Recently, I was asked to describe briefly what staff development looked like at our church. After taking a few minutes to sketch out a response it seemed like something that might benefit others so I took a little more time to do this well. I don’t believe this is perfect. I’m sure that there is more that I could and should be doing, or things that I could be doing more effectively, but here is what it looks like in general right now. I’m 100% sure it will change. Here is a year in the life of staff development for me at Mosaic Church . . .

I love to run. For me, it is exercise, solitude, soul care, prayer time, thinking time, learning time, me time, all rolled into an hour or so, three times a week. Like many runners, I’m also incredibly goal oriented, so I sign up for half marathons several times a year. And I have a long term goal of running a half in all 50 states. I like to say that I don’t pay gym fees, I pay race fees. (Are runners goal oriented or are goal oriented people drawn to running?) Recently, I found myself in a race hole. One race ended without another one on the books anytime soon. Through it, I learned some important lessons about having ongoing maintenance goals as well as big deadline goals and it’s having an impact on my pastoral work life as well.

A good friend of mine is looking for an Executive Pastor to work with him at his church in Portland, Maine. This is a great opportunity to live in an awesome city that desperately needs the gospel and work with a great Acts 29 Network church. Check out description below and reach out to Angel Silva with more questions.

Last week I had the great privilege of speaking at the XP-Seminar in Dallas, TX on The Soul of The Executive Pastor. Contrary to popular belief, this is not an oxymoron. XP’s actually do have souls! This is something I’ve been doing a lot of thinking on over the last couple of years and

I’m excited to announce that my second book in the “Backstage Pastors” series is now available on Amazon.com. Eldership Development-From Application to Affirmation can be purchased in E-book and Paperback formats.

There have been many great books written on the need for biblically qualified elders in the church. They do an excellent job unpacking the pertinent scriptures and theology to explain both why we need elders and what they should look like, act like, smell like, etc. once we have them. This is not one of those books.

Recently, I had the chance to chat with Chris Willard at Leadership Network for his Generosity Strategies & Tactics Podcast. On it, I talk through some of the ways we have engaged in follow up after the end of our big generosity initiative last year. I’m posting the audio below. You can also just search for it on i-tunes and subscribe to the podcast. I think you’ll enjoy all of the episodes and interviews that Chris has done. Enjoy!

Have you ever been on Facebook or Instagram and noticed someone from your team posting things that made you cringe? I know I have. A couple times, I’ve even taken a screen shot and sent it to the staff person asking if they might want to reconsider this particular post? The simple reality is that

Mike Bonem has a new book out on the Executive Pastor Role (Thriving In The Second Chair) and I couldn’t be more excited. I distinctly remember reading his first book (Leading From The Second Chair) over 10 years ago and realizing that I would better serve the church in a Second Chair Role. In my excitement about Mike’s book, I posted a review on Amazon and I think I was one of the first to do so. Here’s what I wrote in April 2006.

It can feel like in today’s world, Business Cards are obsolete. But I’ve found that they still serve a purpose.

Have you ever tried to read the Bible in a year? How’d that work out for you? I tried it once. I got behind after a few weeks, got discouraged, and stopped. Then I found a two-year plan. I stuck with that one a little longer, but still found that it left little time to wander into other passages that were not in the plan. Finally, I decided to look for a three-year plan and I’ve been doing it for almost ten years!

It was a privilege to be interviewed by Rich Birch at UnSeminary Podcast recently. Check out the video on YouTube or listen to the audio on Itunes. Find all the details at the UnSeminary website.  If you don’t already subscribe to this podcast, I’d suggest checking it out. Its got some great practical topics to help you out in everyday ministry.

If you follow this blog, you know that I’m deep into a fairly large building project for our biggest campus. We had the architect, General Contractor and AVL company taken care of, but one area we had not dealt with yet was Kids Ministry Theming. We decided to hire Plain Joe Studios to do the work. Let me tell you why.

A few years ago, a pastor I worked with in my previous church introduced me to the RACI matrix for use in Project Management. I’ve gone back to it again and again as I’ve found it to make all the difference in keeping teams moving forward. 

Recently, I was talking with a friend who taking his first position as an executive pastor. He asked me for input on what his first few months should look like. I remembered that a few years ago, when I was new at Mosaic Church, I had jotted down a few simple notes on what my first few months would look like. I shared that file with him and he found it to be very helpful, so I figured I’d share it here as well. Here it is, unfiltered.