Before I get to the top ten list. We’ve been on the go the last couple of days. On Monday, I spoke at Harvester Christian Church near St. Louis. Then we visited the Missouri History Museum before finding an authentic Italian restaurant in “The Hill” neighborhood of St. Louis.

Yesterday, we drove north and stopped in Springfield, Illinois to visit Abraham Lincoln’s home. (Wish we could have spent more time there.) Then we drove straight to downtown Chicago. We walked Navy Pier, rode the Ferris wheel and then had some Chicago-style stuff pizza. Today is the Chicago stop of the Killing Cockroaches Summer Tour.

With that brief update behind us, here are the posts that generated the most traffic last month in order of popularity:

1. 4 Stages of Leadership
2. Pizza and Sex
3. The New Traditional Church: Web Strategy
4. Listen to the New Hillsong United Album
5. 10 Easy Ways to Keep Me from Visiting Your Church Because I Visited Your Website
6. Leading vs. Managing
7. New David Crowder Band Single
8. Church Unique
9. My Theology of Leadership (part 3)
10. Narcissistic Leaders

This top ten list is brought to you with the help of Google Analytics. It’s the easy, free way to track stats for your website.

First, let me give a quick update on our journey. Yesterday, we left Dallas and headed north for St. Louis. We arrived just in time to see the fireworks last night under the Gateway Arch. Today, we drove into town to visit the City Museum, Union Station and Forest Park in St. Louis. Tomorrow is the St. Louis stop of the Killing Cockroaches Summer Tour.

While I’ve been traveling over the last several days, I’ve been peppered by questions that I can’t really answer. That’s because I’ve never experienced the leadership challenges that are at the basis of the questions. Generally, here are the three big questions that I can’t answer:

1. How do I plant a church?

I have no idea. I’ve never planted a church before. However, I’ve worked for two guys that have. If I were you, I’d follow everything they write about on their blogs. And, I’d also follow guys like Ron and Brian who planted their churches several years ago and have actually lived through several challenges since then.

These guys may not be as “sexy” as the young turks that planted their churches last week. But, you should listen to them because they’ve already made some mistakes and learned from them.

Bonus Reading: Every church planter should be required to read The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber.

2. How do I transition a church?

Again, I have no idea. Both churches I’ve worked for were church plants. They didn’t have to transition from a traditional church mindset. Both churches were also led by their founding pastors which makes change a lot easier. If I was transitioning a church, I’d read everything that guys like Scott and Dan write. They’ve actually transitioned traditional churches and lived to tell about it.

Bonus Reading: Every leader transitioning a church should be required to read Transitioning by Dan Southerland and Leading Change by John Kotter.

3. How do I lead for the long haul?

Again, I have no idea, because I’m still proving I can survive for the long haul. There are guys a generation older than me, though, that have demonstrated they can maintain a healthy marriage and a healthy church and have survived for several decades. If I were you, I’d try to catch everything that Rick Warren, Chuck Swindoll, Dr. Ed Young or Bill Hybels say or write on leadership.

These guys are from another generation, so you likely won’t catch them on YouTube or blogging or on Twitter. Just because they don’t hang out in your social networking circles, though, doesn’t mean they lack credibility. They’ve proven over several decades that leaders that last lead differently than others who start fast and then fizzle for various reasons.

Bonus Reading: In addition to regularly reading I Timothy 3, Titus 1 and I Peter 5, check out the new book How the Mighty Fall by Jim Collins.

Notice a trend here? Actually there are a couple. First of all, it should be pretty clear that I don’t know much. Secondly, I don’t fully trust people who are talking about leadership challenges they haven’t experienced themselves.

Those are my insights and recommendations. What mentors would you add to the list? What books should we add to our libraries?

Last night I attended my first rodeo with Emily and the kids. It was quite the experience, and, honestly, I couldn’t think of a better way to wrap up the Dallas leg of our family trip.

I must say, though, that I did confirm that I’m not cut out to be a cowboy. In fact, here are…

10 Reasons I Know I’ll Never be a Cowboy

1. They don’t sell Wranglers at the Buckle.
2. I’m guessing most Cowboys don’t wear flip flops.
3. The hats mess up my hair.
4. I’d rather eat beef than wrestle it.
5. My Audi couldn’t pull a horse trailer.
6. The rodeo clowns scare me.
7. Emily won’t let me own a dog much less a horse.
8. They don’t make saddle bags for Macbooks.
9. I don’t chew (and neither does my wife).
10. If it’s country, it’s not music.

With that, we’re heading north for two more stops on the Killing Cockroaches Summer Tour with stops in St. Louis on Monday and Chicago on Wednesday. Our goal is to get to the arch in St. Louis in time for the fireworks tonight. The race is on!

It’s been a while since I last updated you on what’s happening in my life. Though my family and I are still at NewSpring Church, I left the staff team about 10 weeks ago. Since then, Emily and I have been praying and talking a lot about our next steps. Here’s where we think we’re heading in this next season:

Connected to a Local Church – I can’t imagine not being connected to a local church. We need a place for our family to call home. I’m considering opportunities where I can serve on a ministry team in a part-time leadership capacity. At this point in my life, it would be difficult to write, teach and coach about leadership and ministry strategy in the Church without actually being engaged in ministry.

Coaching & Consulting – At the same time, I have a calling to encourage, equip and challenge church leaders. With that, I’ve taken steps in recent months to get more focused about coaching and consulting opportunities. It’s been a lot of fun. I’ve had a chance to connect with churches of all shapes and sizes throughout the country. Let me know if you’re interested in future coaching networks or consulting engagements.

Strategic Partnerships – As I’m connecting with growing churches, I’m also noticing some opportunities where I can help identify strategic next steps but I either don’t have the expertise or the time to fulfill specific needs. Because of that, I’ve developed partnerships with some great organizations to assist churches with areas like creative design, brand strategy, technology, executive recruiting, stewardship and facility design and construction.

Specifically, one of the areas that I frequently get requests for assistance is with recruiting and selecting staff leaders. I love helping churches define strategy and structure for health and growth, but I don’t have the time and expertise to handle all aspects of executive recruiting. That’s why I’ve developed a strategic partnership with William Vanderbloemen and the team at FaithSearch Partners. They’ve worked with churches from a variety of denominations and many sizes of congregations, ranging from 1,000 to 15,000 in attendance.

I love helping churches define their strategy and structure and then make sure they have the right people on the right seat on the bus. If that’s your church, I’d welcome the opportunity to talk more. Feel free to email me and let’s talk about how we can bring a team together to help you take your next steps.

Today started out at Springcreek Community Church for the Dallas stop of the Killing Cockroaches Tour. It was good to meet some new friends and then reconnect with some old friends including the guys from Fellowship Technologies. Beyond that, the family hung out at the pool, we enjoyed Mexican food at Uncle Julio’s and then we wrapped up the day roaming around Galleria Dallas.

While we’re in the middle of our family vacation and the book tour, life on the blog continues. As I was thinking about my blog readers today, I recalled this post when I passed 2,000 subscribers. (It’s about 5,500 subscribers now…so this post is probably even more applicable today.)

What if we talked about blogging like we talk about the church?

You may not notice it, but I’m facing inner-tension in my life. Regrettably, I’m approaching 2,000 subscribers. Some might celebrate that new megablog status, but I’m dealing with all kinds of turmoil. Let me explain…

• I recently had a few subscribers leave my blog for smaller blogs. They were looking for a site where they could shake hands with the blogger at the end of each post.
• I’ve started getting complaints that I don’t do enough posts for singles.
• Some folks won’t subscribe to my blog because it’s too “attractional.” They think I need to find a way to bring my message to the people rather than expecting them to come to my site.
• I’m getting complaints that my posts need to be longer and deeper. People think I’m making it too easy for folks to understand what I’m saying. Something about a camel and the eye of a needle…
• There are some people who think bloggers should only use the Times Roman font. [continue reading>>]

We took off early this morning and drove to Dallas for the next stop on the Killing Cockroaches Tour. We stopped at Whataburger for lunch, but none of us ended up ordering a burger. We got a free upgrade at Embassy Suites, so we’re loving our hotel accommodations. We went to the Rangers game this evening. It was blazing hot, but they won.

Along the way, we stopped at a couple of gas stations. That reminded me of this post…

Stop Gunky Build-up

I saw a sign at a gas station while I was traveling this past week that encouraged me to “Stop gunky build-up.” It made me think about instances when I’ve had to deal with gunky build-up in my life. For me gunky build-up occurs when I let less important stuff squeeze out the real priorities in my life. Maybe you’ve experienced this as well.

• Sometimes I believe the lie that I can’t afford to take a break and rest. The reality is that I’m far less effective in my family and leadership roles when I’m tired and grumpy.
• Sometimes I believe the lie that I’ll spend quality time with my wife at the end of the day after everything else is done. The reality is that the last things on my priority list rarely get done.
• Sometimes I believe the lie that I’ll get to the big projects after I knock out the more routine tasks. The reality is that there will always be other routine tasks to complete.
• Sometimes I believe the lie that the more I do the more valuable I am to the team. The reality is that I’m not being effective if I’m busy doing the wrong things. [continue reading>>]

Cockroach Tour Buzz: What are some ways you’ve learned to degunkify your life?

Today we headed down the road toward the other Dallas – not Dallas, GA but Dallas, TX. We stopped in Jackson, MS for the night. Highlights from the day included seeing the Talladega Speedway, watching Jacob almost make himself sick by eating a footlong Philly steak sandwich, eating a great meal at Sweet Peppers Deli and cruising the Capitol area in Jackson.

All the driving reminded me of this post about leaders. At some point, leaders need to…

Drive the Car

Recently, I gathered with a group of guys for breakfast and to talk about leadership. One of the guys was talking about the challenges he and his wife have faced in recent months with their marriage. We all face those challenges. No marriage is immune. He’s married to a very wise woman, though. His wife suggested that she was getting really tired of talking about all the things that they needed to fix in their marriage. She was tired of all the discussion.

She went on to liken their marriage to owning a car that’s always in the garage. You get in the car. Sometimes you even start the engine. Most times, though, the car is up on the lift so that you can tinker with it. You own the car, but you’re always under the hood trying to analyze what’s wrong with it and what needs to be fixed. One day she said, I’m tired of trying to figure out how we need to fix the car–I just want to drive it.

That’s powerful. And, the thought occurred to me: this is a leadership lesson. If God has gifted you as a leader then you need to lead. You can read about leadership. You can talk about leadership. You can go to leadership conferences and hear men and women share their greatest leadership lessons. You can analyze your leadership ability, and you can have others help you tweak your leadership skills. All of that is worthless, though, unless you eventually get behind the wheel and drive the car. Leaders will never become leaders unless they lead. [continue reading>>]

Cockroach Tour Buzz: Have you ever experienced those times as a leader where you really wanted to drive the car? What are you doing to help other leaders, particularly young leaders, have the opportunity to drive the car?