The Goehner Group

CSA Awards Honor Best in Biblical Stewardship

The Christian Stewardship recently honored three individuals and organizations for their exemplary biblical stewardship practices.

Presented at its annual conference before an audience of more than 500 Christian stewardship professionals, the award for Outstanding Stewardship Service Provider was given to The Goehner Group; the award for Outstanding Stewardship Educator was presented to Brian Kluth; and the award for Outstanding Development Practice by a Ministry was given to Campus Crusade for Christ International.

“The Christian Stewardship Association Awards Program is a time to acknowledge those individuals and ministries that exemplify their commitment to, and model, biblical stewardship,” said CSA Board Chair, Ned Kiser. “The people and organizations honored this year demonstrate the spirit of biblical stewardship.” (more…)

Selecting board members can be a challenging process under the best of circumstances. When the selection process itself is flawed, however, the resulting choices can quickly and deeply harm the entire organization. Five issues make the choice of an excellent board especially difficult:

1. A denominational selection process: appointments are made without significant input from the camp
2. Good ol’ boy network: the same group runs the camp for generations
3. Organizational chaos: financial, staff, moral or leadership issues
4. Board transition: from an operational board to a policy board
5. Tunnel vision: agendas that continue from board to board

Recognizing and addressing the presence of one or more of these limitations requires a level of scrutiny and diligence that can be nearly impossible for many organizations,
short of allowing a qualified and external person(s) to provide an objective perspective.

If and when the organization has committed itself to selecting board members without allowing the aforementioned limitations to hamstring it, these four steps will provide quality results: (more…)

And not a moment too soon! Our old website was looking pretty long in the tooth, and there was more we wanted to do. So at the end of 2007 we embarked on the long process of designing and building a new home online. We hope that you’ll find the site easier to navigate, and also a continuing resource for your organization. To that end I have decided to start a “blog” where I can regularly share my thoughts with you. You’ll find all the old articles there, as well as new posts on a variety of topics. We trust the new site will be a blessing to you, and if you have suggestions for how we can continue to improve, please contact us!

The Board Chairperson’s Awesome Responsibility … And Wonderful Opportunity

True or false: The board chairmanship is the most critical role in a successful Christian camp ministry.

If you answered “false” you may want to reconsider. Granted, the director is the primary vision-caster and leader of the ministry. But in my experience, as both an executive director of Christian ministries and a consultant for Christian camps, the board chairman can literally make or break the executive director’s ability to lead effectively, resulting in a significant impact positively or negatively on the entire ministry.

Why attach such importance to the board chairman’s role? The answer is found in three areas of relationship and responsibility. (more…)

I’ve invited my colleagues (and CCI veterans) Dan Bolin, Brian Ogne and Neil Fichthorn to talk about how board-director unity on vision issues can be achieved.

DB - Although vision tends to emerge from an individual, not a committee, God-given vision isn’t a one-man show. It must be confirmed and supported by the entire group. Through balance and consensus, board members and the director alike contribute to a fully developed vision.

NF - When there are differences of opinion or viewpoint among the decision- makers, each needs to have an opportunity to express his opinion about where the organization needs to go - without resorting to emotional appeals or outbursts. Therefore, it is usually unwise to use a confrontational style of communication when building consensus for a vision.

DB - It’s OK to disagree, but make sure to practice good stewardship and model Christ’s love so as to preserve the ministry. Don’t get entrenched in your own opinions. When people abandon their commitment to consensus and start talking about “my” vision, someone needs to find out if the Lord’s wisdom - or personal agendas - is prevailing.

BO - A wise director will test-market his vision with his board and staff. There have been times when I’ve gotten too far down the road and heard my staff say, “Hey! What about the people, money and other resources we’re going to need?” The board is responsible for making sure resources are available to bring the vision to life, but there must be open discussion and solid agreement on direction before beginning.
(more…)