The Upside of Reluctant Leaders
It’s almost completely counterintuitive, but the best small group leaders tend to be reluctant leaders. The best coaches or community leaders are almost always reluctant leaders. See also, What Makes People Follow Reluctant Leaders. It's almost completely counterintuitive, but the best small group leaders tend to be reluctant leaders. The best coaches or community leaders are…
Read MoreThree Keys to Connecting Beyond the Core and Committed
Working to connect beyond the usual suspects? Beyond the core and committed (to use Saddleback’s terminology)? You may occasionally connect someone from the outer edge of the congregation or crowd with a business as usual strategy…but you won’t connect many. And you won’t connect anywhere near the number you need to…unless you develop an understanding…
Read MoreEssential Reading: The Church in an Age of Crisis
Had a chance this weekend to devour The Church in an Age of Crisis; the newest book from James Emery White. White, the founder and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, is the former president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and the blogger behind the Church & Culture blog (a must-read for anyone…
Read MoreDilbert on Precedent and the Status Quo
I know most of you won’t understand–actually, I think all of you will understand. Hopefully, we can laugh (while plotting another run at the status quo!
Read MoreWanna Play? What’s Your Best New Idea for Connecting People?
I’ve always been amazed at the real potential to be found in looking at something from another angle, a different point-of-view, a new perspective. That’s probably why I’ve always loved the line from computer theorist Alan Kay: “Perspective is worth 80 IQ points.” One of my favorite reads in recent years was Steven Johnson’s Where…
Read More3 Important GroupLife Lessons from Week 5 of Saddleback’s Church-Wide Campaign
One of the things that I talk about in most consultations is how to leverage your small group ministry as a delivery system for almost everything else. A very frequent question is “If we’re really going to prioritize being in a small group, how can we still raise awareness of the need to serve in…
Read MoreQuotebook: Arriving at the Preferred Destination
Sometimes a great one-liner can be very useful. I love this line from Lewis Carroll: “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” Cheshire Cat, Alice in Wonderland You can see some of my other favorite quotes and one-liners right here.
Read More4 GroupLife Learnings from Amazon
There are times when I come across something and it literally takes my breath away. I know that probably sounds weird…but it is the truth. When it happens, I almost always want to share the idea with you. This is one of those times. Last Friday I tripped across this article that referenced an Amazon shareholder…
Read MoreFollow Me: A Powerful New DVD-Driven Study and Church-Wide Campaign
Are you truly a follower of Jesus? That is the central question of Follow Me, David Platt’s new Bible study. Based on his new book by the same title, this is a challenging and important study that takes his teaching from Radical to a whole new depth. Anchored by a six session DVD, each of…
Read MoreWrestling with “Why” We Do “What” We Do
I’m re-reading Simon Sinek’s Start with Why right now. It really has so much gold that we can talk about. At the root of the book is the simple and profound idea that “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you…
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