equip the Church

Martin Luther printed pamphlets by the thousands and let other printers copy them freely. He never collected a royalty. He was not building a catalog. He was trying to urgently get ideas into the hands of people who needed them. We have access to tools he could not have imagined.…

You can spend years perfecting your branding kit, getting your cover designs just right, and making incredible social media posts. None of that is your brand. Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room. And you cannot design it or schedule it. It happens,…

Crossway is a remarkable publisher. Precise theology. Beautiful production. A catalog that has shaped a generation of evangelical readers. If you have benefited from their books, you are not alone. Most of us have. But here is what you need to know about Crossway. They did not build what they…

Your board brings in a consultant. He has worked with tons of big companies. He knows the language of strategy. He is confident and knows how to fix all your problems. He carries a framework for everything and a spreadsheet for everyone. One of his first activities is to benchmark…

Rory Sutherland tells a story about a five-star hotel that hired consultants to find efficiencies. The consultants watched the doorman for a few days. His job was to open the door. So they replaced him with an automatic mechanism and saved $40,000 a year. Two years later, the hotel was…

You’ve spent years building your brand. You have a logo you’re proud of. A consistent color palette. A website that finally looks professional. Maybe even a recognizable spine design that unifies your catalog on a shelf. That work matters. It really does. But here’s what it can’t do: it can’t…

This article is written for international Christian publishers who are building publishing ministries in contexts where the Church is small, resources are scarce, and the standard publishing playbook does not apply. Even if you are in a more developed context, this article will still offer some insight to help you…

The CFO and COO are essential. They just can’t be in charge. There’s a pattern that more often than not destroys innovation — not just in business, but in ministry. When Boeing merged with McDonnell Douglas, they stopped dreaming about the future of flight and started engineering financial statements. When…

I have been a fan of the Savannah Bananas for a while. If you do not know them yet, stop reading this right now and go find some interviews or clips with their founder Jesse Cole. It will be well worth your time. When you’re done, you will understand why…