If I had seen a Christian living what Christ taught, then I myself may have followed and become a believer in the beautiful teachings of Jesus. Mahatma Gandhi
Beautiful Teachings of Jesus
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The Lost Art of Backward Planning
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Jesus had a plan…and he executed it right on time. As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. Luke 9:51 (NIV) Short of the divine knowledge Jesus possessed, few of us would be able to deliver exactly on time with as far to travel and as many things to do. Along the way he taught parables, eased Martha to the better choice, confronted...
Stephen Covey – Big Rocks: Put First Things First
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Real Teams
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A real team, in my view, is something very specific. It differs from the more common ‘single-leader unit’ in three important ways. First, all members of a real team have an equal level of emotional commitment to the team’s purpose and goals. Second, the leadership role shifts easily among the members based on the skills and experience they have and the challenges of the moment, rather than on...
Outside the Walls of the Church Building
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The single most important thing to remember about any enterprise is that there are no results inside its walls. The result of a business is a satisfied customer. Peter Drucker
Why Churches Fail to Change
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Allowing too much complacency
Failing to create a sufficiently powerful guiding coalition
Underestimating the power of vision
Under communicating the vision by a factor of 10 (or 100 or even 1,000)
Failure to remove obstacles to the vision
Not systematically planning for and creating short-term wins
Declaring victory too soon
Failure to anchor change in the organizations culture
Making a Change at Church: Eight (not so) Simple Steps
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In a previous post I quoted John Maxell who observed that older and “insecure leaders view change as a threat rather than an opportunity. ” But what if you have to change. Many small churches are facing declining membership because their traditions have not changed in decades. The prevailing belief is worship traditions are Biblical and any deviation must certainly be a sin. Even...
Change: Threat or Opportunity?
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Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck asserted, ‘It is the nature of man as he grows older to protect against change, particularly change for the better.’ By its very nature, empowerment brings constant change in that it encourages people to grow and innovate. Change is the price of progress. Insecure leaders view change as a threat rather than an opportunity. – John Maxwell
New Moment Resolutions: Why New Year’s Resolutions are Irrelevant
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NOTE: Originally posted on thepracticalCHRISTian.net The New Year is a time of renewal reminiscent of the fresh starts each school year brought when we were children. Starting fresh is intoxicating to those of us encumbered with a litany of bad habits and regrets we would like to leave behind. Overwhelmingly those who resolve to leave baggage behind each new year fail. Most can make it a...
Leading from the Outside
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Unless you are prepared to see things differently and go against the current, you are unlikely to accomplish anything truly important. And to go against the current, you have to be something of an outsider, living on the edge, a member of a small but vibrant counterculture. You must free yourself from habitual ways of looking at things, cultivate an independent and questioning perspective, and...