Bird & Tomberlin -Better Together: Making Church Mergers Work
When I began consulting 24 years ago church mergers were normally based on two dying churches coming together for survival. Not so any more. The real-life research of Warren and Tomberlin shows that most successful mergers today are mission-driven – that is, two churches coming together around a compelling vision. This is a must read […]
Bird, The Other 80%
Warren Bird Jossy-Bass, 2011 If you’ve been in church leadership for any amount of time, you’ve probably heard of the Pareto Principle, or the 80–20 rule. Simply stated, the principle suggests that 20 percent do the work and the 80 percent watch. It has all sorts of corollaries such as 20 percent of what a […]
Blanchard, Carlos, Randolph, Three Keys of Empowerment
(San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 1999) 276 pages, hardback, $20.00. Obtain from Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., San Francisco, CA. A highly practical companion to Empowerment Takes More Than Minute that can help church leaders who: one, wish to change from a command and control to a permission-giving, empowered organization; two, want to change from a hierarchical, […]
Intentional Disciple Making By Ron Bennett
A short easy to read and digest, practical work that offers the basics of developing an intentional disciplemaking life of church – but don’t let this summary fool you. The insights are powerful and the examples can be quickly practiced in everyday life by anyone who is ready. And the best part, personal stories of […]
Deep Church
by Jim Belcher by Jim Belcher Over the past decade a serious rift has occurred within western Protestantism. Traditional (I prefer the term “established”) Christianity and the Emergent movement have squared off with each other in what looks like a battle to the death. Both sides have been guilty of prejudice, selfish indulgence, and just […]
Belasco, James, Teaching the Elephant to Dance
(Crown Publishers, NY, 1990), 276 pages, hardback, $19.95. Pastors interested in helping a stagnant church make radical change will find this book helpful if they apply the principles to the