One of my favorite podcasts is the HBR IdeaCast. Episode 283, The Right Mindset for Success, focuses on the distinctions between a fixed and growth mindset. One of the most helpful portions was about supervision and management. This list, from Carol Dweck, describes the methods and message that a manager or leader could give to […]
I have had the privilege of spending time with Ray Pitman, a member of Resurrection, over the past several months. Several years ago, I officiated at the funeral for his wife, Betty, and we reconnected this summer when I lead worship at Leawood one Saturday night. I found his perspective on capacity to be particularly […]
I have had the privilege of spending time with Ray Pitman, a member of Resurrection, over the past several months. Several years ago, I officiated at the funeral for his wife, Betty, and we reconnected this summer when I lead worship at Leawood one Saturday night. He has shared with me over and over his […]
I have had the privilege of spending time with Ray Pitman, a member of Resurrection, over the past several months. Several years ago, I officiated at the funeral for his wife, Betty, and we reconnected this summer when I lead worship at Leawood one Saturday night. Last Friday he invited me to hear him speak […]
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My 31st Birthday
Today is the day. I’m 31. I suppose that makes me in my early 30s. Any advice on this decade?
As far as congregations go: Vital > Viable > Inviable I would much rather lead and be part of a vital congregation than one that is simply viable. I would much rather lead and be part of a viable congregation than one that is inviable and has not yet closed. I believe that one of […]
Last week my son and I met Nicole for lunch at Chick-fil-A. This is a restaurant that has hospitality down pat and from which the church could draw helpful lessons. I have come to expect this when I go there to eat, but this time I had a surprise. We had ordered a Kid’s Meal […]
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Do You Info Snack?
I sure do. I recently heard this phrase and found it to pretty accurately describe my habit of using my iPhone to check news, play a game or read email while having down time of even a minute or two. Do you info snack?
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Two Realities about Jobs
I had a great conversation with a colleague a couple weeks ago about the reality of jobs. Here is what he had to say: When considerino possibile roles or commitments, play to your passions and don’t apologize for it. There will always be a part of every job that you hate. What would you add […]
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2011 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 42,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 16 sold-out performances for that many […]
At our last district clergy meeting our District Superintendent was speaking about metrics and vital churches and wanted to make one thing clear: Numbers are not vitality. Numbers are contextual. This is so true. Numbers give us insight but they are not vitality. I found a similar thought expressed on Twitter recently Growth ≠ The […]
Clearly numbers do not tell the whole story of a local church, annual conference or denomination. There are stories of life change that are more important than raw data. One of the challenges of collecting stories is how to report them. It is far easier to look at a graph of worship attendance at our […]
Rev. Andrew Conard 