Author: Brent Lacy
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Youth Ministry Networks: Why Rural Youth Workers Need Them Most
One of the most consistent findings in youth ministry research is that isolated youth workers burn out faster than those connected to a network of peers. This is especially true in rural ministry, where the nearest colleague might be 30 miles away and the nearest youth ministry conference might be in a city that feels…
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MSP Peer Groups: Why Every MSP Owner Needs One and How to Find the Right One
One of the most underrated growth tools for MSP owners is a peer group. Not a mastermind with a guru at the front. Not a vendor-sponsored roundtable. A genuine peer group of MSP owners at a similar stage, in non-competing markets, who are willing to be honest about what is working and what is not.…
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vCIO Framework for Small MSPs: Building Strategic Advisory Without a Dedicated Team
Most vCIO content is written for MSPs that already have a dedicated vCIO team, a mature client base, and the infrastructure to support a formal advisory practice. That is not most MSPs. Most MSPs are small, owner-led businesses where the vCIO function, if it exists at all, is something the owner does informally between everything…
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The Rural Brain Drain: What It Means for Small Churches and Rural Communities
The rural brain drain is one of the most significant challenges facing small towns and rural communities in America. Young people leave for college, for careers, for military service, or simply for a different life. Many do not come back. Over time, this outward migration reshapes the community in ways that are hard to reverse.…
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MSP Scaling Without Burnout: Breaking the Owner Bottleneck
Most MSP owners hit a growth ceiling not because they lack technical skill or business acumen. They hit it because they have built a business that depends on them being involved in every decision, every client relationship, and every escalation. The business cannot grow faster than the owner can personally handle. I have been in…
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Small Church Leadership: What Works When You Have 40 People and No Staff
Small church leadership is its own discipline. The skills that make someone effective leading a congregation of 40 people in a rural community are not the same skills that make someone effective leading a congregation of 400 people in a suburb. The contexts are different, the relationships are different, and the challenges are different. I…
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Rural Church Revitalization: What Actually Works in Small Towns
Most rural church revitalization conversations start in the wrong place. They start with programs, strategies, and models borrowed from suburban churches that have nothing to do with the actual situation of a 40-person congregation in a small town where everyone knows everyone and the church has been there for 100 years. I have been in…
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IT Strategist Speaker: 30 Years of Real-World Technology Leadership
Most IT speakers come from one of two places: the vendor side, where they are selling a product or a platform, or the analyst side, where they are describing trends they have observed from the outside. I come from a third place: nearly 30 years of working inside IT organizations, leading teams, advising clients, and…
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Rural Ministry AI Tools: What Helps, What Hurts, and What to Watch Out For
Rural ministry leaders are using AI tools. Most of them are doing it quietly, without a policy, without a theological framework, and without much guidance from their denomination or their peers. That is not a criticism. It is just where things are right now. I have been in ministry since 1998 and in IT since…
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The IT Leader Who Is Also a Pastor: Why I Work at Both
People sometimes ask me which one I am: the IT guy or the pastor. The honest answer is that I have never been able to separate them, and I stopped trying a long time ago. I have been in IT since 1997. I have been in ministry since 1998. For most of that time, those…