Josh Hunt's Blog, page 290
May 23, 2014
Whatever happened to Hell?
Hell disappeared. And no one noticed.” With that terse observation, American church historian Martin Marty summarized our attitude toward a vanishing doctrine that received careful attention in previous generations. If you are a churchgoer, ask yourself when you last heard an entire sermon or Sunday school lesson on the topic. An article in Newsweek said, […]
May 22, 2014
The music wars. . . my thoughts
Music in church has caused more conflict per square inch than any topic I know. It seems every church I go to is either in the music wars, through the music wars, or is about to go into the music wars. Almost no one is exempt. Music matters. People care about music. They care deeply […]
May 20, 2014
The Zigzag way of change
Keith Sawyer says we need to Zig Zag.[1] I think he is right. Success is rarely about imagining one big change, and implementing it to great success. It is usually about 1000 little changes. That is what this book is about. It is not about imagining one big change that is going to make all […]
May 18, 2014
How to reach young people
I have been in hundreds of churches over the years that are reaching young people in spades. Almost without exception, the churches that are reaching young people are using the music of young people to do it. I have been in many more churches that wanted to reach young people but they didn’t want to […]
May 16, 2014
How one pastor successfully changed
I love this story. The preacher goes to a church. The pulpit is on the side of the stage. He thinks it should be in the middle. It is a symbolic thing. The Word of God should be central. He moves the pulpit to the center. He gets fired. Is anyone surprised by this? Next […]
May 14, 2014
3 More Music Options
As I see it you have seven options when it comes to music: You can stay with what you have. Transition. Freshening up. Blending. Change to a contemporary model. Don’t rule this option out. I’ve seen cases where this was marvelously successful. It does require a good deal of skill in change management. The key […]
May 12, 2014
How NOT to implement change
Selling big change is incredibly difficult. On the other hand, selling small change is almost effortless. It is hard to jump ten feet; it is easy to take ten steps. And, if you take a step and it ends up being the wrong step, you back up and step again in a different direction. Let’s […]
May 10, 2014
4 Music options
As I see it you have seven options when it comes to music: You can stay with what you have. This is not an altogether bad idea. I have a pastor friend who opted for this choice. They even ran an ad in the paper that said, “The church where you can still sing Amazing […]
May 8, 2014
How to change the music in your church
Let’s stay with the music example. There are a thousand tiny steps you can take. Introduce one new song. Introduce guitar on one song. Introduce subtle drums on one song. Make sure they are subtle. Read: not loud. Introduce backing tracks on one song. (More on this later.) http://www.worshipbackingband.com/ Try two songs. Try a set. […]
April 29, 2014
Catch them doing something right
We spend too much time telling people what they ought to do and what they should’ve done and not enough time catching people doing something right. For the vision to take hold, the leader must embody the vision. Then, the guiding team must embody the vision. Then, others will follow suit. As they do, we […]
