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.
Person of Peace
When God is at work in starting a new gathering of believers, he often lays the foundation within a “person of peace.” They are a bridge person who brings the message of Jesus into their own community. This person can be the first domino in a chain reaction among a...
Good soil doesn’t always look like we expect
Who is most receptive to the gospel? In Jesus’ day, it was tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers, beggars, etc. Not a lot has changed. “Nice people” are often more out of touch with their need for God. •“Bad” people make good soil, there is a lot of fertilizer in their...
Who’s in your oikos?
Oikos is the Greek word for household. It is the fundamental unit of society involving families, friends, neighbors, and associates. The New Testament describes churches meeting in the oikos, and it teaches that believers belong to the “household” of God. The spread...
Where to start?
As Christians, we often see so many lost people around us that we don’t know where to start. Even though many seeds are planted, they don’t all produce a crop. Some seeds are taken up by the birds, some have no root and some are crushed by thorns. Where are the most...
Creating a supervision/coaching rhythm
Part of the challenge within many churches that implement coaching for their staff is that they often don't have the luxury of separating the coaching and the supervision functions. In many churches the supervisor is the one who is providing the coaching. That can be...
Pastor to the Community: Discernment
By guest blogger Randy Lovejoy, part 2 of 2. As I open the door and walk in I feel the cool air hit my face. It is 8:20am and it is already beginning to heat up in the Echo Park community in Los Angeles. But the air conditioning combined with the sepia colored...
The Final Step of Redevelopment
By guest blogger Randy Lovejoy, part 1 of 2. "He must increase and I must decrease." -- John 3:30 NASB It is Sunday morning. I am at home. No pressure. No adrenaline. I have stepped down. Sunday mornings are usually a time of action. I would get up early, shower and...
Five good questions for focusing a ministry position
I was recently coaching someone who had a staff member leave their position. Instead of immediately looking for someone to fill the empty position, he took the opportunity to think through more clearly what was actually needed. These were the five questions I used to...
Effective leaders: What do they have in common?
I have privilege of coaching some really outstanding leaders. It's a wonderful experience for me to come alongside them to help increase their fruitfulness, deepen their capacity, and wrestle with them over the tough issues they face as they move forward. I recently...
Assum-a-side
An interesting concept from Jeff Norris: "assum-a-side" -- death by assumptions. Assuming we know what's going on rather than asking leads to a slow death (or sometimes instant martyrdom). Sometimes we think we know what people are thinking, what their concerns are,...
Water tank financial management
When I coach people in the area of their finances, I like to use the image of a water tank. Water comes in at the top and out at the bottom. The water level in the tank signifies cash in the bank. Positive cash flow means that the water level is rising: there is more...
What to do during that leaders meeting? VHS
If you want to cultivate a thriving church, you must make the care and feeding of your small groups and their ministry leaders a very high priority. The leadership community meeting is a regularly scheduled meeting for this purpose. I often refer to the three...