Skip to main content

What To Do First to Make a Profit

The PF Women Team at our Annual Team Retreat  ~ 2018 Today on Seth Godin's blog, he said: It's tempting to decide to make a profit first, then invest in training, people, facilities, promotion, customer service and most of all, doing important work. In general, though, it goes the other way. Yes, it does. If you are waiting to make a profit before you do these things, in my experience you're  not going to make a profit. So many organizations, ministries and churches are struggling with financial issues. I know your pain. As anyone who follows our story knows, our ministry was in a ton of debt four years ago when I came on as director.  Since that time, we've gotten out of debt and turned a profit every year.  God has done amazing things through out team, for which we give Him the glory! I find that what Seth is saying here is absolutely true, with one disclaimer. For Christian leaders, spiritual disciplines must always be first. Before we started inve

Notes from Transformational Leadership Workshop

We had a several hour workshop this afternoon with Dr. Lori O'Dea on Transformational Leadership. It was excellent. I've heard her speak before and appreciate her insight so much. I'm glad to share it here with you for all of you friends who couldn't come to the conference. This is not every single thing she said (I have about 10 pages of notes) but I am going to try to condense. The whole thing was based on I and II Timothy.

Here we go:


  • Real change will not occur without the presence of women.

  • Paul never "hedges" in his encouragement to Timothy...always communicates, "you can do it!"

  • There are options in ministry. And, God has NO LIMITS!

  • There are obstacles already in ministry -- don't add more! Stop negative self talk.

  • Transformational leadership occurs when people and organizations are changed in form and character to reflect the nature of Christ and the church.

  • "Our transformation is never for ourselves alone. It is always for the sake of others." - Ruth Haley Barton.

    BE TRANSFORMED:

  • Commit to the call

  • Get over yourself. (potential slowdowns are shame and suffering; guaranteed accelerants are saving grace, the Resurrected Saviour, Divine Appointment.)

  • Build leadership strength - multiply leaders, Participate fully in your place of ministry; don't skip the hard stuff; don't make end runs - play fair; Don't opt for the stands - get your hands dirty. The farmer (who gets their hands dirty) gets the first of the crops.

  • Practice Reflection - build space in your life. Ask yourself, "what have I learned? What is God saying?

  • Journal - someone once said, "Thoughts disentangle themselves when they leave the mind and come out through the fingertips."

  • Keep focus - example - Billy Graham; once entertained the thought of the presidency but stayed the course and stayed focused.

  • Focus killers = an unchecked need for approval; the need to be right; the need to belong.

  • Crave leadership character.

  • Leadership black holes are: inner neglect; forest blindness; ego tending, security deprivation; insanity defense; alignment problems, Hurdle imitation.

  • Learn to navigate the storms of conflict - be a student on this subject.

  • Avoid the stupid stuff. This is beneath your leadership.

  • Teach for positive change.

TO TRANSFORM:

  • Manage hope - a function of the leader is to keep hope alive.

  • Cast vision that - embraces truth, and embraces real needs.

  • Point out the truth to people and help them see the way out.

  • Leadership blinders are - form without power and selling out to the hopeless.

  • Practice discernment - lack of discernment leads to deception of self and others, depravity, indecision. We are susceptible to being paralyzed by indecision.

  • Discernment is required for vision casting, leadership multiplication; and reading the room while in a meeting.

  • How do we get discernment - stay full of and seek the spirit.

  • Eliminate "postponed" thinking. Have an understanding of the current situation and act accordingly.

  • Maintain balance - healthy solitude - transparency.

  • Balance the hard stuff and the blessings.

  • Balance fitting in and being yourself.

  • Balance over-reacting and detachment

  • Balance pressure and rest.

  • Be sensitive in times of transition.

  • Don't over-react to bad news.But also don't stay so detached that they think you aren't real.

  • Learn to love pressure. To do that you have to dedicate yourself to constant improvement.

  • Learn more - immerse yourself in the Word, trusted teachers, reading widely, cross discipline studies (can you learn something from Pizza Hut? Absolutely) experience, and ongoing formal education.

  • Communicate effectively - to say there are "high stakes" is an understatement; Gods Word trumps yours; preparation is a lifelong endeavor (listen to yourself speak on CD - evaluate and ask others to evaluate.), offer a balanced diet.

  • "How" matters as much as "what" -- communication is 7% of what you say.

  • Hold loosely to your ministry. How? Comprehend; Obey, Anticipate, Trust

  • Success without a successor is a failure.

  • Lead in community. When doing so you have better organization, better leadership, better participation and better performance.

  • The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team (Patrick Lencioni) Absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results.

  • Do you have a gender problem? Can you work well with women? And men? Commit to INTENTIONAL inclusiveness.

  • Women become a negative force if they are a natural born leader and they are not serving. They can't help but lead, so what do they do? Rise up and lead a rebellion in your church... Help them learn to lead without the negativity.

  • Community has the potential to hurt you...forgive.

  • The benefits of this outweigh the harm.

Comments

Thank you for sharing your notes from the National Women in Ministry Conference. It sounds wonderful.
Aaron said…
Love: focus killers, obstacles, leadership black holes, keep hope alive. Not so love but need it: Learn to love pressure

Popular posts from this blog

Relevant Church doing something...

incredibly RELEVANT!

I just heard some news today that really inspired me. A church here in Tampa, Relevant Church is doing a new thing this month called the "30 Days Sex Challenge." (I've never visited the church but Pastor Trinity - our children's pastor - has visited or has met some people from this church and he was very impressed.) Realizing that this is a major element missing from some marriages (the frequency factor) their lead pastor, Paul Wirth, has issued a challenge for all the married couples to have sex for 30 days in a row. At the same time he has issued a challenge for all unmarrieds to completely abstain from sex. Of course we know the Bible says that those who are unmarried should not have sex in the first place but the point is, a lot of unmarried's aren't obeying the Lord's command to abstain and this is just one pastor's way of trying to get them to see that indeed, there is a better way! (God's way!) At the same time, many married couples are not

What Verbal Abuse is Really Like, and Why We Must Care
Guest Post: Terri von Wood

In my speaking travels, I meet the most amazing people. Some are connections that go beyond just a night or a weekend of preac hing. One day on my journey, I met Terri von Wood, and we immediately clicked and have been friends ever since.  Just a reminder that all of our guest bloggers this week are available to chat with you in the comment section here on the blog or on my facebook page where the blog is also published.   *** People who have never suffered through or witnessed abuse (including pastors) often don't know how to help women in abusive situations. Knowledge is power and it is my belief that if the church understood the prevalence of abuse, help would be made available.  First, we must acknowledge that the divorce rate is the same  in the church as in the world.  Second, we must understand that the 50% divorce rate does not include all the women who are abused but stay because they do not know what else to do or do not have anyone to turn to.  If those women we

Excellent teaching on Criticism

My friend Pastor Leanne posted this today on her Myspace blog and I thought it was excellent and so timely. It's a blog post from Pastor Perry Noble , about criticism. I think it's perfect for the pastors at Relevant Church right now, as well as any other person going through this. I would like to note that when he says, "when God begins to move" it wouldn't necessarily just pertain to your church but to your life, your family, your marriage, anything that concerns you. I have found that the greater God does things in my life and the more He blessed me the more I should expect it. This teaching is good, so good I was almost wavin' a hanky in my office. Okay, here we go... You Will Be Criticized When God Begins To Move–Expect It And Get Over It. (Pastor Perry Noble at http://www.perrynoble.com/ ) I've never met a devil worshiper–to my knowledge that is. When I first became a Christian I was convinced that I needed to do all that I could to be ready to comba