Sheep or shepherds?

Sheep or shepherds?

One of the major challenges in ministry is turning volunteers into leaders. You don’t just want people filling needed slots—although that’s one piece of the puzzle. You want to develop each individual: as a person, as a disciple, and as a leader. Ultimately, you are...
Recruiting vs. developing

Recruiting vs. developing

The number one need in organizations is leaders. There always seems to be a shortage of leaders compared to the needs and opportunities that are out there. In my coaching practice, I see that the quickest way to get more leaders is simply to recruit more leaders that...
Why was it you went into ministry again?

Why was it you went into ministry again?

Sometimes we need to remind ourselves why we went into ministry in the first place. Odds are, it was not for the money. It was to make disciples and to raise up leaders. More than that, it was to make disciples who would go on to make more disciples who would go on to...

The dynamics of effective leaders

I recently had lunch with a former student of mine who is currently a church planting leader with the Vineyard in Norway.  He also works as a business consultant.  He mentioned that a major study some years back had been done jointly by BI Norwegian Business School...

Leaders who are not disciples

Too many people in church leadership are not disciples or making disciples. No wonder we have the problems we have in our churches. When disciples are fully trained they become like their teacher. Is that really what we want? Are we modeling what we want people to do?...

Upon this Rock

I recently reconnected with a former supporter and ministry partner from my early days of ministry. I shared with him what I’ve been up to lately with my network of house churches, ViaCordis, and described some of our work in the recovery field. I told them how it...

Question #2: What’s missing?

Note: part of a series started April 22nd. The next question my coach asked me—after I had wrestled for a while with “What’s next?”—was “What’s missing?” After reflecting on the state of the church in the U.S. I decided my answer was that true leadership...