Kevin Presseault

Back in mid-March, the church ministry landscape completely changed. When churches went online, the hope was to be back in-person in our buildings in a few short weeks for Easter. That didn't happen. While the hope was a quick return to normal, I just felt deep down in my spirit that I needed to prepare for a marathon. This disruption to our way of doing ministry wasn't going to be a short sprint. This was going to be a long, hard, challenging season. One that would push many leaders, myself included, to the wall of breaking.  Even for churches who are back to in-person gatherings, the challenges of these days continue. Lots of time, energy, and resources are needed to manage the in-person and online ministry simultaneously. Around Easter 2020 I began to introduce the language of Marathon Strategy to our staff and leaders. I began to ask the question "What do we do when more and more of our church hit the wall? And what do we do when it's our staff and are leaders who

  Every once and a while an idea pops into my head that I just can't shake. It keeps me up at night. It consumes my waking hours. It turns around and around in my head. It shows up in my dreams. It starts coming up in more and more conversations. I pray that God would just get rid of this idea because I know a lot of church people are not going to like what I have to say. This doesn't happen to me often. When it does, it's usually because I need to get this out of my head and into the world. Because I always find that I'm never alone. Others have been wrestling with the exact same idea.  I don't put this out to be confrontational or to cause division. I write this as a simple man who loves Jesus, who trusts in the teachings of Scripture, who tries hard to listen to the Holy Spirit for guidance, and who has been pastoring a local church for 14 years. What Started It Recently I heard the current COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the Christian Church compared to the Ba