The Better Sundays Podcast

Are the tools we use in the local church,  good for the church or bad for the church? Are methods flexible or should we consider them sacred? If we want to reach young families, is it legitimate to use every possible tool?  Are screens really all that important?  Everyone of us use screens in one way of another in our life. If you are trying figure out a proper balance, there are th...

It seems nearly 100 percent of young families in North America are using smart phones in some way in their daily life. Wise leaders everywhere are learning to leverage these ubiquitous communication devices for good. Join us in this podcast to learn five simple ideas to help engage the younger generation in a typical Sunday morning service.

Buy Stuff--Reach Families!   What a concept! What a ministry! Yes, there are things you can purchase online that will help you and your church be more attractive and compatible with young families.  This episode provides you with an easy assignment--Go buy stuff! Listen all the way to the end to find out the super inexpensive things you can purchase that will make a huge impact in the li...

Nearly every public entity, business or local church has a distinct smell or flavor to it. The moment you walk in, you can sense it. Our churches often have a distinct smell to them. Sometimes good. Sometimes bad.  A wise church leader knows that the aroma or the atmosphere of a local church can be managed and directed in the same way the budget or the service schedule can be managed. This po...

To reach young families sometimes we need to do "young family things."  This podcast covers several ideas you can do to get kids and teens involved in every single adult service. They don't just have to sit there. They don't have to be bored being with the moms and dads. They can be active participants and be excited about their local church.  Learn more here.

If you are a pastor or a church leader wanting to reach the new, young families in your community, you don't need to do the job alone. It is likely you have a great group of people already working for you that can carry much of the load. These are called Sunday school teachers!  Sunday school teachers are on the frontline of the battle. They are with the children every single Sunday. They kno...

Attracting new, young families to church is essential. Often it starts at some type of kid-related event. Kids come and have a good time. They return for a second event. Relationship are formed with both kids and the parents. Parents develop in the KNOW, LIKE and TRUST process. Discipleship and growth begins! For a church to see this sequence happen over and over again, there is much hard work and...

There are many activity-oriented things a local church can do to become known as a "family-friendly" church, but beneath all of the programs and motion, there needs to be a groundwork of principles. Young parents will be attracted and retained, not as much by programs, as they will the needs the program meets. In this podcast we will cover three distinct parental needs and how your events need to...

Season Three begins with the introduction to the concept of "young family things." In order to reach young families often time churches need to focus on doing "young family things." Local churches are familiar with the purposes that lie beneath their programming. If you are a "home school church," you often do a lot of homeschool things. If your "musically oriented church," you often do a lot of m...

Sometimes, some of the best ways to learn is just by watching someone else go through a problem.  As promised, this podcast is focused, practical, and usable.  In this episode, we will get a glimpse inside of a church that navigated a very difficult situation concerning their facility.  Join me as a give a live review of several of the problems (and solutions) this church has in reg...

Does your janitor have vision?  Can your setup and takedown volunteers tell you their "mission" in the  church? Is there a singular statement you use to motivate and inspire the Sunday School teachers, the AV team and the folks who do your greeting? Well.... we believe you can answer all theses question with a resounding YES! This final strategy statement in Season Two of our Better Sund...

Every area of a local church needs a well-thought-out strategy, especially the area of leader ship.  Every church leader is in a position to examine and evaluate things. That is the nature of what we do. Through all this inspection, oftentimes leaders  see only the negative and can turn their comments into complaint. This podcast offers a simple strategy statement that has helped countle...

First impressions in a local church are super important. For a brand new person coming to church everything is noticed. The signage, the cleanliness, the literature, but nothing as important as the friendliness of the people. If a first time guest gets a GREAT first time greeting it will go a long ways in developing them as a disciple of the Lord and a faithful church member. This podcast covers a...

Comfortable or uncomfortable that is the question?  I don't think there are too many church leaders that wish for people to be uncomfortable when they come to their church. That being said, the big question is how far should we go to make them comfortable?  If there is any lack of comfort, where should it come from? How can we be properly balanced in this area?  In this podcast we e...

In this podcast episode we dive into the nitty-gritty details of an actual local church's quest to reach new young families. After several consultative phone calls and spending an entire weekend in a thriving and well-managed local church, several conclusions were reached. Some of the problems discovered are common in many churches. Most are easily remedied once they are observed and identified. M...

An on the road strategy session with Mr. Mike.

If you're going to reach new young families, you're not going to do it alone. Every church leader needs to have active and excited ministry team members. Team members can often let us down in many ways by losing their dedication and excitement. Sometimes this has to do with the change of their stage of life, employment or family matters. Whichever it might be, you need to still make sure you have...

Nearly every time you walk into a business in your local community you're going there to have a problem solved. You might be looking for new shoes at the shoe store. You might be going to the grocery store to get some carrots. You might be going to the doctors office to get some type of relief, but wherever you go, almost every single time you're going to get a solution to some type of problem. Lo...

When 95% of the work in your church is done by 5% of the people, your church is unhealthy. Sorry to be so blunt, but you are in a unsustainable death spiral. An unbalanced workload in a local church is not good for the leadership and it robs the members of the blessings of obedience, discipline and the joy of serving. Things need to change! A simple starter stagey is explained in this podcast that...

If you were to examine church history, you  will find that evangelical Christians have always been innovative  and found new ways to bring the gospel to the masses. New methods of transmitting truth have been around since the first century. Unfortunately in this age, and probably in all eras of church history, many methods  have become stagnant, ineffective and ritualistic. A wise c...

Among all the important things that a local church needs to manage is the vital category of building a team. It is often been said  that 95% of the work is done by 5% of the people. Let me be clear,  that is not a statistic of a good team.  This week's podcast will cover a simple little strategy statement that will help you build up the members of your team and show them how valuabl...

Strategy Statements are simple one line, one sentence, expressions that simply and effectively communicate vision and purpose.  Learning to create and use such statements in an essential skill that every church leader should master. Today's statement will help every church to keep "service to others" at the forefront of the ministry. In ministry, as in any other organization, we often step in...

In season two episode two, we were discussing a strategic statement that will help you with delegation. One of the most important things we can do is church leaders is feed the flock of God. Right after that one of the most important things we can do is to lead the flock of God. We can't do everything by ourselves so we know that we need to enlist others and turn things over to them. This month st...

In Season Two of The Better Sunday Podcast will be covering the topic of strategy. Nothing will affect the outcome of your programs, events and overall church health like having the proper strategy. This series of podcasts will give you many examples of strategic statements. These are boiled down, compacted,  one-line statements that will help you teach the specific strategy to your church. T...

This is the final podcast in season one. Our next season will be dealing with strategies, the long term thought processes to help a Church go in the right direction. We all know that relationships are important, but how do we get them to grow and become strong? One of the best ways is to give them time. Time helps living things to grow. In this episode we urge you to put relational events on your...