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Spiritual Vitality...and Age
Years ago we identified 4 critical elements all healthy churches practiced, regardless of size or stripe: Integrity: systems, processes,...
May 11, 20212 min read


Conflict Avoidance = Innovation Killer
Decades ago, becoming a learning organization was a common call-to-action in organizational development circles. That is, it was...
Apr 7, 20212 min read


6 Principles for Giving Campaigns
Every church leader has to wrestle with the financial demands of ministry. The apostle Paul was bi-vocational as a tentmaker. But Acts...
Feb 8, 20213 min read


The Fear of Outside Help
Over the years I’ve found myself ruminating on why pastors are often reluctant to engage with outside organizational assessors,...
Sep 10, 20202 min read


Who Likes a Test?
As a child, I hated tests in school. The clammy feeling in your hands, the sound of the clock ticking, wondering if everyone else is...
Aug 25, 20202 min read


How Are You Communicating?
Many years ago I came across an old multi-volume set of John Wesley’s journals. I found his accounts fascinating. Meticulous, inspiring,...
Aug 18, 20202 min read


Innovation and a Culture of Trust
Being a creative leader means ensuring that everyone in the organization is playing to their creative strengths and feels that their...
Aug 11, 20202 min read


Leading Out of the Status Quo
If a definition of leadership is basically moving others toward a goal—moving a group of people from one place to another—then the first...
Aug 4, 20202 min read


Growth Only Comes From Change
Organizations (and leaders) must have a certain amount of change and challenge in order to be fully alive with new questions and...
Jul 14, 20202 min read


Practicing “Withness” During a Crisis
This idea of “withness” is challenging in these sequestered times. Perhaps our Coronavirus-isolation is causing us to reconsider what’s...
Apr 7, 20203 min read


Who Is Adjusting Your Vision?
Managing Change...and Your Personal Vision To say the Covid-19 pandemic has changed our lives is the understatement of the year. Managing...
Mar 31, 20203 min read


Covid-19 and the Church
Learnings for Church Leaders from the Coronavirus Pandemic. The Covid-19 virus has turned the world upside down. With hour-by-hour...
Mar 17, 20202 min read


The Black Box Church
Thirty years ago, the church I was a part of began using video. A lot. Our numbers had exploded. We were in a former Baptist church...
Mar 4, 20202 min read


Igniting Passion In Your Church
Are You Assessing the Status Quo of Your Church or Organization? In the book Elemental Leaders, I identify four critical traits every...
Jan 14, 20202 min read


Needed: Organizational Explosives!
So what do you need to blow up in order to move forward? On a recent trip, I took a jaw-dropping train ride from Skagway, Alaska into the...
Sep 2, 20192 min read


Is Your Church A One-Generation Effort?
"The leader’s unique legacy is the creation of valued institutions that survive over time." The New Testament doesn’t say much about...
Jun 15, 20192 min read


The Art & Science of Changing Service Times
Are Your Service Times Optimal to Reach New People? Recently in coaching a great church in the Columbus Ohio metro area—The Church Next...
Jun 13, 20193 min read


The Success in Succession
Are You Future-Thinking? There’s been a lot written about senior pastors’ transition and succession, particularly as Boomers are in the...
Jun 13, 20193 min read
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