Mistakes Churches Make in Major Projects

I had the opportunity to interview Luke Hesher from HouseRight Production. I love all things technology, so the conversation with a leading contractor for all things audio, video and lighting was captivating. Luke and I both have a passion for planning major projects well — starting from mission and vision before you start buying speakers or soundboards.

Much of what we talked about translates to any type of building project — such as planning your project so well that you can actually guarantee never going over budget (I did that successfully 6x for major building projects at Granger).

HouseRight was our sponsor in May for the Executive Pastor Coaching Network. I’d encourage you to check out all that HouseRight does to help churches advance their vision through production technology. They help churches create inspirational spaces which allow audiences to experience God in powerful ways through sound, lighting and video. Luke is the General Manager of Church Relations for Houseright and has 15 years of experience in ministry ranging from Sr Leadership, Operations & Production.

 

it’s all about the story

Last month, Phil and I talked about buildings, design, changes since Covid, and more. A few of my takeaways…

  • It’s all about the story. Your brand and design should be soil-specific.  

  • Since Covid, not very many super-large auditoriums are being built by churches. 

  • They do a ton of work helping churches to bring their spaces up-to-date, and aligning their websites and branding to the new look.

PlainJoe Studios works one on one with churches to develop their story - what they want to convey to their community. Once they know their story, he helps them translate that into their buildings, websites or branding. They have a team of down-to-earth designers, artists, architects, strategists, specialists, and problem solvers who design branded experiences in the faith and nonprofit sectors.

 

Grace ambassador: bringing heaven to earth

About 20 years ago, I had the chance to meet Dr. John Jackson for the first time. He brought several dozen leaders out to Granger to learn about what God was doing in this start-up church in the middle of a cornfield.

We've stayed connected, even after he became the President of William Jessup University. So recently, when I heard he had written a new book, I jumped at the opportunity to talk with him about Grace Ambassador: Bringing Heaven to Earth. Don't miss the chance to hear from Dr. Jackson about God's heart for redemption, the definition of success for churches in 2023, and a pivot from the church gathered to the church distributed.

 

CONFLICT, CULTURE, COVID: THE CHALLENGES FACING ALL CHURCH LEADERS

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Bryan Rose from Auxano to talk about staffing, vision, leadership and disciple-making. It was a really insightful discussion about the increasing complexity of leadership in 2023 -- especially in the church. We live in a divisive world that has seeped into our churches, and is causing pastors to leave ministry at an unprecedented level. Just about every church is facing three challenges simultaneously: the ongoing impact of covid, significant cultural changes, and conflict coming from polarized and entitled communities. Bryan has a really unique view on these topics for church leaders -- as he and his team work with churches and organizations all over the country to help them find clarity. I encourage you to listen to our conversation, and then reach out to Bryan to learn more about what Auxano can offer.

 

HIGH INTEREST RATES AND THE IMPACT ON LOCAL CHURCHES

I recently sat down with two fantastic leaders from Thrivent Church Financing to discuss the current financial realities and the impact they’ve seen happening with churches. Chris Lewis and David Lee have been helping churches and faith-based organizations for many years, and they have an intimate knowledge of the way ministry works and understand the particular needs pastors have when facing a challenging financial project. I think you’ll enjoy this short conversation.

 

WHY JIM SHEPPARD DOESN’T THINK THE ECONOMY IS A PROBLEM FOR BIG CHURCHES

This month’s sponsor of the LeadingSmart Executive Pastor Coaching Network is Generis, and I recently sat down with Jim Sheppard, the Principal and CEO of Generis to discuss Year-End Giving trends from 2022 and his forecasts for 2023.

For more insights from Generis on Year-End Giving, check out their 2022 Guide: Finish Well, Start Strong here. I hope you’re able to watch the talk and find some helpful insights to pass along to your teams.

 

HEY PASTOR - YOUR MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS

In the last two years, I have been more aware than ever of the mental health of pastors, including my own. I sat down with my longtime friend Mark Waltz, a leader in the intersecting spheres of health, wellness, and ministry, to discuss the toll the past two years have taken on us. I hope that you are able to watch the entire conversation.

 

PASTORS: IT’S ABOUT ENGAGEMENT, NOT ATTENDANCE

It’s been a chaotic and adventurous last few years at Willow Creek as we’ve been rebuilding, restructuring, and regathering. I sat down with one of our Pastors, Todd Katter, who has been at Willow for 15 years and leads our Huntley location. We’ve been talking about what needs to change for pastors and churches in this post-pandemic season. Todd has some fantastic insights that I think every church leader should consider. I encourage you to watch this conversation.

 

GEN Z: A LOST GENERATION TO THE CHURCH?

Are you mystified by how to approach Generation Z and worried about their low attendance in church post-COVID? Let me introduce you to Faith Schiller and Hannah Gronowski Barnett, two leaders who have taught me so much about how to understand the generation that has become the majority of today’s “young adults.” Faith serves as Willow Creek’s Young Adult Pastor. Hannah is Founder and CEO of Generation Distinct, a non-profit who recently partnered with Willow Creek to help our young adults discover the impact they were born to make. I promise you’ll feel much better about Generation Z after hearing what they have to say.

 

MISSION AND MORALE

Over his nearly three decades in ministry, Ray Johnston has built Bayside from a small campus to a thriving multisite ministry of over 20,000 people across multiple campuses in California. Ray has been focused on creating a healthy staff culture and sharing what has worked for his team with other pastors who are growing and equipping their own teams. Ray sat down with us for Session 18 to walk through his time at Bayside and what he’s learned.

For more information on Bayside Church, check out their website here.

 

A conversation with Jeff Hightower of Church Central Office

A handful of years ago, Jeff walked away from his full-time Executive Pastor role to launch Church Central Office, an offsite accounting firm solely focused on serving churches and ministries in their accounting needs. We sat down today and I got to hear more of Jeff’s story and the heart behind Church Central Office. For more information on Jeff and Church Central Office, check out their website here.

 

A Conversation with Joel Mikell -- SVP of Horizons Stewardship

I love a good story. I love sitting down with someone to hear how they navigated life to arrive where they are today. Joel Mikell and I have known each other for more than two decades, and recently I had the chance to hear his story. He’s a classically trained pianist (and still plays amazing!), was a worship pastor for 25 years, and then moved into the world of helping churches grow in their generosity. I believe Joel is among the best and most experienced generosity consultants in the country. He is a Partner at Horizons Stewardship — an organization that focuses on helping local churches or mission-minded nonprofits expand their view of generosity beyond a capital campaign or yearly stewardship campaign.You will enjoy this conversation with Joel. Stay tuned to the end when he shares some of what has been recently changing in the landscape of fundraising for churches.

 

Who is making the decision and why?

Amy Anderson has the kind of experience that gives her a unique and trusted perspective in the church world. With 12 years of experience as the Executive Director of Weekend Services at Eagle Brook Church, Amy was part of the leadership team that grew the church from one location of 3,000 to six campuses of over 20,000. After serving in ministry, Amy joined The Unstuck Group in 2014 and has since helped over 150 churches fuel and focus their mission as the Director of Consulting. For more information on The Unstuck Group, check out their website here.

 

High Performance Teams that Remain Healthy

We were lucky enough to have Dan Reiland join us for Session 14 of the LeadingSmart Executive Pastor Coaching Network, and it was a valuable time where Dan discussed how to make teams strong and keep them healthy.

Dan shared some of the key factors in reaching high performance: vision, alignment, coaching, capacity, and outcomes-

  • Vision - Where are we going?

  • Alignment - Are we in it together?

  • Coaching - Are we helping each person get there?

  • Capacity - Who is able to do their job well?

  • Outcomes - Are we accomplishing what we say we will?

 

The Importance of Self-Awareness

We started off our first Session in 2022 with Raul Palacios, the Executive Pastor at Church by the Glades in South Florida. Raul spoke on the importance of self-awareness in our role of Executive Pastors. Sometimes it can feel like there is a startling lack of emotional intelligence across our ministry teams, and Raul dug in with our Members to uncover how to strengthen our self-awareness.

Raul asked - why do we lack self-awareness?

  • Pride - we have a grandiose view of ourselves

  • We think we work more and work better than everyone else

  • Very few people will tell us the truth about ourselves

  • People lie to us for self-ambition or self-promotion

I encourage you to check out the entire Session, but if you’re unable to, Holly and I recorded this recap.

 

The ECFA's 2021 State of Giving

In this coaching session, we were joined by Warren Bird, the Vice President of Research and Equipping at the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA).

My big takeaways were talking through the surprising ways Covid affected churches across the country, and discussing the anticipated (but not realized) major drop in giving.

Watch the video where Holly and I discuss the session.

 

The Effects of Covid on Giving

When Covid arrived in March 2020, many church leaders were cautioned to begin preparing for an economic disaster. As churches began to shutter, many wondered how they would stay afloat amidst the pandemic. I wanted to learn more about what these past 18 months have taught us - was there an economic disaster? How did churches respond?

I was excited to sit down with my friend Jim Sheppard, the Founder and Principal at Generis, to discuss giving trends from 2021 and strategize around year-end giving.

If you’d like to learn more about Generis or contact their coaching services team, you can connect with them here. Additionally, those year-end giving resources can be found here.

 

Harnessing High-Capacity Leaders

There are many leaders within our congregations who have a wealth of knowledge and experience, and there are younger leaders yearning for mentorship. I was curious to learn how we as church leaders could best serve these high-capacity folks within our congregation and steward their insight.

I was thrilled to talk to Christy Johnson, the VP of Marketing and Partnerships at OCEAN, to learn how to better serve and equip those leaders within our congregations.

If you’re interested in connecting with OCEAN further, or learning more about bringing their course to your church, you can connect with them here.

 

Healthy Wholeness

Often, businesses are built to solve the founder’s problem, and Casey Caston founded Marriage365 in response to the difficulty of navigating a healthy marriage and leading a ministry. Originally, Marriage365 was not aimed at couples in ministry, but over time, they have evolved to serve couples both in and out of the church.

Through years of training and helping thousands of couples, Casey and the team at Marriage365 have sought to teach relational literacy to couples who are struggling, and to invite those couples into a renewed sense of wholeness.

If Casey’s story resonates with you or if you know of any couples who could benefit from Marriage365’s resources, I would encourage you to reach out to the Marriage365 team here. I was thrilled to connect with them, and you can learn more about what they are up to at their Instagram page.

 

How Your Team Can Thrive with Remote or Hybrid Working

Recently, I had a great conversation with Krisha Beuhler, VP of Human Resources at BELAY, where we talked about BELAY’s approach to remote and hybrid leadership. They are not only a virtual staffing company—they have been fully remote as a staff since their inception in 2010. Krisha was the right person to talk about what they have learned over the past eleven years about remote and hybrid leadership.

I’ve been impressed with every person I’ve met at BELAY, and talked to many happy customers. They specialize in virtual assistants, bookkeepers, and social media experts. If you are interested in learning more how they can help your organization with virtual assistants, bookkeepers, or social media experts, visit the BELAY website to learn more and make a connection.

 

Jack Hamilton’s 10 Tips for Being a Great #2

My longtime friend and mentor, Jack Hamilton joined us to “remind us about some things that you already know,” like Peter in 2 Peter.

Jack has served at High Desert Church for the past 37 years, most of that as their Executive Pastor. He continues to serve at the church in a part-time capacity while also coaching pastors across the country. Jack focused his time with our members on a few basic leadership principles that we may have forgotten in the whirlwind of our own leadership challenges.

 

How Do We Champion and Empower Women in Church Leadership?

Kadi Cole is the founder of Kadi Cole & Company, a leadership development company specializing in equipping individuals and organizations. We sat down for a virtual interview to discuss how to develop female leaders, something Kadi covers extensively in her books, Find Your Leadership Voice in 90 Days and Developing Female Leaders.

 

Move Over Millennials, Generation Z is The New Workplace Puzzle to Figure Out

Holly recently joined the Leadr team as the SVP of Growth. Leadr is a people development software company that helps leaders engage and grow their team. Holly is a growth strategist who has founded multiple companies, speaks at international conferences regularly, and contributes to the Forbes Communications Council.

In her time with us, she shared what she’s learning about the workplace’s newest demographic challenge: the Gen Z employee. Holly, a Millennial, offered her own experience leading the next generation and emphasized the importance of people development in the workplace.

Before giving our XP’s a few tips on how to approach and better lead Gen Z workers, Holly wanted to be clear that she does not have all the answers on this topic. As a Millennial, Holly noted that she comes into this conversation with the same tensions, pain, and questions as many of our XP’s have. But the conversation is necessary because 46% of the workplace is made up of Gen Z and Millennials today. 70% of employees report their decision to leave a workplace is because of their manager. As leaders, understanding how your Gen Z employees think and desire to be led can make a significant difference in retaining that employee.

 

The Heart of Leadership Development: 1:1 Meetings

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Matt Tresidder, CEO and Co-Founder of Leadr, to discuss the power of the 1:1 meeting, and the mission of Leadr to develop 1M leaders with their people development software. In February 2021, Matt joined our Executive Pastor Coaching Network session to share with our members about Leadr and the growth they have seen in the past two years since Matt helped found the company in 2019. It was great to meet with Matt again to dig deeper into the Leadr story and the work they are doing to develop leaders across the country.

If you are a leader who is encouraged by Matt’s story and the vision of Leadr, he would love for you to reach out to him at matt@leadr.com or visit the Leadr website to learn more.

 

The Leadership R.I.D.E.

Ricky is the senior pastor of Southwest Church in Indian Wells, Calif., where he leads a fast-growing community of believers compelled by its vision to be a gospel-centered, multiethnic, intergenerational church that loves discipleship. Ricky focused his time with our members on the leadership “R.I.D.E.,” an acronym inspired by Paul’s remarkable model of leadership presented to us in 2 Timothy.

R.I.D.E. - LEADERSHIP SHOULD BE RELATIONAL. INSPIRATIONAL. DOCTRINAL. AND EXPERIENTIAL.

  1. Relational: “Don’t forget about the dinner table. Don’t forget about tag-alongs. Don’t forget about trips and retreats.”

  2. Inspirational: “Bring vision to your relationships at every point.”

  3. Doctrinal: “Everything that I say to my people should have clear, undeniable connection to the Word of God.”

  4. Experiential: “Giving people what they are not even ready for so that they will use that experience to be ready for it someday.”

These four features represent the fundamentals of essential gospel leadership. Ricky shared that these features are key to receiving the fruits that Jesus celebrates in John 15. Good gospel leadership is not only about leading your people to believe something. Ricky says, “Good leadership is not about whether your people can see [what the future holds], but about whether they believe that you can.”

Ricky continued, reminding our Network, “Bad leaders think staff works for them. Good leaders think staff works with them. Great leaders know that they work for their staff.”

 

Burnout, Culture and Generosity

Carey Nieuwhof shared about his own experience with burn out and what it looks like to come back from it. We were joined by Jenni Catron, who spoke about the building blocks for organizational success.

 

Unpacking the Unstuck Report

Tony Morgan, Founder & Lead Strategist at The Unstuck Group, sat down with me (virtually) for an interview to discuss the Unstuck Church Report and the church trends he has noticed over the past year. Tony and I have been good friends since 1998 when we worked together for over eight years at Granger Community Church.

Check out the Unstuck Church Report from The Unstuck Group!

 

Are You Struggling to Own the Vision of Your Church? You Are Not Alone.

I was so excited when Miguel De La Mora joined our team in February. We invited Miguel on to our team to fill the role of Campus Pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, as well as being on our teaching team. As Miguel and I were talking one day, he began to talk about the difference between an owned vision and borrowed vision. It was so good, I asked him if I could unpack it with him via video interview. I think you are going to enjoy this discussion.

If you are a leader who casts vision, I hope you realize how important it is to create a culture where wrestling a vision to the ground is encouraged, like Miguel suggests. There are a lot of churches where it is not okay for staff to say, “Hey, I'm not sure about the vision. Can we talk about this?” That person gets pushed out. I have worked with many churches like this. I encourage every church leader to create a safe space to have God-honoring conversations about the vision of your team.

 

5 Questions on Confident Leadership

Dan Reiland, author, speaker, and executive pastor at 12Stone Church sat down with me (virtually) for an interview to discuss confident leadership. Dan and I have been friends for many years and have even coached together in the past.

Check out Dan’s latest book, Confident Leader!

 

Developing Female Leaders

Kadi is the founder of Kadi Cole & Company, a leadership development company specializing in equipping individuals and organizations. Kadi presented insights from her books, Find Your Leadership Voice in 90 Days and Developing Female Leaders. She dedicated most of her session to answering many of the tough questions our members had about developing and empowering female leaders in their churches.

Research done by Kadi’s company has found that 15% of women in churches are in formal leadership positions (whether staff or volunteer). However, 60% of those attending church in the US are women. Kadi has found that intentions in churches are mostly good regarding a willingness to incorporate female leadership. Most of the time, the problem is actually not a lack of leadership opportunities for women in churches.

 

5 Church Culture Questions

I have been close friends with Jenni Catron, Founder and CEO of The 4Sight Group, for nearly twelve years. Jenni is an exceptional author, speaker, and leader, who has inspired, encouraged, and equipped others for success for over fifteen years.

Check out 4SightGroup’s phenomenal Culture Works: Values Course here!

 

Strategizing in the New Normal

Tony is the founder and lead strategist of The Unstuck Group, a company that helps leaders grow healthy churches by guiding them through experiences that focus vision, strategy, and action. Tony presented findings from the Unstuck Report and offered invaluable advice to our members about strategizing in the new normal. He challenged our members to consider what their churches do well, and where their churches need to improve. Tony asked our members to discuss this question in their cohort groups: “At what level does the biggest gap exist for your church, and how is that impacting your ministry?”

 

4 Church Staffing Questions

I sat down (virtually) with my friend and former boss, William Vanderbloemen, Founder and CEO of Vanderbloemen, to discuss what he has seen in the world of staffing recently. Even after working for William for nearly six years, there is still so much I learn from him every time we speak.

Check out William’s latest article on The Great Covid Job Churn here.