Serving as a church leader can be a tough assignment. Whatever your role, odds are you've known your share of the frustration, conflict, and disillusionment that comes with silly turf battles, conflicting vision, and marathon meetings. No doubt, you've asked yourself, 'How did it get this way?' With practical and accessible wisdom, Larry Osborne explains how it got this way. He exposes the hidden roadblocks, structures, and goofy thinking that sabotage even the best intentioned teams. Then with time-tested and proven strategies he shows what it takes to get (and keep) a board, staff, and congregation on the same page. Whatever your situation; from start-up phase, to mid-sized, to megachurch, Osborne has been there. As the pastor of North Coast Church he's walked his board, staff, and congregation through the process. Now with warm encouragement and penetrating insights he shares his secrets to building and maintaining a healthy and unified ministry team that sticks together for the long haul.
Sticky Teams
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About the Author
Larry Osborne is the lead pastor at North Coast Church in northern San Diego County. North Coast is widely recognized as one of the most influential and innovative churches in America. He speaks extensively on the subjects of leadership and spiritual formation. His books include Sticky Teams, Sticky Church, 10 Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe, and Spirituality For The Rest of Us. He and his wife Nancy, live in Oceanside, California. SPANISH BIO: Larry Osborne es autor de libros, pastor y maestro en la Iglesia North Coast, en Vista, California. Es reconocido por ser uno de los pastores mas innovadores de los Estados Unidos. Reside con su esposa Nancy en Oceanside, California.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Probably the best book on church leadership team management,
By
This review is from: Sticky Teams: Keeping Your Leadership Team and Staff on the Same Page (Paperback)
There is something dysfunctional about most church boards, councils or governing committees, and to those trapped in the current systems it often seems that not much can be done about it. But in this book Larry Osborne offers a number of great insights into how a church board or a church staff can be coalesced into a great team, with the individual members working in unity for common goals rather than fighting each other for scarce resources.The author defines unity in the context of a church leadership team as including doctrinal unity, respect and friendship, and philosophical unity. This means that someone who is a good Christian but who does not subscribe to your philosophy of ministry will not be a good candidate for your board. It also means that you need to apply effort and resources into training and growing your leadership team. The ideas presented in the book include ways of reducing board conflict, recognizing changing team dynamics as a team grows, the need to play more to your strengths than to your weaknesses, the importance of clarifying the roles of pastor, staff and board, making room at the top for young leaders, providing adequate training to the board, how to get board, staff and congregational alignment, handling change, talking about money and salaries, and how to act when things go wrong. This is probably the best book on church leadership team management that I have read. While acknowledging that there is no single right way to run a church, it provides plenty of creative ideas for overcoming many different intractable-seeming obstacles, and the discussion questions at the end make it suitable for church leadership teams to work their way through.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Sticky Teams,
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This review is from: Sticky Teams: Keeping Your Leadership Team and Staff on the Same Page (Paperback)
Sticky Teams by Larry Osborne is a leadership book with an emphasis on team-building. The author maintains, "Sticky teams stick together." And sticking together in difficult times is an indicator of health.Osborne divides Sticky Teams into three parts, each designed to promote long-term unity and health in local church, which a special emphasis placed on the elder council, staff, and congregation. Osborne stresses the three pillars of unity which includes doctrinal unity, respect and friendship, and philosophical unity. He alerts the reader to transition points when growth takes place within a church and recommends different approaches (or "changing the game") for different contexts. PART ONE: Landmines and Roadblocks The author sets his sights on five roadblocks to unity: 1) meeting in the wrong place, 2) ignoring relationships, 3) not meeting often enough, 4) constant turnover, and 5) too many members. Principles of protecting the unity of an elder council and church staff are discussed, what the author refers to as "guarding the gate." Osborne insists on maintaining high standards at the leadership level. Spiritual maturity is central. Leaders must be on the same philosophical page - they must agree on the overall direction of the church. Finally, leaders must work as a team relationally. There must be a relational match. Osborne spends time focusing on clarification of roles at the board and staff level. "Healthy teams have great teamwork," he writes. "There's little role confusion, and everyone knows what the ultimate goal is." PART TWO: Equipped for Ministry Part two develops the importance of ministry alignment, mission, values, and methods. Healthy churches employ creative training opportunities for elders and staff members alike. Osborne recommends scheduling monthly "shepherding meetings" to deal with "important but neglected priorities" and should focus on team building, training, and prayer. The author discusses the importance of staff alignment which helps ensure the team agrees with the core values and priorities of the church. He argues that healthy teams are committed to a plumb line which may vary from church to church. He also focuses on congregational alignment and includes five keys for maintaining the health of a given church: 1. A clear and simple mission statement 2. A front-loaded pastor's class 3. The drip method of preaching (where the core values and vision of the church are included in the regular preaching diet). 4. Sermon-based small groups 5. Short congregational meetings PART THREE: Communication Part three includes a host of practical suggestions for vibrant communication. Controversial topics are broached such as setting salaries, money management, and dealing with difficult staff members. SUMMARY AND EVALUATION I am certainly glad I read Sticky Teams. The author shares many stories that are rooted and tested in personal experience. I appreciate Osborne's heart for leadership development and his "down-to-earth"approach to ministry. One critique is especially worth mentioning. The author places a great deal of attention on the importance of small groups, even to the exclusion of formal theological education. While I wholeheartedly embrace and endorse the use of small groups in the local church as a strategy of discipleship, I resist the notion that theological education should play "second-fiddle" or be excluded from the "performance" all-together. I have seen first-hand the value of developing a strong theological education department in the local church context. The Christian mind must be educated, the affections must be engaged, the whole person must be equipped, and God-centered living must be encouraged. Therefore, the development of a rigorous theological education track is essential for biblical discipleship to take place. 3 stars [...]
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wise Theory, Well Proved in Practice,
By Dr. David Frisbie (Rancho Santa Fe, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sticky Teams: Keeping Your Leadership Team and Staff on the Same Page (Paperback)
Dr. Larry Osborne serves as lead pastor of a growing California congregation -- over 9,300 in attendance this Easter. In addition he oversees a staff of some two dozen pastors and around two hundred church employees. When he opines about a subject such as "Sticky Teams" Osborne is writing from a wealth of personal experience and astute observation.If you've read any of his other books, you already know his 'voice' as a writer --- approachable, understandable, clear. Although well educated and highly intelligent, Osborne avoids the traps and pitfalls of a merely academic mindset. He wants to know what works in the trenches --- and conversely, what isn't helpful in actual practice. Always the contrarian, Osborne may surprise some with his seeming disregard for carping critics and crying complainers. Yet in logical and concise fashion, he explains why a community of leaders should not be held hostage to the whims of those few who may disagree. Year after year Dr. Osborne is one of the most popular, most requested, and most sought-after speakers for conferences, workshops and seminars where leaders meet to learn and grow. There's a reason Osborne enjoys such sustained popularity: He's been busy learning what works, and he's a gifted explainer of how and why the same principles could help you succeed in building a unified team. Dr. David Frisbie The Center for Marriage & Family Studies Author of "The Soul-Mate Marriage" and 9 other books
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