To benefit from the power of indirect influence, we must think systemically. The alternative is to assume a straight line between cause and effect. Doing A, B, and C leads to X, Y, and Z. This view sees life as a machine; press the right buttons and you get the outcome you want. This mechanistic attitude presents itself in churches when Christians offer spiritual solutions for all problems. It’s the same category of mistake the…
Authority is not as effective as it used to be. We are living in an age when people don’t accept things because an authority said so. In today’s world, nobody escapes the scrutiny of cross-examination. Whether you are the pastor of a small church in rural America or CEO of a multinational corporation, we all get challenged. We live in a world of continual questioning. Students question the expertise of their professors. Church members question…
Did this ever happen to you? You see a problem that needs fixing, so you attack the issue head-on, thinking you will solve it quickly but the problem only gets worse. You try harder but, instead of making progress, those who are against the idea increase in number, feelings become tense, and the change more distant. So you give the problem everything you’ve got by confronting the instigators of resistance and making sweeping policy changes.…
This week I was at a wedding rehearsal and ran into one of my former students. It was so good to see him and his wife again. A talented young couple, I always thought they offered amazing potential for the future of any church for which they would end up working. In fact, I helped him land a position as Worship Pastor at a large church. For those of you who are not familiar with…
I was thinking the other day about the relationship between quality and demand when it comes to the products or services our organizations offer to people. I think it is all-to-common for companies (or schools, or universities, or churches) to think that they have the very thing that people most need and that, therefore, they SHOULD come flocking to us to obtain it. Well that THEREFORE is a huge presumption. Just because you have a…
