Posted on July 7th, 2008 by Dr. Larry Perkins Eddie Gibbs writes with passion and insight as he seeks to answer the question: what kind of leaders does the church in the 21st century require in order to carry forward the mission Jesus gave it? LeadershipNext. Changing Leaders in a Changing Culture assumes that the missional church perspective represents the direction [...]
Posted on May 8th, 2008 by Dr. Larry Perkins Dan Allender has provided a provocative look at several serious aspects of ministry leadership in his book “Leading with a Limp.” He writes primarily out of his experience as the founder of Mars Hill Graduate School located near Seattle. His thesis is clear: “to the degree you face and name and deal with your failures [...]
Posted on April 10th, 2008 by Mr. Mark Naylor The Power Distance Contrast
In Pakistan there is a strong tradition of "holy men" who are called Pirs. One day I had a visit from a young man who informed me that he was the Pir of his village. I was puzzled by this because he was dressed in modern clothes and did not have the [...]
Posted on February 15th, 2008 by Dr. Larry Perkins When you are seeking additional people to serve as part of the church board, what aspect should receive most attention – skill, experience, character or attitude? Certainly Paul warns us not to ask a novice in the faith or someone who has not had experience in leading a family to fill this role. So experience [...]
Posted on January 25th, 2008 by Dr. Larry Perkins In 2007 Amal Henein and Francoise Morissette published Made in Canada Leadership. Wisdom from the Nation’s Best and Brightest on Leadership Practice and Development. They argue that "in each of us rests the potential for leadership, but the response and measure depend on us….We are all called to lead"(58). They discovered that parental influence and [...]
Posted on January 9th, 2008 by Mr. Loren Warkentin Northwest is a founding member of a consortium of six evangelical, denominational seminaries called ACTS Seminaries. Together, these six seminaries, form the graduate theological division of Trinity Western University.
Tuesday’s chapel saw the inauguration service for our new principal here at ACTS Seminaries. Dr. Ron Toews was officially inaugurated as the second principal of ACTS Seminaries [...]
Posted on November 23rd, 2007 by Mr. Mark Naylor Joy’s (1) emotional pain was evident as she related her move from her family’s mono-ethnic Chinese church to a multiethnic congregation. She felt guilt as if she had somehow betrayed her home church.
Bob pastored a multi-ethnic congregation but was frustrated by his inability to recruit leadership from certain groups.
Jane enjoyed belonging to a church [...]
Posted on November 16th, 2007 by Dr. Larry Perkins At our recent "Best Practices for Church Boards Workshop" held in Langley, one of the groups attending had also participated in the first workshop we presented two and half years ago. What was remarkable to note was that none of the members of that church board were the same. Over that short period of time [...]
Posted on November 7th, 2007 by Dr. Larry Perkins Dr. Lyle Schrag, director of our Northwest Centre for Leadership Development, led our sixth Best Practices for Church Boards workshop this past weekend. Seven churches participated. As I gave one of the presentations and facilitated a conversation among one of the church boards, the centrality of relationships to good Church Board operations became absolutely clear. [...]
Posted on October 9th, 2007 by Dr. Larry Perkins According to Robert Quinn in Deep Change a legitimate vision must exceed perceived resources. If our vision fits neatly within our current resources it is merely a plan, not a vision. Planning is important, but it will not result in "deep change", according to Quinn. Only vision enables an organization to discern a future that [...]
Posted on August 30th, 2007 by Dr. Larry Perkins In their book Leading from the Second Chair Mike Bonem and Roger Patterson have provided an excellent discussion of the challenges and opportunities people in associate ministry leadership roles face on a daily basis. Their goal is to help such individuals thrive and discern good, creative ways to cope with tensions that inevitably define this [...]
Posted on August 8th, 2007 by Mr. Loren Warkentin In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right. Judges 21:44
Eli the priest of God at Shiloh was the default leader of Israel at the opening of the book of 1 Samuel. He was elderly and his two sons, Hophni and Phinnehas, performed the regular priestly duties at [...]
Posted on August 7th, 2007 by Dr. Lyle Schrag Among the daily eJournals and newsletters that I value, the one from Easum-Bandy associates provides consistently thought-provoking reflections. The most recent included an article by Bill Tenny-Brittian under the title Developing Leaders Under Your Nose. His led with a daring first point: Build your leadership base by at least 400%. I’m glad that I kept [...]
Posted on July 27th, 2007 by Mr. Loren Warkentin As the dark years of Israel’s history, recounted for us in the book of Judges, draw to a close and we see the transition of national identity from cowering fugitives into a great kingdom - a remarkable leader is used by God to bring Israel back to Himself. That leader is the prophet and judge [...]
Posted on July 18th, 2007 by Mr. Loren Warkentin Recommended reading: 1 Samuel 1-8
I am intrigued with the rise of Samuel’s leadership as described in the first few chapters of 1 Samuel. After the years of Israel’s spiritual, moral and national decline as described in the book of Judges the years of Samuel’s leadership stand sturdy and tall. Under his faithful and godly guidance [...]
Posted on July 16th, 2007 by Dr. Larry Perkins The missional church movement calls the church to rediscover its kingdom identity and purpose as the people of God. Now we hear that churches will require a new kind of leadership – missional leadership – to guide their re-development as missional congregations. Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk in The Missional Leader. Equipping Your Church to [...]
Posted on July 6th, 2007 by Dr. Lyle Schrag In the February edition of the Leadership Connections newsletter, I recorded the results of some research that I’ve been doing on emerging leaders: [When Emerging Leaders go BOOM! http://leadership.nbseminary.com/ncld_011.htm - check it out.]
Twice this week, the issue has come up as both the Seminary – and our Churches are beginning to witness this phenomenon. So, [...]
Posted on June 6th, 2007 by Dr. Lyle Schrag Over the last four years I’ve been focused on the phenomenon of “emerging leaders.†It is trend in which the Church is growing future leaders from within. In 2004, the statistics being kept by Church Central under the direction of Thom Rainer revealed the growth of this trend: 1997 – 4% of people in ministry [...]
Posted on June 4th, 2007 by Dr. Brian Rapske Our church has just emerged from a very busy weekend. Not one but two search committees have been working simultaneously through past months in pursuit of individuals to serve our church in the respective capacities of Lead Pastor and Youth Associate. The searches culminated for both committees as both the recommended candidates were invited to [...]
Posted on May 17th, 2007 by Dr. Lyle Schrag As one whose life is defined by Meetings, it’s no surprise that I found today’s headline article in Inc.com’s Daily Resource for Entrepreneurs so compelling. The title: New Study Reveals Why Meetings Are SO Unbearable. [I added the boldface to the word SO!] The article presented research gathered by Opinion Research USA meant to measure [...]
Posted on May 8th, 2007 by Dr. Lyle Schrag Two days ago, I received word that my professor and friend Robert Webber finally succumbed to his long battle with pancreatic cancer late in the evening on April 27. I mourn his death. When I was a young Christian, his classes at Wheaton College taught me to think deeply about issues of faith. As the [...]
Posted on April 30th, 2007 by Dr. Lyle Schrag As I was completing the new edition of the Heart for Ministry leadership assessment course, I was tempted to revise the sessions that were focused on a definition of leadership. The conventional definitions seem to define leadership as a personal trait belonging to certain unique individuals. Recently, I’ve encountered several writers who challenge the conventional [...]
Posted on April 20th, 2007 by Dr. Lyle Schrag I have always found the thoughts and writings of George Bullard to stimulate my thinking. Not long ago, I came across a phrase from his online journal [http://bullardjournal.blogs.com/bullardjournal]. In reporting on a workshop at the Lake Hickory Learning Community on Sustaining Pastoral Excellence, Bullard described a phrase used by Alex McManus that “mobilization is the [...]
Posted on March 27th, 2007 by Dr. Lyle Schrag Over the last two months, I’ve been gathering together research in preparation for the Best Practices for Church Boards: Advanced Edition workshop on the role of the Church Board in Vision Development and Strategic Planning. I’ve sorted through a number of coaching programs – from Church Central’s Church Consultancy, to Natural Church Development’s Coaching system, [...]
Posted on March 19th, 2007 by Dr. Lyle Schrag Over the last two years, through our Best Practices for Church Boards workshops, we have gathered together church leaders from all over the province. They’ve come from all directions: large churches – small churches, urban churches – rural churches. Last week, as we met with 5 churches in the Kootenays, I found my reflections moving [...]
Posted on February 23rd, 2007 by Dr. Larry Perkins “I am in kindergarten and I know everything!” exclaimed my granddaughter. It took me a moment to process this amazing declaration. I then realized what my problem had been – I never attended kindergarten and so I now understood why it took me twenty years to reach the end of my formal education. If only [...]
Posted on February 20th, 2007 by Dr. Lyle Schrag In the last couple of weeks, I’ve found myself at the center of a number of converging themes. As we’ve been preparing to meet with the churches in the Kootenays for the Best Practices for Church Boards Basic Workshop, I’ve noticed that a number of the congregations are eager to address strategic planning. At the [...]