Our articles encourage, educate, and equip church leaders as they serve Christ at their churches.
Feb 3, 2026Nate Graybill
Is Your Care Ministry Making Disciples?
The best place to make disciples Pastoral care ministries are the best place in your church to make disciples—better than Sunday services, better than equipping ministries, better than bible studies, and better than mission trips. Do you believe me? Where else in your church does everyone walk through the door humbled, broken, and ready to listen? Pain creates captive and willing audiences. People desperate to get well are willing to do some of the hardest spiritual and relational work of their lives.
Care & Recovery
Discipleship
Jun 30, 2025Watermark Resources
How To Grow Your Marriage
4 ways you can strengthen your marriage When you said, “I do,” you meant it. You looked the love of your life in the eyes and promised that you would cherish and respect them, put them first, and forsake all others to choose them, even in poverty or sickness. But when the hard times actually come, you might wonder if your promise was premature. You didn’t know it would be like this.
Marriage
Discipleship
Jun 13, 2025Watermark Resources
Sharing The Last 2%
Humans were made for relationships We long for true connection—to be known and accepted for who we really are, not just for an image we project. Honesty. Authenticity. Being fully known. These are some of the core pillars of what it means to live together as Christ’s church. But because vulnerability is scary, it’s easy to settle for sharing most things – say, only 98% - and we pat ourselves on the back for being so open and honest. However, that tiny bit we neglect to share is actually the biggest thing: it is the information that would truly make us known, get to the root of the issue at hand, or require real change in our lives. Whether you're trying to get to the root of a specific issue, learn to trust, start fresh, or simply be known, holding back will hold you back.
Discipleship
Spiritual Formation
Jun 3, 2025Braun Brown
Building a Team of Lay Leaders Who Multiply Ministry
5 ways to build a great lay leadership team I had the honor of working on staff as the Director of Student Ministry for years, placing sixth-grade students in small groups they would remain in all the way through middle and high school. One time I went to see two guys from the same small group sign papers for Division One scholarships at their high school. At the end of the celebration, everyone gathered for a group photo: these two guys, the other small group guys who had come to support their friends, their faithful small group leaders—and then me in the very back.
Discipleship
Church Leadership
Apr 25, 2025Watermark Resources
Stop Arguing: The Speaker-Listener Technique
A simple method Unfortunately, arguments are often based on misunderstandings rather than actual disagreements—and our closest relationships, with the people who know us best, are often the ones most riddled with miscommunication. We assume we know each other so well that we don’t need to bother clarifying our intentions. We relax the way we communicate. This is especially true between spouses.
Marriage
Discipleship
Church Leadership
Apr 15, 2025John Cox
Three Keys to Building a Great Team
Raising up leaders Ministry is a team sport—but before the team comes the leader. In Scripture, whenever God wanted to do something significant, He began by raising up a leader—Moses, David, Paul, etc. Leadership, then, becomes the rate-limiting factor in ministry growth. Healthy ministry grows at the speed of healthy leadership. That’s why one of the most impactful things we can do is not just lead ourselves well—but build up others to lead too. That means both bringing in newcomers and helping the people we already have grow more mature and spiritually in-tune. To build a great team in ministry, think about how a coach builds a great team in college football:
Discipleship
Church Leadership
Mar 31, 2025Nate Graybill
Why Discipleship Is The True Heart Of Re:generation
What sets Re:generation apart People don’t come to Re:generation looking for discipleship. They come seeking help—relief from struggles like depression, addiction, anxiety, or pornography. Likewise, church leaders, counselors, and others who launch Re:generation ministries are not usually thinking about discipleship first; they want resources to help them support their community’s needs.
Care & Recovery
Discipleship
Mar 4, 2025Watermark Resources
How to Have Hard Conversations
A fact of life Hard conversations are a fact of life, especially when you work in ministry. Here are just a few ways that could look:
Discipleship
Church Leadership
Jan 23, 2024Watermark Resources
Show Your Wounds To Share Your Savior
Leading with your failures When we meet someone new, we tend to put our best foot forward, emphasizing our life’s highlights and accomplishments: I’m an engineer. I went to UT. I’m married with three kids. Most of us don’t lead out with our all-time lowest moments or biggest failures. But what if we did?
Care & Recovery
Discipleship
Dec 9, 2022Watermark Resources
How To Measure Success
4 Questions to Measure Ministry Success Christ doesn’t just call his followers to live differently than the rest of the world, but also to measure success differently. This has serious implications for anyone in vocational ministry.
Discipleship
Church Leadership
Nov 22, 2022Watermark Resources
Marriages Are Your Greatest Discipleship Opportunity
Your biggest discipleship opportunity As church leaders, we know the importance of serving married couples. God has established the importance of marriage, and from a practical perspective, married couples comprise the majority of most congregations. But when serving marriages, we tend to set our sights far too low. Marriage ministry often gets relegated to its own bubble, separate from the overall spiritual shepherding of the church. If this is your church's reality, you are missing out on what is likely your biggest discipleship opportunity.
Marriage
Discipleship
Jun 13, 2021Watermark Resources
Sharing The Pastoral Load
You don't have to do it alone One of the privileges of church leadership is that the lost sheep often come to you. You don’t always have to seek out the broken person on the side of the road in order to be a good Samaritan. You get to show God’s love to them.
Discipleship
Church Leadership
Jan 25, 2021Watermark Resources
Why Church Membership Matters
Membership should mean something This is part of a series that provides examples of how you can manage different details of church leadership. You can read about why we don’t pass an offering plate here.
Discipleship
Church Leadership
