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Innovation

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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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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Doodling Turns Into Masterpiece: Turning Random into Success

By Business, Change, Church Planting, Innovation, Leadership

This is a silly post with an important principle…

The other day I was on a Skype call with missionaries from Costa Rica. I serve on their ministry board and this was a board meeting. As with most meetings, I get bored easily, so I began to doodle on a piece of paper in front of me. What started literally as doodling with no intended purpose turned into a masterpiece…as you can see from this picture.

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Don’t Judge a Tweeter by a Single Tweet

By Culture, Innovation

One Tweet should never stand alone in determining the value of a Tweeter. With the rapid fire that most people Twitter 140 characters, the quick thoughts extended are not always a fair representation of the mind, heart and character of the person Tweeting.

There are times I have Tweeted something I wish later I hadn’t. I have mistyped or misspelled a tweet numerous times. My auto-correct has finished words for me that were inappropriate. I have had trouble communicating what I wanted to say in such a small space.

If you are going to follow me (or anyone) on Twitter. Here’s a quick reminder:

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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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Step Across the Line to Leadership Excellence

By Business, Church Planting, Encouragement, Innovation, Leadership

I love watching the dynamics of organizational growth and leadership. It is always interesting to me how people approach the position they are given. Some step up and lead quickly…others take a short time to adjust to the organizational culture before leading…some never move from employee to a leader on a team. I personally like to surround myself with leaders. It’s harder to lead leaders, but, in my opinion, it’s more effective, more productive, and more fun.

I want to encourage you to step across the line to leadership excellence. Too many people never take the initiative to personally become the leader God has equipped them to be.

Here are a few examples of what I mean by stepping across the line to leadership excellence:

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The Competitive Nature: Could It Be Used for Good in the Church?

By Church, Church Planting, Innovation, Leadership, Vision

There’s a competitive spirit in most of the leaders I know. I saw mine kick in while running recently…

It was 6 AM and already 76 degrees with near 90% humidity. I was casually running, listening to our formal worship pastor Daniel Doss’s song Masterpiece, when out of the corner of my eye I sensed someone trying to pass me. I looked around and it was a girl! She’s the wife and sister of two good friends from college, and a dedicated athlete, so I may have normally been okay with her passing me, but something snapped in me. I said a few nice things and then I gradually picked up speed. I killed myself…but I won! YEA!!! Not that it was a race, and I’m sure she could have taken me had she wanted to, but there was the thrill of victory when I pulled ahead on the road.

I have written this before and I know it creates controversy to talk about, but what if we used that competitive spirit in a way that helped grow the Kingdom?

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Wasting Valuable Resources of Human Capital

By Business, Church Planting, Innovation, Leadership

met with a young leader recently who works for a large corporation. He is sharp, energized, and a hard worker. If he were in a field I needed, I would hire him in without question. He’s looking for a new job.

He’s frustrated that his corporation isn’t moving forward. They aren’t thinking progressively and suggestions he offers for his department are quickly dismissed. He feels undervalued and underutilized. He realizes now he doesn’t want to waste much more of his career with this company.

While this is a secular example, I hear from young pastors every day in similar environments in their churches.

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