Amitabh Singh's Blog, page 5

Effective Leaders Use The Best of Technology

German goldsmith, Johanne Gutenberg invented the printing press around 1436. Church leaders moved from hand-copied manuscripts to the first print run of the Bible in Latin. It took three years to print around 200 copies!

Legend has it that in the month of October, 1517, priest and scholar Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. He mailed his point of view to the archbishop of Mainz and Magdeburg, Albert of Brandenburg.

In the 1520s, Martin Luther’s use of technology brought a significant increase in the number of printing businesses. Luther even brought the experienced printer Melchior Lotther from Leipzig to Wittenberg to establish a printing shop. Church leaders today are posting their point of view on social channels. Instead of mailing, we are engaged with emails as a way of direct marketing.

This week, I took some time to read an article from Bill George (author of “Discover Your True North”) that was published in The Wall Street Journal as the economic effects of the global financial crisis was being felt in March 2009. Here are the seven rules that Bill presented:

Leaders must face reality.No matter how bad things are, things will get worse.Build a mountain of cash.Get the world off your shoulders – you need the help of your best people.Before asking for others to sacrifice, first volunteer yourself.Never waste a crisis.Be aggressive in the marketplace – every crisis is also an opportunity.

In the coming weeks, I will be blogging about nine questions for church leaders.

Do They Know You?Can They Find You?Do They Trust You?Do They Like You?Will They Permit You?Will They Grow With You?Are You Their First Choice?Will They Remain Loyal?How Will You Provide Value?

We are Phygital (physical merging with digital) Church leaders. Just like Martin Luther, all leaders should use the best of technology that is available to us. Let’s navigate this together.

Thinking About Growth Strategies Is Not Enough.

Hope is not a strategy. Hoping for church growth is not the answer.

Leonardo da Vinci had great ideas. Submarine and helicopter designs are found sketched in his notebook. Yet history will not remember him when it comes to these advancements. Someone needs to run with the idea.

Why did the zipper find acceptance and displace buttons even though it tends to jam? It is simple. Someone ran with the idea of a zipper and created a change in perception.

In the 1950s, the company that had the first computer, Univac, knew that it’s machine was designed for scientific work. Univac’s market research had anticipated that by the year 2000, about one thousand computers would be sold. That means a sale of around twenty computers a year. They did not send a salesperson out when a business showed interest in it.

IBM was willing to take orders from businesses and serve them.  Around the 1960s, Univac had the most advanced and best machine. IBM had the computer market.

From 1949 to 1955, electrical apparatus companies (GE in USA, the British GE, Siemens in Germany, Philips in Holland) went into computers. By 1970, big companies were out of the computer market. Around the same time micro-chips were invented.

Around 1975 or 1976, kids began to play computer games.  Parents needed their personal computers. In five years, 1979 to 1984, personal computers reached an annual sale volume of $15-$16 billion. It had taken “main-frames” thirty years to reach this sale volume.

In 1980, IBM produced its own personal computer. By 1983, IBM became the world’s leading personal computer producer. By 1984, over one million computers had been sold.

It is not that IBM had better research and knew that this would happen. Everything they were absolutely certain about was disrupted. Yes, it was the “new normal” then just like it is the new normal now. IBM had to reorganize.

Just thinking about growth strategies will never be enough. When kids started playing computer games and the computer industry changed, guess who won? The thinker (Univac) or the doer (IBM)?

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Thinking About Growth Strategies Is Not Enough?

Hope is not a strategy. Hoping for church growth is not the answer.

Leonardo da Vinci had great ideas. Submarine and helicopter is found sketched in his notebook. Yet history will not remember him when it comes to these advancements. Someone needs to run with the idea.

Why did the zipper find acceptance and displace buttons even though it tends to jam? It is simple. Someone ran with the idea of a zipper and created a change in perception.

In 1950s, the company that had the first computer, Univac, knew that it’s machine was designed for scientific work. Univac’s market research had anticipated that by the year 2000, about one thousand computers would be sold. That means a sale of around twenty computers a year. They did not send a salesperson out when a business showed interest in it.

IBM was willing to take orders from businesses and serve them.  Around the 1960s, Univac had the most advanced and best machine. IBM had the computer market.

From 1949 to 1955, electrical apparatus companies (GE in USA, the British GE, Siemens in Germany, Philips in Holland) went into computers. By 1970, big companies were out of the computer market. Around the same time micro-chips were invented.

Around 1975 or 1976, kids began to play computer games.  Parents needed their personal computers. In five years, 1979 to 1984, personal computers reached an annual sale volume of $15-$16 billion. It had taken “main-frames” thirty years to reach this sale volume.

In 1980, IBM produced its own personal computer. By 1983, IBM became the world’s leading personal computer producer. By 1984, over one million computers had been sold.

It is not that IBM had better research and knew that this would happen. Everything they were absolutely certain about was disrupted. Yes, it was the “new normal” then just like it is the new normal now. IBM had to reorganize.

Just thinking about growth strategies will never be enough. When kids started playing computer games and the computer industry changed, guess who won? The thinker (Univac) or the doer (IBM)?

 

 

The Innovation Gap (Part 2)

What’s different about the Innovation Gap course?

The Innovation Gap is an 8-module online commitment. This mobile course has been designed by me for church leaders. It gives you an opportunity to connect and design an innovation strategy that is true to your mindset, skillset, and toolset.

What will you learn?

1. Strategy is everything (Strategy: What you do? Tactics (Execution): How to do it?)

2. Principles of Entrepreneurship and how to carry out a self-assessment of your church

3. How to build and manage a connected church ecosystem

4. The business side of things: Mindset, Skillset, and Toolset

5. Psychology: How to understand consumer behaviour for better engagement

6. Digital Rhetoric: Art of writing and speaking at the cusp of the 5th Industrial revolution

7. Content and Growth Strategies

8. Communication design for a Healthy Church: Marketing, Technology, and Innovation

What is the time commitment?

You can study at your own pace. For eight weeks, you will be able to connect with me and ask questions specific to your context. You have to set aside one week to carry out hands on practice session.

How much will it cost?

The first ten who will sign up when I announce this course will get access to The Innovation Course at a cost of $99. Subscribe to my blog so that you are the first to know when The Innovation Course sign-up is starting.

The Ask Amitabh website will provide more information about online courses that is coming your way in 2022.

The Innovation Gap (Part 1)

Why The Innovation Gap course?

It is time for you as a leader to innovate and organize for growth. One size does not fit all. You don’t have to copy what others have done. Your innovation strategy needs to be specific to your context.

I teach Finance and Governance of Non-Profit Organizations at Masters College & Seminary in Canada. The major assignment in this course is for students to use metrics to present their growth strategy to the Senior Pastor. Starting in 2022, several times a year, I will be offering The Innovation Gap course.

Eight weekly lessons with practical exercises that are designed for Church leaders.Ask Amitabh Community: You will be able to join an online forum where like-minded church leaders can connect and ask questions specific to their church context.One-year access to Church Smart Dashboards (Snapshot Report – Initial Assessment) and Executive Report (Ongoing Performance of your Church online presence).

This 8-module online course offers a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) roadmap that teaches you how to carry out a self-assessment and design a strategy that works best for your church.

I will cover everything from digital rhetoric to content and growth strategy.We will take the time to understand the principles of entrepreneurship while finding an affordable solution and creating a frictionless experience.I will deep dive with individual participants on how to make marketing, technology, and innovation work for your church.We will look at how to build and manage a connected Church ecosystem while removing administrative hassles and saving both time and money.

Visit the Ask Amitabh website (www.amitabhsingh.com) for more details on this course. 

Be the first to know about The Innovation Gap course by subscribing to my blog, Singh On Mondays. You will receive a monthly email about my upcoming blogs and online courses when you subscribe to my blog.

The New Normal Of Leadership (Part 5)

Some Deny While Others Criticize

When the World Wide Web came out, some church leaders said that the internet is of the devil. Yet, historically, church leaders have been early adopters of change and technology.

Marketing goes back to the 1450s when Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the church’s door in Wittenberg, Germany. He moved away from the traditional means of spreading the message by using the printing press for revolution. Translating the Scriptures into the German language was the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

Inventor Johannes Gutenberg was a political exile from Mainz, Germany. In 1440, he began experimenting with printing in Strasbourg, France. Gutenberg returned to Mainz several years later. By 1450, the first movable type allowed people to print marketing materials. Martin Luther realized the potential of this new medium. The printing press was equivalent to Zoom or computers in those days. Likewise, church leaders need to use virtually persuasive technology for Kingdom purposes.

In 1472, William Coxton made the first use of print advertising. He printed an advertisement for a book and nailed them to church doors in England.

A Methodist preacher, William Booth, the founder of The Salvation Army, had said, “Why should the Devil have all the good tunes?” Several hymns in his church were bar room songs.

The Lutheran Church introduced contemporary folk music. Luther was all about empowering the commoner. He wrote songs based on folk melodies and suds (drinking songs). He was the master of making his messages accessible. Here is a quote from the preface to the 1524 Wittenberg Hymnal:

 “These songs were arranged in four parts to give the young… something to wean them away from love ballads and carnal songs and to teach them something of value in their place…”

John Wycliffe was responsible for the very first translation of the Bible into the English language. He died on December 31, 1384. In 1415, he was condemned as a heretic. In 1428, a group of churchmen dug up the bones of Wycliffe and burned them.

William Tyndale translated the Bible into English in 1526. Ten years later, he was publicly burned on the stake. In 1611, scholars produced the King James Bible. They drew 83% of the New Testament and 76% of the Old Testament from Tyndale’s Bible.

Donald Anderson McGavran was a third-generation missionary to India. He was criticized for his ideas. In 1958, he requested several American seminaries that a department focused on church growth be started and, despite the criticism, laid the foundation for Church Growth Movement. In 1961, Northwest Christian College in Eugene, Oregon, established the Institute of Church Growth. In 1965, he became the founding Dean of the School of World Mission at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.

Great leaders adapt quickly to spread their message among the people. Sixteen years before the 2020 pandemic, in August of 2004, Craig Groeschel had a satellite uplink built at the Oklahoma City campus that provided LifeChurch.tv the capability to send a live video worldwide. Craig received criticism for starting an online church.

We are approaching the start of the 5th industrial revolution.  It will be an era of the internet of things (IoT), machine learning, robotic automation, and voice-enabled search engines. Artificial intelligence (A.I.) and virtual reality will disrupt customer behavior. Persuasive technologies will continue changing our culture and belief.

Every leader knows something needs to be done. The reality is that we need more than a hammer to repair things. There is a lack of understanding of what is required.

The New Normal Of Leadership (Part 4)

Don’t Drink the Kool-Aid

Could it be true that what is new for you was normal for others?

The change we were ignoring is that the world has become connected. Do not give too much credit to the pandemic for all the shift. More than half of humankind was online much before the COVID-19 pandemic. By 2020, 4.2 billion people were already connected, and 3.4 billion publicly sharing their personal information with the world. The pandemic served as a tipping point for those leaders who were living in denial.

Much before the pandemic, the internet and social media had changed the world.

The largest transportation company did not come up with the idea of Uber. The traditional taxi system started to crumble Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp founded Uber. It is hard to believe that a software app started in San Francisco would allow driver recruitment and customers to order cab services online. By November 2015, Uber was valued at USD 70 billion USD and spread to over 250 cities worldworld.

Successful hotels like Hyatt or Marriott did not feel the need to introduce Airbnb. Retailers like Kmart or Walmart did not feel the necessity to experiment with online shopping. Yet Amazon survived the dot-com bubble burst by becoming a significant player in online shopping.

Restaurants had started to change the way they were serving their customers. Starbucks launched its mobile ordering app in 2015. McDonald’s started rolling out ordering kiosks in 2016.

The banking sector was experiencing change. In 2015, Atom Bank received its banking license in the UK. This digital-only bank launched a mobile app. The bank had no physical branches or bank tellers was a move away from traditional brick-and-mortar banking. Atom Bank was using the Google cloud platform to keep pace with its growth. By 2017, it became the most preferred bank in the UK. The first “mobile-only bank” was the Uber of banking.

People were making a purchase decision based on online customer reviews. 60% of the purchase decision was being completed online even before a customer contacted the company. Shopping had become the third most popular use of smart technology. People sitting in church pews were already fact-checking what preachers said on their smartphones.

We were getting clear signals before the pandemic. Some church or charity leaders chose to ignore these signs. The irony is that many successful organizations do not feel the need to bend the curve. We should have been noticing what others were already doing. We choose not to.

The New Normal Of Leadership (Part 3)

A History of Denial

In 1759, Benjamin Franklin discovered that lightning is electrical. It was a signal for change to all candle makers.

In 1769, Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot of France gave us the first actual automobile. He constructed a steam-powered tricycle. It ran for 20 minutes carrying four people at 2.25 miles per hour. It was the first signal of change to horse and buggy owners.  

In 1806, Humphrey Davy introduced an electric arc lamp to the Royal Society in Britain. This invention created light via an electrical spark generated between two rods made of charcoal. Many did not see any practical use of this invention. It was a warning sign for candle makers.

In 1863, the world’s first underground railway opened between Paddington and Farringdon. Thirty-eight thousand passengers traveled on the opening day when steam locomotives hauled gas-lit wooden carriages. It was another signal of change to horse and buggy owners. 

In 1865, an article in the Boston Newspaper scoffed at radio transmissions, stating, “Well informed people know that it is impossible to transmit human voice over wires.”

In 1868, the first typewriter was patented by Americans Christopher Latham Sholes, Frank Haven Hall, Carlos Glidden, and Samuel W. Soule in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1886, the Smith-Premier Typewriter Company was created. It went on to become the best typewriter company in the world. By 2013, Smith Corona was no longer supporting typewriters as personal computers had changed the market forever.

In 1896, Colgate and Co. sold Ribbon Dental Cream, the first toothpaste in a tube. By 1899, Charles H. Duell, Director of the United States Patent Office, declared that “…everything that can be invented has been invented.”

In 1903, the Wright brothers moved from constructing bicycles to conquering the sky with the first man-powered aircraft. As they flew at the speed of just under seven miles an hour, some appealed to ban the flight to avoid frightening the horses.

Until the 1920s, less than 5% of the population could afford to buy what was needed. Edward Bernay made crude cinema commercials using Eleanor Roosevelt to convince women to have more than one pair of shoes.

On November 2, 1920, Station KDKA made the USA’s first commercial broadcast. People heard the results of the Harding-Cox presidential race before they read about it in the newspaper. It was a signal of change to newspaper companies. 

In 1927, at the age of 21, Philo Fransworth demonstrated a vacuum tube electronic television in San Francisco. He had lived in a house without electricity until he was fourteen years old. A year later, while working in the fields and among rows of vegetables, he was inspired by the idea that a picture could be dissected into a series of lines of electricity transmitted so that the eye would see a moving picture.

A co-founder of Warner Brothers, Harry Warner, said, “Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” By 1931, silent movies were replaced by “talkies.”

In 1939, the New York Times wrote, “The problem with television is that people must sit and keep their eyes glued on a screen… it will never be a serious competitor to radio.” Two years later, Bulova clocks were the first TV commercial that reached 4,000 television sets.

By 1952, television ad revenue surpassed magazine and radio ad sales. It was a clear signal of change to radio stations. 

In 1959, Xerox had created the first commercially viable copy machine. The tag line from Xerox: “They will help you manage information.”

In 1966,Times magazine predicted that “Online shopping, while entirely feasible, will flop.” The 2020 pandemic proved that they were wrong as online shopping became the only means of procuring goods.

In 1969, humankind conquered space when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. In the same year, Arpanet, a precursor to the internet, was developed by the US government for the military. It was not yet available to the general public.

As chief scientist, Xerox management allowed Jack Goldman to create Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in 1970. By 1971, PARC used the first email. In the next five years, PARC researchers invented:

The 1972 Xerox Alto was the world’s first internet personal computerMouse and graphic user interfaceDesktop publishingLaser printingEthernetMade incredible advancements in internet networking

In 1974 Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (formerly XEROX PARC) ran an advertisement on Alto TV. The commercial showed an executive grabbing a cup of coffee and walking into his office. He sits in front of a computer as the commercial continues:

“a Xerox machine (computer) grabbed your morning mail on a screen”… “push a button and the words and images you see on screen appear on paper”… “push another button and the information is sent electronically to similar unit around the corner or around the world. This is an experimental office system. It’s in use now at the Xerox Research System at Palo Alto, California. Soon Xerox System like this will help you manage your most precious resource – information.”

The commercial ends with the executive using voice-enabled technology to get information from the computer. His wedding anniversary is coming up. The computer reminds him that flowers need to be purchased. The executive admits that he forgot, and the computer screen responds:

“It’s okay. We’re only human. Xerox.”

At Xerox Center in Palo Alto, 200 of the best minds were isolated and distanced from the company’s Chairman. Other co-workers thought that the long-term vision of these high achievers was impractical. Some viewed them as arrogant. In 1973, Xerox owned the best photocopier in the world, the Xerox 914. They were so busy with their success that they did not even get many of their inventions patented.

Xerox could have been the leader of the entire computer industry. What went wrong?

Steve Jobs visited Xerox Center in 1979 and was mesmerized when he saw a cursor move on the screen with the aid of a mouse. Steve was not a designer. He was not an engineer but knew how to make it happen. He hired several Xerox employees and ran with it. Steve described his visit:

“I had three or four people who kept bugging me that I ought to get my rear over to Xerox PARC and see what they were doing. And so I finally did. I went over there.  And they  were  very  kind  and  they showed me what they  were  working  on.  And they showed me really three things, but I was so blinded by the first one that I didn’t even really see the other two. One of the things they showed me was object-oriented programming. They showed me that, but I didn’t even see that. The other one they showed me was really a network computer system. They had over a hundred Alto computers, all networked using email, et cetera, et cetera. I didn’t even see that… I was so blinded by the first thing they showed me, which was the graphical user interface. I thought it was the first best thing I’d ever seen in my life.”

In 1975, Paul Allen and Bill Gates founded Microsoft. Bill Gates was given a tour of PARC. Microsoft hired Xerox employees. When Steve Jobs accused Bill Gates of copying the Macintosh, Bill responded:

“ Well, Steve, I think there’s more than one way of looking at it. I think it’s more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox and I broke into his house to steal the TV set and found out that you had already stolen it.”

Since then, tremendous progress has been made in the field of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and voice-enabled technology.

In 1981, Sage was founded by David Goldman, Paul Muller, and Graham Wylie. Then came Act CRM (1986), Goldmine CRM (1989), Sage Saleslogix (1997), and Sage CRM (1998). In 1999, Salesforce was founded by Marc Benioff, Parker Harris, Dave Moellenhoff, and Frank Dominguez. Cloud-based CRM was now well on its way.

On August 6, 1991, the World Wide Web entered the scene. Most people around the world didn’t know what the internet was.

In 1992, the internet took off with online services like America Online and Prodigy. Two years later, display advertising started when AT&T used the first banner ad.

In 1995, Yahoo became a web directory for commercial businesses and created the first keyword-based advertising.

While all this progress was being made, Robert Metcalfe, in 1995, the inventor of Ethernet, declared:

“Internet will soon go spectacularly supernova and in 1996 catastrophically collapse.”

What collapsed by 1996 was the market for typewriters.  Smith Corona, the leader in typewriting business, went bankrupt.

By 2000, we began to see the rise of YouTube. Blockbuster in the same year turned down the opportunity to buy Netflix for 50 million (USD). By 2020, Netflix was worth 194 billion (USD).

In 2006, the word “pizzled” entered our dictionary. Pizzled described how one felt when talking with someone, and their Blackberry phone rang, and they answered it. What was hurtful then has become the norm today.

By 2008, we became an urban world. More people were living in metropolitan cities, and more people began to worship Jesus in Spanish than in English.

By 2009, we had seen the best in the industry make errors in judgment. Three times Blockbuster had an opportunity to buy Netflix. They declined it. Bill Gates wanted to place Britannica on a CD-Rom. Britannica continued to like their leather bound books until they went out of business.

Ironically, Microsoft’s Encarta had a great run from 1993 to 2009. The collection was available on CD-Rom or DVD. Yet even the mighty Bill Gates did not want to put Encarta online. What happened to leather-bound Britannica books happened to Microsoft’s Encarta.

For Canadians, it was sad to watch Research in Motion (RIM), the Canadian-based maker of the Blackberry, falling behind. By 2012-2013, Thorstein Heins, the new CEO, admitted that they had ignored the move in the United States to fourth-generation (4G) wireless networks and had stuck to their tiny keyboard:

“If you have a great touch interface, people are actually willing to sacrifice battery life. We thought that wouldn’t happen.”

The Revolutionary BlackBerry was clueless about what customers wanted. Just five years after BlackBerry dominated the American market, they lost 75 percent of their market value. Blackberry underestimated the power of the iPhone’s touchscreen.

In 1952 the first computer was able to recognize speech. Bell Laboratories developed and nicknamed it Audrey. Limited in voice-enabled technology, it could only interpret single-digit numbers spoken by individuals. It took another 60 years for things to unfold further.

In 2005, Facebook replaced MySpace. In 2007, Twitter was introduced, and the Apple iPhone replaced flip phones.

In 2011, Siri became the new search tool on iPhones, and Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) became real, as IBM’s Watson and Salesforce’s Einstein were developed as CRM tools.

By 2012, Google released Google Now for their Android system.

In 2013 and 2014, Microsoft and Amazon followed suit, and then came Cortana. Voice recognition technology moved far beyond the smartphone.

In 2014, voice-enabled Alexa A.I. was available in stores.

In 2015, Klaus Schwab introduced the concept of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. His book, “The Fourth Industrial Revolution,” was released in 2016. It describes a new era that brought together digital, physical, and biological systems. He predicted disruption due to robotics, artificial intelligence (A.I.), nanotechnology, quantum computing, biotechnology, the Internet of Things (IoT), the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), first-generation wireless technologies (5G), 3D printing, and autonomous vehicles.           

Church and Charity leaders are still underestimating the change from voice-enabled technology powered by 5G, persuasive technology, and A.I. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) on Google searches allows a visitor to see a list of many churches. Voice-enabled technology is about to disrupt this. Platforms like Siri and Alexa offer the name of only one church as part of a voice search. What are the chances your church will be the one that Alexa offers to visitors in your community?

Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter, sculptor, and printmaker, ironically stated,

“What use are computers, all they can do is give you answers?”

Likewise, many church leaders are in denial. Most church leaders are comfortable with their outdated system of records (CRM). The best leaders are still not dedicating enough attention to their church branding. There is an Innovation Gap.

Church leaders need to heed the warning of companies who have risen and fallen at their demise. Church leaders need to be good stewards of the ministry entrusted with, by ensuring that their church stays relevant. Innovation and optimization are no longer a choice. It is a necessity and one that is easily affordable for any size of the church.

The New Normal Of Leadership (Part 2)

“I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time.” – Ecclesiastes 9:11 (NLT).

I wrote this book with Senior Pastors in mind. You are giving your best. You want to see your church grow. As a leader, you are aware that essential connections are getting missed. New people who visit your church are getting lost in a newcomer/assimilation pathway. You know something needs to change.

Let me provide an early disclaimer. As an Executive Pastor, I believe leaders can use technology as a tool for kingdom purposes. I am going to use words like customer, business, strategy, phygital marketing, optimization, and automation in this book.  I am aware that some Pastors are uncomfortable with the use of business terms. In my book, Jesus: The Ultimate Management Guru, I wrote:

“Jesus employed illustrative figures of speech such as parables, similes, and puns… Jesus colored his claims with familiar scenery, referencing the carpenter’s shop, kitchen, fishing business, tax office, birds, cornfields, flowers, travelers, salt, table lamps, contractors, sparrows, bridesmaids, and businessman… He compared abstract principles, such as faith and grace, to moving mountains, pushing a camel through the eye of a needle, and offering bread to dogs… Jesus possessed extraordinary insight about money. Second, to the Kingdom of God, it was his most prevalent topic of conversation. One out of every six verses in the Gospels and sixteen of the thirty-eight parables discuss the issue.”

During the first and second centuries, the church was not an organization. The church was not thinking of legal compliances and regulations affecting charities. The church was not managing accounting, audit, annual returns, and managing properties. The IRS, in the USA, automatically recognizes churches as 501(c)(3) charitable organizations. The CRA, in Canada, looks at a church as a religious charity that needs to file an annual T3010.

Pastors are not wrong in calling the church a ministry. Yet, the reality is that the church is also a business. A Senior Pastor is more than a spiritual leader and chief visionary. A Senior Pastor has to manage governance with the church board.

Church leaders are also facing a shift in church attendance. People no longer attend church every Sunday.

The billionaire owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, was asked what aspects of American life he expected to see changed due to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Mark said, “Everything.”

In 2020, it was projected that 20% of the churches would close down forever. Throughout the pandemic, church leaders became increasingly burned out. Church leaders were overwhelmed by the speed of change. Overnight, church staff were expected to be video producers, social media experts, social justice advocates, community leaders, and medical experts. Nothing church leaders did was right anymore. If a church leader decided to keep the church doors open, they were criticized for taking unnecessary risks or worrying too much about a loss in revenue. If a church leader closed the church building, they were considered lacking in faith. Regular church attendees started ranting on social media. Communicators felt the pressure to preach on a topic that people wanted to hear. Church leaders were busier than ever, yet less was getting done. Buildings became empty, and fear set in as church leaders wondered who will come back to church. Everyone experienced “Zoom fatigue.” Church leaders soon realized that relationship skills needed for online communication were different than interpersonal skills. It was a new normal of leadership.

Not everyone was reading the emails that leaders sent. Someone signed up to volunteer, yet no one on staff responded to that person. And gone were the days when a Greeter at the church entrance translated to a frictionless experience. Church leaders became unhappy with the disjointed communication.

Meanwhile, the pace of technology has not slowed down. Technology is fast changing. The church needs to move from traditional to digital to thrive in this new normal. Church leaders need to learn how to ride the waves of innovation facing North American churches.

The New Normal Of Leadership (Part 1)

Right from the outset, our lives could not have been more different. I was born into a pastor’s home in Empress, Alberta, Canada. Life for me, revolved around a small, rural village, situated on the sprawling prairies in south-eastern Alberta. According to government records, Empress, at the time of my birth, boasted a population of 468, not including prairie dogs and antelope. Cowboys, country music and trucks were not mantras, they were a way of life. Amitabh, on-the-other-hand, was born into a businessman’s home in Calcutta (now Kolkata), West Bengal, India. Life for Amitabh, revolved around a sprawling metropolitan city of eastern India, steeped in a rich tapestry of spirituality consisting of Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and Buddhists. According to estimates by the United Nations, Calcutta, at the time of Amitabh’s birth, boasted a population of 6,876,000. Mantras were not the substance of catchy slogans, but the meditations of the mystical, spiritual and enlightened. I stated this earlier but it bears repeating; right from the outset our lives could not have been more different. Separated by a distance of 11,636 km (7,230 miles), our worlds were polar opposites, but God had a destiny that would bring us together.

Fast forward to 2013. I was in my thirteenth year serving as the Senior Pastor of PORTICO Community Church in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Life was far-removed from my early childhood years. I was blessed with the privilege of leading a dynamic, growing, multi-cultural suburban church that represented more than seventy nations of the world. Learning the new complexities of leadership and adapting to the rapid pace of change was my new normal. The church’s new reality, however, required new expertise; a skillset which I didn’t have, and yet one that was indispensable to the church’s future. I needed an Executive Pastor. Not just someone who was capable of managing the rigors of administration. I needed an Executive Pastor who was called and gifted in Administration, just as I was called to Leadership. Therein lies God’s destiny for our paths to cross. Amitabh’s work had necessitated a move to Canada and, together with his family, they relocated to Mississauga. Would you venture to take a guess as to which church they chose to attend? Although my introductory coffee conversation with Amitabh at the local Starbucks, was that of a pastor connecting with a new attendee, I recall sharing with my wife, Laura, later that afternoon, that I had just met my new Executive Pastor. Later that same year I invited Amitabh to join our pastoral staff, to serve as our Executive Pastor.

Jesus once said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.” (Matthew 13:44) Looking back on those first days of working together, I readily admit that I had no idea of the magnitude of the treasure that God had brought to our church. Amitabh’s administrative gifting, coupled with his passion and experience proved to be priceless. Amitabh Singh’s book is a treasure of equal value. Page after page dispenses practical, relevant, scalable solutions designed to fit churches of every size, context and budget. This book was forged in the cauldron of day-to-day situational realities that church leaders are forced to address. Having worked side-by-side with Amitabh for nearly ten years, I can personally attest to this fact. Under Amitabh’s expertise and guidance as Executive Pastor, PORTICO became a working laboratory where the insights and principles presented in this book were tried, tweaked, improved and proven. The New Normal of Leadership is the consummate guide on effectively blending leadership, administration, technology and innovation for the singular cause of helping people find their way back to God.

Leadership in the local church is not for the faint of heart. My father was a pastor, I am a pastor and I know from first-hand experience that effective leaders must learn to master the complexities of leadership and administration. The New Normal of Leadership will help you bridge these two worlds together as you lead in this new era of Church 4.0. The works is hard, but the rewards are unrivaled.

Douglas Rhind
Teaching Pastor at PORTICO Community Church
Mississauga 2021