While living in Gilroy, California, my wife and I purchased a home with a pool. Not that we wanted a pool, but it came with the house. Gilroy is considered to be in part of one of only for regions in the world with a Mediterranean climate. While temperatures rise into the 90’s in the daytime in summer, they will fall into the low 60’s at night with very low humidity. This is great in most every situation, except for an above the ground pool owner.

Since the temps vary so much, the water temperature never warmed up in our pool. The top four inches of water was nice and warm. But the remaining 3 ½ feet of water was always cold. Pam and I realized that if we could overcome the initial shock of the cold, we could spend the first five minutes in the pool walking in circles around the perimeter stirring the water until it warmed enough to enjoy the pool. We also found that when we both entered the cold water we could stir it to warmth in a shorter time and enjoy the benefits together. To arrive at the desired condition required first adjusting to the initial shock of the cold water then stirring the water.

Leading a church (or other organization) through transition has great similarities to the pool of cold water. Effective leaders are often stirring the waters. They also recognize the more people who join in the stirring together, the quicker arrival for the desired outcomes that everyone can enjoy. At issue for leaders is convincing others to take that initial plunge into the unknown cold temperatures. People’s nature is to remain in the warmth of their present comfort rather than plunge into the cold waters of what could be a promising future.

Casting vision of what the warm waters will be is an invitation to excel beyond the existing organizational conditions and circumstances. While 80% of our churches are in decline or plateaued, every church could use improvement to become more effective in fulfilling the Great Commission. Casting vision often requires raising the bar of service and engagement on all individuals. This is the cold plunge that people are averse to.

One trait of effective leadership is properly elevating the sense of urgency. When the leader can lead the organization to a genuine understanding of the urgency on each person, results will begin to climb. The water is being stirred by more than the leader and the desired outcomes are close at hand. Creating the understanding of a sense of urgency is key.

Someone has said, “The only issues you will solve are the ones you engage.” When leaders are unwilling to initiate the stirring of the water, desired outcomes will never be seen in or through the organization. To lead means to step out and bring others along with you. Organizations flourish or are plundered (from within) based on the leadership’s willingness to “stir things up”.

Many churches are operating out of the practices of the 1970’s or 1990’s. It’s time to stir the waters of biblical practices. Today how will you prayerfully ask God to use you in stirring for the greater good of your church (organization)? Not of your own personal preferences, but to assist your church in becoming more effective in truly fulfilling the Great Commission.

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.

I remember as a child my mother pulling up to a stop sign on a slight hill in our big white Oldsmobile sedan. Mom was new to driving a car with a manual transmission. To the five of us kids in the backseat she was driving fine. However, my Dad, sitting in the passenger’s seat knew the apprehension Mom was feeling. Stops on hills with a manual transmission for a new driver can be very apprehensive causing worry, angst, and fear. “Will I roll back into the car behind me”, or “Will I release the clutch too quickly causing the car to lurch and stall. What if I stall the car and cause an accident.” The fear of not releasing the clutch while accelerating to move the car forward smoothly to a new driver brings on all these emotions. This is the paralysis of uncertainty and it is where Mom found herself on this particular morning.

The issue is not that people fear change so much as they fear the in-between. What is known is what is comfortable, even if it is not the healthiest of situations. Anything that brings uncertainty into our lives can be paralyzing. People are inclined to stay in the muck and mire of a bad situation rather than risk the unknown of the uncertainty. Not only today, this was true in the day of Moses as recorded in the book of Exodus.

God delivered the Israelite nation out of a life of torturing slavery, promising them a land flowing with milk and honey. They celebrated their delivery from slavery. Yet within one week they began to realize the uncertainty and fear of the unknown. They asked why they could not go back to what they knew – even though it was a horrible, captive life.

Why? Because they had not arrived at the new “Promised Land” yet. The entire nation was paralyzed by the uncertainty. It is that time between what we know and arriving at the promised land that we fear. The unknown brings an unsettled mind. It is the uncertainty of the journey and the vagueness of seeing the new reality that causes people to be trepid in accepting a new course.

Making a transition in your personal life or ministry organization requires patience and prayer. Transitions, change, and adjustments no matter to how big or small they may seem to the leaders, will seem insurmountable to some. Be patient, take your time. Introduce transitions slowly and gradually. Teach and equip everyone who is involved and every person who will be impacted about the needed transition, the coming changes, and the benefits of the transition. Listen to their concerns.

Even moving through transitions with patience and equipping, some will dig their heels in. That’s natural and okay. Proceed slowly, methodically, and prayerfully. Allow the Holy Spirit to set the timeline. Too often leaders move forward at their desired speed of transition setting up disastrous outcomes, destroying trust within the church.

As bringing home a newborn baby for the first time requires adjusting to new challenges and a new lifestyle, so transitioning a church (or even your personal life) can be challenging and joyful at the same time. What will you implement in your life to assist you in identifying and moving through the paralysis of uncertainty? What can you implement in your life and ministry to assist others through their paralysis of uncertainty?

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.

“It’s the economy or that other political party.” “It’s that big church that moved in.” Isn’t it amazing how people in the church pass the blame of the church’s decline on so many factors outside the church? Seldom do we hear declining churches accepting responsibility for decline. Could the same be true of your personal life? Are you blaming outside sources for the disappointments or setbacks in your life? Perhaps it is time to accept responsibility, pull up your bootstraps and move forward.

Do you have power over the economy? No. Do you have control over the weather? No. Do you have control over that big church that moved in down the street? No. In our personal lives and in the church, we tend to lay blame where we have no control. The only thing you have control over is that which God has blessed you.

In the church what you have power with is the giftings of the people God has brought into your church. Each time you or someone in your church blames outside sources for something your church is not accomplishing, you are denying that God has the power to accomplish. We quote scripture and state that He who is within us (God) is greater than he who is in the world. Yet, our actions deny that God is more powerful than he who is in the world.

True, there is a declining interest in the church among the outside world in recent decades. However, do you not believe there has been other times as this in centuries gone by? God has overcome each of those seemingly godless societies and He has the power to overcome the godlessness of our generation.

Churches must once again become the spiritual leaders in local communities and around the world. This is what Jesus called us to in Acts 1:8 and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Effective Leaders identify and address needed changes. Effective spiritual leaders identify, and address needed changes not only within the body of the church, but also within the community. This is how God works through the church to reach the community and rippling out into the world.

What we see today is many churches attempting to identify style changes within the church expecting to affect the community. Changing the name of the church, dropping any part of the name that “we feel” might offend or not be appealing to outsiders, changing music style or move to “seeker sensitive” teaching styles.

While we are responsible for delivering God’s message in a relevant manner, style never addresses the true cause. Style only addresses symptoms. Style never addresses the true issue. Isn’t the biggest issue today that we, the church, are not being obedient in fulfilling the Great Commission?

My challenge for you today is to pray, asking God to reveal to you personally how you can begin anew in shouldering the responsibility and assisting/leading your church to do the same. Ask God with a sincere heart to guide you in accepting your personal responsibility.

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 every life has issues, so every church has issues as well. While most people talk of problems, I believe there are no problems. Certainly, there are issues in every life. But issues need not turn into problems. When you deal with problems, you start from and act out of the negative. However, when you envision those issues as opportunities instead of problems, you approach them from the positive, optimistic aspect of the issue.

When we address and attack an issue instead of the person, we are more likely to come to a desired resolve. Attacking an issue and attacking a person are two completely different paths to walk. While the first brings resolve, the second will only bring dissention and disunity. To bring resolve or to redirect the course, always address the issue, not the person.

Because most people are confrontation averse, we often ignore issues in our personal lives and in the church. When we ignore issues in the church, we acknowledge a lack of confidence in God’s ability to prevail over our difficulties. Our God is a Great God, greater than our difficulties. While some issues are known by many in the church they become the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about.

Part of the role of a leader is to identify, and state issues within the church. To avoid conflict and complaints many leaders avoid speaking of the issues. Ex. We know the church is in decline, but it is easier to ignore it. Yet, we cannot take the above statements as a license to bulldoze our way through issues, destroying every thing and person who does not see our reasoning.

It is difficult to paint a picture of a brighter future when leaders do not first lead the church to see the current canvas in its accuracy. This is not a time for browbeating. Rather it is a time to speak the truth in love. Speaking the truth in love about issues can be painful and difficult, but without it true restoration and resolve cannot be found.

Begin with prayer.

• Pray asking God to help you understand the depth of the issue.
• Pray asking God to help you to understand the personalities involved.
• Pray for wisdom of how the issue could be addressed without involving names.
• Pray for a God-based resolve that will not negatively impact God’s kingdom witness.

People respond better to questions rather than being told. Think (and pray) how to formulate thought-provoking questions that will lead everyone on each side of an issue to openly and honestly view the issue (not people) in light of The Great Commission. A series of properly formulated questions will bring about God’s desired resolve and will lead the group/congregation on a better path, preferably on a path toward righteousness.

What is your first step in learning to better understand how to deal with Issues instead of people?

For more information on properly formulated questions contact George Yates and read some of his earlier blogposts on questions.

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.

Unearthing the realities of a declining organization is only the beginning. Church leaders must recognize the need for change – change for the better – the need for improvement. One major objective for each of us in all aspects of life is improvement.

We are incessantly seeking to improve some feature or component of life be it physical, intellectual, or spiritual. When we discover certain truths of undesirable development (such as decline in the church), we have two choices: ignore it and let things continue in the direction they are headed or seek and develop strategic plans for improvement. The first choice is like sticking our heads in the sand. The second response usually requires a change of course and this often goes against our nature. We are creatures of habit, not of change.

Our very nature gives us an aspiration to envision a more desirable outcome. However, our mental or psychological make-up may not be prepared to take on the needed changes to reach the desired objective. When a person or organization desires to make changes to any recognized unhealthy patterns or practices, the necessary resolve to undertake the risks of the needed change may stop us from moving forward. The unhealthy pattern is in most cases better understood (by the church) than healthy behaviors, and because we have been operating out of this pattern, though it is unhealthy, it may even feel safer no matter how detrimental.  Our psychological security system informs us it is safer to stay with what we know.

Remember the Israelites after Moses had led them by God’s direction out of the land of Egypt where they were horribly treated and beaten as slaves. They said to Moses: “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you took us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt: Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” Ex 14:11-12 (HCSB)

Even after God delivered the Israelites, this time by parting the Red Sea and allowing them to cross over on dry ground and drowning Pharaoh’s army, how many more times did they pose the same complaint to Moses? While we want a better life, even a godly life, our flesh tries to convince us to stay with what we know. The unhealthy pattern is perceived as our “safe zone.”

Perhaps the greatest thing you can do for your church at this point is to bring in a coach for an objective assistance in making the right decisions and moving the church forward. The coaching process supports the individuals and the organization as the needed changes to produce healthy and productive behaviors are discovered, explored, and implemented.

Seeing the straight-forward realities can be an eye-opening experience for individuals and the church as a whole and this, in many cases, should be a jarring awareness. The reality of our situation in a declining church should jar us as the unexpected sound of a loud horn blowing without warning. Realizing there is a call for further development and change leads us to the next step of our vigorous face to face with reality.

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.

This article is excerpted from chapter 8 of Reaching the Summit: Avoiding and Reversing Decline in the Church.

In life are you making life investments or simply trying to preserve the status quo? If we’re honest, many people are simply trying to maintain a certain comfort level. To do anything else would require risk-taking. The majority of personality temperaments are risk averse. Taking risks is not something we are comfortable with. This investment versus preservation is not only about money. It permeates most all areas of our lives.

A good example is given to us in The Holy Bible by Jesus Himself as He shares the parable of the talents recorded in Matthew 25:14-30 and Luke 19:11-27. While in this parable Jesus is using a form of currency (talents) as His topic, I want us to look at our true talents as we think of investing or preserving. Being a good steward of every talent and gift God has given us requires moving beyond prudently preserving the status quo.

Investing is putting to use your God-given talents, money, and skills. God desires you to put those to use for his kingdom. When you invest, you are taking a risk. You are risking whether your investment will bear fruit (kingdom fruit in this case). But risk taking also could mean exposing yourself to ridicule and walking away empty handed. Even that is okay. Jesus said they are not rejecting you; they are rejecting Him. It is better to be commended by God and ridiculed by man than the reverse.

The master in the parable commended the two servants who doubled the investment given them. “Well done,” he said and gave them even more. However, it was only words of condemnation for the one who had hidden his talent. I do not know about you but I would much rather hear words about me like, “Well done!” as opposed to words such as slothful, wicked, and lazy.

One great lesson for us from this parable is that God is not pleased when we try to avoid risk to maintain status quo. God is not pleased when we hide or bury our God-given gifts and talents to preserve our preferred level of security and desired pleasure. What are you hiding, avoiding risk to stay in your area of comfort and pleasure?

Regardless of who you are or where you consider yourself to be in regard to giftedness, God has blessed you with certain gifts and talents to be invested for His kingdom and glory. Each time you invest one of your talents, you do bring God glory. Each time you invest, God is gladly preparing a “Well done…” statement for you. According to your actions, is God preparing words of commendation or condemnation?

Your talent investment should not only be considered inside the church. God is providing opportunities for investment in the market place – your workplace, neighborhood, family, and everywhere you find yourself this week. What is your next step of investment over preservation?

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.

One of the training sessions on a CD that I produced based on conferences was titled, “If the Church Were a business, What business Are We In?” Today if we asked a similar question most church attenders would give us a biblical answer or a comfort zone response. Too often we settle for good rather than the greatness for which God created us. Satan knows a Christian or church who will settle for Good is no threat to his kingdom. As long as we settle for good, we will never strive for the greatness of God’s design.

There is no point in changing that which does not need to be changed. However, it is a sin not to change or drop methods or traditions that are using up valuable resources, time, and money. Practices, methodologies, and traditions that are not leading us to accomplish the Great Commission need to be evaluated for transition or relinquishment.

The preservation of anything we consider normal, be it a tradition, methodology, or regular practice can easily become a sin factor in our individual lives and in the church. Too often in the church and in our daily lives we choose habit and repetition over biblical principle. Therefore, without realizing it we are turning our backs on God and His guidelines for us. All for the comfort of what’s familiar.

Would we not do well by evaluating between good and God’s best? If every church would honestly evaluate every ministry annually, how much more of God’s best Kingdom-centered ministry could be accomplished. Is it possible that most churches do not evaluate ministries due to the fear of offending ministry leaders or certain financial givers?

You can evaluate ministries without upsetting the applecart, so to speak. Asking questions as “Of the three areas of the Great Commission, which is this ministry fulfilling?’ and “Of the five functions of the church which best describes the intent and outcomes of this ministry?” The following is a link to an easy and unbiased approach to evaluate ministries in any church. Microsoft Word – Evaluating Ministries.docx (soncare.net)

Many of our traditions and regular practices are not necessarily evil. They are simply outdated or they have run their course. As a teenager I remember the Shure sound systems. They all looked alike and youth choirs and churches loved them. They were great. I have seen a couple of them over the past ten years and each time they bring back fond memories of my teen years and our choir tours. However, I realize those Shure sound systems cannot hold a candle to today’s technology and advanced systems.

Shure sound systems have run their course. Many of our church practices have done the same. It is time to retire those that are not affecting the Great Commission. Right now, as we look to regenerate (see last week’s post) our churches, we must evaluate what is prudent for reaching today’s generations while keeping God’s message intact. This is our golden opportunity. Do not go far into 2021 without beginning a practice of evaluating every ministry you consider reinstating or continuing.

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.

There is a lot of talk and many articles lately of rebooting, restarting the church coming through this covid pandemic. Some of those articles, webinars and talks are mine. It is true, most churches in North America today are in the process of or are considering their options following a year of closures, illness, and uncertainties.  2021 will be known as a year of transition for all churches. While it is only one of many transitions any church will face throughout the lifecycle of the church, there are always similarities in these situations.

Allow me to insert another term, regenerate. We know in the spiritual world regenerate is to be born again. According to Webster’s dictionary regenerate means to form or create again or to be restored to a better, higher, or more worthy state. Today, God has given us the opportunity to regenerate His church. God has given us the time, opportunity, and resources for a fresh start as His people.

To regenerate is not to restore what was, but to recreate what was to be in its original intent. Church leaders should look on this as a blessing from our God of all creation. One of the major elements of this type transition is the ability of leadership to transition God’s people to move forward in alignment with God’s purpose.

To regenerate is to begin again – not with the old. To regenerate is to begin again as something new. We would do well to re-engage scripture with a freshness of Spirit while abandoning our presumptions of past methodologies. The church in North America has held on for too long to traditions and methodologies that have become a hindrance to God’s work. Is this not what much of Jesus’ rebuke of the religious leaders of His day was about?

As followers of Jesus Christ could regeneration be setting aside all of our assumptions of scripture and allowing them to speak to us afresh and new? What would your church, the people, look like if everyone’s memory was cleared of assumptions and traditions, and all scripture was viewed from a fresh, new perspective from God’s Holy Spirit. This, in my opinion, is the opportunity we have through Christ in 2021. Scripture has not changed, but our perspective on fulfilling it has needed this transition for some time.

Is it going to be easy? No! Is it needed if God is going to reclaim His church in North America? Yes. Imagine with me a new, invigorated, Christ proclaiming army of God whom God is using to reach America and the world for Christ. This is regeneration – God’s regeneration of His church.

It is time for a new start. It is time for God’s church to be formed again in the likeness of the bride of Christ described in the New Testament. This is the regeneration of God’s church. Are you ready, willing, and able? What is your first step for you personally? How will your prayer life change for your church?

In the months and years to come may your portion of God’s church be found to be in a better, higher, and more worthy state than in history.

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.

A tomato plant produces tomatoes. A tomato manufacturing plant produces canned tomatoes, tomato paste, sauce, and juice. Everything that manufacturing plant produces is tomato related. The Toyota Automotive manufacturing plant in Georgetown, Kentucky produces Toyotas, not Ford’s or Chevy’s. The automotive plant in Bowling Green Kentucky does not produce Toyotas. The only cars coming out of the plant in Bowling Green are Corvettes. When a person or organization sets out to produce something, it produces that particular item. With this in mind, what does the New Testament church produce?

Most people involved in a church would respond with answers as Christians or disciples. And that is true. Yet, is there more? The church is called to make disciples who look, walk, and act like Christ, correct? In making disciples Jesus also produced leaders. Should this not also be an obligation of the church today?

Jesus’ original Disciples became leaders in the early New Testament church. But he also called some of His disciples to go to their own community and become leaders. Mark chapter five tells of a demon-possessed man whom Jesus cast out the demons and healed the man. The man begged to go with Jesus, but in verses 19-20 we read, “Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” ²⁰ So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.”

We are seeing fewer church leaders being produced in churches today. We are also experiencing less disciples to be leaders in culture, in our communities. Our task/obligation is to build growing disciples to go into the world and make more disciples. Our joy should be to produce disciples who become leaders in business, in organizations, government, and all walks of life.

Tomorrow’s leaders are going to come from somewhere. Should it not be from the church? In a world filled with darkness and despair should the church not be the cutting-edge producer of leaders? Who in your church, your circle of influence can you encourage and pray for Christian leadership as school teachers and administrators, for local government Christian leaders, for manufacturing plant Christian leaders, for sports team Christian leaders? Who in your circle of influence should you be praying for, asking God to raise up as the next generation of leaders? Where is your leadership role?

Can the church once again become the major producer of leadership for the arts, for government, schools, for our children’s sports teams, and the corporate world? I believe it can once God’s people get on our knees interceding for our current and future leaders in all areas of life.

Is your church producing leaders for the church and for our world? Who are the Godly leaders your church is preparing and producing today? What is your personal God-given role in becoming and producing Godly leaders for today and our next generation?

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 scripture Christ speaks of potential in at least two significant parables. First, the parable of talents (amount of money). Second in the parable of the sower of seed. In the first, each person was given a certain number of talents. Those who invested wisely gained more talents. The first two men doubled their investment. These men were rewarded for the good stewardship of their talent investment and were given even more. The third man however, hid his talent in the ground, buried in a clay jar, nothing was gained. Yet, there was great loss. Any talent buried, not put to use, is a waste of that talent.

In the second parable, the sower or farmer was planting seed. He scattered some seed on dry hard-packed ground, some on stony ground, some among the weeds and thorny ground, and other in rich fertile soil. The seed was the same. The difference was the type of ground in which the seed landed. The seed that landed in the fertile soil is the only seed that produced a verifiable harvest. That seed reached its potential by producing 30, 60, even 100 times what was planted.

Let me stretch your thinking some. Think of the seed as the potential God has entrusted to you. We all have potential. God created each one of us for greatness. Therefore, we all have the potential for reaching God’s desired level of greatness for us. We are the soil. Is your soil rich and fertile in what it takes to produce a harvest for God’s greatness? Or is it filled with weeds and thorns that choke out that harvest? Is your soil hard-packed, incapable of allowing God’s potential to take root in you?

If you’re still not certain of your potential for greatness for God, think on this next statement. Scripture says we are created in the image (likeness) of God. If God is the Creator of ALL things, and you are created in His image, do you not have ability to be creative? Since we are created in His image, we all have been blessed with the creativity to reach our full potential through the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

When we use our God-given creativity to unearth and develop our potential, God will bless us and enable us to produce a harvest for Him like the seed that fell on rich fertile soil. To achieve this type of soil we must draw near to God, study His word and pray at deeper, greater levels than many are willing.

Our obligation is also to assist others in becoming rich, fertile soil in which their potential can produce a vast harvest – even if their harvest surpasses ours. When, with a breaking heart, you look at others because you can see the potential that they may not yet see, that often is God’s invitation for you to be a soil enricher for that person.

As we strive to be the rich fertile soil developing to the best potential harvest possible, we must see every human being as one of God’s treasured potentials. What will you undertake today to allow God to unleash your potential and to build the potential of others?

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.