Jake Broeker

Does your church have a Dashboard?

Just finished reading a blog from Dave Furgeson, the Lead Pastor of Community Christian Church.  He shares about how he tracks the ongoing health of his church through the "Dashboard".  I really like the way they have used this as a tool to track how they are doing as a church in relation to what is important to them.  Check it out URL: http://www.christianstandard.com/articledisplay.asp?id=1009.

Transitioning from 2008 into 2009 with your team

Our Senior Pastor has always done a fantasic job empowering his team to finish the year strong and not enter the following year without a verified "word" from God for the next year.  I spent a few minutes developing some questions for my team to work through in preperation for a personal time I will have with them over the next couple of weeks to see what the Lord is speaking to them.

Andy Stanley: Gaining & Sustaining Momentum

This was from Dave Furgeson's blog...Great stuff!

 

When we ask churches that are experiencing momentum, “Why?” they will often respond, “God is just blessing.”  Now that is a good answer, but that is not a helpful answer.  The follow-up question needs to be, “what is God blessing?”

Momentum:  Forward motion fueled by a series of wins.

What if there is a formula and commonality for momentum that God created.

3 COMPONENTS OF SUSTAINED MOMENTUM:  NEW, IMPROVED & IMPROVING

1. NEW

• New triggers momentum
• Anything new by definition, generates some kind of momentum
• The momentum can be positive or negative.
• Organizational momentum is often triggered by one of three things:
  • new leadership 
  • new direction 
  • new product
• Momentum is never triggered by tweaking something old.  It is triggered by introducing something new!

2. IMPROVED

• The new must be a noticeable improvement over the old.
• Ask, "is this a significant improvement over what we had before?"
• If you are in a situation where there is not enough money to do something new and improved, you are doing too many things.

3. IMPROVING

• Momentum is sustained through continuous improvement.
• Continuous improvement requires systematic evaluation.
• Continuous improvement requires unfiltered evaluation.
  • Evaluation must be rigorous and on-going and done by the people who helped create it.

APPLYING NEW & IMPROVED & IMPROVING

• NEW:  personnel, programming, season, series, look, venues.
• Look for ways to upgrade your presentation
• Visit other organizations
• Attend other churches

MOMENTUM STOPPERS

• Disengaged leaders
• Overactive management
• Complacency
• Complexity
• A breach of trust

 

When we ask churches that are experiencing momentum, “Why?” they will often respond, “God is just blessing.”  Now that is a good answer, but that is not a helpful answer.  The follow-up question needs to be, “what is God blessing?”

Momentum:  Forward motion fueled by a series of wins.

What if there is a formula and commonality for momentum that God created.

3 COMPONENTS OF SUSTAINED MOMENTUM:  NEW, IMPROVED & IMPROVING

1. NEW

• New triggers momentum
• Anything new by definition, generates some kind of momentum
• The momentum can be positive or negative.
• Organizational momentum is often triggered by one of three things:
  • new leadership 
  • new direction 
  • new product
• Momentum is never triggered by tweaking something old.  It is triggered by introducing something new!

2. IMPROVED

• The new must be a noticeable improvement over the old.
• Ask, "is this a significant improvement over what we had before?"
• If you are in a situation where there is not enough money to do something new and improved, you are doing too many things.

3. IMPROVING

• Momentum is sustained through continuous improvement.
• Continuous improvement requires systematic evaluation.
• Continuous improvement requires unfiltered evaluation.
  • Evaluation must be rigorous and on-going and done by the people who helped create it.

APPLYING NEW & IMPROVED & IMPROVING

• NEW:  personnel, programming, season, series, look, venues.
• Look for ways to upgrade your presentation
• Visit other organizations
• Attend other churches

MOMENTUM STOPPERS

• Disengaged leaders
• Overactive management
• Complacency
• Complexity
• A breach of trust