Maximize the vision, minimize the change

Leadership, Outreach, Visionizing

  There’s a young guy who lives in the inner city. He works outside the city most of the week, but on Sundays he plays basketball to relax and exercise. His vision is to reach inner city youth, but he felt he didn’t have much time to invest in any official type...

D + V + CA = C

Coaching

  Dave Wasemann, of www.visionteam.info has been walking mainline pastors through my latest book, The Missional Journey. He has developed a protocol of involving people in a study of the book for a few months, then meeting with them once a month for eight months...
Practical help for leading change

Practical help for leading change

Leadership

When people have a clear goal in mind of where they’re trying to go, they often don’t realize how many factors are involved in whether that change will become a reality or not. If the change is something big, then it’s likely not something you’re doing by yourself....

The price of change

Leadership

One thing I’ve observed is that lots of people say they want to change or they want to see something changed. But too frequently they aren’t willing to pay the price. So I often ask, “How committed are you?” or “Are you willing to pay the price?” People will usually...

Deciding to change

Missional

When I was teaching in my anger management recovery group at the Salvation Army, I had a man interrupt me and say, “When someone makes me mad, I tell them off. That’s just the way I am.” I responded, “So what I’m hearing you say is that when you feel angry, you blow...

Repentance and responsibility

Leadership

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...

Vision whiplash

Leadership, Visionizing

Have you ever experienced vision whiplash? You’re part of a church or a faith community and the focus seems to shift every 6 to 12 months. For a season, the church is “all about small groups.”  Then, without warning or explanation, you begin hearing that the church is...

Be aware of seasons

Coaching

This blog entry is part of a seven-part  series on some of the central principles of coaching… from the perspective of the one receiving the coaching. How can we get the most out of our coaching relationship? Principle #6: be aware of seasons There are different...