I recently spent time with a pastor friend, and as we caught up he began to share some of the leadership strain he’s been carrying. Several staff members were upset with him—upset enough to resign—over a leadership decision he had made. The issue was this: For the church’s vision to move from paper to reality, restructuring was necessary. And my friend, being the kind of leader churches need, didn’t avoid the hard work. He led the staff through the process carefully and intentionally. But the … [Read more...]
Core Four: Evaluate
RWMC is an acronym that helps us easily remember the four questions we have to ask ourselves each week about our Sunday services…. R stands for what went right? W stands for what went wrong? M stands for what was missing? And C stands for what was confusing? And these are the four questions you want to ask about every Sunday service. So here’s what you do: Make a note on your phone that you label RWMC. Under that make four headings: 1) right, 2) wrong, 3) missing, 4) confusing. Then, on … [Read more...]
How to Respond Appropriately to Criticism
Rick Warren once said “you preach to a parade.” This means that at all times you have people coming in (joining the church) and going out (leaving the church). And when people leave, there are times where it’s because their personal preferences aren’t being met. If you haven’t already experienced your own version of this—all it means is you’re new to staff :) And here’s the first thing I want you to note about Jesus’ ministry… Ok, here’s the second thing I … [Read more...]
Vince Lombardi: A Successful Failure
I recently read When Pride Still Mattered by David Maraniss, which is considered to be the definitive biography of legendary football coach Vince Lombardi. If case you've never heard of him, Lombardi was the head coach of the Green Bay Packers from 1959-1967. When he took over the team was struggling, having suffered multiple losing seasons. But under his leadership, the Packers became a dominant force in the NFL, winning championships in 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, and 1967. Then, later on in … [Read more...]
Why Doing So Good Feels So Bad
Last week our Directional Leadership Team went away for our third off-site of the year and I was surprised to learn how well we're doing. I guess I was surprised because I haven't been feeling (that's the key word here, feeling) like things were going well. So I basically asked the guys "Why does doing so good feel so bad?" And as we discussed the answer to that question, here's what we realized. So this is why doing so well feels so bad. And I bring this up so that we can all make a … [Read more...]
Change: Life’s Only Constant
Both my personal experience and leadership intuition is telling me that with the launch of our Agawam location, change is coming. The growth we’re believing God for there, when realized, will shake things up, and in this lesson I will do my best to prepare your minds and hearts for what I believe is coming, which again, is change. There are many people over the years who have written about change. For example… From these writings (and others like them) it becomes clear that if we … [Read more...]
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