Summer 2012

I guess you could say I’ve been a serial entrepreneur. I’d never thought of it being a Holy Spirit-directed thing. It seemed to be more of a sickness that got diagnosed one night after dinner a few years ago when I was 67.

For years, I’d been on the board of a Pacific Northwest marine biology educational non-profit. The board chairman, learning that I was in between my entrepreneurial seizures, asked if I’d become the executive director of this nonprofit ...

Patrick Lencioni, past CLA national conference keynote speaker and future keynoter in 2013, is the founder and president of The Table Group. His 10 best-selling business books have sold more than 3 three million copies. Outcomes Editor-in-chief W. Scott Brown interviewed Lencioni on his newest book, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business (Jossey-Bass, March 2012). This is his first non-fiction book as he sets ou...

Sometimes I think that I’m the last president of almost anything who hasn’t written a book on leadership. It’s not that I haven’t had it suggested to me. It’s just that I have read so many great books (and some not so great) that whenever I’m asked my opinion on a management issue, dilemma, plan for growth, strategy for downsizing, or about how to motivate, delegate, or terminate, someone has already examined the issue from top to bottom.

Want...

Solomon understood collaboration! His wisdom, which was "… greater than the wisdom of all,” led him to partner with many to build the Temple and the Kingdom of Israel. In Ecclesiastes he writes, "And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him — a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Ecc. 4:12, ESV). This powerful truth is an encouragement to those seeking to create kingdom partnerships. At Olive Technology, we’ve s...

CLA president and CEO Tami Heim recently interviewed John Hull, president and CEO of EQUIP, on this global initiative to train leaders and promote worldwide collaboration.

EQUIP is a nonprofit organization that develops effective international Christian leaders. Founded by Dr. John C. Maxwell in 1996, today, EQUIP is the world’s largest and most comprehensive grass-roots leadership/personal growth and development organization. Active in more than 160 nations, EQUIP is...

Joni and Friends’ Billy Burnett on creating a lifelong learning culture

CLA President and CEO Tami Heim recently interviewed Billy Burnett, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Joni and Friends.

Burnett has contributed significantly to both the financial success and workplace environment of Joni and Friends. His leadership helped to result in Joni and Friends being ranked as the number one “Best Christian Workplace” in organization...

I remember the look of holy jealousy in their eyes. Pieter Kwant, director of Langham literature, had just finished showing a copy of the newly published Africa Bible Commentary to the participants in our Langham Partnership Regional Consultation for South Asia, meeting in Kolkata, India, in May 2007. Pieter explained how 70 African scholars had produced this one-volume commentary on the whole Bible, published to very high standard in Africa and fo...

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...

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 ...

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...