We are excited to announce the launch of the Luminex Podcast! Luminex is focused on giving the leaders the resources they need to start and strengthen churches. In each of our upcoming podcasts, you’ll hear a variety of experts engage in conversations that will equip and develop you as a leader – whether you’re in the church or the marketplace. Stay Tuned for …
Transitions: Why William Bridges Was Right
Dan Ackerman, Executive Leader for Zeeland Classis of the RCA, discusses the process of change and transition that occurs in life on today’s Whiteboard Wednesday. There are all kinds of changes that we have in life. There are some that we don’t think about much like changing our clothes everyday, and there are others that require deeper decision-making, like when …
Habits for Missional Living: Behavior Matters
On today’s Whiteboard Wednesday, Art Weirs, Luminex Church Health Catalyst, discusses missional habits (inspired from Michael Frost). How can healthy habits help to grow healthy churches? The acronym B.E.L.L.S. was initially developed by Michael Frost, and slightly revised by Art. “B” stands for Bless. This means taking the time in a given period (perhaps weekly) to intentionally bless three people, …
Gospel Leadership
Our presenter on today’s Whiteboard Wednesday is Tim Meendering, who has served as a pastor for 22 years and worked with the Regional Synod of the Great Lakes on transition ministry and revitalization. Tim recently returned from an “Organic Outreach” conference where Dr. Rick Richardson, Director of Research for the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism, pointed out that: 80% of …
The Miracle of Team
On today’s Whiteboard Wednesday, Rick Veenstra, Regional Executive for the Synod of the Great Lakes, discusses team ministries and how they help start and strengthen churches. As a pastor and leader in the church for many years, there were times early on when Rick led staff with a “divide-and-conquer” approach. However, in the latter part of his journey, Rick became …
Heady Leadership
Curry Pikkaart, Interim leader for the Classis of Southwest Michigan, describes “heady leadership” on today’s Whiteboard Wednesday. In football, if you lead with your head, you will suffer the consequences. Most likely, you will be penalized and possibly ejected from the game. However, in leadership if you don’t lead with your head, then you will suffer the consequences. Rabbi Daniel …
Vision Convergence
On today’s Whiteboard Wednesday, Mike Gafa, Church Leadership Development Catalyst for Luminex, describes the vision convergence exercise, which helps churches and church leaders discern vision. The vision convergence exercise is inspired by, and adapted from, Dr. Thom Rainer’s book, Breakout Churches. In the book, Rainer introduced what he called the vision-intersection-profile, a similar yet slightly different tool from the vision …
Narrative Budgeting
On today’s Whiteboard Wednesday, Randy Weener, Classis Leader for Great Lakes City Classis, discusses the importance of narrative budgeting for your congregation. It is important to know that the drivetrain on your car is working. And that everything under the engine is working. But for most of us, our concern is not with the details, but with the car getting …
What is in the Center: Position Matters
For today’s Whiteboard Wednesday, Art Wiers, who serves as Church Health Catalyst for the RCA Great Lakes Region, describes a valuable tool that helps ensure focus on God’s mission during church and leadership meetings. Art gives credit to one of his colleagues, Ken Eriks, who shared this tool with him several years ago. It’s a simple tool where you put …
Three C’s of Change
On this Whiteboard Wednesday, Dan Ackerman, Executive Leader for the Zeeland Classis of the RCA, discusses the 3 C’s for leading effective change in your congregation. Change is part of life and we all should recognize this reality. So, the important question becomes: How do we lead that change effectively and not just let it happen to us? The answer …