On today’s Whiteboard Wednesday, Mike Gafa, Church Leadership Development Catalyst for Luminex, describes the vision convergence exercise, which helps churches and church leaders discern vision. The vision convergence exercise is inspired by, and adapted from, Dr. Thom Rainer’s book, Breakout Churches. In the book, Rainer introduced what he called the vision-intersection-profile, a similar yet slightly different tool from the vision …
Resourceful Leadership
A Note from Luminex: This morning’s blog post is the fifth in a 10-week series on leadership. Enjoy! When it comes to resources, there are two contrasting errors spiritual leaders must guard against. Staying out of either ditch requires vigilance. Dr. James Dobson compares this balancing act to holding a wet bar of soap: Grip it too tight and it squirts out …
Narrative Budgeting
On today’s Whiteboard Wednesday, Randy Weener, Classis Leader for Great Lakes City Classis, discusses the importance of narrative budgeting for your congregation. It is important to know that the drivetrain on your car is working. And that everything under the engine is working. But for most of us, our concern is not with the details, but with the car getting …
Joyful Leadership
A Note from Luminex: This morning’s blog post is the fourth in a 10-week series on leadership. Enjoy! “Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit …
What is in the Center: Position Matters
For today’s Whiteboard Wednesday, Art Wiers, who serves as Church Health Catalyst for the RCA Great Lakes Region, describes a valuable tool that helps ensure focus on God’s mission during church and leadership meetings. Art gives credit to one of his colleagues, Ken Eriks, who shared this tool with him several years ago. It’s a simple tool where you put …
Compassionate Leadership
A Note from Luminex: This morning’s blog post is the third in a 10-week series on leadership. Enjoy! “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Matthew 9:36 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of …
Three C’s of Change
On this Whiteboard Wednesday, Dan Ackerman, Executive Leader for the Zeeland Classis of the RCA, discusses the 3 C’s for leading effective change in your congregation. Change is part of life and we all should recognize this reality. So, the important question becomes: How do we lead that change effectively and not just let it happen to us? The answer …
Adaptable Leadership
A Note from Luminex: This morning’s blog post is the second in a 10-week series on leadership. Enjoy! Wet cement is significantly different than cured concrete even though they are of the same substance. All of us realize if we are going to build something out of concrete it will make much more sense if we begin with wet cement. The …
How to Be Gospel Fluent
First- You may be asking yourselves, what is gospel fluency? Gospel Fluency is the ability to be fluent in the gospel, which equips us to speak the gospel in everyday life. We live in a day and age where people are asking questions but we often don’t have the answers. Instead of giving information or transforming hope, we often give …
The Reality of Sabotage
On today’s Whiteboard Wednesday, Rick Veenstra, Regional Executive for the Great Lakes Region of the Reformed Church in America, discusses one of the challenges of starting and strengthening churches – when the tail wags the dog. For many years, Rick has dedicated his life energy toward the fulfillment of the Great Commission. The church in North America has been in …