As a leader — whether at home, at work, at church, wherever I am — I’ve got one job that’s more important that any other. I need to replace myself.

As we prepare for Christmas, we are all inspired by the greatest gift ever given. As church leaders, that inspiration drives us to be a gift to others every single day. No matter how large or small the church, every leader I talk to wants to share the gift of Jesus Christ with people who don’t know Him. Most of them realize that while sharing the gospel is a necessary part of that process, we must often open the door by loving on people and meeting their needs. Today, I want to take a moment to celebrate a few churches that are doing this well.

We all know that the Church is not a building. However, your church facilities can and should be used as a space to cultivate life-changing community. While there has been a lot of discussion about the changing trends in church facilities, the principle that we should do everything we can as church leaders to steward the resources we’re given hasn’t changed.

The function of the church building has been one of the biggest ministry shifts over the past decade. Church leaders are starting to think about their campuses as 'wells' for people in the community to gather, rather than 'temples' that sit empty six and a half days a week.