Fruit on Other People’s Trees: The Legacy of Bob Buford

A couple of days ago Bob Buford stepped through the curtain of mortality into the the presence of Jesus. I am happy for Bob as he is now free of the disease that plagued his final years on earth, but I am sad for all of us who lost an incredible leader and friend. 

You may not know the name Bob Buford, but if you’ve attended an American evangelical church in the last 30 years you’ve likely been impacted by his legacy. After losing his son in a tragic drowning accident many years ago Bob decided to spend the rest of his life to make a difference. Following the advice of  his mentor Peter Drucker, Bob formed two non-profits, Leadership Network and Halftime, and through them invested his considerable financial resources in discovering and fueling “islands of health and strength” in the church. The ripple effects of his investments are massive.

Many years ago Bob saw leadership in a young church planter named Bill Hybels and helped resource what eventually became the Willow Creek Association and the Global Leadership Summit. Bob saw past the Hawaiian shirts to the brilliance of a young pastor named Rick Warren and facilitated the launch of the Purpose Driven Network. He had a part in the launch of church planting movements such as Acts 29, the New Thing Network and the Association of Related Churches.   The list of Bob’s behind-the-scenes influence goes on and on and on.  A footnote on page 34 of the appendix of the list of Bob’s accomplishments is his enduring impact on my life and ministry.

I’ll never forget the first time I met Bob. I was working for Seacoast Church and we had joined the first Multisite Cohort convened by Leadership Network. Since this was the beginning of a new chapter in the life of LN Bob came to the first gathering in Chicago to see the new process firsthand. During the gathering my friend and fellow Seacoast leader Byron Davis talked Bob into spending one-on-one time with our team. Over a great steak dinner Bob opened our eyes to a completely different way of thinking about church and ministry. Through penetrating questions and seemingly unrelated anecdotes Bob led us down a path of strategic thinking that significantly shaped the story of Seacoast to this day.

Over the following years I had the opportunity to learn from Bob in many different contexts, including a meeting in his condo when he introduced me to the concept of pursuing the why before the what. After spending time around Bob I would take several hours to process, digest and apply the wisdom he shared. He has influenced so much of my thinking that I honestly don’t know what’s mine and what’s Bob’s.

Most of Bob’s generosity was hidden from public view. His greatest joy was investing in leaders behind the scenes to increase their effectiveness. He often said, “My fruit grows on other people’s trees.” We saw this generosity in our lives when Sherry was going through a rough time in her leadership. She had recently left Leadership Network to become the CEO of Mother’s of Preschoolers.  She quickly realized the organization was in deep financial trouble, and she felt completely overwhelmed. She wasn’t sure where to turn. Out of the blue Bob offered to pay for Sherry to go through Life Planning with the Paterson Center, an investment of several thousand dollars. Even though Sherry no longer worked for Leadership Network, Bob believed in her as a leader and wanted to invest in her future. No one ever knew about Bob’s investment, but it made a significant difference in Sherry’s leadership and life.

One of Bob’s mantras was, “We’re the platform not the show”. He did not seek fame or accolades; his goal was to leverage his resources for maximum Kingdom impact by working entirely behind the scenes. Many of the leaders who continue to profit from Bob’s investments have no idea of his involvement. As I write this I am flying home from two days in England with 66 of the largest churches the UK and Europe. We gather every six months to maximize the Kingdom impact of these significant churches and leaders. This gathering grew from a seed planted by Bob over ten years ago, but only a handful of the over 300 leaders present have ever heard of Bob. As Bob was meeting Jesus face to face this week his impact continued to grow here on earth.

I wonder what it was like when Bob stepped through that invisible curtain  a couple this week? I wonder if Jesus said, “Bob, my fruit also grows on other people’s trees. Well done, my good and faithful servant.” 

Bill Hybels and the challenge of finishing well

The first time I heard Bill Hybels speak was at Willow’s 1994 Prevailing Church Conference. I sat on the right side of the old auditorium, by the windows that overlooked the pond. Bill’s topic that morning was People Matter to God. It was the first time I heard words like seeker, excellence and relevance in reference to a church. I remained in my chair long after everyone else hurried off to workshops, tears streaming down my face. I had been in church all of my life, I had been a youth pastor for 12 years, but it felt like the first time I really understood what church was all about. I connected so deeply with what I’d just heard in that auditorium in the suburbs of Chicago I knew my life and ministry would never be the same. I was right.

In the 24 years since I have lost count of the number of Willow Creek Conferences and Global Leadership Summits I’ve attended. I remember hearing a little known speaker named John Ortberg teach at his first Willow Creek Conference. I was at the GLS in Chicago the year Bill Clinton unexpectedly showed up to discuss the Monica Lewinsky affair. Much of what I think about ministry and church were shaped either by a message Bill gave, a book Bill wrote, or a conference Bill led. No one has had more influence on my ministry than Bill Hybels.

As I watched Bill give his final address to Willow a couple of nights ago I again fought back tears. He is leaving under a cloud of accusations and suspicion, his legacy tarnished beyond repair. The man who taught me, and many of my peers, about leadership, character and integrity has lost his platform and his voice.

I know that we follow God not men, that I can never let my guard down, that I have to run to the finish line. I know to create boundaries and accountability and rules to make sure I never disqualify myself from ministry and embarrass my friends and family. I know these things because I learned them from Bill; now he’s out of the game.

I don’t know if Bill did any of the things of which he is accused. What I know is that a man I’ve admired for many a years, a man who has had an outsize impact for good around the world, a man who has avoided the hint of scandal until now, is disgraced and silenced. It does no good for me to focus on what Bill did or not do; the only thing I can do is focus on what I can learn.

Since the news of the accusations first broke I have done a deep and difficult inventory of 35+ years of ministry looking for places I’ve missed the mark. Have I put someone of the opposite sex in an uncomfortable situation? Have I done or said things that were suggestive or out of bounds? Are there boundaries that I’ve knowingly or unknowingly crossed? 

I’ve also had some challenging conversations with Sherry asking her to help me think back and point out blindspots in my conduct, words and posture that might be misconstrued. The thing about blindspots is that you can’t see them no matter how hard you try. I don’t remember missing the mark in this area, but if I have I want to know.

Going forward I will not marginalize women because of my own paranoia, neither will I trust that I always understand the potential impact of words or actions. There may come a day when there are accusations against me that I am unable to prove false, but I want to finish my ministry knowing that before God and my wife I have done everything in my power to walk in integrity without causing others to stumble. I want more than ever to finish well.

How to work for a church AND love God

Every time I interview someone for a job at a church I always tell them that working for a church can be challenging to their faith. There is a price to be paid for working where you attend church, and it is eye opening to discover that your new co-workers have a lot in common with your old co-workers. Based on over 35 years of working for churches here are my top four tips on how to work for a church AND love God.

 

Elephant Pee and Five Things to Do After Easter

One Easter I was working for a church that did an “illustrated sermon” each year on Easter complete with sets, costumes and live animals on stage. This particular Easter the decision was made to include a small elephant in the pageant. I’m not sure how an elephant fits in the passion story, but it seemed like a good idea to someone. When the time came for the elephant to enter the auditorium it chose no. It chose instead to relieve itself on the carpet in front of the main door to the church, and it wasn’t going to move until it was done. So Easter came to stinky halt while we waited for an elephant to empty its bladder. In case you are wondering an elephant’s bladder can hold a lot of liquid.

I share that story to encourage pastors; no matter how rough your Easter services were at least cleaning up elephant pee isn’t on your To Do List.

Regardless how your Easter services went the key now is to turn your attention to what happens next for your church. Hopefully you have some new families to follow up and some stories of life change to share. So let’s roll up our sleeves and get back to work. Here are six things I think you should do to follow up on Easter:

1. Thank your staff and volunteers

Your team may not have had to clean up elephant pee, but I’m sure their past few weeks have been challenging. It is important to slow your roll and take some time to thank everyone for the hard work they put in during this season. Don’t just send a general email, name people by name. Better yet, write a personal note or go to each person and thank them for their contribution.

2. Celebrate the wins

Find anything that was a win over Easter and celebrate like crazy. I learned this while working for Rick Warren. After one Easter a campus pastor was disappointed because his campus missed their goal for attendance. Rick said, “Don’t worry about the people who didn’t come, celebrate the people who did! You set a big goal and stretched further than you would have without the goal. That’s a win!”

3. Tell the stories

Hopefully you had photographers and story gatherers at your Easter services, but even if you didn’t find a way to tell the stories. Share stories as a team and share stories with the congregation. Nothing helps people get the “why” behind the “what” like a good story.

4. Follow up with the new guests

As soon as possible follow up with new guests. The key to effective follow up is to move beyond just advertising what the church has to offer and asking them to come back. Find a way to discover the guest’s needs and feedback. Invest in ways you can truly serve the new people God has brought to your front step. Feed the 5000.

5. Take a breath

Everyone needs a rest, especially the leaders. Give staff an extra day off this week. Take some time to completely disconnect from the church for 24 hours. Have some fun, blow off some steam and recharge your batteries. You’re going to need all the energy you can build.

6. Sprint to Mother’s Day

You have six weeks until Mother’s Day. Two weeks after Mother’s Day is Memorial Day and then no one will think about church until the fall. As a church you’ve just had one of the biggest days of the years, now your in the back stretch. Sprint through the finish line giving every weekend everything you have. Now is the time to schedule a guest speaker for the two weekends after Mother’s Day so you can put all your energy into the series that starts next weekend. Encourage your team that the next six weeks are a sprint, but everyone will get some rest after Mother’s Day. And follow through on your promise.

And skip the elephant next Easter.

(Email me at geoff@ministrytogether.com if you’d like to chat about how we can help you with strategy and leadership)

Five Things Pastors Need To Do Before Easter

One spring a church staff member informed me he was taking Easter weekend off. (It felt like Tom Brady telling Bill Belichik he was skipping the Super Bowl to take Gisele skiing.) He said he didn’t think missing Easter Sunday was a big deal, at his last church Easter was just another Sunday. Why did we make such a big deal about Easter?

Obviously Easter is a big deal because it is the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, the single biggest event in the history of the world. Easter is also a big deal because it is the one day of the year that a majority of Americans still consider going to church. Getting someone to attend one day a year isn’t the point, of course, but it is a great place for people to take a first or next step toward God.

I’ve seen pastors work hard on a creative message to share the Gospel, worship leaders pull out all the stops for a moving service and children’s directors put everything they have into making Easter a day kids will remember; only to miss incredible opportunities to help people to connect to God through their church on the one day they show up. With that in mind here is my list of things not to miss this Easter.

Five things to do before Easter:

  1. Anticipate the challenges of a first time attender

    Grab a small team and walk through a weekend experience at your church from the parking lot to the lobby to the children’s spaces to the worship center to the kids pickup back to the parking lot and out to the street. Be sure to think through every entrance to your parking lot and building. Where do you need to post hosts? Where do you need to add signs? How can you help ease the anxiety of the introvert who walks in for the very first time?

  2. Prepare to capture stories

    After Easter you will want to share the story of what happens with staff, volunteers and attenders, so you need to prepare in advance. Enlist volunteer photographers to capture everything that happens on the weekend. Reach out to your congregation and I guarantee you will find volunteers photographers. Provide a Dropbox or Google folder for them to upload their photos, give them a few common sense directions, and then ask them to fire away.

    Also designate one or two staff members or volunteers to be on the lookout for stories to capture. They can interview families before and after church to collect quotes and pictures to share later. Give them common sense instructions and see what they collect. Nothing encourages leaders and volunteers like stories of life change.

  3. Make a plan to gather contact information

    How will you invite people to share at least their email address so you con follow up? For many years Rick Warren has had everyone who attends Saddleback at Easter fill out a simple three question survey on their faith. It is a great way to get a look at the faith journey of the congregation and to collect contact information.

  4. Have strategy to invite people back to what is next

    If I visit your church on Easter why would I ever come back? I listened to the music and heard your sermon. My kids got their Easter eggs. We’ll see you Christmas Eve, or maybe next Easter.

    I attended a church a couple of weeks ago where the pastor did a great job of intriguing me to come back by giving a preview of the next week’s sermon. He didn’t just announce the topic and show a graphic, he actually set up the problem he’d be unpacking next Sunday. If the church wasn’t two hours from my house I’d show up just to hear the next sermon. How can you do more than simply announce your catchy series title to encourage guests to return?

  5. Build a team for follow up

    Make sure you have a team of staff and/or volunteers ready to follow up on everyone who identifies themselves as a first time guest, and be sure they are ready to respond within 24 hours. Make sure your follow-up isn’t just a mail-merged impersonal email. Follow up in a way that isn’t creepy, but seems like a real person read my information and really wants to make a connection.

Easter is a really big deal. Easter is a day when people who normally pay no attention to the Gospel come willingly to our churches to consider the invitation of God. Don’t miss it!

(Be sure to check back next week for Five Things Every Pastor Needs to Do After Easter)

Email me at geoff@ministrytogether.com if you are interested in more help with church strategy.

Three Keys to Having An Abundance of Volunteers

The number one question Sherry and and I hear from  church leaders all over the world is, “How can we find enough volunteers?” The primary reason most church struggle attracting enough volunteers is they recruit to need. A good appeal to need will impact 20% of the people, a great appeal will impact 25%. The key to having an abundance of volunteers isn’t better appeals, the key is creating a healthy volunteer culture.

Let’s look at the three elements present in any healthy volunteer culture.

Vision

Sherry tells a story she heard several years ago that continues to impact her view of working with volunteers. A mom told of attending a mandatory meeting for parents of players on a youth baseball team. When the coach began talking about this year’s fund raising drive you could feel the air go out of the room. The coach, however, surprised the parents. He didn’t talk about the amount of money they needed to raise, nor did he show them samples of wrapping paper or candy catalogues and explain the fundraiser. He talked instead about baseball changing the trajectory of his life as a young man, and what an impact he believed this team would have on their son’s lives. By the time he finished painting a picture of the potential future the mom said she, along with most of the families in the room, we’re eager to participate in the fundraiser. The coach began with vision rather than need.

Its interesting when Jesus looked for volunteers at the beginning of his ministry he issued a challenge rather than an appeal. One day while he was on a walk beside the Sea of Galilee Jesus came across Peter and Andrew casting a fishing net. After watching them work for a few minutes he walked over and said, “Come, follow me, and I’ll show you how to fish for people.” He didn’t mention the needs of the ministry, describe the tasks that had to be accomplished or assure them the volunteer position wouldn’t take up too much time. Jesus invited them into something that would change their lives.

What would happen if, rather than focusing on how many volunteers you need, you focused instead on the potential life change that will happen through the ministry you lead?

Ministry leaders who lead healthy volunteer cultures effectively connect the dots between the task at hand and a transformed future. 

Tribe

As part of a small group campaign at our church in South Carolina every group was challenged to take an outreach project in our community. After much discussion our group decided to adopt a nursing home in the poorest part of the city. We began visiting the nursing home regular doing things like yard maintenance, giving Christmas presents and repeatedly cleaning urine off an outside wall (Don’t ask). This was not my idea of a good time. I prefer spending my Saturday mornings, well, doing anything but visiting a nursing home in the ‘hood. I went, however, because my tribe was going. Relationship, much more than need, was the driving factor.

We consistently miss the power of tribe in church.

We focus on the ministry that needs to be accomplished rather than the relationships on the team. Volunteers who feel like a part of a tribe that is changing the world rather than an unpaid employee accomplishing a task will do almost anything the team needs done. Rather than recruiting to need we need to recruit to relationship, and then follow through on that promise.

Purpose

If people never find a place of selfless service they will never find their true purpose in life. Every reputable mental health expert understands this fundamental law of the universe; the only path to wholeness is through serving. As long as we focus on ourselves and our needs we will never truly be happy; materialism, greed and selfishness rot the soul. We were created with a deep seated need to serve each other.

As ministry leaders we  have to remind people often that Jesus’ example of service is the path to peace and wholeness we are all looking for. We demonstrate it in our own lives and share stories of others who find purpose through serving.

What about your church?

A ministry that connects the dots to a preferred future, connects team members in deep relationships and helps people find their true purpose through serving will discover an abundance of volunteers. As you evaluate the ministry you lead how are you doing at casting vision? Are you creating an environment for healthy team relationships? Are you demonstrating a life of purpose through service?

Five words your church should ban

I recently read an article in the Harvard Business Review titled Ban These 5 Words From Your Corporate Values Statement which reminded of a mistake I often see in a church’s list of core values; many of the items aren’t core values. It’s not that the items are evil or bad, the problem is their list of core values tells you almost nothing about who they are as a church. Take a look at your church’s list of core values and answer this question; Could your core values describe almost any evangelical church in America? If yes, then you don’t have core values, you have general principles. Core values drive your church toward your very unique mission in the word while general principles describe the basic beliefs and practices of almost all churches.

To help you in this exercise let’s look at five words churches should ban from their list of core values. WARNING: When you finish this list you may have to start over articulating your core values.

Five words your church should ban

  1. Authentic
    Quoting the HBR article: “You can’t claim to be authentic or that you want to be — you must simply be authentic. And your organization will be authentic if its leaders actually act and communicate in authentic ways.” When I see a church with Authentic as one of their core values my first thought is, “Hmm, I wonder what they are trying to hide?” Authenticity isn’t something to strive for, it’s something to be.
  2. Transparent
    Transparent is the cousin of Authentic. It shows up in lists of core values more often than James Harden at the free throw line (obscure NBA reference). The challenge isn’t that transparency isn’t a positive attribute, the challenge is that it doesn’t change who you’re striving to be as a church. No church has opacity as a core value. Like authenticity, transparency is something that will flow naturally out of who you identify, develop and deploy as leaders.
  3. Relevant
    Of course a church should hope to be relevant to their culture, but relevance isn’t the VALUE you are pursuing. Core values push to the front of the line when there is a conflict of interest, which means that a church based on eternal biblical truths will at times seem completely irrelevant to the current culture. What is the value BEHIND the desire to be as relevant as ethically possible in an ever-shifting culture? That is your core value.
  4. Fun
    A core value should be true of your church in every situation. That is why it is a “core” value; everything you do flows out of that value. I’m all about fun and humor. I love leaders that don’t take themselves too seriously and churches that know how to create fun experiences.
    There are, however, many times when fun is inappropriate. There is nothing fun about a child’s funeral, a failing marriage or a school shooting. In those moments no one is looking for a pastor who can tell a joke or a church that knows how to throw a party. It’s okay, even good, to be fun; it’s just not the core of who you want to be as a church.
  5. Gospel-centered
    Often this means, “Our theology is WAY better than the theology of the other churches in town. We are the heavyweights in the GFC (Gospel Fighting Championship).” Your particular theological bent may be a core value but focusing on the Gospel isn’t your unique or exclusive purview.

Your core values drive the mission of your church. Are you focused on people who’ve never heard the Gospel? Are you obsessed with justice for widows and orphans? Is your central purpose to see people become better disciples? Do you spend a huge amount of time and money investing in reaching unreached people groups in other countries? Are you passionate about building strong families? All of these are positive, but not every church is focused on the same areas. Every church has unique call and a unique bent; that’s what your core values should reflect. The authors of the HBR article say it like this:

“There isn’t one right set of values for every organization. Your core values should describe the collective attitudes and beliefs that you desire all employees to hold, translate those into specific actions and decisions that they should make, and then in turn show how those behaviors produce customer experiences that define and differentiate your brand. Your core values need to be unique.”

Take some time with other leaders in your church and ask these two questions:

  1. Are our core values unique to our church, or do they fit with any similar church in the country?
  2. Do our core values accurately reflect our unique call, passion and style of ministry?

While you’re looking at your core values you might want to pull out your mission statement and take a look at that as well. Here are some ideas to help write a more effective mission statement.

If you are redefining your vision, mission and values we’d love to help. We are certified in the Paterson Center’s StratOp process, which is an incredible system for discovering and executing your church’s God-given plan. You can contact us here for more information.

Does Your Mission Statement Suck?

Why do you do what you do?

Recently Sherry and I were in a pre-service meeting at a church where we were speaking that morning. The young lady leading the pre-service meeting of core volunteers asked, “Who knows the mission of our church?” There was some nervous laughter and feet shuffling, but no one had a clue. She turned to another staff member to see if he knew, but he was equally clueless. Finally she read a well-crafted phrase that had been pasted onto the church website and promptly forgotten. There was nothing wrong with the stated mission, it was simply irrelevant to the people charged with executing the mission. In the end none of us who assembled to conduct church that day had the faintest idea of why we were there.

Contrast that with another church I am connected to, Real Life Church based in Orlando. On a recent weekend a stage host sprang a pop quiz on the congregation at the largest campus, “Hey, who knows the mission of Real Life?” Immediately almost the entire congregation responded, “Changed lives!” There was no doubt the bottom line for everything that happens at Real Life, “Will what we are do lead directly to changed lives?” The mission is clear and easily understood.

One of the things I love about Community Christian in Naperville is the clarity and consistency of their mission. “Helping people find their way back to God” isn’t just a tagline on their website, it is the driving force behind everything they do. In the 13 years I’ve known Dave and Jon Ferguson their commitment to that one line has never wavered, and everything CCC does is organized around that simple concept. The mission at Willow Creek has never changed since the church was planted in 1975, “We exist to turn irreligious people into fully devoted followers of Christ.” My guess is that every staff member and most members could tell you some form of that sentence without hesitation. Community Christian and Willow Creek know what they do and why they do it.

Jesus was a strong believer in a simple mission. In Luke 19 church people were outraged that he would seem to endorse the lifestyle of a infamous “sinner” in the community by having lunch at Zaccheus’ house. To help them understand they why behind the what of his actions Jesus gave this simple and memorable mission statement, “The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.” Simple, direct and memorable. I imagine each of Jesus’ disciples knew exactly why Jesus came and what it was he was about. He came to seek and save the lost.

What about your church? Do you have a mission that is compelling, memorable and actionable? If I met five regular attenders and asked them, “What is the mission of your church?”, how many could tell me? I’ve worked with some churches with no mission statement at all. They have no idea why they do what they do. I’ve worked with many churches with a long, detailed mission statement they had spent a lot of time crafting. The challenge was their mission was unknown and meaningless to most of the attenders. Every church (and organization) needs a simple, one sentence mission statement the sums up the reason for everything they do. If you do not have one how does anyone know why you do what you do?

What is your one sentence purpose for doing what you do? Once you have that let’s take a look at your list of Core Values, I think there may be some problems there as well.

An Exciting New Season

2018 marks my 36th year of vocational ministry. Over that span I have served in almost every capacity with local churches including youth pastor, family pastor, multisite pastor and senior pastor. I’ve been honored to work with congregations of every size, from 30 people in a church plant to 30,000 people in a mega church. I am more convinced than ever of two things:

A healthy church is God’s greatest vehicle for good in the world

An unhealthy church can do unimaginable damage to the souls of its leaders

Over the past year I have seen both of these up close and personal. I have seen incredible life change as people find their way back to God through their local church, and I’ve watched pastors’ confidence crushed and their faith eroded in the vice of abuse meted about by well-meaning but misguided local church leaders. Some days I’ve wondered if I made a mistake spending my life serving an institution that has wandered so far from the Imago Dei.

On my better days, however, I remain convinced that Jesus Christ through the local church is the hope of the world. Rather than wringing my hands and giving up, or shaking my fist in anger, I’m inspired to roll up my sleeves in this next season and come alongside pastors and  local churches to rediscover life and health as they shine a light in the darkest corners of our communities.

My goal is to see pastors who are healthy spiritually, physically and relationally lead churches who are growing and multiplying as they see thousands of people turn from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of Light. I believe God has allowed me to be a part of the one of the most explosive growth movements in church history so I can share what I’ve learned through partnering with pastors. In this season those partnerships will look like this:

Coaching

In this next season I will be working with a limited number of pastors and churches as a coach in the areas of multiplication and growth. My goal is to work with leaders on a long term basis as an “adjunct staff member” rather than a traditional consultant so we can draft new strategies together, and partner not only on planning, but on execution. Currently I have space for two additional coaching relationships. You can contact me here if you’d like to discuss a possible coaching arrangement.

Retreats

With the release of our new book, Together: A Guide for Couples in Ministry, my wife Sherry and I are leading marriage retreats for pastors and spouses, as well as doing events for church staffs. Contact us here for more information about a retreat or staff event.

Speaking

Over the next few months we will be speaking at a variety of conferences including:

Exponential (February 26-March 1, Orlando)

CMN (March 5-7, Dallas)

Orange Conference (April 25-27, Atlanta)

Please contact us here if you are interested in having us speak at your event or conference.

Facilitated learning

One of the most exciting ways we’ve partnered with local churches is through facilitated learning experiences. Currently we meet every six months with 65 of the largest, most influential church in Europe in a project called Growing to the Next Level, and we are also leading a cohort of large Assembly of God Churches through a learning experience in the US. We would love to talk with you about a similar experience for your network or organization, you can contact us here for more information.

Together: A Guide for Couples in Ministry is about to launch!

Together launches January 9, but  you can preorder your copy here today.

Together  is our story of doing marriage and ministry together. We (Geoff and Sherry Surratt) have over 30 years of experience in a wide variety of ministry roles, but we aren’t the Facebook ministry couple with perfect hair, perfect skin and perfect children. We are pretty normal people trying to figure out how to love God, love our family and serve the local church. This book is about what we and other ministry couples are learning along the way. Together isn’t a how to guide to create a model marriage. It is more like coffee with friends who’ve been where you are going and have learned some lessons that may help you find your way. We have learned that marriage in ministry can be fun as long as you don’t take yourself (or your critics) too seriously. The only rule is that everyone has to be transparent, vulnerable and willing to laugh at themselves. Hopefully that will spill over with your spouse as you continue the conversation at home.