No matter how well you plan, how much time you invest, or how well you communicate to the community, church transitions are never easy. There are a lot of reasons for this; primarily, people don’t like change. They may not like the new leadership. They may feel like they should have been involved, that […]
Raising Up Leaders in Small Towns and Small Churches
Let’s face it; leadership matters—a lot. If you have ever been part of a dysfunctional organization you know this all too well. When leadership breaks down thriving is difficult if not impossible. This is true in all spheres of society. Whether we are talking about business, politics, athletics, or virtually anything in between, leadership is […]
How the Enneagram is Valuable for Church Planters and Leaders
The Enneagram is a personality typing system that suggests there are nine major ways of seeing the world. With uncanny accuracy, it describes how human beings are wired both positively and negatively. The word “Enneagram” is made up of two Greek words: “ennea”, which means nine and “gram,” a drawing. It is a nine-pointed geometric […]
Testing the Heart of Potential Leaders
One of the great temptations in pastoring is putting people in places of leadership before they are ready. Let’s face it; sometimes it seems like a warm body is better than having to do something yourself. We need people to serve and lead, but there is a real danger in releasing people too soon before […]
The Move Toward Leadership
A person begins their interaction with your church simply as a participant. It is a one way relationship as they receive, listen, and learn. They enjoy the benefits of the gathering and community. It’s necessary for people to begin in this stage and to dive into all the things offered to them. A problem occurs […]
The Future of the Church Is Young Leaders
Three years ago the lead pastor of my home church, Vineyard Mishawaka, was prompted by God to create five new Vineyard church plants or campuses in our local area. As the executive pastor, I was part of explaining the opportunity to the entire team. There were various emotions and tons of questions. We couldn’t answer […]
Why We Continue To Send Out Our Very Best Leaders
As pastors over the past few decades, we have seen a lot of really great leaders come and go. In the Vineyard, we have always been taught to hold our leaders open handedly. We’ve discovered that by being the kind of people who will not only invest in others, but also be willing and eager […]
Four Behaviors of Thriving Worship Ministries
We want to create worship ministries in our churches that are healthy and growing. Over the past 18 months, I have served over fifty churches as a worship team trainer and guest worship leader. In doing this, I have noticed some interesting trends in worship ministries that are thriving. This post has little to do […]
Casting A Wide Net With The Discover Course
The promise of Jesus to his first disciples was that they would be fishers of men, that they would catch people like they caught fish. For first century fishermen, poles, lures, and bait were not the tools of the trade. Rather they used nets to haul in their prize. I sometimes think about leadership development […]
Building a Strong Church Planting Team
A foundational assumption of any church planter should be that it is up to God to do the work of putting your church planting team together. It’s an assumption that comes out of a genuine expectation of the Lord to build the church. Thus, the first thing to do is not to make a list […]
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