elementals: quick reads to sharpen your leadership edge.

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What's Your Attitude Indicator?

So here’s an idea as we move into the Thanksgiving holiday… Paul’s short letter to the Philippian church underscored his belief that...

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...

Are Apologetics Dead?

Don’t get me wrong: apologetics are important. From the launch of the Church in Acts 2, Christians have proclaimed the uniqueness of...

Ron Sider, Justice & Generosity

Recently I learned of Ron Sider’s death at 82 from sudden cardiac arrest. Fifteen years ago I had him speak at our church and took him...

Part 2: How (and How Not!) to Recruit Volunteers

In our last post, we talked about some best practices for recruiting volunteers. With many churches operating with less people...

How (and How Not!) to Recruit Volunteers

In our post-pandemic world of lower in-person church attendance (averaging about half of what it was pre-Covid), many are left with...

How Big Is The Church?

Play along with me for a minute and let’s use our imagination. If a twenty-something artist named Michelangelo could create something as...

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...

What's Your Leadership Perspective?

I recently came across a fascinating geographical factoid. The writer at The Acadian Ideal overlayed the Mediterranean Sea map on top of...

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...

The Incarnational Leader

Sometime back I got an email from a church describing their discipleship pathway. They were particularly focused on “skeptics”. The way...

“Values, meet Strategy.”

In the early days of our church, founding pastor Steve Sjogren coined a simple phrase for people to use in basic “servant evangelism”...

A Different Kind of Thanks/Giving

Here in the States we’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving this week. Forget the pilgrims and corn—let’s just talk about the concept of...

Tidy Church Litter

The church has always struggled with the tension between evangelism and holiness. I have friends who say when it comes to evangelism,...

Where the Revolution Begins

Ernest Gordon was a Christian, author and former dean of Princeton Seminary who died a couple of decades ago. Gordon was the inspiration...