Archive for Leadership

Decision Making Process: Part 4 – The Decision-Making ‘Exit Ramp’

by Tim Woodroof –  On a freeway, most exit ramps look the same. A sign gives you warning an exit is available in one mile. A right-hand lane allows you to slow as you turn onto the exit ramp. The ramp banks gently away from the freeway and towards an intersection with some lesser road. You […]

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Decision Making Process: Part 3 – The Decision-Making ‘Freeway’

by Tim Woodroof –  Nothing beats an interstate freeway for moving quickly and efficiently from Point A to Point B. But there are obvious challenges involved with freeway travel. You have to build the infrastructure—a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. You should establish some “rules of the road”: how fast (or slow) drivers should go … which […]

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Decision Making Process: Part 2 – The Decision-Making ‘On Ramp’

by Tim Woodroof – The decision-making model used by church leaders can be vague or clear, unrestricted or structured, informal or fixed. To borrow the metaphor from the previous blog, leaders can move towards a decision by taking the “scenic route” or using the “freeway.” Each has its strengths and weaknesses. But the larger a leadership […]

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Serving God with Dirty Hands #4: Throw What Stinks Out of God’s House!

by Phil Ware –   What’s the greatest danger to participating in a great move of God during times of transition? Before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was closely associated with Tobiah, and he had provided him with a large room […]

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Serving God with Dirty Hands #1: Unworthy and Under-qualified

by Phil Ware –  How are we ever going to find anyone who is willing, able, and qualified to lead us to face the important challenges ahead of us? “I just don’t think I can do it. I’m not really qualified. I’m not sure I’m worthy of stepping into the role. I believe there are […]

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I Will Pursue Unity

by Rubel Shelly Special Note: The following arose from a time of self-reflection on June 30, 2017. Rubel was preparing some thoughts on Jesus’ prayer for unity (John 17) to share with others in ministry. He has graciously allowed us to share these personal practices in hope of beginning a larger discussion on Christian unity among […]

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Observations on Churches of Christ – The Graying of our Churches

by Tim Woodroof –   Interim Ministry Partners (IMP) has the privilege of working intensively with churches across the country—more than seventy-five congregations in the last few years. As a result of our work, IMP is strategically (perhaps uniquely) positioned to observe churches in a wide variety of circumstances and draw out some common themes. […]

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Ancient Wisdom, Today’s Grace: Singing the Jesus Song

by Phil Ware     Critical Moments Fragile. Vulnerable. And, threatened! The precious young church in Philippi was fragile, vulnerable and threatened. Two women, Euodia and Syntyche, had been essential in evangelizing and leading many of their new believers to Jesus. Now, however, they were at odds. The stain and strain of their disagreement was permeating […]

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Ancient Wisdom, Today’s Grace: Finding God’s Will

by Phil Ware Our Challenging Reality: A young woman shared her heart in Bible class: We all prayed and asked for God’s wisdom to know whether my dad should move to this new church, but we obviously misread the will of God. From the moment we arrived at that church, there were problems. People began […]

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Recovering a Vital Function Part Four: Counting the Cost; Paying the Price

by Mark Frost –  In these posts, I’ve been pleading for us to regain our passion for evangelism. I’ve found through experience that such a call will garner hearty “amens” from some quarters. I’ve also learned that some of those enthusiastic affirmations come from people who are not prepared to deal with what God may […]

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