North Point Ministries offers a free spiritual gift assessment you can view by clicking here. This inventory contains 125 questions and will take 20-45 minutes to complete. Once when speaking on spiritual gifts we directed New Day attendees to visit this site to learn more about their spiritual gifts and how they might use them to honor God through serving in our church. If you order spiritual gift assessments and then multiple that cost by a bunch of people in your church it can quickly … [Read more...]
Bring Solutions Not Problems
I once learned in a leadership resource (by TD Jakes) that good staff bring solutions, not problems. I thought this was such good advice that I've been teaching it to my staff ever since I first heard it. In fact, at the church office I have a sign on the wall near the door of my office that says "Bring Solutions, Not Problems." Here's some things I encourage my staff to do that helps them be people who bring solutions, not problems. I encourage them to pray. James 1:5 says that God will … [Read more...]
Motivation in Managing
Today I want to share one of the main lessons I learned from the book It's Okay to be the Boss by Bruce Tulgan. The job of managing is two-fold. One part relates to holding the person accountable to do their job and the other relates to helping the person succeed in their work. I think most managers focus too much on the "holding the employee accountable" part and not enough on the "helping the person succeed" part. If you've hired the right person, you shouldn't have to do too much of the … [Read more...]
Agreement Prevents Disagreement
I believe in writing out a job description, not just for paid staff, but even for volunteers. Why? Because agreement prevents disagreement. Let me explain what I mean... When volunteers sign up to serve they ought to be committing to a certain set of responsibilities. You ought to print them a copy of what they are agreeing to do by signing up to serve. This agreement on the front end prevents disagreement on the back end. You see, when you aren't clear about what they are committing to, they … [Read more...]
Titles and Timelines
Never give a title without a timeline. I once met with a guy and asked him to be our band leader for six months. I told him that after six months I would need him to recommend someone else to lead the band for the next six months. He did a great job in many ways but didn't have the people skills needed to continue in the role. So after six months I thanked him for his service, gave him a gift card to a restaurant and asked him to recommend someone else to lead. He recommended someone that I … [Read more...]
Understanding Tithes and Offerings
God has a kingdom and it's funded through tithes and offerings . That being the case, as leaders we better have a solid grasp and biblical understanding of what they are (and aren't). For an Old Testament Israelite, tithing was the returning of the first 10% of their gross income to God through their local church to fund God's work on this earth. Let me explain this definition piece by piece, making application along the way. 1. Tithing was returning, not giving. The tithe was … [Read more...]
Reward What You Want Repeated
I don't recall who taught it to me, but I've been living by "reward what you want repeated" for years now. As often as I can I reward a behavior I see one of my staff exhibiting that I would like them to keep doing. Here's just one example. Each time my staff find a way to save money, I give them 20% of the total savings to keep for themselves. I don't care if it's $10 or $10,000, they get 20% of whatever they save the church. And let me tell you, my staff finds ways to save our church money! … [Read more...]
How to Evaluate Requests for Financial Support
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...]
How to Communicate Vision
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...]
Preparing a One Point Message
When preparing a one point message I use Andy Stanley's approach laid out in Communicating for a Change. Here's the five parts to cover in a one point message: The ME section. In the ME section of the message you share how you personally relate to the topic. The WE section. In the WE section of the message you share how the audience relates to the topic. In this section you want to pose a question your audience wants answered, create a tension they need resolved, or point to a mystery they … [Read more...]
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