Tag Archive - ministry

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Ministry Trends for 2013

Last week Rich Birch, who serves as the Director of Operations at Liquid Church in New Jersey released an info-graphic about trends he’s seeing in ministry as we head into 2013. With his permission I’m happy to share it with you here. You can keep up with Rich at his blog unseminary where he discusses stuff you wish they taught in seminary.

Which of these trends have you seen? Which ones do you disagree with? Anything surprising to you? Or is there anything you would add? What trends are you observing as we head into 2013? Leave a comment!

 


Posted in Leadership

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I’m Starting a New Coaching Network

While my current Coaching Network is full, I’m excited to let you know that I’m beginning a new West Coast Coaching Network in partnership with TonyMorganLive beginning in March of 2013!

This is an incredible opportunity to not only advance your leadership, but also connect with like minded leaders and build lasting friendships. You’ll participate in six days of coaching sessions spread out over six months. You will receive focused training on a variety of strategic ministry topics including staffing, leadership development, communications, financial stewardship, volunteer team development, weekend services, ministry structure, discipleship, multisite and more. There will be tools, exercises and best practices to implement after every session. You’ll receive several free resources and get access to incredible guest presenters. Many have already expressed interest, so I’d encourage you to get your application in quick.

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 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

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 Thursday, January 31.


Posted in Leadership

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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!

• 1,500 pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout or contention in their churches.

• 80% of pastors and 84% of their spouses feel unqualified and discouraged in their role as pastors.

• 50% of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.

Great, so that’s reality. Really encouraging right? So what are Pastors to do about it?

1. Learn to say “No”

Believe it or not “no” can be a complete sentence. The Church already has a Savior and He’s doing quite well. Jesus already died for the Church, you don’t need to!

2. Learn what “Fuels Me”

You’ve got to discover what fuels you and then do that. Whether it is recreational or spiritual (it can be both) you’ve got to take the time to understand your own soul. One of the reasons there are so many spiritual disciplines is because there are so many different personalities and styles. Don’t do what works for somebody else. Do what works for you!

3. Protect Each Other

Life is best lived in community. In fact life-change happens best in the context of relationship. That’s not just a cliché we use to get people into small groups. Who are you doing life with? Who knows you? Who are you intentionally opening your soul to? Who is protecting you, and who are you protecting?

4. Control your own schedule

Time is simply an asset to leverage in order to get you where you want to go. Use it how you want to, so you can get where you want to. Intentionally schedule time with your family, vacation, time to evaluate, personal retreat days, etc. If you don’t control your calendar, everyone else will.

What have you found helpful in avoiding burnout in ministry? Leave a comment!


Posted in Leadership, Spiritual Formation, Staffing

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a large multisite church in phoenix is hiring a jr. high pastor

I’m pleased to announce a new Staff Search. Sun Valley Community Church, the church I have the honor of serving at, is beginning a national search for a Jr. High Pastor to serve on our Tempe Campus. Sun Valley began as a church plant in 1990 in Chandler, Arizona. Over the years Sun Valley has grown into a large mult-site church in the Phoenix area. Currently there are three campuses located in Gilbert, Tempe and Casa Grande with a total weekend attendance of 5,000 people. The Tempe campus was the result of a merger in October 2011 with Bethany Community Church. In the merger, Sun Valley acquired a 16-acre, 8-building campus with over 100,000 sq. ft. under roof. At present, the campus attendance is about 1,000, but when fully utilized, the campus capacity will accommodate about 7,000 people. Sun Valley was recently featured in a new book by Leadership Network about church mergers: Better Together: Making Church Mergers Work. To learn more about that story click here Part-1 and Part-2.

Interested in learning more? Continue reading below:

Continue Reading…


Posted in Staffing

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managing the tension between marriage and ministry part-2

Some time ago we set aside a Staff Training Day at Sun Valley Community Church and invited a couple of area churches together to invest in our Staff and their spouses. If you haven’t noticed lately the statistics are telling us that leaders in ministry are checking out every day on their families and their ministry. Any quick Google Search on “Pastors leaving Ministry” will give you loads of information and statistics on the subject. I managed to grab the .mp3 files of a couple of talks for you from that day. Here they are for FREE! If you missed the first two sessions I posted the other day you can get them here

Session #3
A panel discussion of seasoned ministry leaders and their spouses, regarding marriage and ministry.
Scott Ridout, Tom Shrader, Lee Wiggins, Randy Deal, Justin Anderson

Download the third session (right click and “save as…”)

Session #4
Chad Moore, Lead Pastor of Sun Valley Community Church
The story of his wife’s affair and the journey towards reconciliation and healing.

Download the fourth session (right click and “save as…”)

 


Posted in Family, Leadership
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