Piercing the Pastor’s Thick Skin
by Craig Cable Most of my professional career has been spent in leadership positions. I learned early that to be a good leader, I had to have fairly thick skin.…
Karen Hennings
Posts by Karen
Connecting Friendship to Discipleship
by Bob D’Ambrosio I left the church parking lot wondering how it could have happened―I attended my weekly men’s Bible study group and realized that I hadn’t talked to a…
A Thanksgiving Thank You from Your Volunteers
By Bob D’Ambrosio Since this is the time of year we stop and give thanks, it’s only appropriate that we share with church leaders what their volunteers want them to…
5 Tips for Creating Healthy Change
by Bob D’Ambrosio The unique culture of the church seems to make it harder to facilitate change than what we see happening in other organizations. Change management is such a…
Security = Ministry
For some, the words ministry and security are as contradictory as you can get. Ministry conjures up feelings of love, grace acceptance, welcoming, and relationship. While security conveys feelings of…
4 Steps to Overcome Pastoral Failure
by Bob D’Ambrosio I admit it. I’m a perfectionist. I don’t like to make mistakes. Over the years I’ve come to realize that perfection is not an indicator of program…
5 Things Your Volunteers Won’t Tell You
by Bob D’Ambrosio After being the “volunteer-getter” on church staff for 25 years, I’m now sitting in the pew as a volunteer. The view from this side of the pew…
7 Ways to Turn Problems Into Ministry Possibilities
Here are 7 ways to turn volunteer problems into opportunities for ministry. The meeting started at 7:00 p.m., but in strolls Linda at her usual time—7:20 p.m. As she slides…
How to Determine if You Manage or Empower Your Volunteers
by Bob D’Ambrosio Do you empower volunteers to serve in ministry? Or do you manage them? For many professionally trained leaders, the ministry model has been to recruit, place, and…
Three Keys to Training Effectiveness
By Bob D’Ambrosio Rhonda was excited to join the Sunday school team at her church to help with the first-graders. But when she heard she was scheduled to be the…
