tonymorganlive.com

Check out these great ministry resources!

2012-02-10T20:03:47Z

I partner with a group of organizations that help resource leaders like you. Here are the folks that are making things happen at TonyMorganLive.com in February:

igniteCRM – web-based church relationship management software created to empower ministry leaders for accelerated church growth

Church Community Builder – web-based church software that actively serves over 1,600 churches in 15 different countries from church plants to multi-site, mega-churches

Elexio – offers a new integrated church software suite including web, database, mobile and check-in

Leaders Book Summaries – summaries of the best books on leadership, management and church life to help you become a better leader

The Orange Conference – a premier conference for church leaders hosted in Atlanta in April 2012

Outreach Events – specializes in dynamic, outreach-oriented events with speakers and Christian comedians that create opportunities for sharing faith

Preach Better Sermons – a free 180-minute live online event to help you prepare and deliver better sermons

Standard Theme – the best-coded WordPress theme ever (My site is built on this theme.)

StreamingChurch.tv – provides everything you need to broadcast your services live

I have a couple of open advertising spots available. If you are interested, email me for more details. I’d love to have you join our team!

Stop & Start 2012: Dan Reiland, Brad Lomenick and Dave Ferguson

2012-02-10T13:12:27Z

As part of my series on things leaders should stop and start doing, I connected with Dan Reiland, Brad Lomenick and Dave Ferguson.

Dan Reiland

Dan Reiland is the Executive Pastor at 12Stone Church in Lawrenceville, GA. He previously partnered with John Maxwell for 20 years, first as Executive Pastor at Skyline Wesleyan Church and later as Vice President of Leadership and Church Development at INJOY. Here are his thoughts on shifts leaders should consider making in the new year:

Stop unnecessary and unproductive record keeping. If you don’t use the information, don’t gather it. If you don’t know why you gather it, stop!

Start studying a core competency for your work one hour each week that you haven’t studied in years. Example, for a pastor, study Systematic Theology. One hour is doable and it results in 50 hours a year minus vacation. Dig for new insights and keep your mind sharp for the core of your work.

You can follow more of Dan’s thoughts and updates from his ministry on Twitter.

Brad Lomenick

Brad Lomenick directs and leads a movement of young leaders called Catalyst. He equips, inspires, and releases the next generation of young Christian leaders through events, resources, consulting, content and connecting a community of like-minded Catalysts all over the world. Here are his thoughts on shifts leaders should consider making in the new year:

Stop competing. Especially churches. We are all on the same team. Also, stop copying what others are doing. Be original and be yourself.

Start collaborating. Especially between churches. Also between denominations, different businesses and non profits. Partnering is one of the best ways to extend the resources available to you to the greatest extent possible.

You can follow more of Brad’s thoughts and updates from his ministry on Twitter.

Dave Ferguson

Dave Ferguson is a Lead Pastor and Spiritual Entrepreneur with Community Christian Church and the NewThing Network. Here are his thoughts on shifts leaders should consider making in the new year:

Stop leading with, “Here is the vision, figure out how you can help.”

Start leading with, “God has a vision for you and we want to help.”

You can follow more of Dave’s thoughts and updates from his ministry on Twitter.

Stop & Start 2012: Josh Griffin

2012-02-09T19:41:32Z

Josh Griffin

As part of the current series addressing shifts leaders should consider making this year, I connected with Josh Griffin. Josh is the High School Pastor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA. He is a father of 4 and has been in full-time youth ministry for over 15 years. Here’s our interview:

TONY: What’s one thing that leaders and/or organizations (businesses, churches, non-profits, etc.) should consider stopping in 2012?

JOSH: Stop walking around with such urgency. When it is time for the service to start and the church staff is briskly running around the worship center then you are basically telling everyone, “I don’t have time for you.” If someone dares to stop you, you fidget nervously and struggle to maintain eye contact due to fear of dropping the ball on the last lingering details on the program task list. You peer over this more mortal’s shoulder and silently freak out as the countdown timer signifying the service start is now nearing zero.

You pacify the person who caused the momentary diversion with a shallow promise to connect later in the week. You know in your heart that you won’t make the connection, but it satisfies the moment and you quickly return to the task at hand. Just to make sure you’re not stopped again, you take out your phone and participate in a ghost phone call.

TONY: What’s one thing that leaders and/or organizations (businesses, churches, non-profits, etc.) should consider starting in 2012?

JOSH: Start caring about people AND the program. I’m a program person all the way. There’s nothing more exciting to me than sharing the timeless message of Christ in a creative way. There always will be a tension between the program and spending time with people. The last minute details of a service and adjustments to the program sheet cannot crowd out our love for and time with people. Care about the program, care about the creative elements, be proud of your latest spoken word or creative mini-movie that you sacrificed and sweat over multiple late nights earlier in the week. But be keenly aware of the people who might need you before the service. Stop the cycle of outdoing last week’s amazing program and overflow with love for the people who are sitting in the audience.

You can follow more of Josh’s thoughts and updates from his ministry on Twitter.

Stop & Start 2012: Will Mancini

2012-02-08T14:39:01Z

Will Mancini

As part of my series on things leaders should stop and start doing, I connected with Will Mancini. Will is a Clarity Evangelist who started Auxano and wrote Church Unique so that ministry leaders can have amazing vision and focus. Here are Will’s thoughts on shifts leaders should consider making in the new year.

Stop imitating.

Make 2012 the year to stop imitating. No matter what your role is ask the question, “Who am I imitating?” Are you a group’s pastor? Reconsider the model you are following so you can reinvent. Are you a children’s pastor? Think about where your pattern of ministry came from and rethink how you might do it better. Essentially, the imitation question forces a leader to look at their own default mode.

We most easily imitate a highly visible model (books and conferences) or we imitate the past (the way things were set up before we arrived). Trust in Jesus to show you the best way for your ministry in 2012. Take a courageous step and tweak something. Move from fast following and best practicing to future designing and better experimenting.

Start meeting new people.

One of the best things I ever started was meeting with a few new people each year just to learn from them. I highly recommend it. This year, I have identified three people that I will spend a day with for mentoring. One is a consultant in a field different than my own. One is a church consultant who is two decades ahead of me in experience and the other is a church leader with a ministry model that I want to learn more about. My only cost for these meetings will be travel which is a small price to pay for the value of learning.

Who could you learn from in 2012? Pick up the phone and be prepared with a compelling case of why they should invest time with you.

You can follow more of Will’s thoughts and updates on Twitter.

Too busy to read?

2012-02-08T14:32:11Z

Last week was pretty typical. Once again, I received several “must read” books in the mail. They are sitting on my desk with some other books that I’m trying to find time to read. You have probably found yourself in a similar situation. It wouldn’t surprise me to discover that you have ten to twenty unfinished books on your Kindle. We all want to read more. Unfortunately, we live in a fast-paced world with limited time.

Recently, I heard about a group called Leaders Book Summaries. They summarize books for busy leaders. The group was started by Dave Frederick. Dave is a pastor who believes in the church and leadership. He knows that your time is very limited so he reviews a couple of books every month and then sends subscribers helpful 10-20 page summaries. He also provides 2-page super summaries.

Dave’s team makes it easy for you to stay relevant and up-to-date in a timely manner. Leaders Book Summaries also helps you stop wasting time reading marginal books. Instead, they carefully sort through page after page of content to ensure that you receive the most beneficial information from each book.

Dave issues thirty (30) summaries of leadership books each year. The books are written by secular and religious authors. Recent examples include…

Integrity by Henry Cloud
Talent is Never Enough by John Maxwell
The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive by Patrick Lencioni
On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis

A subscription is only about $6 a month (cheaper if you pay for an entire year in advance). For the price of three hard-back books, you can receive 30 high quality book summaries.

Leaders Book Summaries is currently offering a free one-month trial for our blog readers. Save time and money as you grow your leadership skills!

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This is a sponsored post from Leaders Book Summaries, one of my ministry partners on TonyMorganLive.com

Sifted: 20 leaders in 20 days

2012-02-07T13:01:00Z

There’s something new happening at storiesofsifting.com this week. Make sure to check it out. Today they launched a really cool 20-day campaign of daily devotionals based on the theme “sifted.” The word “sifted” means accelerated spiritual growth in times of trouble. The 20 leaders in 20 days devotions are essays on 20 Bible leaders (Paul, Noah, David, etc.) The stories are written in Max Lucado story format by a professional writer. The collection of the stories and similar essays from national leaders will be packaged into a free eBook in the next few months.

Leaders can participate by:

visiting the stories of sifting web-site each day via http://storiesofsifting.com
subscribing to the sifted RSS feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/sifting
subscribing to the Exponential RSS feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/exponential

I will also be teaching a couple of workshops at this year’s Exponential Conference on April 23-26 in Orlando, FL. Hope to see you there.

Stop & Start 2012: Mike Foster

2012-02-06T18:57:16Z

Mike Foster

As part of my series on things leaders should stop and start doing, I connected with Mike Foster. Mike is a speaker, author, and consultant helping people live and tell a better story. He is the Co-founder of “People of the Second Chance” a radical grace movement made up of activists, artists and imperfectionists. He serves on the Executive Team of PlainJoe Studios and is the author of “Gracenomics: Unleash The Power of Second Chance Living.” He lives in Southern California with his beautiful bride and his 2 young children. Here are Mike’s thoughts on shifts leaders should consider making in the new year.

Stop trying to be what others expect you to be.

I know very few leaders at peace with who they are and where they are at in their life and career. Too many of us are privately and publicly clawing, scratching and slaving our ways to “just a little bit more” and “just a little bit better.” The stupid game of managing our reputations and putting forth the best versions of ourselves is flat out exhausting.

Perhaps this year we can commit to finishing last in the rat race and stop wasting so much emotional energy trying to be what others expect us to be. I think Steve Jobs put it best, “Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” There is only one authentic version of you, so this year be that version.

Start listening, hearing and reflecting.

We live in a broadcast society. The noise level has never been so high. A constant stream of words and ideas are being shared. TV, Twitter, Facebook, Activists, Pulpits, iChats and debates have conditioned us to speak, say, proclaim and talk. Oh my, do we love to talk!

Unfortunately, we have lost the art of actually listening, hearing and reflecting. Maybe this year we can practice listening and give the beautiful gift of actually hearing each other.

When you want to speak…pause. When you’re in a meeting and feel the burning need to fill the quiet space with a new idea…stop. When you’re counseling someone in crisis…refrain from jumping to give the solutions. Let’s slow down…lean in…and listen to each other’s stories.

You can follow more of Mike’s thoughts and updates on Twitter.

Stop & Start 2012: Dave Travis

2012-02-05T21:58:03Z

Dave Travis

As part of the current series addressing shifts leaders should consider making this year, I connected with Dave Travis. Dave is currently the Managing Director of Leadership Network. He is a frequently cited source in various media outlets including – AP, WSJ, CNN, New York Times, CBS, various metro dailies and has appeared on NBC nightly news. Dave lives in Atlanta and Sky Valley, GA. Here’s our interview:

TONY: What’s one thing that leaders and/or organizations (businesses, churches, non-profits, etc.) should consider stopping in 2012?

DAVE: Stop doing things that are not contributing to 80% of your results. These things naturally add up over time. Our habits and practices must always be changing. Many past successful actions are no longer yielding the same results. Part of this is due to the natural law of diminishing returns. Be willing to lay those things aside and devote more time and energy to actions that are making positive contributions.

TONY: What’s one thing that leaders and/or organizations (businesses, churches, non-profits, etc.) should consider stopping in 2012?

DAVE: Focus on the vital few things that yield the highest results for you personally, for your team and for the organization. You will know what to do to achieve personal results but you will need feedback from your team and organization on how to positively impact these areas.

You can follow more of Dave’s thoughts and updates on Twitter.

Stop & Start 2012: Penelope Trunk, Sam Rainer and Maurilio Amorim

2012-02-02T16:19:40Z

As part of my series on things leaders should stop and start doing, I connected with Penelope Trunk, Sam Rainer, and Maurilio Amorim.

Penelope Trunk

Penelope is co-founder of Brazen Careerist, a career management tool for next-generation professionals. Here are her thoughts on shifts leaders should consider making in the new year:

Stop dumping human resource problems in human resource departments.

Start disbanding the human resource department and make hiring managers take responsibility for their department’s churn rate and their own ability to build a network of high-potential people who want to work for them.

Sam Rainer

Sam is a pastor, writer, speaker and researcher. He is president of Rainer Research, a research and consulting firm dedicated to providing answers for better church health. Here are his thoughts on shifts leaders should consider making in the new year:

Stop condoning processes that make your life as a leader easier but stifle the creativity of your followers.

Start creating a climate for your followers to hold you accountable for specific goals. Dual accountability is one of the keys to a successful leader-follower relationship.

Maurilio Amorim

Maurilio is the CEO of The A Group, a media, technology and branding firm in Brentwood, TN. He consults with some of the country’s largest ministries, leading churches and Christian publishers. Here are his thoughts on shifts leaders should consider making in the new year:

Stop trying to get incrementally better at doing what you do by tweaking products and service.

Start dreaming up something that could be a true “game changer” for your business or ministry. Create something that captures people’s hearts and imaginations instead of striving for a 5 to 10% bump in revenue or attendance.

tonymorganlive.com

Check out these great ministry resources!

Stop & Start 2012: Dan Reiland, Brad Lomenick and Dave Ferguson

Stop & Start 2012: Josh Griffin

Stop & Start 2012: Will Mancini

Too busy to read?

Sifted: 20 leaders in 20 days

Stop & Start 2012: Mike Foster

Top 10 Posts from January 2012

Stop & Start 2012: Dave Travis

Stop & Start 2012: Penelope Trunk, Sam Rainer and Maurilio Amorim