The Latest in Meetings
Today’s churches are so metric, goal, and results focused in the evaluation of staff and volunteer performance that giving, receiving, and soliciting valuable feedback has become a lost art. Yet, study after study shows that learning is highly dependent upon proper feedback. So, what is the most effective method of providing feedback that is both... Continue Reading
The Latest in Measurement
Periodic reviews and year end evaluations and feedback can be a nerve-wracking time of year. For church staff and their supervisors alike, knowing a performance evaluation is ahead can sometimes bring self-doubt and general uncertainty and anxiety. Yet, it is from these seeds of discomfort that growth occurs. One of my favorite tools in my... Continue Reading
The Latest in Manpower
Recently an Executive Pastor of a large and growing church asked for my counsel on a perplexing organizational issue…..the working relationship tensions between ministry and support staff. As this is a fairly typical issue in large multi-department churches with specialized staff in ministry and support roles, I thought it would be helpful to post my... Continue Reading
The Latest in Might
Recently, after a long slow decline in health, my wife and I had to put down our 15 year old Shitz Shu, Francie. Though we had been through this twice before and had been preparing ourselves for this eventuality, we were surprised by the intensity of our grief and sadness. I wondered what God was... Continue Reading
The Latest in Messages
Our spiritual language changes over time. Read the religious classics and we find these spiritual saints speak of a relationship with God and Christ using a language with which we are unfamiliar. Just in my life time the Christian church language has changed from “having a personal relationship with Jesus” to “studying about Jesus,” from... Continue Reading
The Latest in Methods
In the article, Understanding Paradigm Shifts As A Church Growth Strategy, we defined a paradigm shift “as a change in thinking and acting that results from a challenge to one’s underlying assumptions.” And, we noted that not all church paradigm shifts are of equal value or impact. Some are micro-shifts, where the impact is localized... Continue Reading
The Latest in Movement
Every institution, no matter how great, is vulnerable to decline…..JIM COLLINS In 2005, Jim Collins became curious why some of the once great enterprises he’d researched for Built to Last and Good to Great, had fallen. His motivation…….to understand how institutional decline can happen in hopes that leaders might learn how to stave off decline.... Continue Reading
The Latest in Money
In the article, “Church Staffing Levels – Getting It Right,” we examined the effect of Parkinson’s First Law, “work expands to fill the time allotted” and its application to church staffing. A corollary is Parkinson’s Second Law, “expenditures rise to meet income,” a law that has application to church budgets and expenditures. Northcote Parkinson’s satirical... Continue Reading
The Latest in Mission
For many of the years I served as Executive Pastor at Brentwood Baptist Church in Brentwood, TN we were in some type of building program. This meant I spent countless hours in the City Manager’s Office preparing for various presentations before the Zoning Commission, City Planning Commission, and City Council. During one such meeting the... Continue Reading
The Latest in Maximization
In the late 1800’s Russell Conwell became famous for his lecture in which he encouraged listeners to find the “acres of diamonds” in their own backyards. Conwell was a Baptist minister, the first president of Temple University, and a captain during the Civil War. At the ten year reunion of his troops, he delivered the... Continue Reading
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Jim is a Church Organizational Leadership and Management Coach, Consultant and Trainer. Throughout his career Jim has demonstrated a passion for showing Pastors and Ministers how to use organizational tools for church and personal growth and health.
More About Jim“For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see how well ordered you are and the strength of your faith in Christ.” Colossians 2:5