Bud Brown

10 things pastors should stop doing

The high cost of low expectations

The American Church is suffering the high cost of low expectations. I’m not referring to the low expectations that consumer driven churches have of their members. I refer to the low expectations our American way of “doing church” places on pastors. They burn themselves out, and churches use them up, chasing low expectations. Although these

The second rule of turnaround leadership

What if turnaround leadership was a matter of following a few simple rules about how pastors behave, and that these behaviors are as important as – if not more so – than what pastors do? In our upcoming book Pastor Unique: Becoming a Turnaround Leader we reveal groundbreaking research demonstrating that turnaround pastors behave differently

In re: Karl Vaters on Perry Noble and our “obsession with numbers”

In a recent post, “Perry Noble, NewSpring Church and Our Obsession with Numbers” Karl Vaters urges us to think carefully and deeply about the sorrowful loss of our ministry colleague Perry Noble. I’m a fan of Karl’s thinking, his writing, and the comfort and clarity he brings to pastors who feel like failures simply because

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Guest assimilation: the turnaround pastor’s roadmap

Guest assimilation for churches is like helping people out for a stroll in a strange neighborhood. Imagine it is you walking through the neighborhood after sunset. On the homeward leg a young woman approaches and asks, “Can you tell me how to find East Wilshire Terrace? I’ve walked the neighborhood, but I can’t tell which streets go

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Church metrics – measure the things that count

Metrics can be tricky Elsewhere I’ve written about the trouble pastors of plateaued or declining churches can get into if they use the traditional metrics. In this post I want to emphasize the importance of those metrics when they’re used in the right church context. Picture this scene – one all to common in the life

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Turnaround pastors never stop pushing vision

Leading a stalled church in a genuine turnaround – one that leads to conversion growth and spiritual growth – demands the pastor’s finest communication skills. Turnaround starts with a sustained push of mission, vision and values. The objective is transformation: people viewing themselves and their church In a whole new light, which is cast by

Consultants are servants, not experts

Sometimes I’m ensnared by a subtle trap that lays in wait for the hapless church consultant. When pastors and church leaders pay attention to whatever bit of advice or wisdom I may have to share, I’m lulled into the mistaken notion that I’m the expert. Recently, and thankfully, I was disabused of this silly notion.