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.
Visual processors
I've been writing a series on my blog about how different people process their thoughts differently. So far I've covered audio processors-- who process through talking and listening-- and what I call artistic/experiential processers-- who process via diagrams,...
Artistic and experiential processers
Yesterday on my blog I wrote about how some people are audio processers. They need to be able to talk-- and hear themselves talk-- to process their thinking. Others tend to be experiential or artistic processers. Some find that drawing pictures or diagrams provides a...
From ideas to action – different ways people process
Every person you coach is different. One important difference is how they process ideas. Some are audio processors. They think best out loud, and talking is the way they process their ideas. As they talk, they gain greater clarity and insight, which then results in...
Where mission and formation intersect
A while back I posted a blog entry from Mark Fields with Vineyard Missions about how much better his board meeting went when he scheduled spiritual formation retreats just before them. Mark makes some interesting points about how mission and formation intersect. He...
Using the stages of grief in congregational leadership
Today’s entry is by guest blogger Dave Wasemann. As I was coaching a pastor recently I had an insight: I was hearing the pastor reflect the five stages of grief through leadership and membership of the congregation. Is it possible to glean insights from work done on...
Serenity prayer: the complete version
I looked up the serenity prayer online-- and found the complete version! Apparently, the original version was longer, and was written by theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. It's something that not only works well for people in recovery, but if you think about it we all need...
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 had...
How staffing two Sunday schools is easier than staffing one
If you are trying to staff your children's programming concurrently with the worship service, it's hard to get volunteers because they have to miss church to serve. So what to do? Some churches require parents to volunteer once a month. Yet that approach is often...
Rocky ground
When people feel called to a difficult mission field, make sure they have a history of fruitfulness where the ground is fertile. They need to have demonstrated the capacity for effective ministry. Otherwise, how would you expect any different results where the ground...
Organizing for results
I had a great coaching conversation recently with a ministry leader in which we strategically organized his time and energy to get the specific results he was looking for. Q: What do you want to see happen? A: I want to start a movement-- something that is...
What Was, What Is, What Could Be, What Should Be, What Will Be
Tom De Vries recently shared with me a learning he picked up at a Leadership Network conference... the five realities that leaders simultaneously function within: What Was, What Is, What Could Be, What Should Be, What Will Be What Was: This is your history, what...
Sociological strangulation: the 80% rule
I've been doing more consultations lately, and I've realized that something I thought everyone knew from the old church growth days just doesn't seem to be known anymore. I call it the 80% rule. If your parking is 80% full, or if your worship seats are more than 80%...