Top 5 Posts from April

Tag Archive - tony morgan

Top 5 Posts from April

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Thank you for making the month of April a great month on Helping Churches Make Vision Real! You made these the top 5 Posts from this last month. If you missed out on any of them, here they are all in one place for your convenience!

#1 “10 Insider Focused Ministry Names”

The language we choose to use is important because it both reflects and builds culture at the same time. And one of the most obvious ways to tell if a church is insider focused or outsider focused is the language that they choose to use. It either says that the church is “inclusive” or “exclusive.” There’s even a link included in this post to a free resource you can use evaluate your church!

#2 “Managing the Tension between Vision and Leadership”

Believe it or not there is a tension between leadership and vision. Your ability to gain the hearts of people and get them to follow you to a desired future. Here’s a tool that will help you begin to understand where your team members are at and at the same time help you identify your next steps in leading each of them.

#3 “Four Obsessions of an Effective Executive”

I recently finished reading The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive by Patrick Leniconi. It’s a quick, compact, and actionable read that I’d recommend to anyone who serves on a Sr. Management Team. Here are my top 15 quotes and ideas from the book!

#4 “Stuck in a Funk”

I recently caught up with Tony Morgan to talk about his new book, “Stuck in a Funk?: How to Get Your Church Moving Forward.” It just released on Amazon! Click here to get your hands on a copy and check out the interview with Tony!

#5 “4 Things to Remember when Leading from ‘Here’ to ‘There'”

Simply put the purpose of leadership is movement. To move a people or organization from “here” to “there.” This past week Lisa and I moved into our new home. Better put, we moved everything into our new home…now comes the fun part of unpacking and settling in. During the move I was reminded of four leadership principles about moving people from “here” to “there.”

Posted in Leadership

Stuck in a Funk

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Paul: Your writing, speaking, coaching and consulting consistently focuse on this idea of churches getting “unstuck.” Where does this passion for helping churches get “unstuck” come from?

Tony: Well, not to over-spiritualize it, but I really do believe God called me to this. I accepted Christ when I was in high school, and from the very beginning of my walk with Christ, I was captivated by the story of the early church…particularly in the Book of Acts. God put something in me to help the local church fulfill its mission. I want the Church to have impact in people’s lives. People need Jesus, and that’s what drives me to help churches get unstuck.

Paul: You’ve worked with all kinds of different churches through coaching and consulting relationships. Denominational and non-denominational. Traditional and contemporary. Small, medium, and megachurches. Church plants and churches that have existed for years. Through your experience have have you observed any common reasons that churches get stuck regardless of these differences?

Tony: Every church is unique and because of that, the combination of contributing factors that lead to a church getting stuck are going to look different from church to church. That said, one common challenge is being inward-focused. Another is holding onto leadership approaches or structures that may have worked in the past, but don’t now. Another common issue is gaining a clear vision, but, more important, being intentional about the strategies and systems to see that vision become reality. To get to where you want to go tomorrow, you have to know what’s important right now.

Paul: You mention in the book that many pastors default to thinking they can “teach their way out” of being stuck. What are some other common mistakes that church leaders have a tendency to make as they attempt to address their “stuckness?”

Posted in Leadership

Creating an Outsider Focused Culture in your Church

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Becoming Insider Focused is Natural: It’s natural to be insider focused, because what comes natural to us is us. It is not natural to let other people go before us, think about what others prefer before our own preferences, or meet the needs of others before meeting our own needs first. We are naturally self oriented as people so it’s no surprise that businesses, organizations, or even churches tend to be so as well. That’s why in their teaching Jesus and the Apostle Paul directly connect spiritual maturity to becoming others oriented.

This past week I taught a breakout session at Converge Ignite 2013 a conference designed for churches that are committed to advancing the Gospel through various Church Planting and Multsite models. If you were at the breakout and want to share the notes or would simply like to see some of what you missed just click the link below to download the notes FOR FREE! By the way there’s a great tool in there that you can use to work through as a team to evaluate the focus of your church!

Session Notes: Creating an Outsider Focused Culture in your Church

Posted in Leadership, Spiritual Formation

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

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