Five Keys to Innovation in a Non-innovative Organization

The organization I lead is 121 years old. The organization has experienced many successes in its history but, like any company with a lengthy history, it tends to gravitate toward status quo. Innovation thus becomes the exception rather than the norm.

The past six years have been a journey toward greater innovation. I am still learning many lessons, but I have five key lessons I have learned thus far.

Seven Traits of Breakout Churches

I have been a student of American churches for thirty years. In those thirty years, one of my most fascinating learning ventures has been the discovery of breakout churches. Simply defined, a breakout church is a congregation that has experienced at least five years of decline followed by at least five years of growth. While numerical growth is not the inerrant barometer for church health, we researchers must use numerical gauges for much of our objective data.

Why the Church and the Community need Shepherds

What do you see when you walk around your city? What do you feel? How will you respond? In Matthew 9:35–38, we get a glimpse of what Jesus saw and felt, and how he responded.

Jesus saw the harassed and helpless crowds of people wandering aimlessly like a sheep without a shepherd. They were harassed and they were helpless.

Every Leader needs a Coach

Every leader needs a coach. Paul was a coach to a young disciple, leader, and protégé named Timothy. From a prison, Paul wrote what is regarded as his last public letter to Timothy. It is a treatise on leadership development. Paul proclaimed the gospel and God saved Timothy. Timothy grew in his faith and Paul took Timothy under his care and they ministered together for many years.

The Idolatry of Individualism

Through our relationship with him and our relationships with other believers, God is in the process of restoring his image in us. He is making us like himself.

He does this by his Spirit, as his grace and Word are applied to our lives through the incarnational ministry of believers one-to-another. God uses means to inform and transform us, and the primary means that he uses to do this are relationships in the local church.

An Open Letter To Leaders

Dear Leader,

Leadership matters!  It is listed in the Scripture as a spiritual gift (Romans 12:8), there are books in the Bible dedicated to what happens when God empowered leadership is embraced (Ezra, Nehemiah, Judges, Esther) and God has called you and raised you up for the purpose of making a difference.

3 Temptations Leaders Face

One of the most challenging issues when it comes to leadership and ministry is dealing with people (other than that, it's quite simple).

AND, if we are not careful we will allow ourselves to become so distracted that we will actually begin to care for other things way more than the people that Jesus died for and has called us to take care of.