Monday's Catch: 'The Cobra Effect: How Leaders Can Avoid Unnecessary Bad Decisions' Ad More

The Cobra Effect: How Leaders Can Avoid Unnecessary Bad Decisions

“The Cobra Effect” is a theory created by German economist Horst Siebert in 2001. Also known as “perverse incentives”, it was Siebert’s hypothesis that leaders can often make situations worse when their decisions cause unintended consequences.

Where Leadership Development Fails and 3 Ways to Overcome
Leadership development fails because learning and training are often focused on the current role a person is playing rather than the role they will be playing in the future. Thus, when people move into new roles, they are often ill-prepared because all their training was focused on their previous roles.

Five Cautions about Church Budgets for the Next Twelve Months
"While we don’t have sufficient data to declare a definitive trend," writes Church Answers' Thom Rainer, "We see reasons to urge church leaders to exercise caution before planning major budget increases in the months ahead. He gives five of those reasons.

The Gospel Explained
Let’s face it: the word “gospel” gets thrown around somewhat loosely in Christian conversation today—so much so that its weighty meaning can get lost, or at least muffled. To grasp the good news of the gospel, then, we must first internalize the significance of that word “news.” It is, after all, what separates Christianity from every other religion.

6 Avoidable Worship Director Fails
Being a worship director isn’t just about having an unmatched musical and creative talent; it’s also about managing your team and handling the logistical aspects of the ministry. Mistakes are bound to happen, but learning from them is essential. By knowing what to watch out for and taking proactive measures, you can prevent these notorious worship director fails from derailing your ministry.

11 Totally Honest Responses to the Church Meet and Greet
I agree with Thom Rainer that meet and greet can be very off-putting to first time guests ad churches do well to drop the practice. This article gives 11 good reasons to do so although that may not have been Brian Orme's intent.

3 Laws for Truly Personal Evangelism
I believe that guidelines is a better description of these three recommendations that Sean McGever gives for helping evangelism to be truly personal.

David Platt laments 'idolatry of personal and political convictions' in the Church, issues call to unity
This article and the next seven articles are related to a number of issues that face churches i the twenty-first century.

How male headship became core to SBC identity
(The Beaty Beat) — The emergence of the pastor’s wife model.

Another megachurch leaves the SBC 

While Elevation Church has not given a reason for withdrawing from cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention in its public statement, this article mentions the apparent reason for its withdrawal.

American Baptists reaffirm and celebrate women in ministry
The board of directors of American Baptist Home Mission Societies issued a statement June 24 saying it “wholeheartedly affirms women pastors.” And last week’s biennial meeting of the American Baptist Churches USA prominently featured women in leadership. This statement came at the opening of the ABCUSA biennial gathering in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It also came less than two weeks after both the Southern Baptist Convention and the Presbyterian Church in America took actions to limit the role of “pastor” to men.

Document reveals Nashotah House rescinded seminarian’s acceptance because he was gay, married
Episcopal News Service published this article in reaction to Nashotah House's decision to rescind Geoff Clark-Tosca's acceptance to the seminary on the grounds that his marriage to another man violated the policies of one of The Episcopal Church's oldest seminaries. As well as preparing candidates for ordination in The Episcopal Church, Nashotah House also prepares candidates for ordination in the Anglican Church in North America and a number of Continuing Anglican jurisdictions. It has a long association with Catholic Revivalism and Anglo-Catholic churchmanship.

General Synod authorizes gender transition and affirmation liturgies
The 43rd General Synod has authorized a set of gender-themed liturgies, including a blessing on gender transition, for use in the Anglican Church of Canada—in dioceses where they have been authorized by the bishop.

Religion has become enclave for highly educated, married, middle-class families: Ryan Burge
America's churches have become enclaves for highly educated, married, middle-class families with children, and that's troubling for democracy, according to political scientist and lay preacher with the American Baptist Church Ryan Burge.

Official partnership transpires between St. Ann’s Episcopal and Faith Lutheran churches
Although many mainstream denominations in Maine including Baptists, Presbyterians, United Church of Christ, Episcopalians, Friends/Quakers, Catholics, and Lutherans have often collaborated efforts to inspire persons of faith to unite for the betterment of society, the partnerships of two or more churches sharing clergy and resources are slowly becoming a more conventional path of worship as church attendance declines. Recently, two Windham churches are leading the way in this unique, and perhaps fruitful, collaboration.

A description of our times: "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." Dorothy Gale, The Wizard of Oz