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Showing posts from May, 2018

Three Truths to Embrace When Hard Work and Planning Hasn't Produced Numerical Growth

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Recently I had a conversation with a pastor that I have been coaching for over a year. Over the course of the last several months, he and his team created plans, landed a focused vision and made a lot of significant changes. During our last conversation he shared some of the discouragement that he and his team were experiencing. He said, “We’re a little frustrated because, despite the changes we have made, we still haven’t seen numerical growth .” Matter of fact, the average attendance of his church was   exactly what it was one year ago.  Understanding growth principles  can be  helpful, especially when you're gaging the success of planning and execution by the increase of attendance.  When I was a kid,  I remember helping my grandfather plant his garden. Each day I would go there expecting to find fresh  vegetables. It didn't take long to understand that growth has a process and my desire to see it now did not speed it up. The same is true in the church.  If you'

Moving Planning to Action: 5 Areas the Pastor Can't Ignore

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I love seeing churches get Unstuck. Not very long ago, I received this email from a pastor after facilitating the Unstuck Strategic Process at their church.  Chad, I can't thank you enough for being willing to work with us on a personal level. You brought a big process, the strategic planning retreat, to [our] church in the middle of Pennsylvania. The result, our people are now motivated to make a difference for Christ with their lives in this area and even beyond. And, our planning team is convinced God is getting ready to do great things through us for His glory! Thanks again for getting us off on the right foot and being willing to walk along side of us for the next 12 months to help with accountability, follow through and focus on the goal we believe God has given to us. Receiving emails like this is my favorite part about working with The Unstuck Group. However, not every email is so positive. Sometimes they are just the opposite . When teams fail to