Tag: Leadership
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Leading in the Construction of Christ’s Church
As one who has benefited from reading Jim Collins, John Kotter, Stephen Covey, and several other leadership gurus from the business world, I found this quote from Tony Morgan‘s Developing a Theology of Leadership to be a very helpful reminder and convicting corrective: It is true that we church leaders can learn from business leaders,…
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10 Differences Between Leaders & Cheerleaders
Philip Nation distinguishes the difference between genuine leaders and cheerleaders, or what he calls the difference between those in leadership positions who use buzzwords and those who actually lead. Think for a moment about this vital distinction: I think that a key facet of leadership is knowing the difference between a strategy and a collection…
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8 Questions to Diagnose Your Leadership
In his booklet, Leadership: How to Guide Others with Integrity, Stephen Viars asks these instructive, recalibrating questions: Do people understand more of God’s mercy because of the way I respond to their mistakes? Do people understand more of God’s holiness because of my high ethical standards? Do people understand more of God’s patience because of the time I give to grow and develop? Do people…
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7 Habits of Highly Ineffective Leaders
I am a fan of the Covey‘s, Jim Collins, Thom Rainer, and several other experts who have made it part of their life mission to enhance leadership effectiveness. But still, it is about time someone looks at things from the other perspective. And now, Steven James helps us out by providing us a simple list…
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10 Signs of Approaching Meltdown
Perry Noble reveals and responds to a stunning statistic: My counselor shared a statistic with me two years ago that floored me – 90% of the people entering ministry do not retire from ministry. They either quit or have some sort of moral/ethical failure that disqualifies them. Jesus did not call us to this or…
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Mistakes
Steve Childers is Founder and President of Global Church Advancement. He is also professor of Practical Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary-Orlando. In a former life Steve was an effective pastor and church planter. A number of years ago I had the privilege of taking a doctoral class in church planting under Steve’s tutelage. I have…
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Mistaken Identity
Like many churches throughout the land, our church is entering into a season of officer nominations. As a presbyterian congregation, specifically, we are inviting the members of our congregation to submit the names of fellow church members who they believe fit the Biblical requirements, found in Titus & 1 Timothy 3, for the offices of Elder…
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Leading Lasting Changes
At Walnut Hill Church we are blessed with a strong tradition and a membership with a high level of satisfaction. Like most ministries and organizations we have our share of folks who express varying degrees of dissatisfaction – some because we are experiencing growth & change, and others because we have not changed & grown quickly enough.…
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Right People, Right Direction
There are two common maxims offered to pastors when entering a new ministry. Both are wise and true. But they are mutually exlusive: “Don’t change anything in the first year.” “If you don’t change anything in the first year, you will never be able to change anything later.” One way to resolve the tension is to…
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Putting a Bus Stop at Our Church
A generation ago it was not uncommon for a churches to have bus ministries. Volunteers would drive a bus to pick people up from around the community and shuttle them to and from the church. Jim Collins, in his best-selling book Good to Great, seems to suggest churches still need to get people on and off the…
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Under the Spell of the Wizard of Westwood
He was known as a wizard – the Wizard of Westwood. I am not sure how that moniker came to be attached to him, except that this pithy alliteration well described his mastery of the the basketball court as coach of the UCLA Bruins. But that nickname seems to have rung true for another reason. By…
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Reflecting Jesus in Christ’s Church
If, as most Christians profess, Jesus is indeed the only Head of the Church, it seems reasonable that Christ’s Church should reflect His personality in it’s ministries and structure. One way that Jesus is reflected in the ministry of faithful churches has been the recovery of a balanced Word & Deed holistic ministry. By balanced…
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Core Values of Walnut Hill Church
I recently finished a series unveiling the Core Values of Walnut Hill Presbyterian Church. The Elders of our church worked on these for several months, as we tried to discern the characteristics that define and drive our church. Leadership expert Aubrey Malphurs calls Core Values “the qualities that make up and establish an organizations character,…
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Overcoming Evil Leadership
Reggie McNeal, in his book Practicing Greatness, makes this audacious statement: “Bad leaders are a form of evil.” When I first read that statement I thought “Woe! That’s a bit strong.” But as I read further I came to understand his thinking… and agreed. Consider his whole point: Bad leaders are a form of evil.…
