Casey Graham and Joe Sangl have become good friends. Casey and Joe share several things in common with each other. They are both incredibly high-energy, they are both funny (or think they are) and, most importantly, they both share a heart to help churches and people live in financial freedom. Specifically for the church, their desire is for churches to be able to fully fund the vision God has given the church.

As writers of the new book, “Funded and Free”, Casey and Joe combine their practical experience serving on church staffs with their most current experience helping churches and individuals across the nation achieve financial success. In this easy-to-read, practical and concise book, Casey and Joe help us understand the obstacles churches face and how to deal appropriately with finances and debt. Every church leader needs to read this book.

It seems to me from my ministry experience that marriage has never been threatened more than it is today. It’s true in all segments of our society, including marriages of those in the ministry. That’s why I’m excited to tell you about RefineUs Marriage Ministry. Justin and Trisha Davis are allowing God to use their story to help strength, save and grow marriages. Their ministry has already helped marriages in our church and I believe they can help yours.

Here are some of the offerings RefineUs has to offer:

Pastor burnout is a common problem in the church today. I hear from pastors everyday facing the stress of ministry.

Here’s a common scenario that can cause that to happen…it may be the most common one I hear…perhaps this is your story:

I had an opportunity this week thanks to Casey Graham to speak to a group of executive pastors. I was asked to give my perspective as a senior pastor, since each of them report to one. I thought you might also be interested in what I shared. Since I was addressing other issues in addition to this, I was limited on time, so I have added a few since I spoke with them.

Here are 10 things you may not know about a senior pastor:

Drew Snider is a pastor at Gospel Mission in Vancouver, B.C., Canada and a reader of my blog. Recently he asked me a question online about performing marriages for those who are living together and I thought it was worth asking here, so I asked him to guest post about it. Here’s Drew’s post:

I have found 7 to be a popular number with blog posts. This week I even did an experiment. I posted four posts in a row with 7 principles in each. It prove to be a very successful week, with more interaction than usual. Seven is a Biblical number of completion. I’m not suggesting there is something to that trivia here, but I do believe there is something at work here. What do you think?

Here are my “7″ most popular “7″ posts:

So maybe “need” is too strong of a word. Perhaps you can do everything I will suggest as reasons to be involved with social media without social media (Although I would question how well you can these days) but I don’t think anyone could argue social media is not a large part of our culture today. Because it is such an influence, today’s successful leaders, including those in the church, must figure out how to make it work for them and make their ministries even more successful.

For me that currently means Twitter, Facebook and blogging. Not everyone has to do all three, but I have found them to each have unique benefits in my ministry.

Here are 7 reasons you should be using social media:

There’s a competitive spirit in most of the leaders I know. I saw mine kick in while running recently…

It was 6 AM and already 76 degrees with near 90% humidity. I was casually running, listening to our formal worship pastor Daniel Doss’s song Masterpiece, when out of the corner of my eye I sensed someone trying to pass me. I looked around and it was a girl! She’s the wife and sister of two good friends from college, and a dedicated athlete, so I may have normally been okay with her passing me, but something snapped in me. I said a few nice things and then I gradually picked up speed. I killed myself…but I won! YEA!!! Not that it was a race, and I’m sure she could have taken me had she wanted to, but there was the thrill of victory when I pulled ahead on the road.

I have written this before and I know it creates controversy to talk about, but what if we used that competitive spirit in a way that helped grow the Kingdom?

I love the ministry of Soles4Souls. Their success in doing their mission has been a phenomenal achievement. In fact, I understand a book is being released soon that chronicles their journey over the last five years. I interviewed Soles4Souls founder and CEO Wayne Elsey previously. You can read that post HERE. Wayne has taken a personal interest in Haiti. He’s crying out for Americans to see the need. He’s going to Haiti monthly. Recently Wayne shared a plan he has to help with the tremendous housing problem they have. I thought it was worth sharing here. See this powerpoint presentation on Soles4Souls Haiti project. For more information, contact Soles4Souls through their website.

This is a precious picture from our time in Sierra Leone. You can read a post about the children HERE.

The children wanted to touch us, hold our hands, crawl in our laps, and share love with us. This picture helps share that story.

What caption would you give this picture? Comment on this post with your caption and I’ll pick one of them and send the book The 3 Big Questions for a Frantic Family by Patrick Lencioni.