Helping Churches Make Vision Real

3 days in a minivan with 3 kids a dog and a crab

Monday, June 28, 2010

As I’m typing this on my phone (those who know me are proud of me right now for learning to use technology) it’s the last night on the road tonight & we hit Atlanta tomorrow to start the next chapter of our lives together. We’ve tried to make the roadtrip as memorable as possible for the kids. I mean how many times do you ever move your whole family across the country? I think we’ve pretty much succeeded, only 6 movies in 3 days means we’ve been doing a lot of other stuff. There were stories read, laughter, and multiple cow sightings by the girls. There was the blimp we saw doing training moves just a few 100 ft off the ground, the horses sticking their heads out of the trailer as we passed by, picnics at the rest stops, Lincoln loved yelling at every tractor trailer we passed, and so on. There were tons of simple yet satisfying moments that happened on the trip that as a father I hope I never forget. And then there were the ones I do hope to forget. You know the ones if you’re a parent.

Posted in Family

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building a culture that creates a movement

Thursday, June 24, 2010

If you haven’t read Will Mancini’s book, Church Unique, go and buy it now! If you’re a leader than even the subtitle should get you going a bit, “How Missional Leaders Cast Vision, Capture Culture, and Create Movement.” In it he does a masterful job of reframing the conversation about vision that has been so overcooked in “Church-World.” Instead of selling everyone on a secret method, philosophy, or model that we should all adopt he lays out a roadmap to a journey that will lead you, and those you lead with, to discover the unique part that God has created your local church to express and play. The conversation goes far beyond simply coming up with mission, vision, and values statements to build an organization around and instead discusses, in a totally integrated fashion, the underpinnings of building a culture that frees the Church up to be the movement that it was intended to be from the beginning. In it you’ll find helpful tables that simplify the takeaways and the right kind of questions and exercises for you and your team to wrestle through and discover your uniqueness together! In the Author’s own words, he lays the book out in four major parts:

Posted in Leadership, Spiritual Formation

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5 leadership lessons i learned from my dad

Monday, June 21, 2010

Father’s Day always provides a great opportunity to reflect on the kind of Father you had growing up and of course the kind of Father you would like to be yourself. In thinking about my Dad this weekend there were so many lessons that he taught me that came to mind, and fortunately, many things I still have to learn from my Dad. And while every father and man has their deficiencies to be sure, my dad has been an accelerant in my life and leadership by consistently allowing me to stand on his shoulders. Dad, I love you, and I’m so grateful that you’re in my life! So here are a handful of leadership principles that I learned from my Dad.

Posted in Family, Leadership

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why church staff change churches part 3 leaving well

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Alright, so you know that the Lord is calling you to leave the current Church that you’re serving at. You’ve done the hard work of praying and wrestling through this transition with God, you’ve asked the right questions, you’ve allowed the right people to speak into your life, and the decision to leave has been made. What next? How do you leave well? What does leaving well even mean? How you choose to leave a church, or for that matter any place of employment, will reveal much about the kind of person you are. And if they’re watching, this moment tells the next organization you’re moving into a lot about what kind of person they’re getting. What you do next matters. So as you get ready to make this move here are a few ideas that should help the transition go a bit smoother.

Posted in Leadership, Staffing

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why church staff change churches part 2 before you go

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Inevitably at some point in life you’re going to ponder leaving the church you’re at for another. Either someone’s going notice that you’re doing a great job and invite you to their team, you’ll get frustrated where you’re at and be tempted to jump to another place, or you’ll be uninvited from the team that you currently serve on. Whatever the reason before you make the decision to leave your church for another, make sure you take the time to wrestle through the following questions. These were given to me about 10 years ago by a friend of mine who asked them to me and I’ve held onto them ever since. Hope they’re helpful!

Posted in Leadership, Staffing