Space: It’s Not The Final Frontier

“Space. The final frontier…” Sorry, my nerd is showing.  For as long as I can remember I’ve loved space. My dreams of becoming an astronaut were dashed when I got glasses in the third grade and then buried even deeper when I discovered rock and roll as a teenager. I […]

Strategy: Where Context is King

I love filling a room of creative minds with the specific purpose of thinking strategically.  I wholeheartedly enjoy the process of cluttering a whiteboard with hopes, dreams, goals, and plans.  For me, there are few things more energizing than a creative moment like that. That is at the heart of […]

Systems: One Lid to a Healthy Church

Systems are the inner workings of strategies, the wires that make them work individually and connect them together. Effective systems only happen with well thought out and very intentional design that is kept up-to-date. Yes, you have to keep thinking about your strategies and systems after the church is launched and […]

Stewardship: Heeding the Warning Sings

Stewardship: Heeding the Warning Signs

When the 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Sumatra unleashed the cataclysmic tsunami on December 26, 2004. It propelled a storm estimated to have had the power of 23,000 Hiroshima-type atomic bombs. The storm radiated as far as 3,000 miles and despite the several hours it took from the […]

Structure: Setting The Congregation Free to Accomplish Its Purpose

Structure: Setting The Congregation Free to Accomplish Its Purpose

I often hear pastors and lay leaders talk about frustrations related to their church’s organizational structure.  As we unpack their situation, it becomes apparent they don’t feel like the structural model is working very well.  It has become a lid to health and missional effectiveness.  This happens to a lot […]

New Generation, Same Problem: Why Young People are Still Leaving the Church

New Generation, Same Problem: Why Young People are Still Leaving the Church

I continue to read articles like this one, listen to podcasts, read the research and participate in Webinars that address why Millennials are leaving the church.  I don’t doubt the wisdom, research or the observations of those who have studied this tragic trend, but some of the uniquenesses ascribed to […]

Spiritual Sickness: Maybe It’s the Flu!

  Jimmy Butler is an All-Star basketball player for the Chicago Bulls.  He averaging over 24 points and over 6 rebounds a game.  But on the night of January 6th, my Oklahoma City Thunder shut him down.  He scored 1 point and had only two rebounds though he played 28 […]

Staff: The Right People, On the Right Bus, In the Right Seat

I love the game of baseball,  I have from an early age.  I started in little league and played through high school baseball.  My career ended at high school for multiple reasons, but the primary reason was my inability to hit the curve ball with any consistency.  It was my lid.  I […]

Coaching: The Power of a Well Formed Question

If you have coached pastors or church leaders any length of time you know well the tension that exists between coaching and telling.  Coaching in its purest sense is pulling out the best in those God has entrusted into our care.  Coaching that resorts to simply telling or offering our […]

Healthy Leaders: The Key to Healthy Churches

  One year ago, Nathan Heady, pastor of Friendship Church in Cookville, TN reached out to Healthy Growing Churches in hope of starting a new life cycle for his church through the consultation process. Friendship  Church was a single cell church, a church where everyone knew everyone else, it was […]