GEORGIA GROWN

The power of “WHAT IF…?”

2010-11-21T06:09:00.002-05:00

WHAT IF… we taught disciples, local church leaders, boards, churches, organizations, institutions to dream again by asking and answering the “WHAT IF…” questions? What might God do through our ministries if we were open to the possibilities?

The Emotionally Healthy Church

2010-11-14T07:17:00.000-05:00

Many sincere followers of Christ who are passionate for God and his work are unaware of the crucial link between emotional health and spiritual maturity. They present themselves as spiritually mature but are stuck at a level of immaturity that current models of discipleship have not addressed. Discipleship that really transforms a church must integrate emotional health with spiritual maturity.

The Emotionally Healthy Church, winner of the Gold Medallion Book Award, offers a strategy for discipleship that accomplishes healthy living and actually changes lives.

From the Back Cover:

True Discipleship Integrates Emotional and Spiritual Health

New Life Fellowship in Queens, New York, had it all: powerful teaching, dynamic ministries, an impressive growth rate, and a vision to do great works for God. Things looked good—but beneath the surface, circumstances were more than just brewing. They were about to boil over, forcing Peter Scazzero to confront needs in his church and himself that went deeper than he’d ever imagined. What he learned about the vital link between emotional health, relational depth, and spiritual maturity can shed new light on painful problems in your own church. Here are refreshing new insights, and a different and challenging slant on what it takes to lead your congregation to wholeness and maturity in Christ.

Our churches are in trouble, says Scazzero. They are filled with people who are unsure how to biblically integrate anger, sadness, and other emotions defensive, incapable of revealing their weaknesses threatened by or intolerant of different viewpoints zealous about ministering at church but blind to their spouses’ loneliness at home so involved in "serving" that they fail to take care of themselves prone to withdraw from conflict rather than resolve it

Sharing from New Life Fellowship’s painful but liberating journey, Scazzero reveals exactly how the truth can and does make people free—not just superficially, but deep down. After offering a new vision of discipleship and a revealing, guided self-assessment of your own spiritual and emotional maturity, The Emotionally Healthy Church takes you through six principles that can make a profound difference in your church. You’ll acquire knowledge and tools that can help you and others look beneath the surface of problems · break the power of past wounds, failures, sins, and circumstances · live a life of brokenness and vulnerability recognize and honor personal limitations and boundaries embrace grief and loss · make incarnation your model to love others.

Written in a personal and passionate style, The Emotionally Healthy Church includes hands-on tools, discussion questions, spotlights on key points, and story after story of people at New Life whose lives have been changed by the concepts in this book. Open these pages, and find out how your church can turn a new corner on the road to spiritual maturity.

Francis Chan explores the idea that THINKING BIBLICALLY isn't weird! Just the opposite, in fact.

2010-11-07T06:35:00.002-05:00

GEORGIA GROWN says Bye-Bye!

2010-11-06T21:00:00.003-04:00

November 21, 2010 concludes postings to the GEORGIA GROWN blog.

This blog will remain on the web so that the archives can be accessed. However, the blog will be inactive to new posts.

GEORGIA GROWN was birthed in 2007 as a medium for providing leadership tools, insights, and resources to clergy and church lay-leaders. Future postings pertaining to clergy/church leadership, health, and growth will simply be folded into my Facebook page. You can join me on Facebook by clicking HERE.

Blessings,

~Harold Cunningham

WHERE GOOD IDEAS COME FROM

2010-10-31T07:00:00.009-04:00

What insights does Steve Johnson share that might help us understand the evolution of ideas that lead us to the processes of change we want to implement?

Click here to check out his presentation.

Two EXCELLENT audio books. FREE!!!

2010-10-25T21:49:00.005-04:00

Compliments of http://christianaudio.com/ :

Martin Luther: In His Own Words

Most all Christians know the name Martin Luther. Less familiar, however, are his words. This compilation of many of Luther's most important writings serves as an excellent introduction to those new to Luther. It also provides a fresh medium for people familiar with his writing. This compilation of many of Luther's most important writings serves as an excellent introduction to those new to Luther. It also provides a fresh medium for people familiar with his writing. Included in this volume is: The 95 Theses, On Faith and Coming to Christ, On Confession and the Lord's Supper, Of the Office of Preaching, Excerpt from Luther's Tower Experience, The Last Written Words of Luther, and more. DOWNLOAD

Love is a Verb

Dr. Gary Chapman has spent his life helping people communicate love more effectively and in turn build more satisfying and lasting relationships. His book "The Five Love Languages" is a regular on the "New York Times Best Sellers" list - even after being in print for fifteen years - and has made the term 'love language' a part of everyday speech. "Love Is a Verb" takes his teaching to the next level. Rather than a typical marriage self-help book filled with lengthy explanations of principles and techniques, it is a compilation of true stories displaying love in action. These stories - written by everyday people - go straight to the hearts of readers, who often say that illustrations are the most effective parts of a book. Gary Chapman adds a 'Love Lesson' to each story, showing readers how they can apply the same principles to their own relationships. Download.

FREE E-book: Healthy Systems, Healthy Church

2010-10-24T06:27:00.000-04:00

Nelson Searcy's brand new Church Systems E-Book has been completely revised and updated to include diagnostic questions for you to determine the current health of your church's systems and to give you even more practical help to lead your church to greater health and effectiveness.

Click here to download your FREE Healthy Systems, Healthy Church E-Book.

5 Attributes of a Church in Decline

2010-10-17T10:55:00.001-04:00

Tony Morgan had a very interesting list on his blog consisting of 5 attributes of a declining church. Read Tony’s entire post, here.

HOW THE MIGHTY FALL: A Primer on the Warning Signs

2010-10-10T07:19:00.002-04:00

Decline can be avoided.

Decline can be detected.

Decline can be reversed.

Amidst the desolate landscape of fallen great companies, Jim Collins began to wonder: How do the mighty fall? Can decline be detected early and avoided? How far can a company fall before the path toward doom becomes inevitable and unshakable? How can companies reverse course?

In HOW THE MIGHTY ARE FALLEN, Collins confronts these questions, offering leaders the well-founded hope that they can learn how to stave off decline and, if they find themselves falling, reverse their course.

Collins (the author of Good to Great) shares how to spot the subtle signs that a successful company or organization is actually on course to sputter—and how to reverse the slide before it's too late.

How might the insights from this work be useful to churches, church institutions, and church leaders, and clergy?

DON’T WASTE YOUR LIFE

2010-10-01T10:39:00.004-04:00

This video speaks to me at a deeper level every time I go back to it.

You, too?

Your Most Important Conversation

2010-09-19T09:48:00.003-04:00

"All the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber." So wrote Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician and philosopher, in his Pensees (literally, “thoughts”). It is difficult for us to have some conversations with ourselves, but these may very well be our most important conversations.

Christianity Today’s LEADERSHIPjournal.net is a wonderful resource for spiritual leaders. Gordon McDonald’s June 28 article entitled “Your Most Important Conversation” especially spoke to me.

Gordon wrote, “My own theory is that very event, every human transaction in life, offers an insight. But it's often buried like gold or oil. It has to be discovered. Perhaps that's why busy people are impressive but often shallow. No time to mine the gold and drill the oil.” He then provides a number of insightful “inner conversation starters”. Here are are just six of the many examples he gave which:

What happened this week that needs to be remembered, perhaps recorded in a journal so I can return to it in the future and recall the blessing (or the rebuke) of God? Making such a record is like those monuments and altars God had the Israelites raise up when great things worth remembering had happened.
Have things happened for which I need to accept responsibility, perhaps leading to repentance? Why did they happen? Were they avoidable and how can they be prevented in the future?
Is there a possibility that I am living in denial of certain realities? Painful criticism, sloppy work, habitual patterns that are hurting me and others?
Are there any resentments or ill feelings toward others that remain unaddressed, unforgiven?
As a leader visualizing myself in the company of spouse, children, friends, colleagues: am I a pleasant person to be around? Are people challenged, elevated, enthused when I enter the room? As someone has observed, "Some people bring joy wherever they go; others bring joy when they go." Which am I?
What is God trying to say into my life today? Through Scripture? Through other readings? What has he been saying through those in my inner circle of relationships? Through critics? What insights swirl up and out of the deepest parts of my soul? Which of them needs to be repudiated, and which needs to be cultivated?

McDonald explains (1) how to debrief with God each week (2) additional questions to initiate the inner conversation with God and self (3) why spiritual leaders often neglect this conversation (4) common excuses offered to avoid this conversation, and (5) the core of John Newton’s spiritual life summarized in five principles that guided him in his leadership with people and his walk with God.

You’ll enjoy discovering how William Wilberforce fits into this conversation!

Click here to read the article.

FAILURE – The secret to success

2010-09-05T10:11:00.000-04:00

Honda has created some short commercial/educational videos. This video entitled “Failure, the secret to success” is my favorite.

Leadership that is paralyzed or held hostage by fear of failure is not spiritual… is not effective…is not productive… is not healthy… is not worthy of imitation…and should not be rewarded!

MAKE DISCIPLES….NOT MERE CONVERTS

2010-08-28T21:03:00.002-04:00

Our Mission is clear, and non-negotiable:

“…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them inthe name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:18,19)

We are directed to make disciples, authentic disciples (who reproduce disciples), not mere converts or believers.

HOW do we make authentic disciples?

Here’s a valuable tool I’ve used to grow disciples. See what you think.

The Life Transformation Group (LTG) system is a grassroots tool for emotional and spiritual growth. Through this simple system, the most essential elements of vital spiritual ministry are released to common Christians without the need for specialized training. It taps the disciple’s internal motivation and provides the support needed to grow in the essentials of a spiritual life. The LTG empowers the common Christian to do the uncommon work of reproductive disciple making.

A Life Transformation Group is made up of two to three people, all of the same gender, who meet weekly for personal accountability in the areas of their spiritual growth and development. A group should not grow beyond three but multiply into two groups of two rather than a single group of four. If a fourth person is added to the group, it is recommended that the group consider itself “pregnant” and ready to give birth to a second group. After the fourth person has demonstrated sufficient faithfulness to the group for two to three weeks, the group should multiply into two groups of two.

There is no curriculum or training needed for the LTG. A simple bookmark that stays in the participant’s Bible is all that is needed. The LTG accountability consists of three essential disciplines for personal spiritual growth, a steady diet of Scripture, confession of sin, and prayer for others who need Christ.

Read the rest of this excerpt about LTGs here (PDF)

VIEW VIDEO: Neil Cole explains disciple making and Life Transformation Groups.

LISTEN TO AUDIO: Answering Questions about Life Transformation Groups by Neil Cole & Paul Kaak

Click here to view the entire Life Transformation bookmark/accountability card to use in this disciple-making effort.

Sheer Inspiration

2010-08-22T22:52:00.006-04:00

The story...the song...the deeply meaningful spiritual applications each viewer may draw for themselves.... all of this compels me to post this video.

Leadership: A Relational Process - Part 2

2010-08-15T06:45:00.003-04:00

Our body is a collection of interdependent systems. Each system is made up of components that contribute in essential ways to the health and vitality of the body. The nature of systems is necessarily relational. The function of one benefits the function of others to the end that the life of the whole body is supported. To assume that one part of the body is more or less important is to marginalize the contribution of that part and its role in supporting the optimum capability of the body. Though parts of the body may be lost to accidents or disease and the body still survives there remains impairment to the body that limits its function in visible or less visible ways.

Reports have recently surfaced regarding a study at Duke University and reported in the Journal of Theoretical Biology suggesting a likely purpose for the human appendix. This problematic organ has been treated as a vestige that contributes nothing to the human body and presents itself more as a nuisance than a benefit. Duke researchers concluded that the appendix functions as a storehouse for necessary bacteria that aids in the digestive process. Though not a conclusive study, it supports the idea that nothing in the body is without purpose. So also is this true in human organizations and for the purpose of this blog—the church. Each “living stone” is rightly fitted together to build up the house we know as the church. Not one can be removed without leaving a gap in the design and construction of the house. The cornerstone of the building does not preclude the need for the other stones. All contribute to wholeness.

Leadership happens as a result of each individual within the organization contributing through their unique gifts toward the function of the whole. Too often we assume that “leadership” represents the visible few who make things happen. The underlying assumption is that management is necessary for the accomplishment of mission and that the gifted and intelligent few are necessary if the masses are to accomplish the mission of the organization. Let’s consider the possibility that the Master of all has called each of us to follow Him and to be faithful contributors to the process of leadership within the body—the church. From the least to the greatest we are each a vital part of a system that contributes to the health and success of the whole.

Editor's note: This 2 part series on relational leadership was written by Stan Patterson, Ph.D and originally posted to GEORGIA GROWN in 2008. Stan serves as Professor of Christian Ministry at Andrews University Theological Seminary.

LEADERSHIP IS A RELATIONAL PROCESS ---- Part 1

2010-08-08T06:30:00.004-04:00

by Stan Patterson, Ph.D.

Political correctness is an ancient practice. We’ve carefully crafted comments and garnished concepts to meet acceptance standards for as long as people have been trying to get along together. The political turmoil that resulted in the French Revolution, the American War of Independence, and emergent democracies in the western world made the idea of “ruler” politically incorrect as a descriptor for the primary positional leader of country, county, city, or for that matter church. Rulers rule, but in the context of the enlightenment it was politically incorrect to “rule” or be a “ruler.” Thus it was that a new word emerged in the 16th century that fit the need for identifying the person and task in a new context—“lead” and “leader” gave birth to the product of that function we call “leadership.” Leadership as a word did not exist in common language prior to that time.

The Industrial Revolution required leaders to assemble and coordinate groups of people to labor in mass production of goods. I many cases they simply adopted the methods of rulers to accomplish an end but companies/corporations could not acceptably refer to these men as rulers so we remember them as “leaders” of industry. Thus it was that leadership which emerged as a necessary word in a time when the dignity and freedom of the individual was on the rise, in practice it became little more than a synonym for ruling. Command and control procedures, truly methods consistent with ruling, are simply treated as a type of leadership.“...of the people, by the people, and for the people” is an enlightenment concept that reflects the collective or community approach to governance. Leadership initially emerged as a concept that identified primary positional authority as coming from the people rather than being imposed upon the people. It is a relational concept that reaches back to ancient social structures where the father, mother, or firstborn, part of the social fabric and one within the relational community, are ordained to lead and carry responsibility for coordinating, adjudicating, and building that community of which they are a part.

The purpose of this blog entry is to initiate a conversation about leadership as a relational process that does not elevate the leader above the led or assume that the leader(s) constitute leadership. Leadership is the product of collective contribution by the entire community toward achieving a common purpose. Leaders emerge from that community to serve the common purpose based upon the competencies they are able to bring to bear on the process, some for a short period of time, some for a lifetime. This concept of leadership has powerful implications for the church that is designed around the concept of a body system.

Part 2 of this article will be posted next week.

Editor's note: This 2 part series on relational leadership was written by Stan Patterson, Ph.D and originally posted to GEORGIA GROWN in 2008. Stan serves as Professor of Christian Ministry at Andrews University Theological Seminary.

Kindness is more important than cleverness. Reflections on leadership and character, our choices and the narrative of our life.

2010-08-01T07:07:00.002-04:00

In this Princeton University graduation address, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos makes the case that our character is reflected not in the gifts we're endowed with at birth, but by the choices we make over the course of a lifetime.

2 FREE Resources for exploring more ways to effectively impact our world

2010-07-25T07:56:00.001-04:00

“Facebook for Pastors”

How to build relationships and connect with people using the most popular social network on the Internet. This 31 page e-book will help Pastors and other ministry leaders make the most of this great networking tool.

How to make the most of your profile information
Tips for Networking with People in Facebook
All about groups, messages, poking, etc
Brand Your Ministry
Meet prospects for your church
Learn more about the members in your church
Fine tune your communication skills
Testimonies from Pastors who use Facebook
and much more!

Get the e-book here free using this link: Facebook for Pastors
(PC users, right click and select “Save As” for best results)

Also, join the 7,000+ pastors in the free Facebook for Pastors group on Facebook

__________________________________________________________

Also download our another free e-book, more than 120,000 downloads and counting!

“25 Free Ministry Marketing Tools that You Can Use Right Now”

You don’t have to have a huge budget or buy a bunch of slick materials to start improving your ministry’s marketing. You can start right now for free! Get our free 32 page e-book and start marketing better right away!

Make first impressions count with people who come in contact with your ministry
Spark excitement among your church members
Stay on-track with your own ministry communication plan
Keep new people who visit your church
Connect with your community
And more!

Get the e-book here free using this link: “25 Free Marketing Tools You Can Use Right Now!”

How to change things when change is hard.

2010-07-18T11:11:00.002-04:00

Every Christian leader is called to lead change (transformation) in the lives of people, both personal and corporate. As Christian leaders, our credibility, our success or failure, often hinges on how we lead a process of change/transformation. In my March 28, 2010 post to GEORGIA GROWN I promoted several books that could benefit leadership growth, but I’d like you to take a second look at one of those books that provides especially powerful and critical insights on how you can successfully lead people into and through change. That book is entitled “Switch “ by Chip and Dan Heath.

The first chapter explains, "In this book, we argue that successful changes share a common pattern. They require the leader of change to do three things at once: To change someone's behavior, you've got to change that person's situation (in order to cope with the fact that change) is hard because people wear themselves out. And that's the second surprise about change: What looks like laziness is often exhaustion...If you want people to change, you must provide crystal clear direction [because what] looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity."

The Heaths love metaphors! The most important of these are the Rider (our rational side), the Elephant, (our emotional and instinctive side) and the Path (the surrounding environment in which change initiatives will be conducted). The challenge is to direct the Rider, motivate the Elephant, and shape the Path to make change more likely, "no matter what's happening with the Rider and Elephant...If you can do all three at once, dramatic change can happen even if you don't have lots of power or resources behind you."

“Switch” makes three important observations about change that lead us to three things we MUST do to make change happen:

1st – It might look like a problem, but it’s really a “situation”.

Situational forces can shape people’s behavior. We can make the change easier and remove some of the friction created by the situation. The Path needs shaping.

2nd - It might look like laziness, but it’s really exhaustion.

“When people try to change things, they’re usually tinkering with behaviors that have become automatic, and changing those behaviors requires careful supervision by the Rider. The bigger the change you’re suggesting, the more it will sap people’s self-control. And when people exhaust their self-control, what they’re exhausting are the mental muscles needed to think creatively, to focus, to inhibit their impulses, and to persist in the face of frustration or failure. In other words, they’re exhausting precisely the mental muscles needed to make be change.” The Elephant needs motivation.

3rd – It might look like resistance, but it’s really a lack of clarity.

Often we share what the change will look like with little mention of what exactly we actually want people to do to create that change. We leave people wondering, “What should I be doing right now to obtained the change we are desiring?” The Rider needs direction

Switch uncovers methods and thinking that help you direct the Rider, motivate the Elephant, and shape the Path; constructively dealing with the issues we confront when staring down the need to make a change.

HOW TO START A MOVEMENT

2010-07-11T12:20:00.004-04:00

With help from some surprising footage, Derek Sivers explains how movements really get started. (Hint: it takes two.) What can we learn from this that could make positive impact on implementing positive change in institutional systems, local churches, as well as fulfilling the Great Comission?

American Independence Day: Change requires courageous leadership

2010-07-04T09:13:00.003-04:00

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

The main purpose of America's Declaration of Independence was to explain to foreign nations why the colonies had chosen to separate themselves from Great Britain. The Revolutionary War had already begun, and several major battles had already taken place. The American colonies had already cut most major ties to England, and had established their own congress, currency, army, and post office. On June 7, 1776, at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Richard Henry Lee voiced a resolution that the United States ought to be completely free of England's influence, and that all political ties between the two countries should be dissolved. Congress agreed and began plans to publish a formal declaration of independence and appointed a committee of five members to draft the declaration.

Thomas Jefferson was chosen to draft the letter - which he did in a single day. Four other members, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams were part of the committee to help Jefferson. In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson explained that a body of people have a right to change governments if that government becomes oppressive (unfair and controlling). He further explained that governments fail when they no longer have the consent of the governed. Since Parliament clearly lacked the consent of the American colonists to govern them, it was no longer legitimate.

The Declaration was presented to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was approved with a few minor changes. Of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, John Hancock, of Massachusetts was the first.

The Declaration of Independence - July 4, 1776

WHEN in the Course of human Events,

it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.
WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness -- That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King of Great- Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.

HE has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.

HE has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

HE has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large Districts of People, unless those People would relinquish the Right of Representation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them, and formidable to Tyrants only.

HE has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the Depository of their public Records, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures.

HE has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People.

HE has refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of the Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from without, and the Convulsions within.

HE has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

HE has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

HE has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their Offices, and the Amount and Payment of their Salaries.

HE has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their Substance.

HE has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our Legislatures.

HE has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

HE has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

FOR quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us;

FOR protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

FOR cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World:

FOR imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

FOR depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury:

FOR transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Offences:

FOR abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an arbitrary Government, and enlarging its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an Example and fit Instrument for introducing the same absolute Rules into these Colonies:

FOR taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

FOR suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever.

HE has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

HE has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People.

HE is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the Works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized Nation.

HE has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the Executioners of their Friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

HE has excited domestic Insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of all Ages, Sexes and Conditions.

IN every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.

NOR have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have warned them from Time to Time of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealed to their native Justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our Connections and Correspondence. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of Consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace, Friends.

WE, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which INDEPENDENT STATES may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Leading Adventism Through Powerful Challenges and Positive Change

2010-06-26T09:26:00.006-04:00

This film was shown June 24, 2010 at the General Conference Session in Atlanta, Georgia, as a part of the President's Report delivered by Jan Paulsen. Through the stories of six individuals from around the globe, the film focuses on the nature of the work of the Seventh-day Adventist church, as well as some of the more pressing challenges that exist within.

GC Session 2010 President's Report, Jan Paulsen from Paul Kim on Vimeo.

FREE Audiobook of the Month

2010-06-06T07:07:00.003-04:00

Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit (Unabridged) by Francis Chan

A follow up to the profound message of Crazy Love, Pastor Francis Chan offers a compelling invitation to understand, embrace, and follow the Holy Spirit's direction in our lives. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We pray in the name of all three, but how often do we live with an awareness of only the first two?

Add the download to your cart and use the coupon code JUN2010 when prompted to receive this free download! You must use the code to receive the download for free.

YOUR DIRECTION, NOT YOUR INTENTION, DETERMINES YOUR DESTINATION.

2010-05-23T07:00:00.005-04:00

THE PRINCIPLE OF THE PATH

There is often a tension between where we want to end up in life and the path we choose to get there. We fail to see that having good intentions is never good enough. Like Charlie Brown, we wrongly believe there's something to be said for trying hard. We need to understand why, in spite of our good intentions, we may have ended up at the wrong destination with our finances, our marriages, our careers, or a host of other dreams. So how do we get from where we are to where we truly want to be? The Principle of the Path is a road map to proper direction and discipline.

FREE eBook on how to use team meetings to improve performance and energize people.

2010-05-16T10:58:00.001-04:00

Go through this slide presentation to get your free eBook.

In this FREE New Rules of Work eBook you’ll learn:

4 Priorities of an effective team meeting
How to use team meetings to improve performance
Best practice strategies that switch people on
Where to spend your time and effort

View more presentations from hplonline.com.

Mother's Day Tribute

2010-05-09T07:54:00.008-04:00

“Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while,

but their hearts forever.”

Our mother's birthed us into a cycle of love from which we never exit. Robert Munsch wrote my most favorite and endearing "children's" story. It rings a beautiful tribute to our mothers who gifted us with this cycle of love.

I'll love you forever.
I'll like you for always.
Forever and always my baby you'll be.

Dedicated, with tender regards and precious memories to our mothers.

Dorothy (McNeal) Cunningham
1933-1986

Dorothy (Webb) Newgard
1927-1969

Post-Christendom mission must be different

2010-05-09T06:07:00.001-04:00

This post over on Digital Evangelism Issues is too challenging to be ignored by anyone in Christian leadership:

“Perhaps the biggest challenge to the western church today is the shift in the last 10+ years to a post-Christian context. And people are just not that much into us any more. Alan Hirsch is one of the key leaders helping us to understand this changing context and change our ministry approaches. Watch his excellent 19-minute presentation at the Q Gathering conference.

For related presentations by his colleague Mike Frost, listen to these audio presentations at a UK Evangelical Alliance/Focus conference.

Hirsch and Frost authored the highly-recommended book The Shaping of Things to Come.”

Explore Simple Church

2010-05-02T06:17:00.001-04:00

The GREAT COMMISSION (Matthew 28:18,19) is a non-negotiable directive by Jesus, to "GO" and "MAKE DISCIPLES". Authentic Biblical disciples are missional (outward focused, rather than inward focused) and incarnational (entering the real lives of real people). A growing number of Adventist disciples are re-discovering that SIMPLE CHURCH is a powerful means of getting back to the essence of the GREAT COMMISSION.

EXPLORE SIMPLE CHURCH in 2 steps.

FIRST:
Start with this introduction by Don and Marti Schneider (NAD President and his wife), then explore the second resource provided below.

SECOND:
Ready to seriously explore more about starting a SIMPLE CHURCH?
If your answer is "yes" .... then immerse yourself in this video webcast.
Click here: INSIDE LOOK AT SIMPLE CHURCH

Do you REALLY want the mission to succeed?

2010-04-25T07:17:00.002-04:00

Take a look at your organization's mission.
Take a look at your organization.
How does that make you feel?
Now ask yourself 4 questions:

Do you really want the mission to succeed?
Are you prepared to live within clear boundaries?
Are you ready to align yourself with a greater purpose?
Do you have what it takes?

Rodlie's post on his modernekklesi a blog turned me on to John Kaiser's book
“Winning On Purpose: How to Organize Congregations to Succeed in Their Mission.”

Kaiser's foundational premise is that Christians are to make disciples of Jesus. The way a local church organizes for ministry can hinder or assist in that mission.

Kaiser dares to suggest that pastors, church boards, and the membership of the church are to be accountable for the mission. Accountability does not restrict or lay guilt on these persons, but in proper relationship to one another frees them to lead and serve in ways that will give them every opportunity to fulfill their God-given mission. The author does a good job of describing the limitations of how many traditional churches are organized. He is even better at defining and describing Accountable Discipleship through an organizational structure that can be adapted to a variety of traditions.

Winning on Purpose offers leaders a way to organize congregations for success by creating structures that enable church life and health. As a comprehensive and powerful application of the biblical call to mission, Winning on Purpose sets forth the Accountable Leadership strategy. This model of leadership brings together standards for mission, boundaries, and accountability, and then shows how these standards come to life through the performance of four key players: the board, the pastor, the staff, and the congregation.

The tools section of this book is chock full of real tips and tools for real leaders; there is even a guide to develop accountability assessments. For instance, Kaiser says a board that meets more than once each quarter will be tempted to manage rather than govern. I believe it was George Bullard, writing for the Alban Institute, who first articulated that pastors are there to lead, boards are there to govern, and staffs are there to manage. Kaiser gives real, implementable flesh to the bones that Bullard provided through his research.

Here’s a great teaser for the book, complements of modernekklesi a:

“What strategies and tactics should the pastor and staff use in an effort to achieve the mission? They may use any means they think best- as long as they do not violate the boundaries agreed upon beforehand…Sports commissioners and referees establish and enforce the standards, but they do not tell the teams how to play the game. A soccer team and its captain are free to run the ball with the left leg or the right, and can even butt it with their heads. The officials do not tell them what to do or when to do it. The officials tell them only what not to do and when not to do it: no hands (except for the goalie), no stepping off the field, no abuse of other players…The Accountable Leadership strategy applies this freedom within boundaries to pastoral leadership. The pastor is the leader and is expected to lead, not merely to submit suggestions for approval. However, there are certain boundaries stated up front, such as financial policies, theological commitments, and ethical standards. These must not be violated, but anything else is fair game” (p. 45-46).

What is that?

2010-04-18T07:01:00.001-04:00

View this video to discover what may be the single most powerful ingredient in effective Christian leadership and discipleship. What is that? If I tell you, you might be robbed of the powerful, positive impact of personally discovery and application; so just watch the video. You’ll need to read the sub-titles.

Strong, healthy leaders keep reading in order to grow.

2010-04-11T19:58:00.007-04:00

Next Generation Leader: 5 Essentials for Those Who Will Shape the Future

Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Leaders

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

Lead Like Jesus: Lessons From the Greatest Leadership Role Model of All Time

Death by Meeting: A Leadership Parable About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business

The purpose of authentic spiritual leadership? Making disciples who are are liberated from their “trash”!

2010-04-04T06:14:00.001-04:00

Great illustration from Max Lucado .

Read and Grow!

2010-03-28T18:06:00.003-04:00

Here's a look at some of the purported best leadership books to be released through March of 2010.
The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence by Tom Peters
Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
Everyone Communicates, Few Connect: What the Most Effective People Do Differently by John C. Maxwell

Denial: Why Business Leaders Fail to Look Facts in the Face--and What to Do About It by Richard S. Tedlow The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in Life by Robin Sharma

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

The Right Fight: How Great Leaders Use Healthy Conflict to Drive Performance, Innovation, and Value by Saj-nicole Joni and Damon Beyer

How the Best Leaders Lead: Proven Secrets to Getting the Most Out of Yourself and Others by Brian Tracy

The power of intrinsic motivation

2010-03-28T08:59:00.009-04:00

FACT: Productivity related to MOTOR SKILLS can be increased through extrinsic motivation, i.e. rewards, bonuses, money, etc.

ALSO FACT: Productivity related to COGNITIVE SKILLS is increased through INTRINSIC motivation, i.e. one's values, vision, purpose, passion, etc.

My friend and colleague, Todd Leonard (check out his ReconcileRestore blog), who pastors churches in Canton(website or Facebook) and Atlanta (Buckhead Community Fellowship), Georgia, shared a riveting, thought-provoking video with me via ted.com.

Todd writes, "I just watched a video by Dan Pink on the science of motivation that has sent my head spinning on how I approach motivating members to growth/ the messages I use in marketing church/ the way I motivate members to volunteerism, evangelism and more. To sum up, typical reward/punishment motivation works for people when the task is simple and goal is easily identifiable because it focuses people in on the task and the simple steps to get to the goal. But reward/punishment is actually a de-motivator when the task is more complex and the goals are less quantifiable. In the realm of religion, we deal with greater complexity and less tangible goals. I’m asking myself, 'How do I move from extrinsic motivations that we all lazily fall into when leading a church to motivating out of intrinsic desires?'"

Check this out.

5 Critical Questions

2010-03-21T06:07:00.001-04:00

Discover where you church, school, or organization will be in five years.

While taking a class from Dr. Russell Burrill at seminary, Pastor Chris Massengill (with churches in Cartersville and Adairsville, GA.) picked up these five questions which he says have been invaluable to him in leading his church to discover what they want their future to be:

1. Why are we here?

2. Where will our present course take us?

3. Is this where we want to go?

4. What must be changed in order to facilitate the accomplishment of Christ’s mission?

5. What would our church look like in 5 years if it lived up to God’s ideal for it?

FREE audio books!

2010-03-14T06:03:00.002-04:00

Download 2 free audio books in March from christianaudio.com.

"When Christ calls a man, he bid him come and die." This sentence from The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer is the beginning of his teachings on what it means to truly follow Christ. He also speaks to cheap grace in that it's the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance; baptism without church discipline; communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
His short life was full of obedience and radical testimony to God’s calling on his life, even up to the day he was martyred in a German prison camp on April 9, 1945. The book focuses much on the Sermon on the Mount with its call to discipleship, and on the grace of God and the sacrifice it demands. A true Christian classic! DOWNLOAD NOW Use Coupon Code: MAR2010

Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die by John Piper gives 50 purposes for the death of Jesus. Why did Jesus come to die, and how do those reasons and purposes challenge us in our thinking of God and right relationship with Him? DOWNLOAD NOW Use Coupon Code: MAR2010B

Instructions: Add the download to your cart and use the coupon code when prompted to receive this month's free download! You must use the code to receive the download for free. Each free download for the month of March must be "purchased" separately, in two different orders, for the coupon codes to work and for you to receive them for FREE.

The “Great Sin” could be incinerating your leadership.

2010-03-07T16:48:00.006-05:00

Pride is more than sneaky (read my Jan. 13 post, “Pride Is Sneaky”). CS Lewis thought it so incendiary, that he called pride the “Great Sin”. Pride is to leadership what napalm is to epidermis. If you sense your influence as a leader is either diminishing or ineffective, introspect for the cause. Be vulnerable and you may discover that “pride” is the culprit. For starts, read this thought-provoking portion of CS Lewis’s Chapter 8, in “Mere Christianity”:

“The Christians are right: it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began. Other vices may sometimes bring people together: you may find good fellowship and jokes and friendliness among drunken people or unchaste people. But pride always means enmity - it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God.

In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that - and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison - you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.

That raises a terrible question. How is it that people who are quite obviously eaten up with Pride can say they believe in God and appear to themselves very religious? I am afraid it means they are worshipping an imaginary God. They theoretically admit themselves to be nothing in the presence of this phantom God, but are really all the time imagining how He approves of them and thinks them far better than ordinary people: that is, they pay a pennyworth of imaginary humility to Him and get out of it a pound's worth of Pride towards their fellow-men. I suppose it was of those people Christ was thinking when He said that some would preach about Him and cast out devils in His name, only to be told at the end of the world that He had never known them. And any of us may at any moment be in this death-trap. Luckily, we have a test. Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good - above all, that we are better than someone else - I think we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil. The real test of being in the presence of God is, that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object. It is better to forget about yourself altogether.

It is a terrible thing that the worst of all the vices can smuggle itself into the very centre of our religious life. But you can see why. The other, and less bad, vices come from the devil working on us through our animal nature. But this does not come through our animal nature at all. It comes direct from Hell. It is purely spiritual: consequently it is far more subtle and deadly. For the same reason, Pride can often be used to beat down the simpler vices. Teachers, in fact, often appeal to a boy's Pride, or, as they call it, his self-respect, to make him behave decently: many a man has overcome cowardice, or lust, or ill-temper, by learning to think that they are beneath his dignity - that is, by Pride. The devil laughs. He is perfectly content to see you becoming chaste and brave and self-controlled provided, all the time, he is setting up in you the Dictatorship of Pride - just as he would be quite content to see your chilblains cured if he was allowed, in return, to give you cancer. For Pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense.
Before leaving this subject I must guard against some possible misunderstandings:

(1) Pleasure in being praised is not Pride. The child who is patted on the back for doing a lesson well, the woman whose beauty is praised by her lover, the saved soul to whom Christ says 'Well done,' are pleased and ought to be. For here the pleasure lies not in what you are but in the fact that you have pleased someone you wanted (and rightly wanted) to please. The trouble begins when you pass from thinking, 'I have pleased him; all is well,' to thinking, 'What a fine person I must be to have done it.' The more you delight in yourself and the less you delight in the praise, the worse you are becoming. When you delight wholly in yourself and do not care about the praise at all, you have reached the bottom. That is why vanity, though it is the sort of Pride which shows most on the surface, is really the least bad and most pardonable sort. The vain person wants praise, applause, admiration, too much and is always angling for it. It is a fault, but a child-like and even (in an odd way) a humble fault. It shows that you are not yet completely contented with your own admiration. You value other people enough to want them to look at you. You are, in fact, still human. The real black, diabolical Pride, comes when you look down on others so much that you do not care what they think of you. Of course, it is very right, and often our duty, not to care what people think of us, if we do so for the right reason; namely, because we care so incomparably more what God thinks. But the Proud man has a different reason for not caring. He says 'Why should I care for the applause of that rabble as if their opinion were worth anything? And even if their opinions were of value, am I the sort of man to blush with pleasure at a compliment like some chit of a girl at her first dance? No, I am an integrated, adult personality. All I have done has been done to satisfy my own ideals - or my artistic conscience - or the traditions of my family - or, in a word, because I'm That Kind of Chap. If the mob like it, let them. They're nothing to me.' In this way real thorough-going pride may act as a check on vanity; for, as I said a moment ago, the devil loves 'curing' a small fault by giving you a great one. We must try not to be vain, but we must never call in our Pride to cure our vanity.

(2) We say in English that a man is 'proud' of his son, or his father, or his school, or regiment, and it may be asked whether 'pride' in this sense is a sin. I think it depends on what, exactly, we mean by 'proud of'. Very often, in such sentences, the phrase 'is proud of' means 'has a warm-hearted admiration for'. Such an admiration is, of course, very far from being a sin. But it might, perhaps, mean that the person in question gives himself airs on the ground of his distinguished father, or because he belongs to a famous regiment. This would, clearly, be a fault; but even then, it would be better than being proud simply of himself. To love and admire anything outside yourself is to take one step away from utter spiritual ruin; though we shall not be well so long as we love and admire anything more than we love and admire God.

(3) We must not think Pride is something God forbids because He is offended at it, or that Humility is something He demands as due to His own dignity - as if God Himself was proud. He is not in the least worried about His dignity. The point is, He wants you to know Him: wants to give you Himself. And He and you are two things of such a kind that if you really get into any kind of touch with Him you will, in fact, be humble - delightedly humble, feeling the infinite relief of having for once got rid of all the silly nonsense about your own dignity which has made you restless and unhappy all your life. He is trying to make you humble in order to make this moment possible: trying to take off a lot of silly, ugly, fancy-dress in which we have all got ourselves up and are strutting about like the little idiots we are. I wish I had got a bit further with humility myself: if I had, I could probably tell you more about the relief, the comfort, of taking the fancy-dress off - getting rid of the false self, with all its 'Look at me' and 'Aren't I a good boy?' and all its posing and posturing. To get even near it, even for a moment, is like a drink of cold water to a man in a desert.

(4) Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call 'humble' nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.

If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realize that one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.”

VALIDATION

2010-02-25T13:56:00.004-05:00

Validation may be the most over-looked and under-valued resource available to spiritual leaders who aim to be agents of healthy change. Why so, when VALIDATION is so obviously integral to forging the kind of relationship, loyalty, and optimism that cooperative change and growth requires?

Professional & Personal Growth - Part 3

2010-02-14T06:07:00.006-05:00

Incredible FREE online classes lectures and presentations at renowned universities and organizations, by some of the world’s most brilliant, creative, innovative, inventive, and educated minds. Every subject imaginable. This is the final segment of a consecutive 3-part blog post.

Princeton University
http://www.princeton.edu/WebMedia/lectures/

Columbia University
http://ci.columbia.edu/ci/

Duke University
http://www.law.duke.edu/webcast/index.html

Notre Dame

http://ocw.nd.edu/

Wikiversity

From the creators of wikipedia, Wikiversity is a community seeking to create and use learning materials and activities. Wikibooks is also an incredibly resource already covering everything from learning French to Organic Chemistry…. and so much more!

Wikiversity
Wikibooks

Archive.org Education

Contains 1306 educational resources at the time of posting.

Archive.org Education

Professional Education Organization International

PEOI was created and run by volunteers who believe that it is time for open post secondary education be made available to all free of charge, and that the Internet is making this possible. PEOI contains on-line course content to upgrade the skills of aspiring professionals, serving businesses that employ them, universities that award degrees, and faculty that offer instruction.

Peoi.org

Paris Institute of Sciences and Technology

http://graduateschool.paristech.fr/?langue=EN

Research Channel

ResearchChannel was founded by a consortium of leading research and academic institutions to share the valuable work of their researchers with the public. Remarkable speakers, researchers and scholars present revolutionary thoughts and discoveries on ResearchChannel. The University of Michigan, the George Mason University and the National Science Foundation are just a few of the world-renowned institutions that participate and whose programs are featured.

http://www.researchchannel.org/prog/

University of Southern California

http://www.oid.ucla.edu/Webcast/

youtube EDU

Huge collection of college and university lectures/presentations

http://www.youtube.com/education?b=400

videolectures.net

The main purpose of this project is to provide free and open access of a high quality video lectures presented by distinguished scholars and scientists at the most important and prominent events like conferences, summer schools, workshops and science promotional events from many fields of Science.

http://videolectures.net/

iTunes U

iTunes U is a part of the iTunes Store featuring free lectures, language lessons, audiobooks, and more, that you can enjoy on your iPod, iPhone, Mac or PC. Explore over 200,000 educational audio and video files from top universities, museums and public media organizations from around the world. With iTunes U, there's no end to what or where you can learn.

Visit iTunes U now

http://www.apple.com/education/guidedtours/itunesu.html

http://www.apple.com/support/itunes_u/

BBC online courses

Want to learn a language, etc.? The BBC offers a range of online-based courses that you can work through at your own pace. Have a look at what's on offer and see if there's anything that takes your fancy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/onlinecourses/

LibriVox:

LibriVox provides free audiobooks from the public domain. There are several options for listening.. LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net. Their goal is to make all public domain books available as free audio books.

http://librivox.org/

Professional & Personal Growth - Part 2

2010-02-07T06:05:00.011-05:00

MORE Incredible FREE online classes lectures and presentations at renowned universities and organizations, by some of the world’s most brilliant, creative, innovative, inventive, and educated minds. Every subject imaginable. This is part 2 of a 3-part blog post.

Academic Earth

Free online video courses from leading universities
http://academicearth.org/
Touting what it claims to be “The best free cultural and educational media on the web”
http://www.openculture.com/

Massachusetts Institute of Technology is ranked 7th nationally in the United States. Many of the courses do not have video lectures. Instead, they have notes in PDF format along with tests and homework.

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm

MIT OpenCourseware Course Listings
MIT OpenCourseware Online Textbooks
MIT Courses With Video Lectures
MITWorld Public Videos
MIT Pocast: ZigZag

Carnegie Mellon's Open Learning Initiative

Carnegie Mellon is a private research university ranked equal with Berkeley. Though registration is not required they have a registered user mode that allows you to keep track of your scores and progress. Currently 11 courses are offered. The courses are basically ebooks in a frame-based easy to use navigation system with an occasional powerful interactive Java Applet for practice and testing.

Visit: Carnegie Mellon OLI

Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

JHSPH offers health based lecture notes and assignments. You'll find the JHSPH OCW website uses the same familiar navigation structure as MIT OCW. The notes are formatted much more cleanly but I haven't seen exams, and their search bar seems to be broken.

http://podcasting.jhu.edu/department.php

http://ocw.jhsph.edu/topics.cfm

Rice University Connexions

CNX.org is an open-content library of course materials developed by Rice University. It has a huge database of content which is very useful for people who know what they're looking for. It does have ebook style higher level courses courses you can choose from.

http://cnx.org/content/

University of Washington Computer Science & Engineering

Contains posted lectures and classnotes. Some of the courses even contain video lectures.

http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/course-webs.html

Foothill College

Initiative is led by Foothill College which contains 8 free courses.

Visit: Sofia

Yale Univeristy

http://www.yale.edu/yale300/democracy/mediatranscripts.htm
http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/video.jsp

Professional & Personal Growth - Part 1

2010-01-31T14:02:00.013-05:00

Incredible FREE online access to classes, lectures, and presentations at renowned universities and organizations, by some of the world’s most brilliant, creative, innovative, inventive, and educated minds. Every subject imaginable. This is Part 1 of a 3-part blog post.

Harvard University

http://athome.harvard.edu/archive.html
http://www.hno.harvard.edu/multimedia/video_mm.html http://athome.harvard.edu/archive/archive.asp
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/multimedia/videoarchive.html
http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/webcasts/

Hewlitt Packard online classes

The HP Learning Center has a variety of types of content to suit your needs. If you're short on time, you can watch one of their quick how-to videos or read one of their quick lessons or notebooks. If you want more in-depth coverage of a topic, check out one of their online classes--complete with lessons, assignments, quizzes and an instructor. In addition, their content is divided into two main campuses: At home (includes topics such as digital photography, home office and more) and At work (includes topics such as IT professionals, government and education, graphic arts and more)
http://h30187.www3.hp.com/

wonderhowto

Learn how to do just about anything you can think of.
http://www.wonderhowto.com/

TED

Riveting talks by remarkable people. The TED mission: Spreading ideas. TED believes passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. TED is building a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other. This site, launched April 2007, is an ever-evolving work in progress.
http://www.ted.com/

University of California - Berkeley
http://webcast.berkeley.edu/

Ranked as the #1 public school in the United States, Berkeley offers podcasts and webcasts of amazing professors lecturing. Each course has an RSS feed so you can track each new lecture. For printable assignments and notes you can check the professors homepage, which is usually given in the first lecture or google his name. Even though the notes, homework and tests are not directly printed in the Berkeley website, as they are in MIT and other courseware sites, it's not a problem to find them.

Georgetown University – School of Law
http://www.law.georgetown.edu/sci/sls.html#Presentations

University Oxford
http://webcast.oii.ox.ac.uk/?view=Default

Openlearn

European site. Open University's OpenLearn contains many online course and a different style content management system. Functions primarily as a large educational ebook library.

http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/course/index.php

Utah State University

Large available course listing.

http://ocw.usu.edu/front-page/courselist

Tufts Univeristy

Large available course listing.

http://ocw.tufts.edu/CourseList

PRIDE IS SNEAKY

2010-01-13T08:27:00.003-05:00

Do you feel like your own personal leadership ability is slipping, diminishing, or unneeded? The sneaky culprit responsible for this may be your own pride. Do you have the courage, honesty, and vulnerability to find out? Troy Grambling reveals 4 Biblical questions you can ask to discover if your pride is hurting your own leadership.

Troy Grambling is pastor of Flamingo Road Church, with several physical and internet campuses. Each week, Troy’s creative teachings are televised throughout South Florida on his television program, "TroyGramling.com". By the looks of his shirt…Troy is a Tampa Bay Buckaneers fan. Thanks to http://learnings.leadnet.org/ and http://thenines.leadnet.org/ for introducing me to Troy.

GEORGIA GROWN wishes you a happy, safe, and Christ-filled Christmas.

2009-12-23T15:18:00.000-05:00

Slow down…..relax….and enjoy two interactive Christmas cards by Ashland College. Experience these cards and you will find tensions evaporating and blessings invigorating your soul. Delightful. Soothing. Inspirational.

Click these links. Keep your speakers on.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas .... experience a quite moment of reflection to consider the meaning and impact of Christmas.

Silent night, holy night.... a moment of peace and warm nostalgia this Christmas

5 Lessons from Leadership Failures

2009-12-21T11:07:00.003-05:00

By Tim Irwin | Author, Derailed

“Leadership is a stewardship and you’re accountable” – Andy Stanley

Former Home Depot CEO, Bob Nardelli, created a nine car personal parking area underneath the Home Depot corporate office in Atlanta—space for just a few from his collection of classic cars. A private elevator rose from his parking area straight to his personal office on the top floor of the building without stopping on any other floors. This elevator became a gleaming symbol of Nardelli’s arrogance and dismissiveness of others, which ultimately led to his downfall. Sadly, Nardelli’s story is not unique. We see them every day. Headline after headline of extremely talented, highly competent leaders experiencing catastrophic failures in leadership.
We might understandably ask, “What does this have to do with me? I have one old car and take the stairs to my office.” In reality, the main difference between Nardelli and us is that when we fail, our story is unlikely to be a streaming banner on Fox News. We are also likely to get less than his two hundred million dollar severance package if we get fired!

In my new book, Derailed: Five Lessons Learned from Catastrophic Failures of Leadership, I share the stories of six high profile leaders who failed and distil what we can learn about how to be better leaders. These insights are drawn from over twenty years of studying top leaders who succeeded as well as those who failed at their jobs.
Derailed is ultimately not about six high profile CEOs—its’ about us. Whether church head, ministry director, committee chairperson, or corporate leader, the lessons of why these leaders cataclysmically failed apply to all of us. We possess the very same potential to derail in our own jobs.
What are the five big lessons we can learn from studying those who derailed?

Character Trumps Competence - While being good at what we do is essential, more people fail because of some issue related to character. Many of those I studied were ultimately fired not because of a lack of competence but rather a failure of character. I don’t mean character in the sense of being dishonest and defrauding the organization. Rather, the absence of one or more of four dimensions of character is clearly tied to derailment: authenticity, self-management, humility, and courage. The full expression of the dark side of these qualities nearly always dooms us.
Arrogance is the Mother of All Derailers - Arrogance takes many forms. The most rudimentary is the self-centered focus that fosters a belief that I am central to the viability of the organization, the church, the ministry, the department or the team. A dismissiveness of others’ contributions is inevitable.
Lack of Self/Other Awareness is a Common Denominator of All Derailments - A failure of self-management and the imperceptive, ill-conceived, impulsive or volatile actions that follow are certain derailers. Leaders who eschew corrective feedback become “truth-starved.”
We Are Always Who We Are…Especially Under Stress - Stress brings out what’s inside us. If you don’t think you have a dark side to your character, then you probably haven’t been under enough stress! Wise leaders manage their stress levels and mitigate its pernicious impact on our behavior.
Derailment is Not Inevitable, but without Attention to Development, it is Probable - Derailment is a process that proceeds in predictable stages. Ignoring the early warning signs puts us in great peril.

Effective leaders must set direction, gain alignment among diverse constituencies, risk change, build high-performing teams, achieve results, go the extra mile and endure ungodly stress. However, to be enthusiastically followed, leaders must also be guided by an inner compass that fosters trust on the part of their followers. That compass is character. When character is seriously compromised, derailment often follows.

Praise for Derailed:

“Tim Irwin takes ancient wisdom about character and brings it to bear on the most up-to-date challenges facing leaders today. We all ignore these lessons at our peril. I highly recommend this book.”
-Dr. Tim Keller, Senior Pastor, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York City

Tim Irwin, Ph.D., is an author, speaker, and leading authority on leadership development, organizational effectiveness, and executive selection. For more than twenty years, he has consulted with many of America's most well-respected organizations and top Fortune 100 companies. Visit www.DerailedLeader.com to learn more about Tim, his new book Derailed, and to take a free personal risk assessment online.

unChristian: What perceptions are we creating that harm receptivity to the Gospel?

2009-12-13T11:06:00.004-05:00

Groundbreaking research into the perceptions of 16 to 29-year-old non-Christians reveals that Christians have taken several giant steps backward in one of their most important assignments. Christians are supposed to represent Christ to the world. Young Americans share an impression of Christians that’s nothing short of unChristian. You cannot read/view this material (presented by David Kinnaman of Barna Research), without being disturbed into action. And, that’s a good thing.

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The Emotionally Healthy Church

2009-12-04T18:12:00.003-05:00

Recommended Reading

Something is desperately wrong with most churches today. Many sincere followers of Christ who are passionate for God and his work are unaware of the crucial link between emotional health and spiritual maturity. They present themselves as spiritually mature but are stuck at a level of immaturity that current models of discipleship have not addressed. Discipleship that really transforms a church must integrate emotional health with spiritual maturity. The Emotionally Healthy Church, winner of the Gold Medallion Book Award, offers a strategy for discipleship that accomplishes healthy living and actually changes lives.

From the Back Cover:

True Discipleship Integrates Emotional and Spiritual Health

Our churches are in trouble, says Scazzero. They are filled with people who are · unsure how to biblically integrate anger, sadness, and other emotions · defensive, incapable of revealing their weaknesses · threatened by or intolerant of different viewpoints · zealous about ministering at church but blind to their spouses’ loneliness at home · so involved in "serving" that they fail to take care of themselves · prone to withdraw from conflict rather than resolve it

Sharing from New Life Fellowship’s painful but liberating journey, Scazzero reveals exactly how the truth can and does make people free—not just superficially, but deep down. After offering a new vision of discipleship and a revealing, guided self-assessment of your own spiritual and emotional maturity, The Emotionally Healthy Church takes you through six principles that can make a profound difference in your church. You’ll acquire knowledge and tools that can help you and others · look beneath the surface of problems · break the power of past wounds, failures, sins, and circumstances · live a life of brokenness and vulnerability · recognize and honor personal limitations and boundaries · embrace grief and loss · make incarnation your model to love others.

The next 1,000 years of Christianity

2009-11-22T06:01:00.002-05:00

How would you engage differently if you had a long-term view of the church’s existence in society?

Obviously, God does not view time like we humans do. (2 Peter 3:8 - “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.”)

If Jesus doesn’t return tomorrow, then what might be the scenario for the next 1,000 years of Christianity?

This video presentation is not intended to challenge your eschatology. It IS intended to provoke conversation/engagement in preparing the church for change and a long-term perspective. As the wisdom in Proverbs 29:18 reminds us, “Without a vision the people perish.”

We must acknowledge that the Christian church has changed significantly over time. The church in the year 1000 AD would not have been very recognizable to an ordinary Christian today. Given the extreme rate of change at work in our culture today, we must also acknowledge that it seems reasonable and responsible to expect tremendous change in the Christian church in the future… perhaps the next 1000 years?

Yet who in the church is preparing for this great shift?

Where in the church is the needed long term perspective?

What is the scenario for the next 1,000 years of Christianity?

Kevin Kelly's plausible scenarios in this video are guaranteed to provoke, expand, challenge, and boggle your mind.

HERE’S A TRAILER FOR THE VIDEO. IF THIS PEAKS YOUR INTEREST IN VIEWING THE ENTIRE VIDEO, SEE THE LINK LISTED BENEATH THIS CLIP.

VIEW THE ENTIRE VIDEO

Read the Essay

FREE AUDIO BOOKS!

2009-11-08T09:28:00.004-05:00

Personal spiritual growth precedes personal professional growth. Personal professional growth precedes the corporate growth of the church, school, organization which you lead. Here’s a great “personal growth resource” to utilize….for free.

Each month christianaudio gives away a premium audio book download for FREE! How does it work? Well, they give away one audio book download (that they have published or that a partner has allowed them to give away) absolutely free; available only during that month and only once, ever. You have to create an account (it’s free, too! ) with christianaudio to get the free downloads.

This month’s free audio book download is Desiring God, by John Piper.

Quick book review: “Scripture reveals that the great business of life is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. In this paradigm-shattering classic, newly revised and expanded, John Piper reveals that the debate between duty and delight doesn't truly exist: Delight is our duty. Join him as he unveils stunning, life impacting truths you saw in the Bible but never dared to believe.”

Os Guinness describes the book this way: "Mind-hammering and heart-warming, Desiring God ignites a passion for God that would set the world ablaze if it were the norm and not the exception today."

Instructions:

Click here to create a christianaudio account.
Next, click here to download November’s free audio book, Desiring God, by John Piper.

Note: Add the download to your cart and use the coupon code NOV2009 when prompted to receive this month's free download! You must use the code to receive the download for free.

Getting Along With the Saints

2009-11-01T06:05:00.003-05:00

Take a second look at Matthew 18.

You won't believe WHO Jesus makes responsible for initiating this reconciliation process. And, His directives as to HOW and reasons WHY this process is to take place are equally as shocking to the human point of view.
Like always, Jesus takes our "common sense", as well as our "sense of justice", turns it all upside down, and replaces it with the values in the economy of Heaven. For saints living within that heavenly value system, resolution of their differences can never occur apart from restoration of their relationships (reconciliation)!

Are you ready for this?!

You may pause any page by placing your "pointer" on that page. When you finish reading that page, remove your pointer and the page will automatically turn to the next page.

Church: What do we need to retain....and what do we need to change?

2009-10-25T11:37:00.005-04:00

About five years ago, Robert Quinn's book, Deep Change, captured my interest as an exploration of transformation. Now, my friend Alex Bryan, Senior Pastor of the Wall Walla University Church, has introduced me to Deep Church, by Richard Mouw. Catch Alex's review and recommendation of the book in this video.

PS.... Check out Alex's blog, Breakfast Fires.

Provocative Leadership For A Dangerous Church

2009-10-18T06:58:00.001-04:00

Nancy Ortberg // Provocative Leaders from Todd Rhoades on Vimeo.

Authors/books referred to in this video:

Patrick Lencioni

Stephen R. Covey - Speed of Trust

Strike a Blow to the Status Quo: Read and Grow!

2009-10-11T06:27:00.004-04:00

Clergy, administrators, educators, and local church leaders of necessity MUST be intentionally reading in order to explore and discover insights, inspiration, ideas, tools, and resources vital to accomplishing the mission of their leadership-calling. Reading is prerequisite to professional and spiritual health and growth. Regardless of how many years one has spent in clergical administrative, educative, or lay leadership, none can afford to allow their competencies to soften or decay. Our mission is at stake! That mission (Matthew 28:18, 19) is to advance the kingdom by making disciples who reproduce disciples. Common sense tells us implementing this non-negotiable mission requires such rigorous due diligence that we must attempt to intenionally explore every strategy/resource which our time will permit. That's where reading, compelled by a passion for the mission and the accompaniment of the Holy Spirit, comes in.

Every fall, I explore to compile a sizeable list of books that I want to read in the coming year. I utilize reviews and suggestions made by colleagues, kindred spirits in ministry, leaders whom I respect, and sources such as amazon.com, CBD, NY Times Best Seller List, as well as conferences I attend, and blogs I read. Numerous sites, like Christian Book Lounge and Segue, are solely dedicated to reviews on Christian books.

Here are several books I am presently reading, or have read during the last quarter, that I highly recommend:

The Leader's Journey (Jim Herrington, 2003)

The Divine Pity (Gerald Vann, 2007)

Surrender To Love (David Benner, 2003)

The Emotionally Healthy Church (Peter Scazerro, 2003)

Primal Leadership (Daniel Goleman, 2004)

Visioneering (Andy Stanley, 2005)

General Colin Powell’s Leadership Primer

2009-10-04T11:49:00.003-04:00

General Colin Powell (retired, US. Army) was the 65th US Secretary of State (2001-2005), serving under President George W. Bush. Powell also served as national Security Advisor (1987-1989) and as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989-1993), holding the latter position during the Gulf War.The following are Colin Powell’s lessons on leadership (in green), taken from his “Outreach To America Program” . The white text is my commentary.

Lesson 1. “Being responsible sometimes means (making people very unhappy with you).” The right thing isn’t always the popular thing . Making tough calls = taking a stance… and taking a stance means some folks won’t share that stance.
Lesson 2. “The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have lost their confident that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.”
Lesson 3. “Don’t be buffaloed by experts and elites. Experts often possess more data than judgment. Elites can become so inbred that they produce hemophiliacs who bleed to death as soon as they are nicked by the real world.”
Lesson 4. “Don’t be afraid to challenge the pros, even in their own backyard.” Do not settle for STATUS QUO. If something doesn’t add up, challenge it. Raise the bar. Ask tough questions.
Lesson 5. “Never neglect details. When everyone’s mind is dulled or distracted the leader must be doubly vigilant.” Stay frosty. Stay alert. What slips through the cracks can be extremely critical. This is NOT about micro-managing. It’s about preparation for more effective delegation or for direction and coaching.
Lesson 6. “You don’t know what you can get away with until you try.” Don’t allow bureaucracy and protocol to stimey needed action. Sometimes asking for forgiveness trumps asking for permission. Not every time….but sometimes.
Lesson 7. “Keep looking below surface appearances. Don’t shrink from doing so (just) because you might not like what you find.” The sooner you know the real situation, the sooner you can deal with it. Getting to the bottom of things can also be a great way to gain perspective on problems and treat root causes instead of mere symptoms.
Lesson 8. “Organization doesn’t really accomplish anything. Plans don’t accomplish anything either. Theories of management don’t much matter. Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved. Only by attracting the best people will you accomplish great deeds.” Empower people and get out of the way. If you can’t trust your people to do the right thing, then go find the right people.
Lesson 9. “Organization charts and fancy titles count for next to nothing.” Enough said.
Lesson 10. “Never let your ego get so close to your position that when your position goes, your ego goes with it.” You are not your job. You are not your title. Period.
Lesson 11. “Fit no stereotypes. Don’t chase the latest management fads. The situation dictates which approach best accomplishes the team’s mission.” Pay attention to the results you’re getting and if it’s not working, change it. Flexibility and adaptation!
Lesson 12. “Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.” Keep a can-do spirit. Focus on solutions. Create opportunities. The spirit of possibility is contagious. View frustrations as allies, not enemies, remembering that NO POSTIVE CHANGE EVER TAKES PLACE THAT IS NOT PRECEDED BY FRUSTRATION!
Lesson 13. “Powell’s Rules for Picking People: Look for intelligence and judgment, and most critically, a capacity to anticipate, to see around corners. Also look for loyalty, integrity, a high energy drive, a balanced ego, and the drive to get things done.”
Lesson 14. “Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand.”
Lesson 15. Part I: “Use the formula P=40 to 70, in which P stands for the probably of success and the numbers indicate the percentage of information acquired.” Part II: “Once the information is in the 40 to 70 range, go with your gut.” Balance data and information with your instincts and emotional intelligence.
Lesson 16. “The commander in the field is always right and the rear echelon is wrong, unless proved otherwise.” The people closest to the problems are the people to likely have the best view of the solutions. Empower. Do not be the bottleneck.
Lesson 17. “Have fun in your command. Don’t always run at a breakneck pace. Take leave when you’ve earned it: Spend time with your families. Corollary: surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves, those who work hard and play hard.” You are not a machine. People trust people, not machines. Experience and model rest, renewal, and relationships.
Lesson 18. “Command is lonely.”

What I learned about leadership from "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors"

2009-09-13T12:30:00.002-04:00

I just finished reading "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors". I closed the book and bowed my head in contemplative silence. I was not waiting for it's impact to arrive. The impact had already been delivered line by line, sailor by sailor, sortie by sortie, shell by shell, shark by shark, from the opening chapter. I was stirring my solitude after the reading to see what implications for my life and leadership would bubble to the top.

The following quote captivated my thoughts and imagination. I won't draw out the parallels and implications this quote has to spiritual leadership within the church and on behalf of the battle raging between the forces of darkness and the Kingdom of Light here on the "third rock from the sun". I believe the literal and allegorical comparisons are obvious:

"A fighting force cannot be reduce to its order of battle any more than a ship's value can be reduced to the number of guns she carries or the shaft horsepower her turbines can generate. A vessel draws life from the spirit of her crew, which derives in large part from the leadership qualities of her chiefs and officers. Moral defies quantification - and yet it weighs significantly on the ultimate lethality of the tools of war. A ship's effectiveness is the product of thousands of bonds that develop between individual officers and crew. The bonds form and break in a chain reaction, the power of which is determined by drill, by relationships, by fortitude, faith, and values. Taskforce commanders can only be abstractly aware of these uncountable qualities as they exist on the particular ships under their command. The officers of the ships themselves see these qualities more clearly but only guess how the chemical reactions will coalesce when the real shooting starts and men begin to die." (page 166)

YOU DRAW THE PARELLELS AND LESSONS.

An intro to the book and comments:

This piece of World War II naval history is an account of the October 1944 battle off Samar, in which a force of American destroyers and escort carriers drove off a Japanese fleet at least 10 times its strength. The struggle was a part of the epic Battle of Leyte Gulf, which was the beginning of the campaign to liberate the Philippines. Author James D. Hornfischer focuses on the men of the escort carrier unit Taffy 3, who fought, flew, and fired to nearly the last shell in a battle that at least one commander, Lieutenant Commander Robert W. Copeland, commenced by saying, 'This will be a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival cannot be expected. We will do all the damage we can.' " (adapted from Freida Murray's Booklist review)

In his review of this book, Brian D. Rubendall comments,

"One of the saddest truths about the turn of the new Millennium is the realization that the veterans of the so-called "Greatest Generation," those who defeated Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, are now rapidly passing into history. As such, it has become even more important that the stories of their heroism and sacrifice be written down for posterity while the heroes themselves are still around to tell them. With his book, "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors," literary agent and author James D. Hornfischer has documented one such lesser-remembered World War Two tale with a reverence befitting the brave men who fought and died for America's freedom.

The events of the book take place during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, which stands as the largest naval engagement in world history, and was fought between the Japanese and American navies in the vicinity of the Philippines as General Douglas McArthur's forces were invading to take the archipelago back from the Japanese. The Leyte Gulf campaign has been well documented in other books about the Pacific war, so Hornfischer focuses most of his attention on one particular engagement off Samar Island. There, a small task force of American escort carriers and destroyers (the "Tin Cans" of the title), held off a far superior enemy fleet of battleships and cruisers with a combination of near-suicidal bravery and spectacular seamanship coupled with a healthy dose of sheer good fortune."

31 Refutable Irefutable Laws of Lame leadership

2009-09-05T21:10:00.001-04:00

31 Refutably Irrefutable Laws of Lame Leadership

The Life-Shaping Power of Our Stories

2009-08-30T09:01:00.002-04:00

I grew up in a culture where one measure of a man’s ability to influence and lead was tied to his ability to tell a good story in a compelling, imagination-capturing manner.

Stories are God’s idea.

We are creatures of story.

So, how can we “go and make disciples” apart from the great story God is telling us, especially when we are all characters in that story?

Dr. Dan Taylor, in his book Tell Me a Story: The Life-Shaping Power of Our Stories takes us on a journey of exploration and discovery into the life-shaping power of stories to build relationships with God and humanity, to unfold the gospel, and to make disciples.

Taylor reminds us, “You are your stories. You are the product of all the stories you have heard and lived – and of many that you have never heard. They have shaped how you see yourself, the world and your place in it. Your first great storytellers were home, school, popular culture, and, perhaps, church. Knowing and embracing healthy stories are crucial to living rightly and well. If your present life is broken or diseased, it can be made well. Or, if necessary, it can be replaced by a story that has a plot worth living.” Taylor, a professor of English, writes with great insight into how and why God uses story. Wisely, he has also created a book that is very accessible to not-yet-Christians.

In addition to the following 3-part video clips, you will certainly grow as leader and disciple-maker by hearing/viewing Dr. Taylor’s presentation ( story!) on “The Life-Shaping Power of Story: God’s and Ours”.

This presentation was made at the Desiring God National Conference .

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

100 Ways to Kill a Concept

2009-07-31T16:28:00.005-04:00

So, you have a GREAT idea....a HUGE idea.... an INSPIRED idea!

But will your idea become a reality?

Not if you let your concept be killed by all the usual excuses you hear.

Pastors and church leaders need an environment that encourages them to experiment, risk failure, explore-discover-share new ideas that will advance the Kingdom of God further, faster, and deeper in their communities. Wouldn't we love to lead/work in a "there are no bad ideas" kind of environment?

We must resist the "tyranny" of words or thoughts that end up being idea-killers.

I got this from Todd Rhoads, who got it from Pete Bishop, who got it from ChangeThis.com .

100 Ways to Kill a Concept:
1. The boss won’t go for that.
2. The lawyers won’t go for that.
3. The accountants won’t go for that.
4. The client won’t go for that.
5. The salespeople won’t go for that.
6. The investors won’t go for that.
7. So and so won’t like it.
8. It’s not us.
9. It won’t fit into our system.
10. We’re not ready for that yet.
11. I don’t think it will work.
12. I don’t understand.
13. Do you understand?
14. Will anyone understand?
15. What will they think of next?
16. It’s politically incorrect.
17. It’s too complicated.
18. It’s too late for that now.
19. It’s too expensive.
20. We’ll lose money.
21. Why?
22. What!?
23. Who says?
24. Nobody will want that.
25. Where are you coming from?
26. It can’t be done.
27. Have the committee review it.
28. Let’s do more research.
29. Let’s take a vote on it.
30. Let’s play devil’s advocate.
31. I’ve never heard of such a thing.
32. We’ve already tried that.
33. That’s been done before.
34. It’s not how we do things here.
35. We’ve never done anything like that.
36. We’ll get back to you.
37. That’s a subject for another meeting.
38. It creates more problems than it solves.
39. Sounds like too many problems.
40. That only solves some of the problems.
41. That’s going to cause problems.
42. Here we go again.
43. That’s unique, but . . .
44. Very interesting, but . . .
45. I understand, but . . .
46. I love it, but . . .
47. Great idea, but . . .
48. Yes, but . . .
49. Sounds simple, but . . .
50. But . . .
51. It’s just not for us.
52. Try again.
53. That sucks.
54. Needs more pizzazz!
55. I don’t like it.
56. Have you thought it through?
57. It won’t sell.
58. Maybe next time.
59. Another day.
60. What are people going to say?
61. People will think we’re nuts!
62. That’s BS.
63. Be realistic.
64. How about this instead?
65. Get a grip!
66. Are you serious?
67. That turns me off!
68. The client is too liberal for that.
69. The client is too conservative for that.
70. What else do you have?
71. So!
72. So what?
73. Oh . . .
74. Oh?
75. Oh, really!
76. Get real, it’s not feasible.
77. Sounds crazy!
78. Nobody does that.
79. Are you kidding me?
80. That’s too off the wall.
81. You can’t argue with success.
82. You can’t fight City Hall.
83. We don’t have time to do it.
84. Let’s not reach beyond our grasp.
85. We’re overextended already.
86. Let’s wait ‘til we see the numbers.
87. You’re proposing what?
88. Let’s not rock the boat.
89. Silence.
90. Laughter.
91. Boos.
92. Where did that come from?
93. I’ve got a better idea.
94. Hey, there’s a recession going on.
95. We’ve never done anything like that.
96. The press will kill us.
97. That’s not your decision to make.
98. We’ll step on too many toes.
99. Just leave it to me; I’ll take care of it.
100. You could get in trouble for that . . .

DON"T IGNORE THESE WARNING SIGNALS

2009-06-28T06:01:00.001-04:00

LEADERSHIP ALARMS
by Dan Reiland

We've been in our new building now (12Stone Church) for five months and we are still discovering things, tweaking things and adjusting to the new "house." One of the more random and less explainable things on the list is the fire alarm system. It goes off when it wants to. It definitely has a mind and personality of its own. I've been thinking about naming it, like they name hurricanes. It apparently takes only a few specks of dust or maybe it just gets in a bad mood, but it goes off when it pleases.

It finally happened. It went off during church! Yup. There we were with a couple thousand people in the second service and right while the pastor was teaching this awful sound of immense volume began to pulsate like a code blue in an ER room.

Then I learned something new. When that happens, the fire system overrides the audio in the worship auditorium. Now isn't that special. I guess the pastor really can't keep talking anyway, but it just doesn't seem right that an alarm would have that much power! I been told that happens so everyone can hear the alarm no matter what was happening during worship. But trust me, we could have a rock concert in full gear and you would still hear that fire alarm.
The question in those moments was what do we do? Was it a false alarm? Do we start our procedure of evacuation? What are all the kids thinking? It was, as they all have been, a false alarm. My concern is that one day the alarm will go off for real and we'll push reset (now that we know where the reset switch is) and ignore it!

Alarms go off for leaders all the time and many leaders push reset and ignore. Granted, the alarm isn't nearly as loud, random and obnoxious as a fire alarm, but that makes it all the more dangerous.

When a leader misses or chooses to ignore when leadership alarms go off, problems loom on the near horizon.

The following set of leadership alarms are far from comprehensive. This group of thoughts is more about stirring thought for you as a leader. The ultimate idea is for you to "intuit" the alarms before they go off, whatever they may be.

Those closest to you don't seem to want you to win.
It's not all about you, it's about the mission, but if you are the quarterback, (or any member on the team) and the other 10 guys on the field don't appear to want you to win, that is an alarm bell. This is easy to spot but not easy to admit, so it ends up being ignored. If not ignored, the leader may attempt to lead by force or fear (leveraging position.) When that begins to take place the team really doesn't care if you win. I don't mean to cast a spirit of insecurity with this first alarm, because if this is true for you, you can turn it around over time through empowering, encouraging, and investing in those closest to you in ways that add value to their life.

You are not sure what you want or where you are headed.
This is a subtle alarm but has huge effects. In consulting with hundreds of leaders I have discovered that many don't know what they want and often are not confident about where they are headed. Even in the most loving and grace-filled of churches, this will eventually sour the leaders. The key is forward motion! Progress! If you are struggling with this, please don't attempt to figure it out on your own. Talk it over with a couple trusted leaders in or outside your church to seek wisdom in the matter. Don't wait. Think progress.

Your personal and family life is struggling for prolonged periods of time.
This alarm is an obvious one, but one that is frequently ignored. In the midst of the pressure of your work and passion for your work, your family might be getting left-over time. You are out of energy or any number of things that contribute to family life that is draining rather than fulfilling. This is a distraction to your work no matter what you think. I don't mean your work is priority over your family, I'm simply saying that if things are not good at home it absolutely will spill over into your leadership in the church. Eventually it will take its toll. Both your family and the church will suffer, and you'll end up caught in the middle. If you need time off or counseling, do it. It may be a long road to health, but it's really not an option. And it's worth it.

Your passion for the people is waning.
This is an alarm that that goes off for a long time before anyone pays attention. The alarm rings in a number of different tones. The alarm may be about evangelism. Your passion for the lost has lessened. This isn't something to do guilt about, but admit it, and pray that the passion returns. In addition to prayer, jump back into the process of investing in people who are far from God. The alarm may be about the congregation. Often when you are fatigued from leadership, or under pressure, the people you love begin to look like problems to fix. Though this is a huge alarm, it is usually one of the easiest to take care of. Typically taking a few days away for a play and pray time will restore your love and passion for the people.

Attendance is declining.
This is an example of a blatant alarm that everyone "hears." It may surprise you, however, how many leaders "pretend" like everything is OK while this alarm is sounding, or go as far as saying something like, "Well, God is pruning us down to the size He wants us." There may any of a dozen or more reasons why a church is declining, and an equal number of possibilities to remedy the problem. But for the sake of this article, I would point you to the last three part series on leadership, prayer, and evangelism. If your church is declining, I'm confident one or more of these three is an area for you to invest intentional effort and energy.

You are not able to identify clear stories of life-change.
This is a heart-breaking alarm that goes off in more churches than any of us care to admit. This doesn't discourage me as a church leader, in fact it motivates me. I love the church and I know it's not perfect. But the reason we do what we do is ultimately all about people's lives being changed in a positive way and for eternity - through the redeeming power of Christ. At 12Stone we often take a few minutes in a staff meeting to share "stories of life change." It's just what it sounds like, we celebrate stories about people who have experienced significant life change! It's one of my favorite times. And if there would ever be too much silence, that's an alarm going off that must be addressed.

If you aren't good at recognizing alarms, I strongly encourage you to get some time with two or three leaders who love you and who you trust, and talk this through. Recognizing the alarms before they go off is the ultimate idea, but if you don't catch them ahead of time, it's crucial for you to be able to hear them as soon as they go off, and step up with a strong leadership response. Remember, you don't have to go it alone. God is with you and you are choosing a couple people to walk with you as well.

This article is used by permission from Dr. Dan Reiland's free monthly e-newsletter, "The Pastor's Coach," available at www.INJOY.com.

Calling on all church leadership to risk failure!

2009-06-21T12:30:00.003-04:00

If you haven’t failed….you haven’t lived.

Biblical leadership is courageous, willing-to-risk, willing-to-fail leadership.

Take a long look at your congregation’s commitment to going outside it’s walls to make disciples in the untamed world beyond those walls.

Take a long look at the spiritual chaos and hunger of the unsaved folks in the community surrounding your congregation.

What’s to loose by risking whatever it takes to to introduce folks inside and outside the walls of the church to the life-saving, transformational Good News?

Willingness to risk failure is a non-negotiable quality of leaders whom God calls to serve His purposes.

Refuse to allow fear of failure to dictate your leadership!

LOVE…LEARN…LIVE…LEAD without submitting to the tyranny of the fear of failure.

If leaders in the secular world can live and lead without succumbing to fear of failure, then we who are in Christ ought to be demonstrating this attitude without any reservations! Greater is He who is in us, than he who is in the world!!!

Courageous Leadership

2009-06-14T06:06:00.001-04:00

There’s no other kind of Christian leadership. Listen to Richard Wurmbrand’s message and get his book, “Tortured For Christ”, FREE. You will view your CALLING and your CHRISTIANITY in a new way, ever after. Promise.

“A man really believes not what he recites in his creed, but only the things he is willing to die for.” (RW)

“The underground church is a poor and suffering church, but it has no lukewarm members.” (RW)

Many people called him the ‘Voice of the Underground Church’ and others referred to him as the ‘Iron Curtain St. Paul.’ This humble man who began the ministry of The Voice of the Martyrs was the Rev. Richard Wurmbrand. A Jewish stockbroker in Romania, Wurmbrand became a Christian believer, and then a Lutheran minister. During World War II, Richard and Sabina (his wife) saw an opportunity for evangelism among the occupying German forces. They preached in the bomb shelters and rescued Jewish children out of the ghettos. Richard and Sabina were repeatedly arrested and beaten and, at least once, were nearly executed. Sabina lost her Jewish family in Nazi concentration camps. In 1945 Romanian Communists seized power and a million ‘invited’ Russian troops poured into the country. Pastor Wurmbrand ministered to his oppressed countrymen and engaged in bold evangelism to the Russian soldiers. On February 29, 1948, the secret police arrested Richard while on his way to church and took him to their headquarters. He was locked in a solitary cell and assigned as ‘Prisoner Number 1.’ Pastor Wurmbrand experienced 14 years of imprisonment and torture in the hands of his Communist captors. Click here to read his biographical sketch

THE SERMON - This will take a little time to listen to…..but I promise, when you’ve heard it, you will consider it a great investment of your time. This message has the potential (by Good’s grace and the Holy Spirit’s empowerment) to be transformational. Click here to listen to Wurmbrand's sermon.

THE BOOK - Click here to get a FREE copy of his book, "Tortured For Christ"

Should your church be doing more? The answer is “NO!” Shocked by that answer? Read the rest of this post.

2009-06-07T06:33:00.001-04:00

Yeah…I knew that title would draw your attention…and for a good reason! Geoff Patterson, Senior Pastor of the Marietta, GA. Seventh-day Adventist Church recently forwarded the following quote to his staff and me, noting that it aligned with some of the thoughts he had been wrestling with lately. The quote is derived from Church Solutions magazine, May 2009, Volume 14, Issue 5.

I’ll quote Geoff verbatim. He poses some observations and critical questions worthy of reflection. We’d love to get your feedback.

Geoff shared:

"I ask every church I work with to tell me the 20/80 rule. Without hesitation, they can all recite it. And in most churches, the rule seems to be solidly in place. Rarely do I come across a church that has a core of laborers that surpasses the 20 percent mark. But here's the problem: It doesn't take more than about a quarter of the people in your church to do what your church does. Sure, you could always use a few more volunteers in the nursery or a few more brave souls to work with middle school kids, but you don't need another 80%. . ."

"Imagine that next Sunday (or Sabbath!) you got up to give your message. . . a message directed at your unengaged 80%. During the talk, you can feel and see the Spirit move. . . Hundreds of people respond by filling out the response card strategically placed in the day's program. . . The 80% rise to the occasion, and your heart soars. But then Monday comes. What do you do with these people? You and your staff are overwhelmed. A few of the people who responded are place in open ministry positions, but the remaining 75% never get a call, much less a place to serve. Let me state it again: It only takes about 20 percent of your people to do what your church does."

"This then begs the question: Should we be doing more? The answer to that is an emphatic 'No!' Another bad math concept is 'the more, the better.' Churches of any size can only do about five things well, but instead, we do 25 things and end up doing them poorly. Our tendency is to keep adding more and more, and soon our church is completely bogged down, unable to change, adapt and move. In contrast, however, doing five things well allows for direct correlation to your mission, core values and strategic objectives."

“The author goes on to argue that while the church really only needs the 20% for its operation, the 80% should be equipped for ministry outside the church.

In other words, limit what the church seeks to manage to the five things the church can manage. And then send the people out to find a way to make a difference without the church having to be in charge of them.

What do you think of this notion? What would it look like at MAC (or your church)? What might be our five things?”

HOW TO KNOW WHEN IT'S TIME TO GO

2009-05-17T05:57:00.003-04:00

HOW TO KNOW WHEN IT’S TIME TO GO.

The title to this blog is guaranteed to bait the interest of anyone leading in ministry. Now that your attention has been attracted, let’s broaden the base of this theme, so that it is practical and applicable to the broader realities of ministry. Let’s re-title this blog:

HOW TO KNOW WHEN IT’S TIME TO......
A. LEAVE, RETIRE, or TRANSFER from your present ministry position or location to another
B. CHANGE the WAY you are ministering at your present position

Before, we go further… let me propose, as Morris Smith has (“When Is It Time To Leave?”, MBC Pastor’s Manual), that “In the final analysis, no one of these factors taken alone, should cause you to leave a place God has called you to serve. The Holy Spirit of God may overrule every suggestion in this article and may instruct you to stay just where you are. Do your best to determine prayerfully the will of God, and follow His plan. These suggestions may help you determine what he wants you to do.”

You know it may be time to either (a) transition to a new ministry, or (b) change the way you are doing ministry, IF……

(1) You sense God releasing you from your present ministry

(2) Your relationship with God is being harmed or compromised by the methods or circumstances of your present ministry

(3) Your relationship with your wife and/or children is being harmed or compromised by the methods or circumstances of your present ministry

(4) Your credibility with your core leadership has been lost or dangerously diminished

(5) The church has outgrown your professional competencies, so that you are no longer able to effect positive future health and growth of the church with your present skills *

(6) You have outgrown the church. Weigh your motives well. Do not to allow ego or arrogance to be the catalyst, but rather, good stewardship of competency skills and opportunities to advance the Kingdom of God.*

(7) You are functioning in ministry primarily based on FEAR OF LOSS. For example, FEAR OF LOSING a favored home, property, amenities (personal or professional), spouse’s job/income, control, comfort, convenience, title or position.

(8) Adding up the pros and cons, the advantages and disadvantages, of a change takes a compromising priority over simply hearing and obeying God’s call upon your heart.

(9) “your theological and doctrinal beliefs are fundamentally counter to those of the church to the degree that it threatens the fellowship of the church…A church’s sustained opposition to your theological conscience is a strong signal that your leaving may be best for all concerned.” *

(10) “Holding on” until retirement is your PRIMARY motivation for continuing your present method of ministry or continuing in your present location.

(11) You are practicing attitudes or behaviors (whether public or private) that are unethical or, in some fashion, casting a shadow upon the reputation of the Gospel and the Body of Christ.

(12) You are “burned out” and need renewal, but your church is not in a position or frame of mind to grant you sufficient time away from ministry for renewal.

(13) Your vision or values cannot conscientiously align with your church’s vision/values.

(14) You cannot honor your personal financial obligations

(15) You find yourself looking for ways to avoid/escape accountability or evaluation

(16) Special circumstances make change a necessity. For example, family health problems, special educational needs for your children, persecution, or safety.

(17) The length of your tenure reaches the point of diminishing returns. This point is often accompanied by symptoms such as:
- you and the church lack vision, enthusiasm, zeal
- eroding membership
- your leadership is no longer being followed
- redoubling your efforts produces no positive impact *

Stan Patterson, Ph.D. (professor, Andrews University) adds the following related council:
a. Never leave a church or district when others are retreating due to external forces such as economic downturn
b. Pray regularly that the Master will reveal His will regarding your call to a particular district or assignment--- Is it time? Have I accomplished the revealed mission for which I was called? etc.
c. Avoid making a move when doing so might link your decision to unresolved conflict, recent vote that went against your wishes, recent expressions regarding the quality of your leadership, etc. Your decision should be made wholly on an honest sense of call and a sense that your mission is complete
d. Time your decision to coincide with the church being in a relatively healthy state
e. Involve your spouse in prayer and seek unanimity between you regarding the move
f. Consult with and request prayer of those colleagues and leaders you trust so that counsel is available as you make the decision
g. Never forget the commitment made at ordination that states that you are willing to go or be sent wherever the Master calls. Assignments are not permanent nor is it the pattern of God for His church
h. Remember that moving to a new church will change the names and the faces but the issues and personalities will likely be pretty much the same. You will meet the same challenges again so meet them before you leave.

* Adapted from Norris Smith , “When Is It Time To Leave?”, MBC Pastor’s Manual
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Leaders Need To Know God is Holding Their Lives Together

2009-05-10T06:03:00.001-04:00

Leaders Need God’s Grace and Inspiration, Too!

2009-05-03T06:20:00.001-04:00

I know God has called me to be a channel to His grace and a source of His inspiration to others…..and I gladly offer myself to Him and those mortals whom I serve for both of these purposes. But lately, I’m feeling a desperate need of both grace and inspiration myself. Can I get a witness? As pastors and church leaders we must share God’s grace and inspiration, BUT we gotta have His grace and inspiration, too! So I am dedicating 2 consecutive weekly blogs to sharing a 5 part video message by Louie Giglio that will offer you (and me!) POWERFUL spiritual rejuvenation. I’m NOT EXAGERATING. You gotta take in all five of these presentations. I think God may have inspired these messages just for me……. but He wanted me to share them with YOU, too! (LOL)

Winning ways To Witnessing

2009-04-19T05:59:00.002-04:00

You may find this four part video series to be a useful tool in transforming members into disciples who are making disciples:

Session 1: http://www.veotag.com/player/?u=tdjxwzjeel

Session 2: http://www.veotag.com/player/?u=eduhszbart

Session 3: http://www.veotag.com/player/?u=uhuwsyziyq

Session 4: http://www.veotag.com/player/?u=aglldxsqco

Adjusting to Change

2009-04-12T06:07:00.004-04:00

Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life
By Dr. Spencer Johnson

This story is about adjusting attitudes toward change in life, be it at work, at church, at home, or in the community. Change occurs whether a person is ready or not, but the author affirms that it can be positive. His principles are to anticipate change, let go of the old, and do what you would do if you were not afraid. From one of the world's most recognized experts on management comes a charming parable filled with insights designed to help readers manage change quickly and prevail in changing times.

Change can be a blessing or a curse, depending on your perspective. The message of Who Moved My Cheese? is that all can come to see it as a blessing, if they understand the nature of cheese and the role it plays in their lives. Who Moved My Cheese? is a parable that takes place in a maze. Four beings live in that maze: Sniff and Scurry are mice--nonanalytical and nonjudgmental, they just want cheese and are willing to do whatever it takes to get it. Hem and Haw are "littlepeople," mouse-size humans who have an entirely different relationship with cheese. It's not just sustenance to them; it's their self-image. Their lives and belief systems are built around the cheese they've found. Most of us listening to the story will see the cheese as something related to our livelihoods--our jobs, our career paths, the churches we work in--although it can stand for anything, from health to relationships. The point of the story is that we have to be alert to changes in the cheese, and be prepared to go running off in search of new sources of cheese when the cheese we have runs out.

Dr. Johnson, coauthor of The One Minute Manager and many other books, presents this parable to business, church groups, schools, military organizations--anyplace where you find people who may fear or resist change. And although more analytical and skeptical readers may find the tale a little too simplistic, its beauty is that it sums up all natural history in just 94 pages: Things change. They always have changed and always will change. And while there's no single way to deal with change, the consequence of pretending change won't happen is always the same: The cheese runs out.

Transformational Leadership and the Art of Renewal

2009-04-05T06:01:00.004-04:00

by Nick Howard, Psy.D. - www.cypressriver.net

In rare times of reflection, nearly every good leader dreams of making a difference: of changing lives and improving organizations. Transformational leaders, over a span of time, actually change lives and strengthen organizations, through how they live and how they engage their roles.

Such leadership is rare and difficult for a host of reasons. One reason is that it requires the leader to personally transform, to model growth and renewal for his or her followers. This kind of leadership is also the most fulfilling, because it facilitates growth and maturity in others. And seeing people and teams grow before your eyes yields some of the sweetest fruit found in ministry.

The leaders I work with as a Christian leadership coach often yearn to lead in this way. They want to see real change, to truly please God with their lives. And, like most Christian leaders, they pour their hearts into their vocation, giving it their all. Inevitably, they feel pulled to overextend, often downplaying their own needs. This eventually creates a real struggle: “How do I honor my own needs for renewal and growth, when there is so much to do? And some wonder: “How do I really expect others to grow and mature in the Lord, and for my congregation or organization to grow in maturity, when I struggle with it so much myself?” These issues need to be successfully addressed to lead in transformational ways.

Introducing Tom
Tom Johnson is a Christian leader, committed to growing professionally and personally. Tom (his name and personal details have been changed to protect his identity) has successfully led in substantial leadership positions for over 15 years. Early in our coaching work a few years ago, it became clear that Tom had a chronic history of overextending, rarely taking time for renewal. His overextending and deep desire to succeed were driving him way past his limit. This pattern took a real toll on his body and mind. One day he guardedly admitted to me, “At times I get so exhausted I wish God would take me home early, even if it means a car crash.” Saying that out loud to another person was a real wake-up call for Tom. He knew he had to find a better approach to living and leading.

Tom’s experience raises another weighty issue that nearly every committed Christian leader faces at some point: “How can I possibly finish well when I’m so exhausted now?” For more reflective leaders, they can wonder: “How is my example impacting the lives of those I serve?”

A New Vision
With Tom, the first issue was to reverse the trend toward exhaustion. Next was to help him develop a compelling vision of himself around retirement, actually flourishing. That included seeing himself engaged in a rhythm of renewal that strengthened his soul, and modeled transformation for his followers. Further, seeing himself glowing as he retired (having cared well for his soul), replaced the default image of collapsing in a heap after his retirement dinner! As Tom savored these new images, his heart began to lighten.

The Vital Role of Renewal
Tom was realizing in a deeper way that to finish well, he would have to embrace renewal. Taking time consistently to restore and strengthen his soul would be crucial to realizing his leadership dreams.

In that vein, Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, in their book The Power of Full Engagement, underscore the vital role of renewal if long-term effectiveness and fulfillment are to be achieved. They state: “Spiritual energy is sustained by balancing a commitment to others with adequate self-care. Put another way, the capacity to live by our deepest values depends on regularly renewing our spirit—seeking ways to rest and rejuvenate and reconnect with the values we find most inspiring and meaningful.” p. 11o, (emphasis added)

The Essence of Renewal
The heart of renewal is really about what restores, nourishes and strengthens your soul. (This includes but goes beyond a daily devotion.) The particulars of renewal vary across individuals, and it takes reflecting on certain questions to discover your own answers. I encourage you to reflect on these questions: “What brings life to your heart, making it feel lighter and hopeful? What makes you feel glad to be alive, and actually allows you to anticipate re-engaging your most important tasks from a place of strength and optimism?” For most people this include things like rest, solitude, play, retreats, and rich connections with healthy friends.

Enemies of Renewal
As a leader, you likely resonate with these ideas. You also probably have a nagging thought of, “Yes, I know I need to pursue renewal more.” At this critical junction, many leaders are defeated by all too familiar demons. For most of us, the power of fear is at the core of the struggle to honor our needs for renewal and growth. We worry about disappointing others if we say “no.” We fear facing conflict if we worked at a more sustainable pace. (Andy Stanley’s book Cheat the Church is a great resource for dealing with these fears.) Yet, these enemies truly are not all-powerful, and to become the leader you’re invited to be, you need strategies to defeat them.

Supporting a Renewal Mindset
Perhaps the most critical issue regarding renewal is how to frame it. How do we look at renewal, in order to justify honoring our souls? Once that framework is really clear, we have greater chances of succeeding. Here are some ideas, drawing on some of today’s top leadership thinkers, and then the ultimate source, God’s Word.

Arthur Friedman, in his classic work Generation to Generation, says it is the leader’s ability to continue to grow and develop (to differentiate) and stay in touch with the followers, that creates the best climate for congregational growth.

Supporting this notion, Peter Senge’s bestseller, The Fifth Discipline, maintains a leader’s most effective way to facilitate growth and transformation in an organization is for the leader to model it.
Finally, Daniel Goleman, in Primal Leadership, states that the fundamental driver of outstanding organizational performance is the leader’s mood. In other words, if you are chronically over-extended, even if you aren’t complaining, your mood is leaking, and is a drain and strain to your followers. However, if you are honoring the needs of others, and your own, (through time for renewal) you are much more likely to authentically convey a mood that somehow provides the vital link to realizing the most important goals of your organization.

These ideas add greater credibility to how important it is for your followers to see you growing and taking care of yourself, and leading from a healthy place spiritually and emotionally. As is likely very clear by now, the best way for that to happen is by pursuing regular and meaningful “doses of life” for your soul. Ironically, for Christian leaders, sometimes framing renewal as something we do for others can give us greater permission to do it.

Biblical Inspiration Supporting Renewal
For more foundational support, Paul, God’s primary early Church builder, provides two significant insights on transformational leadership and renewal. First, he asks his followers several times to imitate him (1 Cor. 4:16, 11:1; 1 Thess. 1:5b), and his practices (Phil. 3:17, 4:9) to become strong disciples. How you live your life, and in particular how you arrange your life for to grow as a disciple and leader, is crucial to the ultimate effectiveness or fruitfulness of your ministry.

Secondly, Paul highlights the powerful construct of fullness in shaping our ideas of what we are invited to become, and embody for our followers. In Ephesians 3 and 4, Paul emphasizes fullness twice at peak moments in his writing. First, when he sees the culmination of us being so completely rooted and transformed in God’s love, that we might “be filled to measure of all the fullness of God. (3:19) Second, when he states that after all of our faithful efforts of working together to build the Body of Christ, and to grow in him, that we ultimately “become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (4:13).

To enjoy and embody fullness, where we are overflowing with goodness and grace and strength, means that there needs to be time for renewal, for soaking in God’s love and enjoying the good gifts he has given to us.

Our ultimate inspiration, Jesus, lived and modeled a perfect life (e.g., Hebrews 7:16) and embodied fullness (e.g., Col 1:19, 2:9). He was led to take time away to receive from God, his Father, to strengthen and renew his soul, (e.g., the Temptation in the Desert, the Mount of Transfiguration, vitalizing night or early morning prayer), to be who he needed to be in order to fulfill his calling.
In short, Jesus, Paul, and leadership gurus are asking you to set appropriate limits and order your life to grow and renew as a transformational leader. You are invited, perhaps even mandated, to create time for growth and renewal. I do not believe God is interested in chronically exhausting his servants for his cause; that would be at cross-purposes with love. Instead, he is invested in his leaders’ transformation, as he cares for their souls, and so they can be a compelling model for others. So, as Paul says, led and inspired partially by your example, “the whole body…grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Eph. 4:16b).

Steps Toward Renewal
With some new “ammunition” for pursuing renewal, here are some ways to re-engage or deepen renewal in your life:

Write out those things that restore and renew your soul. Share them with a good friend or spouse to help you incorporate them into your life.

Plan your vacations and retreats for the entire next year, before annual planning for ministry activities. Advance scheduling provides a greater chance of honoring those times and a sense of peace and anticipation throughout the year.

Take one day a month (or at least quarterly) for a silent retreat, to be still before God and renew your soul. (These should be considered work days.) Leave work agendas behind and simply pursue what restores your connection with God.

Take a 10-15 minute break every 90 minutes or so, to give your body and mind a break to rest and renew.

Develop the discipline of deliberately disengaging your mind from work worries on your breaks and time away. Give those worries to the Lord when they pop up. (This takes practice!)
If the “enemies of renewal” seem insurmountable, work with a good coach to gain the extra support, clarity and accountability you need.

Tom’s Success
Through the course of working on leadership and renewal during our coaching relationship, Tom has made rewarding progress. He is much more comfortable taking down time after a demanding stretch. He takes a day of solitude at least quarterly, and fasts weekly (excluding vacations) to reconnect with God, to renew, and strengthen his sense of calling. He takes three or four day getaways with his wife, to strengthen his marriage. A significant accomplishment on the renewal front this past year was a long and enjoyable vacation with his wife, which renewed him and provided new perspectives on his demanding role.

Tom readily acknowledges still having ups and downs, and moving in and out of balance; that is how life is. But, Tom no longer has a dark wish for an early escape. He is much more focused on how he can develop leaders around him and transform his organization. He is more grounded in his role, and is modeling transformation. His staff is now engaging renewal activities, and morale is strong as they make progress toward their most important goals.

Wrapping Up
Leaders who want to facilitate transformation in organizations are required to undergo a rigorous journey of personal transformation. This a gradual process. It requires leaders to create time for renewal and growth. While well-intentioned, ignoring renewal curtails transformation, sells God short, and unwittingly promotes a shallow view of the Christian life.

Foundationally, you are invited to become an expert on renewing and growing your soul. Undeniably, this is the road less traveled—yet done well, it strengthens and deepens you as a leader, brings greater health to your teams and system, and equips you to be a much-needed model for those seeking fullness of life.

Cypress River is a Christian leadership development firm (www.cypressriver.net) committed to strengthening Christian leaders and expanding God’s kingdom through providing premier leadership coaching, seminars and training. Their clients are Christian leaders who want to grow as leaders and make a real difference in building the kingdom of God. About Nick Howard .

Strategic Process Planning and Tools

2009-03-29T06:00:00.003-04:00

Strategic Process Planning and Tools
by Monte Sahlin*

Over the years I have helped hundreds of volunteer and staff groups through a strategic planning process -- grass-roots organizations, congregations, associations, nonprofit agencies, denominational entities and institutions. I have also read hundreds of books, looked at samples of the manuals and procedures used in many organizations and tried a lot of new ideas.

It can all be very confusing. There are fundamental differences in the definition of terms as simple as "goal" and "objective." If professional planners cannot get clear on even basic terminology, do you have any chance at all in the wonderful world of "planning"? Yet there are a handful of key tools and a simple road-map that I keep coming back to time and time again. No matter how unsophisticated the group, they seem to be able to use these tools to come together on some outcomes they want to achieve and agree on away to get to those outcomes. That is what "planning" is all about.

The road-map or process flow-chart is displayed in Figure 1. The tools are described in a simple, generic way in the rest of this document. The descriptions are designed for a "facilitator" or "consultant" or a group leader to use in guiding a group through the process.

The result of this process will be a document that says for the group "This is what we are going to do for the next period of time and why we are going to do it." That document is a "strategic plan".

This paper is about group planning, not individual planning. For an individual to sit down and create a plan is one level of difficulty. For a group to develop a plan together and buy into it so there is shared ownership, is a higher level of difficulty. The main reason for all of the process and tools is in order to assure an orderly, non-manipulative process of pooling ideas, negotiating different viewpoints and coming to a shared vision of what "we" will do.

There are two important statements you must understand before you start reading the rest of this material. Otherwise, it may not make much sense to you.

Number one, I assume that before you begin this process a basic purpose or mission statement for the organization already exists. It is my experience that the mission of any organization comes from a few visionary leaders who convene the first meeting of a new group, or who have been elevated to key roles in an established group. If people do not agree with that fundamental purpose, they do not come to the meeting and do not participate in the planning process. A side trip is in order here: What about the organization that has been around for some time and does not have a mission statement that a significant number of group members agree to? Maybe the purpose of the organization has been lost from memory, or times have changed to the point that the mission statement of the organization no longer seems adequate. That is a different sort of problem than this set of tools addresses. That is a process called "renewal" through which an organization re-discovers or re-invents its basic purpose. If your organization is in need of renewal, then it is a bad time to do strategic planning. An organization that lacks a strong consensus about its mission statement will have a very difficult time in moving into any effective action plan.)

Number two, I assume that the group will work through this process from a mind-set called "appreciative inquiry." That is, the focus will be on the values and assets of the organization; what we can achieve based on what we've demonstrated in our history and the resources we know we can mobilize, rather than on problem-solving and a negative, judgmental evaluation process. There are times when problem-solving is necessary, but the basic plan for any enterprise must be built from strength, not from a negative analysis.

Click here to access the forms/materials to utilize in this Strategic Planning Process:
Strategic Planning Process & Tools

*Monte Sahlin is vice president for creative ministries at the Columbia Union Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. This resource was published by the Center for Creative Ministry, http://www.creativeministry.org/ or 2935 Pine Lake Road, Suite J, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68516. (c)1997, Center for Creative Ministry. Limited permission is given for leaders of local organizations to make copies of worksheets as needed to conduct planning sessions, but the entire document cannot be copied for distribution to multiple groups without specific permission.

Opportunity has fallen into your LAP....TOP!

2009-03-22T06:22:00.002-04:00

What if I told you that your church or ministry could have access to a source that would connect you to 175,000,000 (yes, that’s MILLION) people, without ever leaving your town? What if I told you that you that the fastest growing demographic of this source is those 30+ years of age (that means families with children!) What if I told you that you could network/attract these people to your vision, message, event, or cause for FREE!

I’m talking about FACEBOOK.

If you are not using this social network and/or other such networks, you do not recognize an opportunity when it is staring you in the “face”… eyeball-to eyeball….laptop-to-laptop!!! Tell me this isn't a means of reaching a hefty segment of "every kindred, tongue and people"!!!

Just for example, I started a new “cause” from scratch on my Facebook page 2 weeks ago. As of today, 105 people have found and JOINED that cause… people from all over “tarnation”! (that's a rural Georgia term) Not time, nor space, nor economic downturn inhibited their interest and commitment. What is the potential for using this medium to advance the Kingdom of God?! If you are not familiar with these social networks, you owe it to your “calling” to get yourself in the know.

Hey.... it works. Just look in the right-hand column of this blogsite to the box entitled "networked blogs". You'll see a growing host of subscribers who are all connecting to this blog via their Facebook.
Get started. Check out these helpful sources:
10 Tips for Using Facebook in Ministry
Facebook For Churches

Facebook 101

View more presentations from Mycharityconnects, An initiative by canadahelps.org.

Unearthing and Evaluating Underlying Assumptions

2009-03-15T07:00:00.004-04:00

Andy Stanley picks up on an idea credited to Andy Grove, the former CEO and president of Intel Corp. and puts it this way:

“If we got kicked out and the board brought in a new CEO, WHAT WOULD WE DO? Why shouldn’t we walk out the door, come back in, and DO IT OURSELVES?!”

Everyone of us are emotionally involved with the way we do ministry…whether what we do works, or not.

If someone was to walk into your church with “fresh eyes” (no emotional attachments to people or programs), what would they do?

In the podcast by Andy Stanley (linked at the end of this blog) we are reminded that:

(1) Long after our methods are not effective, we are still attached to them. The church (institutional or local) rarely gets serious about change unless the money runs out.

(2) We MUST ask ourselves (if we are to continue to be effective, relevant, and productive):

a.“What’s in decline?

b. Where are we MANUFACTURING energy? In what areas/programs are we pretending something is important when it’s not?

3. We MUST unearth and evaluate underlying assumptions! (Those underlying assumptions that are driving your decisions…and you don’t even know what they are anymore!)

4. We MUST acknowledge what’s NOT working and own up to why we are NOT willing to do anything about it!

In this podcast session, Andy explores the role assumptions play in an organization. You will learn how to look at your organization with fresh eyes and initiate change when change is needed. Go here: andy_leadership_1.mp3

Why Aren't We All Good Samaritans?

2009-03-08T06:15:00.005-04:00

This week GEORGIA GROWN hosts an online video from bestselling author of Emotional Intelligence and psychologist Daniel Goleman.

Divinity School students were assigned to write a sermon on the good Samaritan and then sent across campus to deliver the sermon. Along they way they meet a man who needs help. Do they stop? Golden takes you on a journey of discovery from there.

The implications are POWERFUL to our understanding of why we give of ourselves and why we don't; why we (and our members) do, or do not, literally/physically engage in the Great Commission, inreach, and outreach.

Disclaimer: For those of you who are EXTREMELY sensitive about what you consider to be couth/uncouth verbage....P-L-E-A-S-E... look beyond the simple lingo of "pizzle".

A MODEL FOR POSITIVE CONFRONTATION

2009-03-01T07:00:00.005-05:00

Susan Scott, in her book Fierce Conversations provides the most practical, healthy, working model of confrontation that I have ever discovered. Here’s the steps taken in this positive model of confrontation:

Preparation:
1. Pray about the issue that you need to confront and about why it is important. (Why it is important ideally ties in with the vision and mission of the organization.)
2. Reflect on your motives and your view of the person. Pray for a redemptive view of the person and of the issue you are confronting. Then, prepare an opening statement. Write your opening statement and practice saying it out loud, in sixty seconds or less.

Your opening statement should:
3. Name the issue
4. Select a specific example that illustrates the behavior or situation you want to change.
5. Describe your emotions about this issue
6. Clarify what is at stake
7. Identify your contribution to this problem
8. Indicate your wish to resolve the issue.
9. Invite your partner to respond.

Interaction
10. Inquire into your partner’s views. Use paraphrasing and a perception check. Dig for full understanding; don’t be satisfied with the surface. Make sure your partner knows that you fully understand and acknowledge his or her position and interests.

Resolution
11. What have we learned? Where are we now? Has anything been left unsaid that needs saying? What is needed for resolution? How can we move forward from here, given our new understanding?
12. Make a new agreement and determine how you will hold each other responsible for keeping it. (The burden for this in a superior subordinate relationship falls more on the superior.)

*Steps 1 and 2 are added to incorporate more of a Christian paradigm.

More about the book Fierce Conversations:
If we have ever needed a book like this, now is the time. Just think what could have happened at Enron, WorldCom, OR YOUR CHURCH, if people had been willing to talk to each other about what was really going on? This is both a "think about this" and a "here's how to use it" book that can give people the courage and tools to tell others what they are seeing and believing. Don't be put off by the title, Fierce does not mean you get to beat everyone up - it really is an invitation to, as the author says - interrogate reality. Susan Scott does an effective job in weaving her three big ideas about conversations through the book. The ideas are simple yet powerful and can change the way we talk both to ourselves and to others. She captured me right away with the first concept; that our lives (and work) succeed or fail one conversation at a time, including those conversations we don't have. The book is an easy read. The concepts are clearly presented both in theory and with amusing stories and, best of all, there are practical tips on how to use the information. It is so valuable and practical that I purchased this book for every pastor in the region I served for Christmas of ’07.

Bonhoeffer speaks to pastors/leaders who would complain about their congregation

2009-02-22T06:02:00.005-05:00

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book "Life Together” offers a fierce conversation with pastors, or all others in church leadership, who would be tempted to complain about the Christian community (congregation) to which they belong and/or which has been entrusted to their care. See whether Bonhoeffer’s statement speaks to you:

"A pastor should not complain about his congregation, certainly never to other people, but also not to God. A congregation has not been entrusted to him in order that he should become its accuser before God and men..."

“When a person becomes alienated from a Christian community in which he has been placed and begins to raise complaints about it, he had better examine himself first to see whether the trouble is not due to his own wish dream that should be shattered by God; and if this be the case, let him thank God for leading him into this predicament. But if not, let him nevertheless guard against ever becoming an accuser of the congregation before God. Let him rather accuse himself for his unbelief. Let him pray God for an understanding of his own failure and his particular sin, and pray that he may not wrong his brethren. Let him, in the consciousness of his own guilt, make intercession for his brethren. Let him to what he is committed to do, and thank God.”

SLOW DEATH or DEEP CHANGE?

2009-02-15T18:07:00.003-05:00

"Deep Change" by Robert Quinn

In this wonderful book, Quinn challenges us to confront our own hypocrisy and make a choice between deep change or slow death -- that is to say between commitment or disengagement. It's actually not an easy choice to make. Most of us have taken the easy path and chosen not to speak out when we've known what needed to be changed. Or, we've run from a difficult work situation, leaving the problems behind for someone else to clean up, not admitting our part in the failure or taking responsibility for changing ourselves.

Quinn instructs us by modeling the behavior we need to follow. Particularly striking, for me, is his personal account of finding himself crying while writing a short story called "The Prophecy." This is a version of the story his mother had told him about his father, who, knowing that he was soon going to die, and seeing his newborn son for the first time, had said, "I think our boy is going to make his mark on the world."

Quinn explains that this true story about his father was etched in his consciousness and had great meaning for him. "In retelling the story I was retelling one of my core myths...I had always heard the story from the perspective of the woman. Now I was telling it from the point of view of a 38-year old man who was dying. The man was asking himself what his life had meant. There was no money, no house, no insurance policy, no signs of worldly success, no legacy to mark his passage."

"Years later, facing a midlife crisis, I was asking myself the very same questions about the meaning of my own life. Without even realizing it, I was trying to deal with the issues of impact and legacy," says Quinn, reflecting on the emotional impact of the story. "As all this become clear, I began to clarify what I wanted to do differently in my life. At work, for example, I took on a different perspective. I became more focused on my research. In my teaching and consulting, I became more caring yet more demanding. The resulting impact, in terms of outcome, was dramatic. I had a new perspective, and my life was changed. I became more empowered and more empowering."

This empowerment is demonstrated by Quinn's role in one intervention he made at one troubled company. In this intervention, Quinn conducted interviews, identified the core issues, and put his insights into writing, calling the resulting document the "Inner Voice of the Organization." This document was structured around eight questions and eight answers -- each answer describing a key issue facing the company and illustrated by a concrete example. Each of the eight issues had previously been "undiscussable," and each issue represented a weakness or need within the company.

Quinn listed these issues as follows:
1. "The company is characterized by loyalty and considerable unused human potential
2. The organization must make deep change in order to become more viable and thus to be able to survive in a rapidly evolving world
3. The company is hampered by an unconscious conspiracy of silence and an inability to confront issues and identify needed adjustments
4. "Groupthink" is widespread, and models for constructive conflict are lacking
5. Certain key figures have favored individual good and self-interest over the collective good, and they have been reinforced
6. Everyone would like to believe that certain transparent issues are successfully kept secret. Individuals try to save face by pretending that no one knows what everyone knows--and the process works as long as no one listens to the organization's inner voice
7. A cohesive leadership team is lacking
8. The company has no clear, believable, and motivating vision"

Quinn sent the document to the CEO. He explained that it would be a useful tool to introduce at the outset of the program -- and proposed breaking the participants into five subgroups to discuss the five most important undiscussable issues honestly. He expected the CEO to reject the plan. Instead the CEO made a few factual corrections and agreed to it.

Most striking about this story, apart from the courage and honesty of the approach, is that it seems this identical list of eight issues could be applied to all companies, whether they're in trouble or not. It seems that the issues are universal, grounded in human nature, and that every company faces them to different degrees depending on their specific circumstances.

As Quinn puts it, there is often an "inner voice" in a company that everyone knows but dares not discuss. People know that if they do bring up these issues they will be marginalized and may be fired. It is a risky business to be a change agent, and Quinn does not underplay this. Speaking of one intervention at Ford, Quinn states that "Change means taking risks and facing the possibility of failure. Unfortunately, risk taking sometimes has a negative outcome...approximately 3 percent of participants reported being disciplined for taking initiative, and their anger was apparent. They told us, 'Your program is a fraud. The company doesn't want leaders; it wants conformists.'"

It doesn't take long for people in such companies to learn that their management cannot be trusted. In this light, it is amazing that around 12 percent in this same program at Ford were willing to engage in the riskiest form of change. The risk-takers were the people who reported higher scores on health, job satisfaction and personal relationships. Surprisingly, they were also usually the oldest participants. "We believe that they had reached a career plateau yet had maintained a positive outlook. They were loyal to Ford and eager to make a positive contribution. Their perception of the "risk-reward ratio" was different...They were willing to confront the pressures of conformity and pay the price of deep change."

So, even in the most jaded of organizations, there are always people able and willing to take a risk to improve the organization for themselves and others -- a finding which is as encouraging as it is surprising.

This is a compelling and useful book. It's written in a poetic way with a deep level of commitment and personal revelation. On the other hand, it's not for those looking for a quick fix. People who assume that the problem is with others and that they can be changed by instruction and coercion will not find it useful.

What differentiates this from the vast majority of other books by business school professors -- and what saves it from irrelevancy -- is the depth of the passion it conveys. Also, the real-life examples. Quinn epitomizes deep change.

If you are a change agent, or intend to become one you should read this book. It has the power to change your life. It could, in fact, be the only book you need. However, I think it will work best when read alongside others. I recommend starting with "Dance of Change," by Peter Senge and some of his colleagues from the Society for Organizational Learning. This will provide an additional perspective, including a wealth of examples of both successful and unsuccessful change efforts and a list of the key impediments to change, consolidating the message that many of the barriers to change are within ourselves.

If you read this book, you are sure to come away with a few ideas you can use or insights that will be of value. I, for one, will not easily forget that I do indeed need to make the choice every day between the slow death of apathy, and the deep change of personal growth. In the end -- hard as it may be -- the choice of reflection and deep change is the only one that makes sense.
Adapted from the Review by Graham Lawes

What's Your People Development Plan?

2009-02-08T06:01:00.007-05:00

I read this article by Todd Rhoades over at Monday Morning Insights. See what you think!

What’s Your PDP (People Development Plan)? Sounds like some new cholesterol count or personality profile, but its not. PDP stands for People Development Plan. Even though we’re all in the people business, practically no church in America has a PDP, at least one that is written, clearly defined, and communicated to those attending. This summer, I taught a DMin course at Denver Seminary. The theme was on developing people, a take off from my latest book, Me To We (shameless plug). What dawned on me as I prepared to teach the course is that I’ve never seen a clearly defined people development plan in a church.

Sure, there are mission statements with cute acrostics or alliterations galore, not to mention baseball diamonds with four tier meetings to attend, but a people development plan is different. One of the closest examples of this is Willow Creek’s “Reveal” project that seeks to measure congregant satisfaction, growth, and appropriate response in terms of events and programs.

We’re a lot like the classic Peanuts cartoon, where Charlie Brown shoots arrows into the fence and then draws circles around them. “That’s no way to target shoot,” Linus critiques. “Yeah, but that way I never miss,” Charlie retorts. At the end of the ministry year, most of us draw circles around our previous year’s calendar, budget, staff, and ministry review. But what are we really accomplishing? How do newcomers know what to expect? What kind of people are we turning out? Are the people in our care experiencing spiritual growth? If we think so, how do we know?
Read the full post here...

The Economic Crisis Is Our Evangelistic Opportunity!

2009-01-11T06:07:00.003-05:00

From the NY Times: Hard times bring people to church. "In 'Praying for Recession: The Business Cycle and Protestant Religiosity in the United States,' David Beckworth [found that] during each recession cycle between 1968 and 2004, the rate of growth in evangelical churches jumped by 50 percent." The little-noticed study began receiving attention from some preachers in September, when the stock market began its free fall. With the swelling attendance they were seeing, and a sense that worldwide calamities come along only once in an evangelist’s lifetime, the study has encouraged some to think big.

Click the link above to read the entire article.

More Ministry Resources

2009-01-04T06:00:00.006-05:00

Online Bibles - This list of online Bibles is a great reference tool.

Financial calculators - Check out the Crown Ministry website for great (and free) financial calculators. On the site you’ll find a debt calculator, a budget calculator, several credit card calculators, and more.

Online to-do lists - Access your to-do lists from any computer or web-enabled phone. Through this program, you can create numerous to-do lists and even add to them through text message or email. And it’s free.

Bible pronunciation guide - Need help pronouncing a word from the Bible? Check out this site. Not only can you find the written out pronunciation, but you can also find a WAV file of someone saying each of the words correctly.

Servant evangelism ideas - Looking for some ways to get your congregation involved in servant evangelism? Here are some ideas categorized by people involved, location, and time.

The Church Video License - You might not realize it, but you can’t legally show movie clips in your sermons without purchasing a license. The Church Video License works much like popular music licensing programs that many churches have. Cost is based on church size.

Outreach opportunities in public schools - Are you taking advantage of one of the largest mission fields in your community – public schools? “Armadillo Jim” Schmidt has a few ideas to get you started.

Creative Lord's Supper services - Are you looking for ways spice up your Lord's Supper services? Check out this article.

The Parsonage - On this site you can find all sorts of help and support for your role as pastor. Produced by Focus on the Family, the site includes material to help with personal and professional needs.

Preaching: Prep + SOS + Your Voice!

2008-12-28T05:59:00.002-05:00

Better Bibles Blog - This may be a good resource to consult for purposes of preaching, as well as teaching. This blog is frequently updated and focuses on Bible translation issues. It has quite a few interesting posts and outside links, particularly for those with an interest in translation issues or those looking for reviews of current translations.

Mark Driscoll tackling Song of Solomon - Talk about a challenging OT book to tap for an expository sermon series! Mark Driscoll has been preaching through one of the toughest books in the Bible to preach on – the Song of Solomon. If you want to see what he’s doing, all of the sermon videos are online.

How to protect your speaking voice - Silence may be an invaluable preaching tool, but sometimes you HAVE to speak! Here are some valuable tools to keep one of your most important tools for preaching ....your voice.....in tip-top shape.

Financial Crisis: Leading your Church Through It + Tax Help for YOU!

2008-12-21T06:03:00.003-05:00

How to lead your church during the financial crisis - How are we as pastors to respond during this financial crisis? As a pastor in New York City, Nelson Searcy has had a front row seat to the recent Wall Street collapse and financial recession. In this practical and motivational podcast, he shares insights on how to lead your church at this time. You can download or listen for free.

Keys for overcoming your church’s financial crisis - Both pastors and churches are facing some tough times in the present economic crunch. This article provides some time-tested strategies for overcoming a church-wide financial crisis.

Tax help for ministers - If you’re a minister, you can get your U.S. taxes professionally done for free. Check out the site for more information.

“Give according to your income, lest God make your income according to your giving.” – Unknown

Your Church at Christmas: Outreach Ideas + Authenticity vs Commercialism

2008-12-14T06:01:00.005-05:00

Angel Tree Ministry - In years past, during the Christmas season, my churches have utilized this effort organized by Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship Ministry. Angel Tree helps children of incarcerated parents around the United States by providing Christmas gifts on behalf of the parents. Find out how you and your church can participate on this site.

Advent Conspiracy - Feel like the commercialism of Christmas has sapped the spirituality out it? This is a challenge pastors across the country are giving their churches this Christmas – worship fully, spend less, give more, and love all.

Eight ideas for Christmas outreach - Tobin Perry

The 12 Mistakes of Christmas

2008-12-07T06:00:00.002-05:00

The 12 Mistakes of Christmas

C. Michael Johnson and Tom Bowers have published an insightful article via Breakthrough Media that might help make the Christmas season your most productive in terms of opportunity for spiritually impacting your community.

The authors each have over 30 years experience with holistic church marketing and community outreach, working with churches and ministries across nearly 100 denominations, in every state and in many other countries. Drawing on that wide experience, they outline in this article what they've learned to be the 12 most common mistakes churches make in Christmas outreach.----- They strongly believe any church that takes active steps to avoid these mistakes will dramatically increase the effectiveness of their outreach. Christmas outreach done in the way described here will positively impact every other facet of a church's ministry, and many of the recommendations provide smarter ways to plan for the whole year.

Mistake # 1 --Not planning for something great.
Mistake # 2 --Doing little or nothing during Christmas.
Mistake # 3 --Planning without a plan.
Mistake # 4 --Breaking the Law of Large Numbers.
Mistake # 5 --Trying to do too much.
Mistake # 6 --Sending a Christmas message.
Mistake # 7 --Always trying something new.
Mistake # 8 --Doing Outreach instead of Withreach.
Mistake # 9 --Not making Christmas children-centered enough.
Mistake #10 -Communicating a heart-less message.
Mistake #11 -Choosing costly options.
Mistake #12 -Not connecting Christmas with Easter.

Read the entire article: http://12mistakes.info/

Ministry Resources for the Christmas Season

2008-11-30T06:00:00.006-05:00

Check out these tools and insights:

Top 10 Christmas Service Projects for Church Youth Groups ...

Christmas Programs for Children

Standard Christmas Program Book: Over 100 Recitations and Programs for Christmas and Thanksgiving

Christmas Programs for the Church

More Ministry Resources

2008-11-28T06:00:00.003-05:00

Unbound Bible - Biola University has Bible translations and study tools in a variety of languages on its site. You can also find free Bible software for your Palm Pilot.

Create your own online newspaper - Use a variety of online resources to create your own daily newspaper.

Ministry Marketing Coach - You’ll find helpful marketing advice for your church on this site. Right now on the site you’ll also find generational profiles on Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials designed to help you minister more effectively to those generations.

National polls - You can find polls on a variety of subjects on this site, including current political figures and social issues.

Commercial-free worship music - Visit this website to get continuous, commercial-free worship music. Three stations are available on the site to choose from: praise & worship, contemporary worship, and Spanish worship.

Scrib Link - On this site you can use an online whiteboard to make drawings and e-mail it to yourself. You can use the site for fun or you can combine it with the chat features on the site to have an online meeting complete with the ability to use a whiteboard.

Assimilating new guests - In this Rev! article you’ll find tips on how to make guests feel at home and include them in the life of the church.

Real Relationships - Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott are some of the most well-respected Christian relationship experts in the country. Their book Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts is one of the most used premarital counseling curriculum in circulation. Besides having all of their resources available on the site, you will also find a variety of helpful relationship assessments as well.

Practical Pointers For Powerful Preaching - Part 4

2008-11-23T06:00:00.002-05:00

Useful,

FREE

online tools and resources

for sermon preparation.

Regreek.com

Thebibletool.com

Nave’s Topical Bible

Vincent’s NT Word Studies

Bible Research by Michael Marlowe

The Biblical Studies Foundation

Catholic Encyclopedia

Livius

Holy Land Photos

Britannia.com (Encyclopedia)

Merium-Webster Online

Cambridge Online Dictionary

Roget’s Thesaurus

Visual Thesaurus

Wikipedia

Practical Pointers For Powerful Preaching - Part 3

2008-11-16T06:00:00.003-05:00

Preach the Word Workshops (Glasgow, Scotland)

Audio presentations:

Geoff Grogan - Expository Preaching: some important principles

Dominic Smart - God Uses Preaching Like Nothing Else

Edward Lobb - Sharpening Up Your Preaching

John Brand - Every Text Has A Heart

Sandy Roger - Preaching that Gets Through to People

A Puritan Prayer

(adopted)

My Master God,

I am expected to preach today,

but go weak and needy to my task;

Yet I long that people will be edified with divine truth,

that an honest testimony will be given for you.

Give me assistance in preaching and prayer,

with heart uplifted for grace and passion.

Present to my view things pertinent to my subject,

with fullness of matter and clarity of thought,

proper expressions, fluency, fervency,

a deep emotion to accompany the words I speak,

and grace to apply them to people’s consciences.

Keep me conscious all the while of my defects,

and let me not gloat in pride over my performance.
Help me to offer a testimony for yourself,

and to leave sinners inexcusable in neglecting your mercy.

Give me freedom to open up the sorrows of your people,

and to set before them comforting consolations.

Give your power to the truth preached,

and awaken the attention of my slothful audience.

May your people be refreshed, melted, convicted, comforted,

and help me to use the strongest arguments

drawn from Christ’s incarnation and sufferings,

that people might be made holy.

I myself need your support, comfort, strength, holiness,

that I might be a pure channel of your grace,

and be able to do something for you.

Give me then refreshment among your people,

and help me not to treat excellent matter in a defective way,

or bear a broken testimony to so worthy a redeemer,

or be harsh in treating Christ’s death, its design and end,

from lack of warmth and fervency.

And keep me in tune with you as I do this work.

Practical Pointers For Powerful Preaching - Part 2

2008-11-09T06:00:00.005-05:00

Four critical elements of preaching - This article summarizes some ideas from Wayne McDill’s textbook on preaching, called 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching. It focuses on four parts of your sermon that should be balanced: explanation, illustrations, argumentation, and application. McDill argues that overemphasizing any of those four elements can lead to a weak sermon.

Expositors Conference
The Invincible Weapon (What Is Expository Preaching?)Dr. Steven J. Lawson
Why I Am Committed to Expository Preaching I Dr. John MacArthur
The Ten How To’s of Expository Preaching Dr. Steven J. Lawson
Why I Am Committed to Expository Preaching II Dr. John MacArthur

Practical Pointers For Powerful Preaching - Part 1

2008-11-02T06:00:00.003-05:00

Ready for some practical ideas that will help make

your preaching what you want it to be?

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has a variety of

Free, online seminary lectures .

You can listen via your computer or

download to your MP3 and listen on the go!

Click and listen to:

"Hints for Improving your Preaching" by Dr. Daniel Akin
"A Sermon Preparation Checklist" by Dr. Hershael York

More Ministry Resources

2008-10-26T06:00:00.002-04:00

Free audio Bibles - On this site you can find free audio Bibles in multiple versions (including NIV, NCV, and KJV) in more than 300 languages. You can listen to the Bible on your computer, your iPod, or other MP3 players.

Blue Letter Bible - This is one of the most helpful free biblical research sites on the net. You can take any verse in God’s Word and look up commentaries, interlinear Bibles, other translations, concordances – all for free.

Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts - You’ll find files of various ancient New Testament manuscripts on this site.

Online Study Bible - Create your own online study Bible. On this site you can keep your notes, highlight sections of Scripture, and look at several Bibles at the same time. All of your notes are available anytime you can get online.

American Association of Christian Counselors - Check out this site for information on Christian counseling conferences, counseling resources, or to find a counselor near you.

Free E-book: Facebook for Pastors - Feeling a little in the dark when it comes to social networking sites? This free e-book, produced by Ministry Marketing Coach, will introduce you to using Facebook as a part of your ministry.

MisterPoll - Create your own polls, e-mail them to your own list, or post them on your Website – all for free on this site. You can also search through polls other people have posted and find out the results.

The sermon handout - Want to make your sermon handouts even better? This article from Lifeway.com gives you some ideas for how to do that.

GEORGIA GROWN

The power of “WHAT IF…?”

The Emotionally Healthy Church

Francis Chan explores the idea that THINKING BIBLICALLY isn't weird! Just the opposite, in fact.

GEORGIA GROWN says Bye-Bye!

WHERE GOOD IDEAS COME FROM

Two EXCELLENT audio books. FREE!!!

FREE E-book: Healthy Systems, Healthy Church

5 Attributes of a Church in Decline

HOW THE MIGHTY FALL: A Primer on the Warning Signs

DON’T WASTE YOUR LIFE

Your Most Important Conversation

FAILURE – The secret to success

MAKE DISCIPLES….NOT MERE CONVERTS

Sheer Inspiration

Leadership: A Relational Process - Part 2

LEADERSHIP IS A RELATIONAL PROCESS ---- Part 1

Kindness is more important than cleverness. Reflections on leadership and character, our choices and the narrative of our life.

2 FREE Resources for exploring more ways to effectively impact our world

“Facebook for Pastors”

“25 Free Ministry Marketing Tools that You Can Use Right Now”

How to change things when change is hard.

HOW TO START A MOVEMENT

American Independence Day: Change requires courageous leadership

Leading Adventism Through Powerful Challenges and Positive Change

FREE Audiobook of the Month

YOUR DIRECTION, NOT YOUR INTENTION, DETERMINES YOUR DESTINATION.

FREE eBook on how to use team meetings to improve performance and energize people.

Mother's Day Tribute

Post-Christendom mission must be different

This post over on Digital Evangelism Issues is too challenging to be ignored by anyone in Christian leadership:

For related presentations by his colleague Mike Frost, listen to these audio presentations at a UK Evangelical Alliance/Focus conference.

Hirsch and Frost authored the highly-recommended book The Shaping of Things to Come.”

Explore Simple Church

Do you REALLY want the mission to succeed?

What is that?

Strong, healthy leaders keep reading in order to grow.

Recommended Reading:

Next Generation Leader: 5 Essentials for Those Who Will Shape the Future

Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Leaders

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

Lead Like Jesus: Lessons From the Greatest Leadership Role Model of All Time

The purpose of authentic spiritual leadership? Making disciples who are are liberated from their “trash”!

Read and Grow!

The power of intrinsic motivation

5 Critical Questions

FREE audio books!

The “Great Sin” could be incinerating your leadership.

VALIDATION

Professional & Personal Growth - Part 3

Professional & Personal Growth - Part 2

Professional & Personal Growth - Part 1

PRIDE IS SNEAKY

GEORGIA GROWN wishes you a happy, safe, and Christ-filled Christmas.

5 Lessons from Leadership Failures

unChristian: What perceptions are we creating that harm receptivity to the Gospel?

The Emotionally Healthy Church

The next 1,000 years of Christianity

FREE AUDIO BOOKS!

Getting Along With the Saints

Church: What do we need to retain....and what do we need to change?

Provocative Leadership For A Dangerous Church

Strike a Blow to the Status Quo: Read and Grow!

General Colin Powell’s Leadership Primer

What I learned about leadership from "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors"

31 Refutable Irefutable Laws of Lame leadership

The Life-Shaping Power of Our Stories

100 Ways to Kill a Concept

DON"T IGNORE THESE WARNING SIGNALS

Calling on all church leadership to risk failure!

Courageous Leadership

Should your church be doing more? The answer is “NO!” Shocked by that answer? Read the rest of this post.

HOW TO KNOW WHEN IT'S TIME TO GO

Leaders Need To Know God is Holding Their Lives Together

Leaders Need God’s Grace and Inspiration, Too!

Winning ways To Witnessing

Adjusting to Change

Transformational Leadership and the Art of Renewal

Strategic Process Planning and Tools

Opportunity has fallen into your LAP....TOP!