Tag Archive - coaching

Pastor, Who RUINS You?

May 26, 2011 in Leadership, Life Change with Comments Off

I’ve noticed something…there are two types of Pastors:

1. Those who know that all they really know is that they don’t know nothing. These guys are always wanting to learn. ALWAYS. From anyone. ANYONE.

2. Those who think they know it all. These guys call me whining about how their church doesn’t have enough money. They make fun of other churches and pastors rather than giving honor. They belittle people in their own church. It is sick. And if this is offending you, its probably because…well…you get the point.

Guess which pastors are rocking it out? Guess who’s churches are growing and reaching God’s lost children?

Its a pattern that is killing churches all over: Pastor Pride.

I’m just calling it like it is.

You’ve heard me talk about the various coaches I have here, here, here and here.

If you are a pastor, who RUINS you? This is SO important!

I am not talking about the conference you went to and came back from with a few ideas…that doesn’t count.

Who is challenging you in your thinking, your personal life, your strategy for growth and your relationship with Christ on a regular basis in a more intimate setting?

If the answer is nobody (or maybe even if you answer is “well there’s this one guy I call sometimes) then just pack your bags up and go home.

You NEED a coach.

I had two powerful reminders of this in the last week…one where I was the coachee and one where I was the coach:

Last week I went to Bay Area Fellowship and heard Obed Martinez coach pastors through his Passionate Pastors coaching network on volunteers and on connecting people.God used this guy to literally RUIN me. He took every thing I ever thought to be true about these areas of the church and flipped it all upside down for me. Stuff I NEVER would have been able to fathom.

Then, yesterday, I was the coach. I helped another pastor with his offerings a couple of months ago and I got the text below from him yesterday. You’ve heard me talk about Giving Rocket.com and The Change Group many times. I believe in what they do when it comes to coaching churches on finances. All I did with this pastor was share with him what my coach, Casey Graham shared with me:

God, help me remain focused on YOU and YOUR VISION for our church…and please, continue to assassinate my pride.

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Who to Listen to

September 9, 2010 in Leadership, Rants, Revolution Church with 2 Comments

As a pastor, I speak a lot. Naturally, sometimes I strike a nerve…which in today’s world seems to lead to extra emails in the inbox.

DELETE. Well, sometimes…let me explain.

Feedback is the breakfast of champions, but only when it comes from the right sources.

If the source does not matter, then the feedback becomes nothing but another confusing, discouraging, self-doubt inducing, stress causing waste of your life!

Feedback becomes the breakfast of champions when you start listening to the right people while simultaneously learning how to ignore the wrong people.

You have to install a feedback filter. Here are some things that are working for me:

Decide who to ignore. Try making a list that describes the kind of person you need to ignore. Its easy and fun! This will help you learn who to listen to. Just don’t fall into the trap of arrogance where you think you don’t need to listen to anybody. That’s called PRIDE. But that is a whole ‘nutha blog post…

Learn to pan for gold. Learn how to find and use the gold that is mixed in with the junk.

Know that usually, unsolicited feedback is coming from an insecure person. My favorite is when someone prefaces their apparently brilliant wisdom with the words, “Let me give you some friendly advice…” Wrong. It’s rarely friendly and it’s not advice.

Amy Grant had a song called “Who To Listen To.” Look at this portion of the lyrics:

You’ve got to know who to, who not to listen to.
Well, you know, they’re gonna hit you from all sides.
Better make up your mind who to, who not to listen to.

Are you willing to tune out people who don’t have your best interests at heart?

Feedback from the right people (and the humility to make necessary changes) leads to more people meeting Jesus. I dare you to stop exposing yourself to abrasive, unsolicited feedback and to start listening to the people who matter.

And here is a hint for ya: the people that matter aren’t always the ones with a seminary degree.

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Funding Your Ministry

April 15, 2010 in Leadership with Comments Off

I get asked often how we funded Revolution Church. Starting a church is HARD. It takes LOTS of work and LOTS of money. I tell planters all of the time, if I could do the pre-launch stage over again, I would have raised more money.

There are many many things that God did at Revolution that have helped us succeed so far. One of the biggest things was when God put us together with The Change Group.

Now that we have launched the church, much of our fundraising focus has shifted. My friend Casey Graham at The Change Group has released a new resource that has helped us a great deal with that shift.

Its called the “5-5-5 Seminar.”

The seminar covers the 5 Cycles of Generosity, 5 Key Financial Systems of Increase and 5 Reasons People Give. I would challenge ANY pastor to get this resource NOW! Some of the biggest things I learned from it were:

  • That we can see financial increase any time during the year
  • That developing a Personal Financial Ministry in our church was important
  • That the time right before summer is very strategic to increase digital giving
  • That first time givers MUST be communicated with and cheered on!
  • That our offering times could be done differently…we saw increase immediately when we made a few easy changes!

The 5-5-5 Seminar might be a small investment…but it will help you see BIG INCREASE in your church or ministry. The Change Group believes in this resource so much that they have even guaranteed that you will see results in 90 days.

GO GET THIS RESOURCE NOW.

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Keep the Change

September 23, 2009 in Leadership, Productivity with 1 Comment

I’ve heard and seen horror stories related to church finance. I’ve even been through a little bit of craziness myself. That’s why I jumped when I heard about a faith-based company that would allow us to do our finances right from day one.

The Change GroupI am absolutely astonished at how much The Change Group has helped us at Revolution Church. Casey Graham and his team are incredible. Their goal is to focus on your finances so that you can focus on your church. We haven’t even had our first public worship service yet and I can already see the benefits and fruit from working with The Change Group.

Prior to working with The Change Group, I was spending almost a full day each week just on church finances. And most of it was wasted time since I didn’t know what I was doing. Not anymore…

When Casey was sharing about their services with me he said something that resonated with my heart. He said, “treat us just as if we are another staff member in the office next door.” When you work with The Change Group, you get just that…a full time staff member just a phone call away, plus:

  • The same results you would from a full time staff member at a cost LESS than a part-time staff member
  • Quarterly coaching focused on increasing giving
  • Peace of mind that you are operating well within church tax law
  • 24 hour access via online to reports, account ledgers, etc.
  • AND MORE! Click here for a full list.

I recommend that any pastor, executive pastor, or church planter call The Change Group now and set up services with them asap. Free up your time so that you can focus on that which has eternal significance – PEOPLE!

If nothing else, be sure to check out the free offer they have going on right now. Incredible coaching for free!

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