Leadership Coaching Network Starting Soon!

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

A couple of weeks ago, we opened applications for the new leadership coaching networks that will begin in March through TonyMorganLive. The deadline for applications is January 31, but applications have already been coming in and these new coaching networks will probably fill up before then.

Still on the fence about whether or not to participate? Here’s what others have said:

“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, Executive Pastor of Mission Community Church in Gilbert, AZ

“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 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

You can get more details about the next Coaching Network on our website.

What’s next?

Complete the Coaching Network Application. The Phoenix Leadership Coaching Network that I’m leading will be limited to no more than 10 leaders and begins in March 2013. I’d like you to consider joining us. The deadline for applications is January 31, 2013.

Questions? Contact me

Posted in Leadership

5

When Evaluation goes Wrong

Monday, December 10, 2012

Socrates is credited with saying, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” If that’s true then there are a lot of churches that are in existence that shouldn’t be. Along those lines this past week I had a great conversation with my Leadership Coaching Network about why evaluation seems to be avoided in church-world. Here are some of the reasons we came up with.

1. Personal Attachment

Often staff members see their sermon or ministry program as an extension of themselves as a result many can’t separate the discussion about a ministry program from their own personality or character.

2. Leading with “No”

Sometimes the evaluation derails when a group picks things a part and can’t get on the solution side of things.

3. Unclear Expectations

Evaluation bogs down when a team member is unclear about what they’re trying to accomplish and when a win is confusing.

4. Addiction to Tradition

The only people who like change are leaders because they’re pushing towards a preferred future. This usually means abandoning past successes or even traditions. Many churches do evaluation poorly because of sacred cows that can’t be touched.

5. Stonewalling

Some churches and staff are simply living in denial and refuse to be sober minded. As a result they stonewall and refuse to deal with their current reality.

6. Fear

Some churches and staff members refuse to approach evaluation seriously not out of a fear of what they may find but rather they may have to work harder or differently to obtain different results.

What would you add to the list? What’s your experience with evaluation in the church-world? Leave a comment!

Posted in Leadership

0

November’s Top 5 Posts on Helping Churches Make Vision Real

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Thank you! You made these the most popular posts on “Helping Churches Make Vision Real,” during the month of November!

#1 5 Reasons we Started from Scratch with our Website

At Sun Valley we recently just completed a ground up redesign and launch of our website. Here are 5 reasons why we did, and you might want to as well.

#2 Measure What Matters

As churches are in the middle of evaluating 2012 and planning for 2013 there are a 4 critical principles about measurement that we need to keep in mind.

#3 Join me at Ignite 2013

Ignite 2013 is right around the corner and early bird pricing ends in just a month! Ignite is intentionally designed for Church Planters, Planting Teams and Pastors who want to explore planting daughter churches or launching multi-site congregations.

#4 Soul Care and the Leader

We’ve all heard the statistics. And what the statistics are telling us is that beneath the surface of appearances, a majority of pastors are hurting and discouraged. Do a quick Google search on “pastor burnout” and you’ll easily find the following statistics and more! But are we supposed to do about it?

#5 The Blame Game

Catch my interview with Rick Calcutt about his new book “The Blame Game.” It’s a great resource for developing a clear creative process at your church!

Posted in Leadership

0

Out of the Box

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

This past weekend at Sun Valley Community Church we announced our plans to bring in $100,000 worth of food this holiday season at our campuses in Gilbert, Tempe and Casa Grande to benefit local food banks. “Out of the Box” is an effort to put feet to requests that have come from both local and state leadership to address issues of chronic hunger in Arizona. Throughout the month of December, people will have the opportunity to pick up a box that has a shopping list attached that was provided by local food banks with staple items that are in demand. The items on the list amount to about $20 worth of food. With a goal of filling 5,000 boxes, that will result in $100,000 worth of food that will feed 360 families for one month.

The theme “Out of the Box” is wrapped around the goal of making the focus of the Christmas season for Sun Valley a “cause” and not just “Christmas as usual.” On invitations that were handed out this weekend, the call to action for attendees was, “It’s our community; it’s OUR responsibility.” Already, as of this past weekend, over 3,500 boxes were handed out at the three campuses! We actually ran out of boxes on one of our campuses…oops! But no worries, more boxes will be distributed over the course of the next two weekends. The message was clear, “At Sun Valley, we want the word community in our name to mean something.”

Want more information? Click here.

Posted in Creative Arts, Spiritual Formation

0

Join me at Ignite 2013

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Ignite 2013 is right around the corner and early bird pricing ends in just a month! Ignite is intentionally designed for Church Planters, Planting Teams and Pastors who want to explore planting daughter churches or launching multi-site congregations.

You and your team will have opportunities to learn best practices from nationally recognized church planting leaders. I’ll be involved teaching a breakout session and interviewing Alan Hirsch in another. I’d love to connect with you, if you’re there come by and see me!

Dates & Location: March 5-7 at Cornerstone Christian Church in Phoenix, AZ

Cost: Early Bird Pricing ends January 1: $99/person or $79/per person for a group of 3+ from the same church. Click here to register!

Some of the Speakers:

Alan Hirsch
Alan Hirsch is the founding director of Forge Mission Training Network. Currently he co-leads Future Travelers, an innovative learning program helping megachurches become missional movements. Known for his innovative approach to mission, Alan is considered to be a thought-leader and key mission strategist for churches across the Western world. Alan is co-founder and adjunct faculty for the M.A. in Missional Church Movements at Wheaton College in Illinois. He is also adjunct professor at Fuller Seminary, George Fox Seminary, among others, and he lectures frequently throughout Australia, Europe, and the United States. He is series editor for Baker Books’ Shapevine series , IVP’s Forge line, and a contributing editor of Leadership Journal.

Ed Stetzer
Ed Stetzer has trained pastors and church planters on five continents, holds two masters degrees and two doctorates, and has written dozens of articles and books. Ed is a contributing editor for Christianity Today, a columnist for Outreach Magazine and Catalyst Monthly, serves on the advisory council of Sermon Central and Christianity Today’s Building Church Leaders, and is frequently cited or interviewed in news outlets such as USAToday and CNN. Ed is Visiting Professor of Research and Missiology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Visiting Research Professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and has taught at fifteen other colleges and seminaries. He also serves as Pastor of Grace Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

Chan Kilgore
Chan Kilgore is the Lead Pastor of CrossPointe Church in Orlando, FL, a church he planted in 2002. In addition to his pastoral duties at CrossPointe, he serves as the Florida Regional Leader for Acts 29, a church planting network. Chan is grateful for the partnership CrossPointe has with Converge Worldwide. On a personal note, he has been married for over 20 years to wife Stacy and is the proud father of 3 girls.