#learning communities

Lifelong learning is more than just a tool for intellectual enrichment—it is a transformative lifestyle that profoundly influences longevity, mental health, emotional resilience, and overall well-being. As the global population continues to age and lifespans increase, understanding the dynamics behind healthy aging has never been more critical. Lifelong learning is emerging as a significant…

FOCUS. Most leadership doesn’t focus well

Life just happens. They don’t prioritize. Next year will look a lot like last year. A little better…a little worse.  There’s something inherently evil in most leaders’ minds about being FOCUSED. FOCUS implies…

Accountability to themselves.

Accountability to others.

An expectation that something will actually result. That something should result.

Church leadership finds it doubly hard to focus.

Incessant demands

Awkward schedules

Unplanned interruptions

They all scream against…

Taking control of priorities,

Giving direction to life, and

Allocating attention and energy.

My guess? You’re in the overwhelming majority of leaders that fight against focus.

My second guess? If you’ve been knocked down in the pit (like Elijah) and lost confidence or clarity or your own sense of calling as a Christian leader, you need someone who can regularly share the burden, speak a word of grace, and spot the hand of God at work.

My third guess? The life that you lead and the church community that you lead is paying a heavy price because you resist biting the bullet and getting FOCUSED. You, personally, as a leader…getting FOCUSED.

When leadership gets better, everyone benefits.

Leadership too frequently refuses to take responsibility for leading God-inspired things forward.

Strong words! What do I know?

Well, I know I don’t like the personal discipline or the accountability of FOCUS. I want “everything” to be a focus, until I experience its results.

So, here’s my challenge for you… You’re going to keep doing much of what you’re already doing. Right? But what about a FOCUS on one thing, big or small…let’s do small…for the next 45 days. Don’t aim at urgent. Go for important. Something important to your well being, to vibrancy of the believers you lead, to wider influence in your church and local community.

My fourth and final guess? Many of the leaders who enroll in PLI (3 new learning communities start this fall) have decided that it’s time (usually together with their spouse) to FOCUS on some serious capacity building in the area of Christian leadership or discipleship or mission.

So, here’s a Simple Way for Church Leadership to FOCUS! Don’t make this difficult!

1. Write a quick FOCUS list. You probably already know…

A God prompting.

A “need to grow” area.

An “improve your game” for your church community, your soul, your family.

2. Have a conversation and make a choice.

3. Write it down. Seriously. Just write it down.

4. Describe the benefit.

5. Tell someone and tell them you want to report progress to them.

6. Measure it for the next 45 days.

7. And if you want, promise yourself a reward, a payoff, when you finish.

And, if back at my second guess is you? The “no confidence, no clarity, no calling” pit? Your focus needs to be a person or place that regularly listens and invests and speaks boldly into your life…until you’re out of the pit! Period. Too much is at stake to do anything else.

Lots of what’s going right in our lives and ministries today is a result of a past focus. Right?

I did this a month or so ago. I chose a simple tweak. To journal the front portion of my praying. (I used to do this.) A small addition. Slow me down. Review the events of my life better with God. Thanksgiving… Petition… Intervention… 7 days a week. I’ve been hitting about 5 days a week. My soul is healthier.

So, why not…

1. Hit the share button below and invite a couple of friends or leaders or peers to join you if you’re not already doing FOCUS well.

2. Start together. Stay together.

3. Contact Raechel if it’s time to “bite the bullet” for some serious discipleship, leadership or mission FOCUS.

My sense is that it’s important today to simply say that your leadership is critical.

Who you are and what you do in the Kingdom is critical.

Most would say that it’s been a difficult year in which to lead.

Sadly, it’s been a year in which many have simply surrendered.

I recognize that you could be one of the 51% of pastors thinking of quitting at the end of 2021.

So, to you:

Thank you for leading with integrity. Thank you for maintaining your focus on the mission entrusted to us. Thank you for loving and caring and investing.

At the end of 2021…

If you haven’t already made a gift to support our work across the U.S. and around the globe, your gift would be a great blessing today. Thanks to a generous donor, your gift will be matched to extend the impact of your gift.

We’ve been sharing the posts from the Flourishing in Ministry series we did a couple years ago. This week, take a look at this post: There’s Still Good News in Your Congregation. I hope you find some encouragement in it.

You are aware of the generosity of the Martins and the Biblers to offer a place of rest and retreat, or a few days of vacation, as their gift… as a simple way to encourage and bless you and say thanks for leading. (Isn’t it amazing that people in the PLI family do things like this?)

You’ll be encouraged by Paul and Beth Schult in a few weeks as they share their story of being ready to quit ministry and how they kept going. Sign up here for the webinar and join us on January 19 at 10 am CT. You’ll identify with the struggle they experienced and you’ll be blessed by the journey out of it.

Be sure to invest in your own leadership in 2022.

Check out our new offerings of D2MC to create a congregational culture that disciples and sends disciples into the mission field. Take a look at Leadership Essentials that fastens down the core building blocks of biblical leadership. Or consider Senior Leader for those taking on the complexities of leading larger ministries and organizations.

1,000 Young Leaders and Multipli’s Genesis Leader are shaping people from knowing they should do “something” but doing “nothing,” to becoming confident and competent fearless impact makers and producing quick “wins” for congregations that could use them.

Thank you!

I have 4 things I’d like to share with you today! And be sure to see the pictures below of some of the leaders who attended the St. Louis D2MC immersion last week.

Multipli & Genesis Leader

Multipli, our companion ministry, is launching Genesis Leader to train the people of God so anyone can encounter the Good News of Jesus. One pastor said: “The people I have in mind have always been looking for this but didn’t know they were looking for it.” Send Nate Guelzow an email to RSVP for the webinar on Thursday, October 7, from 12-12:45 pm CDT, to learn more! And if you haven’t yet, watch this video for an introduction to Multipli.

Return to In-Person Learning Communities

Fall learning communities kicked off in person in St. Louis last week. Discipleship to Missional Community returns in person in D.C. this week. See the pictures below of some of the leaders.

Virtual D2MC

A virtual offering of D2MC is starting November 4. You may want to consider attending yourself or with some others. If you’re curious about D2MC but feel uncertain, then join us for the first immersion to take a Closer Look at what D2MC is all about. For $100 a person, experience an immersion so you can see first hand what D2MC is all about. Raechel can help with questions. The virtual offering seems to attract:

Larger D2MC churches looking to send another team of leaders and grow the impact.

The folks who say: It’s too difficult to get leaders to take personal time from work to travel to the East Coast or to Texas next year.

The crowd that thinks: I’m not quite sure if this is the right investment or if we’re ready to take on the challenge.

The pioneering types! They see that God is up to something and know we need to remember what we’ve forgotten from centuries ago.

The empathetic types! “6 churches closed in our district already this year. We have to give them new tools that can change lives.”

1,000 Young Leaders

Phil Klopke, Co-Director of 1,000 Young Leaders, and I met with 1,000 Young Leader participants and those thinking about being participants in Wisconsin last week. What a difference, before and after!

These are gifted, thoughtful, godly young women and men. Spend some time with any of them and you’ll be encouraged. But there seems to be a common thread and here it is:

1 – They feel left on an island by themselves. There aren’t a lot of other young followers of Christ to grow with.

2 – They sense a calling to do something…somehow. But they’re not sure where to start. They see a dark world and want somehow to make a difference.

I had this inkling inside of me. There was this fire brewing in me but I had no idea what to do or where to go with it. My dad took me out to breakfast a year ago. He was ready. “I think you should do 1,000 Young Leaders. “ He was ready with information… print outs! I didn’t have a chance! I’m a different person today. I have clarity. I’m on fire.

3 – The sad thing? It just doesn’t need to be this way. They shouldn’t have to have it all figured out and they shouldn’t have to do it alone without peers their age.

4 – Most of us, to be honest, know what it’s like to not have someone help us with big questions.

5 – The participants talked about the power of the simple weekly rhythm of “teach it – train it – try it” modeled in the fully online training. They talked about the power of community together.

6 – They talked about discovering who you are. Having friends and growing together. Having an impact in their neighborhoods or congregations.

7 – They talked about the resilience they experienced from being fearless, confident, impact makers in ways that would prompt you to be 27 all over again and sign up yourself! It was amazing.

Before 1,000 Young Leaders I was busy. Just busy. Church. Elsewhere. 1,000 Young Leaders helped me clarify my purpose, my gifts. Gave me a focus on the mission of God and starting community. I’m doing less. Having more fun. Living on purpose. We’re hosting our first block party to start reaching our neighborhood.

After reading a few replies from a post I did this past summer, Marti Pike posted a link to a very good Tedx Talk by John Green and the importance of learning and learning communities.

Is your classroom a learning community? Do your gifted students feel like they are part of a learning community? Do you you encourage your gifted…

Close your eyes. Await. Open the administration. NUMBER ONE hope you've opened you. Maybe just squint a little and imagine a scarp place where everyday, every individual comes to learn something. That's EVERYONE's terminal point. People come so that this uncomfortable whereas he recognize that lore is valuable, suppose the most valuable thing a second person can fulfill linked to better self life. <\p>

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Here are some elements of a professional learning community that they may already have, or may like to reembody into your school: <\p>

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Participatory Inter-visitations Way my feeling, formal observations where an administrator watches me for an entire period and then gives me thorough feedback are unusual. As a way of blending up attic a natural observation €" I suggest teachers sitting in each other's classrooms as students. This can breathe a more natural way of experiencing a reproval and can sober serve as a bag to model all-powerful student behavior. By rally inward a science lesson recently, I was able to motivate my group mates (who had dead had him 3rd period) in complete a lab collaboratively. <\p>