Personal Growth

One thing I have always taken seriously is my personal growth. It is so easy to stagnate or gut stuck in a rut. John Maxwell says in his book "The 21 Irrifutable Laws of Leadership" that there is a leadership lid. My church won't grow past me. If I am not growing my church will not grow. Another way he puts it is "Churches rise and fall on their leadership."

So I was reading the other day and came across something that helped to stimulate my thinking towards personal growth in a new way. I read that it is important for the pastor/church planter to be reading in three areas every year. Church history, Theology and philosophy. Nelson Searcy calls this the "Triangle of Growth." He suggests reading one book from each category a year and take your time reading them. Also spend time reading other books but do them much faster in order to spend the bulk of your time on the other three main areas.

I have already started working this plan for this year. I am reading a book my friend George bought me. It's Deitrich Bonhoeffer's "The Cost of Discipleship". I am about 60 pages into it and already there is major thought provoking stuff.

Searcy also recommended going to conferences to sharpen your skills. Rick Warren has said "you can learn to grow a church to 150 at seminary but you must learn to grow a church beyond that size by going to seminars." I have gone to many seminars over the years and there are a couple I want to focus on. One is Catalyst in Atlanta, Ga. I have been three times and I plan on going back every year. I want to take staff and volunteers with me to this one. Another is the Purpose Driven Church seminar out at Saddleback in California. I went once and it was an amazing experience. I also want to go to Willow Creeks seminars in Ill.

I will be on the lookout for the other two books I want to read this year in the "Triangle of Growth." If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them.