Lead Your Church Out Of Maintenance Mode
Signs Your Church May Be in Maintenance Mode with Dan Reiland
Episode Overview
In this episode, Bart interviews Dan Reiland, an experienced executive pastor and church leadership coach, about identifying and addressing church stagnation. Dan shares insights from his article "Seven Signs That Your Church May Be In Maintenance Mode" and provides practical guidance for church leaders looking to move their churches forward.
Guest Bio
- Dan Reiland is a veteran executive pastor with over four decades of experience
- Served as John Maxwell's first and only executive pastor
- Spent 23 years at Twelve Stone Church in Atlanta
- Currently transitioning to full-time coaching and consulting
- Originally studied criminal justice and worked briefly as a private investigator before entering ministry
- Married for 43 years with two children and three grandchildren
- Known guitar enthusiast with a collection of 18-19 guitars
Understanding Maintenance Mode
- Definition: "An ongoing and unaddressed holding pattern in momentum or attendance"
- Simplified definition: Being "stuck"
- Key indicators include:
- No longer taking risks
- Vision isn't compelling or clearly defined
- Working hard but not making progress
- Not reaching new people
- What's my leadership lid? Where do I need to grow?
- Who's my coach/mentor?
- How am I a better leader this year than last year?
- Churches naturally gravitate toward discipleship
- Need to maintain balance between discipleship and evangelism
- Leaders typically lean toward one or the other
- Must intentionally fight to keep evangelism as a priority
- Many churches try to do too many things
- Need for a "lean church" model
- No church can do everything effectively
- Focus on God's specific "thumbprint" for your church
- Put a moratorium on new ministries
- Conduct a ministry audit
- Evaluate productivity and alignment with vision
- Question why each ministry exists
- Consider better alternatives
- Go slow
- Honor people
- Invite them into something new
- Accept that meaningful change will create some opposition
- "If you change something in your church and nobody gets mad, you've just changed something that doesn't matter"
- Develop leaders before delegating responsibilities
- Start with who you have
- Never underestimate the power of one leader
- Development takes time - embrace the "awkward zone"
- Focus on developing a few leaders while handling many tasks
Final Encouragement for Church Leaders
- Ministry is worth it - don't give up
- What you're doing matters
- Focus on "one more" - one new leader, one person saved
- Progress can be incremental
- God is pleased with faithful progress, even if it's one person at a time
- Dan's website: danreiland.com
- Contains articles and...
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com