I don’t like to wait. It’s one of the reasons I find airline travel to be a challenge. To me, few things are more frustrating than checking in, going through security, arriving at the gate only to sit around and wait for an extended period of time. I’m frustrated because I’m ready to go but I have to wait on …
Reactive Management to Adaptive Leadership
Mike Gafa presents some steps to move a consistory from managing to leading in today’s Whiteboard Wednesday. Everyday brings a new crisis for church leaders. In turn, too many consistories find themselves playing “leadership whack-a-mole” as they attempt to solve the latest crisis. Similarly, leadership in the church can sometimes feel this way, but this is not a good method …
Five Aspects of Vision
In my experience of working with churches, I have found that discerning and articulating a church’s vision oftentimes brings pronounced confusion and high frustration to pastors and leaders, with much of their angst stemming from misunderstanding what vision is – and isn’t. What follows are five aspects of vision that help pastors and leaders to understand, discern, articulate, and live …
I Hate This
This week’s Whiteboard Wednesday, we have Rick Veenstra, who’s been serving as a minister for more than 40 years, and shares one of the life lessons he’s learned, entitled “I Hate This.” My mom told me that I should not use the word “hate.” But I don’t know what other word to use regarding this particular leadership lesson, which has …
“Go into all the World”
Christ’s command to his followers is simple and profound, calling them into something great and global. It immediately conjures up images of passports and airports. It is a monumental task that reflects the true vision of the Kingdom – every tribe, nation, and tongue. But what if every word in that command had equal weight? Certainly we would have that …
Institutional Management to Missional Leadership
On today’s Whiteboard Wednesday, Mike Gafa shares a few thoughts about the importance of missional leadership for moving a consistory from managers to leaders. To move from managing to leading, we must pull away from institutional management and embrace missional leadership. What do we mean by “institutional management?” Institutional management encompasses the daily operations of a church – staff management, …
The Genius of the Fishing Analogy for Church Growth
Everyone is aware that fisherman love to tell stories. But not everyone is aware of the genius of the fishing analogy that Jesus used when he told his followers that he would “make them fishers of people.” As someone who takes fishing seriously, I continue to grow in my fascination for this analogy that Jesus used to help us understand …
Succession Planning
For this week’s Whiteboard Wednesday, we have Art Wiers, who served as a Pastor for the Reformed Church for 36 years share with us about the importance of succession planning in Churches. The matter of succession planning is not often brought up in discussions, which can be an issue for churches that are going through a transition. Because in order …
Interpreting the Bible with Truth and Love
“But that’s not what the Bible means!” Have you ever had that reaction when you hear someone interpret Scripture? I have. And I’ll admit, my first tendency is often to write someone off as just plain wrong, not so much because I can give clear reasons why they are wrong but because I just know I’m right. I want to …