Leadership

One task of the lead pastor is to prepare an annual report for the board of directors. In this post I hope to help you prepare for that task. A  good annual report begins with a rock solid understanding of the purpose of your board. A board exists to guard three things: The mission The money The message The board is there to make sure the lead pastor is leading the church in fulfilling Jesus' Great Commission (for that's the mission of every church). The board is there to make sure … [Read more...]

The value Some people are really down on setting goals. To some people goals are simply things they will later feel bad about next year for not achieving. But I believe setting goals is a wonderful thing to do. While I love it when I 100% hit a goal, I don't set goals or like goals because they help me do everything I want to do 100%. I like setting goals because by setting a goal, I do better than I would have without setting a goal. For example: By aiming for a weekly date night I might … [Read more...]

I love the fresh start a new year brings. I love the possibilities a new year represents! And most of all, I love setting some goals for a new year. Here are the categories I set goals in: Faith. How will I deepen my personal relationship with Jesus this year? Family. How will I deepen my relationship with my spouse and children? Finance. What's my plan to be a good steward of the resources God's entrusts to me? Fitness. What's my plan to be a good steward of my temple (my … [Read more...]

Sometimes our greatest opportunities in life are disguised as our greatest problems. For example, I once visited LifeChurch.tv - of the largest churches in the country. Know how they got so big? It started with a problem. LifeChurch.tv had merged with another church in the area and Craig, the lead pastor was preaching at his church, then traveling across town to preach at the other church. Well, when his wife had her 5th baby late Saturday night Craig had to call both churches and say "I … [Read more...]

This is the time of the year where, as a pastor, you will be receiving Christmas cards from parishioners stuffed with movie tickets, gifts cards to your favorite restaurant, or maybe even some cold hard cash. When this happens, make sure you hand write a thank you note. We read in Luke 17:11-17, Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a … [Read more...]

Satan targets ministers of the gospel. Part of spiritual leadership is leading yourself in guarding against temptation. God has been most helpful in this regard by telling us in advance where Satan will try and trip us up. When Satan tempts us it will be in one of three areas: 1) Pleasure, 2) Possessions or 3) Pride or some combination of the three. In this post I want to show you that all temptation comes from one (or a combination) of these three sources, and to do that I'll give you four … [Read more...]

Awhile back I read a book called The Google Story by David A. Vise and Mark Malseed, where I learned something very interesting regarding what top investors look for when considering investing financially in a start up company. Ideas that solved real problems The potential to produce real profits Bright, passionate and capable founders When Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin needed to raise money so their new company could expand, the investor evaluated them by these three … [Read more...]

Proverbs 29:18 says “Without a vision the people perish.” And I heard in a resource I listened to by Rick Warren that the number one responsibility of leadership is to continually clarify and communicate the vision of the organization, and that you will never see your vision become a reality unless you can communicate it to others. But how exactly does one communicate the vision? Well the book of Nehemiah has a lot to teach us about vision, specifically about how to communicate vision. Check … [Read more...]