Every pastor knows that feeling: you finish preaching on Sunday, someone says, “Great message, Pastor!” and before you even get to your car you’re already thinking, ‘Okay… now what am I preaching next week?’ As a pastor I’m constantly bombarded by items that consume my time. There is always an email, a phone call, a…

One of my favorite Christmas movies is Elf. It has everything that a person could want in a Christmas-themed movie: humor, Christmas spirit, Peter Billingsley (Ralphie from A Christmas Story), Santa, Claymation, and a storyline that pulls on the heartstrings. It is a masterpiece of laughter, awe, and tears. But Elf is more than these,…

I want to take a detour from strategy and communication today and talk about a concerning observation. It’s something I’ve been noticing for a while in churches and ministries. There is a philosophical, psychological, and spiritual intersection that is leading pastors to a place that I believe is unhealthy and even dangerous for the future…

Is it just me, or does everybody seem mad about something lately? Politically, people are mad. Socially, people are mad. Drivers on the road are mad. Geopolitically, people are mad. Friends are mad at each other. I know this isn’t a new problem. This is part of the whole human condition. Our nature that we…

If there’s one thing I’ve noticed from growing up around ministry work and those occasional high school English classes, it’s this… a story usually does one of three things: it informs, entertains, or persuades. But a good story? A good story does all three. And the best part? You don’t have to be a professional…

I don’t usually lead with stories like this, but every now and then, a little vulnerability is worth the awkwardness. So here goes. A few years back, I lost my temper. Not the “raised my voice in a meeting” kind of temper. I mean, I literally punched a wall in our office during a call…

So many times when we get into conversations with ministries about communication, we end up talking about something else entirely: conflict. Sometimes it’s rooted in misunderstandings. Other times it’s tied to ego, territory, or unresolved relational dynamics. The truth is, conflict can show up in ministry settings more often and more intensely than in typical…

Imagine This With Me… It’s early Sunday morning, and your alarm is going off.
 Beep. Beep. BEEEEEEP. 
You forgot to turn the ringer down last night, and now you’ve been ripped from the best sleep you’ve had in days. You’re groggy, a little irritable, and definitely not in the mood for chirpy notifications, or anything…

Have you ever walked into a new place and felt two things at the same time; hopeful and uncomfortable? It happened to me not long ago when I visited a church that had asked for our input on how they were doing. I didn’t tell anyone I was coming. No red carpet. No heads-up to…

“I wish you still did creative work…” Someone said this to me recently, and I was honestly caught off guard. Because…we never stopped. That comment revealed something important: we hadn’t clearly communicated what we still do. Let me take you behind the scenes a bit. For a long time, Keenly functioned as a creative agency doing…