In the Winter 2010 issue of Leadership Journal, Dave Travis, managing director of Leadership Network, mentioned  three things in the church that should be changing by now but aren’t.  One of these was ministry to the encore generation.  Dave said, “With the huge baby boomer population in this demographic, I’m surprised we’re not seeing growth for this sector.” 

I’m not against marketing at all, but in the age of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media, we need to start thinking about influencing.  What’s the difference?  Marketing is pitching your message to the customer, donor, or audience.  Although you can certainly target based on demographics, geography, income levels, and more, it’s still more about you than about them.  In other words, traditional marketing is about …

Pastors can have two personas: one the congregation sees and one the staff sees. While the goal is to be the same person around everyone, it often does not play out. The reality is you act differently around staff you work with for hours on end each day, compared to other congregants you may see in passing once or twice a week. This dichotomy is not necessarily bad, but it can be when the pastor plays nice with the congregation while poorly leading the staff. Maltreating the staff places them in the …