Billboards are big business. According to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, they produced $4.4 billion dollars of advertising revenue in 2008. While religious billboards account for an insignificant portion of the market, they often generate publicity that extends to an audience far greater than those who drive by and personally view the sign. Take for example two recent billboards paid for by the American Atheists: This billboard ad (pictured above) appeared in Read More …
Leadership
Vision & Strategy Trends (#0232)
Will Mancini is the founder of Auxano – a church consulting group with a unique approach to developing a church’s vision frame before providing traditional consulting services. He is the author of Church Unique: How Mission Leaders Cast Vision, Capture Culture, and Create Movement (read my review here). Mancini's first blog post of 2011 is packed with relevant information about trends in vision and strategy for churches. He sees eleven trends for 2011 and beyond: Read More …
The Top 3 Books on Leadership (#0211)
Slant33.com, a website designed to "help challenge, inspire and equip youth workers through thoughtful dialogue and varied expression from youth ministry’s leading thinkers and doers," recently asked three of its contributors to answer an important question about leadership: "What three books do you recommend on leadership development?" Danny Qwon, a youth minister for almost twenty years and a current Ph.D. student in organizational leadership, recommended one book designed with youth Read More …
Should Clergy Act More Like Nurses? (#0203)
Gallup has conducted an Honesty and Ethics survey since 1976. The survey has been conducted on an annual basis since 1991. Nurses were added to the list of professions included in the survey in 1999 and have been rated as the most honest and ethical every year since except 2001. Shown below in the form of a bar graph are the results of the 2010 survey: So What? In 2010, clergy ranked 7th among the professions surveyed. Just over half (53%) of all respondents rated the Read More …
How Ideas Spread (#0175)
Seth Godin is the author of twelve books that have been bestsellers around the world and changed the way people think about marketing, change, and work. He earned his MBA from Stanford, and was called "the Ultimate Entrepreneur for the Information Age" by Business Week. For more information visit his website or read his blog. He recently listed 20 reasons why people choose to spread ideas: I spread your idea because it makes me feel generous. ...because I feel smart Read More …
Common Strategic and Pastoral Myths (#0174)
Will Mancini is the founder of Auxano - a church consulting group with a unique approach to developing a church's vision frame before providing traditional consulting services. Mancini's pastoral experience includes helping lead two congregations to grow to over 3,000 in weekend attendance: Clear Creek Community Church and FaithBridge UMC. He is the author of Church Unique: How Mission Leaders Cast Vision, Capture Culture, and Create Movement. To connect with Read More …
Leadership Lesson: Learning to Ignore (#0169)
Dan Rockwell writes Leadership Freak: a daily leadership blog designed to help leaders reach higher in 300 words or less. He also serves as Pastor of Good News Bible Church and works as a consultant to Pennsylvania College of Technology. To connect with Rockwell, consider following him on twitter or reading Grace Freak, his Christian blog designed around the idea of breaking the bondage of legalism in 300 words or less. Recently he wrote about an important yet Read More …
Becoming an Effective Leader (#0165)
Scott Williams is the Campus Pastor of the Northwest Oklahoma City Campus of LifeChurch.tv, which launched three years ago and already has an average weekly worship attendance of over 3,500. He is also on the teams of both MinistryStrategies.com and The Vanderbloemen Search Group. To connect with Williams, read his blog, watch him on youtube, follow him on twitter, or friend him on facebook. Earlier this week, he wrote about becoming an effective leader. Read More …
Are You Going to Burn Out? (#0159)
Perry Noble is the Senior Pastor of New Spring Church, which has been recognized as one of America's largest churches. According to the Hartford Institute, this Southern Baptist congregation averages over 9,000 people in attendance on a weekly basis. You can connect with him by following him on twitter or by reading his blog. Noble writes extensively about leadership on his blog, including a recent piece about seven reasons leaders flame out: We Allow Our Schedule To Read More …
Learning from The Five Levels of Leadership (#0158)
John C. Maxwell is perhaps the best known living Christian author in the field of leadership. He has written over fifty books, including three that have sold more than a million copies: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Developing the Leader Within You, and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader. To learn more, visit his website, read his blog, or follow him on twitter. Recently, he unveiled a graphic overview of his next book: The Five Levels of Leadership, Read More …