– This is the promo for the new series we're starting on Sunday at Calvary! I can't wait! – I'm leading a FREE tele-seminar today on the subject of outreach and marketing. We're almost out of phone lines. If this keeps up, I'm going to need to find another service for these calls 🙂 – BTW – You can register for the seminar here if you're interested. It's today (February 9th @ 2PM EST). – I really enjoyed this book. You should pick it up! – My new Explosive Outreach Tele-Coaching Network starts in less than a month! Amazing group … Read More
Where do I Start in Leadership Development?
With the release of my latest resource, "The Leadership Pipeline", I've been getting some questions about where to begin in starting to develop leaders. I discuss this in great detail in the resource, but I'll share a few things here: 1. Start training your existing leaders – Giving training to your existing leaders makes them better leaders and allows you to create the model for the next level of leaders. 2. Keep a list of potential leaders – We keep a list of people that we have our eye on at Calvary. This list is those who are serving faithfully … Read More
How Leaders Get Developed – Opportunity
Yesterday I talked about the power of observation in developing leaders. Today I want to talk about the power of opportunity in seeing leaders become everything they can be. We see this at work in how Jesus trained the 12. "By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “That would take … Read More
How Leaders Get Developed – Observation
I've been reading through the New Testament and I'm noting how Jesus developed the 12. What has struck is how he had them observe and do. I'll talk about doing tomorrow, but today I wanted to talk about up and coming leaders observing what we do. Think about this story of Jesus healing Jairus' daughter: "And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly. When He came in, He said to … Read More
Q and A: What should a Church Plant Teach?
I get this question in various forms, but I got it again recently: "What series/ topics/ books should a church plant be teaching in the first year or two?" First off, this is a great question. It's important because how we begin our churches sets the tone for the kind of ministry we're going to have. And nothing sets the tone like the style and content of our preaching. Having said that, here's what I'd recommend for a young church to teach in the 1st 3 years of planting: 1. One of the Gospels – We started our church teaching … Read More
The Most Important Factor in Developing Leaders
Leadership development is one of the most rewarding things a leader gets to be part of. It's amazing to see someone go from infancy in Christ to maturity. But the challenge of developing leaders to make sure that responsibility is increased as the level of commitment goes up. I'm not interested in creating a culture where leaders just sit in meetings and talk. I want a culture where leaders are actually leading! To ensure this, you must give up and coming leaders responsibility and ownership as the level of commitment is increased. If you don't, you will simply create an … Read More
Why Do Churches Experience a Leadership Drought?
The number 1 reason churches experience a drought in the area of leadership development is they haven't laid out a plan or system that raises up leaders at every level of the church. Because there is no system in place, leadership development gets put on the back burner due to other pressing issues. Here's what I tell the Pastors that I coach: leadership development is isn't difficult to do. The challenge is, it's also not difficult to neglect it as well. Leadership development doesn't scream for your attention. Most people aren't going to walk up to you and say, "Hi, … Read More
Sunday Stuff
– Great day at Calvary! – The band sounded great. – We kicked of a new series called, "The Blessed Life". – We talked about generosity from 1 Timothy 6:6-19 – I'm convinced that people embrace generosity when they connect generosity with the Gospel. – If you're a Christian, you can't help but be generous because God has been so generous to you. – In other news, the newest www.church-strategies.com resource "The Leadership Pipeline" is releasing tomorrow. – As far as I'm concerned, it's the most important resource I've ever recorded. – I'm looking forward to a productive week and … Read More
Know your Numbers
Most leaders know some of the numbers – i.e. attendance, how many got saved on Sunday, the offering, etc… But what we can forget as leaders is the relationship that all of these numbers have to each other. Here's what I mean: How many first time guests did you have on Sunday? That number speaks to your outreach. Let's say you had 10 second time guests this past Sunday. The number that come back speaks to your assimilation rate. How many of those guests actually stick in your church? That speaks to the strength of your discipleship systems, teaching, and membership … Read More
Careful the Culture You Create
Church planters – when you're starting your church, you're creating a culture, whether you realize it or not. The language you use, the stories you tell, the pictures you paint of the future, the things you place emphasis on – all of it is creating the culture of your church. Here's why it's important to realize this: because sometimes we can create a culture we don't want without even realizing it. – "We start a few minutes late because people are always running late." Do that and you're rewarding bad behavior. Start on time and reward those who are punctual. … Read More
