The Third Turn

The following is a presentation made this past week at the Christian Leadership Alliance's Conference in Dallas, TX. It was part of a summit on Steward Leadership. Portions of what you will find below include input from summit participants.

Over the years, we've turned, repeatedly, to the subject of Steward Leadership, especially as articulated in Scott Rodin's book on the Steward Leader.  I've been privileged to support this work through some writing contributions to other titles:

We often provide resource reviews on Fridays, but this week we announce one where our CEO - Mark L. Vincent -- participated in its making.

First published in 2005 in Depth Perception - a pre-blog publication of Design Group International

An Ode to Money

If money makes the world go round,
then it is the reason I'm dizzy,
I'm overworked and spent afore earnt,
frantically spending a-tizzy.
And if money does not grow on trees,
then no wonder it's a labor;
working a lifetime to earn for me,
with hardly a cent for my neighbor.

Gary Moore, a long-time friend, offers forward thinking for investors, particularly those with a Christian and ethical persuasion. He recently offered these thoughts on cultivating generosity and agreed to let us post them here. The Omega Plan curriculum  he refers to is also offered through the comprehensive approach to stewardship cultivation, Open Hands Open Hearrts that Design Group International helped to develop.

A blog series we love running is the occasional "5 Questions With...."

This time we interview David Van Winkle, a Founder for Ministry Financing Group, a deeply experienced banker specializing in assisting ministry organizations in landing the best financing package possible for new initiatives and facilities. We ask him 5 Questions

The following invites reflection from organizational leaders. Are we part of these problems or part of the solution? If our employees face these circumstances, it certainly affects employee productivity and well-being!

BizTimes Milwaukee recently reviewed Arianna Huffington's book Thrive, where she recounts her story of learning to balance life better after nearly working herself to death in building her business.

I was with a ministry CEO last week who hoped to see a greater degree of voluntarism in his organization. He was asked if he had a volunteer time budget and that was a new concept to him--to actually quantify the likely number of volunteer hours currently available to him and then how they were being allocated in support of the organization's mission.  Those in conversation with him encouraged him to strategically optimize the volunteer hours currently available so that there would be more integrity and realism in the appeals for new volunteers.