equip the Church

The world hires for skill and hopes for character. The Church has always known that is the wrong order. Skill can be taught but character is revealed under pressure, especially in the moments when no one is watching. Publishing is essentially deacon work. We do not stand behind the pulpit.…

The consultant asked a reasonable question. For every activity on the whiteboard, he wanted to know: how does this drive business results, and what is the specific deliverable? It was a long meeting. His logic was coherent, every decision, every role, every relationship had to justify itself by what it…

In 1900, brothers André and Édouard Michelin had a problem. They made tires. But there were fewer than 3,000 cars in all of France. No cars, meant no travelled miles. No travelled miles, meant no worn tires. No worn tires, meant no one needed what they were selling, which meant…

There is a pattern in Christian ministry that is worth talking about. A training organization finds a church willing to host their course. They show up, run the program, collect the registrations, and leave. The church was useful. It provided the room, maybe the coffee, maybe a few warm bodies.…

You probably have a statement of faith on your website. It is carefully worded. It has been reviewed by your board. It is orthodox and reformed. It says the right things about Scripture, God, Christ, the Church, and the gospel. And nobody reads it. What they read is your catalog.…

There are two way you can tell everyone you have the biggest publisher. The first way: define the rules so narrowly that only you can win. You decide what counts as serious publishing. Which authors are worth reading. Which theological tradition is rigorous enough to deserve shelf space. You build…

Most of us learned to market books by watching the way the world markets their products. Lead with price. Create urgency. Limited time offers. Highlighting new releases. Championing bestselling authors. Buy now! And it works. Discounts move books. I am not against it. A well timed promotion can get a…

Luther didn’t publish to be safe. He published because people’s souls depended on getting the Gospel right. The Reformation traveled by pamphlet. Not by permission. And somewhere between Luther’s press and ours, we decided that the goal of Christian publishing was to avoid offending anyone. Watch what happens in an…