Church Pastors: Leadership & Strategy

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Feb 27, 2006 in Church | 0 comments

Barna released a report Church Leaders Emphasize Motivation, But Struggle with Strategy.

More than nine out of every ten Senior Pastors of Protestant churches – 92% Рnow consider themselves to be effective leaders. This is a dramatic increase since 2001, when less than three-fourths of all Senior Pastors deemed themselves to be effective leaders.

But another striking finding from the new research conducted by The Barna Group is how few Senior Pastors believe that they are effective at strategic leadership. While a large majority contends that they are gifted at motivating people, only one out of every seven Senior Pastors (14%) say that they are effective at thinking and acting strategically.

The Barna study indicated that more often than not, the strategic leader is mistakenly perceived to be a manager and gets assigned to overseeing details rather than anticipating and planning for potential opportunities and challenges.

Isn’t this the same problem in the beginning of Acts? I thought the elders chose deacons to help free them up for prayer and the study of the word?

Tim Keller New York Times Article: Preaching the Word and Quoting the Voice

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Feb 27, 2006 in Church, Culture | 0 comments

A great article on Tim Keller, his influence on Manhattan and church planting nationwide:

“In the twilight of the biggest snowstorm in New York City’s history, the pews of a rented Baptist church on the Upper West Side of Manhattan were packed for the Rev. Timothy J. Keller’s fourth sermon of the day.

The 600 or so who braved the snow for the evening service got what they had come to expect ‚Äî a compelling discourse by Dr. Keller, this time on Jesus’ healing of the paralytic, that quoted such varied sources as C. S. Lewis, The Village Voice and the George MacDonald fairy tale “The Princess and the Goblin.” It was the kind of cogent, literary sermon that has helped turn Dr. Keller, a former seminary professor whose only previous pulpit experience was at a small blue-collar church in rural Virginia, into the pastor many call Manhattan’s leading evangelist.

What type of Innovator are you?

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Feb 25, 2006 in Church, Church Technology, Culture | 0 comments

Article at Fast Company about The 10 Faces of Innovation.  Are you a learning persona, organizing persona or building persona?  In each of these areas, 3-4 faces are presented for example, the Director, Story teller or Experimenter.

Essential Volunteer Management

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Feb 25, 2006 in Church | 0 comments

A good collection of resources for those responsible for volunteer management.  Topics include:

Job Development
Recruitment
Interviewing
Orientation and Training
Supervision
The Recognition Process

Ekklesia Church CMS Reviewed

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Feb 25, 2006 in Church, Church Technology, Ekklesia, General Technology | 0 comments

Joe Vasquez posted an positive review of Ekklesia Church Website CMS on his blog. Ekklesia is also mentioned on the Blog Ministry site.

One of the coolest things I noticed about Ekklesia’s software is how easy it is to manage sermons. Not only can you easily manage based on topics, series, and speakers, but adding files is a snap. You can easily upload the audio version of your sermon and make your site a podcast. Podcasting is an easy and effective way to reach people. BloggingChurch.com brings up a good point with its post “Podcasting = Increased Attendance“.

Joe provides screenshots and description of a number of Ekklesia’s features. He summarizes:

A website is an investment, a must have for today’s harvest. A person’s first stop for looking up churches to visit is the Internet, more specifically a search engine. A well written, well implemented, and properly administered website will open doors and allow a church to reach people in a niche commonly overlooked.

We’re glad to see people’s positive responses and we have had a large number of churches sign-up this month for the Ekklesia Church Website Content Management System. Coming soon will be affiliate and referral programs for bloggers looking to make some extra cash!