So you’ve read my book on Eldership Development. Maybe you even read a few other books on Elders in the church. They sit nicely on your shelf but you haven’t yet built out your churches process for Eldership Development? What happened? You got busy. You hit a wall. You had too many unanswered questions. Coronavirus happened. I get it. Sometimes, we just need a little extra push and a little extra coaching along the way.

Last year, I took part in a students academic research on the correlation between the presence of an Executive Pastor and churches success. I recently received a copy of that research and wanted to share it more widely. With the authors permission, enjoy this well researched document. You’ll find it at this link below. Enjoy!

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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!

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 . . .

Throughout my years in the Executive Pastor role, I’ve had the privilege of getting to know many of my peers in ministry. At the risk of oversimplification, I have noticed that most XPs (shorthand for Executive Pastor) fall into one of two categories.

For many years, I’ve had the privilege of coaching Executive Pastors who were new to the role, or just needed a second set of eyes during a season of personal growth. For new church planters, it’s been my privilege to find ways to try to provide this coaching to you free of charge. For others, I’ve offered myself up at a nominal cost to offset the time borrowed from my family. Since this is not my main gig, I’ve been able to provide Executive Coaching for much less than those who do it full time. If this is something you are interested in pursuing, keep on reading and then reach out to me. It would be my privilege to help you grow in your ability to lead your church and staff well. Send additional questions or customized requests to backstagepastors@gmail.com. 

Recently, I had the opportunity to preach the sermon in between Christmas and New Years. One of our pastors refers to this as “Youth Pastor Sunday” and there is some truth to the fact that it is rarely the Lead Pastor preaching that week. At Mosaic, we tend to take turns doing it and let’s be honest, nobody really wants to do it. While everyone else is enjoying some extra time with their families at the holidays, the person who draws the short straw has to be prepping a sermon. So, since I knew that I’d be doing this particular Sunday a couple months in advance, I started my prep early and I did something really different. I attempted to practice silence and solitude in a room full of people. And it actually worked rather well!

Recently I taught our church on the subject of Elders from 1 Peter 5:1-5. As someone who has written a book on developing Elders, this is a topic that is close to my heart. I share this sermon with you in hopes that it might benefit your church somehow. I’m also totally willing to send you my manuscript if you email me for it. backstagepastors@gmail.com

We recently finished a four week series at Mosaic called “Only Jesus”. In the early planning stages, it was a catch all for a few different things we wanted to unpack with our church. But then it morphed into an incredibly succinct look at what our church is all about. As the communications team joined together with the teaching team to hear from our Lead Pastor on his heart for the series and discuss the felt needs of a congregation whose collective head was spinning from rapid growth, we began to brainstorm on the story that threaded it all together. Pretty soon,

There were ferns and moss growing in between the tiles that had long since come detached from the concrete floor. Sunlight streamed through the leaking roof creating interesting shadows in this massive 78,000 sq. foot space. The smell of mold was overpowering even with the required mask. It was quiet, desolate even—the calm before the storm. Exactly one year later, on December 10^th 2017, 3800 people piled into this building for the grand opening of Mosaic Church’s new Winter Garden, FL home.