When I was in college, I took several semesters of archery. I really loved shooting arrows at targets, but what ultimately won me over was the nature of archery; you immediately know how you are doing, based on where you hit the target. Still, there was one time that I hit a bulls eye, which scored a zero because I was aiming at the wrong target! In some ways ministry is like archery...

If you wanted to build a tower, would you start to do build it without a plan? Maybe because you know some elements of what a good tower should have, you just start piecing them together, without a blueprint or a study if it will work. No? Probably not. Yet, this is how most parishes operate. Without a clear plan on how to build disciples.

The reality of most Catholic parishes - we are stuck in a culture of comfort, ease, status quo, and administration of the decline of our numbers - will not be easy to change. No one program, event, new idea, tweeking of old ways, conference, gimmick, or online video series will change our parishes. Rather, it takes...

I still remember the most welcoming church I ever walked into. I was greeted at the door, then 2 steps into the door, then again and again and again. At least 2 dozen people didn't recognize me, so they sought me out. Most of them didn't just say "hi", but...

I coached my son's basketball team for several years. When I wanted to teach a new play to the boys, I would gather them around, explain what should happen, show them how to do it, and then practice the play against other players. This made sense, because I wanted the boys to be able to run the play, not just know about the play. I wanted them to practice like they would play. Hard effort in practice was rewarded with success in games. I believe the Church can learn something from this lesson in sports.