Schedule by the week or by the year?

Leadership, Prioritizing

I find that when working with leaders who wear multiple hats and have a lot of different projects– especially if they are combining local hands-on ministry with regional ministry– that working with a weekly schedule doesn’t work well. The reason for that...
Sometimes it helps to draw a picture

Sometimes it helps to draw a picture

Coaching

Here’s a thought following yesterday’s blog entry where I wrote about the book The Back of the Napkin. I was once coaching a church planter who is much more of an artist-type person. He wanted to reach the arts community, which was in a downtown area. He had trouble...

The muddled middle

Coaching

Today, a client’s perspective on how coaching has helped him. From guest blogger Ryan Bearschell of The Salvation Army. I have this common time period every day from 1-4 pm where I’m just no good. I’m tired and unproductive– I call it my “brainless time” or my...

Coach or cash?

Coaching

A man I work with in the transitional living center recently wrote a letter to me and Janet asking for $100. Our policy in environments where we volunteer is that is that we don’t give money directly to individuals, but we do give time and training to them. That’s the...

The problem of community

Missional

We as the church of Jesus are supposed to “do life” together in the context of community. But how can we really do that, especially in the western context most of us find ourselves in? I believe our ministry does need to be very countercultural, since our context is...

Developing people to their fullest potential

Developing, Leadership

If you give people the answers, you truncate their growth. That’s why I prefer asking them questions. If you want to develop people to their fullest potential, ask them questions that they have to wrestle with, think about, and answer. If you take the time to dialogue...

Catch the seashore vision

Coaching, Leadership, Visionizing

As a young church planter, knocking on doors in the 70s and struggling to get a new church up and running, I had a vision that has since directed the rest of my life. In my vision I was standing at the seashore in southern California. I was joined by other church...

If it were easy, they wouldn’t need you

Coaching

Sometimes when I’m coaching people who are running up against very challenging circumstances or wrestling with very difficult problems, I need to remind myself of this: If it were easy, they wouldn’t need you. When people need coaching is when they’re struggling with...

How do you get from coaching to a missional movement?

Coaching

Like peanut butter and chocolate, some things are just better together. Coaching and missional movements are like that. You understand the value of coaching. You want to cultivate a missional movement. But what happens when you put those two things together? That’s...