Are you an increasing or decreasing leader? You would think every leader would want to be an increasing leader, yet this is not the case. Speaking of an increasing or decreasing leader I am referring to not your ability, but how you influence others. Do you cause people around you to grow and increase in their capability and production, or not?

There are leaders who believe they have to be the smartest, wisest person on the team. Others believe the way to lead is to ridicule, belittle, blame, and subject team members to negative criticism. Both of these are decreasing or degrading leadership styles. Decreasing leaders make all plans and decisions and expect his/her plans to be carried out exactly as he desires.

An Increasing leader considers himself part of the team, knowing he is not always the smartest person on the team for every situation. They seek input from team members, allowing people to stretch their knowledge base and gain insight. Increasing leaders are looking through positive efforts to build the capability of every team member. Rather than belittling and degrading team members, Increasing leaders are looking to build up, encourage, and increase confidence for increased productivity.

While decreasing leaders chip away at the capability of others, Increasing leaders are always seeking opportunities to foster self-improvement of others assisting in their building of character, capability, and productivity.

There are well-meaning leaders who do not realize they are decreasing leaders, leading the way they have been led, though they were never fond of that leadership style. It is much easier to pull someone down than to build him/her up. A snide comment here, neglecting to acknowledge good performance, blaming instead of shouldering responsibility, these are evidences of a decreasing leader. These leadership characteristics are whittling away at the confidence capability, and productivity of the team.

Increasing leaders on the other hand have a mindset of assisting others to become better, raising individual capability, confidence, stretching people to want to be a growing individual in all areas of life. Instead of passing the blame onto team members, Increasing leaders shoulder the responsibility and pass the credit on to team members. These characteristics will always increase capability, dedication, and productivity.

Examine your own leadership, at church, work, or in the home. Do you recognize traits of a decreasing leader? Even a comment as, “You’ll never get anywhere in life…”  or “I wish somebody would get something right around here” are signs of a, decreasing leader. In your self-evaluation, if you do not find any decreasing leadership traits, you likely have not taken a honest deep enough search. When you identify decreasing leadership traits, what will you do this week to become a better Increasing leader?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

Have you ever considered differences between being involved and engaged? For a bacon and egg breakfast, a chicken is involved, the pig, however, is fully engaged. Involvement and engagement are two completely different mechanisms evidencing distinctive levels of participation. Many New Testament churches today are filled with people involved in the church, yet not engaged.

A person can be involved in church for decades yet never engage. You can attend church every weekend for 70 years and never become engaged. Likewise, a person can attend Bible study for years/decades without ever engaging in maturing as a believer. Sadder yet is many of these “involvers” have no clue they are not growing Christians.

Much of the liability for this fallacy rests with the church. For a couple decades churches used a specific set of Bible study classes as “Discipleship”. In my denomination those classes took place on Sunday, prior to an evening worship service. Then we dropped those classes due to lack of attendance. Few people were offered the opportunity to be engaged in true Discipleship. No engagement led to lack of involvement.

While Bible studies are important in Discipleship, Discipleship is not a set of classes. Discipleship is a lifestyle requiring engagement in principled practices.  In Philippians 2:12 the apostle Paul tells us, “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” This is our maturing in Christlikeness throughout our lifetime as believers. To work out your own salvation, to advance in Christlikeness requires more than involvement. It requires engagement.

Follow these suggestions for moving people from involvement to engagement in gospel ministry.

• Get to know the people, discover their passions and aspirations. People will serve out of their God-given passions and be willing to grow through the use of those passions. Serving out of passion is engagement.
• Provide opportunities for service and growth. Service opportunities come both inside and outside of the church. A person will learn more in one act of service than four weeks of classroom instruction. Engagement always brings a higher level of learning.
• Pair people up or create small groups of 3-5 disciples who will challenge and encourage one another in their discipleship growth. Challenging and encouraging one another ensues engaging one another and causes everyone to engage.
• Give encouragement. Showing appreciation demonstrates that you care. When people realize you truly care about who they are becoming, engagement will follow.
• Issue challenges for engagement. Growth never takes place in the comfort zone. When we challenge people to engage in something new, greater, outside his/her comfort zone, his/her engagement will bring joy and insight for future engagement.

These five are not all inclusive of moving people from involvement to engagement, but they are tested, tried, and true. You can research and add others as you master these, and God aligns greater engagement opportunities for your church members.

When we stand before God, may we not be relegated to say we had many people “involved” in our church. Let it be proclaimed of us that we led many to fruitfully engage in the ministry of Christ.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

The world speaks of successful leadership. But what is success? In the Christian realm, I like to speak in terms of Fruitful Leadership. Scripture speaks of bearing fruit. The Great Commission is about bearing fruit. John chapter 15 is a fruit bearing chapter.  

One of the tenets of Fruitful Leadership is Persistent Engagement. Persistent; continuing firmly in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition. Fruitful leaders understand the importance of persistent engagement with their constituency. Persistent engagement keeps a leader actively connected in the labor and development of the people he leads regardless of other demands of his time.

Fruitful church leaders understand the importance of being engaged in not only ministry, but also in the personal lives of your congregation. Not to be intrusive but engaged in conversation about more than the Sunday morning worship experience.

Discovering why some churches excel and others do not often will be determined by the engagement of the leaders of the church. Not only paid staff, Persistent Engagement is required of all lay leadership too. Each one must be committed to the full authority of Christ and the mission of the church.

In any area of life, your ability to lead well is contingent to your level of engagement.

This does not insinuate that as pastor/leader you must be in every meeting, every class, for every decision made, every day of the week. Therefore, build a culture of fruitful leaders beyond your current leadership team.

Ways to stay engaged can include;  

• Engaging in personal conversations. Find out about those you serve.
• Listen to the opinions and concerns mentioned in meetings or conversations. Do not mentally cut off someone. Hear them out. Focus on the heart of the concern, not your opinion.
• Be the last to speak in a conversation or meeting. When the pastor/leader speaks, most others in the church will become silent. It is great to allow everyone else to speak first. This builds confidence and unity. Speak last.
• Don’t try to always be the smartest person in the room. Listen, gain an appreciation for the opinions and suggestions of others. Then explore as a team.
• Always shoulder responsibility and pass the credit to others. In a worldly view the leader takes the credit, even if he did nothing to contribute. This is demotivational and leads to an exodus. Always shoulder the responsibility, even if you had nothing to do with what went wrong. Always pass the credit to those following you, even if you did the bulk of the work.
• Practice deeper listening skills – listen to more than words alone. Words make up only 7% of what is communicated by everyone. Our natural inclination is to begin forming our response within the first three sentences as someone speaks. Doing this we miss the root cause of the need being presented. Wait patiently, listening intently without forming a response,

Persistent engagement requires your physical, mental, and spiritual presence. As spiritual leaders we must diligently practice the art of being present in body, mind, and spirit as we engage.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

As Christian leaders we often use the phraseology, “turn to the Bible to…” This phrase is used in all types of situations in various walks of life. We tell people, “If you want to know how to deal with this circumstance or that situation, turn to the Bible. You’ll find the answer in scripture.

I agree, you can find no greater source for any situation or circumstance. Yet, why do we as Christian leaders and churches overlook one of the great teachings of scripture within our own confines of the church? We may go to scripture when recruiting, we find certain passages that meet our desired requirements for particular positions in the church, but do we seek to follow the example of Christ?

Have you ever pondered, maybe even scratched your head concerning Jesus’ choice for His team, His Disciples? These were the men He chose to train then send them out to accomplish a task that had never been set before men. And not only to a few, but to all nations, everywhere. At best Jesus picked a motley crew, uneducated, simple men with callused, hardworking hands. This is not the crew anyone at anytime in the history of the world would select for such a task. But Jesus did, and He used them to turn the world upside down.

Think on it, Jesus did not go to the highest institutions of learning, He didn’t seek out the men with the most degrees to their name, or the brightest of academia. He did not go to the halls of government, seeking the most persuasive minds and congenial personalities. He did not go into the corporate world looking for the leaders of great organizations. He did not even try to find the brightest of Jews educated in the Torah.

Instead, Jesus went first to Galilee to recruit a ragtag bunch of fishermen. Then He proceeded to call men of unexpected means, common men, mostly uneducated in the world’s eyes. Not one was a man of influence, power or prestige. Not one would be considered “the best for the job”. Yet these were the men Jesus chose to turn the world upside down.

It really should not surprise us as God used this methodology many times throughout all of scripture. God often chooses the ones that men will not even consider.

As we look to recruit in the church are we closer to the model Jesus demonstrated, or following a worldly model? I wonder, what greater accomplishments could God do through His church if when recruiting, by prayer, we put on the eyes of Christ instead of the eyes of world seekers? Instead of trying to find the most qualified of our friends to fill a role, what if we sought the fishermen with callused hands that we have written off as – not qualified?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

Alignment keeps your church tires from balding. Car ownership includes ensuring your car has a proper alignment. Without proper alignment, your car’s tires will wear unevenly, causing either the inside or outside tread to go bald if left unchecked. This will cause your car to handle poorly and is dangerous. As you should have your car periodically checked for alignment, so also your church or other organization needs a periodic check your organization alignment.

What is church alignment? What is a church to align to? Scripture? Yes, but every church has a specific alignment obligation. Every Bible believing New Testament church is to align every aspect of the church to The Great Commission. It is our one and only driving force. This is all inclusive, every sermon, every song, every class, ministry, every leader, and every decision made is to align with The Great Commission.

The Great Commission is not your mission or mission statement. It is God’s directive for every church. Each church then must develop a mission statement to align within their context – their community, according to the Great Commission.

There are three tenets in The Great Commission;

 Go and make disciples, this is evangelism, take the gospel to the people outside the church. Unfortunately, many churches have only a supposed alignment here. If it were properly aligned would we not be seeing more baptisms?

Baptize them, just what it says. When a person has surrendered to God’s plan of reconciliation, baptize him/her as a demonstration of what has taken place in his/her life. Baptism does not save a soul but is a public demonstration of what has already taken place inside that person’s heart and soul.

Teach them to observe all Things I have given you, A lifelong ever-growing process in Christlikeness. We never outgrow maturing as believers. There is always something to learn and to achieve in Christ. What evidences and testimonies are being regularly shared and observed of spiritual growth in church members? How many members are disciples making/nurturing other disciples?

It is imperative to periodically evaluate every aspect of your church as mentioned in paragraph two above, for proper alignment to The Great Commission. Even if much of your church is properly aligned, it only takes one area out of alignment to bring catastrophic damage and destruction to your church/organization.

There are other subsequent areas of alignment required in the church as well. Yet, being properly aligned to The Great Commission is by far the most crucial and necessitated. Without it what devastation awaits your ministry? What will you do this week to begin the alignment check for your church?

For more information or assistance contact your denomination leaders or reach out to George Yates. My desire is for every church to be properly aligned for greater fruitfulness.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

Increase the caliber of your players and you increase the fruitfulness of your organization. That is a little twist on a quote from Mark Miller, Leader, Training and Leadership Development for Chick-fil-A.

Most leadership within the church comes from – within the church. Too often in the church we settle for the first person who will say yes. I do believe we want the “right” person, and we hope and pray that the first person we ask will be “The right person”. I have written and will write about placing the right person in all roles of leadership within the church. But for this post, I want to give some thoughts on increasing the caliber of learders in your church/organization.

1, Caring Engagement – If you want people to put forth their best, show them that you care, for him/her personally and their fruitfulness in the position. Noy just a one-time thing when recruiting. Caring engagement is an ongoing aspect of leadership. Show them you care.

One of the best ways to show you truly care is to engage on a regular basis, not only about their role, but about other aspects of life. Engage in conversation, maybe attend their child’s ball game. Show concern for their trials and sufferings as well as their victories and successes at home and church.

2, Provision – Provide everything possible for a fruitful ministry in each person’s leadership role. Instead of giving them a title and turning them loose to figure out how to with what, provide the resources, training, and personnel to have a fruitful ministry which advances the entire organization.

3, Empower – Too often we give a position or title while using constraints for fruitful accomplishment. When you give a person a position and title, turn lose of control of the ministry and give the flexibility to be the most fruitful leader possible. While there must be boundaries set, without freedom of empowerment to accomplish the task, fruitfulness will be lacking and not necessarily on the part of the new leader. Build an empowering structure within your church/organization.

4, Provide Proper Equipping – There is not a position in the corporate world where you had your orientation training and never had to do any other training. Yet, many times in the church we recruit for training and thank someone for saying yes, but never give any further training. In the corporate world this would not be acceptable, there is always some type of training. All those jobs deal with the temporal, we deal with the eternal. How much more important should ongoing training be in the church. Be certain you are providing opportunities for growth for every leader in your organization. Research and encourage each leader to research training opportunities outside the church related to his/her particular role.

5, Follow-up – Do not micro-manage, Empower. Regular, consistent follow up is critical for the fruitfulness of each ministry and the church/organization. Regular consistent follow up is checking in, showing that you care. It also gives you a sense of where the ministry is going, difficulties that might be developing. Follow up will also give you victory stories to share throughout the church encouraging other leaders as well.

Increase the caliber of your Leaders and you increase the fruitfulness of your organization.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

Truth is narrow, always has been. In our society today, truth is mocked, marginalized, and criticized. Yet truth is and always has been narrow and people do not like to be boxed in. Therefore, truth is received as a threat when in fact it is not a threat, but it is – the truth.

Mathematical truth is narrow. 2+2 always equals 4, never 3, not sometimes 5. It is always 4. Mathematical truth is always narrow. Scientific truth is narrow. Water always freezes at 32⁰ F. Never at 35 or sometimes 37. Scientific truth is always narrow. Geographical truth is narrow. I live in Kentucky. Kentucky is bordered on the north by the Ohio River, not the Ganges or the Missouri. Geographical truth is narrow. Historical truth is narrow. Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon on July 20, 1969, not the 23^rd or September 20. Historical truth is always narrow.

Since all truth is narrow, why would we have difficulty understanding theological or biblical truth as also being narrow? In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus himself said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ¹⁴ Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Biblical truth makes people uncomfortable because it is truth and the flesh does not like anything that goes against our fleshly desires and pleasures. Fleshly desires and pleasures are plentiful, broad, and can bring temporary satisfaction. However, that temporary satisfaction also leads to ruin – “broad is the way that leads to destruction.”

As believers in Jesus Christ as Lord of All, we are called to bring the light of truth to a world living in the darkness of broad destructive behaviors. Biblical truth will always lead us to Jesus. As He stated in John 14:6, “I am The Way, The Truth, and The Life. No man comes to the Father but through me.”

Jesus was not boasting or arrogant. The only way to righteousness is through righteousness. Jesus Christ is the only person who ever lived a perfect and righteous life. Therefore, He is the only way to Heaven. He sacrificed His life for you to have life abundant and eternal. Yes, it is very narrow to only have one way. Yet it is truth, and truth always is narrow.

My thanks to O.S. Hawkins and the inspiration to write this from his devotional, The Believers Code, Thomas Nelson Publishers, pg. 276 September 13.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

In a monthly meeting while discussing the church history and attempting to identify trends, the new pastor asked, “Is this a trend? I’ll be out to supper with my wife, and a church member will come up to me and say, ‘Pastor, I want to introduce you to Bill and Jane. They used to be members of our church.’ Then I’ll be visiting someone in the hospital and the patient will say, ‘Pastor this is Judy. She used to be a member of our church.’ Everywhere I go church members are introducing me to people who used to be members of our church. Is this a trend?”

He posed the question to me, but I turned it back to all the members of the team sitting around the table. “What do you think? Could this be a trend in the church?” Within a few minutes they had identified a trend that had been ongoing for twenty years. Each time the church had to say good-bye to a staff member, they lost several families.

Looking at the history of an organization can bring to light evidence of trends that may have followed the organization. Trends will be evidenced in things we count such as attendance, giving, membership, and baptisms. Trends can also be discovered in the way a church is inclined to vote on church matters, or how they treat church leaders. Trends can emerge in how a church deals with political or social issues. It is interesting to surface trends and bring to a discussion of the church members or leaders as they may never realize the trend unless it is oftentimes brought before them from an outside observer.

It is important when looking at the trends of an organization to attempt to unveil any subdued or hidden causes or reasons. For instance, if a church is turning over pastors every three years, what might be the underlying reasons? It is possible the church is using seminary students, and the students are using this church as a steppingstone. It could be the church likes this approach because they do not have to pay a full-time salary to a long-term pastor. In other churches, it is possible there are leadership issues among the members of the church. There could also be a number of other reasons. When similar actions are taken on numerous occasions, a trend is being cultivated. Some trends can be good; others may not be lending to the good health of a church.

The important measure is to unearth the reasons for trends in the organization. Many church members and leaders are actively involved in the trends of the organization and may not realize the reason for the trend. Oftentimes the detriment of the trend is not realized by the church – until irreplaceable damage is made. This brings another viable reason to surface for including an outside perspective of looking at your historical eras and data.

What trends are prevalent in your church? Can you identify the good and detrimental trends?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

An effective/fruitful church organizational structure is the one that supports fulfilling the Great Commission and doesn’t hinder forward moving efforts. Many churches have an established structure, but not one that fulfills this purpose. Organizational structure should be set to serve your vision and culture. Therefore, it needs to be organic and dynamic, ready to change when God does a new thing.

Unfortunately, many churches have established a structure that worked well in previous season of the church, but it now no longer supports the needs of the church and community. Indeed, yesterday’s structure could even hinder God’s agenda because of its inflexibility. Without intention to, we can become ‘structure first’ in our practice and quench the Spirit’s work that He is wanting to do through us.

Organizational structure in the church needs to be like a wineskin, flexible according to the wine inside it. Wineskins can stretch according to the need, but the wineskin serves the purpose of the wine, and not the other way round. 

A fruitful church organizational structure includes:

1. providing a mission-centric framework.
2. Focus on the use of resources toward the vision.
3. creates space for culture to grow.
4. changes in line with strategic development.

If the structure is unhealthy or ineffective, resources will not be maximized, and the church will be program-driven, process, or politically led instead of being Holy Spirit mission-led.

Five keys regarding church structure to be considered:

1. A healthy church has a structure that helps the church steward a fruitful culture. A healthy church culture helps the church develop the beliefs and behaviors needed for biblical fruitfulness.
2. Healthy church culture is derived from values. Values are the seeds of culture and reveal what we believe to be right, Godlike, and best. They give us a framework for making decisions that propels the church forward in fulfilling The Great Commission. True values will always be manifested through our actions. Many churches claim evangelism as a core value, yet only one or two people share their faith. Evangelism is not a core value in many churches.
3. Values are carried out through the church’s biblical oriented vision demonstrating God’s heart, shaped by His words. and shared God-given passions in the hearts of the leadership team.
4. The mission of the (worldwide) church is to fulfill The Great Commission. Every particular church has a unique mission of how to fill their part of The mission. Mission answers the key question, “What does our church exist to do?”
5. Church strategy, the prioritizing of actions and activities that fulfil the mission, advance the vision, generate the culture and further develop organizational structure needs.

When these five characteristics line up, you have organizational alignment. If the church is weak in organisational health, then one or more of these is ineffective or in opposition to what your stated purpose is.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

When planning a vacation, what is the first ingredient of planning for you? Perhaps your first thoughts are of where or when. May I suggest there is one other element that must be considered first? Before the when, where, how questions are answered we must first consider “who.” Who will be traveling with you? Without the “who,” all other planning may be for naught.

I am a firm believer in using the same approach for ministry? Knowing who is traveling with you on your ministry journey is of primary importance. Having the right people in positions of leadership is crucial to getting started right and continuing on a quality course of ministry.

The right person for a particular position might not be the one with the highest qualifications or education and experience for the position. Organizations, churches, and businesses are littered with people in positions with no passion or drive for accomplishing required tasks. Someone with passion will overcome inexperience with his/her drive to accomplish required tasks.

Having the right people in leadership positions begins with proper recruitment. Here are two tips to consider when recruiting for any position: 1) Do not recruit in the hall. 2) Look for the who, people with capacity for the role needed

Steps to follow when your organization has a position to be filled.

1. Pray for your eyes to be open to seeing as God sees so that you will realize when the Holy Spirit nudges you toward a person. Not because you know the person has accepted before, but because this person has the capacity to undertake the responsibility of the position and spiritual warfare that may follow.
2. Contact the person asking for a meeting, not in the hallway, preferably in his/her home or at a restaurant for coffee.
3. Pray before the meeting. Pray for the proper wording to use during the meeting. Pray for an open heart for both you and the other person.
4. During the meeting be cordial and remember his time is valuable. Begin with casual conversation. After a few minutes, move into the reason for the meeting. Choose your wording carefully. Statements like, “God told me…” will kill the interview immediately and the likelihood of receiving a positive response.

Instead phrase your wording similar to, “I (We) have been praying about the right person to assist with our ____ ministry. After several weeks, we believe you have the right qualities to serve in this capacity. Would you agree to pray with me about accepting this as an act of service (to God) for our church?” Notice I did not use the terms position, job, or responsibility in this initial approach. Those terms carry a negative allusion to a burdensome task.

From this point you can begin to answer any questions the candidate might have and explain the responsibilities. Set a time for follow-up and his answer, about a week.

This format works and honors God more than the way many are recruited in the church.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.