Blog

Innovating Discipleship FREE Book: How to Engage Church Attenders During the Coronavirus Outbreak

Right now the church faces a more acute, immediate challenge than any it has faced in a long time: how to "do church" during the coronavirus pandemic. We are literally doing church on the fly. After the President's announcement yesterday The problem could be stated this way: since church involves getting together, how do we do church when we can't get together? On top of leaders' concerns for the physical health of their people, the crisis raises ominous challenges for the A few additional questions raise our sights to a higher place: If people increased their giving to churches right now, what would that kind of church look like? What is the crisis revealing about the true state of disciple-making in our How do you even begin to approach big questions like these? That's why I wrote Innovating Discipleship 10 years ago. The original context was to help churches innovate after they created their Vision Frame. After years of good implementation how do [...]

Mar 18, 2020

100 Years of Church Growth

One tool to clarify five eras of ministry

A sneak preview of a new tool that shows where the church has been and where it is going.

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Mar 3, 2020

Don't Let All the "Decreasing Giving" News Paralyze You in 2020

5 Ways to Diagnose the Upside Potential of Giving at Your Church

Don't cry "uncle" yet—especially if you haven’t gone through a discernment process. Churches raise financial support and discipleship intensity at the same time when they dig into these five areas.

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Jan 21, 2020

The 2020 Pastor: My Top 15 Clarity Lessons for Church Vision

20 Years of Consulting Boiled Down to a 20 Minute Read

I can’t believe my life’s odometer gets to click into the year 2020. It’s the medical standard for good sight that has become a cultural metaphor for clear vision in every dimension of life and leadership. Since I have read By the way, while these lessons apply to both organizational ministry and personal life planning, I wrote them with the pastor in mind for leading the church into 2020 and beyond. In addition to these principles you may want to When I wrote Church Unique in 2007, I learned a new term– phronemophobia which means fear of thinking. Thomas Edison said that “Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five The same is true with your clarity engine. Without three basics the clarity process doesn’t run. Like the systematic approach to understanding why the car doesn’t start, you can logically answer why the team doesn’t have clarity. Has adequate time To call it “free” may sound funny coming from a guy who makes a living from clarity facilitation. Yes, I do charge for vision consulting. But that’s the exception for the times and places where acceleration of time, questions and For example, consider Church of the Highlands, one of America’s notable rapid growth churches that was started less than 20 years ago. Pastor Chris Hodges takes hundreds of staff through a process every year to determine one goal that will A great example is a client named Kyle, who leads a church in the Mountain West. He invested in a Vision Framing process this year and texted me while I was finishing this post. Kyle exhibited a powerful spirit and [...]

Dec 31, 2019

The Younique 48-Hour Retreat: Ultimate Clarity at Life’s Crucial Moments

One-On-One Coaching Can Make All the Difference

One of the opportunities you’ll have as you digest the Younique book is a 48-Hour Retreat. It's the discipline of looking back at your life, one-on-one with a coach and identifying the key stages and transition points before you look forward. We all have moments in our lives that shape us dramatically and set our course for the future. These moments can take all forms and span across all aspects of our lives—work, family, friendships, and more.

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Dec 30, 2019

Jumpstart Your Younique Book Journey with the Accelerator 4-Day Experience

Clarity on God's Dream for Your Life is only 4 Days Away

The 4-Day Accelerator is an intensive experience that accelerates breakthrough. The entire journey, all 24 sessions, are covered in this 4-Day group experience. Skilled facilitators and trained table coaches guide your journey as you begin to discover and name your special assignment from God.

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Dec 23, 2019

The Younique 90-Day Planner: Plans Are Useless but Planning is Invaluable

What is your process of planning?

Dwight Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States and storied general who helped the Allied forces to win World War II, offered this piece of wisdom: “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.” Of course Eisenhower had plans when leading American troops into battle. But the process of planning is where we explore options and consider the “what ifs” that may lie down the road. This probing and experimenting is crucial to our development as people, leading us to appropriate and wise decisions as future events unfold.

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Dec 18, 2019

Go Deeper into the Younique Book with E-Courses Launching January 2020

Get the tools and motivation to live your unique calling

I am excited to announce that we have created new Younique Courses to give you the tools and motivation to live your unique calling. These courses are referenced in the Younique book, providing a bridge from learning to doing. Get moving as Dave, Kelly, and I equip you with the tools you need to answer the nagging questions and direction for where to invest your time, energy, and resources.

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Dec 11, 2019

20/20 Vision for Life: Empower Your People With a Clear Vision for Their Lives

A 6-week all-church campaign to mobilize your church

One of the most frequent conversations that I have with pastors and leaders is about the feeling of being stuck. More and more energy and resources are being poured into the activity of the church but it is not leading to real church growth.

In only a few short weeks we will be ringing in 2020, a new year and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to talk to your church about vision. One of the realizations that I have come to during my two decades of helping churches pursue clarity is this: our church’s vision is powerless until we empower the personal calling of our people.

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Dec 3, 2019

The Younique Book: Make 2020 Your Year for Crystal-Clear Personal Calling

A Decade-Long Vision to Advance God's Dream for Your Life from before Time

For well over a decade I have been dreaming about a toolbox and training experience that would deliver something very special to any follower of Jesus. What is that something special? It’s the ability to really grasp the trajectory of one’s Ephesians 2:10 “good works”—what believers for centuries have called vocation or specific calling.

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Nov 21, 2019

God Dreams Book Charts and Figures for Audio Book Listeners

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Oct 1, 2019

If Your Culture Is Stuck, HOW Is It Stuck?

The right relationship between organizational and personal clarity moves a church forward

Until the relationship between your organization and the individuals that make it up changes, your organizational culture won't.

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Sep 10, 2019