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Preparing to Recover in the Moment

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

Yesterday morning I was scheduled to do the welcome at Grace Community Church. After the first song, I was scheduled to come on stage, welcome people to the service, and we would continue worship. It was that simple. Before the second service, I was in a meeting in another part of the building. All of a sudden I thought to look at the time. The service had started and I was late. I jumped up and started running for the auditorium. I arrived just in time to hear one of our worship leaders covering for my absence. I was mortified. Thankfully, Dustin covered for me.

The incident, however, served a purpose, because I was reminded of an important principle

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November 1, 2010
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7 Essentials for Personal Success in Today’s World

By Business, Church, Church Planting, Encouragement, Leadership, Life Plan, Vision

In case you haven’t been keeping up, the world has changed. To be successful today in any profession takes new tools and skills. I am asked frequently by young leaders what advice I have for those just starting their career. Obviously, if you are a believer desiring to do ministry (which describes many of my readers) then you first need to work through your relationship with Christ to be obedient to God’s call on your life, but even Christian leaders need to think how best to succeed in a changing world.

Here are some “must haves” I would advise young leaders to seek to possess in order to achieve personal success:

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October 21, 2010
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Iron Sharpens Iron – Learn From Your Team

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

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17

This verse has inspired me over the years, but recently I saw it in a different context for my life. One of the biggest mistakes I see leaders make is failing to learn from the people on their team. We tend to think the best ideas are outside our organization, so we learn from many sources, but many times the best ideas for the organization are already with us. I love to attend conferences, I read tons of books, I follow numerous blogs of great leaders, but the fact is God has surrounded me with great leaders with whom I work. I need to make sure I’m learning from them.

Here’s a gentle reminder…

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October 18, 2010
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Take Time for Excellence

By Business, Change, Innovation, Leadership

Often it’s one revision…a second look…one additional opinion…that takes an idea or a project from “Okay” to noteworthy.

It happens for me when writing a sermon. If I take the time to finish, then sit on it 24 hours, then go back for one more critical look the message is always better than it was before.

Don’t rush excellence. There’s a balance between stalling too long and rushing through a decision.

Which do you lean towards…rushing through a project or stalling too long?

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October 16, 2010
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Church Growth: When Size Matters

By Business, Change, Church, Church Planting, Leadership

Prior to entering ministry, my wife and I owned a small business. It was small in the sense of how economists measure businesses, but it was a big business to us. Whenever you have to make payroll for almost 40 people (including yourself)…that seems big. This was my second venture as an entrepreneur. The first was extremely successful, but this one was not. An opportunity came to sell and we quickly accepted. We learned tons of principles from that negative experience that still help us today, but it was a very challenging time for us personally.

Looking back on that experience, I realize one of the major problems we had being successful. There were hundreds of issues, including some of our own mistakes, but one aspect of our company and where we were in the market worked against us most. I discovered that….

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October 14, 2010
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Organizational Tip: Give Permission to Be Spontaneous

By Business, Change, Innovation, Leadership, Organizational Leadership, Team Leadership

Recently I attended the Story Conference in Chicago. It was a two day conference for the creative-minded packed full of the best ideas available to communicate our story to the world. It was a well-planned and scripted time and Ben Arment, the conference founder, is to be commended for the event.

The greatest moment for me, however, happened…

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October 12, 2010
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Positional Versus Relational Authority

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

I was sitting with a staff member recently who presented me an idea. I had reservations about the idea instantly. It was actually a “red flag” idea and I knew it. I love ideas, however, and I’m consistently encouraging our staff to dream, take risks, and improve upon what we are doing. So I listened intently and we discussed the pros and cons of the idea. The next day this staff member came back to tell me he had thought about our discussion and had changed his mind and was going a different direction. I was thrilled with “his” decision.

In that instance I used relational authority….

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October 6, 2010
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Leading Alone is Never a Good Idea

By Business, Christians, Church Planting, Encouragement, Leadership

If you are leading a team or organization, I have some simple advice for you. This is based on years of experience. I have been guilty of trying to lead on my own. I once had the false idea that I had to lead independent of others and that if I shared my struggles with other leaders, somehow I would be less of a leader. I felt like a sign of strength was to prove that I didn’t need help, but, as many of you know, this is never true for any leader.

Even still, I have been in organizations where there was no one on my team I felt I could confide in with a weakness. If this is your case, or especially if you are the only leader:

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October 2, 2010
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Exploring Coaching Network Options: Help Please

By Business, Church Planting, Leadership, Life Plan

I’m exploring options…thinking through some ways that I can invest in the current and future leadership of the church. One of the most common themes these days among leaders I admire is to start a coaching network, basically as a way to “coach” a small group of leaders for a determined period of time. I’ve never been one to copy what everyone else is doing, but I don’t want to miss opportunities either.

So I’m curious…would you help me by answering a few questions?

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September 27, 2010
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