Taking the long view

Taking the long view

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...
Summers off for children’s ministry?

Summers off for children’s ministry?

When I was a pastor, I would track our growth. Historically, the increase of adult attendance would track alongside the increase of children’s attendance. They would run in parallel to each other. Then I noticed that trend diverging. Children’s attendance...
How organic change leads to organizational change

How organic change leads to organizational change

So we know from yesterday’s blog entry that trying to institute coaching from the top down most often doesn’t work. Implementation is spotty. You have some key people who won’t participate. Leaders don’t model the behavior. Quality suffers. People start...
Portrait of a bi-vocational ministry leader

Portrait of a bi-vocational ministry leader

Today’s blog entry is by Jeff Logsdon, who is currently transitioning from pastor at The Flipside in Rancho Cucamonga, California to bi-vocational ministry leader in Tucson, Arizona. Another pastor who left his previous employment at Google in order to work for the...
Schedule by the week or by the year?

Schedule by the week or by the year?

I find that when working with leaders who wear multiple hats and have a lot of different projects– especially if they are combining local hands-on ministry with regional ministry– that working with a weekly schedule doesn’t work well. The reason for that...
The value of strategic planning

The value of strategic planning

You know how working in the church goes… if you don’t set aside time for the truly important things, you end up spending your time putting out fires and running from urgent issue to urgent issue. Come plan with us. We have time set aside on June 13-14 in Chicago. You...