Posts by Mark Howell
Thinking Thursday: Keith Yamashita: The 3 Habits of Great Creative Teams
When the your team is faced with adversity does it stand strong and act boldly or does it crumble under pressure? Based on his work with over 1000 teams, Keith Yamashita shares his insights about great collaborative environments including: have an awareness beyond your day-to-day, respect the unique talents of your team members, and actively…
Read MoreSkill Training: How to Recruit a Potential Small Group Coach
Yesterday I wrote about how to identify a potential small group coach. Today I want to point out the four steps that I use to invite them to take a test-drive. Pay close attention to the sequence of the steps and the language I use. You’ll want to develop your own language, but the closer…
Read MoreSkill Training: How to Identify a Potential Small Group Coach
I’m frequently asked how to find potential small group coaches. In fact, it’s probably one of my most frequently asked questions. I’m asked about how to find coaches all the time. Probably most often right after I’ve spoken or written about the fact that without coaching in place it will be next to impossible to…
Read More5 Steps to Sustaining the New Small Groups You Launch
“We’ve launched 25 new groups! How can we help them continue to meet?” With the development of strategies like the small group connection strategy and the HOST strategy it is not hard to launch a wave of new small groups. In fact, it is very easy to do. But like I always say, “There’s an upside and…
Read MoreReview: Discussing Mere Christianity
Spent some time this week with a new resource from Zondervan. Discussing Mere Christianity is an 8 session study of C.S. Lewis’s greatest book. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis is one of the most read and beloved Christian books of all time. But seventy years later from when it was first delivered on radio, what relevance does…
Read MoreThinking Thursday: Tony Fadell: The first secret of design is … noticing
As human beings, we get used to “the way things are” really fast. But for designers, the way things are is an opportunity … Could things be better? How? In this funny, breezy talk, the man behind the iPod and the Nest thermostat shares some of his tips for noticing — and driving — change.…
Read MoreQuotebook: Self-Control
I know (and you know) that “whatever you want to happen at the member level, will have to happen to the leader first.” We know this. It is not a mystery or some kind of secret code. I know (and you know) that what happens at the member level is ultimately influenced by what happens…
Read MoreWhat Do You Need to Abandon?
“This program has meant so much for so long to all these people!” “How can you even think of getting rid of the program that helped all of us start following Jesus?” “Old Mrs. Jones would roll over in her grave if she knew that the class named after her was being cancelled!” Who hasn’t…
Read More4 Keys to Connecting People No One Else Is Connecting
“To reach people no one else is reaching we must do things no one else is doing.” That was the line I heard from Craig Groeschel at Willow Creek’s Leadership Summit in 2008. I remember where I was sitting in the Bayside Community Church auditorium when I heard the line. I can’t tell you anything…
Read More5 Recommended Follow-Up Studies for Church-Wide Campaigns
I’ve pointed out a number of times that one of the most important keys to sustaining new small groups is giving them a study to do next that is similar in kind. By that I mean similar in several ways: Similar format. If you launch a group with a DVD-driven study, be sure and choose a…
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