Research Shows Half of Pastors Don’t Believe Their Preaching is “Strong”
You read that correctly.
This headline on Barna’s site caught my attention: “49% of U.S. pastors say the preaching at their church is ‘strong.”
Two quick observations before we address the content.
1. They asked pastors if they believed THEIR preaching was strong. I don’t know about you, but I’m the worst evaluator of myself. Asking pastors how they feel about their preaching seems like an odd sample.
2. More alarming, only 49% of pastors believe their preaching is strong! That’s the worst part. If we surveyed the congregations in their churches, I suspect that number wouldn’t be higher. Odds are 49% is an exaggerated metric of success.
The question is what can be done about this. How can pastors who feel they aren’t strong in the pulpit get stronger, and how can the pastors who wrongfully evaluate their strength improve?
The secret to preaching is found in the purpose of preaching…
Have You Ever Considered Why You Do Church the Way You Do Church?
How was church yesterday?
Let me ask you another question: Have you ever considered why you do church the way you do church?
Every church has a model, method, or strategy. Perhaps many haven’t defined or documented it, but a lack of documentation doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
Every organization has a method to the madness — even if it’s mostly madness. We all work from established frameworks and systems to meet our goals.
I can’t state this enough: Even if you don’t know your model, you have a model.
Your model is your how. Your mission and vision describe the what and why. It’s your model that prescribes how you hope to accomplish your mission and vision.
In this NEW POST, we’ll discuss ministry models and what questions you should ask to as you evaluate your current execution.
P.S.;
Check out more resources on Strategic Planning: https://gavinadams.com/strategic-planning/
Or you may want to look through the Irresistible Church Model content here: https://gavinadams.com/church-discipleship-model/
5 Things Better Than Making 5 Year Plans
When’s the last time someone asked you, “Where do you see yourself in five years?”
It seems like a ridiculous question in our world today.
Can you imagine answering this question in January or February of 2020?
We have no idea what the future will actually bring. We can’t control the opportunities and obstacles that lay ahead. But we can do something.
Rather than make five-year plans, I’d suggest making five-year preparations.
Prepare.
Guns, Babies, and Jesus. Why Christianity is Rapidly Losing Ground
The latest research shows that only 81% of people believe in God today.
In the 1950s and 60s, the answer was nearly 100%. Gallup has been researching this question for decades, and the percentage held relatively consistent for a long time. But things are changing — rapidly.
Why?
Looking more closely at the data, we get some good clues.
THIS NEW POST WILL MAKE SOME OF YOU ANGRY. I get it. I’m unsure if I am completely correct, but at a minimum, I think I’m partially correct.
Check your political ego at the door and let me know if you agree, disagree, or fall somewhere in between.
Are People On Your Team “Quiet Quitting?”
Hey! If you’ve not checked out all the new free resources on the site, start here: https://gavinadams.com/leadership-coaching/
In this new post, let’s talk about QUIET QUITTING.
Have you heard of this? If not, you need to because people on your team are doing it now, and you may be, too.
Ask Your Team Better Questions to Reinforce Better Behaviors
Your staff and volunteer culture may be the most crucial aspect of your organization.
That’s what Peter Drucker believed. When he said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” he believed that your values, beliefs, and norms drive behaviors. As strategy, model, systems, and methods are behavioral, your culture ultimately determines if your model is followed.
I’ve seen this play out in my leadership journey time and again.
One of two things happen in organizations:
1. Values Remain: Well-defined values that are consistently reinforced keep desired behaviors in place. How people work and act remains consistent with the values.
2. Values Drift: The other option is the inverse. At a minimum, every organization has values written on the wall, on their website, or printed in a brochure. But if these values aren’t consistently reinforced, the associated behaviors give way to personal and natural behaviors. Worse, these new and potentially undesirable behaviors begin an inversed process, creating new (and unwritten) values, beliefs, and norms.
It’s simple, really.
Values create beliefs that drive behaviors. Since behaviors are more tangible, the values remain in place when they are reinforced. When behaviors are not reinforced, new behaviors form and eventually establish new beliefs and values.
Reinforcing desired behaviors is the secret to keeping your desired culture in place.
In this NEW POST, I give you a simple exercise you can do in your organization to test the values to behaviors connection.
You Should Be In More Meetings!
No leader is looking for more meetings to attend, but if you’re not holding these three meetings, you’ll lack the relational influence to lead well.
In this NEW POST, I unpack the three most critical meetings every leader should have to grow relational influence.
ALSO… if you’ve not downloaded the FREE e-book (How Management Slowly Destroys Leadership) or watched the FREE leadership video resource on my site, be sure to check it out: https://gavinadams.com/leadership-coaching/
7 Steps to Get the Full Story from Your Staff (Or Most of It)
Have you ever heard of “skip-level meetings?”
A leader and friend told me about this practice a decade ago and it unlocked some of my most important organizational insights.
In this NEW POST, I outline the 7 steps you must take to implement this learning practice.
More, I give you the exact questions I ask in these skip-level meetings.
I hope you can implement this practice in your organization!
ONE MORE THING: I have one opening in my portfolio for a consulting relationship. Here’s what I offer with this service:
Leadership Coaching Partnership: An exceptional coaching partnership should be mutually beneficial. I use the word “partnership” on purpose, as I desire to become more than a strategic coach, but a friend, supporter, and encourager of you and the organization you serve. The Leadership Coaching Partnership includes digital coaching sessions and on-site experiences.
If you’d like to learn more about this opportunity, please respond to this email. Thanks.
4 Strategies to Read People to Better Lead People
Wouldn’t it be easier if your staff learned how to best work with your personality rather than you trying to learn how to work with each of their personalities? This thought has crossed my mind more than I’d like to admit. When you lead a team, you lead a diverse group of personalities. You’ve probably […]
How to Determine Your Church Staff Size
How do you determine your church staff size?
This staffing complication has only gotten more complicated in the past few years. How you determine your staff size may determine more about your church’s future than you think.
When I first began leading in the church, we thought about staff size as a ratio of physical attendance. That was the predominant approach, and for the most part, it worked.
Enter the pandemic and the accelerated trends every church has experienced! No church leader can use this antiquated staffing solution in isolation.
In this NEW POST, I outline a better approach to determine the size of your staff.
If you know any church leader who needs to read this, please pass it along. Also, I’m going to spend some more time this month talking about staffing in the church, so be sure you and your friends subscribe to stay connected to this conversation.
