Greg Rohlinger, What's Working for You?
Greg is the Senior Pastor of Palm Valley Community Church outside of Phoenix, Az and is an amazing and visionary leader. I have had the privilege to get to know Greg as he had become a Fellowship Connection member and he also attended our Total Access conference. As a leader I love to hear from the leaders that are doing it...well Greg is that guy. He and his staff got it going on! To learn more about Greg and his church visit www.palmvalley.org.
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What’s Working?
I’ve found one thing that never stops working is CHANGE. It has been my experience in ministry that the more I grow and change, the further I am able to lead. Conversely, in the times I have become stagnant, the people around me become stagnant also.
In a recent message I shared the statement “one thing we will never change is the fact that we will always change”. From day one at Palm Valley, we’ve sought as a church to develop a culture of change; where change is not only accepted, but expected and embraced. I’ve found that positive change happens through three tools…
1) Honest Evaluation – we must do a fearless examination of the situation to determine exactly what is hitting, and what isn’t. Only once we truly understand where we are at can we determine how to better accomplish our purpose and vision. Many organizations fail at this point because they don’t want to hear the truth. For a great treatment on this topic, I recommend Ed Young’s talk: “Questions” from the C3 conference.
2) Creative Thinking – Once we’ve evaluated our current status against our stated vision, we can dream about creative ways to become better. At this point, nothing’s off the table, and there’s no bad ideas. As leaders, we must embrace creative thinkers, and challenge them to challenge us. These people are often the most under-utilized in the church, but possess incredible potential. Creative thinking becomes infectious, and causes everyone around us to unleash their potential.
3) Visionary Leadership – When change is happening in an organization, it’s a time of great opportunity, but also potential danger. A visionary leader will help the organization to embrace the change, see the possibilities, and take ownership of the process. Churches that are making a huge impact are those with strong, visionary leaders.
Our church has experienced a great deal of change in the four years we’ve existed, and the more we grow, the more we change. I believe it’s my role as the Senior Pastor to be the lead change agent, challenging people around me to do honest evaluation, think creatively, and become visionary leaders!