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Archive for the ‘Leadership’ Category
3 Do I Have What It Takes? Part 3
By: Jock Ficken
When you do the hard work of self leadership you end up doing more of… the stuff that stirs your soul. the stuff that you want to spend the rest of your life doing. the stuff you’re flat out uniquely good at doing. You beat back the natural, creeping, “Do I Have What It Takes?” … Continue reading
Do I Have What it Takes? Part 2
By: Jock Ficken
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 similar org charts and “me” in boxes where they don’t fit. Too many times we’re “filling slots” because “somebody needs to do it.” And no one has … Continue reading
3 Reasons Leaders Question their Ability
By: Jock Ficken
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 conflict, obstacles, and major milestone moments. In the pit of self doubt where I lacked confidence and felt alone and isolated. … Continue reading
Urgent or Important?
By: Jock Ficken
Parish ministry for me was always punctuated with the urgent and the important. An easy call for me. It was the so called “tyranny of the urgent” that was also unimportant that was a perpetual discipline. BUT…my ability to make the important but not urgent a priority was always critical! I did it well, and, sometimes not so well. … Continue reading
Dealing with Disappointment
By: Jock Ficken
Every congregational leader I know deals with disappointment. Most of us have endured seasons where disappointment has been heaped upon crushing disappointment and where a resiliency of faith in the face of disappointment is difficult to sustain. Here’s a disappointment short list: People you thought you could “count on” suddenly count themselves unreliable. The system… … Continue reading
3 Benefits of Pride and Arrogance
By: Jock Ficken
Hmmm! 3 Benefits? In seasons when it’s really hard, OR I’m not well, OR our church is not well, OR the tick, tick, tick of postponing actions or hard decisions is waiting to detonate…pride and arrogance gets crushed in me…needs to get crushed in me! But it doesn’t seem to go anywhere if I don’t have … Continue reading
Exposing Conflicting Values… The 3 Bold Steps of an Adaptive Leader
By: Jock Ficken
We live in a highly secularized culture. Often dismissive. Sometimes hostile. Churches face the choice of adapting or disconnecting from their worlds. The Spirit still works through the Word of God in all manner of contexts. As a result, leaders need to expose conflicting values in our collective hearts if we’re going to take on … Continue reading
The Conspiracy of Silence… The Leader’s Biggest Mistake
By: Jock Ficken
Leaders across the church…not all leaders but plenty of leaders, women and men, denominational officials, pastors, God-fearing leaders…they don’t speak up and define: Here’s our reality. Here’s what this means. Here’s the big challenge in front of us. Maybe because they… “When you put a name on your reality you now have the capacity to … Continue reading
Will the Next 10 Years be the most Fruitful?
By: Jock Ficken
What does it take for the next 10 years to be the most fruitful 10 years of your leadership life? Like last week, it will include… Necessary Endings New beginnings A “not so easy” journey through the Muddled Middle or Neutral Zone Do these well in your church? Change gets easier. Do these well personally … Continue reading
Six Energy Outputs for Top Level Leaders
By: Jock Ficken
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 Territory. Build relationships with spiritual sojourners outside your ministry context. You’ll gain insight that can unlock a mission future. AND be nimble. The culture changes … Continue reading
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