I recently had a conversation with a pastor who was discouraged with the progress his church was making. He felt like things were going at a snail’s pace and nothing was getting done. He just couldn’t seem to get all the pieces moving forward at once. Eventually he...
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 #5: Focus on one thing As you move forward in...
I always recommend that denominational or network leaders focus at least 20% of their time on long-term capacity. That means raising up and developing leaders, coaching leaders, creating a leadership farm system. These are the activities that increase your long-term...
I love mountain biking. It’s probably my favorite pastime. Early in my mountain biking experience, I was riding at a regional park near my home. I was surprised to spot a group of cactuses up ahead and was worried about hitting them. I kept looking over at them,...
As I looked through the gospels to learn more about what incarnational living out to look like, I noticed some glaring omissions. This is not the way we would write the gospels in today’s church. Jesus didn’t say much or even model much behavior about church/temple...
I taught a webinar recently as part of the missional coach training process. Because this particular webinar had to be pre-recorded—and therefore not as interactive as I usually prefer—I asked for written insights from those who attended. The idea was not for them to...
I’ve done conducted a lot of coach trainings over the years. Last week in Denver I did my first coach training geared specifically for missional leaders. Missional coach training: coaching for incarnational, missional ministry. It felt different. Since then I’ve been...
When I was in the early stages of pondering the church plant I’m currently working in, my coach asked me a series of five questions that, over the course of months, helped me think through what my church plant should look like. Over the next five blog entries, I’ll be...
One of the hindrances we have in church life is that we focus on fellowship as a priority. The result is an inward focus. We become myopic and don’t go on mission. We feel we need to get better and have a closer fellowship before we can go on mission. Yet if we...
