by Craig Walls | Oct 6, 2020 | Ask the Advisors, Featured
That’s an easy question. The answer is fear! In my more than 20 years of pastoral ministry, both in local congregations and at Disciples Church Extension Fund (DCEF), the greatest threat I’ve seen to successful ministry of any kind, including successful building and...
by Craig Walls | Aug 4, 2020 | Ask the Advisors, COVID-19, Featured
Conversations about potential church mergers are always complicated. Often, they begin when a congregation, or two congregations, face the painful reality that they can no longer afford their buildings or their ministries at the level they’ve been accustomed to....
by Craig Walls | Jun 30, 2020 | Ask the Advisors, Featured
I have a strange fascination with church buildings. I grew up attending worship in a very traditional looking church modeled after one in colonial Williamsburg. Community Christian Church in North Canton, Ohio, was breathtakingly beautiful. This Norman Rockwell-like...
by Craig Walls | May 26, 2020 | Ask the Advisors, COVID-19, Featured
Before I answer that question, permit me to share an experience from nearly 20 years ago. In the fall of 2001, a month or so after September 11th, I attended a New Church Summit in Indianapolis led by Rick Morse—then, the new Director of New Church Ministry. Only a...