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.
Writing beyond your experience
Recently Neil Cole reminded me of an important principle of mine: the danger of writing beyond your experience. I believe we should only write about something after it’s been proven in more than one context. It’s easy to get ahead of ourselves when we have a great...
Start small, go deep, think big
One of my favorite mottos from many years ago is this: start small, go deep, think big. I’ve found over time that this approach leads to quality multiplication. Too often we want to start big before something has been field-tested. Or we want to skip over the going...
Quite the endorsement
I’ve been in the final process of getting my most recent book, The Missional Journey, off to the printers. As part of that process, the following endorsement came in, and I wanted to share it here: “When German Christians read (another) American book on church...
The power of being principle-based
Shortly after my church planting workbook came out many years ago, I happened to be at the mission headquarters office when a call came in from a guy in Germany. He said, “I hope it’s okay, but I took the liberty of translating your workbook and wanted to field test...
The secret sauce
When you’re field testing something new, and it seems to be working effectively, the next thing you need to do is hand it over to someone else to let them do it without your involvement and see if it still works. I’ve done this on a number of occasions only to find...
Vocation
Keith Shields, one of my north-of-the-border Canadian friends, has been working with Logan Leadership as a coach mentor since 2010. Lately he’s been doing some thinking about vocation and the interruptions of life, informed by his reading of Martin Luther,...
Loving obedience
By guest blogger Dave DeVries No matter what method or approach you use for making disciples, the goal of disciplemaking is to teach loving obedience to Jesus. His great commission to them ends with “… and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matt....
Are you still spoon-feeding?
As ministry leaders, we need to teach people to gradually take responsibility for their own spiritual growth and discipleship. It’s true that babies need to be fed. But as they grow, they are able to take on the task of feeding themselves in increasing measure. Most...
The wrong people in the right places
One of the most important tasks of a church planter is making sure the wrong people don’t get into the right places. Many years ago when I planted my first church people would come to me and, immediately upon meeting me, they’d share all of their past church...
When less is more
I’ve recently read a couple of fascinating blog entries by Greg McKeown, CEO of THIS Inc., a leadership and strategy design agency headquartered in Silicon Valley. I wanted to highlight a couple of his ideas here and direct you to his blog. Although written for the...
The risk of kindness
by Alexi George: I heard about a man who has a special place in his heart for beggars. He once asked a beggar on the street his name. The reply of the beggar was: “Name? I don't have a name.” When I heard that, I was utterly astonished. A human being without a name?...
Where spiritual formation retreats meet leader gatherings
Today’s entry is by Mark Fields, National Missions Director for Vineyard USA, about his work with the Vineyard Churches of Brazil. Brazil is a large country, covering 49% of the South American continent. Consequently, it’s also a very diverse country. Southern Brazil...