Leading your Church into the New Normal of COVID-19

Tag Archive - leadership

Leading your Church into the New Normal of COVID-19

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

I recently was invited by Scott Ridout, who serves as the President of Converge, a movement of more than 1,300 churches to “Start and Strengthen Churches Worldwide,” to participate in a conversation about the impact of Covid-19 and the future new normal churches will be leading through.

In the conversation we discussed the new normal churches are currently leading through as a result of COVID-19 and the different approaches a church may take in the future depending upon the following 3 unique circumstances:

A Blizzard: Is this a storm that the Church needs to weather for a moment?
A Winter: Is this a season that we need to be prepared to get through?
An Ice Age: Is this a prolonged event that will result in a new normal?

Along with myself and Scott Ridout the conversation was made up of the following Church Leaders:

Craig Smith, Lead Pastor of Mission Hills Church, a large mega-church in Littleton, CO.
Mike Schnepp, Executive Pastor at Vox Church, a fast growing multi-site church with 9 campuses across New England.
Rod Hairston, Lead Pastor of Messiah Community Church in the Baltimore area. Rod planted the church while he was chaplain for the Baltimore Ravens (yes he has 2 Super Bowl rings). As an African American Pastor he is both experienced and articulate in the unique challenges facing multicultural congregations around the country.
Kyle Robinson, Executive Pastor of Wooddale Church a large multisite church with 4 locations in the Minneapolis Area.

Posted in Leadership

The Church’s Response to COVID-19: Same Mission, New Strategies

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

The Church’s Response to the Coronavirus: Same Mission, New Strategies

Webinar hosted by Tony Morgan, Amy Anderson and Sean Bublitz

45 Minute Webinar + 15 Minute Live Q & A
We will send out a replay after the webinar to everyone who registers.

The whirlwind of ministry just changed, and with each passing day the uncertainty seems to increase.

We’re with you.

As church leaders, we’re in uncharted territory—for this generation, at least—but the Church has withstood and thrived in times of persecution and plague, panic and need.

Beyond the obvious changes to our gatherings, how else is this pandemic impacting us? What will be the “new reality” for our churches when we get to the other side?

For years, culture has been moving much faster than the Church. This crisis is forcing our strategies to catch up.

FREE WEBINAR

In this free webinar, Tony Morgan is hosting a conversation about why NOW is the time to shift away from asking, “When will things get back to normal?” Instead, we need to be asking, “What does this mean for us long-term?”

Join us for an hour to participate in a conversation about:

The Church’s new reality post-pandemic
Redefining how we accomplish our mission and align our teams
New strategies for the new reality

The mission doesn’t change, but our methods must. Sign up to join the conversation! Join us for an hour on Thursday, April 16th at 1 p.m. EST for a free webinar.

Follow this link to REGISTER NOW! It’s free.

Posted in Leadership

Leading Your Church Staff Team Through the COVID-19 Disruption

Monday, April 6, 2020

The first couple weeks of leading through the COVID-19 crisis the staff team at Sun Valley Community Church (the church I have the honor of serving at) has been fantastic! I’m so proud of how hard they’ve been working, how quickly they’ve been able to pivot, and how well they’ve been pastoring people through this. Like every church staff team around the country we’re dealing with a level of disruption that we’ve never experienced before. We’re leading in a new normal, and I’m not sure anyone really has a great handle on what things are going to look like for the church in North America on the other side of this…but we know it’s going to be different.

In an effort to support and encourage out team through this time I sat down and recorded a conversation with Dr. Ray Branton. Dr. Branton is the founder and Clinical Director of Arizona Psychology Consultants, as well as the founder and Clinical Director of Professional Counseling Associates. He’s been a part of Sun Valley for years, and I trust him. I was hoping to simply provide a resource to our team. Some way to encourage them through the chaos they are leading through. The conversation was really well received and I received some requests by the team to share it. Typically I don’t share resources like this that are intended for the team at Sun Valley on my blog. Simply because it’s designed for this team, for who they are and for what they’re leading through. But at their request, with Dr. Branton’s permission, and in the hope that this may be helpful for other church staff team members out there I’m sharing this resource with you. Understand that this was designed for our team here, so there’s going to be some “insider” moments that may not make sense for everyone viewing.

My concern is that if we don’t somehow figure out how to do the “both-and” of leading through crisis while paying attention to our own soul we could get ourselves into trouble. And all of that is coming from a guy (me) that likes to get things done and take new ground. But my friend Lance Witt at the Unstuck Group has challenged me by telling me, “Following Jesus cannot be done at a sprint. You can’t live life at warp speed without warping your soul.” I’m trying to listen.

Posted in Leadership, Staffing, Testimonial

The Church’s Response to Corona Virus: What do we do next? {free webinar}

Tuesday, March 17, 2020

The Church’s Response to Coronavirus: What Should We Do Next?

Webinar hosted by Tony Morgan, Amy Anderson and Lance Witt
45 minute discussion + 15 minutes live Q&A

The whirlwind of ministry just changed, and with each passing day the uncertainty seems to increase.

We’re with you.

As church leaders, we’re in uncharted territory—for this generation, at least—but the Church has withstood and thrived in times of persecution and plague, panic and need.

In this free webinar, Tony Morgan will host Amy Anderson and Lance Witt from The Unstuck Group’s team for a community conversation about how churches should respond to the situation in which we find ourselves with the coronavirus pandemic.

Join us for an hour on Thursday, March 19 for a free webinar. You’ll walk away encouraged, with more clarity around:

Why leadership so important during a crisis moment, and what it looks like
What people need to hear from their pastor in a crisis like this one
How your church and your team can redeem this moment to find increased impact and influence

Christ told us to expect trouble, but to take heart. In times of panic, the opportunity for the church to shine becomes clear.

Join the conversation on March 19, as we pull together to encourage and equip each other to lead well in the weeks ahead.

Follow this link to register now! It’s free!

Posted in Leadership

5 Church Leadership Lessons I Learned from Moses’ Father-in-Law

Monday, February 10, 2020

I know that’s not a very intriguing or sexy title…no clickbait there. However, to this day, the best leadership book I’ve ever read is the Bible (and like you, I’ve read a lot of leadership books). One of the most interesting leadership interactions I’ve ever read about is out of Exodus chapter 18.

Moses is actually pretty early in his personal leadership development and along comes Exodus chapter 18, which turns out to be a crucible moment for Moses. It’s one of those moments where Moses’ leadership grows exponentially. Exponential leadership growth, or crucible moments, are usually a result of pain in our lives, and in Exodus 18 Moses is experiencing all kinds of leadership pain. In fact, it was so painful it affected his family so badly that his father-in-law had to step in. Not a great moment for a son-in-law.

Usually we are the lid to our own leadership

“The next day Moses sat to judge the people and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening.” Exodus 18:13

Moses was his own worst enemy, and the worst part is he didn’t even see it. He had led himself into a corner. Every decision had to go through him. He chose control over growth. He could control everything if it came through him, but by doing so he stunted his own personal leadership growth and prevented himself from being what the Israelites needed him to be. At first, for a new young leader that may make you feel important and valuable. But like Moses you’ll quickly learn that when you’re running from sunup to sundown, that kind of approach can lead to some very unhealthy behaviors in your life and actually hurt the Church.

We all have blind spots

“When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, ‘What is this that you are doing for the people?’” Exodus 18:14a

Moses had a blind spot. He was doing something that wasn’t good for himself and it wasn’t good for the people he was supposed to be leading. And by the way, it also wasn’t good for his family…that’s probably why his father-in-law butted in. We all need people to butt-in from time to time and hold up a mirror to help us see things that we just can’t see on our own. When people hold up a mirror to your leadership is your first inclination to listen and ponder or fight and offer excuses?

You don’t have to lead alone

“’Why do you sit alone, and all of the people stand around you from morning till evening?’” Exodus 18:14b

Leadership by its very nature is exclusive. After all, how many CEO’s of Amazon are there? How many CEO’s of Apple are there? I think you get my point. However, just because leadership is exclusive doesn’t mean it needs to be lonely. Those are two different things. While it’s true that the leader has decision making power and carries weight that others in the organization don’t, it doesn’t mean they need to do that in isolation. It’s never good to sit alone in leadership like Moses was. Bad things happen when leaders become lonely.

You’re not the only one who can do it

“Moses’ father-in-law said to him, ‘What you are doing is not good.’” Exodus 18:17

When church leaders buy into the lie that says, “no one can do it as good as me,” all kinds of bad things happen. You suffer, everyone around you suffers, and the mission of Jesus suffers, You suffer because you carry more than you are called and designed to carry. People around you suffer because they carry less than they are called and designed to carry. The mission of Jesus suffers because less people are involved in the mission and as a result the reach of the Gospel is diminished. Are you carrying out your calling, or have you picked up things that it’s time to let go of?

The help you need is probably right under your nose

“So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.” Exodus 18:24-25

Often, we can’t see the solutions God is providing us because we’re more focused on being a victim and find a solution. Moses had become a bit self-absorbed and had a bit of a “woe-is-me” attitude. As soon as Moses started looking around to see what kind of solution and resources God had provided him and got his eyes off of himself things started working for Israel and for Moses. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and playing the part of a martyr, take a different approach and find a solution.

Posted in Leadership, Spiritual Formation, Staffing