0

Top 5 Posts from May

Thank you for making the month of May an incredible month on Helping Churches Make Vision Real! It’s so encouraging to read the comments and see the interaction through social media about the content and articles that are posted here! It’s encouraging to hear stories about how different posts have been helpful. So thank you for connecting with me through the content on this blog! You made these the top 5 Posts from this last month. If you missed out on any of them, here they are all in one place for your convenience!

#1 “5 Reasons it’s Good When People Leave Your Church”

What if I told you that people leaving your church can actually be a good thing? Maybe even the best thing? In this post I share 5 reasons it’s actually good when people leave your Church.

#2 “Church Boards Gone Wild”

If you’ve led in a church for any length of time you can probably tell some stories of experiences you’ve had with dysfunctional Church Boards. In this post I share the 4 stages of growth that a Board goes through and what they should be doing at different stages of church growth.

#3 “Chick-fil-A Leadercast: Andy Stanley”

If you missed the Chick-fil-A Leadercast then you missed out on some great content! But no worries you can catch up quick. I posted my notes and thoughts from each of the sessions! In this session Andy Stanley shared 3 questions that bring simplicity and clarity to leadership.

#4 “Do Denominational Labels Matter Anymore?”

It used to be that whatever denominational label you wore provided some clear context as to who you were and where you were coming from. Not so much anymore. In this guest post by my friend Matt Willmington we take an honest look at this tough question.

#5 “Avoiding the Multisite Mothership Syndrome”

Originally written as a guest post on TonyMorganLive, I share 5 key things I’ve learned about leading in a multisite church environment.

As a bonus check out “10 Questions to Answer Before You Begin a Building Campaign at Your Church”  a guest post by my friend Luke Simmons that got a lot of traffic this past month as well!


Posted in Leadership

1

New Leadership Coaching Network Opening Up

This coaching experience is built around simple and practical systems and tools to help you take your next steps as a leader. We’ll take a look at best practices in growing, healthy churches. Together, we’ll press into tough conversations to help you get unstuck in your leadership and ministry impact.

At TonyMorganLive you’ve probably heard us say before, “Your message has the potential to shift thinking. Your systems have the potential to shift behaviors.” This coaching network is focused on helping you discover the shifts that need to happen in your leadership and your ministry strategies and systems. You can’t continue to use the same systems and strategies and hope to experience different results. The only way to get different results is to engage different systems. This coaching network will challenge you to take those next steps.

If you’re considering joining us here are some things to keep in mind…

This is not an opportunity for someone who is looking for inspiration: This coaching network involves work. You can’t just show up. You will have to commit to six months of reading and engaging exercises with the ministry team at your church.

This experience isn’t for people looking for leadership theory: Yes, you’ll learn some leadership skills, but this experience is designed for you to put those skills into action. Every month you will leave with new tools to implement in your ministry environment.

This is not a conference experience: In a conference, you can sit and soak in the teaching without engaging anyone else. In this coaching experience, you will be encouraged and challenged by other leaders who will be counting on you to participate fully.

Here’s what others have said:

“Paul is a very talented leader who knows how to form and implement strategic plans, while encouraging and building leaders in the process. He is methodical in planning his approach, and builds his processes to include appropriate goals, steps, budgets, and measurement for completion. During my time working with Paul, he demonstrated how to focus on projects and refocus when scope changed or obstacles rose up. While learning from Paul, he made things “reproducible” which has allowed me to keep my teams on task and lead them to do the same.”
– Kerry Dodd, CFO of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA

“When I have a leadership question Paul is always one of my first calls. He is a gifted leader and strategist. Paul knows how to ask the right questions to properly diagnosis current systems, and the unique capacity to help teams formulate a plan that is both practical and attainable. Working with Paul has been an encouragement and has stirred in me the desire to be a better leader.”
– Aaron McRae, Senior Pastor of Hillside Community Church in Alta Loma, CA

“Paul Alexander is simply brilliant when it comes to helping pastors and churches get laser-focused on their purpose, process and values. I believe he is one of the top strategic thinkers in the church today. After connecting with him, you will be encouraged, inspired and equipped.”
– Kyle Wall, Senior Pastor of Atlantic Shores Baptist Church in Virginia Beach, VA

Paul Alexander is a natural leader and a great coach. He’s strategic, constantly learning, and has been very helpful to me in my ministry leadership and management.”
– Mike Work, Vice President of Operations of Youth Specialties

This Coaching Network will be limited to no more than 10 leaders, and I’d like you to consider joining us. To get all of the details for the next Coaching Network click here On that page, you’ll see the link to the online application Please only complete the application if you are fully committed. The deadline to apply is Tuesday, July 31. Follow this link to check out all of the Leadership Coaching Networks opportunities available through TonyMorganLive!


Posted in Leadership

1

Church Boards Gone Wild

If you’ve led in a church for any length of time you can probably tell some stories of experiences you’ve had with dysfunctional Church Boards. Church Boards become dysfunctional for a variety of reasons. But more often than not they become dysfunctional because those involved simply don’t understand their role or what the function of the Board is. What is more, those involved with the Board fail to understand what the church needs from them as a Board at the different stages of growth that the church experiences. Below are the 4 basic stages that a Board goes through as a church experiences growth.

Continue Reading…


Posted in Leadership

1

5 Reasons it’s Good When People Leave Your Church

Over the past 17 years of full time local church ministry I’ve seen people come and go from churches for all kinds of reasons. For the most part I’ve observed that those reasons have more to do with personal preference, style, and relationships than God actually “calling” them to be at one church or another.

And when this begins to happen I’ve seen Church Staff agonize over people departing from their churches. Frustration and fear can begin to creep in. How are we going to replace their financial support? Who is going to fill their recently vacated volunteer role? If they’re leaving and they’ve been here so long, then is there something wrong? Do they know something that I don’t? Should I be leaving too?

Even worse I’ve seen Church Staff begin to make decisions rooted in the fear of people leaving as opposed to the advancement of the mission. And when that begins to happen it’s a clear indicator that the church is drifting towards becoming insider focused.

What if I told you that people leaving your church can actually be a good thing? Maybe even the best thing? Below are 5 reasons that it’s actually good when people leave your Church:

1. They fell in love with who you were, not with who you are becoming

They’re stuck in the past. They were there when the church was small enough that you could know everybody by name and the Pastor was more available. Or maybe their favorite Staff Member excelled in their role when the church was smaller but it passed by their capacity and they’ve been moved to a different role, or they’re off the bus all together. Now things have changed and they’ve become critical that things aren’t the same anymore. You know people are stuck in the past when they keep talking about the “good ‘ole days” instead of what God is doing now.

2. It creates new opportunities

When people leave your church it creates an opportunity for new people to jump in, serve, and fill the gap. The exciting thing about new people is they always have fresh eyes, a different experience base, a new perspective, and new ideas. When people leave your church it’s an incredible opportunity for an infusion of new talent and ideas that will help propel things forward.

Continue Reading…


Posted in Leadership

0

2013 Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit

I’m pleased to announce that Sun Valley Community Church is partnering with Central Christian Church to bring the 2013 Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit to the Phoenix East Valley this year! The Summit event is telecast LIVE from Willow’s campus near Chicago every August and will be experienced in more than 300+ cities in 90 countries and translated into 42 languages.

Dates & Times: Thursday, August 8 – Friday, August 9 from 8:30am – 4:30pm each day
Location: CentralAZ Mesa Campus | 933 N. Lindsay Road Road | Mesa, AZ 85213
Cost: Register for Early Bird Pricing on or before 6/25 and receive the following pricing: WCA Member Group Rate (15+ people) = $159 | WCA Member Rate (1-14 people) = $199 | Individual Rate = $249 | Student/Faculty Rate = $79
Registration: To register you and your team, and for more information follow this link.

The Summit has put together an incredible faculty this year which includes: Bill Hybels, Founder & Sr. Pastor of Willow Creek Community Church | General Colin Powell, Former U.S. Secretary of State | Dr. Brene Brown, Research Professor University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work | Mark Burnett, Four-time Emmy Award Winner; Executive Television Producer | Vijay Govindarajan, Top 50 Management Thinker | Patrick Lencioni, Founder & President of The Table Group and Best Selling Author | Lize Wiseman, Executive Strategy and Leadership Consultant | Oscar Muriu, Senior Pastor of Nairobi Chapel, Kenya | Dr. Henry Cloud, Clinical Psychologist, Leadership Consultant, Best-selling Author | Chris Brown, Co-Senior Pastor and Teaching Pastor at North Coast Church | Joseph Grenny, Co-Founder, VitalSmarts and Best Selling Author | Bob Goff, Founder and CEO of Restore International and Attorney | Andy Stanley, Founder and Sr. Pastor of North Point Ministries

Bonus FREE Stuff!

As a bonus I’m giving away 3 tickets to this years Summit! Here are the conditions: 1) Your Church or Group must be new to the Phoenix East Valley Summit Location 2) It’s limited to one ticket per group (so if everyone’s counting correctly that’s three new groups) and 3) Contact me using my contact form on my blog. It’s that simple!


Posted in Leadership