What Do Leaders Need To Learn (Part 1)
Extraordinary leaders give their followers an example to follow, a purpose to live for, and values to live by. They do it by continually learning about three things. They become an example to follow by learning about who they are. They define a purpose to live for by learning about why they are here. They […]
Think In A Circle Instead of In A Line
The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, right? I’ve discovered that, for long-range goals, circles actually work better. For example I get to work with Jay Kranda and Efraim Meulenberg on our online ministry at Saddleback Church. Jay and Efraim do an amazing job of attracting an audience that watches Saddleback services, […]
The Five Practices of Extraordinary Leaders
The leadership story in the Bible, and Jesus in particular, defines and promotes an alternative to conventional leadership methods. This alternative consists of five practices used by extraordinary leaders. Practice #1: Learning Virtually every leadership paradigm advocates learning in some form or another. “Leaders are learners” is an adage that has been around for years. […]
Cheating Doesn’t Pay By Dave Alford
Another global automaker announced last week that it had been cheating on data provided to regulatory agencies. Mitsubishi reported that it had been overstating fuel mileage on its cars. Initially the company said that it had misreported mileage on 625,000 vehicles manufactured since 2013. Later it admitted that the problem had been going on much […]
Perfect Leadership by Dave Alford
THE THREE INGREDIENTS FOR PERFECT LEADERSHIP Perfect leadership? Is that even possible? Perhaps not, but wouldn’t it be great to at least know what it looks like? Then we’d have a target to shoot for. Well, as it turns out, the Bible’s storyline begins with perfect leadership. It’s what God provided to Adam and Eve […]
Officer Clemmons By Dave Alford
National Public Radio’s StoryCorps segment caught my attention as I was driving to work this morning. It was an interview with Francois Clemmons who played the role of Officer Clemmons on the long-running children’s show, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood (MRN). I rarely watched MRN as a kid so I wasn’t even aware that Clemmons was black. […]
3 Powerful Sources of Leadership and How to Use Them By Dave Alford
One natural byproduct of the spiritual growth that people experience in small groups is a better understanding of who they are. They discover the uniqueness with which God made them, or their personhood. They discover the reason that God created them, or their purpose. They discover the definition of success in which they can invest […]
Distinctly Christian Leadership: “Learning” Part 2 By Dave Alford
Developing leaders for our ministries must begin with training our people to learn because learning provides the fuel for leadership. In my last post I described how this learning must be more than just head knowledge. It’s got to involve the heart, hands, and mouth as well. As we show people how to learn this […]
Distinctly Christian Leadership Part 1: “Learning” By Dave Alford
There’s an old adage that says that leaders are learners. That statement is particularly meaningful for followers of Christ because learning is absolutely at the center of our ability to lead effectively. Since leadership development is so important to our work in small group ministry, how can we help those we are developing to be effective […]
Distinctly Christian Leadership By Dave Alford
For those of us in group ministry, leadership development has got to be at or near the top our list of activities that are most vital to our success. A Google query on the topic of leadership yields over 454 million results meaning that there is so much information on the subject that it is […]
