Presby-Musings

Pastor Perry Noble of Newspring Church in South Carolina offered some valuable insight into how the staff of a church or organization needs to be on point when it comes to their level of commitment.   You can read Perry's entire article here. I have tweaked these a bit to adapt them not just to church but to any organization.  It will probably still have a church-y feel to it, but it's good stuff nonetheless. Church/Organization leaders, these are great questions to have your staff answer, and then use their answers to help you optimize your organization.  As I worked through these, I saw some blind spots that I have as a leader, and ways that my church could get better. #1 – Do I trust the leadership of this church/organization? If a staff member can't answer "yes" to this, then there's a problem.  There is no way to achieve "buy-in" from staffers (or even pastors) when there is a feeling distrust between them and the leadership.  Cre...

The recent General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA just ended, mercifully.  All that was accomplished during this 220th meeting of the national organization of the denomination within which I am ordained was... not much.  Some might call it a stalemate.  Other would call it an impasse.  I would call it an exercise in futility, a flailing about by an entity that is drowning, in death throes, or something of some such. Have you ever had a friend who had a really huge zit, and the zit appeared right before they were about to get married, have their portrait painted or go to prom?  And they put makeup on the zit, and tried to hide the zit with a veil or a mask? And then they asked you how it looked? And you lied to them through your teeth? So right now the question that you are about to ask me is, "What chance does the national organization of the Presbyterian Church (USA) really have to live, thrive, find relevance and do something cool?" ...