Category: Leadership

LeadershipLeave a comment

The Guts of Trust

Todd Nelson

Much has been made of trust and its importance for relationships, leadership, and effectiveness. But how does it happen? What are the actions that lead to the deepening of faith and, in contrast, what do we do to tear down trust? I found a good starting point in the book Trillion Dollar Coach which is a book about Bill Campbell who was coach to many tech giants. Trust develops through 1) keeping your word, 2) loyalty, 3) integrity / character, 4) discretion. These form the foundation of trust in all types of relationships. If one of these four breaks down … Continue reading The Guts of Trust

Leadership, spiritual formation, Sunday SchoolLeave a comment

Relationships to grow from

Todd Nelson

If you ask almost any adult about the impact of church school on his or her growth, he or she will not tell you about books or curriculum or Bible stories or anything like that.  The central memory is of the teacher, learning is meeting.  This poses problems for the characteristically American way of thinking about education for competence even in the church.  Meeting never made anybody competent.  Surely we need competence, unless we mean to dismantle much of our made world.  But our business is not competence.  It is meeting.  We are learning slowly and late that education for … Continue reading Relationships to grow from

LeadershipLeave a comment

Coffee Prices On the Rise! So what…

Todd Nelson

For some of us, the price of high quality beans going up is signficant.  For others, we couldn’t care less. And herein lies a fundamental truth for those in leadership. Do not expect people to be energized by an idea or a project unless it is personal to them.  In fact, most folks won’t even get excited unless they were part of the idea generating meeting and some even won’t get excited unless it is THEIR idea. I believe with all my heart that we must be as inclusive as possible and strive to build consensus at every turn.  The … Continue reading Coffee Prices On the Rise! So what…

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To die for

Todd Nelson

What would you give your life for?  Perhaps a better question is “what would you give your time and energy toward?”  I believe that we need to ask ourselves why we are involved in something that we are not willing to give our time or energy toward.  To look at the protest pictures coming out of the Middle East right now reminds me what can be done when people’s passion is met with a channel to organize and focus it.  It is an understatement to say powerful results can follow.  It is a good reminder for me as a leader. … Continue reading To die for

LeadershipLeave a comment

Oh me of little faith

Todd Nelson

We started a new worship and Sunday School hour about a month ago. I have to own a lot of fear over this. Will it hurt more than help? Who will come? Is this just an ego trip thing for me? Our hope was to create more Sunday School attendance as well as open up some space for worship. While we are far from ready to proclaim “mission accomplished”, early results are encouraging. Both worship and Sunday School attendance is up. In fact, today was a high water mark for Sunday School attendance. My first observation is that our own … Continue reading Oh me of little faith

Current Events, LeadershipLeave a comment

The more things seem to change…they don’t

Todd Nelson

Gates Says He Is Outraged by Arrest at Cambridge Home A premier African-American scholar is arrested in a bazaar turn of events at his own home (see article above).  Reminds me of my favorite quote from Tom Peter’s about communication, “the greatest myth about communication is that is has taken place.”  Meaning that just because we think something happened doesn’t mean it actually did. This is never more true than in race relations within the US.  As good as things seem to be getting, there is still much work to be done to right the wrong and level the playing … Continue reading The more things seem to change…they don’t