I have grown to appreciate the power of a napkin sketch. In fact, I emphasized in my new book released this week: The Dream Big Workbook released in collaboration with Exponential.
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How do you know when your church is winning? How do you measure your effectiveness in ministry? Is it possible to monitor both faithfulness and fruitfulness?
I have committed my life to helping church leaders find clear, concise and compelling responses to these questions. Until leaders codify their answers to these questions through tools and equipping environments, the church will fall miserably short of its potential. Dallas Willard asserted, "Instead of counting Christians, we need to weigh them."
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For too many people the joy of the holiday is as hollow as your neighbor’s snowman lawn inflatable. Take your pick of the holiday stress increasers: Less time to get more done, increased expenses...
[...]When is the last time a pastor asked you about your Life Plan? Younique launches this week as a new training company that brings a simple and powerful Life Plan experience to believers everywhere. It's not just a brand new life planning So What is The Younique Life Plan? It's the combination of a personal Vision Frame (4 ideas to declare your identity) and a personal Horizon Storyline (4 ideas to define your future). For example, what is known as "mission" on the Vision Frame is now [...]
The best people to learn from our often the most busy. How do you access great mentors and expensive experts to get free advice? Here are 8 tips.
[...]On Tuesday this week, Mark DeMoss addressed a group of fifty senior pastors on the topic of social media. As a well known Christian public relations guy, I expected a list of pros and cons. But Mark shared 30-minutes worth [...]
Great pastors care about a lot of things and a lot of people. But with the non-stop opportunity to minister to peoples' never ending needs, every pastor must eventually face a crazy question: "Is it possible to care too much?"An [...]
The discipleship results of your ministry are not defined by content of your preaching alone. One significant factor that impacts disciple-making is tool-making. Unfortunately, you might not recall any seminary classes or conference breakouts on making ministry tools.Why not? The simplest What's the bottom line? If you are not adding ministry tools to the lives of your people, you are not close to maximizing a disciple-making culture. You are probably not equipping people that much. Before explaining why, let's define what we mean by a tool. Now that we have defined and illustrated what a ministry tool or device is, let's get to the heart of the post. Why do disciples need ministry tools more than sermons? Why should we not rely on preaching alone if we are #4 - A ministry tool creates energy. A tool helps people feel excited about ideas. It helps people win. And by the way, many pastors can unintentionally create a sense of failure for their people. As people listen to sermons [...]
I was having a conversation with Bryan Rose on the Auxano team recently. We broached the topic of "pastors who get it." That is, we discussed the kinds of pastors who really press through the vision process to gain great clarity. Client profile: Jason Webb at ElmBrook Church recently completed a 9-month vision framing process. "Rookie" doesn't reflect Jason's stellar church planting track record. But as a 30-something leader walking into a 5,000 plus attendance church, others might assign that adjective. (Especially when #3 - The newly stuck pastor: "I have barrier that I now realize is not going away and I am not exactly sure how to fix it." The newly stuck pastor has a very simple story. You keep growing until you For example, attendance may be flat, but you put your hope in the fact that the church had slightly more attendance at Easter. Or you keep focusing on a few months where giving is slightly higher. You take momentary relief #4 - The rapid growth pastor: "I don't want to grow bigger, unless bigger is better." There are two types of rapid-growth pastors: those who fixate on attendance only and those with a passion for disciple-making in a growing church context. I [...]
Most church teams enjoy hanging out together. The weekly rhythm of doing church brings staff and volunteers together across a broad span of activities– the laughing and praying of our leading and meeting. While no church is perfect, many staff [...]
Blog readers please note: Starting in 2016, I will be routinely posting content from one of the most innovative content sources in the church world: SUMS Remix Book Summaries for church leaders. SUMS takes a practical problem in the church and [...]
I want you and your ministry to experience the benefits of stunning, God-given clarity. As a pastor turned vision coach, I’ve worked with an unprecedented variety of churches from growing mega-churches and missional communities, to mainline revitalization and church plants. I started several interconnected organizations that help the church embody the movement that Jesus founded. My visionary planning tools, the Vision Frame and the Horizon Storyline are used by thousands of churches every year through my calling to raise up other consultants and trainers. In 2004, I founded Auxano, which I sold to LifeWay and continued to lead until 2020. In 2014, I created Younique to deliver gospel-centered life design through the church. It is now the world's only comprehensive, open-source life plan system.
In 2023, I founded Run Free as my official team-based consulting shop. We deliver the most innovative Vision Framing experiences available to church teams through the "Pivvot Process" and to network/denominational leaders through the "Denominee Process." We also offer team coaching to church leaders using the "Performance Practices" of meta-performance executive coaching.
I've written seven books: Future Church, Church Unique, Younique, Clarity Spiral, God Dreams, Innovating Discipleship, and Building Leaders. I enjoy speaking about clarity, calling, disciple-making, and vision. It's all about helping one another do more than we can imagine. I co-locate in Houston and Chile with my wife, Romy, and the last of my four children, Poema.
If you are interested in Run Free's consulting offerings or want to discuss getting a LifePlan, just reach out to set up a conversation.
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