Source: Business Leadership and the Church

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Source: How Do I Discern a Call to Church Planting?

The post How Do I Discern a Call to Church Planting? appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By: UnSeminary

Welcome to this week’s edition of the unSeminary podcast. We’re talking with Ken Costa, the founder of God At Work and author of four books including his latest, Joseph of Arimathea. He is with us today to talk about listening and leading in this season.

Stop and listen. // Right now we’re dealing with a lot of pivotal events in history and the church isn’t insulated from what’s going on in the world. 1 Chronicles 12:32 says that the men of Issachar understood the times and knew what to do. Consider very carefully that we’re drawn together as a mixture of reason and revelation. It’s not enough to be a sociologist, guess the social trends and try to get ahead of them. There is a revelation from God in what is happening and He is trying to grab our attention. We must stop and listen.Look outside your lens. // Decisions have to be made in the knowledge that we don’t have enough facts by ourselves. We need to pull together the insights that we can from the world around us with analytical tools while also pursuing God for discernment. Draw together a small group of people who would represent those two areas of reason and revelation and listen to what they’re saying. Discernment needs to happen in the context of community.Using discernment in leadership. // Discernment is a gift of the Spirit and is about asking the right questions. It’s also a process rather than something instantaneous that we can Google to find answers. Keep a posture of listening by submitting to God, reading Scripture, and trying to recognize God’s voice. Look forward in faith as you make forward projections.Walk by faith. // Be careful about trying to lay down the next three-year plan for your church and rushing back to the old days. Instead keep short term plans and constantly evaluate them against real time changes. Ask where is the Spirit of God moving? Where is it changing? Be ready to change with it. Flexibility is paramount in adapting to today’s world. Wise pastors will be living in contracting horizons in which they know what they’re doing for a short period of time (ex. a three-month plan instead of a three-year plan).Ordinary matters. // Ken’s book Joseph of Arimathea: The Extraordinary Calling Ordinary People reminds us that ordinary matters and that small acts of faithfulness can lead to astounding influence and impact. Joseph was a secret disciple who didn’t express his faith until he was forced to. He didn’t know how the story was going to end, and yet he was faithful in his calling to bury Christ. Like Joseph, leaders and pastors are experiencing a “silent Saturday” time during the pandemic, but it will give way to a resurrection celebration.

You can learn more about Ken and his book at www.kencosta.com.

Thank You for Tuning In!

There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally!

Lastly, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live!

Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Carey Nieuwhof

Surrounding yourself with other high capacity leaders is so important right now. When you’re well connected, you can put meaning to content and make well-informed decisions.

Carey Nieuwhof created The Leader’s Circle in March 2020, an inner circle of high capacity leaders who have direct access to him and to one another. If you want to stop leading alone and start leading together, apply now to join The Leader’s Circle.

Source: The Extraordinary Calling of Ordinary People to Lead in This Season with Ken Costa

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by NewChurches.com: In Episode 467 of the NewChurches Q&A Podcast, Daniel and Ed discuss discerning a call for church planting.

“I’m slowly trying to discern whether or not I am called to be a church planter. What do you suggest as when to ask a pastor for training or what to do?”

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

Why an assessment tool is helpful
How to connect with church leaders about church planting

 Shareable Quotes (#NewChurches):

“If your community are positive about you going into the ministry, then the next step is to see if you have the wiring to do so.” – @edstetzer
“There’s probably a fork in the road coming: do I go get more education or do I plant?” – @edstetzer
“First, explore if your church wants to send you out.” – @danielsangi
“If you are trying to discern if you are called to plant a church, and you discern that it’s a yes, don’t assume it will happen right away.” – @danielsangi
“Take the CPCA as a pre-assessment, and then take a full assessment at a church planter assessment center.” – @edstetzer
“Help your children see that part of the Christian life is that sometimes God calls you to move.” – @edstetzer
“If you are wrestling with this, lay it before the Lord and invite other people into that discernment process.” – @danielsangi

Recommended Resources:

Take the Church Planter Candidate Assessment
Learn more about NAMB
Learn more about the NAMB Church Planter Assessment
Read Planting Missional Churches by Ed Stetzer and Daniel Im

Help us Multiply the Mission:

Please subscribe
Leave a rating and review on iTunes
Ask a question by clicking Send Voicemail on the right hand side of NewChurches.com
If you’re on a phone or a tablet, then go to www.speakpipe.com/newchurches to download the app and record your message
When you’re recording, introduce yourself and your context in about 15 seconds and then record your question for 30 seconds

This Episode’s Sponsor:

For more than 25 years, Portable Church® has helped thousands of churches launch strong and thrive in a mobile setting. They design custom solutions that fit each budget, vision, and venue. Everything you need to launch a mobile church — an inviting worship space, kids ministry areas, welcome spaces, storage cases, etc — all in a system refined to make it fast, easy & fun for the weekly volunteer teams.

The post Episode 467: Am I Called to Be a Church Planter? appeared first on NewChurches.com – Church Planting, Multisite, and Multiplication.

Source: Episode 467: Am I Called to Be a Church Planter?

The post Episode 467: Am I Called to Be a Church Planter? appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by NewChurches.com: In Episode 429 of the NewChurches Q&A Podcast, Daniel and Ed discuss discerning your preferences from the Lord’s leading.

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

What causes most pastors to be driven
The importance of an ongoing relationship with the Lord

Shareable Quotes (#NewChurches):

“Realize you can’t separate those things until the other side of eternity.” – @edstetzer
“It’s so easy to entwine what our preferences are and speak that back onto God and say God has led us this way.” – @danielsangi
“Megachurch pastors are often 3s or 8s and it’s interesting to think about that and the drivenness of 3s and 8s.” – @danielsangi
“Are you continuing to place yourself under the Word of the Lord?” – @danielsangi
“One of the most important things that we need to do on an ongoing basis is making sure we have set aside time to connect with the Lord.” – @danielsangi
“What are you doing to make sure you are connecting to God on a regular basis?” – @danielsangi
“Knowing that helps you to say less of me, more of him consistently.” – @edstetzer

Additional Resources:

Learn more about the Enneagram

Help us Multiply the Mission:

Please subscribe
Leave a rating and review on iTunes
Ask a question by clicking Send Voicemail on the right hand side of NewChurches.com
If you’re on a phone or a tablet, then go to www.speakpipe.com/newchurches to download the app and record your message
When you’re recording, introduce yourself and your context in about 15 seconds and then record your question for 30 seconds

This Episode’s Sponsor: Every church must be equipped to respond well in the initial stages of learning about instances of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse. That is why the Southern Baptist Convention, LifeWay, and ERLC partnered together to create Becoming a Church that Cares Well for the Abused. This training curriculum of a handbook and 13 videos brings together top experts from various fields to help volunteers and leaders understand and implement the best practices for handling the variety of abuse scenarios at church, school, or ministry. You can access this free training at ChurchCares.com.

The post Episode 429: Discerning the Lord’s Leading appeared first on NewChurches.com – Church Planting, Multisite, and Multiplication.

Source: Episode 429: Discerning the Lord’s Leading

The post Episode 429: Discerning the Lord’s Leading appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Carey Nieuwhof: Leadership would be so much easier, the saying goes, if it wasn’t for people.

And topping of the list of difficult people to work with or lead is toxic people.

The hard part is, as much as we might wish it was otherwise, toxic people are everywhere.

Two questions spring up almost immediately when the subject of toxic people arises.

How do you spot them?

How do you deal with them?

It’s critical in leadership to think through the people aspect of what you do. I know it’s easy for visionaries to think success lies in ideas, or operations people to believe that progress lies in execution, but the key to getting anything done is always people.

What you accomplish in leadership is often most powerfully shaped by you allow into leadership. If you let toxic people in, you pay a staggering price.

My guess is not everyone will like the direction or language in this post. I get that.

However, every day gifted leaders quit toxic cultures, toxic bosses and leave toxic workplaces. Every single day, amazing businesses, churches, causes, and not-for-profits miss their mission because someone allowed toxic leaders sabotage the work.

And every day, good people go home discouraged and defeated because nobody had the guts to deal with the toxic people at work. If you don’t think our culture suffers from toxicity (and even evil), just read the headlines or scroll your feeds for a few minutes. Yep. We do.

So with all that in mind, here are 7 insights that have helped me immensely in figuring out how to spot and then how to deal with toxic people.

What you accomplish in leadership is often most powerfully shaped by who you allow into leadership. If you let toxic people in, you pay a staggering price.Click To Tweet

1. Understand that basically there are three kinds of people

It probably seems too simple to divide the world into three kinds of people, but try as he might to avoid it, clinical psychologist and best-selling author Henry Cloud helpfully points out in his book, Necessary Endings that there are essentially three kinds of people in life and leadership.

Wise People

Foolish People

Evil People

Essentially the difference between wise people and foolish people comes down to how they deal with truth.

Wise people encounter truth and change as a result. For example, after getting a speeding ticket, wise people learn and slow down. After being told their words hurt someone, a wise person will try to understand why, apologize and work hard not to do it again. They’re open, not defensive, they learn and grow and tend not to make the mistakes over and over again.

Foolish people encounter truth and don’t change. Instead, they try to adjust the truth so they don’t have to adjust to it. Confronted with a problem, a foolish person will deny, blame, minimize, generate excuses and do anything in his or her power to avoid having to deal with the reality.

They don’t learn and rarely grow. As Cloud’s frequent collaborator John Townsend puts it, foolish people have a flat learning curve. As a result, they tend to wreak a lot of havoc and cause damage in their own lives and the lives of others.

Foolish behaviour means some broke people will always be broke, some chronic procrastinators will always be late and some people keep running into the same problems again and again. They may mean well, but they’re lack of learning means they keep making things hard for themselves and others.

Finally, as hard as it is to admit, some people really are evil. They intend to harm you. They want to take you down. And as hard as it is to believe, they don’t have your best interests at heart and want to see you fail. I found it hard to accept this early on in leadership, but I’ve seen it often enough times to no longer dismiss it.

There are basically three kinds of people in the world: wise people, foolish people and evil people. The sooner you accept that, the easier it becomes to make progress.

So what do you do with this stark (and unpleaseant) truth?

There are basically three kinds of people in the world: wise people, foolish people and evil people. The sooner you accept that, the easier it becomes to make progress. Click To Tweet

2. Realize That Some People Won’t Change

At some point in our lives, all of us behave wisely, foolishly and with evil intent.

I know I’ve spoken words that I intended to hurt, and when I do that, I’m acting in an evil or toxic way. And sometimes I make the same mistake over and over again, and when I do, that’s foolish.

People who are generally wise sometimes do foolish things and mean things.

The good news with Cloud’s categories is that people do change with time and grow.

Evil people may have a change of heart and start helping not hurting, and when they do that, they can even become wise. Foolish people sometimes realize how much damage they do and decide to learn and grow.

But overall, most of us would have to admit that human beings fall into one of those three categories at any moment in life: you’re either generally wise, foolish or evil in your approach to life.

And that means, as much as you want to believe otherwise, and despite your coaching and encouragement, fools often remain fools and evil people remain committed to harming others.

Yep. I know. It sounds so judgmental and terrible and I resisted it for a long time too— resisted it to my peril and to the peril of the people I lead, may I add.

Henry Cloud admits it’s a tough pill to swallow:

“If you are a responsible and loving person, then you might assume that other people are like you—responsible and loving. They do the right thing, taking responsibility for themselves, for their mistakes, for their work. And they care about other people and how their actions affect those people…So doesn’t it make sense that everyone else would be like you and really care? 

Sure, if you lived on Mars. But this is planet Earth. And if you are going to succeed in life and business, you need to succeed on this planet, not Mars.” (Henry Cloud, Necessary Endings)

So doesn’t it make sense that everyone else would be like you and really care? Sure, if you lived on Mars. But this is planet Earth. Click To Tweet

Just because someone can change doesn’t mean someone will change. That’s where your leadership and discernment come in.

So what’s next? You learn how to spot toxic people.

Just because someone can change doesn’t mean someone will change. Click To Tweet

3. Learn How to Spot Toxic People

I’m increasingly convinced one of a leader’s key tasks is to learn how to spot toxic people and take appropriate action.

In my view, both foolish people and evil people are toxic to your culture and mission.

Fools pollute things not because they’re trying to ruin things, but because they (for whatever reason) do tend to do it again and again.

Foolish leaders keep repeating their mistakes because they’re either convinced they’re right or oblivious to the fact that they’re wrong, regardless of the fact that others have pointed that out.

And evil people, well they meant to lie, harm and malign.

Foolish leaders are convinced they’re right or oblivious to the fact that they’re wrong, regardless of the fact that others have pointed that out. Click To Tweet

So how do you recognize the signs?

A few years ago I wrote a post outlining 6 early warning signs you’re dealing with a toxic person. You can read that post here.

I’m going to add a few more to the list I didn’t cover in that post. See if any resonate.

Behavior that’s ultimately toxic to your organization’s culture and mission include:

Making the same mistakes over and over again, despite frequent attempts to help them and ample time to correct the problem and change.
Self-absorption.
Lying.
Manipulation.
An unwillingness to listen to feedback.
Assigning blame.
Refusing to accept responsibility.
They’re never wrong.
Playing the victim.
Frequent anger.
Hidden agendas.
A critical spirit about anything they didn’t think of.
Gossip or malicious talk about other people.
Ignoring boundaries they or other people have set.
Passive-aggressive behavior (what happens to your face and what happens behind your back are very different).
Pursuing their own mission that’s different from the organization’s mission.

The list could be much longer, but this gives you a sampling of toxic behaviors that take people and missions under.

Naturally, we all exhibit some of the behavior listed above some of the time (we’re all human), but the wise realize what they did, correct course, change and grow.

If you allow toxic people into leadership, you can be sure a toxic culture will follow.

If you allow toxic people into leadership, you can be sure a toxic culture will follow.Click To Tweet

4. Take a Good Look in the Mirror

The first place to look for wisdom, foolishness, and evil in leadership is the least comfortable place to look: in the mirror.

I’ve been in senior leadership for over two decades. As much as I don’t want to admit it, it’s still true: my organization will only ever be as healthy as I am.

Ditto for you. Fight it all you want, but your organization will only ever be as healthy as you are as the leader.

Even if you’re not the senior leader, that’s true of the team you lead, the department you run, or the crew you manage. The health of the leader tends to determine the health of the team.

Your organization will only ever be as healthy as you are as the leader. The health of the leader tends to determine the health of the team.Click To Tweet

It’s hard to have a healthy organization if you don’t have a healthy leader.

So when you see foolish behavior or bad intentions inside you,  confess them and address them. Invite other people to give you feedback. Learn and grow.

Healthy leaders produce healthy teams. Unhealthy leaders don’t.

Healthy leaders produce healthy teams. Unhealthy leaders don’t.Click To Tweet

5. Limit Fools

So what do you do with foolish people?

Well, here’s the problem with foolish people at work. You only have so many hours in the day and so much energy. The problem with pouring your time and energy into foolish leaders is that after your coaching and help, they’re no better and you’re drained.

The problem with pouring your limited time and energy into foolish leaders is that after your coaching and help, they’re no better and you’re drained. Click To Tweet

What’s worse, is their repeated mistakes impact everybody around them and threaten the mistakes.

Does that mean you’ll have no fools at work? No. First, there’s an abundance of foolish people and behaviors. And second, I’m not sure that completely eliminating all fools from your life is a good idea. We should all have at least a small place in our life and leadership for building into others, even if sometimes that takes a little more grace and lot more time than we’d like.

What that does mean, though,  is that because your time is limited, you should limit your time with fools and be really careful who you hire and recruit.

The key to fools is to limit the number and limit their impact. Otherwise, the cost is simply too great. Whether they mean to do damage or not, foolish people can do a lot of damage.

It’s hard to build the future on people who have trouble navigating the present.

It’s hard to build the future on people who have trouble navigating the present.Click To Tweet

6. Eliminate Evil People

When it comes to evil people…people who want to wound, maim and undo you or your organization, there’s only once option: block those attempts. Get away and stay away.

Looking back on my leadership, I realize there were seasons where—for whatever reason—people wanted to take me out or take down our mission. It hasn’t happened often, but it has happened. Clear boundaries, firm decisions and consistent ‘no’s’ that block any attempts they make to undermine the mission are critical.

When it gets that serious, I always involve other leaders I trust to make sure that we really dealing with someone who intends to harm and that the boundaries we put in place make sense. On rare occasions, those boundaries have included the police.

And while my faith tells me to love my enemies, there are some instances where a person is best prayed for from a distance, not from up close.

Imagine reaching 100—or 1000 or 10,000 new people—in the next year if your mission continues. That’s what people who want to harm you threaten.

Taking the mission seriously means that, as a leader, you also have to take evil seriously. It’s actually that important.

Taking the mission seriously means that, as a leader, you also have to take evil seriously. Click To Tweet

7. Stack the Top of Your Organization With Wise People

You know how to get the healthiest team and how to best move the mission forward? Stack the top of your organization with as many wise people as you can find.

The top is critical (by that I mean your senior leaders, board and other key players) with as many wise leaders as possible.Look for honest, humble, growing leaders who love to learn and are open for feedback.

Teachability is a much greater ingredient in wisdom than IQ is. A humble, hungry, teachable leader will beat a smart leader any day. (Surprisingly, there are a lot of intelligent fools.)

Obviously, there’s a lot of work to do based on the points already covered, and a regular vigilance that you need to maintain in keeping threats at bay, but the secret is once you do that and stack the top of your organization with wise people, a natural buffer gets created.

Eventually, a multiplicity of wise leaders will help you create a healthy culture.

Here’s the truth about culture.

Create a deeply healthy culture and, over time, toxic people will leave. 

Why? Because a healthy culture spits out toxic people. Just like healthy bodies ward off disease, healthy cultures ward off toxic people.

Here’s the surprise. No one gets kicked out. When your culture is ultra-healthy, toxic people leave when they can’t get traction or validation.

Your long term investment and vigilance finally pay off in ways you never expected.

A healthy culture spits out toxic people. Here’s the surprise. No one gets kicked out. Toxic people just leave when they can’t get traction or validation. Click To Tweet

Ready to Get Healthier?

Exhausted thinking about how much work is ahead of you?

Good news. A small investment will pay huge dividends in getting you healthier and freeing up time to make your organization healthier.

I’d love to help you do that.

I’ve helped over 3000 leaders free up hundreds of hours each year and often 3 hours a day to do what they feel they never have time for and get healthier in the process. .

My High Impact Leader course, is my online, on-demand course designed to help you get time, energy and priorities working in your favour.

It’s perfect for leaders who feel like they never have enough time in the day to get the really important things done.

Many leaders who have taken it are recovering 3 productive hours a day.  That’s about 1000 hours of found time each year. That’s a lot of time for what matters most.

Here are what some alumni are saying about The High Impact Leader Course”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you for providing the course again. It has absolutely made an impact in my life and family already that I can’t even describe.” – Joel Rowland, Clayton County, North Carolina

“Just wow.  Thank you, thank you.” Dave Campbell,  Sioux Falls South Dakota

“A game-changer.” Pam Perkins,  Colorado Springs, Colorado

Curious? Want to beat overwhelm and have the time to reflect, rest and reinvent yourself?

Click here to learn more or get instant access.

What Are You Learning? 

I realize this approach probably seems tough, but tough beats the malaise and toxins that run through so many organizations these days.

If you want a little more nuance, I taught a four part series on eliminating toxic things and people from your life called Add, Follow, Block. You can watch it/listen here.

So…what are you learning about toxic people and a healthy workplace?

Scroll down and leave a comment!

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Source: How to Deal With Toxic People (7 Pro Tips)

The post How to Deal With Toxic People (7 Pro Tips) appeared first on Passion for Planting.