Heinsight 2020

Real Time Connections

2010-07-01T14:21:00.005-06:00

I just finished Real Time Connections, by Bob Roberts Jr. One of the things I really like about my Amazon Kindle is that I can download my highlights and notes from the book to my computer once I'm done. This makes finding quotes and significant information a breeze.

If you'd like to see my highlights from the book, and download them yourself, here's a link. It will give you a good idea of what the book's about.

Lessons From the World Cup

2010-06-21T14:34:00.002-06:00

Bryan Mowrey sent me a youtube link last week by a guy named Simon Sinek. I would encourage you to view it for yourself as it's very good. Since that time I've familiarized myself with Simon's blog and have found his information to be a helpful leadership resource. Take for example this post titled "The Final Score Doesn't Matter". It's a long post, but stay with it as the final paragraph is the payoff.

The Value of Conflict

2010-06-11T09:13:00.003-06:00

In a recent blog post, pastor and author Donald Miller makes the point that, "Most of our addictions bring us extreme pleasure without the cost of conflict. Porn brings us pleasure without the conflict of relationship. Alcoholism brings us a release of stress without having to deal with our issues. Overeating reduces stress and robes us of our dreams, dreams that MUST cost us conflict."

Most of us would agree that our most substantial growth takes place as a result of conflict. But while we know this to be true experientially, it doesn't transfer over into life as evidenced by the fact that many people spend their lives running from conflict of all kinds.

What are the constricting habits you face? What conflict are you avoiding? I encourage you to stop running from conflict and instead embrace it, recognizing that God can use it for a greater purpose (James 1:2-4).

P J Smyth Acts 29 Message

2010-03-15T11:05:00.004-06:00

Resurgence has recently posted P J Smyth's message from last year's Seattle Acts 29 Bootcamp on their website. You can watch it or scroll down the page and download it as an mp3. Link

Valuable Leadership Resources

2010-03-09T15:37:00.002-06:00

If you don't already subscribe to these two newsletters you are missing out. Don't take my word for it, check them out and see for yourself.

Keller on Big Issues Facing the Church

2010-03-01T12:32:00.002-06:00

Tim Keller recently posted about five big issues that are facing the Church and how we should be preparing for them. The first problem he tackles sounds a lot like the things Bob Roberts was talking with us about at last week's Equipped For Mission conference (audio link). Here's the link to Keller's post.

Is Group Texting For Your Church?

2010-02-19T07:00:00.003-06:00

According to many, email is out with anyone under 30 (omg, it is so 2000!) and texting is in. Here are three texting services that could possibly serve your youth group, small group, or church as you continue to seek the best means of communication for your church.

1. Simply TXT

2. Group SMS

3. Duffled

Search Engine Evangelism

2010-02-17T10:46:00.002-06:00

With technology changing at the speed of light (or so it seems) the means by which we connect people to Jesus are greatly multiplied. As an example I recently read an article about a "new" idea for making contacts with those who might be ripe to hear the good news of Jesus. It all takes place through internet search engines.

Imagine someone in Chicago searching for "Chicago divorce attorney" because she is tired of trying to make her marriage work. What if a Chicago church has SEO (search engine optimization) content in the first results offering free marriage counseling or advice on how to make a marriage work.

Imagine a teen wo is fed up with being the school outcast and begins searching for how to properly slit his wrists. What if a ministry had SEO content offering real time help (a live suicide preventive counselor) or guidance on alternatives to suicide.

I know SEO has been around for awhile. I also know that to a non-geek, like me it sounds like a foreign language. Not to worry, the article has a number of helpful links to help you dive into this remarkable venture. You can find the article here.

Responding to Rumblings

2010-02-16T07:00:00.001-06:00

We should be greatly encouraged that the Bible does not try to hide all the blemishes that appeared in the first-century Church in Acts. For example in Acts 6:1 we read, "But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent."

THERE WILL ALWAYS BE PROBLEMS
If you're a leader who is under the impression that once you achieve some specific goal or level, most of your current problems will fade into the sunset, then I've got three words for you: GIVE IT UP! Do you really believe that? Though we would never admit to holding to such a mindset, it is often reflected in our attitude and motivation.

In the early chapters of Acts the Jerusalem Church was experiencing phenomenal growth and yet "there were rumblings of discontent." In chapter 2 we read that 3,000 were saved and added to the church. Then in chapter 4 another 5,000 (at least) were additionally added in. I don't care whether you cringe every time you hear the words "church growth" or not, that is down right impressive. And yet people were not happy. What's the matter with these people?

The dirty secret about church growth, (that you'll most likely never hear at any conference) is that each new level of growth brings its own set of problems. The larger the growth, the larger the problems. Which means it doesn't get easier, but harder.

The goal is never the absence of problems. The goal is connecting people to Jesus, resulting in God-honoring life change. With this comes problems, lots of them so get over it and keep going.

DON'T DISMISS PEOPLE'S RUMBLINGS

I know it's tempting at times to casually dismiss the rumblings of those we lead. If you do this however, you could be missing out on a fabulous opportunity for your church.

The basis behind the rumblings of Acts 6 ("The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food."), led to a major philosophical change in how leadership in the Jerusalem Church operated. ("We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God-and in prayer, in the ESV-not running a food program.")

As a result of this one change, the church exploded in growth. "God's message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased (even more so than previously), in Jerusalem."

What are the current "rumblings" in your church? Ask God for wisdom and grace to see these issues from His perspective. As you do, your response to these rumblings might be just the thing that catapults your church into greater fruitfulness.

Book Recommendation

2010-02-15T08:00:00.001-06:00

Just finished reading Growing Your Faith by Giving it Away by R. York Moore. I have a decided reason for every book I read. My motivation for reading this book was that I wanted to be challenged to share my faith more consistently: I was not disappointed.

Reasons I Enjoyed this Book

It was full of stories: Nothing communicates better than stories, especially stories of sharing the gospel with others. In the midst of each story Moore shares his thoughts, challenges and fears. In so doing I felt that I was learning anew how to share the gospel with others.
It was Holy-Spirit saturated: According to Moore " The adventure (evangelism) requires us to listen patiently for the voice of the Holy Spirit." This is not a book of methods, but of God's mission to save the lost, and how we can successfully join Him in that mission

How I Benefitted From this Book

I was greatly encouraged by the response of those with whom Moore shared the gospel. Though not every one placed their faith in Jesus, each one responded in a way that clearly indicated God had been working in their life prior to Moore's interaction with them. "Everyone we speak with is either responding positively to God's work in their life and moving toward him or responding negatively to God’s work in their life and moving away from him. But God is always at work. He is never silent."
I have been stirred to share the gospel with others and have therefore committed to listen for the Holy Spirit's direction more clearly in this endeavor.
Because many of the chapters were specifically targeted in regard to evangelism (Reaching People Close to Us; Reaching People We Don't Like; Reaching People Who Have It All Together; Reaching People Under Satan's Power; Etc.) I gained a wider understanding of the power of the gospel.

Notable Quotes

"The adventure of evangelism is something we do with Jesus, not merely for Jesus."

"I believe the adventure of evangelism is the best way to grow in faith and maturity in Christ."

"Here is the great mystery and profound blessing of evangelism: God is the evangelist who invites us into his work. As we join him in the adventure, we are always changed, always transformed, always challenged."

"It's nearly impossible to experience constant comfort and safety if we are serious about sharing our faith."

How Leaders Build Team Loyalty

2010-02-11T22:15:00.002-06:00

Every leader desires their team to be characterized by a deep sense of loyalty. Loyalty however can never be demanded or simply required. There are specific things we can do as leaders that will motivate our team to a greater measure of loyalty to the vision, mission and the team.

Mac Lake recently offered these ideas as to what leaders can do to motivate a greater sense of team loyalty.

Be grateful. Show gratitude for the value everyone brings to the organization. Appreciation is a glue that makes good workers stick around.
Be inspiring. Cast a vision showing how your organization will change the world or make life better for those in need. People want to know they’re giving their lives to something that’s genuinely significant.
Be vulnerable. Admit your mistakes and be honest about your weaknesses.
Be encouraging. Find ways to add value to everyone in the organization. Catch people doing something right and let them know about it. People want to feel valued by and valuable to their leader.
Be fair. Ken Blanchard says, “There is nothing as unequal as the equal treatment of unequals.”
Be trustworthy. Demonstrate high integrity in all you say and do.

Theology On Display

2010-02-04T09:25:00.003-06:00

The folks over at Acts 29 have come up with a creative means for teaching your church theology. This poster and others just like it can be downloaded and put on display throughout your building. Now that's a creative idea. Here's the link.

The Missional Church Made Simple

2010-01-31T20:36:00.002-06:00

This is a great video of what it means to be a missional church. (If you are receiving this in your email inbox you will need to click on the title to see the video.)

Reasons Churches Stall-Part 2

2010-01-30T11:56:00.002-06:00

Here are the remaining five reasons Marcus Honeysett gives for churches stalling.

No life application from the Bible. When preaching, teaching and Bible study become ends in themselves rather than means to an end, something is badly wrong. The aim of Scripture is not that we should simply know what it says without the knowledge translating into discipleship and worship.
A church becomes afraid to ask radical questions. Churches begin new activities much more easily than we stop redundant ones and gradually stall under the weight of them. Few churches regularly evaluate every aspect of church life against their core vision.
Confusing Christian activities with disicpleship. The myriad of opportunities within and without the local church to spend time doing "churchy" things makes it very easy to believe that doing those activities automatically means we are growing as disciples. All these things can be valuable, but the danger arises when we assume that these things are the same thing as living out the gospel.
Not understanding how to release and encourage everyone in the church to use their spiritual gifts for the building up of the church. There are two types of DNA in churches. One type of church says "we exist to have our personal spiritual needs met", the other "we exist to impact our locality and the world with the gospel of the grace of God in Christ". The first type is a stalled church.
Moving into maintenance mode. At some point all churches take decisions that tend towards stalling. No church was stalled at the point that it was founded. At the beginning all churches were adventurous in faith and daring to risk for God. No one actively decided for comfort over risk, but at some point the mindset shifted from uncomfortable faith and daring passion for the Lord to comfortable mediocrity. We need to plan for structures, buildings, teams and leaders to grow at the point where the building is full. Any other decision is by definition a decision to stall sooner or later.

Reasons Churches Stall

2010-01-29T09:30:00.006-06:00

I recently came across an article by Marcus Honeysett in which he gave ten reasons why churches stall. I found the article to be quite gospel-centered and mission focused. I'll post five of his reasons today and five more in my next post.

The church forgets who we are and what we are for. 1 Peter says that we are a royal priesthood (who we are) for declaring God's greatness to the world (what we are for). When we forget that we are the community of disciples for declaring God's greatness and making disciples, mission quickly becomes just one among many activities rather than the defining vision of who we are as a community.
The majority of believers are no longer thrilled with the Lord and what he is doing in their lives. When a large percentage of believers are spiritually stalled, the church stalls too. The commonly happens when people attach themselves to a fellowship because they like the activities and the warm company, but never commit themselves to gospel vision, either beceause it isn't explained to them or they have no commitment to it.
The people get happy with not going anywhere because of the comfort and refreshments that are offered. Worse still is when people get happy with activities, events, service and even good teaching and preaching but are resistant to challenges to radical living and sacrifice for the gospel.
When filler-Christians who have no real commitment to gospel vision outnumber the core committed believers who do. A filler-Christian adds up everything else they need and want to do for the rest of the week, sees how many hours are left and allocates a certain number of them to church things. They see church as one among many leisure activities, usually low down the priority list. They are unlikely to see the Christian community as God's great hope for the world and unlikely to put commitment above self-interest.
When a large percentage of the church are used to being passive receivers of ministry from other people rather than being active self-feeders on the Word of God. It is easy to persuade ourselves that we have done the spiritual bit for the week because we have listened to a sermon but with no thought about acting on it. Where people take no personal responsibility for their own spiritual growth a stalled church becomes more likely.

How Do You Celebrate a Win?

2010-01-19T15:33:00.004-06:00

A couple of weeks ago the University of Alabama defeated the University of Texas for the College Football National Championship. Once the game was over and the team returned to Alabama coach Nick Saban did something rather unique as a means of including Alabama's die-hard fans in its victory; they displayed the trophy at area Wal-Marts around town.

Fans were not only allowed to see the trophy, but they could be photographed next to it as well. In one brilliant move, coach Saban extended his team's championship to a larger community who played a small part in his team's victory.

How do you celebrate victories in your church, or area of ministry? Do you look for creative ways to extend the celebration to those who played minor roles, though nonetheless significant? With a little time and thought I believe we can do better in helping people take ownership in the victories God brings our way.

Making an Impression vs Being Impressive

2009-12-22T10:13:00.002-06:00

When it comes to the topic of people, few people are better at understanding people from a leadership perspective than John Maxwell. In his recent newsletter he makes a great point about the difference between making an impression vs being impressive. It's a good read, so I'm passing along the link.

Leaders & Money

2009-12-01T11:00:00.003-06:00

Money and the Church are two things that society regards as a very dangerous combination. When someone comes along who demonstrates otherwise, it's noteworthy.

Recently Rick Warren was interviewed by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. I thought what he shared about how he handles his own personal finances was outstanding. It's important for us to get this area right in our lives. Here's what Rick had to say in the interview.

WARREN: I actually retired when the book came out. Most of you know that I tithe 90 percent. When you write the best-selling book in English history, second to the Bible - The Purpose Driven Life is the most translated book in the world except for the Bible. It's in over a hundred languages. Friends, it's tens of millions of dollars. The income is tens of millions of dollars.
It actually scared me and I thought, wait a minute: I'm a pastor; I'm pretty simple. If I've got a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, I don't need anything else - good T-shirt. And when you write a book and the first sentence of the book is, "It's not about you," then you figure the money is not for you. So I knew that all this money coming in was not to be used by me. So Kay and I made five decisions - this was seven years ago - what to do with these tens of millions of dollars. One -

CROMARTIE: Get rid of the Hawaiian shirts.

WARREN: Yeah. One, we said we're not going to spend it on ourselves. We're not going to change our lifestyle one bit. I still live in the same house I've lived in for 17 years. I drive a 10-year-old Ford truck. I bought my watch at Wal-Mart. I don't own a boat, I don't own a plane, I don't own a vacation home. I didn't want to be a televangelist. That's why I've never gone on television. Of the largest churches in America, I think I'm the only one not on TV because I don't like that lifestyle.

The second thing is seven years ago I stopped taking a salary from Saddleback Church, so I effectively retired.

Third is I added up all that the church had paid me in 25 years and I gave it all back. I knew I was being put under the spotlight, and I never wanted anybody to think that I do what I do for money. I don't. I do it because I love Jesus Christ. That's why I do it. And I love people. It's why I do what I do.

It's really funny because the very next week I was interviewed - it was either Time or Newsweek sent somebody over for an article, and the first question was, what's your salary? I thought, this is going to be good. Here is some fat cat megachurch pastor ripping off the flock. I just looked at her and I said, well, actually, I've served my church for free for 25 years. Got her. Oh, that felt good. Now I had to repent of my pride later but it felt good for about five minutes. (Laughter.)

Then we set up three foundations, our three charities. One is Acts of Mercy, which works with people infected and affected by AIDS. One is called Equipping Leaders, which - as I travel around the world, like these trips I'm doing, I pay for it all myself. I haven't taken an honorarium in 10 years. I pay for it all myself, and I take my team with me and I pay for them. And then the P.E.A.C.E. Plan. Then the last thing we did is we became reverse tithers.

CROMARTIE: What's the third foundation?

WARREN: The P.E.A.C.E. Plan. It's not a foundation; it's a 501(c)(3) charity, the P.E.A.C.E. Plan. And lots of churches are involved in that.

But the fifth thing I did is I became a reverse tither. When Kay and I got married 35 years ago, we started giving 10 percent of our income away. The Bible calls that tithing, charity. At the end of our first year, we raised our tithe to 11 percent. At the end of our second year, we raised our tithe to 12 percent. At the end of our third year of marriage, we raised our tithe to 13 percent.

Now the Bible doesn't teach us - in fact, we didn't tell anybody about it for 30 years because we weren't doing it to impress anybody. We did it because every time I give, it breaks the grip of materialism in my life. Every time I give, I become more generous. Every time I give, my heart grows bigger. Every time I give, I become more like Jesus Christ, who is my model.

Over the years, every time we would have a tough financial year, we would raise our giving maybe a quarter of a percent. When I'd get a raise, I would raise it 4 or 5 percent. And now, after 35 years of marriage, Kay and I give away 90 percent of our income and live on 10. I take no salary; I just live on the royalties of the best-selling book of all time, but I live on 10 percent - 10 percent of it - and I give away 90.
That has been so much fun, and I've played this game with God for 35 years. God says, you give to me and I'll give to you and we'll see who wins, and I've lost every year. I'm not talking about material gain. I don't even believe in the, quote, "prosperity" gospel. It's a heresy. It's a heresy. Don't ever put an adjective in front of "gospel." There is no social gospel. There is no prosperity gospel. There is no political gospel. There is just the Gospel, and so don't pervert it. But that has been so much fun.

Learning From Business

2009-11-30T13:11:00.002-06:00

There is great debate about what and how much the Church can (and should) learn from business. We all know that the Church is not a business, and yet there are business principles that we need to be aware of within the Church, especially as a local congregation grows beyond 200.

Today I was reading about a visionary leader named Terry Mathews who is ahead of the game in regard to helping others develop their own businesses. As I read the article I couldn't help but notice the crossover between some of his strategies and the Leadership within the Church.

Give it a read and let me know what you think. Link

Being Driven

2009-11-23T17:06:00.004-06:00

I recently read in Fast Company magazine about an interview with communication mogul Ted Turner. In the interview Turner mentioned that his IQ was 128 (genius is 140), and that he was in the top 97% academically. The next thing he said caught me by surprise. He said,

"That means 3 percent of people were smarter than me. I knew I was going to have to work hard if I wanted to accomplish something in life. So I read a lot -- classics, warfare, Alexander the Great -- I used my brain all the time. Everything I did was education. Others just shot the breeze, wasted time -- nothing wrong with that, but you can't get to the top doing that."

It's evident that Ted Turner never reached the top of the communications industry by wasting his time or sitting around being idle. The guy was driven to always be growing and learning.

Sometimes within Christian circles being "driven" is seen as a negative. The truth of the matter is that most of us are driven by something. As leaders it's important that we possess a clear sense of godly drive. The Apostle Paul certainly had it as evidenced when he said,

"I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it,but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us." (Philippians 3:12-14)

So what about you? Are you driven or are you simply doing your job, coasting in neutral?

Maintaining Vision

2009-11-23T12:15:00.002-06:00

When it comes to leadership vision is an absolute necessity. Knowing this is one thing, maintaining a strong focus on vision is another. Mike Silliman has a good blog post about maintaining vision.

Getting Beyond the "Everyone Knows the Pastor" Stage

2009-11-20T10:38:00.003-06:00

J. D. Greear was asked, "What is the most important thing for a pastor of a church that's out-growing the "everyone knows the pastor" phase to do?" J. D.'s offers some great advice in his answer. Here's what he had to say.

I think the most important thing is to, before you get to that phase, develop a culture in the church that leadership is multi-leveled. That comes from teaching on the egalitarian nature of ministry gifts--that each believer is empowered by the Holy Spirit with gifts to minister to the body. I often tell our congregation that according to Ephesians 4:11, when I became a pastor I left "the ministry." I became an empowerer.
There are small but significant things like referring to yourself as only "one of the pastors" and sharing significant stage time with other leaders. You can strategically not show up at certain events so that other leaders can develop. People will whine and moan about that as first, because everybody knows if you (the lead pastor) are not there it doesn't really count in God's eyes... but overall, that's good pain for them to go through and they'll get used to it.
I found it very important to set a precedent, from the very first week I was pastor, to emphasize to the congregation that the greatest thing I could do for the people was teach the word of God faithfully and creatively each week, and so we would guard viciously my preparation time. From the beginning I've never taken calls or emails before 11am, because that is my time in prayer and the word. I could be a wonderful counselor, administrator, phone call answerer, problem solver, etc but if I am not teaching the Word of God with power each Sunday then the church suffers. Flipping that around, if I teach the Word well each Sunday, other things may struggle for a while, but the church will be healthy and other leaders will arise to do those things... or, through faithful preaching, you can grow the size of your congregation to where you can hire someone to do them. Either way, guarding my time in the Word has been a key to developing multiple leaders.
I have also found that developing a culture of sending people out is important in raising up leaders--whether that be out into the community for ministry or somewhere to plant a church or new campus. Real leaders love a challenge and compelling vision. Leaders like to lead, not just follow. They will not be content to be cogs in "your machine"; they will thrive when you are empowering them to see the things that they can lead in the church and community. We at the Summit often emphasize that the best ideas for ministry are in the congregation, not in our offices. Our role as pastors is to inspire and release. I would rather our church be like a group of wild steeds and our staff be like the reins trying to keep all the horses running the same direction than I would our staff be more like the engine driving a car.
Surprisingly to me, considering the size of our church, I feel relatively unbothered, and I think that is because of we have a large leadership culture. People in our church really do see a host of pastors, small group leaders, and coaches as every bit as able to minister the Word in the power of the Holy Spirit as I am. I have the freedom now to talk to people comfortably after service, and am able to return most of the phone calls and emails that come to me. That's in part because people from the church don't email me as much anymore--because there are multiple leaders they can talk to. That wasn't always the case. I used to get asked about every question you could think of--from theology to complaints about the church to math word problems (that's not a joke!).

Holiday Serving Ideas

2009-11-17T09:18:00.002-06:00

When it comes to breaking the ice and opening conversational doors few things are as effective as unexpectedly serving others. With the holidays upon us the calendar makes it all that much easier to serve with no strings attached. Here are some ideas for how you can get involved with serving others this holiday season. Link

Sports and Spirituality

2009-11-14T10:01:00.002-06:00

As many of you know I am a big sports fan. Like many of you, I have my favorite sport (College Football) and my favorite team (the Cornhuskers). Tune in to a college football game on TV some Saturday and you can quickly draw some parallels between sport and worship.

This morning I read a blog post by a Brazillian church planter named Felipe Assis who wrote about this connection. I enjoyed the post and agree with his conclusion that sport points to a greater reality that satisfies the internal longings for which we often times turn to sports.

Here's the link.

Thinking Outside the Box

2009-11-13T10:07:00.003-06:00

As leaders we have to be open to new ways of communicating things that may seem commonplace. While vision needs to continually be repeated, we must make sure that we're repeating it in different ways. An idea Bryan Mowrey had for our current God Series was to have tee shirts designed that contained a graphic germane to that morning's message.

Here's a business example of what I'm talking about. It's a company that came up with a new way of displaying something very commonplace, bar codes. Take a look.

What are you doing to communicate your church's vision in a way that makes people take notice?

Redeemer Church Sermon Downloads

2009-11-10T10:37:00.002-06:00

Redeemer Church and it's pastor, Tim Keller are making 150 sermon downloads available free of charge. What a great resource this is. Here's the link.

So What's So Bad About the Prosperity Gospel?

2009-11-03T09:54:00.002-06:00

Turn on your television and on some channel somewhere you'll find a nicely dressed preacher telling people that God's will for them is that they would prosper. It sounds good, especially when they back it up with strategically selected verses of scripture. But is this really God's will? What if I'm not rich? Does that mean I've sinned?

In this ten-minute video John Piper unpacks the dangers behind the Prosperity Gospel. If you are receiving this post via email, click on the title to view the video.

Free Audio Book: Desiring God

2009-11-02T15:15:00.002-06:00

For those of you who spend a lot of time in the car, here's a link to a free audio download of John Piper's book Desiring God. Don't we just love free stuff? Oh yeah!

5 Warning Signs of a Sinking Church

2009-10-29T20:47:00.003-06:00

As leaders we are always seeking to lead our churches to be healthy and vibrant, fully engaged in the mission of Jesus. While it is not always easy to evaluate the health of your own church Thom Ranier provides some warning signs of a church that is in a state of decline. We do well to recognize these signs before they arrive.

The church has few outwardly focused ministries. Most of the budget dollars in the church are spent on the desires and comforts of church members. The ministry staff spends most of its time taking care of members, with little time to reach out and minister to the community the church is supposed to serve.
The dropout rate is increasing. Members are leaving for other churches in the community, or they are leaving the local church completely. A common exit interview theme we heard was a lack of deep biblical teaching and preaching in the church.
The church is experiencing conflict over issues of budgets and building. When the focus of church members becomes how the facilities and money can meet their preferences, church health is clearly on the wane.
Corporate prayer is minimized. If the church makes prayer a low priority, it makes God a low priority.
The pastor has become a chaplain. The church members view the pastor as their personal chaplain, expecting him to be on call for their needs and preferences. When he doesn’t make a visit at the expected time, or when he doesn’t show up for the Bible class fellowship, he receives criticism. In not a few cases, the pastor has lost his job at that church because he was not omnipresent for the church members.

There's Something to be Said for Perseverance

2009-10-28T10:18:00.004-06:00

When it comes down to it, church planting, like much of leadership is just plain hard work. While there are those occasional mountaintop experiences, most of the time they are few and far between. Often times one of the most helpful things a leader can do is not give up. Though there is not a lot of fanfare associated with perseverance, nothing can quite take its place.

The Resurgence website recently posted on this helpful topic. Here's the link.

3 Things Youth Workers Need to be Good At

2009-09-22T09:25:00.002-06:00

How much training have you given to your youth leaders? Do your youth volunteers lead "youth meetings" or do they lead people? Here are three simple things that can help them be more effective as youth leaders.

Followup
Who needs a call back this week? What email has been sitting in the bottom of your inbox that needs a reply? What made it on your task list, but sits there with persistence week after week? Who did you promise something to, but haven’t delivered on? Follow-up is a scare commodity in our fast-paced, disorganized world.

Thank yous
Who needs a note from you this week? Can you crank out a couple emails that would mean the world to people who receive them? Who did something for you that needs to be appreciated? Build this into your routine of the week, or chances are you’re unintentionally burning bridges behind you if you say nothing after the ask.

Affirmation
To me this is different than thank yous – thank yous are for people who have given you something and need to be appreciated for something they did. Affirmation is for who someone is. It is an appreciation of their legacy and character that is making an impact. Affirmation is also ultra powerful way to build up someone’s self-esteem.

Take a second and create a short list of people who need one of these actions this week.

Grandparenting: Ready or Not Here We Come

2009-09-03T09:18:00.003-06:00

I think I can honestly say that I've never been completely prepared for any phase of life I've been through. Whether it's been marriage, being a parent, raising teens, kids leaving home, kids getting married, or whatever, each has come with a clear sense of "What's in store for us now?" Don't look now, but I'm at that place again.

On Tuesday, September 1 our son Seth and daughter-in-law Shannon, welcomed into the world their first child, Adara Lynn Hein. She is absolutely gorgeous, as you can see for yourself. With this beautiful girl comes the next phase of life, grandparent-hood.

Over the years I have heard strange rumors of perfectly normal adults going through some kind of wild metamorphosis as they pass through the tunnel of becoming a grandparent. Fiscally responsible people all of a sudden throw out the budget in light of a new bundle of joy. Health-conscious do-gooders travel down grocery store aisles filling their shopping cart with items they previously cursed for years, all because of a little voice that says, "Can I have that grandma?" People who haven't been to a garage sale in years are all of a sudden scanning the Thursday edition of the local newspaper in hopes of finding a garage sale add that contains the magic words, "Baby clothes".

It's yet to be determined whether Gayle or I will succumb to such wild transformation. However, one thing we are certain of at this point of life and and that is that God is good. We are humbled and at times perplexed by His everlasting love and grace. That God would send His Son, Jesus to die in our place on the cross, for our sin has always been a mystery to us. We are fully convinced that there was nothing within us that merited such action. But for this life-changing grace we are eternally grateful. And it is in His grace that we continue to trust. Therefore, we can say with all confidence, "Grandparenting Here We Come!"

Getting the Most Out of Twitter

2009-08-28T08:46:00.002-06:00

Okay all you Twitter Heads, here's some very helpful information from Michael Hyatt (one of my favorite bloggers btw) on how to get the most out of your Twitter account.

1. Why Do You Twitter?

Two reasons: First, I am very interested in leadership. Leadership is influence. Twitter allows me to use my influence to effect thousands of people. Second, I am interested in building my personal brand, so that I can leverage that on behalf of my company. As I build my brand, I build trust. When people trust you, you have more influence. It all works together.

2. What Do You Think has Contributed to Your Growth Success?

I think by adding value to people’s lives.

I try to point people to articles and posts that I believe will enrich their lives in some way. The more generous you are with Twitter, the more followers you will attract. It’s like making a deposit in their bank account.

Conversely, “using” your followers to pimp your own products or services is like a withdrawal. You can do it, but you must be very careful that your deposits exceed your withdrawals.

3. What Strategies Would You Give for a Twitter User Who’s Not “New” But Who’s Been Around and is Looking to Take It to the “Next Level”?

Make sure that you are tweeting great content. Again, be generous. Give more than you ask.
Re-tweet great content from others. This builds equity with the people you are re-tweeting, so they are more likely to re-tweeting you.
Twitter frequently, but not too frequently. I think 8-12 tweets a day is about right. More than that will wear people out.
Don’t reply publicly to private questions. This is what direct messages are for. If potential followers can’t follow your conversations, they won’t follow you-or worse, they may unfollow you. Only post public tweets that are relevant to ALL (or at least most) of your followers.
Create a custom landing page. When people consider following you, the first thing they do is click on your Web link on your Twitter profile page. That should go to a special landing page on your blog or Web site.
Blog about Twitter. I wrote “The Beginner’s Guide to Twitter” and it is the most popular page on my blog. I have also written several other posts about Twitter. They get lots of traffic.
Auto-follow everyone who follows you. I use TweetLater.com to do this. I’m not sure I can explain why this works but it does. When I started doing this, my follower growth sky-rocketed. I use TweetDeck to manage such a large number of followers by segmenting followers into groups.

Collecting Stories

2009-08-26T08:12:00.002-06:00

In my last post I talked about the power of stories to engage people. While we all agree on this point, one of the common questions many people have when it comes to stories is, "Where do you get your stories?". Believe it or not most of the stories I tell are about myself. Personal stories accomplish two main things.

They communicate vulnerability to those I'm speaking to. The last thing I want to do is to come off like I have all the answers or that I'm the expert. I don't have all the answers and I'm certainly no expert. I want people, especially guests to recognize that I'm just like them.
They allow me to communicate with more passion and emotion. Because I'm the one who has gone through the experience myself, I'm able to communicate personal stories with more passion and emotion than if I were telling stories of other people.

So where do I get my stories? Stories are going on around us all the time, we simply don't pay attention much of the time. In my book bag I have with me a small notebook where I keep a list of things that happen to me and around me that are worthy of recording. At the end of each day I simply think back over the day and if something happened that was noteworthy, I answer these questions in the book.

What happened?
Who was involved?
How can people connect with what happened?
What is funny?
What are the messages or life lessons that can be drawn from this story?

In the front of the book I keep an index of all my stories (Page #; Date; Lessons; Story) for quick reference. Even though I'm fairly new at this, this system has worked well so far.

Are You Telling Stories?

2009-08-25T08:31:00.003-06:00

When Nehemiah went back to Jerusalem to take on the arduous task of rebuilding the city walls, the first difficult task in front of him was to envision the people to join in the work. It's one thing to get people to commit to a common mission when things are going good and there's momentum all around. It's another thing to engage people when all they see around them are ruins. So what did Nehemiah do to get the people to sacrifice their life for the greater good? He told a story.

"Then I told them about how the gracious hand of God has been on me, and about my conversation with the king. They replied at once, 'Yes, let's rebuild the wall!' So they began the good work." (Nehemiah 2:18)

Up until this time we are given no indication that the people were willing to join in the work. However, once Nehemiah told the story of God's leading and what God had accomplished up to that point, everyone wanted in on the action. Why is that? One of the reasons is because stories are powerful tools that engage people.

We live in an age where information is increasing at the speed of light. As a result we have grown blase with it all. Instruction must be more than information if we have any shot at engaging people in God's mission. We must include stories that point to God at work.

For example, one of the points I made in last Sunday's message out of Hebrews 10 was that faithfulness does not preclude suffering. Originally I was going to go to a number of Bible passages that support this point. Instead, I opted for a story that I found online in video format. I'm including the video at the bottom of this post. In the end the story was so much better at communicating my point and engaging people. (If you are receiving this post via email, you will need to click on the title at the top of the email in order to see the video.)

Whether your a primary leader who preaches every week, a small group leader, or a children's volunteer, look for ways to include stories in your instruction. I'll share some tips next time for where to look for stories and how to keep track of them.

Welcome Videos

2009-08-20T15:00:00.000-06:00

We've never used a Welcome Video at Jubilee, but after looking at some of these I might change my mind. Check out 13 compelling church welcome videos here.

Attracting Young Leaders

2009-08-19T21:16:00.002-06:00

As leaders we're always on the look out for aspiring young leaders we can develop and invest into. When it comes to developing new leaders it seems that most of the focus is on the young leader who is being developed. What about our role as leaders to attract younger leaders? Is our leadership compelling to young leaders, or are we turning them away and not even realizing we're doing so?

Brad Lomenick recently identified nine characteristics of leaders who attract young leaders. I thought it was worthy of sharing with you.

Humility, combined with incredible passion and skill. Jim Collins writes about this as the key characteristic of a level 5 leader.
Unwavering commitment to reaching their desired audience and accomplishing the mission. Know the hill they are climbing and willing to fight to get to the top.
The IT factor- hard to explain, but easy to spot.
Collaboration and not competition, celebrating others victories along with your own.
Willing to give over responsibility vs. a “wait your turn” mentality- will allow young leaders to lead if they are qualified and can handle it.
Authenticity- They keep it real. Young leaders clamor towards authentic and honest leaders.
Open to change- if they are not open to change no one will follow them.
Can have at least a little fun. Like attracts like. It’s a reality= regardless of age, demographic, and style.
Passionately create a culture that takes risks, allows for failure, and thinks outside the box.

So how does your leadership stack up in each of these areas? Don't trust your own opinion, ask those you serve with to give you their honest feedback. The most profitable thing we can do to develop great leaders is to first of all be a great leader ourselves.

Nine Minutes From Some Great Leaders

2009-08-18T09:17:00.002-06:00

Leadership Network asked some well known church leaders from around the country, "If you had nine minutes to talk one-on-one with thousands of church leaders, what is the one thing that you would tell them?" What has come out of this is an online conference called The Nines. The date is 9/9/09 (What a surprise huh?) and it begins at, you guessed it 9 a.m.

The lineup is a proverbial who's who of church leaders so it promises to be helpful. Here's the link where you can register. Register here.

Visuals In Power Point

2009-08-03T10:41:00.001-06:00

Power Point can be a tricky thing when it comes to public speaking. The key thing to remember is that LESS IS MORE. Having said that, here is a great PPT presentation that does a good job of showing the ins and outs of a good presentation.

Visuals In Power Point

View more presentations from Rowan Manahan.

Books to Help You Understand the Bible

2009-07-30T08:41:00.002-06:00

I really appreciate the fact that a guy like Mark Driscoll will tell you his recommendations for various categories of books. Here's his recommended list of books to help you make sense of the Bible.

Manners and Customs

Edersheim, Alfred. Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah
Edersheim, Alfred. Sketches of Jewish Social Life in the Time of Christ
Gower, Ralph. The New Manners & Customs of Bible Times
Ryken, Leland, James C. Wilhoit, and Tremper Longman III. Dictionary of Biblical Imagery
Walton, John H, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament

Commentaries

Glynn, John. Commentary and Reference Survey: A Comprehensive Guide to Biblical and Theological Resources
Longman, Tremper, III. Old Testament Commentary Survey
Carson, D.A. New Testament Commentary Survey

Bible Difficulties

Geisler, Norman, and Thomas Howe. When Critics Ask: A Popular Handbook on Bible Difficulties
Kaiser, Walter C. Jr. Hard Sayings of the Bible
Archer, Gleason L. Jr. New International Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties

Systematic Theology

Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine
Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology
Gordon R. and Bruce A. Demarest. Integrative Theology

Love, Marriage & Stinking Thinking

2009-07-23T05:45:00.003-06:00

When it comes to resources that will help strengthen your marriage, especially in the area of communication, there's no one who does it better than Mark Gungor. He is not only one of the most funny seminar leaders you will ever hear, but also one of the most helpful. At Jubilee Church in Wentzville we used his DVD Seminar for an Action Track (small group) last fall and it was one of the best groups I've ever been a part of.

Mark, and the folks over at Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage have now added an additional resource to the mix that I think would be a great small group resource. Evidently Mark does a TV show that is called Love, Marriage & Stinking Thinking. You can watch Episode One free online. I thought it was excellent in its presentation and content. They are now making Season 1 available for sale at 30% off. Here are the episodes covered in Season 1.

If He Really Loved Me, He'd Know What I Want

It Is Impossible to Make a Woman Happy

You Have to Find Your Soul Mate

God Wants Me to Be Happy

I Have to be Honest with My Feelings

He Shouldn't Be So Interested in Sex

True Love Gives without Expecting in Return

He Must Be Thinking About Something

Men Don't Listen

If I Stay, He Will Change

Don't Marry Too Young - Part 1

Don't Marry Too Young - Part 2

I think this resource would work great as an evangelistic small group. Watch Episode 1 and have a good laugh. Who knows you might learn how to strengthen your relationship with your mate along the way.

When to Avoid Email

2009-07-22T08:57:00.003-06:00

While email is a great tool that has markedly changed the way we do things, I have to confess that there are times when I wish there was no such thing as email. Mark Driscoll once said the Greek word for email was demon. There never seems to be an end to the endless emails that constantly flood our inboxes.

There are some situations however, when email may not be the best method to communicate. The following list represents some of these times.

1. Avoid email…when you are asking someone to serve.
Inviting someone to participate in ministry is a special interaction. It’s easy to think of asking someone to serve as simply filling a gap, but by making this a personal conversation (phone or face-to-face) you have the opportunity to encourage them (by noting the gifts you’ve seen that God has given them), and by painting a picture of the vision you have for the ministry, with their involvement.

2. Avoid email…when you need a quick response.
If you need to confirm that Bill can read the Bible at church on Sunday, if it’s less than four days out, a phone call is the best way to confirm. A phone call enables instant confirmation (rather than waiting for a response, or wondering if they even got the email!), and if they are unable to serve, you’ve still got time to find a replacement.

3. Avoid email…when you want to encourage someone.
Think of the difference if you were to receive an email encouraging you for the good job you did praying at church on Sunday, or if you received a phone call to communicate the same encouragement. The effort taken to make the phone call, plus the personal nature of the conversation, makes email the lesser option.

4. Avoid email…when you are upset.
I’ve sent emails when I’ve been upset, and this was foolish. I’ve said things that I would never have said in person. I’ve reacted to things that would have easily been clarified if I’d picked up the phone or met up in person. It’s easy to fire off an email when upset, but it’s a foolish option.

5. Avoid email…if there’s any chance your email might be misunderstood.
The written word is easily misunderstood – either because the writer may not have written clearly, or because the reader may have read with his or her own bias. Regardless, if there’s a chance that a misunderstanding might occur, the potential time spent in damage control dealing with the mis-communication will soon overtake the time you should have spent making the original phone call.

6. Avoid email…when you are canceling or apologizing.
It’s not easy to tell someone that you can no longer come along to an event, or can no longer (or would no longer like to) be involved in a particular ministry. Email is an easy way to communicate this, but I think it’s a cop-out. I think this is a simple issue of courtesy (and the same goes for cancelling via SMS!). Similarly, it’s much easier to apologize over email than in person. To apologize in person displays humility, plus you have the advantage of being able to ask for forgiveness, and for the other person to offer forgiveness, thus restoring the relationship.

7. Avoid email…when you have a suggestion on how to do something better (i.e. constructive criticism!).
When you send an email, you don’t know how the recipient is going. They could be having a terrible day/week/month. Your feedback could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back! Giving feedback in person allows you to see how the other person is going, read the visual cues, and communicate gently where necessary!

8. Avoid email…when you are rebuking.
Similar to the example above, delivering (and receiving) a rebuke isn’t easy at the best of times. In personal interactions, facial expressions and body language count for a lot. When rebuking, responding to these cues is important. Therefore, I would go the further step to suggest that the best way to rebuke is face-to-face, not even over the phone.

9. Avoid email…when the interaction will be back and forth.
Email isn’t the forum to converse – it takes time, it’s prone to misunderstandings and it’s not immediate. If you want to have a conversation with someone, have a conversation.

10. Avoid email…to share private information.
When you are sending an email, like it or not, there is the potential that the contents of the email may be shared with others. This isn’t always a bad thing (e.g. you can forward an email with prayer points), but private information that would be harmful if distributed beyond the recipients of the email should be discussed in person. Therefore it’s safe to assume that the contents of an email may be made public, and communicate in person where necessary.

(Thanks to Communicate Jesus for the content of this list.)

Top Ten Reasons Volunteers Serve

2009-07-19T20:14:00.002-06:00

I recently came across this list of the top ten reasons volunteers serve. The implications for leaders are quite significant to say the least.

1. Someone asked them (93%)
2. Compelling need
3. Personal connection
4. Gratitude for being served
5. Spiritual/ religious beliefs
6. Social needs
7. Job skill/ resume’ development
8. Guilt
9. Boredom
10. External influences (family members, influential leaders, advertising)

5 Bad Habits That Hinder You from Becoming an Exceptional Public Speaker

2009-07-15T07:52:00.002-06:00

Communicating confidently is a great skill for all leaders to possess. This kind of thing doesn't just happen on its own however. It takes work, practice and more practice. The time you give to improve your communication skills is time well spent. I came across this post from The Public Speaking Blog and thought I'd pass it along. I took a little license and made some minor changes along the way. All in all the post is pretty much the same.

Bad Habit #1 - Reading From The Script
The main culprit here is comfort. A script gives the speaker a false sense of security. They think that with a script, they won’t have to memorize anything. And even better, they won’t have to engage their audience since they are busy listening to him read.

Unfortunately, we all know that that’s not the case. When you read from a script, you are forced to sound monotone. You will scare the audience with your bobbing head and worse, you give people the feeling that you are reading someone else words.

So what’s the solution?
Stop reading your script! But that doesn’t mean you should not have a script. In fact, I strongly recommend you to have one but it should be written like you are speaking. So instead of formal writing like “Scientists from the Harvard University have discovered that when a speaker incorporates emotive words into their speeches, they have a 90% chance of influencing the audience to their way of thinking”, you can make it more conversational like “I was just reading this scientific article and I learnt that if you use emotive words to communicate, you will have a higher chance of influencing your audience to your way of thinking… how cool is that!”

But I don’t have a very good memory, how will I be able to remember everything? Well, you don’t have to. With a clear structure, there isn’t really a need to memorize word for word. All you need to do is to remember your key points and how to flow from one point to another.

And if you really have to read from the script, here’s how you should do it to ensure you still engage your audience.

It’s call the See, Stop, Say approach recommended by James C Hume. author of Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln.

Here’s the rule of thumb - never ever speak when your eyes are on your script.

First, look down and take a snapshot of your script. Memorize a chunk of words. Bring your head up and then pause for a second. When you are ready, say what you have memorized in your own words. It’s a three-step process: see, stop and say. It is very important that you pause. Yes, it may be weird for you but in reality, the pause helps make your speech conversational. It also creates anticipation, which further deepen the impact.

Bad Habit #2 - Winging It
How many of you have heard of these infamous excuses - “You should just wing it so that you sound natural on stage” or “If you prepare too much, you will get a nervous breakdown.” Personally I think they are all wrong. My theory is this, the reason why some speakers sound so natural is because they are well prepared. They know exactly what they need to say and how to say it, that’s why they look confident and sound natural. They are so well prepared that they can focus on interacting with the audience. However when you try to wing a speech, you will set yourself up for failure.

I know this because I was like this once upon a time. I thought that if I wing it (say whatever that comes into my mind), I will look professional and confident. But as it turned out, I was terribly wrong. The outcome was horrendous. I did not know what I was saying half the time, my audience ended up getting confused and I felt lousy after my speech. So please don’t try to justify your laziness. Hard work counts.

So what’s the solution?
Prepare, prepare, prepare! The more certainty you have on your speech material, the more confident you will be . Remember, the best speeches are never written, they are re-written!

Bad Habit #3 - Beating Around The Bush
There is a well known formula that most veteran speakers adopt to deliver their speech. (1) Tell them what you are going to tell them. (2) Tell them. (3) Tell them what you have told them. However, many speakers out there do this instead. They tell you what they are going to tell you and then they tell you. And they tell you again. And again. And again. And again. And… again. By the time they tell you what they have told you, you have already fallen asleep.

Beating around the bush is a function of the speaker not being clear of what they want to say. As a result, they do a word diarhoea and it stinks!

Another reason why a speaker beats around the bush is because he is not well prepared. As a result, he try to stretch a ten minute point to thirty minutes, so that he can fill up time. And it will come to a point of time where the audience will just shut down because they have heard it already.

So what’s the solution?
Firstly, the speaker has to be clear on his speech objectives. What’s his message? What is it that he wants the audience to remember? What is the one point he want his audience to apply? Once he is clear on his speech objectives, he can then search for stories, examples and analogies to help support his points.
Bad Habit #4 - Failing To Do Your Research
I have seen speakers who will revel on a topic that makes absolutely no connection with the audience. Try sharing with a bunch of 20 year olds the importance of retirement planning or teaching a roomful of women how to dismantle a car, and you will know what I mean. For the 20 years old, you are not addressing a current problem that they feel challenged by. For the women, they are not exactly car lovers. So as a speaker, it is very important not to assume what your audience wants. Instead, you should go old fashion style and research on your audience! It pays literally.

I know of a professional speaker who gets paid $50K for one three hour gig. When I asked him for his secret, he send me his 10 page pre-event questionaire. Two months before his gig, he will get the meeting planner to fill up the pre-event questionaire. In his pre-event questionaire, he will find out about the company’s recent success stories. He will find out who their competitors are and what the employees talk about at their water coolers. He will walk the extra mile by calling up employees to verify the information and extract more. The number of people he interviews is directly proportional to the amount of money he is paid.

Why does he do that? Because that way, he will know exactly what his audience needs and wants. And in his three hours gig, he gives them exactly what they want. Doesn’t sound like rocket science, does it?

So what’s the solution?
You've got to know your audience inside-out. And here’s another secret shared by another champion speaker, you must learn how to make your audience the heroes. Go figure!

Bad Habit #5 - Too Many Uhh and Urms
Do you know that the number of ums and ers in your speech is inversely proportional to how confident your audience perceive you to be? In other words, if you have a lot of these pause fillers in your speech, no matter how confident or well prepared you are, your audience is going to think that you are an amateur. If you are delivering a sales presentation to your client, their level of trust for you is going to go down by a few notches. If you are pitching to a panel of investors, you are going to lose points compared to another entrepreneur who has more rigor in their speaking.

That’s why it is crucial for speakers to be conscious about their speaking and make an effort to exterminate these word pests.

So what’s the solution?
It all starts with awareness. When you start to pay attention to your delivery, you will be able to catch yourself unleashing these word pests. And the more you practice catching yourself, the less inclined you will be in adding urms and ahs in your speech. It helps to have a friend or two to point out and count your pause fillers each time you speak, so that you can start tracking your progress. In Toastmasters, they even have a fine system to help deter you from polluting your speech with the pause fillers.

Here’s another solution. Get used to the silence. One of the reasons why speakers litter their speech with the ums and ahs is because they are uncomfortable with the silence. So when they transit from one point to another and they are thinking of what to say, the silence causes them to say something. However, if you begin to use silence as a tool to underscore a point, you will notice that there is a lesser need for you to use pause fillers in your speech.

Lastly, start practicing not using pause fillers in your everyday conversation. Make it a habit NOT to use pause fillers. Try it in your phone conversation with your friend. Try it in your dinner conversation. Try it in your short meetings. The more you are used to not using pause fillers, the easier it will be for you to speak fluently in your major presentations.

Indvidualized Spiritual Growth Program

2009-07-12T22:05:00.004-06:00

Here's a new approach to spiritual growth. Some Christian leaders have gotten together and developed software that analyzes your spiritual needs through online assessment and presents you with a detailed plan for how to grow in your faith. The program is called Monvee. The link will take you to their website where you can click on a video presentation. Evidently an entire church can get on the program.

I'm not sure how this works in conjunction with a church's local vision. I realize it's being presented as an antidote for a "one size fits all" discipleship program. But in the end, isn't that what it ends up becoming? I'd be interested in what some of you think, so let me know.

4 Ways Parents Can Help Make Oneblaze Week Memorable

2009-07-10T21:17:00.003-06:00

Joshua Griffin is the youth pastor at Saddleback Church in California. Josh recently posted on his blog 5 things parents could do to help out on youth mission trips. Since the Newfrontiers Oneblaze Week is this next week, I took Joshua's ideas and reworked them to help those of you who are parents make this next week memorable for them. Here are the 4 things you can do.

1. Please take time to pray with your child before they go. Pray that they would rise to the challenge to grow stronger in their connection with Jesus. Pray also that God would use them to help Living Hope Church demonstrate God's love to the city of St. Joseph through acts of kindness, and that in so doing Jesus would be glorified. (Matthew 5:16)

2. Please ask them to double check their packing. DON’T let them overpack. An iPod and camera are OK, but they don’t need to bring all their electronic gadgets with them. NO LATOPS or other bulky/expensive electronics. They will be out in the community serving during the week, it's not a fashion runway…so don’t let them pack a ton of clothes. Don't forget your sleeping bag, favorite pillow and toiletries.

3. Don't be calling your teen four times a day checking on them. Some of you may be nervous about your teen being away from home, especially if it's the first time. I would encourage you to TRUST GOD! Every church is sending qualifed and caring adults as counselors so they are in good hands. It's a healthy thing for kids at this age to have a growing sense of independence from mom and dad. You'll have plenty of time to talk when they get back.

4. Be prepared to be patient with your teen when they return home. Be ready to let them process their week with you upon their return. You may have things to do that day, but set aside time to listen to everything they have to say about their week in St. Joseph. When they're done, ask them questions and pray with them. Look at pictures together. Listen. It’s our expectation that they will come home a little different from this experience. Anticipate that and be ready to help them talk about it.

Free Financial Resource

2009-07-07T19:16:00.002-06:00

Back on June 19, Ed Stetzer posted about a free financial resource for churches. I don't think it's too late to get in on the offer. I asked for mine yesterday, and even said "please". Here's the link for the info: Free Financial Freedom Resource

7 Deadly Sins of Inviting Volunteers to Serve

2009-07-07T07:50:00.003-06:00

If you're like me I'm sure you've made a few of these mistakes along the way when it comes to inviting volunteers to serve. We might be surprised as to how many people never engage in serving simply because of the way we go about asking. Not to mention those that serve with wrong motives. No need to fret, help is on the way.

Sin #1: Expect announcements to get volunteers. An announcement may get a couple of volunteers, but usually those are the people who are volunteering anyway. People must be challenged individually. A challenge to everybody with an announcement is in fact a challenge to nobody.

Sin #2: Ask by yourself. The best people to help you invite volunteers are those who currently serve in that capacity. After all they are the ones who are most passionate about that particular ministry. So why not leverage their zeal and commitment to help invite others to serve?

Sin #3: Ask For, and Expect Long-Term Commitments. Just remember that short-term projects provide excellent “first dates”—they’re how you find your long-term volunteers. Give people the opportunity to try on your ministry to see how it fits. Short-term volunteers have the opportunity to catch your ministry’s vision as they work closely with a passionate leader. It also affords everyone an agreed upon exit door in case they're not a good fit for the job.

Sin #4: Assume That “No” Means “Never”. Sometimes a “no” only means that a prospective volunteer would rather do something other than the role you’ve described. Probe to find out what the person likes to do and what their gifts are, then see if there’s a match for that person in your (or someone else's) ministry.

Sin #5: Recruit Just Warm Bodies. It is easy to get in the mindset of just needing to fill slots and needs within your ministry..but you don't just want warm bodies, rather you want people with warm hearts toward your ministry. You want people whose gifts, skills and abilities are a good match for your ministry.

Sin #6: Recruit to the need. People don't want to hear a desperate plea of how you need volunteers. You don't recruit to the need, rather you recruit to the vision. Most people don't volunteer out of guilt because you tell them that your ministry team is in desperate need of volunteers. Rather most people volunteer because they are compelled by the vision. Paint and cast that compelling vision for your prospective volunteers.

Sin #7: Keep Leadership all to Yourself. A good leader should be thinking of replacing themselves. You should be developing future leadership within your ministry, not just hoarding all the leadership responsibility for yourself. One day God may call you to step out of your leadership role. When that day happens, who is going to replace you? Are you going to leave a vacuum?

Thanks to Bill Reichart for some of this helpful info.

Evalutaing How You Reach Prospects

2009-07-05T08:00:00.002-06:00

CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, Michael Hyatt recently outlined his reasons for why Thomas Nelson has stopped attending trade shows.

Trade shows made sense when the industry was more fragmented. It was one of the few ways to connect face-to-face with retailers. But things have changed. The industry is largely consolidated.
Because of this, we meet face-to-face with our top 600 or so customers in Christian retail channel at least four times a year. These customers account for 95% of our revenue in this channel. Our telephone reps call on another 600 customers. These account for an additional 3% of our business. So that only leaves the stores that account for 2% of our total volume in this channel. We simply cannot justify the enormous expense of a trade show to reach these 2%. It’s not cost-effective for us. The same could be said of the general market as well.

I am not suggesting that this strategy is right for every publisher. For some, it may make great sense. It just doesn’t work for us.

Here are some questions for you to consider.

How is it the majority of your Sunday morning guests find out about your church? (If you don't know the answer to this question, get busy and figure it out. It is too important to guess.)
What are you doing to help increase this percentage?
Are you wasting money trying to bolster up other means of attracting guests that have largely proven ineffective?

If most of our guests come to church through personal invitation it seems to me that we should be investing most of our time, energy, creativity and money helping more members get in on the fun. What do you think?

Technology Untapped

2009-07-03T09:21:00.002-06:00

If you're like me, you don't have time to deeply explore all the things your various computer programs and software can do for you. That's why it's helpful when someone comes up with a list of 25 Web Apps That Make My Life Easier. Tony Morgan did this some time ago, and with Independence Day upon us I thought I'd share it with you in hopes that some of these might free some time up for you. (The Google Labs tip has been really helpful to me.)

How Do You Handle the Word of God

2009-07-03T08:00:00.000-06:00

Ed Stetzer has a great blog post titled, How Do You Handle the Word of God. It's rather lengthy, but nonetheless helpful. At the end of the post, he presented some application points that can help those of us who preach to grow in our skills of how we handle God's Word.

Listen to one of your recent sermons and assess how you handled the Bible (start by listening for how your sermon addressed the four points in this article).
Have someone you trust (maybe from outside your church) listen to a different one of your sermons and do the same assessment.
Read some books on preaching, like Christ-Centered Preaching by Bryan Chappel or The Divine Mentor by Wayne Cordiero, to help your personal approach to God's Word.
Create a list of clear and measurable goals to strengthen the biblical content of your preaching.

Whether you apply Ed's specific steps or not, the main thing is that you seek to grow in your preaching skills.

The Church & Culture

2009-06-30T14:25:00.003-06:00

The discussion of Church and Culture has been going on for literally centuries. I don't expect it will discontinue anytime soon. And quite honestly I'm good with that because there are no clear boundary lines between the two. It's an ongoing tension that we need to feel the pull of regularly.

Kim Meyer of Granger Community Church recently posted about this topic in regard to a church who invited author William P. Young (The Shack) to speak to their church. Here are Kim's comments.

I recently had a conversation with a church who invited William P. Young (author of The Shack) to speak during a weekend service. Now, they're getting hit hard by some of their congregants. Hit hard with comments like "This author belongs no where near this building."
Really? Really.

We get this type of feedback at Granger every single time we touch anything secular. The argument isn't new news. It spans hundreds of years. I'm not interested in arguing an old debate. And, for the record...nobody asked me to. But, they did ask me this: "When you find yourself fielding this type of feedback, how do you respond? How do you cast vision?" Here's how I responded.

"It is always good to communicate a simple WHY behind WHAT. For example:
This novel gives a voice to real, deep human longings. We’re going to explore the themes in this book to start a conversation about how the Bible, God, Christ and the Holy Spirit meets these real longings.
We listen to mainstream songs and read mainstream books to observe the spiritual journey revealed in the lyrics and storylines. This book is no different.
I also love what the president of Notre Dame recently said to the unruly Christian protesters who were bashing Obama when he came to speak at the ND Commencement ceremony (the protesters argued Obama shouldn’t be allowed to step foot on the Catholic campus because he is pro-choice). He said, 'You can't change world if you shun the people you want to persuade.' Well put.

So, keep it simple. Focus on the why behind the what: Love God, Love others. Keep open heart & mind to what we have to learn through the process. As Christ-followers, we do NOT have all the answers and Christ didn’t call us to be the judge and jury for the world. He called us to show them we are different because of our love. Some of these vocal congregants have just forgotten the main thing. You can help remind them."

Options Increase Opportunities

2009-06-29T19:00:00.001-06:00

The other day we received our city newsletter in the mail. One of the items of interest was the fact that since the city changed from tub-sized containers to large bin containers one month ago, the amount of things being recycled increased 74%. That is an incredible statistic, but more importantly it points to a principle all leaders should be aware of: Options Increase Opportunities.

When given the option of recycling more people readily did just that. When we had the small tubs, we were limited in how much we could recycle, but no more, thanks to our new large bins. In the same way, when we as leaders give our people more options, we increase their opportunities to volunteer, to lead, to get involved, to invite, to share their faith, you name it.

For example, why not print out a small postcard of your next sermon series. This increases the opportunity for your church to invite others. The same could be done for your children's monthly curriculum. Give something to your children that they can use to invite their friends.

Take some time to think it through and you'll come up with a number of things you can do to increase options, and thereby increase opportunities.

Got Margin?

2009-06-29T08:00:00.004-06:00

Mark Batterson recently posted about the need for leaders to create and maintain margin in their life. Here's what he said.

One of the quantum challenges leaders face is this: as the organizations they lead start experiencing organizational growth they stop experiencing personal growth. Why? Because of the demands of the organizational growth. They start leading the organization and stop leading themselves. And that is when the blessing turns into a curse. Growth will grind to a halt. In fact, it will probably implode. You lose spiritual margin. You lose intellectual margin. You lose creative margin. And you stop growing. No Margin = No Growth.

The key to continued organizational and personal growth boils down to this: margin. You need margin to think. You need margin to play. You need margin to laugh. You need margin to dream. You need margin to have impromptu conversations. You need margin to seize unanticipated opportunities. You need margin.

One of the primary responsibilities of leaders is creating margin. It almost seems selfish. But you are doing everybody you work with a disservice if you give them everything you've got. You need margin. And it starts with time management. If you don't control your calendar, your calendar will control you.

Here are a ten ways to create margin:

1) Use all of your vacation days. You owe it to yourself and your family.
2) Protect your day off religiously.
3) Don't schedule meetings on certain days or before certain hours.
4) Delegate more responsibility.
5) Only check email during designated times during the day.
6) Get up earlier in the morning.
7) Schedule meetings with God and yourself.
8) Turn off the TV.
9) Get out of your organizational context and go to a conference.
10) Hit the gym. You don't have enough time or energy NOT to work out.

Youth Curriculum

2009-06-27T08:34:00.002-06:00

If you're looking for some long-term curriculum for your youth, here's an option you may want to consider.

Growing as a Leader

2009-06-25T08:00:00.002-06:00

It's no secret that as our church grows we need to grow as leaders as well. What we did when the church was 100 will not work when the church is 200, 300 or 400. Tony Morgan had some good things to share along these lines in a recent blog post. He outlines the growth of a leader into the following categories.

Lead by example. This is the type of leadership that is required when a new ministry launches. During this season, the leader has to do most of the work themselves. That happens out of necessity because no one else is around. It also happens to establish a foundation for the future. “Leading by doing” gives the leader the opportunity to shape the mission, vision, values and strategy of the church. These folks may not necessarily be gifted as leaders but they are in a positional leadership role. They are the “leaders of tens.” Ministries with this style of leadership can grow to about 100 people.
Lead other people. During this season, the leader recruits other people to join the ministry team. Rather than doing all the work on their own, the leader begins to delegate tasks and responsibilities to other people. The leader still owns the responsibility for making things happen, they’re just including other people in the effort. These are the “leaders of fifties.” Ministries can grow to several hundred people with this style of leadership.

Lead other leaders. This is when a transition happens where leaders begin to empower other leaders. Instead of a hands-on role where they’re on top of all the tasks, they shift to a role where they’re really more concerned about leading, caring for and raising up other leaders. They don’t give up responsibility for the outcome, but they begin to release team building and decisions of execution to other people. These are the “leaders of hundreds.” Ministries can grow to several thousand people with this style of leadership.

Lead by vision. At some point, there are leaders who may continue to embrace functional leadership of specific areas of ministry, but their focus is really on the overall health of the church. Rather than a ministry-specific focus, they have a global perspective that encompasses every aspect of the organization. These folks are leading other leaders, but they also have influence that reaches beyond their direct reports. They are coming alongside the senior leader to champion the vision that God has given the church. These are the “leaders of thousands.” Ministries can grow to tens of thousands of people with this style of leadership.

Graphic Artists & The Church: Paid or Not Paid?

2009-06-23T08:58:00.002-06:00

Relevant websites, beautiful bulletins, clear signage and sharp-looking brochures are great things for every church to have. The problem with so many churches is that they either can't find anyone to design these things, or the lone graphic artist in the church is so overworked at their job that they don't have time to volunteer for the church. So what's the answer?

This blog post from Communicate Jesus takes on the question of whether graphic artists and other creatives should be paid by the church or should they volunteer their time like so many others. It's a good read.

Help Me Out Would You?

2009-06-21T13:00:00.000-06:00

This week I'm going to give some serious attention to increasing the number of subscribers to this blog. Here's how you can help. Pass along the website to friends, family, leaders, whomever you feel will be helped by the information posted on here.

My aim is to post content that is helpful to your growth and development as a leader. Drop me a line some time to let me know how I'm doing. It's always appreciated.

Start Where You Are: Your People

2009-06-18T16:06:00.001-06:00

Here's some more good advice from Agile Ministry on starting where you are in regard to volunteer teams.

Effective teams don’t happen overnight. Volunteer teams are the most difficult to make effective, as people come and go. Unlike a full-time job, people may leave for personal or job-related reasons. This makes team dynamics even more difficult.

The most effective volunteer teams I’ve seen are the ones that are built intentionally. Leaders that intentionally build their team build the team around people, rather than building the people around the team.

Want to build an effective team with the people you have today?

Spend the time to meet people where they are, find their skills and gifts, and make the best of what you have.

Spend the time to train those with a trainable heart.

Spend the time to fellowship and pray with each person.

Treat your team as gifts from God, not people in your way.

Remember: You are leading people, not tasks.

Lead From Where You Are

2009-06-17T16:00:00.000-06:00

Leaders are notorious for not being content with the way things are. Some of this is actually a good thing. I'm never content with the size of our location congregation here in Wentzville. I want to see more and more people being connected with Jesus. This kind of discontentment is a good thing. But there is another kind of discontentment that can actually lead to frustration. When this happens, leaders are frustrated that they don't have the influence of larger churches. They can also get frustrated that their church isn't growing as fast as other churches. When this kind of discontentment sets in, it can lead to all kinds of trouble. Thanks to Agile Ministry for the following advice to leaders who are frustrated in this way.

The result of this frustration: frustrated followers.

Want to be a better leader? Lead who you have today.

Want to be a better leader? Make a difference today.

Want to be a better leader? Start where you are today.

More Expectations of Summer Interns

2009-06-15T16:35:00.003-06:00

If you've never had a summer intern, do your homework, ask other leaders about their experience with interns and take the plunge. It's a great way to train young people and to get some help with necessary things with the church.

As promised, here are the remaining 10 expectations of summer interns.

10. Write it down.
You should not go into a meeting (one-on-one or with the team) with out a pad of paper and a pen. We’ll provide you with a moleskin journal - DON’T bring your phone, it has become a major perception issue in meetings.

11. Expect to pay for your own meals.
Team lunches are a privilege, and we will try to feed everyone whenever we are asking them to work through a meal, but never assume it is on us.

12. Ask for a deadline.
Why? Because there is one! Ignorance is not an excuse and asking will save you from conflict and unknown expectations. Even if the person can’t give you an exact time, ask them about how long they think it should take you.

13. Don’t be scared to ask for time with people.
You are here to learn and experience the inner workings of ministry. EVERYONE at Saddleback is working with a packed schedule, BUT you can not receive unless you ASK. If there is someone in Student Ministries or the church that you would like time with ask JG and he will try his hardest to make it happen.

14. Let JG know when you need his time.
The easiest way is to set up a meeting with him, but even when his door is closed it is really open.

15. Protect your day off.
Because if you don’t…no one else will. Mondays are sacred, we treat them that way, make sure you do, too.

16. If you’re not doing anything…ask how you can help.

17. Volunteers are the key
So… learn their names, talk to them, tell them how much you appreciate them, involve them with what, you are doing ,ask for their help, make a big deal when they do help, pray for them.

18. Know who does what on the Student Ministries team.
Student Ministries is a team and it is so important that we help each other whenever we can. Attached is a list of who does what to help bring you up to speed.

19. Your Spiritual Life is Essential!
Spend time with God everyday. Ask His Spirit to fill and guide you.

REMEMBER: You have 72 days… make each one count!

Expectations of Summer Interns

2009-06-15T07:59:00.002-06:00

Summer interns are a great win-win for many churches. The intern receives valuable training, while the church is blessed with more help. Here's some valuable information from Joshua Griffin about expectations you should have of summer interns. These can be applied to a number of people, other than simply interns. I'll have some more for you tomorrow.

1. Know what is on your calendar before you come in for the day.
We live and die by our calendars in the office. Nothing throws you off more than forgetting about a meeting. Also, summer events don’t always allow you to run home and change. Outlook is a super important tool we really value in our culture.

2. Expect to be at all HSM events.
We do a lot of “all hands on deck” type of events. If you’re not sure, ASK, but the answer is probably yes.

3. Have a good attitude.
Your attitude is contagious! If you don’t have a good attitude, it can hurt the team. Be sure to take time for yourself to read, relax and refresh.

4. Know what is expected of you on the weekend.
Be on time - help set up - greet volunteers - jump in where needed - sit with students during the service - please don’t stand in the back!

5. You are responsible for your emails, voicemails, and texts.
One of the biggest complaints about our church is the lack of response to a phone call. So check your messages often and return them in a timely manner – no more than 24 hours late is the goal. Make sure take care of Pastoral Care issues immediately!

6. Communicate where you are going and when you will be back.
There is no such thing as over communicating and don’t ever assume someone knows where you are. Keep JG in the loop at all times. OK, you can go to the bathroom without telling him, we guess.

7. NEVER say “I don’t know” - ALWAYS say “Let me find out”.
Try and know the basics about every event on the calendar (location, price, times) and walk with the student or parent to get the information rather then sending them to find it. Also, make sure you listen to the person that did have the answer - then next time you won’t have to ask.

8. Know that everything can change at ANY moment.
We know this one is hard - you just have to go with it. There will be things you work on that don’t get used - hold everything with a loose grip.

9. Ask questions.
A lot of them. Why we do things? How we do things? What if we did things a different way? Even if it is to confirm what you already know… please ask questions!

This Guy Knows How to Communicate

2009-06-12T14:58:00.005-06:00

Take a look at this! We can definitely learn some things from this guy.

As leaders, a great deal of our effectiveness is dependent upon how we communicate. One of my absolute pet peeves is to bore people with the greatest message the world has ever heard, the Gospel. Here are a few things this guy did that will help us to engage people more fully.

Be Yourself. You don’t have to be a stand up comedian, but if you do have a sense of humor, let it shine through. If not, then don't try to be someone you're not.

Get the audience involved. Anytime you can bring the audience into your communication by having them participate the better. I have given the church object lesson-type things at the end of the message to help seal the main point in their mind and in their heart.

Be passionate. If you are not passionate about what you are communicating, then don’t expect anyone else to be. In your introduction you not only have to answer the question, "Why is this important to my audience?", but you better be excited about it as well.

Communicate the truth. The message always remains the same, it’s how you communicate it that changes.

(Thanks to Mike Silliman for the Youtube link and idea.)

Simple Steps=Better Results

2009-06-12T09:02:00.004-06:00

When I first read Nelson Searcy's book Activate, on developing a small group system one of the things that grabbed my attention was his insistence on a one-step sign up. According to Searcy, the more steps you have in the process, the less likely people will sign up.

Not only is it a good idea to have as few steps as possible, but it's also important that the few steps we do have, (especially the first step), need to be simple. When the steps we give people are difficult, or require undue explanation, we're asking them to take too big of a leap. And most likely they will be reluctant to do so because their fear of failure will kick in and hold them back. It's like asking people to climb a ladder with the first four or five rungs missing.

In light of this here are some application questions for you to consider.

What is your process for getting people involved as volunteers, small group participants and members?
Is each process more than one step?
Does each process need explanation or is it self-explanatory?

We keep saying, "it's not rocket science", but sometimes, based on our multi-step processes for getting people assimilated, you'd never know it.

The Poor are the Most Charitable

2009-06-11T08:55:00.003-06:00

According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, those who earn less, give a higher percentage of their income to charity. The article in which this information was found also said...

Women are more generous than men, studies have shown. Older people give more than younger donors with equal incomes. The working poor, disproportionate numbers of which are recent immigrants, are America's most generous group, according to Arthur Brooks, the author of the book "Who Really Cares," an analysis of U.S. generosity.
Faith probably matters most, Brooks — who's the president of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington policy-research organization — said in an interview. That's partly because above-average numbers of poor people go to church, and church attenders give more money than non-attenders to secular and religious charities, Brooks found.

The bigger question for us as leaders is, "What are you doing to inspire faith in God that will help those you lead be free from the power of money?" Don't let the offerings be the issue. The issue is the condition of people's hearts. Is your motivation larger offerings, or seeing people free from the deception that money has over them? Yes, financial contributions are an indication of where people's treasures are, (Luke 12:34). But let's make sure we don't supplant the importance of people's lives being transformed by the Gospel for the fruit of that transformation. You can have larger offerings and not have transformed lives. But if people's lives are transformed, the money will follow.

How Leaders Think

2009-06-10T04:55:00.002-06:00

Whenever I'm working with a developing new leader one of the main things I'm seeking to impart to them is the way I think. It's not enough that they know how to do something, I want them to know why we do it. So much of how we operate as leaders has to do with how we think.

John Maxwell shares some thoughts along these lines from his new book, How Successful People Think.

1. Expose Yourself to Good Input

Good thinkers always prime the pump of ideas. They always look for things to get the thinking process started, because what you put in always impacts what comes out.

Read books, review trade magazines, listen to CDs, and spend time with good thinkers. And when something intrigues you-whether it’s someone else’s idea or the seed of an idea that you’ve come up with yourself-keep it in front of you. Put it in writing and keep it somewhere in a favorite place to stimulate your thinking.

2. Expose Yourself to Good Thinkers

All of the people in my life whom I consider to be close friends or colleagues are good thinkers. Now, I love all people. I try to be kind to everyone I meet, and I desire to add value to as many people as I can through conferences, books, audio lessons, etc. But the people I seek out and choose to spend time with all challenge me with their thinking and their actions. They are constantly trying to grow and learn.

The writer of Proverbs observed that sharp people sharpen one another, just as iron sharpens iron. If you want to be a sharp thinker, be around sharp people.

3. Choose to Think Good Thoughts

To become a good thinker, you must become intentional about the thinking process. Regularly put yourself in the right place to think, shape, stretch, and land your thoughts. Make it a priority. Thinking is a discipline.

Recently I had breakfast with Dan Cathy, the president of Chick-fil-A, a fast food restaurant chain headquartered in the Atlanta area. I told him that I was working on this book and I asked him if he made thinking time a high priority. Not only did he say yes, but he told me about what he calls his “thinking schedule.” It helps him to fight the hectic pace of life that discourages intentional thinking. Dan says he sets aside time just to think for half a day every two weeks, for one whole day every month, and for two or three full days every year. Dan explains, “This helps me ‘keep the main thing, the main thing,’ since I am so easily distracted.”

You may want to do something similar, or you can develop a schedule and method of your own. No matter what you choose to do, go to a special thinking place, take paper and pen, and make sure you capture your ideas in writing.

4. Act on Your Good Thoughts

Ideas have a short shelf life. You must act on them before the expiration date. World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker said it all when he remarked, “I can give you a six-word formula for success: Think things through-then follow through.”

5. Allow Your Emotions to Create Another Good Thought

To start the thinking process, you cannot rely on your feelings. In Failing Forward, I wrote that you can act your way into feeling long before you can feel your way into action. If you wait until you feel like doing something, you will likely never accomplish it. The same is true for thinking. You cannot wait until you feel like thinking to do it. However, I’ve found that once you engage in the process of good thinking, you can use your emotions to feed the process and create mental momentum.

Try it for yourself. After you go through the disciplined process of thinking and enjoy some success, allow yourself to savor the moment and try riding the mental energy of that success. If you’re like me, it’s likely to spur additional thoughts and productive ideas.

6. Repeat the Process

One good thought does not make a good life. The people who have one good thought and try to ride it for an entire career often end up unhappy or destitute. They are the one-hit wonders, the one-book authors, the one-message speakers, the one-time inventors who spend their life struggling to protect or promote their single idea. Success comes to those who have an entire mountain of gold that they continually mine, not those who find one nugget and try to live on it for fifty years. To become someone who can mine a lot of gold, you need to keep repeating the process of good thinking.

Your Church's Website

2009-06-08T13:37:00.003-06:00

Most church leaders, especially primary leaders, have a love hate relationship with their church's website. We love it when it's updated and running like it should be. But we hate it when we come across someone else's website that is better than ours.

Regardless of where you're at with your website, a more important question is "What are you trying to accomplish with your site?" In a recent blog post, Tony Morgan had some helpful things to say about this topic. He brings up a great point when he says, "The church views the web as a place to promote their agenda. No interaction with the audience. No stories of life change. No solutions to help people experience community or discipleship online."

Give it a read and let me know what you think. Here's the link.

By the way, Tony will be in STL for a morning seminar in St. Charles on Mon, July 6. You can check it out here.

Preaching

2009-06-03T06:53:00.002-06:00

Ed Stetzer interviewed Andy Stanley on the topic of preaching. It's well worth a read. Link

5 Ways to Get More Volunteers

2009-06-02T11:16:00.002-06:00

Enlisting volunteers is one of those things that leaders have to give constant attention to. Unfortunately so many leaders do it so badly. Bill Reichart shares some good ideas for how to enlist more volunteers in your church. I found it to be helpful stuff. Here's the link.

Results or No Results, That is the Question

2009-02-23T13:48:00.004-06:00

I've been working my way through John Pearson's book Mastering the Management Buckets. There's enough helpful information in this book to apply for at least the next five years. One of the things early on that Pearson says that captured my attention came out of the "Results Bucket". He said, "Focus on outside results, not inside results."

I find this to be very helpful advice for church leaders. Too often we are enamored with the "inside results" of, being friendly, maintaining strong relationships, high number of volunteers serving on Sunday morning, etc. According to Jesus, the bottom line is "Are you making disciples?" This means two things. 1) Are we seeing people born again into the Kingdom of God? and 2) Are we making them into disciples? What does it matter how friendly our church is, or how relational we think we are, if these two things are not happening?

If you're not seeing these two things taking place on a consistent scale in your church, something needs to change. Don't settle for inside results only.

Are You Ready?

2009-02-13T01:06:00.006-06:00

It's been almost a year since I last blogged on this site. With the launching of a new location for Jubilee Church I just didn't have the time to keep two blogs going at the same time. Now that things have settled down a bit, plans are for me to treat this blog as more of a leadership blog, while Connecting People to Jesus is more aimed at serving Jubilee Church in Wentzville.

With that in mind I'd like to share with you a recent article I read by Bill Hybels titled Preaching for Total Commitment. It's filled with great suggestions for how to help people commit with their whole heart to the Kingdom of God.

Like always, let me kow what you think.

New Blog

2008-05-05T21:37:00.003-06:00

I'm sure many of you have been wondering why I haven't posted in awhile. The reason is that I have begun a new blog that is geared toward our new location in Wentzville. The blog is called Connecting People To Jesus. I will continue to post on Heinsight 2020, but it will be on an intermittent basis.

I'm Humbled

2008-03-13T23:53:00.002-06:00

A number of things have happened recently that have left me quite humbled.

Tonight Tim & Kathi Vetter, their kids and I picked up Euan & Sarah Crane and their four children from the airport. I was deeply moved seeing this precious family in the airport with all their worldly possessions, (packed in ten suitcases) having left the country of their birth to follow the call of a great God to a different nation. I'm humbled by their commitment to follow Jesus.
Tim & Kathi are my heroes. They have graciously offered the Cranes to live in their home until they secure a rental home. Leading up to this time, I have never heard either of them complain about the inconvenience of having six additional people in their home. You can tell they are thrilled to do this and I am humbled by their commitment to serve Jesus.
In the past few days I have had a conversation with Bill Stewart and an email from Joe Hainline, both asking me to give them more to do. I'm so very encouraged by not only these two men, but others who are not content to set in the background. I'm so very stirred by their zeal to get in on the action and humbled to be leading people such as them.

Our first Preview Service is just a little over a week away. With all the stuff that is going on right now, my main focus is to cling to Jesus with every fiber in my body. If I and the rest of the Wentzville Group are full of Jesus (the Spirit) then that's all that really matters because God promises that Jesus' fragrance will be evident to those around us (2 Cor 2:14-15). I can't think of anything better to happen on Easter than every guest experiencing the real, tangible presence of God in our midst. I can hardly wait, it's going to be a great day!

It Can Be Done

2008-03-06T00:01:00.002-06:00

Sunday, March 2nd Christian Community Church launched their 9th, that's right, their 9th location and they had over 600 in attendance their first Sunday! Last Sunday they also launched a new church into Kansas City and had over 400 in attendance on their first Sunday.

Jubilee Church of Wentzville has been praying for 400 people to be in attendance for our first Preview Service on Easter Sunday. I used to think this was ludicrous. In fact, I can remember thinking, "It's one thing to pray privately for 400, but at some point and time you have to set out chairs. And the question is, how many chairs are we going to set out?" So if we don't have 400 does that mean we failed? Not sure how to answer that one. All I know is that on Easter Sunday we're going to be busy setting up chairs.

What A Team!

2008-02-29T12:49:00.006-06:00

As we head towards our first Preview Service on Easter Sunday one of the things that really has me excited is how we are coming together as a team. Here are some ways some of the folks are contributing.

John Haasis is coordinating the First Contact Team (greeters, ushers, communion supplies, name tags and on and on).
Debbie Haasis will be our front door greeter. (Man is she good at that!)
Tim & Kathi Vetter will see to it that we have some delicious snacks and drinks on that morning. They too will be greeters.
Jeff & Michele Drey are working with me on community engagement activities (CSI's). Jeff will be ushering and Michele greeting as well.
Bill Stewart worked with Mike Lawson on an A/V proposal to ensure we have everything we need when it comes to sound, electronics, etc. Bill is also our bass player.
Gayle, Kelley Hainline and Sandy Stewart are working hard on putting together a top notch Sunday morning kid's program. (I can't wait for everyone to see the set up for the kids area.)
Joe Hainline will be our sound man.
Matt Ehlen will run the computer during the service.
Ebie Ehlen and Amanda Hartwig will make sure there's plenty of coffee on Sunday mornings. (A very important job, indeed.)
Mark & Gina Goede sorted 15,000 postcards for our second mailing that will go out the week of March 9. (You two are my heroes!)
Tim Vetter is also helping me with our assimilation strategy. (Sounds dangerous doesn't it?)
Dave Bull will be one of our stud ushers. Go Dave!

I appreciate the sense of commitment demonstrated by everyone. To those of you who have volunteered to do more, I'll make sure I pass along things as they become available. In the meantime, GO TEAM!

The Power of Listening

2008-02-27T11:38:00.002-06:00

One of the many weekly newsletters I subscribe to had a great article on the topic of listening. Here were my thoughts after reading it.

I'm glad I make the effort to expose myself to things that spur me on evangelistically.
I can do this!
"God, don't let me miss those You send my way who need a touch from You."
I wish I would have read this before our group meeting Monday night.
I can't wait to share this with others.

Here's the link.

S.M.I.L.E.

2008-02-25T22:28:00.003-06:00

With less than one month to go things are moving fast as we approach our first Preview Service. Tonight was a great time with the Wentzville Discipleship Group as we got into the nitty gritty details of what is going to take place at that first Preview. It was exciting to share with the group our ideas for how we plan to follow up Preview Service guests. I'm so pumped about what God has in store for us and I'm honored to be joined with the group we have. I want to remind everyone of our strategy to always S.M.I.L.E.
Smile
Make people feel at home.
Initiate conversation with guests.
Learn one thing about those you converse with.
Extend an invitation to return.

Great Book On Assimilation

2008-02-07T00:30:00.000-06:00

I just purchased Nelson Searcy's book on assimilation, titled Fusion. The book is a printed version of the assimilation seminar he teaches to church planters everywhere. I've listened to the seminar on CD and have all the documents that come with it, but I would recommend the book first. This will give you a much clearer understanding of all the assimilation materials contained in the seminar.

I'm over half-way through and am overwhelmed by Nelson's passion and thoroughness in assimilating first-time guests into fully developing members. This guy really knows what he's talking about. This is such an important part of helping our churches grow and yet most churches have little or no plan in place to assimilate guests. This is a must read for every lead elder and those who share responsibility for assimilation.

Are You Kidding Me?

2008-02-06T06:22:00.000-06:00

I subscribe to a number of blogs, most of them have to do with church planting or leadership. Yesterday one of these blogs asked the question, "What is it about the first three hundred years of the church that made it so powerful?” As I read the question I started to get excited about seeing what kind of conclusions he would come to. And then I read his conclusions and thought, "Are you kidding me." Here are some of his answers.

Passion for Jesus
They were nonreligious
Strong community
Urgency
Anticipation
A recognition and respect of leadership
Involvement
Willingness to be persecuted
They saw things happen
They taught truth

Not a bad list, except for one thing. He says nothing about the Holy Spirit! How can you provide an explanation for what happened to the church in the book of Acts and not give credit to the Holy Spirit? Why is it we think that all we have to do is do what the early church did and we'll have a great church? Why is it we are so scared of the Holy Spirit?

What Can We Do? - Part 2

2008-02-05T09:33:00.000-06:00

The first thing we can do to help people respond to the good news of Jesus is pray. The second thing we can do is to eliminate barriers that would cause people to feel excluded. This is why we will take the time in all our meetings to explain why we do what we do, such as how and why we worship, take communion, experience community life and receive offerings, just to name a few.

Many of us have forgotten what it's like to visit a place of worship for the first time. Just imagine what would be going through your mind if you were to visit a Mosque this weekend. You would want to know, "What do I wear? Do I stand, or do I sit? Am I expected to say anything? Will they ask me to give money? Will I understand what they're talking about? Will we sing and if so, what kind of songs?" The whole experience could be rather nerve racking to say the least. This is just a portion of what first time guests feel when they visit one of our church services.

The other reason we’ll explain all “the stuff” we do is the fact that our assumptions create our congregation. If we take the time to explain things, people who come will quickly figure out that this is a place they can bring people who know nothing about God, Jesus or church. If we talk in a language these folks do not understand, or do things they have no idea why we’re doing, they will quickly come to the conclusion that everyone else knows what is going on except them. And now the very people we want to include feel on the outside. Helping our guests understand the various elements of the service will go a long ways toward eliminating barriers that would cause them to feel excluded.

What We Can Do - Part 1

2008-02-03T23:02:00.000-06:00

I recently heard a pastor use the following metaphor to describe his church. He said it’s like having a steak restaurant for members of PETA. Let’s face it; the people we want to share the good news of Jesus with are not particularly interested in church. If they were, they would already be attending a church service. It’s not that they are not searching for a connection with God, because they are. They simply don’t want much to do with the church.

The amount of baggage the word “church” carries with it these days is mind blowing. People have formed some pretty wild opinions about what they think church is or should be. Unfortunately, some of their opinions are based on real experiences. Regardless, somewhere along the line something has got to give if people are to respond to this good news we keep talking about.

So what can we do? The first thing we can do is pray. Why is this the first thing? Because it’s the most significant thing we can do! In Acts 16 Luke tells the story of Paul going into Philippi. This was uncharted water for Paul and his Jewish background. There was little or no Jewish presence in Philippi, not even a synagogue. How was he going to connect with these people with whom he had almost nothing in common? In the end he located a group of women and talked to them about Jesus. The breakthrough came however, when a woman named Lydia responded. How was it she responded? Luke writes, “The Lord opened Lydia’s heart to respond to the gospel.”

The truth is Lydia’s story is everyone’s story. No one comes to faith in Jesus without the supernatural work of God opening their heart to truth. Saving faith is a miracle. It is not something anyone can plan or make happen. It is completely and unequivocally a God thing. This is why we pray.

Why We "Do Church"

2008-02-01T12:50:00.000-06:00

On a recent late night visit to the local department store I was reminded once again why we do this thing called church. I was engaging the clerk in casual conversation, like I always do, and before you know it she's telling Gayle and me about her life. She works the graveyard shift, has two school-aged girls and a stay-at-home husband. He stays at home because he's legally blind. She's doing the best she can to provide for the family, while at the same time making sure her girls make it to soccer practice, Girl Scouts and all the other things they do. Her husband feels bad that he's not more help than he is. While I was saying, "Bless your heart" on the outside, my heart was breaking for her and her family on the inside. I reached into my pocket and gave her a card with our website on it and said, "We're a part of a group that is starting a new church in town. Our first service is Easter Sunday, please consider yourself invited." After hearing her story wild horses couldn't have kept me from giving that card to her.

Though I don't know this clerk's name I'm praying for her and her family. I'm asking God to bring her to the Easter Preview Service. I want to see her and her family connect with Jesus! I want her to know there is more to life than scraping out a living. I want her husband to not go through life feeling condemned for something he has no control over. And who knows, maybe God might even heal him.

This precious lady represents a multitude of people throughout this city who are in desperate need of a connection with Jesus. I don't know about you, but that's more than reason enough for me to give myself to this thing we call the church.

Thoughts With Less Than Two Months To Go

2008-01-30T20:17:00.000-06:00

With our first Preview Service less than two months away here's what's on my mind.

Keep connected to Jesus no matter what! There's no way I can give out what I don't have. If I don't stay connected to Jesus, and I mean desperately connected I'm no good to anyone else.
Don't neglect Gayle in the process. Next to Jesus, my wife means everything to me. And even though I can be one of those overly-focused males who loses sight of everything around him except what he's currently working on (I'm sure most of you are absolutely shocked right now!), I refuse to sacrifice my relationship with Gayle for the ministry.
I am so pumped to see the finished postcard we'll be mailing out to the community in Feb and March. Dan Brindley has been working his tail off getting this card ready. I can hardly wait to show it to the group. It will be done by the end of the week and then off to the printer.
I sure hope the Wentzville side of the Jubilee website is up and going by the time our first mailer goes out. We're doing all we can to get it done by this date and so far so good.
I am so grateful for the team God has joined Gayle and I with. So many people are carrying responsibility for getting things ready for the first Preview. I'm humbled by your willingness to serve and your desire to see Jesus' name be made famous.

So You Know What Makes You Happpy? Think Again.

2008-01-18T09:49:00.000-06:00

This is a fascinating article on a study that was done that examines why people continue to make bad decisions about what makes them happy. I was really struck by point #3. Here's the link.

Good Questions To Start The New Year

2008-01-02T06:40:00.000-06:00

Dave Ferguson recently posted about questions he asks himself before he begins each new year. Looking ahead is always great, but it's most valuable in light of where we've recently been. Here's the link.

Kings & Trust

2007-12-28T07:54:00.000-06:00

"For the king trusts in the Lord. The unfailing love of the Most High will keep him from stumbling." Psalm 21:7

It's an amazing thing to me that a king would trust in anything or anyone outside of himself. After all, he's the king. With the snap of his finger he can have what he wants. But the psalmist speaks of a king who trusts in the Lord. Such trust glorifies and honors not the one who trusts, but the One whom is the object of trust. The Lord, (our Lord) must be an amazing, awesome Lord for a king to trust in him. This thought alone has captured my attention for the past few days.

As if that is not enough to occupy my mind and affections, the mind blowing thing about this trusting king is that the object of his trust in the Lord is not in the Lord's strength, or authority, or wisdom. No, the object of his trust in the Lord is the Lord's unfailing love. Why? Because this wise king knows that the one thing that will cause him to walk uprightly is not a stronger will, a more balanced lifestyle, a deeper wisdom, or even wider authority. The one thing that will cause him to walk uprightly is an abiding trust in the unfailing love of his Lord.

I'm overwhelmed by thoughts of such a trustworthy, loving Lord.

The Value of Joy

2007-12-22T10:54:00.001-06:00

The holidays are all about joy. Come to think of it, our salvation is all about joy. That's the conclusion I came to after reading Ps 51:12 yesterday. Here are my thoughts.

Sin steals our joy. David's life lacked joy at this time because of his sin with Bathsheba. If we're not experiencing joy, asking God to reveal sinful acts and attitudes is a good place to start.
If we are not experiencing joy we should be concerned. It's amazing to me how many people go through life treating joy as some sort of extra rather than essential. A lack of joy in our lives is a serious thing to God.
God's salvation, which he extended to us, is characterized by joy. Enough said
It's a very healthy thing to ask God to fill us with the joy of the Lord!

With this in mind I wish you all a very joyous Christmas and New Year.

Reasons For Online Giving

2007-12-20T10:27:00.001-06:00

Tony Morgan had a recent post about the benefits they've experienced at Granger Community Church since they began online giving. I thought it was very informative. Here's the link.

So Where Is Rick?

2007-11-21T11:43:00.000-06:00

It's obvious that I have not been posting as much as I once was. I'm sure some of you are wondering, "Where is Rick?" (But then again, maybe you're not.) Here's what's been going on, MOVING and CHURCH PLANTING, all at the same time. Pray for Gayle, please!

We move into our Wentzville home in two weeks. After months of planning and preparation we are excited that this time has finally arrived. We continue to serve the community twice a month through various Community Service Initiatives (CSI). The CSI's have been an effective tool for us to make contacts through our website. We then maintain connection with each contact leading up to our first Preview Service on Easter, March 23rd.

In the meantime I will do my best to get back into blogging mode by posting two to three times a week.

I hope everyone has a very enjoyable Thanksgiving Holiday. Until next week, we'll see ya!
Rick

Envisioning Volunteers

2007-11-13T14:39:00.000-06:00

How do you envision your volunteers? If you have no plans for how to do this, chances are they are being envisioned in a negative way, mainly that their role is not important. Volunteers need to know that what they are doing is not just important, but vital to the church's overall purpose. This weekend we have a meeting with our First Contact Team, which consists of Jubilee's greeters and ushers. I'm brainstorming along with my First Contact Team partner, Teresa Lawson as to how we can creatively communicate to the Team that what they do is absolutely necessary to the fulfillment of Jubilee's vision of "Connecting People to Jesus, Resulting in God Honoring Life-Change." We want our Team to walk away from this meeting feeling that they are a significant part of cooperating with God in the fulfillment of Jubilee's vision. I can hardly wait for Sunday morning!

Sobering Look Ahead

2007-11-12T16:38:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago I began working my way through the book of Lamentations and came to 1:9, which states, "She (meaning Jerusalem) defiled herself with immorality and gave no thought to her future." As I was working through the S.O.A.P. (Scripture, Observations, Application, Prayer) approach, one of my observations was to note that often a lack of looking to the future corresponds to the sin of immorality. Therefore, my application that morning was the following, "Be aware of the utter destruction immorality would bring by making a list of its effect on my life." It was a very sobering list to say the least. I've committed Lamentations 1:9 to memory to remind me of its truth.

There's A Lot Out There

2007-11-05T15:13:00.000-06:00

The amount of information on the web is staggering. Digital.leadnet.org recently had a post titled, "Ten Websites Every Pastor Should Know." Now you do! Enjoy.

Leadership Characteristics

2007-11-02T08:36:00.000-06:00

Todd Rhoades posted these characteristics that are associated with an "unsuccessful"pastor. He then follows up the list with characteristics that are associated with "successful" pastors. Even though these lists are based on a very narrow survey (They only surveyed 20 pastors for crying out loud!) they are nonetheless intriguing and helpful in their analysis. If you're not a pastor, the list will still apply to you in most areas. Here's the link.

Communicating Value to Volunteers

2007-10-31T05:34:00.000-06:00

What is it you do (I'm talking intentionally, not haphazardly) to communicate to your volunteers that they are valuable? Mark Waltz blogged about Patrick Lencioni's Catalyst session on this very issue. According to Mr. Lencioni, "People want to know that their work and personal contribution is relevant to what's going on in the workplace – or church." Here's the rest of the writeup.

Team Togetherness

2007-10-23T09:20:00.000-06:00

Tueday's Tip from Group Publishing had a great comparison between a team that is connected and a team that is disconnected. I found it a helpful diagnostic tool so thought I would pass it along. Link

Back In The Saddle

2007-10-23T09:10:00.000-06:00

I'm sorry for the lack of posts over the past week and a half. Here's what's happening.

Newfrontiers team meetings took up all my week last week. Love the guys on the team, but glad the meetings are done.
Thanks to the meetings I've got a to-do list that will keep me busy for awhile.
Gayle and I have received an offer on our home and a contract has been signed.
We are now looking for a home in Wentzville, MO
Sunday mornings at Jubilee have been rockin'! Every Sunday is something to look forward to.

Good to be back.

Purity

2007-10-12T07:23:00.000-06:00

We all know that leaders share a greater sense of accountability and responsibility for how they live their life. It is incumbent of leaders to guard their heart in all matters of life. Nowhere is this more true than in the area of pornography. Sermon Central recently made available an article (it may have been a sermon) by Steve Arterburn (Every Man's Battle) of New Life Ministries. It is a sobering article that should make us all pause and consider what we're doing to guard our hearts in this area. Link

What Are You Waiting For?

2007-10-09T21:33:00.001-06:00

Gayle and I are currently reading It's Not My Fault, by Henry Cloud and John Townsend. One of the initial main points they put forth as a way of owning responsibility for your life is to realize that your thinking may be wrong. Sounds obvious I know, but actually when our brain outputs information it comes out with conviction that it is right in its assessment. (Gayle tells me I come across this way on most occasions. Dang!) As leaders, our internal assessment is extremely important because decisions are made based on them.

As I work my way through the scriptures (My reading plan currently has me in Jeremiah and Isaiah.) it's clear to me that most times our assessment falls glaringly short of God's assessment (1 Cor 2:7-9). The result is that we make small decisions, based on small assessments, resulting in small outcomes. In a recent post, Perry Noble asked this question, "What would you be willing to attempt for God if you knew you could not fail?" As you read it, ask yourself these two questions;

What is God's assessment of...? (you fill in the blank)
What will I do in response to God's assessment?

The truth is that God doesn't need millions of people to change the world, (1 Samuel 14:6). He can do that with a very small number. Will you be one of those?

Innovate 2007

2007-10-09T14:45:00.000-06:00

For those of us who couldn't make it to the Innovate Conference at Granger Community Church, the good folks at Granger have placed all the main sessions online. Here's the link.

Heinsight 2020

Real Time Connections

Lessons From the World Cup

The Value of Conflict

P J Smyth Acts 29 Message

Valuable Leadership Resources

Keller on Big Issues Facing the Church

Is Group Texting For Your Church?

Search Engine Evangelism

Responding to Rumblings

Book Recommendation

How Leaders Build Team Loyalty

Theology On Display

The Missional Church Made Simple

Reasons Churches Stall-Part 2

Reasons Churches Stall

How Do You Celebrate a Win?

Making an Impression vs Being Impressive

Leaders & Money

Learning From Business

Being Driven

Maintaining Vision

Getting Beyond the "Everyone Knows the Pastor" Stage

Holiday Serving Ideas

Sports and Spirituality

Thinking Outside the Box

Redeemer Church Sermon Downloads

So What's So Bad About the Prosperity Gospel?

Free Audio Book: Desiring God

5 Warning Signs of a Sinking Church

There's Something to be Said for Perseverance

3 Things Youth Workers Need to be Good At

Grandparenting: Ready or Not Here We Come

Getting the Most Out of Twitter

2. What Do You Think has Contributed to Your Growth Success?

3. What Strategies Would You Give for a Twitter User Who’s Not “New” But Who’s Been Around and is Looking to Take It to the “Next Level”?

Collecting Stories

Are You Telling Stories?

Welcome Videos

Attracting Young Leaders

Nine Minutes From Some Great Leaders

Visuals In Power Point

Books to Help You Understand the Bible

Manners and Customs

Commentaries

Bible Difficulties

Systematic Theology

Love, Marriage & Stinking Thinking

When to Avoid Email

Top Ten Reasons Volunteers Serve

5 Bad Habits That Hinder You from Becoming an Exceptional Public Speaker

Indvidualized Spiritual Growth Program

4 Ways Parents Can Help Make Oneblaze Week Memorable

Free Financial Resource

7 Deadly Sins of Inviting Volunteers to Serve

Evalutaing How You Reach Prospects

Technology Untapped

How Do You Handle the Word of God

The Church & Culture

Options Increase Opportunities

Got Margin?

Youth Curriculum

Growing as a Leader

Graphic Artists & The Church: Paid or Not Paid?

Help Me Out Would You?

Start Where You Are: Your People

Lead From Where You Are

Recommended Reading from Mark Driscoll

More Expectations of Summer Interns

Expectations of Summer Interns

This Guy Knows How to Communicate

Simple Steps=Better Results

The Poor are the Most Charitable

How Leaders Think

Your Church's Website

Preaching

5 Ways to Get More Volunteers

Results or No Results, That is the Question

Are You Ready?

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