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.
The substance of worship
Parishioner: "Pastor, I'm just not getting anything out of worship." Pastor: "I'm SO sorry! There's been a terrible misunderstanding. We're not worshiping YOU." Worship isn't about getting. It’s about giving. Our worship is our coming before God and worshipping him...
Book Review: “Set It Up: Planning a Healthy Pastoral Transition”
Set It Up: Planning a Healthy Pastoral Transition In this short and practical book, Dr. Parnell M. Lovelace, Jr. looks at the critical area of pastoral leadership that is so often neglected-- the passing of the baton to the next pastor. I read widely in the area of...
Increasing the span of care
Note: This blog entry is an excerpt from the first draft of The Leadership Difference, which I expect to publish later this year. As your organization grows, you’ll see an increased need for structure. What just seemed to work organically before no longer works...
My biblical role model
If you could be like any person in the Bible, who would it be? (I’ll let you opt out of the martyrdom part because so many biblical characters met painful ends.) My favorite biblical role model has always been Barnabas. He’s not a spotlight kind of guy, but he made a...
Creating a planning rhythm
For optimal effectiveness in accomplishing your goals, set aside time for a regular planning rhythm. Yes, it takes time, but in the long-run it saves you time by maximizing your results. It's counter-intuitive, but the more you have to do the more necessary it is to...
Vision and mission: again
Vision and mission. Odds are, you’ve read about these two items before. Nearly every book on leadership talks about the importance of knowing your vision and mission. There’s a good reason for that: you can’t know whether you’re successful unless you know what you’re...
The benefits of wandering
As I’ve read the Bible, one of the things I notice is that many of the people featured in its pages spend considerable amounts of time wandering around or trying to figure out what direction they should be going: Moses wandering with his people through the wilderness,...
Coming soon to a bookshelf near you: The Leadership Difference
As usual, I am currently working on a book. This one, tentatively titled The Leadership Difference, takes an in-depth look at the skills needed for effective leadership in a local church or ministry setting. Here’s a sneak preview: I graduated from seminary at the...
Clarifying direction: achieve, preserve, avoid
You know that to get anything done, you need to cast vision. But once you do, it's time to get more specific about precisely what you are trying to get done.This clarification process is best done together with your team. For example, say your church has a vision for...
What’s your vision for leadership?
What’s your vision for leadership? Do you want to see people becoming disciples, their lives changed, their hearts turned toward others in service and compassion? Do you want to see them becoming parts of groups and teams that multiply and reach out beyond themselves?...
Driving Persistence: Element #8 from the Leadership Effectiveness Profile
During this series of blog entries, we’re walking through the 8 characteristics highlighted in the Leadership Effectiveness Profile. These characteristics were found through observation and research in response to the question, “What makes an effective leader?” What...
Reciprocal Communication: Element #7 from the Leadership Effectiveness Profile
Communication is essential in any position of leadership. It could be argued that effective communication is the main task of a leader. Yet that communication must go two ways: the ability to speak clearly and the ability to listen well. Here we’re defining reciprocal...