The fourth reason to change your church's name is when a name streamlines communication by shortening or modifying to reflect common usage.
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The third strategic reason for a name change is when the new name re-clarifies a church’s identity during a relaunch, an organizational rite of passage, or a new strategic direction. In this post, I explore a few examples of this.
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Your name is always your first opportunity to cast vision. Your name says something and means something to everyone who hears it or sees it. A wise leader understands the importance of a ministry's name and maintaining continuity with a name for people inside and outside the organization. Yet, there are some strategic seasons when a name change can be a powerful decision for the vision of the church.
[...]I was having a conversation with Bryan Rose on the Auxano team recently. We broached the topic of "pastors who get it." That is, we discussed the kinds of pastors who really press through the vision process to gain great clarity. Client profile: Jason Webb at ElmBrook Church recently completed a 9-month vision framing process. "Rookie" doesn't reflect Jason's stellar church planting track record. But as a 30-something leader walking into a 5,000 plus attendance church, others might assign that adjective. (Especially when #3 - The newly stuck pastor: "I have barrier that I now realize is not going away and I am not exactly sure how to fix it." The newly stuck pastor has a very simple story. You keep growing until you For example, attendance may be flat, but you put your hope in the fact that the church had slightly more attendance at Easter. Or you keep focusing on a few months where giving is slightly higher. You take momentary relief #4 - The rapid growth pastor: "I don't want to grow bigger, unless bigger is better." There are two types of rapid-growth pastors: those who fixate on attendance only and those with a passion for disciple-making in a growing church context. I [...]
The 12 Templates for church vision as a resource made the subtitle of God Dreams— my first major book release since Church Unique in 2008. God Dreams is toolbox for installing a visionary planning model in your church. The master [...]
Most pastors are visionaries. But to fully realize the vision of a church, a pastor needs more than a generic sense of the future. When it comes to vision, the biggest challenge to success is not your obstacles. The biggest challenge [...]
I have never been more excited to put a tool in the hand of church leaders. God Dreams is my fourth book and I'm currently in the writing home stretch with Warren Bird, who's been an amazing collaborator. The subtitle [...]
What gets in our way when it comes to the church's mission to make disciples? Let's look at the things we do at church and they way we spend our time as pastors: Preparing a sermon or teaching message in a [...]
I often see leaders with radically different size visions, despite having a lot in common. Pastors may have the the same gifting, the same budget and the same amount of people attending worship services and yet still be on entirely [...]
Two months ago we celebrated the 10-year milestone of Auxano. Back in February 2004, we built into the DNA of Auxano the idea that our services would always adapt to the primary growth challenges of local churches. Today, with over [...]
What if there was a simple way of thinking about your day today, that could radically transform it?The term "future perfect paradigm" originates from the work of Stanley Davis in the eighties. He used the term as a framework in [...]
I have the privilege of spending lots of time thinking about, reading about and listening to others talk about vision. Rarely do I find so much packed into one learning experience as I did with Derwin Gray who recently spoke [...]
I want you and your ministry to experience the benefits of stunning, God-given clarity. As a pastor turned vision coach, I’ve worked with an unprecedented variety of churches from growing mega-churches and missional communities, to mainline revitalization and church plants. I started several interconnected organizations that help the church embody the movement that Jesus founded. My visionary planning tools, the Vision Frame and the Horizon Storyline are used by thousands of churches every year through my calling to raise up other consultants and trainers. In 2004, I founded Auxano, which I sold to LifeWay and continued to lead until 2020. In 2014, I created Younique to deliver gospel-centered life design through the church. It is now the world's only comprehensive, open-source life plan system.
In 2023, I founded Run Free as my official team-based consulting shop. We deliver the most innovative Vision Framing experiences available to church teams through the "Pivvot Process" and to network/denominational leaders through the "Denominee Process." We also offer team coaching to church leaders using the "Performance Practices" of meta-performance executive coaching.
I've written seven books: Future Church, Church Unique, Younique, Clarity Spiral, God Dreams, Innovating Discipleship, and Building Leaders. I enjoy speaking about clarity, calling, disciple-making, and vision. It's all about helping one another do more than we can imagine. I co-locate in Houston and Chile with my wife, Romy, and the last of my four children, Poema.
If you are interested in Run Free's consulting offerings or want to discuss getting a LifePlan, just reach out to set up a conversation.
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