Revitalize Your Church

After leading or participating in over a thousand board meetings, I've concluded that the most effective boards have figured out how to do the following things well: B --  Believe:   Operate by faith rather than fear.  Prayer for guidance is essential.  When faced with a big challenge, what you do next reveals what you really believe about God. O --  Optimize:   Look for ways build up, strengthen and move forward.  Focus on the possibilities, rather than the problems.  No nit picking or circle spinning. A --  Argue:   Perhaps I should say "argue constructively."  A good board is not just a bunch of rubber stampers.  Neither should it be a collection of cantankerous cranks.  On a healthy board, divergent viewpoints are encouraged and expressed positively.  The best outcomes occur after the various perspectives are weighed.  There's a way to disagree agreeably, keeping the unity of the Spirit in t...

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” - Henry Ford

My blogger buddy, Mark Batterson shared some powerful insights from his recent staff retreat. Most of our ministries get stuck at the point where we're less than honest. We aren't willing to verbalize or confront an issue because it might hurt someone's feelings. That is where a ministry will stop growing. . . You have to cut through the issues to get to the heart of the matter.

Insightful article at Building Church Leaders: 3 Signs That Volunteers are Losing Steam . When pastors are losing steam, they display the same symptoms.

"Motivation is everything. You can do the work of two people, but you can't be two people. Instead, you have to inspire the next guy down the line and get him to inspire his people." -- Lee Iacocca, Auto Executive