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.
Listening to serve
Too many people go about serving without listening first. They dive in doing what they think needs to be done without really knowing if they’re hitting a point of real need or not and without knowing if what they’re doing is truly effective. As Carl George has said,...
Pre-empting your mid-life crisis
Everyone knows about the cultural phenomenon known as the mid-life crisis. It can result in anything from a sports car to an affair to a sudden career change. What is a mid-life crisis? It’s a forced evaluation—usually the result of circumstances beyond one’s control...
One hour a week that makes a difference
My friend Marilyn volunteers one hour a week to read with students at a low-income school through the national “Everybody Wins!” program. Here’s what she writes about her experience: “This is what I do every Wednesday at noon (Everybody Wins! LA) at nearby Leo Politi...
Who says you can’t do it all?
The Ethiopia ACT Project provides an example of holistic ministry stunning in its breadth. They provide medical care for people with HIV/AIDS, they share the gospel and pray with people, they train HIV-positive patients to teach others how to adhere to the medication,...
The Missional Challenge
I’ve been working with Dave DeVries on the development of missional resources, and I’ve enjoyed reading his blog. Good observations like this one: As believers take steps to focus on meeting needs beyond the walls of the church, it's important to consider how those...
The power of liturgy
Back in earlier centuries when the literacy rate was low, liturgy was employed regularly and frequently. The use of stories, pictures, and repeated refrains helped provide ways for people to understand and remember God—it was a hook for them to hang things on. In many...
Everyone loves free stuff
Have you checked out the free stuff section of my website lately? There’s an article on there called The Path for Developing Missional Leaders and Planters. If you’re looking for a way to develop leaders—a way that’s not a shortcut or a quick fix, but a way that will...
One of my “oh-duh” moments
A while back I was talking with a woman who is a world class intercessor about the development of a prayer ministry. My leadership gifts were kicking into gear, and I was thinking, “Okay, we need prayer. So how do we go about creating a system for making that happen?...
Going to extremes
In my years of working with many different types of groups, I’ve found that there are two extremes to avoid when it comes to planning. One is simply going into all-out planning mode where we think through our project on the human side, make all the decisions, then...
7 keys to the healing of personal woundedness
Transfer of identity: We must be made to see our value in the redeeming work of Christ. Building bridges: Safe relationships where mutual transparency and unconditional love are practiced. Challenge: Stimulating one another to actively confront issues of woundedness...
Sorting the soils
In many of the times I address groups of church leaders, I recommend that they invest at least 20% of their time in sponsoring and supporting missional ministries and pilot projects. If leaders agree to do that, the most common question then is how—how do you start?...
Parallel paths
As I’ve been thinking lately about the whole stretch of road between living incarnationally as individuals and leading a multiplying movement of churches, I’ve tried to identify all the steps along the way and how they fit together. So far I’ve come up with four...