A Note from Luminex: Starting today and extending through the next four weeks, our Monday blogs will be centered on the Advent theme of the week (Faith, Hope, Joy, Love, Christ), and about how the theme in some way informs our mission to multiply. We begin our series with Dan Ackerman sharing thoughts on faith. Embracing faith is never easy. I …
Finishing Well
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, …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …