I just read a great article entitled, "What Makes a Great Entrepreneur?" over at Venture Beat. As I usually do, I read business articles through my pastoral lenses. In other words, substitute "church planter" for "entrepreneur" and see what I mean. Here are the highlights: Guts. The entrepreneur world is not for the timid. You have to have the guts to pull the trigger, to quit whatever you’re doing and to jump into the abyss (and believe me, this is easier said than done). Most people just talk; few execute. Guts is quitting Harvard, like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg did. (Picture that phone call to their parents: “Hey Mom, Hey Dad, I have some good news, I’m quitting Harvard…”) Desire. How badly do you want success? How much are you willing to sacrifice? Great entrepreneurs make their venture the number one priority in their life; in short, they become…
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When it comes to effective communication, we've all been told that we need to be good listeners. If we were listening, then we know that. But there's another part of communication that often gets overlooked: watching. A good communicator will not only listen to the other party but will watch them, too. Non-verbal cues may help you understand what the other person is really thinking, not just what they are saying. Listen and watch. A good combination.
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In Jim Collins book, Good to Great, he compares the hedgehog to the fox. The hedgehog does one thing well. The fox, on the other hand, jumps from strategy to strategy. In the end, the hedgehog wins. It's tempting to jump from fad to fad; it can also be ineffective, if not dangerous. On the other hand, it takes discipline, patience, and belief to be a hedgehog. Are you a hedgehog or a fox?
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Perry Noble is the founding and senior pastor of NewSpring Church in Anderson, Greenville and Florence, South Carolina. At just nine years old, the church averages over 10,000 people during weekend services and is launching another campus in Columbia, South Carolina. Here is a recent article he wrote about leadership checkpoints.
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Congratulations to LifeChurch.tv on celebrating their 15th anniversary. Here is a short story with a great closing line from Craig Groeschel. ********** During LifeChurch.tv's 15th anniversary celebration this past Sunday, pastor Craig Groeschel rejected the "megachurch" label, despite the fact that he preaches to over 26,000 listeners every week. The Christian Post reported how Groeschel reminded everyone of the church's "humble beginnings" during the anniversary message, detailing the garage in which he first preached and the various buildings they outgrew on their way to their live satellite broadcasts and 13 locations across the U.S. Groeschel said he'd rather call LifeChurch a "micro-church with a megavision...to go into all the world, not just being happy with a service at 9:00 and 10:30. Never!" Ending his message, Groeschel recommitted himself and his family to the church's vision, saying, "We are all in again, for the rest of my life...I want you to be…
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