Midwest Leadership Summit

Last week I shared the principle that effective leadership starts with first learning how to lead yourself, and that begins by learning how to first be a follower.  The next level of leadership is learning how to lead another person – one on one. This is the level of one disciple making another disciple.  This…

One of the key principles of leadership I have learned from many in the field of church revitalization is that knowing and clearly articulating your mission is the first and primary step.  One of my favorite philosophers, Yogi Berra, said, “If you don’t know where you are going, you might end up somewhere else.”  Mission…

Last week I shared about understanding change and how it is a constant in our life and ministry.  We can either choose to be reactive or proactive.  Leaders are in a position to be proactive and able to help lead their teams and organization in change.  The fact that change is often difficult requires that…

Healthy Structures – Membership This week I share the eighth of nine targets for healthy churches – Membership.  The three targets under the category Healthy Structures are Leadership, Membership, and Discipleship.  One of the New Testament images of the church is that of a Body made up of many members (1 Cor. 12:12-14, 27).  Paul goes on…

In my article last week, I addressed Jesus’s call for all who are his followers to be disciple makers.  This is something we often hear and proclaim in our churches and conferences.  One of the missing components that I often observe is the lack of a clear pathway of discipleship.  If the goal is to help…

Healthy Structure – Leadership This week I share the seventh of nine targets for healthy churches – Leadership.  The next three targets fall under the third category Healthy Structures and they are Leadership, Membership, and Discipleship. For churches to be healthy it is important to have a biblical polity in place.  It starts with the basic truth…