Alan Giles who pastors Ekklesia HD (EFCA), a church plant in Apple Valley, CA, is also associated with Hesperia Christian, a private high school. John Adams is the chaplain for Town and Country Manor (Christian & Missionary Alliance-affiliated) in Santa Ana, CA. Both chaplains are looking for men and women to speak at their chapels.  If you or a member of your staff is looking for opportunities to be a blessing to students or senior adults, contact Alan Giles (AlGiles@gmail.com) or John Adams (JAdams@tcmanor.com).  Alan is also open to bands, choirs, or artists who would be appropriate for chapel services.

Jonathan Howe has written a helpful article on the components every church website should have.  While admitting that "must" is a strong word, Jonathan contends that the fact that many church websites lack either an address or service times on the front page indicates that many churches have not thought through the who and what of the website.  Jonathan has added eight more things a church website needs in addition to address and service times. Eight Things Your Church Website Must Have is a valuable checklist as you look at what currently resides on your church's site.

Church leaders and parents are concerned about the faith of each new generation. One of the challenges is passing on the faith in a way that maximizes the number of children who continue to follow Jesus as they grow into adults. While parents are the primary disciplers of children, many feel ill-equipped for this role in their children's lives.  Julie Kurz of Reconnect Ministries, a division of Church Assistance Ministries, would like to help you address this challenge.  Contact Julie at 720-289-8202 or  juleenb17@gmail.com.

Sara Shelton has written an excellent article about hosting your Vacation Bible School in venues other than the church building.  "Churches have had a lot of success in bringing new families into their congregations through VBS," Jerry Wooley, LifeWay's Vacation Bible School ministry specialist, explains. "The program really opens the door to church in a nontraditional way."  Read VBS Without Walls for more information and ideas for implementing a neighborhood VBS.

In a recent edition of Entrepreneur, Steve Tobak writes about the important skill of owning your own mistakes.  Real Leaders Own Their Mistakes uses examples from business, politics and sports to point out the clear difference between taking responsibility for decisions that are made for the organization, and blaming others.  Tobak writes, "Everyone makes mistakes, but real leaders own them. Real leaders hold themselves, and only themselves, accountable. The buck really does stop with them. That's the way it should be. That's the only way to lead."

Eric Geiger gives good advice about making sure your meetings are worth attending in his article, Three Indicators Your Meeting Should Have Been an Email.  "When you consider the value of time, an unnecessary meeting is poor stewardship. When you calculate the time of every person in a meeting, meetings are not small investments. Thus, an unnecessary meeting robs energy and time from something else much more important. Some meetings could have been an email."

On Chuck Lawless's blog, Brandon Conner shares Eight Questions Discouraged Leaders Need to Ask.  All leaders face times when things are not going as well as they would like.  In those seasons, it's important to remember that, before re-energizing the church, leaders have to first be energized themselves.  The eight questions and their answers are designed to help in that energizing process.