Six Places Leaders Are Developed
Where does leadership development happen? What environments are beneficial to leaders in their development? From a Christian perspective, leadership development is not constrained to one environment. Because the whole world is His, leadership development can happen in a plethora of places. Because He continually matures His people, God will use anything to conform us more […]
Three Challenges of Leading a Growing Church
There are some inherent blessings to serving on staff at a growing church. The energy and excitement are high as you are privileged to see new people coming to faith, new families being served, and new people being connected. The growth creates momentum and helps cover up mistakes that are more noticeable when you are […]
The Harm of Leadership Leapfrogging
New leaders are always in great demand. New opportunities and growth keeps the demand high, and sadly the supply is often low. We have, in many places, a leadership development problem. New opportunities and growth confront leaders with the constant need for more leaders. A new opportunity arises for your ministry and you look for […]
Three Marks of a Healthy Culture
Peter Drucker famously said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” He was not diminishing strategy. He was simply recognizing the overwhelming influence culture has on people. It dominates everything else. It is constantly teaching, constantly showing people what is most important. By culture, I am referring to the shared values and beliefs that undergird all that […]
6 Leadership Lessons from Being a Father
Yesterday was Father’s Day, and my daughters updated their “Daddy books.” With the help of their mother, each daughter has a “Daddy book” that they update each year with a letter to me and a list of their favorite things to do with Dad. It is an amazing gift and something I look forward to […]
Add Leaders, Multiply Ministry
One of the reasons developing leaders is so critical for a church is the multiplying result. As leaders are developed, the influence of the ministry is exponentially expanded. Ministry is greatly multiplied when leaders are developed and deployed. As the scope of leadership broadens, so does the scope of ministry. When you add a developed […]
Leading Up: How a Young Leader Turned Around the NBA Finals
The Golden State Warriors were down 2-1 heading into Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Andre Iguodala had not started the entire season, but he started Game 4 and helped the Warriors to a blowout victory over Cleveland. The Warriors changed their starting lineup, inserting Iguodala, because of a 28 year-old young leader, a guy […]
Lead the Many by Focusing on a Few
As a leader, where should the majority of your focus be? Should you be focused on the crowd or on a smaller group of people? As you read through the gospels, you find Jesus being incredibly intentional with His disciples and intensely focused on their development. Jesus was focused on a few, for the blessing […]
5 Ways to Say “Thanks” as a Leader (without a pay increase)
The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between the two, the leader must become a servant and a debtor. ~ Max Depree Leaders must define reality, create urgency, and guide teams in a direction. But leaders must also say, “thank you.” They must continually express […]
Leaving a Legacy of Leadership: How Moses Developed Leaders
Leadership is always a temporary assignment—always. It is a temporary assignment because leaders do not ultimately own the teams, ministries, or organizations that they lead. They simply steward what the Lord has entrusted to their care for a season. Wise leaders embrace the temporal reality of leading, and they prepare the ministry for the future. […]