Leadership
Holistic Leadership Development
You want to develop leaders who will do what Jesus called us to do, leaders who can take the church forward into the 21st century. You look to the fields and see them, as Jesus does, ready for harvest — and you know that’s where your ministry needs to concentrate.
What’s needed is holistic leadership development — the kind of leadership development that comes from the harvest and leads people back into the harvest, resulting in subsequent generations of new believers and new leaders living as Jesus called us to live.
We can help you develop leaders the kind of leaders you need in a way that is both relational and intentional… and ultimately effective in helping your church accomplish its mission.
Ongoing support: along the trail
Note: part of a series from From Followers to Leaders. See Feb 21 blog entry for backstory. Even after people have started out along the path and we’ve provided some on-the-job training, we’ll still need to provide continuing support. The challenges our...
Show-how training: beginning of the trail
Note: part of a series from From Followers to Leaders. See Feb 21 blog entry for backstory. To the degree that learning content doesn't incorporate experience, it begins losing value. Conversely, learning that incorporates experience is exponentially more...
Orientation: the trailhead
Those who decide in the parking lot that this journey sounds like a good idea will move on to the trailhead. We might expect that once people have left the parking lot and decided to hike the path, they would just get on the trail and start going. Not so. It...
Motivation: the parking lot
Note: part of a series from From Followers to Leaders. See Feb 21 blog entry for backstory. The parking lot is the decision-making place. It’s not somewhere people want to stay and hang out. It’s the place where people make up their minds about whether they...
The path
Below is an excerpt from my book From Followers to Leaders that lays out one of my favorite metaphors—the path. The path is about the process of getting where you want to go… wherever that may be. Over the next few days, we’ll look in more depth at each stage...
A Word from Wisconsin: Discipleship vs. Discipling
Today some thoughts from Brian Williamson, Lead Pastor of The Bridge Bible Church, a decentralized networked approach in Somerset, WI. Their church’s vision is to lead everyone toward full life development in Jesus through missional communities. “We’ve benefited from...
Orville Wright
“… we were lucky enough to grow up in a home environment where there was always much encouragement to children to pursue intellectual interests; to investigate whatever aroused curiosity. In a different kind of environment our curiosity might have been nipped long...
Learning styles
Learning styles are something we often think of in terms of a classroom: some kids learn by hearing, some kids learn by seeing, etc. But the concept applies outside the classroom to any kind of learning. Recently one of my leaders in ViaCordis had an ah-ha moment...
Learning new balance
This time a story from Steve Brightwell: “I am now convinced that the absolute greatest impact I can make is through personal investment in the disciple-making process with a handful of willing and responsive new believers. I also believe it is the most effective...
Coaching the unemployed
In my blog entry of December 21st, I wrote about Rich Earl who had begun offering free coaching to the unemployed. I recently asked him how it was going—below are two stories from Rich that speak to the ways God has been at work in the lives of those he’s coaching:...
Who prays for you?
Who do you have who prays for you? What intercessors are a part of your life? Doug prays every Tuesday for one hour and I know I’m included in that time he spends before God. I recently received a word from Doug that had the unmistakable ring of truth. Let’s not...
Lead into the Mission
Lead into the Mission *Cast vision *Form a team *Move forward together Some missions are just too big to accomplish alone. If you sense God is calling you to lead a team of people toward the mission he’s given you, the next step is leadership. I have many fond...