Sam Rainer's Blog

In my 20s, I served at a church that gave me a key to my office but not any other lock on the campus. They trusted me to open God’s Word every Sunday but not the door to the flower closet. 

Trust is the foundation of every healthy church. Without it, unity crumbles, ministry slows, and relationships fracture. With it, your church will pursue God’s mission together.

How can we define trust in the context of ministry? Trust is the confident expectation that others will act with integrity, competen...

What actually prompts people to attend church? We surveyed 604 people in the United States from a variety of backgrounds. We asked the same questions of two groups.

Those who attend church regularly. Those who do not attend church regularly.

After comparing the two groups, we found new, surprising insights of the unchurched. One of the most surprising findings from our recent research was the simplicity behind what moves people to attend church for the first time (if unchurched) or to choo...

A growing number of churches are facing a silent but critical problem—one that rarely appears in budget meetings or revitalization plans. It’s not theological drift or volunteer shortages. It’s deferred maintenance.

The sticker shock is real. My church is finishing a $2.2 million air conditioning project. We still have several other projects to complete. While we are making significant progress, almost all our budget surpluses from the previous several years have been earmarked for deferred main...

Randy knows the strategic spots to get the best views of the sanctuary to count heads. He’s been doing it for years, and I rely on his numbers to know how many people attended our weekend worship services. Barb sends me the complete attendance report on Monday afternoons, which includes more details about children, students, and groups.

Why do I care? Why does my church count everyone each week?

For decades, worship attendance has been the default metric for measuring church success. While some ...

The phone call started a frantic series of events. I was informed of a bomb threat at the local private school on the same road as our church. It was a Wednesday afternoon, and the threat occurred during dismissal time. Complicating matters, their preschool utilizes our church campus. Several questions raced through my mind.

Was the preschool included in the threat?Do the police need to clear our campus?How should we help families who want to pick up their children?Should we cancel evening...

Churches with a long history of short pastor tenures often face a host of systemic and cultural challenges. The point here is not to place blame on either pastors or churches. Instead, the goal is to describe what happens culturally, regardless of who is to blame. While each situation has unique factors, there are several common patterns that make long-term pastoral success difficult to achieve in these churches. Recognizing these patterns is the first step toward building a healthier, more stab...

For many pastors and church leaders, feeling tired has moved from an occasional issue to an ongoing one. Fatigue is no longer a seasonal challenge but a chronic issue. Unfortunately, too many pastors and ministry staff across the country are running on empty, struggling to find the energy they once had. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. There are proven strategies that can help you break the burnout cycle and reclaim the joy of ministry.

A Tipping Point: The 50-Hour Rule

Studies show that pr...

Campus security means more than preparing for potential violence. Indeed, you are more likely to encounter a lost child on your campus than an armed threat. When you properly secure the church campus, you equip your volunteers to respond to a variety of incidents that may occur at any given time.

How can you prepare your church for the unpredictable? No plan is foolproof, but you can reduce risk dramatically with the right approach. The following nine commitments will go a long way toward establ...

For decades, denominations have experienced a slow-motion deterioration. The declines in any one year are subtle, but each year’s cumulative effects have become a serious problem. Why should we care? 

Some look at denominations like the folding divider walls in a large room—unnecessarily compartmentalizing believers into theological camps and keeping them from uniting for the mission of God. There is some truth to this perspective. However, there are far more benefits to denominations than detri...

Dear Pastor,

I wish I did not have to write this letter. I wish your story were an anomaly, a rare and isolated incident in the life of the church. Unfortunately, your experience is one of many, a tragic reminder of the pain that can arise from the very place meant to bring healing and hope.

Over the years, I have walked alongside many pastors. I’ve listened as they recounted the betrayal, confusion, and heartache they endured. These stories emerge from a common pattern, a series of events that ...