One of the questions that popped up on Twitter recently was related to hiring a campus pastor. The senior pastor who contacted me was curious to know what to look for in a campus pastor.

It probably won’t surprise you to know that I don’t think there’s a magic formula for finding that right person to fill this type of role at every church. The “right” person at one church may be completely the wrong person at another church.

For example, if your multi-site strategy includes trying to replicate everything exactly the same at every campus, you probably don’t want a strong visionary leader. Instead, you need more of a manager. If, on the other hand, you need someone to act more like a church planter to help shape the ministry in a different community than your current campus, then you probably need someone who is more entrepreneurial. You don’t want primarily a person who is always waiting for specific instructions from the top leadership team on what to do next.

That said, I think there are a handful of common characteristics you need to prioritize when finding your next campus pastor. The right campus pastor will:

1. Embrace the DNA of your church. Every church is unique. Your campus pastor needs to both embrace and champion your mission, vision and values. That’s why it’s best if whoever you’re sending out to lead your next campus has had some time to learn who you are as a church.
2. Communicate well. It doesn’t matter if your teaching is on video. The ability to communicate is still essential to this role. Two big things the campus pastor has to talk about are vision and money. If they can’t do that well, they are the wrong person for the role. (more…)

Something amazing is happening at the Oak Leaf campus of West Ridge Church. For those of you who may be unaware, Oak Leaf and West Ridge are merging as churches to have a bigger impact in the Northwest Atlanta region. God is up to something because…

• Attendance at the “House of Rock”, home of the Oak Leaf campus in Cartersville, has climbed each of the last five weeks.
• This past Sunday the week-to-week increase was over 20%. (It was packed!)
• On Sunday over 60 people were baptized. (Love that!)

Until we hire the campus pastor who will be leading the Oak Leaf team, I’ve had the opportunity to meet with the staff team every Tuesday afternoon. It’s been very encouraging. Michael has brought together a great team of people to lead and shepherd the ministry.

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A few weeks ago, I invited you to consider joining me for the new leadership coaching network starting in March. Just wanted to let you know that the deadline to apply is this Friday, January 28. After that…well…you’re out of luck.

For those who choose to engage this experience, here’s what you’ll receive:

• Six days of coaching sessions over six months (9:00 am to 3:00 pm each day)
• Focused training on a variety of ministry strategies topics including staffing, leadership development, communications, financial stewardship, volunteer team development, weekend services, ministry structure, discipleship, multi-site and more
• Tools, exercises and best practices to implement after every session
• The opportunity to network with and learn from like-minded leaders
• Dedicated time in every gathering to talk through the pressing issues you are facing
• An invitation to join an online group limited to network participants for continuing dialogue between sessions
• Several free resources and books
• Plus other fun surprises and guest appearances!

Got questions? The specific details are outlined on the coaching section of my site. If you can’t find the answer there, email me.

More important, here’s the online application to join this new coaching network.

(All the cool people are doing it.)

Vision is important. So is leadership. You’ll find a lot of conference talks, books and blog posts on both. Regrettably, “systems” don’t get any love.

The other day this quote from Doug Conant, the CEO of Campbell Soup, grabbed my attention:

“You can’t talk your way out of something you behaved your way into. You have to behave your way out of it.” (HT: ManagerTools.com)

In church world, I think there’s a tendency to think that we can just preach our way to a new ministry objective. We fall into the trap of thinking that life change will happen solely through teaching. Preaching and teaching are an ingredient of change in ministries and in individuals, but I’m not convinced it’s the only ingredient.

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Back in July, we asked for submissions for guest posts for people who wanted to contribute to TonyMorganLive.com.

We’re putting the call out again. If you have a blog post about ministry strategy, technology, leadership that you’d like for us to consider, please follow the instructions below.

If you pass the “this is a great thought” test, I’ll post your article and include a link to your church, ministry or personal website.  A few guidelines:

• Posts must be no longer than 500 words.
• Posts must be your original thoughts. If you draw information from another source, be sure to include a link.
• Posts that include bashing other ministries or individuals will be rejected. That’s not the way we roll around here.
• Once received, your post may undergo some light editing. Don’t worry. It’s nothing personal.

Challenge us. Stir up some controversy. Share a story.

Email me your questions and proposed articles.

Dave Travis

Continuing the series I launched last week on trends in the church, I linked up with Dave Travis recently to get his thoughts. Dave is the Managing Director of the Leadership Network, an organization dedicated to accelerating the impact of leaders. Here’s what Dave had to share.

First of all, we use the term innovation as an idea or practice that leads to higher performance. The second caveat is that we tend to work with larger churches, so it is hard to say that this is impacting all churches right now but eventually they will.

One innovation larger churches are really getting serious about is adoption, merger and takeover. They’re using “aquimergertakeover” of smaller congregations and buildings for new sites for the megachurch as a way of reinvigorating ministry in a place. The “planting” or multi-site churches are actively seeking these sites as takeover targets. This has been going on for 20 years, but now, with the rise of multi-site, churches are starting to do this intentionally as a strategy.
(more…)

Over the last three years, I’ve had the opportunity to facilitate six different leadership coaching networks with more than 75 leaders from across the country. It’s been quite a privilege to be engaged in these new relationships. In addition to learning quite a bit together, we’ve had the opportunity to celebrate many ministry wins and walk through a number of ministry challenges. Several folks have transitioned to new leadership roles. I’ve gained many new ministry partners, more important, it’s led to new, lasting friendships.

All that to say, the next leadership coaching network will be launching in March, and I’d like you to consider joining us. Here are some things to keep in mind…

• This is not an opportunity for someone who is looking for inspiration. My coaching networks involve work. You can’t just show up. You will have to commit to six months of reading and engaging exercises with the ministry team at your church.
• This experience isn’t for people looking for leadership theory. Yes, you’ll learn some leadership skills, but this experience is designed for you to put those skills into action. Every month you will leave with new tools to implement in your ministry environment.
• This is not a conference experience. In a conference, you can sit and soak in the teaching without engaging anyone else. In this coaching experience, you will be encouraged and challenged by other leaders who will be counting on you to participate fully.

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Jenni Catron

Continuing the series on the future of the church, I recently connected with Jenni Catron who is the Executive Director of Cross Point Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Specifically, I was interested in getting Jenni’s take on women in church leadership. Here’s what she had to share.

TONY: What’s a current trend related to women in ministry that you’re seeing churches across the country begin to embrace?

JENNI: I’m excited to see a growing willingness to include women in top leadership roles within our churches. From teaching on Sunday mornings to serving as executive pastors to leading various ministry areas, women are beginning to serve in these leadership roles more consistently.

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This past summer I was preparing for a church consulting experience within one particular denomination that is in decline. That led to a conversation with someone who had worked quite extensively with declining churches. That conversation turned into what became the second most popular post of 2010. If these are the top five attributes of a church in decline, what, in your opinion, is number six?

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5 Attributes of a Church in Decline

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to talk with a denominational leader in a different part of the country. Over the last few years, he’s personally been involved in consulting engagements with about 60 declining churches within his denomination. That grabbed my attention. Honestly, I don’t have a lot of experience working with churches that are in decline. With that in mind, I was curious to learn if there were any common themes. Within moments, he rattled off these five attributes of churches he’s worked with that are in decline:

When I work with churches for the first time, I think sometimes they’re frustrated with me because I’m not willing to help them fix something specific. Sometimes they want me to tweak their internal systems. Other times they want me to speak into improvements in their Sunday service environments. Other times they want me to provide feedback on their website or their music or their facility. I’ve found that churches can become convinced that they know why their church isn’t growing.

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For the number five most popular post in 2010, I had to reach all the way back to the first week of January. This post on “platform” generated a lot of feedback. And, by the way, “platforms” exist for people who don’t speak for a living.

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Platform

There are no shortcuts to having a platform. You have to earn it.

No one owes you a platform.

Sometimes someone who is trusted can help you get a moment on the platform, but you still have to deliver to keep it.

The harder you try to have a platform, the harder it is to get it.

If you do what you’re designed to do and you are faithful to stick with it over time, there’s a good chance you’ll have a platform.

Not all platforms are created equal, but all have the opportunity to positively impact the lives of others.

Relationships are the foundation of a platform. If you can’t build relationships, you can’t have a platform.

The person who yells the loudest doesn’t necessarily get the platform.

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