Moving a Church from Good to Great

By Willem Nel

The first step is always the most difficult. Always! In writing a term paper, what’s the most difficult sentence? ....the first sentence. If you play football, the first hit is always the hardest. Spiritually, the first step is always the hardest when we take that initial step and say, “God, I’m going to trust You with my life and believe in You.”
What is your Jordan River? What is the barrier out there that is keeping you from taking the first step? Where is it in your life? Is it a relationship? A career? Something you’re holding on to that you don’t want to let go of? What’s keeping you in the desert and out of the Promised Land? Maybe you pastor a good church and you have big dreams, but you have a river to cross. In this book my aim will be to show you guidelines or signposts on how to cross. This book will help you make the leap from being average or even good to being great.
Collins’s research team has identified six characteristics that distinguish good companies from great companies These characteristics can also be applied to churches and faith-based organizations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Willem Nel
• Release date: Oct 14, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301835317

Willem Nel

ABOUT THE AUTHORWILLEM IS THE LEAD PASTOR of Every Nation Faith City – a multi-cultural, multi-generational and multi-site church based in Potchefstroom, Vanderbijlpark and Parys, South Africa. He also serves on the Apostolic Team of Every Nation South Africa. He is the founder of Faith Story Publishing, a publishing house dedicated to making God famous by telling faith stories of ordinary believers who have a passion to share the good news all over the world. Willem has published two books. A Silent Adventure, telling his remarkable story of healing and adventure into grace, was his first inspirational book published by Faith Story Publishing.Willem is a motivational speaker, preacher and executive life coach. His life is marked with a strong word of faith, with healings and miracles a part of his ministry. He lives in Potchefstroom, South Africa and along with other leaders is involved with the transformation of the region.Willem graduated from RAU with a BCOMM (Accountancy) in 1988. He was awarded his BCOMM Hons from UNISA in 1996 and his Masters in Organizational Leadership (Cum Laude) from Regent University in the USA. He has written three publications on leadership which includes: Moving a Church from Good to Great; SHAPE for Business Leaders and Church Health Matrix.Willem ministers regularly locally, nationally and abroad. He has strong ties with various congregations in the USA who invite him to minister. In the last few years he has ministered in several churches and at various conferences.Willem is happily married to Celesté and they have four beautiful children, Guilliam, Charmoré, Ann-waniq and D’Ianrew. As a family, their mission is to see lives impacted by the Good news of Jesus Christ. Together they have ministered all over South Africa, in Botswana, the Philippines and the USA. Celesté is one of the Teaching Pastors at His People Faith City. Guilliam is currently studying Ministry leadership at Oral Roberts University, Tulsa Oklahoma. Charmoré is actively involved with the Worship ministry and currently leads a Youth Band.

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By Willem Nel

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 Willem Nel

Smashwords Edition, License Notes



This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.Moving a Church from

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHARACTERISTICS OF GREAT ORGANIZATIONS AND COMPANIES

GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF GREAT

GREATNESS

LEVEL 5 TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP

THE HEDGEHOG CONCEPT

THE TIPPING POINT

THE MISSION

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

The first step is always the most difficult. Always! In writing a term paper, what’s the most difficult sentence? ....the first sentence. If you play football, the first hit is always the hardest. Spiritually, the first step is always the hardest when we take that initial step and say, God, I’m going to trust You with my life and believe in You.

What is your Jordan River? What is the barrier out there that is keeping you from taking the first step? Where is it in your life? Is it a relationship? A career? Something you’re holding on to that you don’t want to let go of? What’s keeping you in the desert and out of the Promised Land? Maybe you pastor a good church and you have big dreams, but you have a river to cross. In this book my aim will be to show you guidelines or signposts on how to cross. This book will help you make the leap from being average or even good to being great.

Collins’s research team has identified six characteristics that distinguish good companies from great companies These characteristics can also be applied to churches and faith-based organizations.

Chapter 1 - CHARACTERISTICS OF GREAT ORGANIZATIONS AND COMPANIES

Level 5 Leadership

Level 5 leaders combine personal humility with professional will to achieve the company’s mission. Their ambition is for the company rather than for their own ego’s gratification. They are modest, self-effacing, and understated. At the same time, they drive to produce sustained results. They do whatever it takes – big jobs and small ones – to make the company great. They attribute success to others and take responsibility for failure. A level 5 leader first asks who and then what. They never lose faith but confront the brutal facts as described in the following two points.

First Who ... Then What

Before they decide what to do and where to drive, great companies make sure they have the right people on the bus and act promptly to get the wrong people off the bus. Rather than relying on one genius leader to set the vision and recruit followers to implement into, great companies get the right people together first. Then those people work as a team to figure out where to go and how to get there. Great companies know the ultimate throttle on growth is the ability to find and keep the right people.

Confront the Brutal Facts

Good-to-great companies don’t wear rose-coloured glasses. They find their path to greatness by first facing the brutal facts of their situation. They create a culture in which people have the opportunity to be heard, realizing, if everyone is heard, the truth will emerge.

They openly debate issues, they conduct post-mortems without assigning blame, and they raise red flags when the situation demands it. Faced with brutal facts , good-to-great companies don’t buckle or look for scapegoats; they face the facts head-on, at the same time retaining absolute faith that they will prevail regardless of the obstacles (Stockdale Paradox).

The Hedgehog Concept

Hedgehogs simplify complexities into a single organizing principle that unifies and guides everything. Anything that does not relate to the Hedgehog Concept is considered irrelevant. Good-to-great companies began as hedgehogs and built their businesses around a simplified and focused business model. A company’s Hedgehog Concept can be identified by these three questions:

What can you be best at in the world (and what you cannot be best at)?

What drives the economic engine? What is the accelerator pedal that makes profits go up?

What is the company deeply passionate about?

In the perfect hedgehog world,

You have the ability (you’re the best at what you do)

You can make money doing it (it’s driven by an economic engine) and

You love doing it (you’re passionate about it)

If one of those three elements were missing (for example, you love it and you’re the best at it but no will pay you for it) the Hedgehog concept won’t work. We’ve all been there and done that ...

Culture of Discipline

A culture of discipline exists where self-disciplined people exercise disciplined thought and take disciplined action. In a culture of discipline, people are given freedom