TimSchraeder.com

What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. – Micah 6:8
I’ve been in Chicago for about three years now.
Moving here was a huge adjustment and while it’s been an amazing experience, one of the tougher parts of the transitioning to city life [...]

I’m nearing the 10-year mark of being a church employee. That practically makes me a veteran. Ten years, four churches and millions of cups of Starbucks later [I’m convinced that’s the drug of choice for church workers] I’ve had a first hand-look at how the church works [by work I mean how it functions day-to-day [...]

I guess my mom did a good job of teaching me to share.
I know my blog may seem like a contest lately with all of the different giveaways I’ve been doing, but I’m happy to share about books, resources, or events that have added value to me personally… and am excited to share them with [...]

This is Part 2 of 4 in a series of posts reviewing and sharing ideas gleaned from REWORK.
Disclaimer: This post isn’t about the work of the Church [proclaiming the Gospel, being a biblical community, loving God, loving others, etc], this post is solely about HOW the church works.
Dear Church Leader,

The Church is a business… get [...]

I started out wanting to write a short review of REWORK, but quickly discovered that wasn’t possible… so this will be the first in a series of four posts inspired by REWORK.
I’ll sum up all of my thoughts in one, brief statement:
REWORK should be required reading for any next generation church leader.
I’ll explain why [...]

We’re living in a world… and a new world demands a new Church.
It doesn’t take much to notice that the world we’re living in has changed dramatically over the past few years. 9/11, our nation’s economy, advances in technology, the emergence of social networks, the globalization of the world and the heightened awareness of human [...]

Seth Godin recently challenged the idea of big events and said,
“If you’re going to have an event, better make it big. Or even bigger than that. It needs to be awe-inspiring, frightening, on deadline and worth losing sleep over.”
That’s quite a charge.
I have to admit, as  “professional conferencegoer,” I’ve grown a little bit weary at [...]

One week ago tragedy struck.
The day started off on a high note… I was part of an awesome brainstorm session with Ben Arment for Story 2010 and then hung out with Gabe Lyons and some awesome leaders from around Chicago to talk about the upcoming Q Conference.
I was with my friend Corbyn Tyson [if you [...]

I used to suck at church communications. It’s true.
So when I first heard about Church Marketing Sucks I wasn’t sure what to think.
As a guy who was new to church communications I felt like I had discovered a gold mine of ideas, thoughts, and resources to help me out on my journey of helping my [...]

Ok. So I’m going to tell you about the worship CD you haven’t heard of that you need to, k?
For the first five [and sometimes very awkward] years of my life as a church communications guy, I was priviledged to serve at Riverside Community Church in Peoria, Illinois. Riverside was planted in out of a [...]

Winners Are at the Bottom of the Post!
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Two leaders that have had a profound impact on my life are Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel.
While they both lead two very different churches, their combined wisdom and insight are shaping the way next generation leaders are leveraging their influence and changing churches and organizations.
Catalyst has teamed up [...]

Websites are the front door to your church.
When people move into a community and are looking for a church, they go to Google, not the YellowPages. Having a good web presence is detrimental to whether or not people will choose to come one of your services.
The experience you create online is just as important as the experience people have [...]