Live Blog – 38 Leadership Quotes From Carey Nieuwhof On Crisis Leadership At The 2020 ReThink Leadership

Over the last few days I have been dispatched by INJOY Stewardship Solutions to provide live-blogging the ReThink Leadership and Orange Conference.  This is one of my go-to events each year.  Led by Reggie Joiner and Carey Nieuwhof, I feel this annual event provides the greatest amount of informative and relevant leadership content available.  This year is proving to be no different even though it is an online experience.

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ReThink Leadership’s next speaker of the day was Carey Nieuwhof.  Carey is founding pastor of Connexus Church and is author of several books, including his latest bestselling work, Didn’t See It Coming. Carey speaks to church leaders around the world about leadership, change and personal growth. He writes one of today’s most widely read church leadership blogs at CareyNieuwhof.com and hosts two podcasts — the top-rated Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast and the Canadian Church Leader’s Podcast.

The following are 38 Leadership Quotes from his session on how to get your church through a financial crisis:

1. Crisis leadership is so different.
2. Christians should be the most generous people in the midst of crisis.
3. When everyone else runs away, Christians run in.  When everyone else gets afraid, Christians get bold.  When everyone else is holding, Christians get generous.
4. We should be the first people to help people with their finances in a crisis.
5. You want to be the type of church who is doing as much for people as you are asking from them.
6. Crises makes old practices seem strangely outdated.  What was normal three months ago is not normal today.
7. Crises disorients even senior leaders.
8. Crises break down categories and create new categories.
9. We are not heading back to normal.  We are headed to a new normal.
10. Crisis also separates leaders from reactors.  Stop reacting and start leading.
11. Crisis is an accelerator and a lab for innovation.
12. Mission unlocks generosity in a way maintenance never does.  In a crisis, people give to vision.
13. The mission of the church has never been more important.
14. Don’t think perseveration.  Think advancing the mission in the face of adversity.
15. People follow vision.  People follow vision in the face of crisis.
16. Raising the level of vision in a crisis increases the level of giving.
17. All churches that are moving online, 49% are growing.  When we were in our buildings only 15% were growing.
18. Giving is not keeping pace.  21% of churches say giving is significantly down.  29% says giving is somewhat down.  31% say it is about the same.  49% are growing but 81% are not experiencing any giving growth.
19. The larger you are, the longer you will have to wait to open up.
20. Digital will become the default for a lot of people.
21. Churches will shift from being physical organizations with a digital presence to digital organizations with a physical presence.
22. Churches will staff online like it’s real because it is.
23. In the future, 20-30% of church budget will be dedicated to staffing online.
24. Financially, plot a best case scenario, a middle-case scenario, and a worst case scenario.
25. Reframe these scenarios every 30 days.
26. Lead your way into the future.  Don’t react your way into the future.  This talks about your posture as a leader.  The posture of the leader determines the posture of the team.  Ask yourself, “Who do you want to be” and reverse engineer into that.
27. Donor confidence.  Your donors are watching you…  They are asking, “Do they have confidence in you as a leader to lead us through this?”
28. “You must never confuse the faith that you will prevail in the end that you can never afford to lose with the discipline to confront the brutal facts of your current reality whatever they may be.” – Jim Stockdale
29. In a crisis, it is neither the optimist or the pessimist who survive.  It is those who really see what is happening and never lose hope.  There are obstacles and opportunities.
30. Approach different donors differently.
31. High-capacity donors need personal and detailed information… Never surprise them.  They should know what’s coming next… They become vision carriers.
32. Do group calls with mid-capacity donors.  Give them the meta-plan but not necessarily the details.
33.  The best time to disciple financial leaders was two years ago.  The second-best time is now and don’t treat them like a bank machine.
34. You want to inspire the crowd with vision.
35. Make it easy to give.
36. Don’t be afraid… The church’s mission is eternal.
37. Seize the opportunities without being opportunistic.
38. Mission motivates giving far more than maintenance ever does and in crisis, people give to vision.

What a great message!  Next up is the one and only Carey Nieuwhof.

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