Bud Brown

10 awkward questions interim pastors should ask

[pullquote]“What is the real work of leaders? Providing all the right answers? No. It’s providing all the right questions.” – Ronald A. Heifitz and Donald Laurie, The Work of Leadership[/pullquote][dc]I[/dc]nterim pastors often accomplish more – far more – by asking questions than giving information. Since Socrates asking questions has been a core competency of good

Book Review: Change Your Questions, Change Your Church

[dc]E[/dc]very once in a while a book comes along that is so helpful and so informative you have to have it nearby at all times J. Val Hastings’s slim volume, Change Your Questions, Change Your Church(affiliate link), is just such a book. It is filled with practical wisdom and useful guidance that every intentional interim

6 ways to show grace when feeling grumpy

One Sunday morning he slept through the alarm. He just didn’t feel up for church. His wife elbowed him. “Get up. You’ll be late to church.” “I don’t want to go today. I’m tired. The people at that church aren’t nice to me. They are unfriendly, they say things behind my back and I feel

Book Review: Revitalizing Congregations

Interim pastors, permanent pastors for that matter, will enjoy reading William Avery’s Revitalizing Congregations: Refocusing and Healing Through Pastoral Transitions (affiliate link) for its clear, simple style, for its useful information and for the mirror it holds up for us to look at our ministries. In the preface the author identifies his target audience: The

9 reasons why interim pastors shouldn’t become settled pastors

Interim pastors are often recruited for the full-time position. It’s a natural response to wise leadership, confidence borne of experience, gracious pastoral care and an objective understanding of the church that resolves problems without becoming embroiled in them. Although it feels good to be asked. We always decline the offer. The written contract between the

In praise of the interim pastor

What he said. Money quote: Thank God for interim pastors who don’t simply take a preaching post to pad an inadequate retirement check, but who are real pastors doing a real work of ministry for a congregation who needs love and guidance as they make their way toward a new chapter in their history.

The most important question an interim pastor can ask

“How can we take the message to them?” Interim pastors get asked this question all the time. It’s posed by those who don’t see the church paradigm shift sweeping through American culture. They are living with a legacy that stretches back to the early 1930s (at least). For close to a century the Western Church

Is it time to “change pastors”?

I checked our web stats to see where organic traffic was coming from. Take a look at the last search on this screen cap: Does the pastor need changing? I guess it all “Depends.”