Since being appointed to serve within the Topeka District of the Great Plains Annual Conference, I have had the opportunity to serve as the lead for the Topeka District Strategy Team. I have been learning as I go, seeking to get to know congregations and leaders of the area. Here are some of my current […]
Earlier this week, I met with the Resurrection West Missions team. This is a fantastic group of people in the congregation who are committed to transforming communities. This team is responsible for one of the strategic objectives that we have as a congregation at West for this year. Here it is: “In order to be […]
There are many things that I hope to do well as a pastor. One of those is strategic planning. The Wikipedia contributors define strategic planning in this way – “Strategic planning is an organization’s process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people.” This process […]
The conversation around the  Call to Action: Reordering the Life of the UMC and the subsequent UMC Leadership Summit, as well as the conversation in Kansas and Nebraska about Great Plans for the Great Plains: A Vision (PDF Link), I have been reflecting on the time that I spent on the spring senior staff retreat at Resurrection in which […]
This past weekend I had the opportunity to be a part of a worship design retreat. It was a varied group of campus pastors, worship venue leads, pastors and others that came and went over the course of the weekend. It was time away from normal settings at Heartland Presbyterian Center – close to Parkville, […]
Does the itinerant system in the United Methodist Church work against strategic planning? I want to be an excellent strategic planner and have been thinking more about how this works in the United Methodist Church. I suggest that it is important to look at a strategic plan for several years into the future. I recognize […]
Where are you going? How do you get there? These are key questions for individuals and for congregations that are essential for strategic planning. I have learned the practice of annual goals as an employee and annual strategic goals for the congregation while here at Resurrection. As Stephen Covey would suggest, begin with the end […]
This is a part of a series of posts responding to the question: Is the church a business? Today the focus is on strategic planning. Strategic planning is a part of the culture at Resurrection. From strategic objectives for the entire congregation for the year to goal setting and a review process for each employee […]
Rev. Andrew Conard 