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.
Vineyard movement: Everybody gets to play
Everybody gets to play-- that’s one of my favorite sayings from the Vineyard movement. But here’s a question: If everybody gets to play, where’s the playbook? What are the little pieces that you can help people with so they can participate more easily? Here are two...
Video clip training
A while back I was thinking of ways to make training more easily reproducible, and I came up with the idea of video clip training. Basically, you identify the material you need to cover and break it down into little units. Do a 3-5 minute video clip for each unit to...
How has God led you in the past?
When I’m coaching people, I’ve found this question to be extremely helpful. By encouraging people to reflect on what has worked for them in the past, how God has blessed them up until now, and where they have seen fruit, they quite often have insights that give them...
Intentionalizing the spontaneous
I began coaching a leader in a growing organization recently and he came to an important realization: what had been working for leadership development and discipleship in the past wasn’t working as well anymore. Some of the dynamics had changed since the organization...
Considering the long-term impact of our decisions
We need to regularly ask the questions: “What are the long-term effects of this decision?” and, “What might be the unintended consequences of this decision?” For example, if you try to solve your shortage of church planters by recruiting, it has the long-term (and...
Up willow creek without a paddle
Remember when Willow Creek was all the rage? Everyone else began looking to the seeker service as the silver bullet. Yet what they didn’t see was all the foundational work of intentional relationship building before seekers were brought to the service. There was a lot...
Discipleship and the story of Andrew
I like the story of Andrew: Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he...
The emotional tollbooth
The emotional tollbooth is a term coined by David Nicholson, founding pastor of Open Door Church in Noblesville, Indiana, as his church was going through the Natural Church Development (NCD) process. The first step in the process is taking a survey designed to point...
The courage to look at the numbers… and then change
Sometimes we just don’t want to step on the scale. It takes courage to actually look at the number, and that can be a big hurdle to get over. It’s the same way in ministry-- it takes courage to take an honest look and evaluate our results. And then it takes additional...
Cheeseburger, cheeseburger
When you approach something from a consultant perspective, you need to see what the church needs... not just your area of specialty. Instead, a good consultant sorts out their needs and approaches the situation appropriately, referring to the appropriate tools for the...
Outputs vs. outcomes
One of the things I’ve learned in consulting is helping people make the shift from focusing on outputs to focusing on outcomes. What’s the difference? Outputs are related to the activity you’re doing. Outcomes are focused on the results you want to get. An example of...
Engaging with those who don’t know Jesus… no exemption for pastors
All believers, regardless of giftedness or abilities, are called to engage culture. This journey is for everyone. Even high-level leaders focusing on developing leaders or multiplying movements can never leave this first journey behind. I call it "The Missional...