Notes from MC16...

At the very start of the conference we held a Pre-conference Luncheon during which we discussed leadership and evangelism. Before we heard from the speaker for the session, we talked about some practical, nuts and bolts leadership rules of thumb or best practices to use during problem solving meetings.

We are kidding ourselves if we think problems in our church will just go away. They won't. We have to know how to deal with problems in such way as to get the best possible result and move forward. How? Here are some great guidelines to follow:

1. Pray earnestly for direction. 
2. Only invite the minimum number of people to participate. 
3. No one participating by conference call... it changes the tone of the proceedings.
4. A very structured agenda to prevent conversation creep. You are only here to do one thing.
5. All the needed data provided to all attendees, in advance, in writing.
6. At least one person, perhaps the host, should have a point of view about what the best course is, but anyone who comes should only be invited if they are willing to change their position.
7. Agree on the structure of a deliverable solution before you start.
8. Deliver on that structure when you finish.

This list was borrowed from Seth Godin and we've added what we believe is most critical to getting the results we need, namely prayer.

If there are no problems in your church, we rejoice for you! For the rest of us, we hope implementing these guidelines will help us move forward exponentially in accomplishing the mission of the Church.