Going to extremes

Leadership

In my years of working with many different types of groups, I’ve found that there are two extremes to avoid when it comes to planning. One is simply going into all-out planning mode where we think through our project on the human side, make all the decisions, then...

Congregational Conversations

Leadership

Here’s a strategy you can use regardless of the kind of issues you are facing. Read the description below and think through how you could use this kind of strategy in your own ministry. One church has been in the process of transition. The church is two years old and...
Teaching your team to listen

Teaching your team to listen

Leadership, Teambuilding, Training

Relational health and harmony is extremely important when working with teams. To create and maintain that quality on your team, one of the most important skills you can learn—and teach—is to listen well. If you can learn that, then you can model good listening skills...

Coaching on sacred ground

Coaching

I virtually always find coaching to be meaningful work. But then there are the times when God’s presence is just glaring. I was coaching a leader who was unsure of his agenda for our coaching session. He had just come out of a season of change and transition and it...

Thanks for the advice

Coaching

My wife Janet does quite a bit of coach mentoring—that’s coaching coaches on their coaching. (How’s that for a mouthful?) The basic idea is that you coaches need a coach themselves—someone to help them continue to grow in their coaching skills. She just got a great...

ViaCordis turns three!

New Church Planting

The church I’m helping plant, ViaCordis, recently celebrated its 3rd birthday.  We had a campfire get-together to share and celebrate, and the Lord prompted one of our team members to look back at our prayer journals from when we first started ViaCordis.  What we saw...

Winston Churchill on courage

Leadership

Lately I’ve been reading a biography of Winston Churchill and ran across this quote from him: “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”  This reminds me of the role we have as Christian leaders. Certainly...