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Small Group Photo
Adaptive Leadership

A Small Group Model that Centers on What is Life-Giving

Several years ago some Australian friends of mine (Deb and Alan Hirsch) introduced our staff to an image that has easily become the most prominent metaphor for how we describe our faith community. The story they told was about the way many ranchers contain their flocks and herds…
Newsletter Wide Photos3
Adaptive Leadership

Looking for Laborers – The Lead Ministers’ Role in Finding the Next Generation of Ministers

Sometimes it comes through email. Sometimes it’s a phone call. The basic question is the same. “This is (insert name) at (you pick) Christian Church. We are looking to hire a (you pick) minister. Do you have any names for me?” I have received plenty of emails and…
Money and Ministry
Adaptive Leadership

Money, Ministry, and Church Leadership

How can we talk about church finances in a healthy way? Let’s face it, it is a sensitive topic to bring up in a church. Having said that, in the past twelve years, hundreds of congregations in the United States have permanently closed their doors due to lack of funds.
Small Plant Header
Adaptive Leadership

Flourishing in the First Five Years of Ministry

Researcher Matt Bloom begins Flourishing in Ministry, his work on pastoral wellbeing, with the story of Carolyn. Carolyn discovered a love for theology and ministry in college and switched vocational paths from medicine to ministry. Her time in…
Leaves changing from green to bright red. Looking up from inside the tree.
Adaptive Leadership

Everything is Changing: The Five Stages of Transition

Dr. Robert Hull, Professor Emeritus of New Testament, used to give incoming students this advice, “Live your life here while you are here.” This is good and helpful advice, but it is also hard to do. When we enter a state of transition—especially a new stage in life—we cling to…
Tree Trunk
Adaptive Leadership

Embracing Aging

In a picture from the fall of 1974, I am standing next to my father outside the dormitory as my parents are about to leave me to begin my first year of college. As part of the “Baby Boom Generation” (born between 1946 and 1964), I was just one of…
Communion Table
Adaptive Leadership

Community Starts in the Heart

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. -Matt. 5:8 Pray without ceasing. -1 Thess. 5:16 “Community starts in the heart.” Could there be a more Hallmark way of talking about cultivating community? Maybe not. As Henri…
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Adaptive Leadership

Conflicting Formation

A conflict begins—disagreement, debate, dispute—a tinderbox of ideas and agendas generating sparks directly proportional to the force of the argument and the resistance encountered: Which side are you on? Who do they think they are? Can’t they see how wrong it is? Why do we even have to discuss a…
A nighttime gathering under strung lights, with three people present around a table
Adaptive Leadership

Need Creativity? Introduce Play.

About twenty years ago, a supervisor shared with me the idea of “work hard, play hard.” Those words hang emblazoned in gold on my wall as a reminder to both myself and my teammates that those words matter. Sure, hard work is important and so too is play. Pastors leading…
Bags of food for the needy from The Table, a ministry of Woodland Christian Church
Adaptive Leadership

Building a Table for Those Who Need It

Some years ago, I was working for Marriott and assisting with setup prior to opening a new hotel in Abingdon. A small crew of men from Honduras were tasked with facing the front of the building with rock. They brought with them a massive load of thin, flat rocks which…