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Encouragement

7 Ways to Prepare for More Effective Meetings

By Business, Church Planting, Encouragement, Leadership, Organizational Leadership, Team Leadership

Successful projects and teams require meetings to accomplish goals and objectives of the organization. Busy leaders, however, are usually somewhat anti-meetings because of the interruption they appear to be in getting actual work done. I have found, however, that much of the frustration is found in the lack of proper preparation prior to the meeting. Although, when done well, the time spent in meetings can actually make projects better and strengthen the work of the organization. A large part of making meetings better is found in the preparation prior to the meeting.

Here are 7 ways to prepare for more effective meetings:

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September 15, 2010
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12 Random Things I Learned from My Time with Rick Warren

By Christians, Church, Church Planting, Encouragement, Leadership, Missions

I had an awesome opportunity a few weeks ago to spend a couple hours with Rick Warren and a dozen or so other pastors. Rick was in town to speak to a conference and Ed Stetzer arranged for him to meet with us. Obviously, this man is bigger than life just because of the book, the publicity he has received, and the impact he has in the church world and society. He is becoming a statesman for the church around the world.

It was a humbling experience. I didn’t choose the seat of honor (I promise), but I ended up sitting next to him in the meeting. Rick talked randomly and conversationally with us and I took notes as fast as I could. There are so many principles I took from our time, but here are 12 random things I gleaned from the time: (Some are quotes…I put them in quotation marks…some are random points of information I heard from Rick’s talk.)

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September 14, 2010
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One Piece of Advice for Want-To-Be Church Planters

By Church, Church Planting, Encouragement, Innovation, Leadership, Missions, Vision

One of my best rules (suggestions) for church planting is don’t try to be a lone ranger. That may work in western movies, but not in church planting. (And even he had Tonto…never understood that…)

If God is birthing a vision in you, the chances are great that He is birthing the same or similar vision in the hearts of others.

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September 5, 2010
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7 Qualities to Look for in a Pastor’s Wife

By Christians, Church, Encouragement, Family, Marriage

I receive dozens of emails from pastors each week. This one caught my attention and I asked permission to use it here. Hopefully others will benefit from my response and weigh in with their own thoughts. I have changed his name.

Ron,

I hope all is well with you. I frequent your blogs ever so often via twitter, which I do enjoy. the reason for this email is for some direction. It is my belief that the Lord has called me to be a pastor, however I am presently single. I wanted to find out what are some of the qualities one should look for and how should I go about finding a wife as a future pastor. I have been keeping the issue in prayer.

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Sincerely,

Mike

Dear Mike,

Most likely you will not be able to pick every expectation or qualification you have for a spouse. I think is is wise, however, to have a goal. You are more likely to reach a target for which you aim. With that in mind, here are 7 qualities I believe make up the ideal pastor’s wife:

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September 2, 2010
Love13

Think You Have a Great Idea…Sleep On It

By Business, Church Planting, Encouragement, Innovation, Leadership

Think you have a great idea….sleep on it…

If you read this blog regularly, surely you have learned that I’m a risk-taker by nature. I love to encourage big dreams and I want to be a catalyst for idea generation and innovative thought. I’m even a church planter!!! Talk about risk…

In spite of that tendency in me to act quickly, I have learned one principle of leadership by personal experience…this is one of those wisdom learned by mistake kind of things…so listen closely…

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August 20, 2010
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Advice When Nothing Is Going Right

By Change, Encouragement, Innovation

When it seems everything is a failure. Go for some small wins.

Life has a way of bringing seasons into our life where nothing seems to go right. Often God uses those times to strengthen us, sometimes our own bad decisions bring those times, and many times those seasons come just as a part of living in a fallen world. During those seasons of life, a person may need to experience a little victory to rebuild his or her confidence.

If everything in your life seems to be going wrong lately, find a few small things you do well and complete them. Everyone does something well. It will help rebuild your confidence and encourage you to take risks again towards the bigger wins.

Are you in one of those seasons? Be faithful in a little and God will bless you with far more. What’s a small win you could accomplish today?

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August 6, 2010
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The No Guarantee Principle

By Business, Christians, Encouragement

Someone recently pointed out to me a principle they had always believed, until it didn’t come true for them. They were disappointed in the principle. I had to remind myself of yet another principle. Principles are great, but they aren’t promises; they are principles.

I love principles. I believe in them. I write about them. I even attempt to live my life by some of them.

But principles of men aren’t guaranteed to come true.

You can count on the promises of God, but don’t expect the principles of men to work every time. The truth is that life happens…and sometimes life is more powerful than a principle.

Take one famous John Maxwell principle

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July 30, 2010
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