Innovation is vital for a future oriented and visionary organization. Innovation in the church is crucial for the vitality of our present and future ministry. The Church is also charged with not innovating, at least when it comes to the vital doctrines and unchanging ethics of the Christian faith. So how do we “think outside the box” in an organization …
Holy Risk
Will you stay in your comfort zone or take a Holy Risk? In this week’s Whiteboard Wednesday, Art Wiers, member of the core leadership team of the Region of the Great Lakes, discusses the subject of Holy Risk based on the book The U-Turn Church by Bob Bouwer and Kevin Harney. Throughout the life of a church, there are times …
Equipping Leaders for Success
Leadership formation is the key to cultural change and organizational flourishing. There, I said it. It feels good to get that off my chest. And, when I say “leadership formation,” I mean that in two distinct but deeply connected ways. First, established leaders must be continually forming, reforming, and transforming. Good leaders embrace their own evolution, and pursue their own …
Locating Questions
Because of my work, I’m often in spaces where people want to discuss current trends in community engagement. One of my favorite stories from a friend of mine was exceptionally telling. His organization, which focuses on economic development, had a booth at a large Christian conference in their display area. Next to them was a well-known ministry. In response to …
Where is Your Mountaintop?
NOTE: The Following is an excerpt from Faith-Based: A Biblical, Practical Guide to Strategic Planning in the Church, by Michael Gafa. Confidence and assurance for what lies ahead is rooted in understanding and appreciating what has already taken place. The whole of scripture reveals the breathtaking dimensions of God’s unfolding plan of redemption and restoration, which is assured in Christ. …
Engaging Followers – Luminex Podcast Episode 7
On this week’s podcast, John Messer, explains the ins and outs of Robert Kelly’s Follower Matrix and how that relates to discipleship and leadership development in your churches.
Frames of Leadership
Leaders come in all shapes and sizes, all with different competencies and emphases. What type of leader are you? And how can you develop competencies in other ways of leadership? On this Whiteboard Wednesday, Jill VerSteeg, Director of Transformational Engagement, delves into three different frames of leadership based on Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal’s book, Reframing Organizations. Each of these …
Disillusioned Leaders
Dis-illusioned Leaders Just as leadership overflows with opportunities and blessings, it also overflows with peril to leaders’ hearts and souls. Excessive demands, superhuman expectations, and an orientation to serve others can combine to make a dangerously toxic sludge that overflows into our souls, poisons our hearts, and sours our minds. Serving others becomes a chore and the positive, hope-filled labor …
Persevering to Persevere
It was another lesson learned the hard way. During my freshman year at college my dorm was challenged by another dorm to a track meet. My assignment? To participate in a relay by running one lap around the track. Even though I had not run track in high school I figured I was in shape and one lap wasn’t too …
Praying Through
Several years ago, the church I was a part of held a multi-day prayer summit with a guest facilitator named Gerhard Du Toit. One phrase that Gerhard used repeatedly throughout the summit was, “Praying through.” In general, what Gerhard was conveying is that the more deeply we live for the cause of Christ, the more we can expect resistance – …