Reggie Joiner's Blog, page 56

Essential Values of the Invested Leader

Over the first 18 years of life, a kid and student will have multiple voices contributing to their ideals, morals, behaviors, and thoughts. The church can be one of those voices that influence the way the next generation grows in faith and the decisions they will make that will affect the rest of their lives. These voices are often a part of a kid’s or student’s community. Community—a group of people who share relationships and ongoing experiences—has a greater potential to make a lasting imp...

Suicide Prevention: Lies We Can Become Trapped In

We all have bad days. We all have those days where it doesn’t seem like anything goes right. However, for most of us we have the healthy mindset of knowing that this bad day is one of many other days; some of them good. The problem when talking about a mindset that sometimes leads to suicide is that it becomes very polarized. Sometimes this is due to living with no margins. We can live so far out on the limb that small moments can have enormous consequences. It’s important for everyone to liv...

5 Things Small Group Leaders Need

We were in a quiet monastery in Ohio. I held a book in my hands that became one I’d revisit every year, required reading turned manifesto. It was a small spiritual formation class during my senior year of college. We were few, but the lessons we learned were many.

The book we read was called, In The Name of Jesus, by Henri Nouwen.

If I were asked to pick one book to offer volunteers in ministry, it’d be this one—a nurturing guide to continue to develop them as servant leaders.

When small grou...

3 Keys to Addressing Mental Health and Suicide in Your Ministry

If you watch or listen to the news very often, you may realize that, sadly, suicide rates are on the rise. We could speculate all day about reasons this might be true, but regardless, one of the greatest things we can do to combat this rising trend is to create and keep the conversation going about mental health. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in adolescents and young adults ages 10-34*. The age group with the highest number of individuals contemplating suicide and attempting su...

What We Get Wrong About Partnering With Parents

We are really good at talking about the importance of partnering with parents without actually doing it. Maybe that’s a bit harsh, but every church leader that I’ve ever met who works with kids or teenagers is “partnering with parents.”

But they’re not really.

Partnering with parents is the spoken value of a lot of churches, but not what they practice. It’s what Patrick Lencioni refers to as an “aspirational value.” It’s a value that a church knows is necessary if they want to reach kids and...

How to Be a Church Where Pro-Family Equals Pro-Parent

Every parent—whether that person is the mother, father, stepfather, stepmother, grandparent-raising-grandkids, aunt-or-uncle-raising-niece-or-nephew, adopted or foster—wants to be the best parent. At least, that is what we choose to believe! Being pro-family requires that we are pro-parent, and that requires that we believe the best about every parent and what they want for their kid. After all, that is one commonality that too many parents share for us to believe otherwise. Being pro-parent...

GEN Z is an Opportunity, NOT A Problem

Remember when everyone was complaining about millennials? A joke or a slight toward the generation was as commonplace as talking about the weather for a while. And if you are a millennial, you noticed—primarily because it was annoying.

If you’re a Gen-Xer, maybe you remember when that term came out, how being called “Gen X” almost pegged you as a “bad kid” or a problem to be managed. The truth is we ALL experience a gravitational pull toward the assumption that something (or someone) differen...

Creating a Strategic Communications Plan

Communication is key in nearly every area of life, and that includes being a ministry leader. So, it should go without saying that some sort of a plan would be necessary to ensure that it’s done well—and that’s why your church needs a Strategic Communications Plan. Oftentimes, churches have staff members in communications or marketing roles that can help to lead this charge, but if not, you might just be that person! So, what exactly does it look like?

Research

Any good communications plan sh...

4 Steps to Leading Up to Your Senior Pastor

Have you seen the 2010 Christopher Nolan film Inception? If you haven’t, you’re missing out. It’s an action-packed thriller that has Leonardo DiCaprio and friends entering dreams and dreams within dreams. Sure it’s a little complicated, but that’s what makes it fun. And we can learn a little something from it about leading up to our senior leaders.

In the movie, the characters enter a businessman’s dream with the goal of implanting an outside idea in his mind so that he believes the idea to b...

Equipping Small Group Leaders to Minister to Their Few

Google search the word pastor (I know what you’re thinking: Why would anyone do that?), and the first thing you will find is this definition: “a minister in charge of a Christian church or congregation.” Merriam-Webster’s definition while similar, adds an important component: “a spiritual overseer; especially: a clergyman serving a local church or parish.”

Pastor? Who, me?

While the title pastor does usually characterize the person who leads a church, I think we often limit this role to the...