Leaders Need Adequate Sleep: 10 Ways to Get It
Get your thoughts out of your head and onto paper. Decreased light at night. Use ambient noise machines or smart phone apps. Try to get at least 7-8 hours each night. Don’t work in bed. Don’t bring your iPad or smart phone to bed. Stick with the same routine each night. Don’t use caffeine more
7 Holes that Can Swallow Ministry
I have four earned degrees and my toughest by far was an industrial engineering degree from Ga Tech. That degree taught me to think systematically. In addition, I’ve added to my competency tool box many books on church planning plus two churches where I’ve served have engaged in year-long visioning processes with church consultants. So, I’m
Are You a Catalytic Leader?
The book, The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leadership Organizations by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom, highlights the value of what the authors call, ‘leaderless’ organizations. Although I don’t advocate leaderless organizations, one chapter describes tools that successful non-leader leaders use to catalyze their respective organizations. These qualities also apply to catalytic leaders. I’ve summarized them below. Qualities
A Counter-intuitive Way to Manage Ministry Pain
Pain and ministry go together like peanut butter and jelly. Once you make a PB&J sandwich, there’s no separating the two ingredients. Neither can we isolate successful ministry from the pain it inevitably brings. I don’t like rejection, disappointment, or criticism. I don’t know any pastor who does. Sometimes, however, I do everything I can
The Causes and Cure for Leadership Burnout
Leadership is tough. Good leaders understand this and manage their lives and leadership demands to avoid burnout. Sometimes, however, even the best leaders get burned out. If you’re now facing it, examine the cause list below to see what factors may be contributing to it. Then, take one proactive step this week from the cures list to take better
How to to Give Effective Staff Evaluations
For years I’ve used this form below when I perform my twice-annual staff evaluations. I have every staff person complete the form on themselves and attach their goals for the previous and upcoming year. These documents provide the talking points for the eval. Afterwards, I compile a one page written evaluation I give to them.
9 Ways Great Leaders Communicate
Great leaders are great communicators. Communication certainly includes making a great speech, or for pastors, delivering a compelling sermon. That kind of communication is important, but it’s less so than communicating well one-on-one. I recently finished reading neuroscientist Andrew Newberg’s book, Words Can Change your Brain. His book suggests 12 key neuroscience based communication practices. I’ve included nine here with
What Would you Do for $10,000,000? How Leaders Build Integrity
What are you willing to do for $10,000,000? James Patterson and Peter Kim published the book, The Day America Told the Truth in 1991. In their research they posed this question to 2,000 Americans in an anonymous survey. These are the results. Would abandon their entire family (25%) Would abandon their church (25%) Would become prostitutes for a
Facebook and Twitter RANTERS…my Response
I’ve used Facebook and Twitter for a few years to help communicate my message on living for Christ as a leader and as a person. It’s been a valuable tool to share my thoughts and I’ve learned a great deal from others. However, I’m finding that more and more people are using it as a
Guilt Producing Questions Pastors Secretly Ask Themselves
I’ve served as a pastor for over 39 years in churches as small as 4 1/2 (my wife, two pre-schoolers, and one on the way) to churches that approached 2,000 attenders. The locations have included the far west, the midwest, the south, and the southwest. If you were to ask people after I moved from
