The Church Communicator's Dilemma: Picasso's Missing Subject
Church communications are marked by a huge dilemma: talent without subject. It doesn’t matter how gifted, strategic, or innovative you are as a communicator if your subject is missing. Without primary message, you have nothing. Imagine a hot dog stand [...]
How Expanding Your Life Dreams Can Bless Your Kids for Lifetime
I have enjoyed some moments getting to know Ben Arment. He is authentic as a Christ follower and a strategic, dream-oriented leader. One of his posts this week struck me immediately as one of the best posts I have read [...]
5 Things to Look For AND Watch Out for When Hiring a Church Consultant
Here is my take, as a consultant, on the five areas to look for with a comment on "being wary."Domain expertise - Has the consultant effectively focused their calling and craft? Be wary of consultants who offer too many services. [...]
The Five Horizons of Leadership and How to Use Them
As a vision guy, I get asked lots of questions about long-term this and short-term that. Here is the thinking that I believe you can really hang your hat on as a leader: Engage five horizons but spend most of [...]
Vision Sunday Tips: The 11/16 Principle
This is the season of "Vision Sunday" or "Vision Night" or other events dedicated to church priorities for the upcoming year.As I watch the landscape of vision casting in the North America church, the most important tip is the 11/16 [...]
12 Steps to Recovery for Vision Statement Addicts
It's such a joy to receive daily correspondence from pastors and church teams taking vision seriously in the name of Jesus. Often questions come about the "vision statement." The primary reason for the question is that the process, as outlined [...]
Missional Church Crash Course: 6 Videos in 15 Minutes
If you would like the most condensed and enjoyable learning experience on understanding the missional church (a repost from my prior blog), then take 15 minutes and watch these 6 videos from: Ed StetzerMark DriscollMichael FrostTim KellerRich Kannwischer (PGF, St Andrews [...]
Steven Furtick on Church Unique (#thenines)
If you have not registered yet for Leadership Network's free online conference, The Nines, you might want to put it on your calendar. It's coming up in a few weeks, on September 9th. As a presenter, I have seen some of [...]
100% Church Staff Retention from 3 to 90
That's an amazing claim from Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church. In this video, Matt explains one of the early "shaping influences" of his life being Larry Osborn's book Sticky Teams. (Originally entitled The Unity Factor.) Would you like to have [...]
The Cycle of "Birth-Death-Birth" with Vision
The first time I heard the words "birth of a vision-death of a vision-birth of a vision" was in a Bill Gothard seminar as a high school student. What he described as a pattern in God's "economy" of working with [...]
The Future of Church Strategy
I am meeting with a pilot group of 12 churches and 12 consultant-practitioners known as Future Travelers. The group is led by Alan Hirsch. The 12 churches are large growing mega-churches that represent 90,000 in weekend attendance. Some of the [...]