Posts by Mark Howell
Thinking Thursday: Seth Godin: How to get your ideas to spread
In a world of too many options and too little time, our obvious choice is to just ignore the ordinary stuff. Marketing guru Seth Godin spells out why, when it comes to getting our attention, bad or bizarre ideas are more successful than boring ones. Can’t see the video? You can watch it right here.…
Read MoreQuotebook: How to Become Like Jesus
I am discovering so much from Bill Hull’s, The Complete Book of Discipleship: On Being and Making Followers of Christ. When you’re determining what you need to make when you’re making disciples, the first task is to figure out what the preferred future actually looks like. Can you see how this concept might figure in to your…
Read MoreDefining a Disciple
Much of my work is about helping churches accurately diagnose where they are and then skillfully determine and describe where they’d like to go. If you want to get to the preferred future, you must know where you are right now. See also, Start with the End in Mind. This same line of thinking comes…
Read More6 Reasons Our Discipleship Strategies Miss the Mark
If your church is like mine, your mission or vision or purpose probably includes some aspect of the Great Commission. Many of us have even gone a step further and proclaimed that we are in the business of making disciples and we’ll know we are succeeding when we make some amount of more and better…
Read MoreQuotebook: When Does Discipleship Happen?
“Discipleship occurs when a transformed person radiates Christ to those around her. It happens when people so deeply experience God’s love that they can do nothing other than affect those around them.” Bill Hull, The Complete Book of Discipleship: On Being and Making Followers of Christ. Discipleship occurs when a transformed person radiates Christ to…
Read MoreThinking Thursday: Want to innovate? Become a “now-ist”
“Remember before the internet?” asks Joi Ito. “Remember when people used to try to predict the future?” In this engaging talk, the head of the MIT Media Lab skips the future predictions and instead shares a new approach to creating in the moment: building quickly and improving constantly, without waiting for permission or for proof…
Read More5 Assumptions that Shape My Small Group Coaching Strategy
Quick! What goes through your mind when I say “small group coaching”? Were you thinking, “Small group coaching doesn’t work”? Or maybe, “I tried that before and it doesn’t work here?” Or how about, “It may work for some churches but we just don’t have those kind of people here!” Regardless of what you were…
Read More6 Great Studies for Outreach
Looking for a study that will appeal to your friends and neighbors? As you know, it takes a special topic to spark an interest in unchurched friends and neighbors. Not just any topic will do. See also, Your Topic Determines Two Huge Outcomes and Does Your Topic Connect with Your True Customer?. While certainly not an…
Read More5 Signs Your Small Group Ministry Is Due for a Tune Up
Most of us quickly recognize the signs that there is something wrong with the way our car’s engine sounds or feels. When our car dies at the stop light or backfires as we drop off our teenage daughter at school…we get it. There’s something wrong with the engine. We may not know what it is…
Read MoreDilbert on Leadership Development
Sometimes you just need to laugh. Need a few more laughs? Dilbert on Resistance to Change Dilbert on Clarifying the Win Dilbert on Identifying Hundred-Fold Coaching Candidates
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