On today’s Whiteboard Wednesday, Rick Veenstra talks about the importance of finishing well as a Christian leader to ensure a smooth and positive transition in your ministry. Rick Veenstra is nearing the end of his journey as a vocational Christian leader, having served as a pastor for over 40 years. To help prepare for the next chapter of his life, …
A Wholehearted Courage Story
A Note from Luminex: The blog post below comes from Pastor Jess Shults, and was originally published in August 2013 on natepyle.com. We are grateful that Jess has given us permission to republish her post, and that she has added a few additional reflective thoughts at the end. While this is her story alone, we trust that you will find it …
Show Your Work
Today, we have Rick Veenstra share with us about the importance of “showing your work.” Recently, our team was asked to read a book titled Show Your Work. As a result of reading that book, we became convinced it was important to do the kind of thing we are doing right now. We believe that because we are Christians, we …
My Problem with Airline Travel
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 …