Top 5 Posts from February

Sunday, March 3, 2013

February was a big month on Helping Churches Make Vision Real! Thank you for making these the top 5 Posts from this last month. If you missed out on any of them, here they are all in one nice tidy little spot!

#1 Why Nice People Kill Churches

This post may quickly become one of the most popular articles I’ve ever written. For the last 12 years I’ve had the incredible opportunity to serve on the Sr. Leadership Teams of some of the nations fastest growing and leading churches. Over that time I’ve observed time and time again one of the most destructive inclinations to church growth and the advancement of the Gospel is the simple fact that people on staff at most churches are simply too nice to each other. In this post I share 5 ways I’ve seen nice people hurt this mission of the church. Continue Reading…

#2 A Large Multisite Church in Phoenix is Hiring a High School 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 High School Pastor to serve on our Gilbert 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 metro area. Currently there are three campuses located in Gilbert, Tempe and Casa Grande with a total weekend attendance of over 5,000 people. Sun Valley was recently named by Outreach Magazine as one of the top 10 fastest growing churches in America. Continue Reading…

#3 Does Your Team Need to Change?

Churches get stuck for all kinds of reasons. But a common reason Churches get stuck is that the Sr. Leadership Team gets stuck. Last week I had the opportunity to sit in the room with Sr. Leaders from some of the nations leading mega-churches and talk through this issue. Here are a couple of the thoughts I captured about Sr. Leadership Teams from that conversation. Continue Reading…

#4 Stop Paying People to do Ministry

As they grow, many churches eagerly anticipate the moment when they’re finally big enough that they can afford to hire more staff and offer more ministry options for people. For example I’ve heard churches say they can’t wait to hire a Men’s Ministry Pastor. Nothing against Men’s Ministry per se, but that’s an expensive model. If you run it out to its logical end you’re going to have a lot of people on your payroll. Paying people to “do” ministry instead of “lead” ministry is an expensive mistake that many churches fall into. Here are 3 principles that will help you focus the Staffing & Volunteer philosophy at your church. Continue Reading…

#5 Overcoming the Fear of a Personality Driven Ministry

In church-world I frequently hear conversations surrounding the idea of “personality driven churches.” That is to say churches that are built around a dynamic communicator and leader. At best I’ll usually hear a criticism of its ineffectiveness and at worst statements about how shallow, wrong, and harmful it is to the church and the advancement of the Gospel. In this post I unpack 4 big questions you should be asking about personality driven ministries. Continue Reading…

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Does your Team need to Change?

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Churches get stuck for all kinds of reasons. But a common reason Churches get stuck is that the Sr. Leadership Team gets stuck. Last week I had the opportunity to sit in the room with Sr. Leaders from some of the nations leading mega-churches and talk through this issue. Here are a couple of the thoughts I captured about Sr. Leadership Teams from that conversation.

1. If the team begins doing the wrong work it may be time to change the team

The purpose of the Sr. Leadership Team is to make directional decisions that build a strong unified culture around your values and move the organization closer to vision. When decision making and implementation begin to consistently slow down it is probably means a change on the team is in the future.

2. If someone is building their own kingdom, get them off the team

When someone on the team cares more about their own personal mission, personal posturing or positioning, or a sub ministry in the church; it’s time for them to leave the Sr. Leadership Team. People who serve on your Leadership Team need to be able to think conceptually and transfer principles across disciplines quickly and they must care more about the mission of the church than their particular ministry

3. When you make changes you’re going to hurt feelings

As the church grows and changes so will your Sr. Leadership Team. Different leaders have different capacities. This isn’t a good thing or a bad thing. It’s just a simple reality that we all have a part to play in the body. When a body is smaller someone may play a larger or more public role than they do when it is larger. But be prepared, not everyone will approach these conversations with sober mindedness and a healthy sense of self awareness.

4. Are there too many people in the room?

Span of care is a major issue on any team, but particularly on a Sr. Leadership Team, because so much is at stake. Because a Sr. Leadership Team is not about ministry representation but decision-making and culture formation as the church grows you will consistently be tweaking the team to both have the right people and the right amount of people on the team. Think of it as breathing, the team will contract and expand as layers are added and growth take place.

Want to learn more about Sr. Leadership Teams? Check out my interview with Tony Morgan about his most recent book “Take the Lid Off Your Church, 6 Steps to Building a Healthy Sr. Leadership Team.”

Posted in Leadership, Staffing

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recruiting and hiring teams that make vision real

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Here’s what I know about you. You’re a leader…or you wouldn’t be reading this. And if you are a leader then chances are you’re chasing after something that’s bigger than you can do alone. Which means at some point you’re going to have to recruit and hire a team. This series of posts was designed for you. To help you think through the right steps and principles to guide you along the road to building a great team that makes the vision God has given you become real.

So I hope you enjoyed this recent series of blog posts “Recruiting and Hiring Teams that Make Vision Real.” Here’s a summary of the series:

Part 1: Why Hires go Wrong

Part 2: What a Hire gone Wrong will Cost You

Part 3: 4 Steps to Making the Right Hire

Part 4: 6 Principles of Building a Staffing Strategy

If you need help building a staffing strategy at your church I’d love to talk with you about it!

Posted in Staffing

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recruiting and hiring teams that make vision real part-4 6 principles of building a staffing strategy

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Great teams don’t happen on accident. Over the past 15+ years of working with churches the best hires I’ve seen have always come through a well thought out staffing strategy. Based on that experience the following are 6 principles that I help churches think through when it comes to building a staffing strategy.

Posted in Staffing

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chic-fil-a leadercast

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

I’m excited to announce that Sun Valley Community Church is hosting the Chic-fil-A Leadercast for the second straight year! It’s going to be an incredible one day leadership event broadcast LIVE from Atlanta, Georgia to hundreds of locations around the world.

Chic-fil-A has put together a stellar lineup of speakers including Soledad O’Brien, Anchor and Special Corespondent for CNN | Tim Tebow, NFL Quarterback, Heisman Trophy winner, & best selling author (I gotta give a shout out to the Florida Gators!) | Patrick Lencioni, Best-selling author & president of The Table Group | Marcus Buckingham, Strength strategist, best-selling author and researcher | John Maxwell, Leadership expert & best-selling author of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership | Angela Ahrendts, Chief Executive Officer, Burberry | Roland Fryer, Professor of economics at Harvard & CEO of the Education Innovation Laboratory | Urban Meyer, Head football coach for Ohio State University Buckeyes (I can’t believe I’ve got a Florida Gator mini-helmet in my office signed by Urban…what do I do with it now that he’s a Buckeye?) | Andy Stanley, Best-selling leadership author & communicator | Sheena Iyengar, Author of The Art of Choosing & world-renowned expert on choice

Date: Friday, May 4, 2012

Location: Sun Valley Community Church, Gilbert, AZ

For additional information and to purchase tickets for you and your team click here! I look forward to seeing you there!

Posted in Leadership