Author Archives: Tree of Life Church

Paul told Timothy that when he appointed elders into the church not to appoint novices (1 Tim. 3.6).  Some people are charismatic, charming, efficient, kind and helpful.  You should be keen to appoint people who can do the job and who know what to do and how to do it well. But you must notContinue reading “5 Signs Someone is a Novice”

In Joel 2.7 one of the things we find out about the great army approaching is that “they shall not break ranks”. A lot of people in leadership teams, a lot of people in churches especially, do not understand the principle of ranking.  It upsets them because they think that life should be equitable andContinue reading “The Power of a Team (part 3 – The Principle of Ranking)”

My son came home from school this week disappointed.  It’s that time of year where students his age find out if they have been accepted into the university of their choice.  My son was not sad because he was rejected, but he was sad because a friend of his didn’t get any of their choices.Continue reading “The Power of a Team (part 2 – We All Win or We All Lose)”

The start of a new series in this leadership blog on the power of a team.  Today, I want to talk about something dear to my heart and that is about raising up people as you move forward, rather than stepping on people to move forward. If you are a leader you will move forwardContinue reading “The Power of a Team (part 1 – We All Go Together)”

10.  Buy a hamper.  Give everyone a ticket as they come in.  Hold a raffle in the middle of the service. 9.  Play a really old well known hymn.  Even use the original tune.  Belt it out! 8.  Receive the offering to the tune of Yakkety Sax. 7.  Give the people bingo cards with veryContinue reading “10 Things You Can Do This Sunday to Make Church More Fun For Everyone”

The grace people in the UK (indeed many people in the UK) are still too small minded, looking at maintaining house groups and sustaining groups of 20 people.  I am not against small groups – we all started small, and I still regularly preach to crowds of people under 10 as we are starting newContinue reading “10 Reasons You Need to Grow Your Church in 2016”

This Sunday has been awesome.  Great carol service in Dagenham, someone got saved and people got healed, and I know I haven’t heard all the testimonies yet.  It was a really awesome service, and loads of people have benefited from the message. Then  a swift drive to Guildford to enjoy the Christmas party of ourContinue reading “Merry Christmas!”

I’ve deliberately written this post to senior and lead pastors of churches, because one of the things that really messes up church growth is promoting the wrong people.  It’s also true in businesses as well – promoting the wrong people will destroy your business, and promoting the right people will propel it forward.  So ifContinue reading “Who To Promote?”

It’s a bit of a long winded title this evening, but I can’t think of a pithy way of saying this: a lot of pastors are jealous of other pastors.  They struggle with jealous and envy towards other pastors they perceive to be more successful than themselves.  Then other pastors struggle because people that theyContinue reading “The Danger of Jealousy and Selfish Ambition in Ministry”

I am preparing for Sunday this morning, writing a church bulletin, reviewing my sermon, making sure people are in place to do what needs to be done.  And I thought this preview from this Sunday morning’s message might really help some people: You see, New Year’s Resolutions don’t work.  You know it and I know it.Continue reading “Why New Year’s Resolutions Don’t Work (And What to Do About It!)”