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Welcome to the On The Rise newsletter, where I feature fascinating, helpful, and sometimes curious content that caught my attention this week.
Today, a shocking new survey shows that 43% of SBC churches had zero baptisms last year, the latest on the four-day work week, people issues, and Gen Z is trendsetting again (well, along with Grandma).
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43% of Churches
Now Report Zero Baptisms |
The quarter-century slide continues
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Although these are Southern Baptist statistics, the alarm bells are ringing: baptisms are way down. And before you point a finger, the SBC’s growth challenges are hardly an anomaly.
Sure, technically, baptisms have been up since 2020 and 2021, when it was almost impossible to baptize people. But if you look at the graph in this article, the historic 25-year plunge line resumes right where it left off pre-pandemic—sharply down and to the right.
While bright spots include the fact that newer churches and churches with more people in small groups had more baptisms than others, the grim news abounds.
Particularly concerning: 43% of SBC churches reported zero baptisms in the previous year.
I’m praying we see this trend and the trends in the wider church reverse soon.
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The Art of
Leadership Live (In Dallas) |
See you there?
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On Monday, I announced the Art of Leadership Live — three transformative days in Dallas, TX where you’ll engage in the safe, unfiltered conversations you’ve wanted to have, learn strategies that challenge and change you, and build connections with the right people.
What we’ve learned over the last two years in the Art of Leadership Academy is that connection is important. Connection to the right ideas, yes, but also the right people.
That’s why we’ve designed this conference to be a bit unconventional. It’s not 8+ hours of listening to keynote speakers.
Instead, each day is carefully designed with a perfect balance of teaching, connection, and free time (to connect with other leaders) so you can find the right insight and act on it.
So, what do you think, Dewey?
If you want to level up your leadership and your church in 2024, this will be the place to do it.
(And just a reminder that next Friday, April 19th is the final day to get super early bird pricing.)
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Maybe The
Four-Day Work Week Isn’t a Fad |
A new study shows companies and teams are loving it
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It seems a bit weird that we adopted hours from manufacturing and slapped them on the knowledge workplace, but that’s exactly what we did.
The four-day work week picked up steam back in 2022, and it’s still going strong. A new report shows that the majority of companies in one study group that tried it are still with it.
My team embraced the four-day work week back in 2022, and it’s working out really well.
Two points on that.
First, if you hire responsible, self-motivated people, you have zero worries about shortening a work week.
Second, if you do a trial, just know that there’s really no going back. At least on our team, when I suggested we review our pilot, they all said “And what’s there to review?”
They had a point. Once the genie is out of the bottle…
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The Future of
Giving is Contactless |
50x your giving engagement
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What if church giving was as seamless as contactless tap-to-pay methods in coffee shops?
With Overflow+ Tap, your church can now tap their phone against the seat in front of them and instantly be transported to your giving page to choose their preferred giving method: Credit/Debit, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Stock, Crypto, and more.
The best part? Users of Overflow+ Tap have seen up to 50x engagement increase compared to QR codes and physical cards combined.
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My Weekly Book
Recommendation |
People Fuel, By Dr. John Townsend
Let’s face it. People are the best part of leadership and the hardest.
Given that loneliness is also now a huge problem, John Townsend’s People Fuel is a practical guide on how to disentangle the web of relationships a leader has to reclaim true friendship.
A super helpful book.
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Gen Z Is
Into…Landlines??? |
You heard they ditched dating apps, now this…
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While your grandparents are still likely to have a landline, Gen Z is showing signs that it’s interested in this relic too.
This is a generation that’s changing a lot. It’s ditching dating apps, very entrepreneurial, is loud budgeting, and now thinking landlines make a great refuge from digital overload.
Imagine making phone calls without having to ask “can you hear me now?” I know, that’s pretty awesome.
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Cheering for you,
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Weekend Listening: George Kamel |
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This week on the podcast, Ramsey Personality, George Kamel, outlines how to effectively pitch yourself to an influencer as a young leader, how to get noticed and promoted in leadership, and shares EQ tips and money tips for Millennials and Gen Z in the new housing reality.
You can watch the interview on my YouTube channel or listen wherever you listen to podcasts.
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