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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 …

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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 …

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Spans of Care

On today’s Whiteboard Wednesday, Doug McClintic describes “spans of care” in a congregation, and how this system of taking care of one another helps to strengthen and start churches. The spans of care in your congregation are what holds a congregation together. Through research and experience, there is an ideal ratio between how many people you have in your congregation …

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The Miracle of Team

Recently an idea emerged in our team meeting that would shift twenty percent of a team member’s life energy in a new direction. The next day a document was prepared to propose how and why this change would occur. The following day the team agreed to make the change. We believe this shift has the potential to radically improve our …

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Does Not Compute

For this week’s Whiteboard Wednesday, we have Rick Veenstra, the leadership development catalyst for Luminex share with us the 2 basic characteristics in being a successful leader for the Church. In Jim Collins landmark book Good to Great, he identified two basic characteristics that enable leaders to lead effective and successful companies for a sustained period of time. As Christian …

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The Global Key for Local Church Health

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 These final words of Jesus before his Ascension serve as a timeless strategic template for the work and witness of the church throughout the ages. …

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Faith Based Leadership

For this week’s Whiteboard Wednesday, Mike Gafa discusses how we can move a consistory from managers to leaders. We achieve this by moving away from fear and fact based management and moving towards faith based leadership. To move from managing to leading, your consistory must embrace faith-based leadership while steering clear of fear and fact based management. What does it …

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What Else is New?

Recently a member of the team I lead shared over coffee that he had two really long days of work in a row and found himself a bit too tired to be fruitful on the next day. Some of you reading this, who are serving full time in a church or other Christian non-profit, are saying, “What else is new?” …

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Specialized Transition Ministry

For today’s Whiteboard Wednesday, we have Art Wiers from the Luminex leadership team sharing the importance and role of a specialized transition minister, and his experiences in leading the transition ministry team for the Great Lakes Region. The work that specialized transition ministers do brings significant value. There are many advantages to utilizing the resources of a specialized transitional minister …

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Dismantling Towers

When a pastor, staff member, ministry/department, or governing board works against the grain of a church’s mission, vision, or values, they build a tower unto themselves. The principle comes from Genesis 11: “Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each …