Links of the Week (10/28/16)

Each Saturday we point you to the best preaching, leadership, and ministry content we have encountered on the internet during the week.

Links of the Week

Want some free preaching and productivity resources? How does a sermon evaluation worksheet, a weekly productivity template for Evernote, a sermon series planning template for Evernote, and 56 weeks of preaching topics sound to you? Grab them by going here (and never miss fresh content from RookiePreacher.com).

Preaching and the Power of Imagination – by Greg Atkinson

Recently, I was attending my home church and listening to the guest speaker’s message. He started out by asking everyone to close their eyes. He said, “Picture a used car salesman. Picture a librarian. Picture a sumo wrestler.” Then, he said, “Picture a spiritual person.”

The Weight & Joy of Being a Pastor: Preaching – by Joshua Reich

There is a weight that pastors feel that I don’t know translates into other jobs. I think that people in churches can know about it but not fully understand it. I know that as a youth pastor I didn’t truly understand the weight of pastoring until becoming a lead pastor. For no particular reason it just worked that way.

Why Your Church Website Needs Better SEO (And 8 Tips To Improve It) – by Steve Fogg

I was prompted to write this post about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) after a recent conversation with a church leader.

The conversation went something like this.

The Next Generation’s Perception of Church – by Phil Cooke

I had the opportunity this year to speak at a leadership event at Ivy Church in Manchester, England. The pastor is Anthony Delaney, who’s done a brilliant job building a multi-site church in a city that’s experiencing enormous growth in business, media, and education. As a result, Ivy has a great number of Millennial members and it’s making an enormous impact. Keep in mind this is during a time when many established churches are shrinking – so much so that many denominations such as the Methodists and Church of England are looking for ways to partner and sometimes even give some of their buildings to growing churches like Ivy.

The State of Theology: Does Even the Smallest Sin Deserve Eternal Damnation? – by Stephen Nichols

Of the 47 statements included in The State of Theology study for 2016, undertaken in partnership with LifeWay Research, the responses to one statement stood out. Most of the responses tended to even out over the spectrum. Each statement tended to garner slight majorities. The results show slight majorities either getting a belief right or, in most cases, getting a belief wrong. But not statement 17, “Even the smallest sin deserves eternal damnation.” This one sparked a reaction.

5 Things Pastors And Business Leaders Need To Know About Change Management – by Bryan Miles via Brian Dodd on Leadership

Nobody likes change but a baby. This is one of my favorite sayings. However, the fact remains change is a reality all leaders must not only deal with, but initiate. One leader who is initiating a lot of change currently Bryan Miles, the CEO and Co-founder of Miles AG, a conglomerate company consisting of eaHELP, Render, Ellipsis, and one of my favorite organizations MAG Bookkeeping.

5 Emotional Intelligence Hacks That Can Immediately Improve Your Leadership – by Carey Nieuwhof

How would you rate your emotional intelligence lately?

It’s a relevant question for a few reasons. First, as the research Daniel Goleman brought forward two decades ago demonstrated, EQ (emotional intelligence) is a far greater predictor of leadership effectiveness than IQ.

Second—and this is the fun part—emotional intelligence can be learned. It’s not genetic, and pretty much anyone can get better at it.

What Are the Top 10 Books Every Pastor Should Read? – by Brian Croft

Have you ever tried to pick a favorite hymn or Scripture passage when asked? Impossible, isn’t it? At least it is for me. I had similar feelings when my pastoral interns asked me to pick my top books every pastor should read. Too many to choose from and where does the list end? Nevertheless, they demanded this of me and I conceded.