Clergy obviously need more than spirituality, academic preparation, and field education to become great bishops, deans, rectors, and vicars. Retired Navy chaplain George Clifford recently included the above quote in a blog post emphasizing the importance of the skill of selling within the framework of leadership. He writes: Spend a day with the bishop, dean, rector, or vicar of one our relatively few growing, thriving dioceses or congregations and you will observe a Read More …
Leadership
Don’t Wreck Your Ministry (#1058)
Ben Reed, pastor of small groups at Long Hollow Baptist Church (Hendersonville, TN) and communications director for the Small Group Network, recently blogged about how people wreck their ministries. Reed shared a few obvious ways people ruin their ministries before sharing a list of 17 additional ways he labeled "not so obvious," including: quit dreaming, never build relationships with people outside of the faith, spend 98% of your time in your office, never go to Read More …
Time for Leaders to Stop (#1056)
Scott Williams has considerable leadership experience as a prison warden, lead pastor of a congregation that grew to an average weekly worship attendance of over 3,500 during his tenure, consultant, and social media guru. He is also the author of Church Diversity: Sunday the Most Segregated Day of the Week (2011 – read my review here). Recently, he shared his list of "21 Things Leaders Need To Stop Doing." Stop treating your employees like they are just another Read More …
Leadership Must-Dos (#0935)
Terry “Starbucker” St. Marie is a seasoned executive leader with over two decades of experience in the cable television industry, who has partnered with Liz Strauss to create Inside-Out Thinking (a venture centered around the development of great leaders who can make a difference in any organization) and SOBCon (a business “think tank” with a Social Media twist). On his blog, he recently shared his list of three must-dos for great leaders: Establish two-way trust Read More …
Don’t Be Like Olive Garden (#0910)
Scott McClellan, writer/editor at Echohub and author of the forthcoming book Tell Me a Story (2013), recently challenged church leaders to live into their roles by doing more than simply providing the religious goods and services requested by the majority of their parishioners (consumers). His blog post was inspired by a story about Olive Garden that suggested the casual dining chain's leadership wants to but has been unable to improve their offerings because any Read More …
Christian Leadership (#0823)
Earlier this summer Will Willimon (read my review of The Best of Will Willimon: Acting Up in Jesus’ Name - 2012) shared some challenging words for those who seek to be Christian leaders: I’ve read dozens of books on leadership, have even written a few myself. Books on leadership tend to say, “Here are the personal qualities you must have, here are the skills you must acquire if you want to lead.” In the world, leaders must be omniscient and omnipotent, capable and courageous, Read More …
Organizational Clarity (#0821)
Last week Scott Williams wrote several blog posts summarizing the sessions he attended at the Willow Creek Association Global Leadership Summit, including one on a session led by Patrick Lencioni on the importance of organizational health. Lencioni is the author of ten business books and president of The Table Group, where he focuses on writing and speaking about leadership and organizational life. Williams shares Lencioni's six questions every organization must Read More …
Becoming a Rebel Leader (#0784)
Sister Joan Chittister is a progressive Benedictine nun, a prolific author, and sought after speaker. She recently gave the baccalaureate address at Stanford University. In this moving speech on leadership, she shared these words with the graduates and all who were gathered: No, the world does not really need the skills you learned here. Today's skills will all change in the next five years and change your life with them. The world does not need answers either. Read More …
A Simple Approach to Leadership (#0751)
Scott Williams has considerable leadership experience as a prison warden, lead pastor of a congregation that grew to an average weekly worship attendance of over 3,500 during his tenure, consultant, and social media guru. He is also the author of Church Diversity: Sunday the Most Segregated Day of the Week (2011 - read my review here). Recently, he shared his list of "10 Ways to Make Leadership Simple:" Believe In Yourself Believe In Others Point The Direction Read More …
The Power of Why (#0727)
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 is also the master of saying a great deal using relatively few words on his blog. Recently he shared this wisdom about the power of why: "Why?" is the most important question, not asked nearly enough. So What? The life of faith and the ministry of a given local community of faith both benefit tremendously from why questions. Read More …