Dr. Fletcher is a contributing writer to Church Executive and founder and host of XPastor.org, executive pastor of Grace Covenant Church, Austin, TX, a professor with ETS India, and adjunct professor at Dallas Theological Seminary.

I recently overheard this statement made by a member of a medium sized church: “I’m trying to get an event placed on the church calendar.

From time to time Church Executive in conjunction with the Willow Creek Association presents an abridged version of one of the Defining Moments programs produced by the WCA. This session, entitled “Death by Meeting,” features Patrick Lencioni, author of the book Death by Meeting and president of The Table Group — a consulting firm that helps organizations become more effective.

There is a big difference between a well-run organization and one that is moving, with great energy, into the future.

It’s important for today’s church leaders and administrators to have and develop strong business management acumen in addition to a solid theological foundation in order to manage more effectively.

During the host of seminars, webinars and workshops we’ve had the privilege of doing over the last year, conference attendees and readers have surfaced a number of issues that we are giving serious attention to for other writing and seminar directions. Some issues include:

Scott Dyer was doing well on the worship and music team at Willow Creek Community Church where he had been employed for the past 17 years. It was year 2000 and he and his wife Vonda were happy there: “We were both flourishing in our ministry at Willow and really loved what we were doing.”