Preparing for a Senior Pastor Resignation
One day, you may have the conversation. This is one of those ultimate conversations in your ministry life. It may come out of the blue. You may have some signs it is coming. You may […]
5 HR Myths that Can Self Destruct Your Ministry
You heard the calling. You received the commission. You found the location. Your team is now gathered and serving the community, and God is moving in amazing ways! But then, you receive another call. The […]
Church Culture Tool from Vanderbloemen
How healthy is your team? Today, organizational culture is more important than ever in attracting and retaining the best team members. Vanderbloemen Search Group has a free Culture Tool to help. Get real answers about your […]
Chapelstreet Church Motivates Good Neighboring
A few weeks ago, Fletch had the pleasure to be with multisite Chapelstreet Church of Geneva, Illinois. While there, he saw a 10-page magazine, Neighbor, summer 2018 […]
10 Questions Church Leaders Should Ask—But Probably Aren’t
Questions have a curious function in the life of a leader. A good question can often propel us forward more than a great answer. Our roles in leading our churches requires us to not only […]
Speed Racers
Speed Racers are just getting started at 60 mph. Racers are built for speed, topping out at over 200 mpg. While you can go fast, it’s easy to run out of gas—or worse, crash!
At the 2018 […]
Managing Upward to a Board
The monthly board meeting is coming up on Tuesday night. The agenda is packed and you have key items to bring before the board. Your items could take thirty minutes to two hours to discuss! […]
Spiritual Trucks
Trucks are built solid. On a dirt road, you can easily drive from 30 to 60 miles per hour. On a paved road, a truck could top out at 100 mph. Trucks are built to […]
Soapbox Racers
Driving 80 miles per hour in a Soapbox Racer is absurd. You will quickly crash. Accelerate your Soapbox Racer from 10 mph up to 30 mph. You will rejoice at going 30 mph. But your main […]
Creating an Irresistible Workplace
Excerpt from Culture Wins: The Roadmap to an Irresistible Workplace
I’ll never forget the first time I hired someone and felt good about it. We shook hands over a cup of coffee, and I walked away […]
Want to Reach Millennials? Hire Millennials.
I have seen article after article about how to reach millennials in church, how to speak to them, how to create events for them … it just goes on and on. One thing […]
The XP and a Senior Pastor Transition
Below is a video from the Monday Morning Church Podcast, where Neil Miller interviews Executive Pastor David Fletcher. From David’s experience of being without a Senior Pastor for twenty months, he describes ten steps […]
Seven Productivity Tips Every Pastor Should Master
Do you arrive at work hoping to tackle your to-do list, only to slog to your car feeling defeated? Do you look back on your days and feel disappointed at how much time you wasted—or […]
Volunteer Hiring
Even this title, Volunteer Hiring, probably gets a lot of strange looks and you can hear the words, “You don’t hire volunteers, they volunteer. Their help is a service and a gift to you.” Their […]
From Business Executive to Executive Pastor
A variety of paths can lead to the role of executive pastor (or executive director) in a church. One of the most common is the businessperson who is already a volunteer leader in the church […]
Survival Skills for Managing Moral Failures Among Your Leaders
Ministry is more than numbers. Yet church leaders are, by nature, scorekeepers. We use dashboards to evaluate how well we’re doing at church. We use numbers to get to know one another at conferences. What […]
Why Churches Love to be Centralized
Think about your church for a minute. How are decisions made? Not the little ones, like who’s going to watch the two-year-olds next weekend, but the big ones: should we start that new ministry, how […]
Captivating Church Changers
It’s a dirty word in some circles. “They mostly grow by transfer.” This critique implies that the church is not reaching people with the gospel, just “stealing” people from other churches like TMobile does to […]
Four Types of Churches That Will Soon Die
Death is not a topic we enjoy. Death of churches is not a topic I enjoy. You see, I love the local church. I love it, despite its flaws, sins and hypocrisies. Jesus loves me […]
Organizing Selectively
“To organize or not to organize? That is the question.” While this may be a bad take-off on Shakespeare, it’s a key issue for second chair leaders. One possible response to this question is, “Don’t bother […]
Twelve Questions to Ask a Potential Church Secret Shopper
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a meeting with a pastor, told him what I do as a consultant and watched him perk up. I recently had a meeting with a Senior […]
Seven Keys to a Successful Church Event
From Back-to-School parties, to Thanksgiving outreaches, Christmas Eve candlelight services and more, churches host many events throughout the year. These special events are a great way to reach more people, disciple various groups within the […]
Two Vital Questions in Decision-Making
Few Christian leaders set out to promote or speak falsehood. I believe that falsehood among Christian leaders comes about more often by omission than commission (what is allowed to remain undone versus what is done […]
14 Leadership Principles from Amazon and How They Apply to Your Church
Amazon continues to be a force in our culture. In the run up to Christmas, they sold 426 items per second! I just finished reading Brad Stone’s fascinating study of Amazon called The Everything Store. […]
How to Lead Change in a Church
Do you want change? Most people will say they don’t. If they do, generally it’s limited to changing a small section of their lives. When it comes to our organizations, as well as our careers, change […]
Why the Apostle Paul Could Not Work at Your Church Today
“I wasn’t able to lead my church during the Christmas Eve service this year.”
It was just a few short weeks into the New Year and I was with a pastor friend from a neighboring community. […]
7 Key Principles for Leading a Meeting
You spend a great deal of money on team meetings. Add the salaries and benefits of everyone invited to a meeting. Divide that total by 2,080, the number of work hours in a year. You […]
The Seven Essential Attributes of Exceptional Executive Pastors
Having an excellent Executive Pastor can dramatically increase the health and growth of a church. Similar to the relationship between a COO and a CEO, an Executive Pastor oversees all administrative and operational aspects of […]
Exit Interviews: Revealing Stories of Why People are Leaving the Church
Why are people leaving your church? Every church has a back door. But do you know why they are leaving? Have you ever done exit interviews? A number of years ago, Bill Hendricks wrote a […]
Leadership Challenges of Leaders in Industry and the Church
Throughout my many years of ministry, I have had the opportunity to coach executives of Fortune 500 companies and church leaders. My vantage point is fascinating; I enjoy the challenge of identifying best practices that […]
Strategic Alignment Unleashes the Church
While circulating in our church atrium, greeting people as they strolled in for Sunday worship, a woman came up to me and timidly asked, “Do you remember me?” I had to apologize for not recognizing […]
My Top Ten Tips of Advice to a Church Walking Through a Scandal
Sadly, it appears church after church is having to respond to immoral actions of pastors falling from grace. It deeply grieves me and causes me to really hurt for those churches. Young Christians and seekers […]
The Secret of Winning Senior Pastor-Executive Pastor Relationships
What ingredients make an effective senior leadership team? There’s no better person to ask than Jimmy Collins, past president of Chick-fil-A. Collins was second-in-command under Truett Cathy, the man who invented the chicken sandwich. Together, […]
The Hidden Sources of Church Conflict
Pastor, can you pinpoint the hidden sources of conflict in your congregation? If not, how will you manage them? Thankfully, you’re not left to your own devices on this one! The Bible lays it out pretty clearly.
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News Release: Succession Planning Video Library
Are you a ministry leader looking for practical insight and direction on the topic of succession planning? If so, I would like to make you aware of a new resource offered by Succession Framework℠. They […]
How to Deliver Bad News
We all love to deliver good news—a successful event, a budget overage, finishing a building project early and under budget, or a ministry initiative that exceeded expectations. But what do you do when you need […]
Five Commandments of Pastoral Succession Planning
The truth is that we are all interim pastors. There will come a day when you are no longer the pastor of your church. The key to a successful pastoral succession plan is to start […]
Make the Most of Your Meetings
Meetings. And lots of them! You know what I’m talking about. Meetings are a reality of life and leadership. We’ve all been in meetings that were engaging, stimulating, and productive. And we’ve all been in […]
Six Secrets for Fulfilling Vision
This month my vision for serving and supporting leaders took a huge step! For several years, I have been working toward launching an annual event for business, government, non-profit, and ministry leaders. Like most endeavors, […]
Overcoming Irrelevance
Moving from the rural Midwest to Southern California changes your definition of “normal.” When the move includes connecting with a church that’s twice the size of the town you moved from, the redefinition demands a […]
Book Excerpt: Strange Leadership
My top two spiritual gifts are leadership and administration, so the subject of organization is something I love and gravitate toward. If you have the spiritual […]
Church Alignment—Can Your Ship Take You Where You Want to Go?
Each of us has big things we want to accomplish. At the end of the day, some of us accomplish those things. Others do not. Why? It all boils down to alignment. Simply put, alignment […]
Meetings Are Lame: Seven Suggestions on Making Them Better
The majority of meetings are lame. They suck the time, energy, and productivity right out of you and your team. Plus, too many ministries have way too many meetings to begin with. Realistically, we are […]
Eight Kinds of People Who Should Not Serve on a Church Board
Not everyone is qualified to serve on a church board and choosing the wrong people condemns the board to dishealth and frustration for years to come. It is easy to put someone on a board […]
Doing More Ministry with Less—While Still Keeping Boundaries
Recently, Matt Branaugh of Christianity Today interviewed David Fletcher, asking a variety of questions for Executive Pastors, including his thoughts on compensation increases, health care coverage, giving trends, staff ratios, and the importance of having […]
Five Deficiencies That Stifle Church Growth
Emerging research tells us that successful turnaround pastors differ from their colleagues in temperament and emotional intelligence. The data imply an easy way for pastors to avoid the many challenges of a growing church. All […]
Ten Common Vision and Momentum Killers
First of all, I believe momentum is usually a byproduct of great vision … and great vision needs momentum to move forward. There is definitely a relationship between vision and momentum. For context, I define […]
Every Single Problem is a Leadership Problem
Recently, I was talking to Kevin Peck, the Lead Pastor of Austin Stone Church. Back in 2005, they were a church of about 800 in worship. Now they have six campuses with about 6,000 or […]
Book Review: ReLaunch
Before even opening this book, the title caught my eye. Whenever we think of words with the prefix “re” before it—words like review, rewind, re-do—we automatically […]
Book Review: The Effective Executive
Peter Drucker’s goal in The Effective Executive seems so simple; as he states in the preface, “The subject of this book is managing oneself for effectiveness.” […]
Strategic Stewardship—So the Bucks Won’t Stop Here
It has been said that there are three kinds of leaders—the kind that makes things happen, the kind that watches things happen, and the kind that asks, “What just happened?” The shifting economy demands that […]
Seven Reasons Why You’re Not Getting a Stage Announcement
One of the most challenging things in service planning for pastors and communication leaders can be managing stage announcements. Without a system and strategy in place, you can quickly find yourself stuck in a rhythm […]
Improve the Chances of “Winning” the Year
As an avid sports fan, one aspect of coaching that I always look forward to evaluating is halftime adjustments. These adjustments can be the difference between victory and defeat, especially in closely-contested match-ups of two […]
How to Communicate Effectively on Any Budget
Do you want to be more effective as a church? Few things will give you a better return on your investment than improving communications. Communications isn’t about spending a lot of money. Rather it’s about […]
Book Review: Sticky Teams
Up until now, I have for no good reason avoided reading Sticky Teams by Larry Osborne. Yes, I had heard it was excellent. Okay, more than […]
Funding the Vision: The Role of Clarity in Financial Reporting
When it comes to funding your ministry and reporting on the finances of your church, few questions matter more. Making clarity your passion as you communicate your church’s finances equips the people of your church […]
Book Review: Deep & Wide
Andy Stanley is fed up. He is fed up with churches that are more interested in protecting the way “we have always done […]
It is Not Good … But It Can Be
In The E-Myth Revisited, Michael Gerber recognizes three primary roles in any successful business: the entrepreneur, the manager, and the technician. He describes these roles but is more concerned that small businesses fulfill all three and […]
Planning to Weather the Storm
The only good thing I can say about hurricanes is, unlike many other of nature’s forces, they give you some time to prepare. Preparation, however, means different things to different people—some stay, some evacuate, some shutter […]
Becoming a 360 Degree Leader
The question we all have as we lead is how can we make a lasting impact. What I have learned over the years is that to make a lasting impact, you have to learn how to […]
How to Budget in a Changing Economy
For years, budget planning followed the same pattern for many ministries: Review last year’s budget, gather all wish lists, and increase the budget accordingly. Then we were hit with the worst recession in decades, and […]
“Second Chair” Leadership: How to be a Superstar Executive Pastor
I’ve been somebody’s “Number Two Guy” for the majority of my career. I’ve been someone’s “Commander Riker” to their “Captain Picard” for almost twenty years. And, yes, I realize I’m dating myself with this analogy—Star […]
Overtime and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
Do you believe in slavery? Because we believe in the dignity of all people, we have enacted various laws to protect our workers. Whether you want to read this article or not, you need to! […]
Boundaries for Youth Leaders
It seems like a regular occurrence that I hear about a youth pastor or a youth leader messing up with a teenager sexually. It is sad, but it is the reality. The reality is simple. […]
Newly in Charge of Unresolved Issues
When I accepted the role of Executive Pastor at EvFree Fullerton two months ago, everybody forgot to tell me that I would be the staff contact on the Worship Center remodeling project. I started getting […]
14 Leadership Lessons from an Orchestra Director
I think everybody has a certain perception of symphony orchestra directors, especially the top-end professionals. People probably view them as suave, sophisticated, jet-setters who have a pretty cushy job (yeah, sure, that’s me!)
While that may […]
If Nothing Changes … Nothing Changes!
Change is hard. No, I mean real change is really hard! Oh sure, we all dream, imagine or wish that something in our lives will be different or better tomorrow; but taking the steps necessary […]
The Power of Being Direct
You know the feeling. Something is wrong. You’re the leader. You really should say something about it. But confronting someone is the last thing you feel like doing. You consider your options. Perhaps you can […]
The Heart of an Executive Pastor
“God has blessed me with the heart of a pastor, and I love people,” says Olson, 48, who joined the Lake Avenue Church staff last summer after eighteen years in ministry at Rolling Hills Covenant […]
Vision Statement
XPastor tries to help churches by providing some of the essentials for running a church—items like job descriptions, employment applications, review forms and policies. Below is the Vision Statement of Northwest Bible Church of Dallas, […]
Deacon Policy
XPastor tries to help churches by providing some of the essentials for running a church—items like job descriptions, employment applications, review forms and policies. Below is the 2001 Deacon Policy of Northwest Bible Church of […]
Four Questions for the Fall
Your ministry plans for the fall are either in full “implementation mode” or you are up to your upper thighs in alligators! As I write, our church is in the midst of two weeks of […]
Change or Die
In America we have the popular maxim, Change or Die. Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun, showing our popular American phrase has its roots in Greek antiquity. Heraclitus said, “Everything changes, πάντα χωρεῖ.” […]
Iron Leadership
In the early ’90s, I was shepherding a small Baptist church in rural Canada. In those days, being single, I lived with various families in the community. One family who owned their own meat production business […]
The Ten Ingredients for Creating a Mountaintop Experience
I recently stumbled upon something quite remarkable. My son’s marching band had just performed its last show of the season. They were in serious finals competition with the best bands from the Pacific […]
The Spiritual DNA of a Church
David Fletcher wrote this when he was an Executive Pastor at Grace Covenant Church of Austin, Texas. By writing down your church’s “Spiritual DNA,” you are putting in print what may only be oral tradition. […]
Generational Leadership: Our Success is Our People
What would you say your most valuable asset is? For most leaders, the answer is (of course) their people. But as “twentysomethings” share the boardroom with Vietnam veterans, assumptions fly about what the other person […]
Servant Leadership in the Life of an XP
Remember the old Beatle’s song—All You Need Is Love?” Who knew then that John Lennon and the rest of the Beatles were all over what the Bible has to say to us as leaders? As Executive […]
Leadership on Evangelism
John Maxwell says that everything rises or falls on leadership. Let’s test that idea on the topic of evangelism and see if it’s true. I have worked alongside pastors and ministry leaders my entire adult career. It […]
A Biblical View of Administrative Leadership
Church administration is an organizational approach that translates the purposes of God revealed to church leadership into effective ministry that reaches the unique goals and purposes of the church. Administration is ministry, not methods; people, […]
Change is Inevitable: Who Likes It?
It is said that change is an inevitable part of life; it is inescapable. My experience can certainly attest to this old adage. As Gail Sheehy once said, “If we don’t change, we don’t […]
Types of Leadership: Vision, Management, Governance
Churches just might be the least clarified organizations in our society; I believe one of the reasons is a lack of understanding among these three types of leadership—vision, management, and governance. Recently, God has given me numerous opportunities […]
God-Honoring Worship Changes
Autumn Ridge Church recently celebrated its 150th anniversary; this has provided a wonderful opportunity for us—to remember with gratitude those who have come before us and to look forward to the ways in which God […]
Leading Through Change Without Splitting the Church
Change—it really is hard. There are some words in church that are just inflammatory. Uttering the word “change” is the church equivalent of yelling shark at the beach. One of the reasons may be that many times, […]
The Ultimate Leadership Paradox
Whether you realize it or not, being in the “second chair” is the ultimate leadership paradox. You are a leader: mentoring staff members, overseeing the day-to-day operations, and ensuring that the organization is running smoothly. […]
Four Characteristics of Growing Churches
I caught a flight out of Denver, still celebrating the ministry impact that was clearly evident at the church I had just visited. As I traveled, I began to compare and contrast it with other […]
The Executive Pastor: Key to Future Leader Development
If you ask most Executive Pastors to show you their radars, they’d look a lot like FAA snapshots charting planes in flight across the country. While I know you’re as stressed as a control tower […]
Issues with Women in Ministry
A seasoned pastor offered an honest comment as I opened a workshop on the topic of developing a written church Position Statement regarding women in ministry: “This is the burning issue in my church. My congregation and the […]
Leading and Managing through Change
I’m sure you’ve had unexpected changes that came into your life over the years, some which were good, while others were not so good. As you face these changes, some of which may have felt […]
Why Isn’t Our Church Growing?
I have had the opportunity to visit many churches over the last several months, both in the DC metropolitan area and in different parts of the country. Many of these churches are filled with good […]
Strategic Planning for Leadership
In Harvard Business Review, Michael Porter underlines the importance of strategic planning for leaders when he writes, “If you want to make a difference as a leader, you’ve got to make time for strategic planning.” […]
Knowing God in Times of Risk
Warning! Danger! Hazards ahead! God at work! Live at your own risk! Risk. The only way we can know God. You see it from one end of the Bible to the other. Look at the names in the Hebrews 11 Hall […]
Succession Thoughts
Jeff Jones succeeded Gene Getz—the founder of the Bible Fellowship Church movement—as the Senior Pastor of the Bible Fellowship Church in Dallas. Their transition was a smooth, well-planned process. Below are some thoughts from Jeff […]
Will the Role of Deacon Fade Into the Sunset?
Ingleside Baptist Church is not your typical Southern Baptist church … anymore. Ingleside is a large, healthy, growing, and progressive church in Macon, Georgia. Macon is a small-ish town in central Georgia with a population of approximately […]
A Deacon Ministry on Steroids
“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons” (Phil. 1:1, NIV, emphasis added). The role of deacon varies from congregation to congregation in churches across America. […]
The Fruits of Intentional Planning
It’s that time of year again when, as a church staff, we prayerfully consider how we are going to take our vision as a church to the next level—how will we divide and allocate our […]
Exit of a Founding Pastor
One of the greatest challenges in the business world is the exit of the founder of a corporation. Consider the words of Professor Noam Wasserman of the Harvard Business School: “My research focuses on founder frustrations in […]
How Vision Sets the Budget: A Glimpse at the Largest Church in America
With anguish in his voice, Bill said, “It’s budget time again at our church. I get so tired of working through these numbers. The pile of papers seems endless. How do I get off of […]
The Paperless Office—Not Even a Paperclip
Julie was an endearing, young missionary who had a fantastic ministry that I was dying to learn about. Julie came into my office and was on the verge of tears. I asked her what was […]
Changing Our Church Name
Richland Bible Church is located in the small West Michigan town of Richland, about nine miles northeast of Kalamazoo. The church was organized in March of 1983, when 75 people came together to form a […]