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.
Advice for an upcoming confrontation
Sometimes we don’t have much warning when we’re heading into a confrontation or difficult conversation. But in other cases, we have a pretty good idea on the front end that things might get challenging. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “I always want to give a good report...
One of my favorite stories
Some of you who have heard me speak may have heard me share one of my very favorite discipleship and church planting stories. It’s out of Honduras, and goes to illustrate how effective ministry can be with almost no resourcing, no technology, no telephones, no...
An Acts 8 moment: energy transformation
Natural Church Development (NCD) has principle of energy transformation: the energy of one part of a system is harnessed and used for the benefit of the whole system. For example, when there is conflict or tension, you can take that energy and-- instead of running...
Disciples: from the harvest for the harvest
As we reach people from the harvest, we don’t shut them up in a barn. We send them right back into the harvest to glean more. That’s what Jesus meant when he told his disciples they would become fishers of men. Disciples are called to make more disciples: we take from...
Affirmation as the foundation of change
When we see someone doing something poorly, what’s our natural inclination? To tell them what their problem is, of course. How else would they fix it unless we tell them what they’re doing wrong? Advice, “constructive” criticism, unsolicited feedback… these are our...
There’s always time to do God’s will
Whenever you find yourself truly genuinely overloaded-- and I’m not talking about those temporary blips on your calendar where there’s a seasonal crunch-- but when you find yourself genuinely overloaded long-term, then one principle is true: something you are doing...
Half a loaf vs. half a baby
When is compromise appropriate and when is it not appropriate? I first learned a helpful rule of thumb from Carl George. There are times when half of something is better than none of it: half a loaf of bread is better than no loaf of bread. It may not be all you...
Working on your ministry, not in it
There’s a book by Michael Gerber called The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It. One of the points he makes, which is equally applicable to church planting, is that many entrepreneurs get caught up working in the business...
Transitioning traditional churches into missional ones
Check out this great blog entry by JR Rozko on transitioning traditional churches into missional ones. It’s a post from a few years back that I just ran across, but extremely helpful and thought-provoking for those who are embarking on this change. While avoiding easy...
Repentance and responsibility
What does it really mean to repent? If you are in ministry, how do you respond to people who say that they are sorry but then don’t take action to change? What do you do when people express words of repentance, but then mix them with words of blame for others and not...
What it takes to build a coaching culture: a clear and reproducible method
This entry is the fourth in a four-part series on what it takes to build a coaching culture. Many pastors and leaders want to have coaching be part of the very fabric of how they do ministry-- they want it to permeate their whole discipleship and leadership...
What it takes to build a coaching culture: an investment in raising up coaches
This entry is the third in a four-part series on what it takes to build a coaching culture. Many pastors and leaders want to have coaching be part of the very fabric of how they do ministry-- they want it to permeate their whole discipleship and leadership development...