Reaffirmations Friday – February 19

Whether you’re a church Pastor, directing a ministry, or simply a volunteer, you most likely don’t have too much time during your day to keep up with what’s being written or discussed around key ministry topics like developing discipleship, increasing participation or building stronger church community.
But, that’s OK! Because every week, we’ll round up of some of the most helpful and inspirational news and articles published on the web and give them to you here, in one centralized place as part of our “Reaffirmations Friday.”
Here are the top ministry blogs and articles this week detailing anything you may have missed.
5 Steps to Recovery from a Failure
You’ve failed … It was huge. Perhaps you did it on purpose. Maybe it was an accident. You may have stumbled into gradually over time or suddenly. Bottom line: You did it. It was wrong. There’s no sense denying it now… Written by Ron Edmondson
How to Maximize your Personal Growth Time
The most common reason I hear as to why a leader does not invest in personal growth is because they don’t have the time for it. Personal growth does not happen by chance but requires a few key ingredients… Written by Dan Black
10 Very Real Reasons Your Church Isn’t Growing
Every time church growth surfaces as a subject, some leaders defensive.  What’s wrong with small churches? Why are so many people obsessed with growth? And then people go hyper-spiritual and start quoting scripture verses to justify why church growth is a bad thing… Written by Brian Dodd
Marriage and Ministry
Marriage advice can be a bit overwhelming. But, you need it. Although most of the doomsday stats about pastors are not true (that they all hate the ministry and want to quit), ministry does put stress on a marriage… Written by Ed Stetzer
5 Decisions That Will Ruin a Millennial’s Retirement
Most of us desire to retire one day. We want to be free from the need to work for financial survival. Over the years, I have met those who were older than the traditional retirement age, but were not able to retire because of past decisions… Written by Art Rainer