It's usually around budgeting time each year when the importance of the sabbatical is reconsidered. At first glance, providing a pastor with a sabbatical is not a very good idea. Right? The pastor is gone for an extended period, resulting in needing replacement speakers or meeting the ministry's needs in the pastor's absence. In most cases, the church provides some form of a stipend to allow the pastor to do … [Read more...]
The Importance Of The “Dashboard”
How Important Is It To Provide Leadership With Good Information On Which To Base Decisions?
What comes to mind when you think of the word "dashboard"? Your car? If you're a pilot, your instrument panel? I remember a class I took in college entitled "Management Information Systems (MIS)." It was all about the responsibility of the now-called "Information Technology (IT)" function in any organization's responsibility to provide "management" with data needed for decision-making. I see the term "dashboard" … [Read more...]
Are We Making Disciples?
"The Christian Church Isn't Making Disciples" ... Are You Kidding Me?
I don't often spend my blogging energy "ranting" about this or that. But, it seems, lately, that we as Christian Church leaders are getting a "bad wrap." To say that the Christian Church isn't "making disciples" or is planting churches that don't "develop leaders" right from the start is just not accurate. There ... now I've said it. All you have to do is look around. This notion that we're not doing things … [Read more...]
Organizational Structure
Defining Responsibility And Authority ... One Of The First Steps For The New Executive Pastor
After ensuring the organization is properly structured for their own responsibility and authority, the new executive pastor must work this issue for the rest of the organization. Why? People are funny. If you put them in an ambiguous situation, the outcome will be exactly that ... ambiguous. I'm a firm believer in two fundamentals when it comes to leadership and building a great team. First, each team member … [Read more...]