Blog-Generated | Coaching Churches

What Does It Mean To Be A People Leader

Posted by on March 17, 2019

One of the greatest problems facing the church today is that we have the wrong metrics for success. As long as we place a higher priority on how many people are coming to the building over how many lives are actually being changed, we are going to fail. All leaders fall into the trap of measuring the means and loosing site of the end result. This Forbes post is a great reminder of what all great leaders know:

“Leadership can mean many different things to different people, but it often directly ties back to how a person’s contributions impact a business’s bottom line: “My efforts saved us X amount of money,” “My strategy resulted in X amount of new clients,” “I closed a huge sale that brought in X dollars.”

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Major New Research On Declining, Plateaued, And Growing Churches

Posted by on March 10, 2019

The reality that the North American church is in serious trouble is not new information. However, the continuing downward trends should cause even more concern than in the past. It is clearly time to admit we need dramatic change in methodology and passionate prayer for God to move again. This post by Rainer is a must read:

I am grateful to Exponential for engaging LifeWay Research to discern current levels of church health according to a number of factors. While worship attendance trends over a three-year period were a primary indicator of health in this study, the Exponential research also included conversions, income, and staffing in the data.

In addition to the categorization of churches as declining/subtracting (Level 1), plateauing (Level 2), and growing/adding (Level 3), the study looked at two other supplemental categories. A Level 4 (reproducing) church places a high value and priority on starting new churches. A level 5 (multiplying) church takes church planting to multiple generations of congregations.

6 Lessons For Every Leadership Style

Posted by on March 4, 2019

One of my passions is to help church leaders develop the ability to lead in their context with the same level of effectiveness of any corporate leader I coach. So as a regular priority, I will be posting best practice leadership development content to increase our potential to impact the kingdom. This Forbes Post will be helpful:

“In my experience as an entrepreneur and coach of business executives, I’ve seen that great leaders can at times be treated as if they’re invisible. Not many people see what goes on behind the scenes to create and shape new leaders, whether you’re in charge of a team or an entire company. And unfortunately, leadership training isn’t always a priority.”

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The Single Best Way To Motivate Your Team

Posted by on February 24, 2019

The classic leadership division for the last 50 years has been between leaders who can primarily drive results and those who have the ability to prioritize relationships. The first group would be in operations and the second in sales. Today unless you can do both and everything in between you will not be effective. This Carey Nieuwhof post is excellent:

“There are some kinds of leaders (often in churches and not-for-profits) who are wonderful with people, but whose organizations don’t produce great results. Often there’s little accountability, a general drift, poor metrics and just a lack of overall excellence. But the leader’s a really nice person.

There are other leaders (often in rapidly growing churches and businesses) who are not so great with people, but there’s tight accountability, laser-like focus, clear results and tremendous progress.”

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The Lifelong Journey Of Personal Development

Posted by on February 17, 2019

From a Christian worldview perspective we would see this as a journey toward spiritual maturity. If you integrate faith and leadership into your life as a means to that end then there is much to be learned from corporate best practices. This Forbes post has much to offer pastors on leading yourself:

“The term “personal development” is very much a part of today’s lexicon, but have you ever thought about what it really means? I describe personal development as a transformational journey, and improving your emotional intelligence (EI) can be a major part of that journey. This is because EI develops your self-awareness and gives you the tools to understand your own needs and the needs of others.”

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5 Meaningful Words Of Encouragement For Spiritual Leaders

Posted by on February 10, 2019

The hardest leadership job on the planet is leading a local church. In reality your customers are both your volunteer work force and financial investors all at the same time. When they stop helping or even worse leave that immediately causes concern if something is wrong. This post by Dan Reiland is an inspiring reminder:

“As a leader, you know the importance of encouraging people. It’s impossible to over encourage people as long as you are sincere. And I’m sure you’re not only generous but intentional about your encouragement of others. However, leaders need encouragement too, right?”

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Four Steps To Leaving The Legacy You Have Always Wanted

Posted by on February 4, 2019

We of all leaders should know the difference between people making mistakes in their lives compared to lifetime regrets. We are there many times in the end of life and hear the painful stories of opportunities missed, especially in meaningful relationships. This Forbes post is a good reminder:

“As a multi-certified career discovery coach, I often give clients exercises designed to uncover their passions, values and priorities in life. One well-known exercise is called “The 80th Birthday Party,” in which my clients are asked to imagine themselves at their 80th birthday party and envision what they want people to say about them. Usually, people will want to be remembered for being a great spouse, parent or friend. Therefore, this exercise will help to clarify values and priorities.”

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5 Keys To Reducing Stress And Anxiety In Leadership

Posted by on January 28, 2019

Margin is the gap between demand and capacity. Today with all the multiple inputs with most of the media and culture being overwhelming negative, it’s no wonder we are all stressed beyond measure. The church is no safe place from this toxicity and in many ways is even harder to lead. This is a must read for pastors:

When someone asks you how you’re doing, how do you answer? Most of the leaders I talk to these days answer with two variations: “stressed” or “busy.”

Dig a little deeper and you it’s easy to see that at a deep level, most leaders today feel anxious and overwhelmed. Welcome to life in the 21s century.

There are a million reasons why:

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4 Things To Do Before A Tough Conversation

Posted by on January 23, 2019

One of the hardest things to do as a church leader is to talk to people when you have to deliver bad news. It could start out at the beginning as a quality of work issue that eventually leads to a chronic lack of performance. Eventually, you begin to ask yourself the real question, Does this person really belong on our team? This HBR post is very helpful:

I was in denial for about a year and a half before I admitted that I needed to fire Randy.

His work performance had made the conclusion inescapable for years, but he was so darned nice and likeable that I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Not only did I like him, I also knew his income was crucial to his family. Furthermore, over the nine years he worked for me, his income had grown to the point that he would find it difficult to get comparable compensation.

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How To Discern God’s Will In Your Workplace

Posted by on January 16, 2019

The front lines of the gospel ministry have moved from the churches we attend to the places where we work and the neighborhoods where we live. Our work is an incredibly important platform for God, as we daily combine the secular and the sacred to show people the reality of Christ in our lives. This post by Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra is a great reminder:

In 2004, businessman Terry Looper—founder and CEO of the $6 billion Texon energy company—was partway through negotiating a sale when he realized he’d forgotten to pray about it.

“I hadn’t even tried to get neutral,” he said. “Getting neutral” is his term for pushing down any greed or selfish ambition, quieting his heart, and listening for the Holy Spirit’s leading. Looper makes decisions by spending time in prayer and Bible reading, consulting with colleagues and family, watching for circumstances, and asking God for “peace in my gut.”

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