As I grow and develop as a leader, I'm becoming more convinced than ever that there are certain core competencies every leader must have -- not that they are nice to have or should have ... but ones they must have. So, with that in mind, here is the first in what may be a series of posts about core competencies. Core competency: Clarity. A leader must be clear about multiple things: Why they lead Where they are leading Why others should follow them there What values they will refuse to violate What they expect from those they lead Clarity brings focus to situations that otherwise might get fuzzy. Clarity itself is a form of discipline, pushing us to define what it is we're trying to do -- and what it is we're not trying to do. Getting to the point of clarity is nearly as beneficial as reaching the…
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Last weekend, I wrapped up our "Upside Down Way of God" series with a message about life and death -- how real life is found in dying to yourself. Jesus challenged his earliest followers to "take up their cross" and follow him (Matthew 16:24-26). The challenge is still the same. Truth be told, we are in a constant state of either living or dying. Physically, it's a one-way street -- unless someone discovers the fountain of youth and learns how to turn back time. Spiritually speaking, it's not so linear. It's not like we get started on the spiritual path and only make progress. We stumble. We fall. And there may be times, we turn and run the other way. Maybe you struggle with the idea of dying to yourself. As far as I can see it, we're either dying to ourselves or dying to God because only one person…
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The following is good advice from Tony Morgan about how to clearly communicate next steps. In a church environment, next steps are those steps people need to take in order to mature in their faith. Here are Tony's suggestions: ***************** How do we avoid noise? clarify the mission, vision and values develop a focused strategy consistency in your messages; branding/voice/personality (exercise with sample communications) prioritize messages (all-church vs. ministry-specific) eliminate competing messages (say "no")
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After two weeks of a toothache getting progressively worse, I finally went to the dentist on Monday. I'm thinking I'll probably get a filling and be back at work by noon. Instead, two hours later I'm waiting to have an oral surgeon remove my upper two wisdom teeth. Sedation in oral surgery is a wonderful thing. The last thing I remember is asking the dentist where he went to school and then I went night-night. You might have played leap frog as a kid. I wouldn't recommend it for those over forty; you might pull a muscle in the process. Then again, it might just be the next big YouTube moment. As adults, we still play leap frog, only the jumps are different. We start down one thought process only to have God point us in a different direction. We leap frog over where we thought we would be to…
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While doing research on Google, I came across a link to Bat Cave Baptist Church. At first, I thought it was a parody site -- but it's real and located in Bat Cave, NC!
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