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.
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%...
Don’t underestimate the Holy Spirit
People can listen to the Holy Spirit better than you think they can. At a recent consultation I did, I started out the way I usually do: meeting with the leaders to unpack their strengths, concerns, and vision. Then I led them into a time of questions and listening to...
Formalizing coaching across an organization
As coaching catches on in an organic way throughout an organization, the benefits begin to speak for themselves. People start experiencing more and more of the power of coaching, tell others, and more people want to get in on it. Demand begins to exceed capacity. Now...
How organic change leads to organizational change
So we know from yesterday’s blog entry that trying to institute coaching from the top down most often doesn't work. Implementation is spotty. You have some key people who won't participate. Leaders don’t model the behavior. Quality suffers. People start saying that...
Leadership
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...