Tag Archive - tony morgan

0

Celebrating Wins from 2016

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Every year at this time it’s common to look back and review the wins from the previous year. This is particularly timely as the leadership team for The Unstuck Group gathers in the coming days to refresh our vision and action plan for 2017 and beyond.

Here’s what we discovered in looking back at 2016. There’s a lot to celebrate and thank God for here:

  • We had the opportunity to serve over 75 churches by helping them through a health assessment, development of an action plan and reviewing their staffing and structure.
  • We added Blake Stanley, Lee Button, Gabe Kolstad and Jacinta Livingston to our team. That now helps position us to serve churches in the United Kingdom and the Northwest here in the United States.
  • We traveled to 30 states, Canada and the Costa Rica to help churches get unstuck.
  • The churches we served ranged in size from 65 to over 8,500 in attendance. In case you’re curious, the average size church we serve is 1,082 people.
  • We worked in 18 different denominations. That included extending our initiative supporting denominations that want to resource their healthiest churches.
  • We engaged 64 leaders in coaching networks to help them take their next steps in their leadership.
  • We rolled out a new multisite service to help churches that are “MultiStuck.” The service is designed to help these churches clarify their ministry model and their multisite strategy to effectively lead one church in multiple locations.
  • We launched The Leadership Unstuck Podcast where we share relatable stories to inspire hope and give practical steps to get your church unstuck.
  • We released a new edition of Vital Signs: Why Church Health Matters and 14 Ways to Measure It. This resource now includes benchmarks from the analysis of over 200 churches.

You are allowed to cheer along with the Unstuck team as we celebrate these wins. In addition to that, though, we would appreciate your prayers as we continue our mission to help churches experience health and growth. We continue to strive to help more churches get unstuck.

I encourage you to take some time yourself to thank God and celebrate the wins of the last year before you dive headfirst into everything ahead.

Posted in Leadership, Staffing

0

Inviting You to Take the Unstuck Challenge

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

While most pastors are preparing for Christmas Eve services, wise pastors know there’s another big day right around the corner:

January 1, 2017.

The start of a new year in which to make new changes, build new ministries, and ultimately reach new people.

I’d venture to bet there’s a list of changes you’ve wanted to make at your church for a while.

Perhaps you’ve known your worship services need to be updated. Maybe your discipleship “pathway” really feels more like a ministry maze. It could be that you’re looking to add another service — or eliminate one. To engage more leaders — or develop the ones on your team.

If you’re like most pastors, you knew these changes were needed a while back.

Maybe you’ve known this entire year but couldn’t quite get the ball rolling. Thankfully, a new year comes with a new opportunity…

2017 could be the year when everything…starting with the right thing…changes.

The difference will be in how you start.

This January, we’re inviting pastors from around the world to join us for The Unstuck Change Challenge.

It’s a 15-day journey to kickstart the ministry year you’ve been dreaming about. We’ll help you clarify what you need to change and why, get the right people around the table, and develop a real plan for communication and action. Oh, and it’s completely free.

By taking the challenge, you’ll receive daily emails full of the following:

  • Inspirational videos on the 5 aspects of leading change
  • Planning frameworks to help you make better and faster decisions
  • Frequent reminders that it’s time to take action — because we all need an occasional kick in the pants!

“So, you’re really not going to charge me for this?”

I’ve seen new year kick-off programs cost anywhere from $30 to $300. But here’s my opinion: The real cost of change is the time you put into creating it. If you’re willing to invest your time, I don’t want anything else to get in the way.

But first, I should warn you…

This challenge is not for the complacent or comfortable. I’m not willing to sit idle while churches maintain status quo. My aim is to challenge and inspire you toward real action that makes real impact. There’s too much at stake in your community to not start the year right.

If you’re a church leader who has been thinking about making real change — the kind of change that helps more people meet Jesus — sign up below and high-five the closest person nearby. Because 2017 just became the year when everything…starting with the right thing…changes.

So follow this link to get start 2017 off right with the Unstuck Challenge!

Posted in Leadership

1

Why Church Health Matters and 14 Ways to Measure It

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

A few years ago, Tony Morgan and The Unstuck Group set out to help pastors get a clearer understanding of the health of their churches, believing access to a better scorecard for ministry would show pastors where they were making an impact and where their churches might be stuck. That desire led to the first edition of Vital Signs.

Tony has just released the 2016-2017 edition of Vital Signs: Why Church Health Matters and 14 Ways to Measure It. And here’s why I think you should grab a copy:

When you can honestly and accurately acknowledge unhealthy areas of your ministry, you can address them to move forward. That’s what this eBook is all about; bringing your leaders together around reality so you can improve it. This new edition includes updated benchmarks based on a research pool of 200+ churches across the country, a new metric, and stories of what some of the Top 10% churches are doing differently. If you happen to have read the 2014 edition of this resource, you’ll find plenty of new content in this updated edition.

Here’s what the Vital Signs eBook can help you accomplish:

  • Assess the full health of your church with 14 key metrics
  • Discover which aspects of your ministry fall within the Top 10%, Average, or Bottom 10% ranges based on 200+ churches
  • Unite your leaders around a shared definition of your church’s strengths and weaknesses
  • Move from diagnosing health to setting new direction for your church

If you’re ready to understand the true health of your church, I hope you’ll grab a copy of Vital Signs: Why Church Health Matters and 14 Ways to Measure It. I really believe it can provide the perspective you need to assess your health, establish your starting point, and build a plan for the future.

Click Here to Get Your Copy of Vital Signs

Also, included with the eBook this time around is a FREE Vital Signs Report — This customized report will automatically calculate your metrics and provide a summary of your results. It’s the first step for every client of The Unstuck Group and a $199 value on its own. But it’s free when you purchase the eBook.

Posted in Leadership

0

Small Group Strategies to Grow your Church

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Studies show that churches who launch new groups experience growth. But as many of us have seen firsthand, launching groups without a clear strategy that fits your church’s overall strategy is a recipe for chaos and disappointing results.

This is your last chance to be a part of this free webinar, where we’ll help you determine the strategies you need to launch new groups this fall and experience healthy growth.

A few topics we’ll cover include:

  • How Groups can become a “growth engine” for your church
  • How Groups compete with or complement Sunday School
  • How to build an effective Groups campaign for a fall launch
  • How to create a sustainable strategy for Groups content
  • How to ensure Groups continue to thrive after launch

Join Tony Morgan, Chris Surratt and Chris Brown who have seen groups transform their churches for a practical conversation to help you launch new small groups strategically this fall.

Hosted by The Unstuck Group & SmallGroup.com

Tuesday, July 19 at 1pm EST
45 minute webinar + 15 minute live Q&A
Panelists: Tony Morgan, Chris Surratt and Chris Brown

Space is limited, so register now if you’d like to be a part of the live event!

Posted in Leadership, Spiritual Formation, Testimonial

0

The 4 Phase Planning Process for Church Leaders

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Few churches have a great planning process. Most don’t even have a good planning process, if they have a process at all.

I’m not sure why this isn’t a bigger priority. Planning is certainly biblical. I don’t find many pastors who would really take aim at that fact. You’d have to throw out a lot of Proverbs, if you decided to.

Everyone likes to talk about stewardship and the stewardship of Kingdom resources, which involves a lot of wisdom and planning. So, if I have to put it in this context, learning a great planning process is good stewardship of Kingdom resources.

At the Unstuck Group we’ve been helping churches with strategic planning for quite a few years now, and we’ve seen a lot of what works and what doesn’t. We believe in the process the team at The Unstuck Group uses. We believe it’s a great planning process because it incorporates four key elements.

The 4 Phase Planning Process

4 Phase Process

Wise planning should always include:

1) Assessment – Understanding where you are now.

You should start with a good understanding of where you are now. We believe an outside perspective is always going to give you the best result. (We even bring in an outside facilitator when we do strategic planning for The Unstuck Group.) It’s also important to look at key metrics and not just rely on your opinions about the health of your church. Your opinions are heavily influenced by tradition and emotion, whether you want to believe it or not.

2) Planning – Defining where you are going and how you will get there.

Your plans should clarify and focus your vision, blending together the strategic, operational and financial aspects of your ministry. Involving ministry leaders from all of your departments brings alignment and will help you prevent ministry silos. Everyone will get on the same page about what you’re trying to accomplish, and what the wins are.

3) Structure – Determining the right form for your organization.

With a clear vision in place and core strategies outlined, you can easily see gaps in your staff team. For your plans to be realized, you will need to have the right people in the right roles. You will need a structure that creates accountability and supports the development of your staff.

4) Action  – Monitoring how you are doing and identifying what needs to change.

Plans that never see action are worthless. Your planning process needs to incorporate timelines, deadlines and evaluation. It needs to be a living, breathing thing that gets refreshed regularly as God leads your church into the future.

With a great planning process, you should be making wise decisions based on honest evaluations. You should be building the right team based on your plan. You should be making budget decisions based on your plan. You should be providing accountability for the execution of your plan. You should be routinely identifying what’s working and what isn’t.

And you shouldn’t feel stuck.

The Unstuck Group’s process walks churches through all four of these phases. And we continually receive stories from pastors who have learned this process and are seeing breakthrough. We’d love to share more about how it works with you. Follow this link to learn more about how it works.

This post was originally published on Tony Morgan’s blog. Tony serves as the Chief Strategic Officer at the Unstuck Group.  You can keep up with Tony at his blog by following this link.

Posted in Leadership
Page 4 of 14« First...«23456»10...Last »