You’ve prayed and sought counsel, strategized and planned. Things might roll out exactly as expected. But let’s face it, that doesn’t happen often. Sometimes the response is better than you hoped for and sometimes you flop. Other times, the result is completely out of...
I once coached a planter who could inspire a group of people to do almost anything. He was an amazing communicator and motivator. I often chuckled that he could preach a message inspiring people to go put out the fires of hell with squirt guns and they’d be ready and...
When you’re developing new approaches to ministry, you can’t predict the way it’s going to go — you have to be prepared for some ambiguity and change along the way. You and your team need to be flexible and adaptable because the unexpected does happen. You can’t...
This post is part of a series on the 9 competencies of an effective coach, taken originally from Developing Coaching Excellence. To see all entries in this series posted so far, you can search “coach competency” on the main page of my blog. The role of a coach is to...
We’ve all heard the expression, “We overestimate what we can do in one year and significantly underestimate what can be accomplished in three years.” We tend to be overly ambitious for what can happen in a year. We raise expectations– our own and those of...
One strategy I’ve found to be quite helpful– particularly in the worship area– is to separate the creative planning of the worship service from the actual implementation. You can get your creative thinkers to come up with ideas and the plan the...
So often in planning, people try to focus on the plan itself– the end result. What’s actually much more important is the engagement of people in the discernment process, seeking God, and walking together through the discovery of what God wants them to do....
You can use your ministry planning and evaluation process to cooperate with what God is doing. Charts like the ones below (taken from my book Releasing Your Church’s Potential) can help you develop a framework that guides your ministry priorities and decisions...
I am increasingly surprised by the number of people who haven’t been planning for retirement. As I have conversations with people that are approaching retirement age, many are not prepared financially. They are stuck; they don’t have sufficient income to...
