Question: How vulnerable should a leader be? Some people do not show vulnerability Some people seem to only share their successes. This is annoying. While I need to see examples of success in order to raise my own standards, I also cannot stand know-it-alls. People who only share their successes usually come across to me as pompous. I don't want to be like that. Some people are overly …
Ask the Question: “What Should We Do?”
We all love to TALK. But we need to try to identify the ACTION STEP. It's often said that successful people have a "bias toward action." They're wired to DO something. TRY something. Move forward. Don't overanalyze. I've collected a few examples of when simply asking for an action step has led to good results. Evangelism in the early church "What should we do?" was the crowd's …
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Word Study: Liminal
Spend any time around church planting people these days and you'll hear the word "liminal" come up in conversation. What does the word "liminal" mean? I did a deep dive to try to understand this word, which was new for me. I recall my college literature professor scolding the class for coming across a new word and brushing it off, instead of looking it up and learning its meaning. It's good to …
Conflict Resolution = Evangelism
Sometimes Christians don't get along. This is more than just unfortunate. It is bad for our witness. Our job as gospel-proclaimers is to urge people to reconcile. We are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, 'Be reconciled to God.' 2 Corinthians 5:20 The essence of the gospel is that is resolves a conflict between us and …
Stay the Course
Hang in there, church leader! I found this today in some old notes about our church: "It feels like a good first step is to figure out how to be a church that actually reaches people, but I can't seem to figure out how to facilitate that happening... bogged down in.... something, not sure what. We're just maintaining and slowing improving what we have but no major headway (it feels …
Three Huge Gifts Experienced Church Leaders Can Give to Younger Leaders
When you're looking to involve younger leaders (or newer leaders of any age) in your church, there are a few things that come to mind today that are really helpful! Freedom to make changes You won't like all of them, and that is kind of the point. You're not looking for a clone, you're looking for a leader. Visible support and deference Make sure people know that you're supportive …
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Church Intensive Training
It's easy to keep doing the same things by default. If you want to rethink church and think deeply about what makes the church the church, take a look at this training! Last year, my wife and I went through a Church Intensive Labs Training, put on by Francis Chan's organization called Crazy Love. It all started with Chan's book Letters to the Church. I found the book resonated with me …
Amplify Outreach Conference 2021
I'm attending the Amplify Outreach conference again this year. I've been a regular attendee to this conference for several years now. This year the conference is rebranded a little bit, and has an official partnership with Outreach Magazine. Many conferences feel like they go stale after a while. They host many of the same speakers year after year, and it just doesn't feel very fresh …
Pharisectomy Book Review
Book review of Pharisectomy by Peter Haas — How to joyfully remove your inner Pharisee and other religiously transmitted diseases. Things I like The main thing that I like about Peter Haas' ministry is that they're actually reaching unchurched people. This seems like such a rarity in so many of our churches. It makes me want to learn from him. God has clearly gifted Peter with insight …
Arise Shine Conference 2021
I try to get to a least one conference each year. This year I went to a new one (for me) called Arise Shine, in Michigan. The best part of any conference for me is the people we meet. In fact I like to say that the talks are the breaks in between the "real" conference, which happens in the hallways between the talks. At this conference I was very happy to have met a few people that I …
Things I Really Like About Our Church
Being in leadership of a church can sometimes feel frustrating and tiring. I think it can be a great exercise to list out the things that we are happy about. Here are some things that encourage me about our church! Things that I think are strengths for us: Leadership is very open to trying new thingsThe whole group is really open to trying new things (!!)Leadership are people of deep …
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To Democrats I Became As a Democrat, to Republicans I Became As a Republican
In order to fulfill the Great Commission, we have to be willing to give up some of our preferences. How far are we willing to go? Is politics on the chopping block? Paul says that for the sake of the gospel, he became all things to all people, that by all means he might save some. What does this mean for a church body? It means some of our personal preferences have to die, for the greater …