Consulting, Coaching & Chatter

Those who read my previous post may have been surprised that I suggested scripture reading may be the most transformative spiritual habit. I’m sure there are those who would argue that prayer offers more opportunities for the Spirit’s injection into our lives. However, so long as the average prayer is a monologue, it’s unlikely to be a means of transformation. Hence, the second foundational spiritual habit is prayer that listens more than talks. Read More!!

The first, and typically most transformative spiritual habit, is surprisingly scripture reading. I’m fond of saying “I’m a scientist’s son and a Mainliner at heart,” so when I tell church leaders that if they’ll just start reading scripture regularly their lives will be transformed, they sometimes look at me as if I was from a different planet. I don’t know what it is … I can’t explain it … but here’s what I’ve experienced over the years. If I can get the church leaders to start reading the Bible, the remaining steps to affecting sustainable church transformation are significantly easier. Read More!!

Although my book High-Voltage Spirituality is a compendium of forty-eight different spiritual habits (disciplines), in practice I maintain there are five core spiritual habits that provide a foundation for personal maturity and church growth. Read More!!

[Continued from "Tomorrow's Church Today - Pt. 1." The first half of this post was first published in the Mar-Apr 2010 issue of Net Results magazine.] Read More!!

[The following post is from the Editor's Foreward in the Mar-Apr 2010 issue of Net Results, North America's most experienced church growth and evangelism magazine.] Read More!!

I received a thoughtful note from a Church-Talk listener. He contended that the church has fallen under the spell of the culture’s understanding and practice of leadership. He went on the say that the church must follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit rather than fallen mortal man. I thought he was pretty perceptive in his observation – but that there’s more to the story. So, below is my response. Read More!!

From the beginning of 21st Century Strategies, a long, long time ago, we’ve had one driving value: help transform churches. We suspect that pretty much all our readers understand that one of the ways we do that is by offering professional consultation services, church leadership coaching, and congregational training. What many folks may not realize is that when we write books, articles, newsletters, FAQs, ore respond to questions on the Advanced Leadership Forum of the 21st Century Strategies Community, we don’t hold anything back. Everything we do is focused on helping churches – and ultimately, for us, there is nothing more important than that, so we don’t keep back the secrets to success. Read More!!

I was invited to check out the newest book by Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon, and Warren Bird A Multi-Site Church Road Trip (look for its review in Net Results in the March-April 2010 issue). After reading the book, I proffered a question to the authors. The question and the answer is posted below. The authors of the book will be following the comments, so if you have thoughts or additional questions, don’t hesitate to post and we’ll see what kind of a conversation we can get going with them. Read More!!

… I didn’t know where else to put this, here’s a short video of the light, sound, and decoration’s display at our home this Christmas. Perhaps sometime I’ll figure out how to marry the music that’s playing in the front yard (with many thanks to our tolerant neighbors) to some sort of sound quality. But for now, you’ll get the idea. Read More!!

Acts 1:8. You probably know the passage by heart: “You will be my witnesses from Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Those words were spoken to the apostles just before Jesus left them in charge. Read More!!