elementals: quick reads to sharpen your leadership edge.

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The Secret of Servant Leadership

Of the four essential elements that every leader must exercise—Integrity, Passion, Servanthood, and Imagination—Servanthood seems like it...

Do You Have “Missional Integrity”?

The present love affair with corporate mission statements must be more than a framed eight-by-twelve well-wordsmithed paragraph hung on a...

What Really Counts for Worship?

In the tribe that I pastored in, creating space for worship was very important. It typically meant the musical part of the service, where...

Let's Talk About Church Consultants...

Yeah, I know, I know. It’s a tacky mashup of Pixar and Peanuts. But the point is: do we really need “church consultants”? I have to admit...

The Ease of “Power Abuse”

People can abuse power in a non-profit organization or on a church board, around a dinner table or in a street gang. Or in a marriage....

VBS…an Emergent Problem?

The Integrity value is one of four key elements we’ve identified as being absolutely essential for the health and effectiveness of any...

The Most Important Question

How about a video this week? In this quick 2½ minute video, Dave Workman offers the most important question the leader of a group must...

Leadership Is Crucial, But...

Leadership is crucial, but not all leaders are the same. Over the last few decades there has been an emphasis on church leadership, with...

3 Stumbling Blocks To Church & Nonprofit Collaboration

Perspectives From A Pastor And Nonprofit Director I love pastors. Of course, I have to say that because I am one—but this time, I mean...

Does Anyone Hate Me?

There are many things that Christians are doing in the postmodern era that are exemplary, often ignored by the media. For instance, the...

Is Your Church Afraid of Change?

Over the years that we’ve worked with churches, it’s been our observation that of the four critical elements of healthy, effective...

The Danger of Moderation

I’m writing this on MLK Day. The non-violent protests for voting rights in the 1960’s, particularly in Alabama, had raised the ire of...

How Is Your Mission?

In our work with churches in assessing the four key elements of healthy organizations, the first one we typically look at is the...

To Plagiarize or Not To Plagiarize: the Sermonic Question

Last week my wife and I were having dinner with our small group when someone brought up a sermon they heard that had originally been...

The Law, Liberty, & Lucy...

Some years back I noticed a man walking across a field near our house with a big labrador retriever running circles around him. The dog...