In 1909 a cutting-edge ministry was one woman, Lou Brisco, starting a church in Park Ridge, IL, and appointing herself president of the women’s auxiliary. Mrs. Brisco brought together people of like minds to start the small Methodist church. She sought out people who would embrace the idea of ecumenism. These are ideals that the Park Ridge Methodist church values to this day. Today, the idea of a woman starting a church is not exactly common place, but it’s hardly noteworthy. One hundred years ago, however, it was unheard of. Nonetheless, Mrs. Brisco recognized a need and catered her ministry to meet the needs of her community.
]]>In 1909 a cutting-edge ministry was one woman, Lou Brisco, starting a church in Park Ridge, IL, and appointing herself president of the women’s auxiliary. Mrs. Brisco brought together people of like minds to start the small Methodist church. She sought out people who would embrace the idea of ecumenism. These are ideals that the Park Ridge Methodist church values to this day. Today, the idea of a woman starting a church is not exactly common place, but it’s hardly noteworthy. One hundred years ago, however, it was unheard of. Nonetheless, Mrs. Brisco recognized a need and catered her ministry to meet the needs of her community.
Now a household name, Josh McDowell started his cutting-edge ministry in the 1960’s when he joined the Campus Crusade for Christ International. A few years later the Josh McDowell Ministry formed to realize the vision of reaching young people worldwide with the truth and love of Jesus Christ. It was just the beginning of a ministry that has been a trail blazing maverick. In 1977 he wrote the best-selling book, More Than A Carpenter in about 12 hours. Mr. McDowell has spent his ministry doing whatever was necessary to lift up Christians everywhere. In 2001, four days after September 11, he traveled to Egypt to encourage new Arab coverts in the Christian faith.
What, then, is cutting edge? An emerging trend among churches and ministries is creating service projects that engage their communities. One such example is Jitters, a church/coffee house. When founder Dan Wisniewski realized that many of his ministry opportunities came over coffee at Starbucks, he had a revelation: create a coffee house that would also serve as a church building on Sundays. But Pastor Dan took it one step further. Before the coffee house provided his church with a permanent facility, they met at a local high school’s gym, and while working with the school the church’s leadership became aware of the problem of homelessness among the students. Not only did these teens lack a permanent place to live, but their academics suffered as they didn’t have access to computer equipment away from the school campus.
When Jitters was built, it had ample space for the church and coffee house, but it also had a computer lab and tutoring center for homeless children. Even more, all profits from the coffee house were donated to the local school district to specifically benefit homeless youth. Contractors donated their services and supplies. A local internet service provider wired the entire computer lab for free. The mayor and the media showed up for the grand opening. The school district provided the liaison between Jitters and the youth in need. The entire community rallied around this church as it demonstrated the light of Christ through service to those in need. That’s cutting edge!
Cutting edge means keeping your eyes and heart open to the needs of your community. It is relevancy, effectiveness and impact. How that manifests itself within your own ministry will differ over time, and from place to place. Think outside the box to reach both ministry and community needs. Be like that first century carpenter who dared to buck tradition by declaring Himself the Son of the living God, dying on a cross, and rising from the dead three days later.
About Michael Stickler
Mike is an author, radio host, and a highly sought after motivational speaker. His best-selling book, A Journey to Generosity, is widely acclaimed throughout the Christian community. Mike Stickler is the founder of The Vision Group, LTD. This organization offers ministries and nonprofit foundations a Christian perspective in overcoming the challenges of raising funds.
Over the course of his career, Mike has published over forty books that have made a difference through thousands of churches, nonprofits and foundations as they serve the world.
There are different types of leadership styles, each proving effective depending on the given circumstances, attitude, beliefs, preferences and values of the people involved. Let’s discuss 7 of these leadership styles. Each item in the following list contains at least one famous example of each leadership style. Every famous example of each leadership type showcases the fact that different kinds of leaders can implement the same kind of leadership. The first style of leadership on this list demonstrates this in an extreme way.
]]>There are different types of leadership styles, each proving effective depending on the given circumstances, attitude, beliefs, preferences and values of the people involved. Let’s discuss 7 of these leadership styles. Each item in the following list contains at least one famous example of each leadership style. Every famous example of each leadership type showcases the fact that different kinds of leaders can implement the same kind of leadership. The first style of leadership on this list demonstrates this in an extreme way.
Charismatic Leadership is one of the modern leadership styles in the changing world. In this kind of leadership, the leader uses charm to get the admiration of their followers. They show concern for their people and they look after their people's needs. They create a comfortable and friendly atmosphere for their followers by listening to them and making them feel that they have a voice in the decision making. Famous examples of charismatic leaders are Winston Churchill, Bill Clinton, and Mother Teresa.
This kind of leadership is usually seen in corporate settings. Leaders act more like facilitators rather than dictators. They facilitate the ideas and the sharing of information with the end goal of arriving at a decision. The final decision ultimately rests on the leader but all considerations and factors of a decision come from the collective mind of the group under this leadership. A famous example of a participative leader is Donald Trump.
In situational leadership, three factors affect the leader's decisions: the situation, the capability of the followers and the capability of the leader. The leader adjusts to whatever limitation is laid out in front of him by his subordinates and the situation itself. Adaptability is a key here. The leaders need to be as dynamic as the different situations they are faced with. A famous example of this leadership style is Dwight Eisenhower.
In this kind of leadership, a clear chain of command is established. The leader motivates his subordinates by presenting to them rewards and punishments. All requirements for a subordinate are clearly stated with corresponding rewards. If they fail to satisfy those requirements, they will receive a corresponding punishment. A couple of famous examples of transactional leaders are Joseph McCarthy and Charles de Gaulle.
Transformational leaders lead by motivating by their followers. Leaders appeal to their followers' ideals and morals to motivate them in accomplishing their tasks. Basically, these kinds of leaders empower their followers using their own beliefs and personal strengths. Simply put, they inspire their followers. Famous transformational leaders include Martin Luther King Jr. and Walt Disney.
The quiet leader leads by example. They do not tell people what to do. They do not force people to do things that they are not willing to do. They do not give loud speeches, sweeping statements and clear cut orders. They do what needs to be done, inspiring their followers to do the same. Famous examples of the Quiet Leader are Rosa Parks, King George VI, Abraham Lincoln and Woodrow Wilson.
In servant leadership, the leader takes care of the needs of his followers first before they take care of their own. Instead of acting like a king to their subordinates, leaders act as servants. The leader feels that they need to serve their followers rather than force upon them what they want. Famous examples of servant leaders include George Washington, Gandhi and Cesar Chavez.
These leadership styles are much easier to understand if you picture the famous example of each leadership style.
About Michael Stickler
Mike is an author, radio host, and a highly sought-after motivational speaker. His best-selling book, A Journey to Generosity, is widely acclaimed throughout the Christian community. He is the publisher of Generous Living Magazine and writes for the Christian Post, 'A Generous Life' column.
]]>There seems to be a culture of “cool” for Christian leaders to gather at sports bars or cigar shops all in the name of, “I’m free in Christ, so I can [fill in the blank].”
]]>There seems to be a culture of “cool” for Christian leaders to gather at sports bars or cigar shops all in the name of, “I’m free in Christ, so I can [fill in the blank].”
My question is this: is this liberty or license? And perhaps more importantly, where’s the contextual wisdom? Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a beer or glass of wine with dinner. I don’t care much for cigars because I think they stink and look silly hanging out of your mouth, but I don’t have a specific issue with a Christian leader that chooses to smoke them. And we all have been guilty of letting our carnal nature take over when that person cuts us off on the freeway and let some unholy language slip out. That’s not what I’m talking about here. This isn’t about legalism and setting up a bunch of rules. My disturbance isn’t that a pastor may drink a beer from time to time while out with mature believers. My issue is this: have you, Christian leader, stopped and considered the witness that is presented when you do?
Should you really go to a sports bar with Bibles in hand and church t-shirts on and order a couple pitchers of beer? Are you somehow deceiving yourself that the rest of the people at this sports bar think that you’re cool when really, in the backs of their mind, they’re thinking, “Christians shouldn’t be doing this. I thought they had a higher moral code.”
If it’s that easy to cross the bridge into carnal things, then where do we draw the line? What about the unmarried leader who goes on a trip with his girlfriend and announces that they’re sharing a room? Only the leader, his girlfriend and God know whether they behaved themselves, but what kind of witness does that show to others? According to my Bible, Christians—especially Christian leaders—are commanded to be set apart from the world. In it, but not of it. When we focus on exercising our liberty rather than exercising contextual wisdom over that liberty, there’s little to no distinction between us and the world.
What do I mean by contextual wisdom? Let me give an example. Years ago, when I was working in homeless ministry, many of the people coming to us for help were in recovery from alcohol and drug addictions. I had a young man from the mission come to my house one day. He was about six months clean and was trying hard to walk with the Lord and leave his old life behind. He looked in my refrigerator and saw a six pack of beer, and because of his spiritual immaturity, he was completely discouraged that I would encourage others not to drink while I drank myself. After that experience, I came to the realization that I needed to use wisdom in the context of my position in ministry. I made a commitment not to drink at all while I was working in homeless ministry, a commitment I kept until at least a year after I left that type of ministry. It wasn’t I thought that my drinking was wrong, but I felt I could become a stumbling block to those who observed my lifestyle.
My question to the young leadership out there is this: how do you think that drinking, cussing, smoking or any other worldly activity advances the Kingdom? Especially when it’s practiced in the context of those who observe and can make a judgment based on their immaturity and lack of faith? Exercise that contextual wisdom. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
About Michael Stickler
Mike is an author, radio host, and a highly sought-after motivational speaker. His best-selling book, A Journey to Generosity, is widely acclaimed throughout the Christian community. He is the publisher of Generous Living Magazine and writes for the Christian Post, 'A Generous Life' column.
]]>The board needs to have a committee assigned to review revenues, expenditures, and other financial activity so that the board may, through this committee, exercise proper oversight of the organization’s finances. This is one of the reasons that our Board Composition Analysis tool on our website encourages having a CPA among the board members. This is not so that the CPA is responsible for managing finances, but that the board may properly understand and oversee those finances.
Another dimension of the financial health of the organization is its development strategy. Utilizing our Extreme Board Makeover course, we emphasize that a significant responsibility of the board is to lead in matters of fundraising, whether through their own giving or the opening of their personal networks of relationships. Board members ought not only to give, but participate in the cultivation of new donors to ensure that adequate financial resources are available as the ministry strives to accomplish its vision. We are probably talking about a lot of money, and it starts with the board.
You can learn more at Raise Your Vision Online Forum.
About Michael Stickler
Mike is an author, radio host, and a highly sought after motivational speaker. His best-selling book, A Journey to Generosity, is widely acclaimed throughout the Christian community. Mike Stickler is the founder of The Vision Group, LTD. This organization offers ministries and nonprofit foundations a Christian perspective in overcoming the challenges of raising funds.
Over the course of his career, Mike has published over forty books that have made a difference through thousands of churches, nonprofits and foundations as they serve the world.
An effective leadership board, in order to be effective, is a board in which the members are actively involved in not only the grand scheme of the organization, but often in the nuts and bolts part of growing the ministry. An example of this is that business of ensuring that sufficient human resources are in place. While relying on your executive leadership, it is ultimately the board’s responsibility define the personnel needs of the organization in accordance with the vision of the ministry.
]]>An effective leadership board, in order to be effective, is a board in which the members are actively involved in not only the grand scheme of the organization, but often in the nuts and bolts part of growing the ministry. An example of this is that business of ensuring that sufficient human resources are in place. While relying on your executive leadership, it is ultimately the board’s responsibility define the personnel needs of the organization in accordance with the vision of the ministry.
What kind of professional (paid) positions are required now, in the life of the organization? What will the need be for professional or executive staff in the future? What body of the work can be best served with volunteers? What training will volunteers require and are training assets available or in place?
Human Resource is but one area of responsibility that an effective leadership board must address. Your board will do so only if the board members agree that this is their responsibility. At the Vision Group website, members can find access to materials that will help structure, recruit, and train the kind of board that will get the job done in the area of human resources as well as in its other area of the ministry’s life, governance, and development.You can learn more at Raise Your Vision Online Forum.
About Michael Stickler
Mike is an author, radio host, and a highly sought after motivational speaker. His best-selling book, A Journey to Generosity, is widely acclaimed throughout the Christian community. Mike Stickler is the founder of The Vision Group, LTD. This organization offers ministries and nonprofit foundations a Christian perspective in overcoming the challenges of raising funds.
Over the course of his career, Mike has published over forty books that have made a difference through thousands of churches, nonprofits and foundations as they serve the world.