When I was in ministry full-time there were times when I looked around the room at the staff and saw a lot of eeyore’s looking back at me. You remember Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh? Always the glass is half empty, the 100-Aker Woods token pessimist (where Pooh and his gang live), typically just on the edge of being completely depressed. Ministry can produce a season of Eeyores sometimes. I call it the Eeyore Syndrome.…
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Here are some of the insights we've gathered through our work with ministries. There's something for you, no matter what stage of ministry you're in.
I recently picked up a book recommended by a friend called Eat that Frog. When I first heard the title there were so many pictures that came into my mind about what this book could be about. Some of my initial book content thoughts were: 1. Ethnic Cuisine – 21 ways to cook frogs and enjoy them…
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What is Nostalgia? Every generation tends to have a favorite music genre. Even as time passes, they stay forever connected to that one era—for my parents it was the 60s and 70s, for me it was the late 90s, for my kids it’s something more recent. This music isn’t special to us because we objectively…
Read MoreHave you ever poured yourself into a project and felt like someone on the other side just didn’t respond well? This is the conversation I have most often with clients. It can be easy to think when we don’t get a good response, the answer must be to try harder. That can be true…sometimes. But…
Read MoreRecently, I had a conversation with a pastor who was dealing with some frustration in ministry. He was struggling with his staff, the board and the direction they were headed. He felt misunderstood. Our conversation quickly seemed to go from present to past. How long he had been in ministry, all the different areas he…
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There’s been a post going around social media lately with a picture of an airplane that has specific areas on it with red dots. The picture is tied to an article about something called survivor partiality. The whole idea behind the image and article is referencing something that came about in World War II about…
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When I got hired to be a Creative Arts Director, I didn’t have any models for that type of ministry. Which meant there was a lot of trial and error on my part. This can be common for anyone stepping into ministry for the first time. I came to realize that I didn’t know much…
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Donors are a magical thing in the minds of most non-profits. Because of donors, your organization can accomplish what it needs to…what isn’t magical about that? For many of us, the donor doesn’t just represent money they represent future, growth, opportunity, and movement. The more donors you have in front of you, the more opportunity…
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Terry freezes, locking his eyes on a hawk yards away that sits on a tree branch. He grips the camera hanging from his neck and brings it up to his eye, aiming for the perfect shot. He needs another lens, but he sees the hawk jerk his head towards the opposite direction. The bird’s about…
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Non-profits seek to change the world for the better, but in order to do the most good, it is important to understand how times have changed and how those changes can spell trouble or success for your cause. In our past consulting, people came to us for a variety of reasons. The specifics may vary,…
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One of the most important aspects of ministry is its volunteers. For organizational leadership, having volunteers is encouraging because it helps in accomplishing the mission. It gives a shared sense of being in ministry together. For a volunteer, it can be equally meaningful because it gives an opportunity for purpose and impact to happen in…
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Have you ever had one of those moments where you completely forgot someone’s name? You can remember all sorts of other things about them, but you can’t remember their name. Recently, I was in a meeting with clients and we were discussing their mission. We were talking about all the things related to mission, but…
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I am an idea person. I see the world through the lens of possibilities. It can be called different things: dreamer, visionary, even imagineer. The way I view people, organizations, and opportunities all revolves around the potential to do something better. Problems are simply challenges to that can be overcome. Even as a young kid,…
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Recently, I was consulting with an organization that wanted to change their community by: marriages restored and healthy parent-child connection. Working through connections with schools and offering free resources: marriage-parenting classes, events and mentorship. However, unforeseen challenges made them lose sight of their vision. We spent time together to get back their original excitement for…
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Terry freezes, locking his eyes on a hawk yards away that sits on a tree branch. He grips the camera hanging from his neck and brings it up to his eye, aiming for the perfect shot. He needs another lens, but he sees the hawk jerk his head towards the opposite direction. The bird’s about…
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I get a kick out of the things people dress up like for Halloween. How one personality transforms into another for a day of fun. Take my niece for example, a mild mannered, sweet little first grader who transforms into a dangerous masked ninja assassin. I can’t barely even recognize her in her Halloween costume.…
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Over the years in ministry, I’ve heard people tell me time and time again that hurt people hurt people. In my younger days, I think I passed it off as just something that you say to get over moments of frustration. But as I reflect on it now, I realize that it’s very true. Ministries…
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At Keenly, my job is to work with ministries. Big and small, local and international, building churches or educating children in Africa, I have the honor of working with such a variety of kingdom-changing groups. The past few years as I’ve been able to look behind the curtain of these different ministries, I’ve noticed a…
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When you talk to people in ministry, it seems that everybody’s got a story about how they got into it and why this work matters. As someone who appreciates the reason why people do what they do, these conversations are especially intriguing to me. We have found a lot of interesting reasons that people move…
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My daughter has a giant pair of clippers in her hands. She looks tiny in comparison to the monstrous gardening tool. I can easily imagine it snipping off one of her little fingers. Yet, I don’t feel scared. While she may still be a child, I’ve trusted her more and more as she’s gotten older.…
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When you hear the word “Inspire”, what comes to mind? Do you have the picturesque image of an artist painting the sunset meeting a dark and vast mountain range? Or perhaps you visualize someone sitting at a spot-lit piano on a blacken stage on the verge of a masterpiece. Maybe it takes you back to…
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