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Archive for the ‘Leadership’ Category
3 Critical Steps to your Best Leadership Future
By: Jock Ficken
As a leader, what if the next 10 years were your best 10 years? No matter your age and stage! The workplace is full of people that have decided that they are too old to make a shift. – William Bridges in Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes You’ve seen a lot about 1000 Young … Continue reading
64 Things You Might Not Be Good At and What to Do About It!
By: Jock Ficken
It’s a popular myth that every leader should possess the same competencies and skills to be effective and fruitful. They don’t. You don’t. Most congregational leaders are steered into activities they’re not good at and they don’t do well! Congregations suffer because leaders make three common mistakes… Leaders never gain clarity about what stirs deep … Continue reading
Identity! Capturing Freedom to Lead and to Live
By: Jock Ficken
Every church leader I know risks fastening their identity to the wrong thing. Identity might be the most fundamental of leadership building blocks. The Flourishing in Ministry study funded by Lilly Foundation interviewed thousands of pastors. It’s one of their four fundamentals to avoid a lifetime of life depleting ministry. True for the rest of … Continue reading
Mentoring Leads to Life-Enriching Leadership
By: Jock Ficken
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 leaders. Think that your leadership task gets increasingly difficult with every widely reported sexual misconduct and cover up noted last week. The Flourishing in Ministry research among thousands … Continue reading
Flourishing in Ministry…It’s all about Relationships!
By: Jock Ficken
Is your ministry life-enriching or life-depleting? Congregational leadership can flourish…be life-enriching and not life-depleting…when four types of relationships are well according to Bloom’s Flourishing in Ministry project. While this was a clergy study, you’ll find easy application to whatever your role. We termed it “Collegiality” last week. Here are the four critical relationships: Family and … Continue reading
Are you Flourishing?
By: Jock Ficken
From my perspective the stakes are high! In the next few weeks of summer… New pastors will begin their ministries with anticipation. They will be… life-enriching for some, life-depleting for others. Older pastors will retire. They will have been…life-enriching decades for some, life-depleting for others. Another group? They will quit. Prematurely retire. Change careers. They … Continue reading
Advancing the Dream…4 Things to Remember
By: Jock Ficken
Dreaming new dreams in the ministry of a congregation is the first thing to disappear when a congregation starts to decline and the first thing to reappear when it leans toward a new future or a new season. (Lots of churches trying to “survive” would benefit greatly if they simply started to dream again!) Dreaming is a big thing! … Continue reading
An Inspiring Leader
By: Jock Ficken
This week we have learning communities in Panama City, Florida; Denver, Colorado; and in a country in Eurasia. Join us in praying a blessing upon each of the participants. Bob Buford died last month. 78. CEO of Buford Television Founder of Leadership Network Author of Halftime Tireless champion of church leaders Lost his only son … Continue reading
Unexpectedly Difficult
By: Jock Ficken
I’m not exactly sure when I first put the pieces together that leading is difficult…even when we think it’s going to be difficult. Big things are difficult: Turnaround churches Planting churches Focusing on the future…those outside the church…and not the past. Not just us. Difficult! And all more difficult than I might have imagined. Seemingly … Continue reading
Time, Vision & Grace: Three Things You Need to Get Out of the Pit
By: Sarah Greiner
Isolation is a familiar word to those in the pit. Whether inflicted or perceived, isolation is crippling to God’s invitation to build something deeper and stronger out of the pit experience. (Read You’re in The Pit: Three things to do while you’re there.) Through relationships, time, vision and grace can be offered to help you … Continue reading
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