Leadership

What does it take for a church to grow?  Some place a heavy emphasis on godly character that comes from prayer, as if that's all it takes to grow a church. This camp loves the first part of Psalm 78:72, "And David shepherded them with integrity of heart..." Others place a heavy emphasis on good leadership, as if that's all it takes to grow a church. This camp loves the second part of Psalm 78:72, "...David shepherded them...with skillful hands." But anytime a teaching implies that 1) … [Read more...]

I'm reading a book right now called John Adams by David McCullough. After John Adams became the second president of the United States many news articles were written about him. One writer praised Adams for his many admirable qualities, going on and on about what a great man he was, giving special attention to his uncompromising integrity. Another writer simply referred to Adam's as "an old fielder." An old fielder was a very dependable horse who produced a ton of work, was very low maintenance … [Read more...]

A church leader must balance two things: 1) working IN the church and 2) working ON the church. Working IN the church refers to doing the tasks that keep things going. If the teaching pastor doesn't work IN the church on a given week, there will be no message for Sunday. If the director of finance doesn't work IN the church the offering doesn't get deposited. Working ON the church refers to doing the tasks that keep things growing. If you don't work ON your department, you'll never come up … [Read more...]

I received church planting and senior pastor coaching from Kerrick Thomas and Nelson Searcy of The Journey Church for five years. Here's one of the best things I learned from them. Nelson used to say that the way to stay fresh in ministry is to: Divert daily, withdraw weekly and abandon annually. If you're going to stay fresh you have to take breaks, you have to rest, you have to do something other than work. And you have to do this daily, weekly and annually. Here's how this fleshes out in … [Read more...]

At New Day, each board of director is a pastor that does not attend New Day. Since they serve from a distance I work hard to keep them informed of what's happening at our church. If they don't have the right information, they can't properly help us succeed in our mission. One of the ways I keep them informed is by sending them a report at the end of each quarter that summarizes some of our key metrics. Here's the last one I sent for January through March of 2015. Sean, Bill & … [Read more...]

I read in Jim Collin's book Great by Choice of two explorers in a race to reach the South Pole in the early 1900s. Team A would take advantage of good weather and travel 40 miles in a single day. But then they would take a couple days off to recover. If bad weather came, they would take those days off too. Then when good weather came again, they would go extreme and travel another 40 miles or so. Team B had an entirely different approach. They would travel 20 miles a day, no matter what … [Read more...]

In Dave Ramsey's book Entreleadership I read the following: "It is leadership's job to continually shine a spotlight on the goal and remove any distractions." That being SO true, let me shine a little light on what we're trying to accomplish at New Day (i.e. the goal). We are in the disciple-development business and our product is changed lives (Christlike people). In accordance with Matthew 28:19-20 we: 1. MAKE disciples (we help people become followers of Jesus - “go and make … [Read more...]

Everything you do today will fall into one of four categories: Things that are important and urgent. Things that are important but not urgent. Things that are not important but are urgent. Things that are not important and not urgent. Productive people spend as much time as possible in categories one and two and avoid or delegate tasks in categories three and four. … [Read more...]

Had a great conversation the other day with a fellow church planter and we were discussing the benefits of advanced planning. I wanted to record some of those benefits to encourage you to plan ahead: When you plan ahead it will help you not to fall behind. Proverbs 21:5 says, "Careful planning puts you ahead in the long run; hurry and scurry puts you further behind." (The Message) Planning ahead allows time for the implementation of your ideas. Planning ahead allows you to slow cook … [Read more...]

Don't focus on getting bigger. Focus on getting better. If you focus on getting better, you'll get bigger. Here's four questions we constantly ask ourselves at New Day about everything we do: What went right?  What went wrong?  What was missing?  What was confusing?  We ask this after each Sunday and after every special event (i.e. after a baby dedication, a water baptism, a volunteer appreciation dinner, etc). It's by asking these questions that you figure out how to do it better … [Read more...]