Summer 2012

In 2011, Lorie Vincent and her husband, CLA board member Mark L. Vincent wrote Fighting Disease, Not Death: Finding a way through lifelong struggle (Design Group International), which shares their faith-inspiring journey through 12 years and 16 occurrences of a rare and aggressive form of cancer for Lorie. This book chronicles their approach to living and thriving during lifelong suffering. It is a story of faith, hope, reality, and courage. Outcom...

"No nonprofit organization can survive and succeed in advancing its mission while living independently of other nonprofits. Organizations gain information, political power, and personal and professional support from and in concert with other nonprofits. Thus, close working relationships, partnerships, and even joint ventures between nonprofit organizations are a fairly natural occurrence.”

— David La Piana

In ...

Recently, I traveled to India to research and develop a special new partnership with a network of pastors who were visiting orphans in their distress (James 1:27). Nearly 3,000 children in this area are enslaved, forced to work and live in illegal rock quarries. By God’s grace, 330 of these children were recently freed. Now the pastors are faced with the task of caring for the children.

One of the children, named Priscilla, told me that she arrived at the quarry when she w...

Good partnerships allow two or more entities to achieve more together than they could separately. They can be seen in almost every sector of society, especially as globalization and technology increase the connectedness of our world.

In business, the success of a partnership is often judged by profits. Time Magazine recently reported on airline companies whose success in partnering with hotels in their booking processes has generated mil...

I live in Colorado surrounded by 52 mountains that pierce the sky above 14,000 feet. We all love to look at those majestic peaks, but climbing them is serious business. Ministry partnerships are mountain peaks — beautiful to look at from a distance but arduous to climb. Full of dangers to the uninformed, and majestic and exhilarating when you reach the top.

Unfortunately, ministry leaders can be guilty of attempting to summit partnership peaks with good intentions, but wit...

It begins when God puts a vision of a preferable future in the mind of a leader. The leader catches a glimpse of what God wants to bring about "on earth, as it is in heaven” and then decides to take action. Such God-given visions usually require many people working together in order to accomplish the assignment.

I think of Nehemiah’s vision to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. He needed to enlist the cooperation of government, foresters, army officials, and the loc...

God is passionate about unity and oneness. In the business and nonprofit world, there’s a lot of talk about interdependence and synergy, which can be a valuable functional expression of oneness, but oneness is so much more.

Biblical oneness is not just a strategy God has devised to enhance our effectiveness in kingdom engagement (though it accomplishes that as nothing else). It is a key aspect of his essential nature. We see this in the way Jesus introduced the most import...

At one time or another we have all enjoyed reading church-bulletin bloopers, like this well-known announcement: "A bean supper will be held Tuesday evening in the church hall. Special music will follow.” And sometimes the irony of the mis-phrasing hits pretty close to the truth: "The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict.”

It does seem to be a fact of life that wherever there are people, conflict will arise. No wonder o...

How do you get people to engage with your parachurch ministry, church, or business? Whether it’s getting people in the pew or finding clients for your service, it really is all about relationships. Here are a few relationship lessons we’ve learned at Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) International over nearly 40 years of ministry:

Strategy: How to Get Them in the Door

When we asked moms why they came to MOPS, some saw ...

We make lists. There are to-do lists, shopping lists, invitation lists, bucket lists, appointment lists, and Christmas lists. Lists can help us remember, set goals, stay on schedule, track our progress, and keep us accountable.

Each of us is pressed by the lure of our culture to adapt to worldly beliefs and practices so it is important to consider how such influences affect us. After all, our organizations comprise the values of the people who work there. Seldom do we do a spiri...