Dealing with difficult people is a critical consideration throughout life, from nursery school to the nursing home. But it doesn’t seem to get that much attention and often we just find ourselves in the middle of a difficult situation unprepared to deal with it effectively. I know from my own experience, that being Pastor […]
Category: Communication
Difficult people are all around you. They’re all around me too. And we know them in the very many ways they present themselves to us. the self-centered, self promoting, self aggrandizing narcissist who needs it to be all about him every singe time the sour and stern critic, whose only contribution to any situation or […]
All this weekend I hung out in the Cafe, since I wasn’t preaching. I especially enjoyed meeting new members and new comers and hearing about how they came to us. Over and over again, the number one reason I hear is “the message.” I spoke to two different families this morning who drive a considerable […]
Communication | Discipleship | Evangelization | Leadership | Making Church Matter | Stewardship | Team Building
I was thinking today about how healthy and mature our congregation is becoming. I know, I know, that sounds self-congratulatory and prideful. But I think on Father’s Day its OK to be a little proud of the family. No kidding, this is the most mature and healthy Church community I have ever been part of […]
Today we come to the end of our current message series, which is also the final series of our 2009-2010 season. It was a great year of learning and growth for me and hopefully for the church as well. Drive was the perfect kick off to the year, because it provided a clear, simple […]
This past week our staff went to the beach (Avalon) for our annual planning retreat. We made great progress in defining some of what next year (September 2010-May 2011) is going to look like: message series, children’s and student programs, major events, etc. We also discussed new structures for our work together. Until recently we […]
Here’s the rest of my list: Mistake #6: Trying to Fix Problems…rather than Process. Unfortunately, there have been too many times when I have found myself reacting to a problem rather than addressing the process that led to the situation in the first place. It takes a lot of discipline to rise above the […]
Yesterday morning we meet with our Strategic Planning Leadership Team. Each of these team members in turn lead a team of people looking at campus and buildings, finances, human resources, technology and a category we’ve been calling “teaching church.” As I learned in the course of the meeting, these teams are doing a […]
Most of my experience of church growing up was boring. I realize that some of that was due to my spiritual immaturity, but the experiences were still boring: not aggressively bad, but hardly good, hardly ever well done, rarely joyous or challenging, just boring. Unfortunately, my experience is in no way exceptional. Church should not […]
This week we’re taking time for some staff reflection and development before our big “fall launch” weekend. In that time we are going to be looking at our staff culture and values. I have been thinking about things I want my staff to know. But the other side of that are things my staff needs […]
