The current issue of Outreach Magazine includes an interview with Brad Abare and Phil Cooke about personality-driven churches. Here’s a paraphrase of the list of warning signs that Brad and Phil identified in the interview:

1. The pastor doesn’t go on a vacation for any significant length of time. And, when he does, it isn’t announced.
2. When the pastor doesn’t preach, the attendance drops.
3. Unspoken fear that if something happened to the pastor, the church would be in trouble.
4. The pastor is unwilling to listen to and consult other team members. The staff and volunteers are there to carry out the directions of the pastor.
5. There’s no succession plan in place; therefore, leadership development isn’t happening.

Do you agree with Brad and Phil’s analysis? What would you add or subtract from the list?

Heads up East-coasters. I’m going to be in Delaware next Friday, October 2 for a “Killing Cockroaches” tour stop. The folks at HighTide Church in Dagsboro, Delaware are hosting the event.

The tour stop is based on the content from my recently released book. I’m hoping to challenge and encourage church leaders to take a fresh look at their leadership and ministry approach. This workshop will feature two interactive sessions. The first will be on leadership development, particularly as it relates to building volunteer teams. The second will help churches find focus in their teaching, discipleship strategy and communications to reach people for Jesus and help them take steps in their faith.

Come prepared to ask questions. And, don’t forget to bring your team. This event is designed for both church staff and volunteers.

Register you and your teammates. There’s a discount available for groups of five people.

Hope to see you on Friday.

In music, there’s a term called “stop time.” It’s when, temporarily, all the music accompaniment stops in order to highlight a solo vocalist or instrumentalist. It’s not unusual for jazz artists to use stop time. For a moment, the rhythm stops, all the other instruments pull back, and the band creates space for the soloist to improvise.

I’ve seen “stop time” work with my kids as well. Instead of planning every moment of their waking hours, from time to time we push the pause button and create space. We don’t set the agenda. We give them time to do their own thing. We don’t respond to the “I’m bored and have nothing to do” pleas. We let them figure it out. It’s fascinating to watch how creative our kids get when we give them time to improvise.

I love long car trips. When the drive is long enough, my mind will start to wander. I do some of my best thinking driving down the highway. Some of my most creative moments have been behind the wheel. Sometimes I wonder if I need to schedule regular road trips just to be more disciplined about creating thinking time in my life.

In an age when email, social networking and mobile technology make us continuously available, we probably need to create more stop time. In a season when there are always more meetings and task lists and projects to complete, we probably need more stop time. If you are frustrated by the lack of creativity in your organization or your personal life, it’s probably because the rhythm is constant and the accompanying instruments are too loud and you haven’t created space to improvise.

“Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.”

When was the last time you scheduled some “stop time?”

Folks have been asking me about how they can help with the disaster response in northwest Atlanta because of the flooding. Here are some FAQs related to the efforts West Ridge is coordinating:

How do I get help? Contact Samaritan’s Purse by phone 678-202-5974 or by email.

Where can I stay? Contact the Red Cross 404-876-3302.

Where can I get food? Contact Warehouse of Hope by phone at 770-489-0509.

Where can I get water, blankets and shoes? You can pick up these items donated by Gleaning for the World at West Ridge Church between the hours of 10:00am to 7:00pm.

How can I serve? Contact Samaritan’s Purse by phone at 678-202-5974 or by email.

Where can I give? Contribute financially at engageatlanta.com to help with reconstruction efforts after the clean up process.

How can I donate clothing? We are accepting donations of clothing at West Ridge Church between the hours of 10:00am and 7:00pm.

How can my church help? Contact Paul Richardson by phone at 770-222-2125 ext. 308.

Thank you for your continued prayers. I continue to be encouraged by folks who are just jumping in to help their neighbors where needed. More than anything else, that’s the church being the church.

As I’ve been connecting with churches across the country in recent months, one common theme I’m encountering is the number of churches who are facing financial challenges. It looks different from church to church. Some have experienced a downturn in giving. Some are trying to develop strategies to refocus ministry dollars. Others are trying to identify systems and strategies to better steward the resources God has provided.

That’s part of why I’m so excited about my new site partner. They offer solutions to assist churches with those financial challenges and more. Let me introduce you.

TONY: Who are you?

CASEY: My name is Casey Graham, one of the founders of The Change Group. We founded our organization out of our passion to see church leaders win people to Jesus, not stress over money! I was on staff at Mountain Lake Church in Atlanta as we grew from 2 to over 2000 people.

TONY: I’m a big fan of Mountain Lake. I’ll be there for the ChurchPlanters.com conference in February. But, tell us about the Change Group.

CASEY: Our team is built around people with business brains and ministry hearts. We believe that ministry leaders, pastors, and church planters are called to do everything they can to reach people for Jesus; NOT WORRY ABOUT CHURCH FINANCES! Our team has created a web-based system that allows churches to outsource all of their bookkeeping and strategic financial staff positions to us for less than it costs to hire a part-time bookkeeper.

TONY: Love how you’ve created a way for churches to track finances and save money at the same time. Tell us about the solution you offer.

CASEY: The solution came about by starting to ask these questions: What if a church had…

• Quarterly CFO consulting focused on increasing giving in their church?
-Monthly Financial Dashboards that are easy to understand and all they have to do is press print?
• Weekly team of experts focused on all aspects of church bookkeeping?
• We have essentially created the total solution for church finances.  We do the big-picture thinking while handling all the critical details.

TONY: Have other churches started using this new solution already?

CASEY: Yes, we have a lot of churches already using this system. Check out all the stories of people on our new site. We are working with Shaun King, Tim Stevens, Scott Hodge, Michael Lukaszewski and many others.

If you’re interested in learning more about this new solution, visit the new website for The Change Group and check out the special offer they have for  churches this fall. And, watch for more stories about how The Change Group is helping churches in the coming weeks.

David Crowder Band released their newest album, Church Music, today. You can listen to the album in its entirety below.

If you like what you hear, you can download the album using my Amazon link. And, watch next week for my interview with Crowder about his new album.

As you might guess from following my blog or Twitter feeds, I’m a big fan of free. I use a number of free web and phone applications to manage my life. However, not everything I use is free. There are a few applications for which I’ve been willing to lay down some cold, hard cash. When I looked at the price tag, I determined the added value was worth the expense.

With that in mind, here are the current apps I’m using that were not free:

Dropbox – This web app syncs all my files across all my computers and then allows me to access the files anywhere there’s an Internet connection. No more worries about whether or not the backup really worked. No more fears of losing music or family pictures. No more complicated migrations when I get a new computer. All my data is available to me all the time. Love this app!

Eventbrite – Until someone develops a free alternative (I’m pulling for you Joshua), Eventbrite is the best solution I’ve found to process registrations for events. If your event is free, so is the service. If you charge a fee, they’ll grab a small percentage. It’s worth it, though, for the integration with PayPal and all the additional functions if offers to communicate with registrants.

Salesforce.com – I played with Highrise and a couple of other free solutions, but Salesforce.com won me over when it comes to a web solution for managing ministry relationships. I’m juggling dozens of conversations each week, and there’s absolutely no way I could keep it all straight if my assistant and I weren’t tracking it all through Salesforce.com. It’s a powerful tool.

Things – This is the newest tool in my arsenal. Until Google improves the task manager in Gmail and in the Google Calendar, Things will probably be my task manager of choice. You’ll only find it for the Mac, and it fully integrates with iCal and Mail. I really like the quick entry feature that can be used in whatever application I have open.

WordPress – Ah…this is a trick. The blogging app is free, but it’s really not. I’ve paid for design, development and hosting to use WordPress. At the end of the day, though, I think I’ve ended up with a better product than when I was using TypePad. Much more flexibility with WordPress, and it’s a lot easier to manage content.

WorldMate – This may be my favorite app for my BlackBerry. Now that I’m traveling more, I rely on it to sync my itineraries with my online calendar and my phone. WorldMate pushes flight status updates directly to my phone. The coolest feature, though, is the ability to just forward email confirmations from airlines, hotels and car rental companies, and then the app automatically translates the confirmations into new itineraries. Can’t imagine traveling without it.

Wufoo – I’ve tried several other options to create online forms including Google’s free form editor, but Wufoo is still the easiest solution around. Any web novice can customize their own forms to add to their website. I’m using several Wufoo forms to make connections with folks on my site. And, it’s the tool I use to collect the answers to the comprehensive survey I offer prior to consulting visits with churches.

If you have a free app you think I should be considering instead of one of these, I’m all ears. And, if you have another app you think I should consider buying, I’d love to hear about it.

I just took the new Personality Pattern test. Here are my results. What are your top traits?

1. Assertive – You behave in a confident and forceful manner, take charge of the situation, raise your hand in class, stand up for what you think is right, and lead others. Among those who have a high score on the “assertive” trait, many have jobs in which they are valued for their organizational skills as well as their talent for supervising others. You are not interested in fading into the woodwork, leaving everything to fate, taking more time than necessary to accomplish a task, or avoiding confrontation.

2. Prudent – You look before you leap, think before you act, consider what you’re about to say before you open your mouth to speak; that’s why you rarely have to eat your words. You usually don’t get excited easily or blurt out the first thing that comes to mind without considering the consequences.

3. Unflappable – You are not a slave to your emotions. It takes a lot to upset or unnerve you. That’s why you’re a good person to have around in a crisis. You don’t let it all hang out, which means that those around you often don’t know the pressures you’re under or what you’re going through. You’re not the kind of person people run from in a crisis.

4. Introspective – You like your own company; you’re a very interesting person. Tracking your own mental processes, knowing what you’re thinking and why you do what you do, is important to you. Often, what’s going on in your mind is more compelling than what’s going on outside. For the most part, those with a high score on the “introspective” trait enjoy reading, taking long walks, learning new things, and other solitary activities. You are not someone who is constantly looking to be among a group of friends; you never feel bored when you are by yourself.

5. Resilient – You bounce back quickly from adversity. For you, all setbacks are temporary. You don’t dwell on bad news, bad luck, or criticism; you regroup and focus on solving the problem, whatever it may be. You almost never feel that there’s too much on your plate, that you don’t have the strength to deal with the bad hand you’ve been dealt, or that you’re going to lose it if you have to deal with one more problem.

6. Competitive – You’d rather win than simply get along in most situations. When you know you’re right, you would rather argue your point than compromise. Generally, those with a high score on the “competitive” trait hold leadership positions in industry and are exhilarated by risk-taking both in their professional and personal lives. You are not always interested in getting along with others in a group, especially if it can mean losing your identity.

7. Calm – You rarely become irritated, generally accept people as they are, take things as they come, and feel relaxed in most situations. You do not let a minor annoyance escalate to a confrontation. You don’t regularly snap at those around you or fly off the handle with little provocation.

8. Centered – You often feel balanced and on top of things, even when those around you are freaking out. You’re in a pretty good state all the time, and not subject to drastic mood swings. You don’t usually react before you think; you’re not ruled by your emotions.

9. Innovative – You come up with a lot of ideas; if one doesn’t work out, there’s always another waiting in the wings. You often have interesting solutions to difficult problems. You’re practically a one-person brainstorming session. You are less interested changing the world than in dealing with things as they are. Unlike those who spend all their time trying to solve problems, you prefer to zero in on things that work and stick with them.

10. Creative – You are good at solving problems, coming up with original ideas, and seeing connections between things, connections that most other people miss. People with a high score on the “creative” trait often are employed in such fields as finance and scientific research, and enjoy avant garde and classical music as well as literary fiction and scholarly non-fiction. You do not shun abstractions and concepts in favor of the concrete and tangible.

Got an encouraging note this past week from Jason. He recently read Killing Cockroaches. This is the result I’ve been praying for. Jason shared:

I just wanted to personally let you know how much your book, Killing Cockroaches, made an impact on me. Your words have helped me in the following ways:

1. I laughed – out loud – while reading a book on Spiritual Leadership

2. I Love my God, my wife, and my children more because of your family stories

3. My vision is clearer

4. My sermons are much more direct and relevant to our current culture

5. My leadership style has changed completely

6. My faith has increased

7. Criticism hurts people

8. Our ministry must be to equip the saints, not kill cockroaches

9. Stories are powerful

10. It’s not about how great we are, but can we help people

One of the aspects of the vision at West Ridge that really excites me is the commitment to planting new churches. Over the last 12 years, the church has helped plant nearly 50 other churches throughout the country. Here’s an update on a few of the newest launches:

• North Ridge Community Church, located in Johnson City, TN, is led by Jim Richmond. Yesterday, they had their first service, and there were 220 people in attendance.
• TrueNorth Church is in Calhoun, GA. James Wisener is their lead pastor. They had 94 people at their first preview service and one person accepted Christ.
• Awaken Community Church is launching in Chattanooga, TN. They’re led by Justin Deweese. Awaken had 70 people at their first preview service including 15 people who were not plugged into a church.

If you are considering planting a church or have previously planted and are looking for ongoing connection and training, please let me know who you are so we can keep you in the loop. We’ll be announcing some next steps in the coming months.