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Read the latest blog post from the PLI team.
Reaching a World that has Stopped Coming to Church
Let’s look at two “entry paths,” certainly simplified, intended to illustrate how “outsiders” make their way into our ministries and/or into faith.
6 Ways to Capture Hope and Courage
If you want the people you lead to experience new hope and new courage, it starts with you. It always starts with the leader.
Three Essentials to Finishing Well
People who start well oftentimes don’t finish well. Here are three essential learnings to help you finish well.
Learning from Learned Leaders
Through my years of ministry, I have had the privilege of learning from loads of learned leaders. Sometimes they have sought me out, and at other times I was so far in over my head that I grasped for them out of desperation.
Unlikely Leaders
It was Christ our ultimate leader who made unlikely leaders out of fishermen, prostitutes, Roman centurions, Gentile business women, Jewish religious leaders, a persecutor of the church and even sinners like you and me.
It’s Complicated
When things get complicated, turn to Christ and to His people who seek the Lord regularly and obey His laws and commands.
Vision Traction: Be Catalytic for Activation
We can help you be intentional in your gathering for the purpose of the sending, all while making sure it is unique to you, your church, your community, at this time, with your staff, empowering everybody, everywhere, everyday.
Vision Traction: Your Context and Mission
When the people in our churches walk out the doors Sunday morning, do they see themselves as active participants in the mission? This has to be a primary motivator for almost everything we do.
Vision Traction: The Need for Change
Change makes us aware of the risks. We fear what might happen if we have to change. We must also ask: What are we risking if nothing changes?
In Community
To punch through a well-guarded status quo mentality, leaders need to stay engaged relationally in community.
Looking to the Future of PLI
Dear PLI Family, Next week, Ben Haupt joins the PLI team as its next executive leader! Ben and I will have two months together before I retire from PLI on August 31 and begin to...
Leaders Go First
If our churches are going to navigate forward and take on their greatest challenges, then the leader needs to go first.
Listen Well
Leaders well practiced in adaptive change learned a long time ago to listen to the voices that aren’t being heard, the voices that are missing.
Adaptive Leaders Dig Deep
My guess? It’s time for you to dig deep and do the hard work of working out these foundations or refreshing what you discovered 5 years or 15 years ago.
Lead with a Humble Spirit
The prerequisite need in a well-formed character of an adaptive leader is humility! A humble spirit that attaches itself to the mastery of necessary, new skills for today.
5 Things Leaders Need in an Ever-Changing World
Change is happening at an unprecedented rate, leaving leaders of churches and Christian organizations asking, “What do we do?” Here are five things leaders need to practice to lead in this ever-changing world.
Stating the Obvious about Discipleship Today
Nehemiah stated the obvious: The walls are broken down. Jerusalem is at risk. Noah stated the obvious: Repent; it’s going to rain. Nebuchadnezzar stated the obvious: I’ve got the...
Do I Have What It Takes?
When someone starts a small business, the organizational chart looks a bit like this. Many church leaders function the same way! The vast majority of congregational leaders have...
3 Reasons Leaders Question their Ability
Do I have what it takes to lead? It can hit leaders at most any age, most any season. It has hit me... In my early years, when harsh realities met naive overconfidence. Through...
6 Energy Outputs for Top Level Leaders
Leadership takes energy. However, if you’re like me, you don’t have a never-ending supply. Here are six places to focus your energy that will multiply your efforts. 1 Enter New...
Where Leadership Development Happens
Every church leader needs mentors, coaches, guides to flourish. (For short, we’ll call them mentors.) Remember this? Think of “3” as spiritual apathy and distrusting of church...
There’s Still Good News in Your Congregation
Of course there's still good news… right? The Bible is being taught. The Gospel is being proclaimed. The Sacraments are being administered. Plus, you and other folks like you are...
Reaching People…Why it’s so Difficult Today
It’s much more difficult to reach the average American with the Gospel today than it was 50 years ago. Let me illustrate with a variation of the Engle scale…popularized by Dr....
Leading Change: I Lived to Tell about It!
This week I'm continuing the storytelling I began last week about my experience in leading change. I shared about two of my early seasons of leading through change, and now move...
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