According to Vijay Govindarajan, a professor at Dartmouth College, businesses often overestimate the value of experience. In fact, he says experience can actually be a liability during challenging times of change. From my standpoint, I've seen that exhibited many times, usually in the guise of "We've never done it that way before." Or, "That would never work here." I'm a huge supporter of the value of experience, but when you view the world exclusively from that perspective, it can be a lia ... read more

I mentioned on a recent blog post about a generation of pastors and Christian leaders I'm seeing out there who have experienced great success by the power of their personalities, motivation, and personal charisma. In a Christian celebrity culture, they excite and inspire audiences, and become leaders based on external abilities. But what they lack is sober responsibility. They are not personally disciplined leaders, forged in the fires of adversity. They don't have to make the hard choices (they have "executive pastors" to do that). They have an attractive ... read more

There are two issues that I've been thinking a lot about recently, that in my opinion are moving the church backwards - in a positive way. First - what I'm calling "The Open Media Revolution." I just turned in a new book manuscript on the subject, and there are two things worth thinking about. First - technology has given us the ability to interact with each other, and have a two way conversation - think Instant Messaging, email, PDA's, Twitter, texts, and more. I grew up with media being one-way as in network television. Whatever they showed, we watched - no questions asked. Today, it's different. Second, ... read more

Here's my column in Ministry Today magazine about branding churches and non-profits. I'd love to hear your thoughts. ... read more

The secular press has noted the move of churches toward branding. This article on The Tennessean website notes the search. We're going to continue this conversation, because I think it could be the defining issue of our time. ... read more

Something that might be worth talking about is the increasing debt that a number of major media ministries currently carry. When allegations of mismanagement were made against Richard Roberts as President of Oral Roberts University, one of the revelations according to local news sources was the school's approximate debt of $55 million. Recently, another major Christian university was about $23 million in debt, and was only saved through a life insurance policy after the death of the founder. But a life insurance policy isn't a long term donor development plan. Others that are considered popular in religious media are shouldering mountainous loads of debt - most likely, ministries that you wouldn't realize. Is this a problem? And if so, what does this tell us? ... read more

There's been a lot of interesting discussion here lately on the scandals, alleged misconduct, and outright stupid behavior from some pastors and Christian media leaders. It brings up an interesting point, not the least of which is the wave of problems, all happening at the same time. There are some common themes with the criticism, and one that bothers me a bit is the tendency to compare a major, international ministry with a local pastor. The truth is, ... read more

For the leader or employee in a faith-based or non-profit organization that sees impending change coming - but can't convince anyone else - here are a few thoughts. Especially for those in the middle of generational change. Right now in America there are a number of major religious organizations in the middle of changing leadership from the first generation leader to the second. For those of you who see that coming, take heart with the following: ... read more

Check out the Ignite Media Conference in Southern California. It's a one day hands on lab for creating effective media and marketing for churches. It's an interactive learning experience (and experiment) for pastors and media directors who are looking to integrate faith and effective creative strategy for their local churches to communicate the most important message ever told. And, it's a chance to do it with over 500 other church and ministry leaders from Southern California. ... read more