Honest thinking
for leaders doing
hard ministry.

3 Ideas to Consider for Encouraging Mentors in your Organization

When I was in ministry years ago, I didn’t have good models for the type of ministry I was trying to do. There were things I was trying to figure…

7 min read→

Being Honest About Your Organization’s Shortcomings … is it Worth it?

What do you do when you’re in a ministry that has really dropped the ball? You haven’t done a good job of helping the people you said you were going…

When Personal Issues Begin to Impact Organizational Health

Do you remember when you got your first car? When I was a teenager, I was eventually able to get enough money together, with some help from my parents, to…

Does Your Organization Want to Change the World?

So you want to change the world? Me too. I used to think it was a nice thing to say or aspire to, but over the years it has become…

3 min read→

A Lesson in Kindness

I can be oblivious sometimes. If we’re honest, it’s likely something we all are guilty of from time to time. Life is busy and we become laser-focused checking off the…

How Does a Church Navigate the Digital Circus? Start at the Beginning!

Jump below to use our church vision exercise! A Recipe that Forces Change I’m not sure anyone is a fan of change. Change represents the abandonment of something you know…

7 min read→

There’s No “Can’t” in Innovation

I’m not a huge believer in the word can’t. I never have been. It comes from me being young and having parents that encouraged me to move mountains. Change can…

3 min read→

StrategyAugust 28, 2023

Do You Know What Motivates Your Volunteers?

One of the most important aspects of ministry is its volunteers. For organizational leadership, having volunteers is encouraging because it helps in accomplishing your mission. It gives a shared sense…

Who Gets to Do Ministry?

I was recently in a board meeting for a church that we’ve done some consulting with. In this meeting, we had multiple discussions about all the great things the church…

Does Your Ministry Know its Mission?

Have you ever had one of those moments where you completely forget someone’s name? You can remember all sort of other things about them, but you can’t remember their name….

Leadership Hurt

Over the years in ministry, I’ve heard people tell me time and time again that hurt people hurt people. In my younger days, I think I passed it off as…

When Churches Say No

There are a lot of leaders I talk to who have a hard time understanding that there is a lot of competition in the ministry world. I recently got a…

The Definition of Insanity

We all know the definition of insanity — doing something over and over hoping for a different outcome. As a leader you’ve probably talked and read about this before. I…

Revenge Ministry

When you talk to people in ministry, it seems that everybody’s got a story about how they got into it and why this work matters. As someone who appreciates the…

8 min read→

Celebrating the Wins

When you’re in the midst of the day-to-day grind of ministry leadership, sometimes the bright spots or high points can get dismissed kind of easily. They might even be missed…

2 min read→

Give Them a Roadmap

I am, by nature, an Idea Person. I see the whole world through the lens of possibilities. The way I view people, organizations, and opportunities all revolves around the potential…

Your Greeting Team’s Biggest Blind Spot

While this blog applies to all types of ministries, it probably impacts churches the most. From time to time, I visit a variety of churches. It kind of goes with…

To Create Curiosity

Have you ever poured yourself into a project and felt like someone on the other side just didn’t respond well? This is a conversation I have the most often with…

How Partiality Affects Ministry

There’s been a post going around social media lately with a picture of an airplane that has specific areas on it with red dots. The picture is tied to an…

Unraveling Ministry Hurts

Recently I had a conversation with a pastor who shared some of his frustrations in ministry—about his staff, board, and direction. He felt like few understood the level of commitment…

The Tyranny of Nostalgia

Every generation tends to have a favorite music genre. Even as time passes, they stay forever connected to that one particular era—for my parents it was the 60s and 70s,…

Audience Persona Exercise

Terry freezes, locking his eyes on a hawk yards away that sits on a tree branch. He grips the camera hanging from his neck and brings it up to his…

Hope: the Ultimate Inventory

“Girl.” The robotic voice enunciates the word clearly through Khaira’s headphones. She stares at it on her computer screen. Well, the class’s computer screen. She doesn’t own a laptop. Her…

How to Delegate

My daughter, Jada, has a giant pair of clippers in her hands. She looks tiny in comparison to the monstrous gardening tool. I can easily imagine it snipping off one…