One of the best parts of getting a PhD in Leadership was being required to read widely on the subject. From time to time, I get asked what some of my favorite leadership books are. So, I thought I would take the time to answer that question here and accompany my answer with a fairly through review.
If stranded on a desert island and given only one book from which to teach leadership, I would choose a lesser known book called Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice and Leadership by Lee Bolman and Terrance Deal.
In one season or another, every one of us has needed to either build or rebuild trust. The issue of trust is a human issue. Building it is crucial to every budding relationship, and rebuilding it is crucial to every damaged one. So, how do we build or rebuild trust? They didn't teach me math in seminary, but over the years, I have used this formula:
TRUST = (Truth + Transparency) * Time
Antimetabole es la transliteración de una palabra griega y consiste en la repetición de palabras en clausulas sucesivas, pero en diferente orden. Por ejemplo: ¿Cómo sería una congregación donde la mitad son creyentes no practicantes y la otra mitad son practicantes no creyentes? Sería una situación que haría llorar a nuestro Señor Jesucristo.
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An antimetabole is a Greek literary device that consists in the repetition of words in successive clauses, but in a different order. For example: Do we have congregations where some are non-practicing believers and others are non-believing practitioners? This would make our Lord Jesus Christ cry.
How many new church plants start to decline after they acquire a permanent building? I recently received this question in an email. Though I don't have the statistics, I do have stories. These are stories of churches that have slowly started their decline after completing building projects and others that have built and are still thriving today. But what has made the difference?
How many new church plants start to decline after they acquire a permanent building? I recently received this question in an email. Though I don't have the statistics, I do have stories. These are stories of churches that have slowly started their decline after completing building projects and others that have built and are still thriving today. But what has made the difference?
In a dramatic scene of the 1987 movie The Untouchables, Jim Malone presses Eliot Ness on what he is willing to do to finally catch Al Capone. Though I'm certainly not advocating for illegal activity as Malone was, I think it's a great picture of what we need to innovate and reach gospel saturation in and beyond our city.
If your way isn’t working where you are, are you prepared to learn a new way? As leaders, we need to be asking ourselves and allowing trusted people in our lives to ask us the same question: “What are you prepared to do?”
“We need more planters.”
I can remember, only a few years ago, speaking with representatives at some of our national church planting agencies and hearing they were at capacity. At the time, the conversation was centered on increased efficiency in equipping. Processes needed to be streamlined in order to run through more planters. Capacity was the issue back then. Now, it's scarcity.
With both of these sending problems, the answer lies in the way we think—and more importantly act—as sending churches. How do we move past mere rhetoric to actually become sending churches?
If you pay attention to ministry conversations on the internet, there's a good chance you've heard the term "replanting." In the last couple of years, this idea has really gained traction, and I think with good reason. Today, you can find podcasts, books, and a growing pile of online articles that take up the task of church replanting. What is the difference between church planting and replanting and how might they make the difference in spiritual vitality of a community?
2018 has brought a lot of things our way: heavy losses, exciting possibilities, and hard discussions. Likewise, our blog also had a lot of fascinating and pertinent articles for the year. As we prepare for what God has in store for 2019, we'll first pause to remember and celebrate the top 10 articles of 2018.
I was in a meeting a couple of weeks ago with two churches wanting to share a building. The host church is almost 60 years old, and the church wanting to share their space was an immigrant congregation that is about 5 years old. It was a challenge to work out the details across cultural worldviews and language barriers.
“Do you have any good websites I can visit for demographic data on my neighborhood?”
If I’ve been asked that question once, I’ve received it a dozen times. Many pastors and church leaders now understand the need to know their ministry context and contextualize their mission strategy to engage their neighbors in a meaningful way. But how do we find and use those resources?
I have a high view of church membership, and I hope to lead my church to have the same view. I believe the best starting point for setting high expectations of every church member is a new member class. Whatever descriptor you use for the class, whatever time slot you choose to teach the class, every new member class should communicate three key points about your church: information, doctrine, and expectations.
