirement age of sixty-five, pastors at sixty are usually at least thinking about it. […]

Spatial Disorientation – Pastor: Do You Know The Condition Of Your Pastorate?

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My wife and I have been learning about spatial disorientation by listening to airline disaster podcasts.  The phenomenon occurs when pilots, unable to see the ground because of darkness or bad weather (pilots call it “goo”), become unable to determine their aircraft’s true position relative to the ground. Their senses tell them, for instance, that […]

Twenty Ways (15 wasn’t enough) To Solve Our Pastor Shortage, Part Three

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For the past two weeks (see 15 Ways To Solve Our Pastor Shortage, Part One and 15 Ways To Solve Our Pastor Shortage, Part Two) I’ve been bemoaning our evangelical pastor shortage.  Like most of my readers, I didn’t much care about theologically liberal churches suffering their pastor shortage, but now that it’s closer to […]

Twenty Ways (15 wasn’t enough) To Solve Our Pastor Shortage, Conclusion

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Over the past three weeks I’ve shared fourteen ways in which we might move towards solving our pastor shortage in the evangelical world. While I’ve done some bemoaning of our situation, your responses have been encouraging.  I have not felt like a “voice crying in the wilderness.” I’ve found that many of you share my […]

Testimonials

Brian A. Thorstad

Call: 651-319-1953

Email: churchwhisperer@gmail.com

1931 Cook Avenue
Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54494

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