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.
Affirmation as the foundation of change
For me, seminary preaching classes were a painful experience. The worst part was when I had to go to the preaching lab to be videotaped as I struggled to deliver a message. Having to listen to myself on tape seemed bad enough, but having to see myself too was just too...
Experiencing the change
How’s this for kicking off the new year? A book on making change lasting and effective. When you train people, most of the time you need to explain and describe. Some of that is necessary, and it results in intellectual knowledge. But if you want the result of...
Bring your leaders together
As you start missional communities, you’ll see leaders arising. Get them together! You’ll need to provide support of some kind; they won’t be able to run on autopilot. When you do get them together, here are 5 good questions you can ask: What’s working What’s not...
Form missional communities
When you have a few people who are committed to missional living and ministry, it’s time to form missional communities. You might call those missional communities small groups, life groups, service teams, or any number of terms, but they are essentially a group of...
Coach the people who get it
Among people who indicate receptivity to missional living, some will be willing to go the extra mile in living it out. Look for those who “get” missional living and are willing to take risks, even if they’re not great at it. These are the people you need to be...
Start with those who are receptive
As you process and begin to live missionally, do it alongside some other people. You don’t have to get everybody on board, but if you look around there’s almost certainly someone who would like to do it with you. I’m serving alongside Art (pictured here) at a...
Who do you start with? You
In missional living, the essential starting point is to lead by example. The beginning of any journey of leading your church in a more missional direction is you personally living missionally. Without that foundational piece in place, any broader organizational change...
We talk
I recently read Exponential by Dave and Jon Ferguson. They talk about the 5-step model of Jesus, which I’ve used for years, but they did make one very helpful addition to it. They insert “we talk” between each of the original steps: I do, you watch, we talk. I...
Affirmed behaviors tend to be repeated
Recently I watched a baby of about one year old who was trying to learn to speak. As conversations were carried on around him, he mimicked the sounds and actions he was observing. When people were talking, he would make word-like sounds in their direction as if we...
Your time or your money?
Which is harder for you to give—your time or your money? In a lot of cases, time is the more precious resource. I’ve often found it easier to give money than time: “Why do I have to spend four hours washing cars at this youth group fundraiser? Can’t I just write a...
Getting angry at what angers God
I read John 2 recently, about the clearing of the temple. This passage is often cited for the idea of “righteous anger”—it’s okay to get angry if it’s for a good reason. I think that’s true. But take it one step further—what did Jesus get angry about? I think at the...
Values: the roots of ministry
Your ministry flows out of your values. Picture the whole church as a tree: the values are the roots. You can’t see them, but they are responsible for virtually everything that happens above ground. The roots produce the fruit. If the fruit is good, you assume the...