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Remembering the Power of Value as an Antidote to Violence

A Response to the Death of George Floyd

The events of the last two weeks in our nation have been unsettling, frustrating, maddening, and even shocking. With the death of George Floyd on May 25, a spark seems to have been kindled to a fire in our society. When we don’t see the God-given values in others, we easily become violent toward them. If we don’t believe at the core that human beings are made in the image of God, we can ignore each other, oppress each other, The Greek word translated as “workmanship” in Ephesians 2:10 above is only used in one other place in the New Testament. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood We have taken intentional steps as an organization to do what we can to make the gospel-centered life design process accessible for everyone, regardless of race or socio-economic background. Unfortunately, in the past, life planning or life coaching have been As we shared with our Younique family and I wanted to share with my blog readers as well, we would humbly invite you to do 3 things during this moment in our nation. 1 - Reflect and listen. One of the practices Jesus said that people will know we are His followers by our love for one another. He said this to His disciples after washing their feet … and hours before He would lay down His life for them, for us, [...]

Jun 5, 2020 Tweet this

Join a Future Church Cohort: Reshaping Your Disciple-Making Strategy During A Critical Ministry Moment

Including a pre-release copy of my next book, Future Church

Effective leadership includes an acute awareness of context. What are people feeling? What are they thinking about? What is most important to them right now? How can I best serve them where they are today? Most times, these questions don't need Why is This Moment So Critical? There are several reasons why this particular moment is so critical to your future mission-related effectiveness. The most important one, though, can be summed up in one word: disruption. People's lives have been completely disrupted. This is Why I Wrote Future Church I've been working on a book for the last 9 months that was already going to be called Future Church: Seven Laws of Real Church Growth. What's astounded me, though, is how quickly we've [...]

May 6, 2020 Tweet this

A 3-Part Scorecard for a Life Well Lived

Redefining Success on the Gospel

What is success? And how do you measure it? Some measure success by how happy they feel.Some by how much they have accomplished.Some by how wealthy they are.Some by how many friends they have.Some by how many people know their name. But #1 – Ups and Downs O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water. . . . When #2 – Your Bucket List David said, “My son Solomon is just an inexperienced young man, and the temple to be built for the LORD must be especially magnificent so it will become famous and be considered splendid by all the #3 – Your Ultimate Contribution David, after he had served God’s purpose in his own generation, died [and] was buried with his ancestors. – Acts 13:36 (NET) “You had one job.” You’ve probably heard this chastisement before, especially when delivered by a comedian [...]

Apr 23, 2020 Tweet this

Church Amidst Coronavirus: Top 8 Done-For-You Resource Links

Now more than ever, church leaders need practical tools to make them more effective in doing ministry. Especially in a time where we are being forced to abandon previous assumptions and develop new strategies, done-for-you tools can save countless hours [...]

Mar 26, 2020 Tweet this

Church Amidst Coronavirus: Frantic to Framework Webinar Part 1

Last week, Dave Rhodes and I launched a webinar series that is taking place every Monday through May 11. In this series, we're talking about how pastors and church leaders can move from making frantic decisions to making strategic decisions [...]

Mar 25, 2020 Tweet this

Church Amidst Coronavirus: Innovating Discipleship Primer Part 2

Here's part 2 of the 2-part Primer on the central tool from the Innovating Discipleship book. (You can get the FREE PDF download of that book here.) This was from Auxano's Better Future webinar on Friday morning, March 20. [...]

Mar 21, 2020 Tweet this

Church Amidst Coronavirus: Innovating Discipleship Primer Part 1

On Thursday, March 19, I was a part of Auxano's Better Future webinar, where I started walking through the central tool that's at the heart of the Innovating Discipleship book. (You can get the FREE PDF download of that book [...]

Mar 20, 2020 Tweet this

Innovating Discipleship FREE Book: How to Engage Church Attenders During the Coronavirus Outbreak

Right now the church faces a more acute, immediate challenge than any it has faced in a long time: how to "do church" during the coronavirus pandemic. We are literally doing church on the fly. After the President's announcement yesterday The problem could be stated this way: since church involves getting together, how do we do church when we can't get together? On top of leaders' concerns for the physical health of their people, the crisis raises ominous challenges for the A few additional questions raise our sights to a higher place: If people increased their giving to churches right now, what would that kind of church look like? What is the crisis revealing about the true state of disciple-making in our How do you even begin to approach big questions like these? That's why I wrote Innovating Discipleship 10 years ago. The original context was to help churches innovate after they created their Vision Frame. After years of good implementation how do [...]

Mar 18, 2020 Tweet this

100 Years of Church Growth

One tool to clarify five eras of ministry

A sneak preview of a new tool that shows where the church has been and where it is going.

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Mar 3, 2020 Tweet this

Don't Let All the "Decreasing Giving" News Paralyze You in 2020

5 Ways to Diagnose the Upside Potential of Giving at Your Church

Don't cry "uncle" yet—especially if you haven’t gone through a discernment process. Churches raise financial support and discipleship intensity at the same time when they dig into these five areas.

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Jan 21, 2020 Tweet this

The 2020 Pastor: My Top 15 Clarity Lessons for Church Vision

20 Years of Consulting Boiled Down to a 20 Minute Read

I can’t believe my life’s odometer gets to click into the year 2020. It’s the medical standard for good sight that has become a cultural metaphor for clear vision in every dimension of life and leadership. Since I have read By the way, while these lessons apply to both organizational ministry and personal life planning, I wrote them with the pastor in mind for leading the church into 2020 and beyond. In addition to these principles you may want to When I wrote Church Unique in 2007, I learned a new term– phronemophobia which means fear of thinking. Thomas Edison said that “Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five The same is true with your clarity engine. Without three basics the clarity process doesn’t run. Like the systematic approach to understanding why the car doesn’t start, you can logically answer why the team doesn’t have clarity. Has adequate time To call it “free” may sound funny coming from a guy who makes a living from clarity facilitation. Yes, I do charge for vision consulting. But that’s the exception for the times and places where acceleration of time, questions and For example, consider Church of the Highlands, one of America’s notable rapid growth churches that was started less than 20 years ago. Pastor Chris Hodges takes hundreds of staff through a process every year to determine one goal that will A great example is a client named Kyle, who leads a church in the Mountain West. He invested in a Vision Framing process this year and texted me while I was finishing this post. Kyle exhibited a powerful spirit and [...]

Dec 31, 2019 Tweet this

The Younique 48-Hour Retreat: Ultimate Clarity at Life’s Crucial Moments

One-On-One Coaching Can Make All the Difference

One of the opportunities you’ll have as you digest the Younique book is a 48-Hour Retreat. It's the discipline of looking back at your life, one-on-one with a coach and identifying the key stages and transition points before you look forward. We all have moments in our lives that shape us dramatically and set our course for the future. These moments can take all forms and span across all aspects of our lives—work, family, friendships, and more.

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Dec 30, 2019 Tweet this