Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 40,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 15 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

1. Job Description:  There is nothing I detest more than having an ambiguous job I am expected to fill.  If you are looking for a java developer with a certain certification, have that in the job description, don’t add it later as a filter through which you will grade all candidates provided to you.  Job descriptions should have the following:

• Something about the company.  So many times companies forget this portion.  Sell your company in a couple of lines.  Create an interest not only in the job itself, but the organization it supports.  Many people would look at an HR Generalist role and see something pretty bland, but what if it was for Google?  That would change things wouldn’t it?
• Paint a picture of the job. Don’t only talk about what you are looking for in terms of qualifications, but talk about the scope of the position as well.  Help a candidate be able to see themselves in the position.  Remember, a job description is a form of marketing, use it to its max capacity.
• Requirements.  This is the sticky portion.  According to several regulations, you will want to make sure this section is sealed tight but not too tight.  Have your requirements listed, but include a range.  For instance, if you are looking for someone who is bilingual, but it isn’t a deal killer, you can state something along the lines of: “Fluent in English, fluency in Chinese is highly favored.”  This allows the candidate (or at least the ones who read the job description) know that if they do not speak Chinese they can still apply and for those who do speak it, well, they just got a gold star!

2.  Follow UP!  One thing that can kill a recruiter’s drive is when they identify a candidate for you, after some painstaking conversations, and you go dark on them.  Understanding things happen and take priority over talking with your recruiter, however, if you start to show a lack of interest in the position, the recruiter will most likely do the same.  Most good recruiters are sales people at heart and aim to please the client, but also aim to “make a kill.”

On the flip side of that, be sure to honor appointments with candidates.  It amazes me how managers will blow off phone interviews or miss appointments with candidates who are interested in the position.  There are no words for what type of impression that leaves with a candidate.  And when you have met with them, provide feedback to both the candidate and the recruiter about next steps.

3. Pull the trigger. So, you’ve interviewed several candidates, narrowed it down to the one you want… so what are you waiting for?  Many times, I will have had to endure constant requests for updates and hounding about a particular position only to have the offer negotiation process drag out for weeks.  If you know what you want, then you should know what you want to pay for it, therefore, you should be able to pull the trigger.  This is the last place you want to appear indecisive.

With all of the turbulence in the market and in every industry, excellence in recruiting can sometimes take a back seat.  I would urge every leader to be wary of this common mistake.  Remember, once you get them on, sometimes, it’s hard to get them out.  Be sure you have a strategy so you don’t find yourself fishing for a trout, only to find you’ve hired a murderous shark!   Happy fishing!

Trent Cotton has spent a number of years in management and business consulting. After spending some time in the field, he joined the HR department, beginning in recruiting and eventually serving as the Department Head of HR for one of the major lines of business. With such a varied background, he works to bring all of these together to help organizations incorporate best practices into their business to help them succeed. In his free time, he also writes a lot on his other blog, Christian Men, Christian Warrior.

Robert Weinberg’s book on caner, “One Renegade Cell” he emphasizes how many bizarre things must happen for a cancer cell to be produced, implanted and eventually, silently, and mysteriously grow to such proportions that it threatens the very existence of its host. With this in mind, we will briefly explore the various phases which neoplasms go through on their way to becoming a life threatening malignancy to your organization.

Before getting into what you should do, let’s get into what you should look for.  Think over your team for a moment.  Make a T-Chart.  On one side of the chart, write down the list of people on your team whom you would lose sleep over if they turned a resignation in tomorrow.  On the other side, write down a list of those on your team you find yourself secretly smiling at the prospect of them resigning.  Now that you know the who…

The truth is, team members who are not engaged are a drag on momentum.  Either through vocal disapproval of progress or the gregarious, often secretive, act of digging their heels in against forward movement, these team members drag any successful effort you plan into the ground.  I know from experience as a performer, I want my leader to rid the team of such people and when they don’t, it makes me question, “So why am I working so hard when obviously it’s not a real mandate?”

On the flipside, I have also been one of those against progress.  Looking back to a job early in my career, I was one of those who needed to be drop kicked off the cliff.  Now, I was a performer.  Not being cocky, but I was the top performer on my team from a quantitative point of view.  However, when things did not go my way, my attitude was cancerous.  I was the one who secretly plotted against plans I did not buy into and even at times, made it a point to let everyone know vocally my disapproval.  Looking back, I now understand and am grateful I was pushed out.  Although I resigned, (to have the last word) the reality was, I pushed myself out through my own actions.  To be honest, it was the best learning lesson I had professionally. 

In most cases, the cancer cells in your team do not even realize how cancerous they are.  There are three good reasons for this:

• In most cases, they are completely oblivous to their own fault, in large part due to their obsession with finding fault in everything else.
• Those members on your team rarely confront the cancer cells, choosing rather to take the path of least resistance, thereby, allowing the cancer to slowly spread.
• Partially your fault.  Plain and simple.  As the leader of the group, you have to confront this cancer and either 1. Treat the illness through coaching 2. Cut it out all together.  There are three options for a coaching strategy to consider for these types: coach them up, coach them over (find a better fit for their skill set), or coach them out.

Remember, bizarre things must happen for a cancer cell to be produced, implanted and eventually, silently, and mysteriously grow to such proportions that it threatens the very existence of its host.  We have addressed three of these “bizzarre things” in this post.  In the next post, we will talk more on your three coaching strategies to address the cancer of the team. 

Trent Cotton has spent a number of years in management and business consulting. After spending some time in the field, he joined the HR department, beginning in recruiting and eventually serving as the Department Head of HR for one of the major lines of business. With such a varied background, he works to bring all of these together to help organizations incorporate best practices into their business to help them succeed. In his free time, he also writes a lot on his other blog, Christian Men, Christian Warrior.

For my professional resume, click here

I just completed reading “Transforming Church in Rural America” which is a great read for anyone in the ministry.  Shannon doesn’t merely teach you in this book how grow a big church in a small community. He doesn’t give you step by step, “here’s how you do exactly what we are doing.” Those kind of books are on my bookshelf – unread. I’ve grown tired of those. Instead, Shannon shares how to hear from God, how to stick to His vision, how to pursue the vision, and how to maintain it.

On April the 2nd, my company, SourcePointe of Alabama-a Human Resources Outsourcing company- provided its clients a Lunch and Learn on the various topics of today’s hectic HR scene.  As a benefit, I am passing along this information to you as a courtesy and investment into your ministry.  With all of the changes, I want to first be sure you are protected.  If you would like to view the presentation, please click here.

If you currently outsource your payroll, I would encourage you to give me a call today so  I can work with you on strategies to save money, while providing you additional support through our company, SourcePointe.  As a very high-level over-view, we provide the following:

Ø  Payroll Administration including-

• Online reporting
• Garnishment administration
• Employee tax status changes
• Direct deposit
• IRS and DOL audits
• State and federal unemployment tax reports
• W-2 forms & Specialized reports

Ø  Benefit Administration including-

• 401(k) retirement plan
• Medical plans
• Voluntary life insurance
• Short & Long-term disability
• plan administration

Ø  Human Resources Administration and Compliance including consulting on-

• Fair labor standards act
• Family and medical leave act
• Equal employment opportunity
• Wage and hour regulations
• On-site consultations provided

Please enjoy the information provided to you and consider giving me a call if you have any further questions at 205.868.1557.

About the Writer:

Trent Cotton has spent a number of years in management and business consulting. After spending some time in the field, he joined the HR department, beginning in recruiting and eventually serving as the Department Head of HR for one of the major lines of business. With such a varied background, he works to bring all of these together to help churches and other Christian organizations incorporate some common business practices into their ministries to enable them to better serve the Kingdom. He currently works for SourcePointe, an HR Outsourcing Agency while continuing to own and operate Christian Management Consulting as a ministry. In his free time, he also writes a lot on Church Development as a Church Consultant.

The oldest, Braxton, is especially interested in reading things for himself.  After some bantering back and forth, he had his hopes locked in on a particular Bible that had a lot of pictures and very few words.  We looked around a bit and found the new Veggie Tales Bible which is a nice transition from the kids’ Bible to the more adult Bible.  One look at it, and he determined he didn’t want it.

I decided to work some “parental magic” on him and diplomatically got him to bring the Veggie Tale Bible with him as we walked over to where the Adult Bibles were.  I picked up one of the NIVs off of the shelf and sat down with him.  I selected a Scripture passage in the bible I had and had Braxton turn to the same passage in his.  Since I knew how much Braxton wanted to learn about Scripture, I thought the best way to get him to step up is to show him how similar the Veggie Tales Bible was to the “big person Bible.”

After I read the passage from the Bible I had, Braxton read the same passage out of his and instantly, his little face brightened with a smile.  Now, as a parent, I thought silently to myself, “I won!”  It was a short-lived victory because the lesson to be learned in this situation was not for Braxton, but rather more for me.

Braxton asked if he could look at my Bible and as he looked through it, he simply looked at me and said, “I don’t want the Veggie Tale Bible, I want this one.”  I spent some time trying to tell him that one was too old for him and that he needed to start out with the other one.  He said he didn’t want a Bible with any pictures in it.  Why?  His reason, simply put, struck my core.  With simple innocence, Braxton looked at me and gave me his reasoning:

“I just want the Word.”

I couldn’t hardly find any words to tell him no.  In fact, I was so busy trying to hold back tears that speaking was simply a bystander thought.  Granted, Braxton most likely meant he only wanted one with words, however, my spirit knew what Christ was saying through him to me.  And as you can see, a week later, the situation still consumes me.

How often do we spend Easter or Christmas focusing on what to wear to service, who’s going to get what, and what songs will be sung at church?  I know personally,  I have read several blogs this week talking about how to make the service more “attractive” or “inciting” to the visiting lost.  Churches will practice new songs, bring additional people into the choir, have additional services, but what is the real reason?

I guess as I sit and ponder upon Good Friday and think of Christ’ life, death, and resurrection, I am awestruck.  Jesus didn’t have the grand pianos, large choirs, or anything similar to Power Point, he simply had the Word.  After all, John 1 tells us he was the Word. And with only the Word, he drew masses of people.  In fact, you could say his sermon on the Mount was the first “mega-church.”

I am not, in any way, knocking the intense focus on making the Easter Celebration a grand event.  After all, it is worth more than any show, service, or anything we could ever put on.  I guess Braxton’s words just struck my core, challenging me to wonder how often I go to church looking for the “pictures on the page”.  Rather, I hope I begin having my heart, mind, soul, and flesh cry out, “I just want the Word.”

I sincerely hope you all have a great Easter…

About the Writer:

Trent Cotton has spent a number of years in management and business consulting. After spending some time in the field, he joined the HR department, beginning in recruiting and eventually serving as the Department Head of HR for one of the major lines of business. With such a varied background, he works to bring all of these together to help churches and other Christian organizations incorporate some common business practices into their ministries to enable them to better serve the Kingdom. He currently works for SourcePointe, an HR Outsourcing Agency while continuing to own and operate Christian Management Consulting as a ministry. In his free time, he also writes a lot on Church Development as a Church Consultant.

Of course, there were many discussions and comments surrounding Biblical structure and denominational structures.  Casting all of these discussions aside, let’s spend some time looking at this topic from a behavioral and human resources stand point.  I will take each of these topics in numerous posts beginning with the highest percentage first.

How Do You Do It?

Chances are, you have taken some time to read earlier posts on Choosing the Right Church Structure.  If you have not, I would strongly urge you to take a glance over it when you have some time.  The first decision to be made must be which structure you are going to choose.

The next stage of the process will depend largely on the current church structure and the amount of change required to embrace the new church organizational structure.  When you find yourself ready to begin contemplating who should go into which position, I would suggest a couple of the following to consider:

• Post the New Positions: From a compliance standpoint, it is always good to post any new positions to enable anyone interested in the position to apply and go through interviews.  Although this is labor intensive, it is the best way to ensure all who are interested in a change express it, and that you are presenting positions in a clear, open, and fair manner.  One of the negative sides of this practice is the exposure to having to have difficult conversations with those who may not qualify for the position they applied for.  On the flip-side, posting such positions may give someone an opportunity to express a need for a change in their current role.  Even if they may not qualify for the position, as a leader, you now know there is an opportunity to coach someone who is potentially needing, feeling, or wanting a change.
• Talent and Passion: In an earlier post highlighting reorganizing your team based on strengths, we spent some time discussing possible ways to use individuals’ strengths as a way to align them.  Sometimes, I have seen teams with individuals who were miserable in their positions due in large part to their “misdiagnosis” in their job.  It is critical to conduct interviews with each team member to discuss those things they are passionate about.  What gets them up in the morning?  When it comes to Kingdom work, what gets their fire stoked?  As you are talking with them, you should be able to tell the answers to some of these questions by their behaviors.  I have seen in some cases where simply swapping one person for another person on the same team has produced great results.  By conducting these interviews with each of your team members, it may help provide some direction to the leadership on who may apply for which position.
• Accurate Job Description: We discussed church job descriptions in an earlier post and will spend some more time in following posts.  As discussed in these posts, be sure to accurately describe what you are looking for in the position and then be prepared to honor those qualifications.  The worst thing to do is write a job description and hire someone who does not meet those qualifications.
• Dual Communication: Depending on your by-laws, you may have some verbiage dictating how decisions will be made (whether by a council or board of directors, etc).  My one major suggestion / strong recommendation is to conduct these announcements in a one-on-one manner with at least two people facilitating the conversation.  Again, one of the mistakes commonly made is not to have someone else in the room to communicate the impending changes.  This will ensure a buffer for anyone who may not take well to the changes and will also provide a witness for each of the conversations.  You would be amazed with the impact of having someone else in the room not only to help you as a communicator with anxiety, but also help ease the overall tension of the situation.

We will spend some more time discussing the other aspects of the poll results in following posts.  If you have particular questions you would like to submit, please email me your questions at trent.cotton@gmail.com.  Also, if you would like to learn more about the poll results, you can visit the poll by visiting it by clicking here. I look forward to exploring these topics with you.

If this article was of interest to you, please check some of the others in this topic by clicking on one of the titles below:

Divide or Don’t Divide?  Church Organizational Structures

Questions for Church Organizational Structures

Reorganizing your Team According to their Strengths

Building the Right Church Team

Church Organizational Structures : A Bit More

Discovering The Right Church Organizational Structure

Discovering The Right Church Organizational Structure – Part II

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If you currently outsource your payroll, I would encourage you to give me a call today so  I can work with you on strategies to save money, while providing you additional support through our company, SourcePointe.  As a very high-level over-view, we provide the following:

Ø  Payroll Administration including-

• Online reporting
• Garnishment administration
• Employee tax status changes
• Direct deposit
• IRS and DOL audits
• State and federal unemployment tax reports
• W-2 forms & Specialized reports

Ø  Benefit Administration including-

• 401(k) retirement plan
• Medical plans
• Voluntary life insurance
• Short & Long-term disability
• plan administration

Ø  Human Resources Administration and Compliance including consulting on-

• Fair labor standards act
• Family and medical leave act
• Equal employment opportunity
• Wage and hour regulations
• On-site consultations provided

Please enjoy the information provided to you and consider giving me a call if you have any further questions at 205.868.1557.

About the Writer:

Trent Cotton has spent a number of years in management and business consulting. After spending some time in the field, he joined the HR department, beginning in recruiting and eventually serving as the Department Head of HR for one of the major lines of business. With such a varied background, he works to bring all of these together to help churches and other Christian organizations incorporate some common business practices into their ministries to enable them to better serve the Kingdom. He currently works for SourcePointe, an HR Outsourcing Agency while continuing to own and operate Christian Management Consulting as a ministry. In his free time, he also writes a lot on Church Development as a Church Consultant.

Prior to creating the Christian Management Consulting group, I worked for a couple of years in the HR department for a major institution.  Ironically, we had to undergo a very similiar process when we merged two companies together.  We were faced with the enormous task of determining the right organizational structure initially, and upon some reflection, I would think the job mapping process that we are about to discuss was more tedious than deciding what the organizational structure would look like.

If you have not already dones so, I would recommend becoming familiar with the Colorful Masterpiece series presented earlier in our blog posts.  I am sure some of you cannot remember all of the colors, so here is a quick refresher course for you:

The reason I would like for you to either become familiar with or reacquaint yourself with the chart above is to help you prepare for the next series we will begin discussing, reorganizing your team according to their strengths.  Be sure to be on the look out for this upcoming series where we will walk through the strengths of each personality type and the role they can play in the Kingdom.

Subscribe in a reader

If you currently outsource your payroll, I would encourage you to give me a call today so  I can work with you on strategies to save money, while providing you additional support through our company, SourcePointe.  As a very high-level over-view, we provide the following:

Ø  Payroll Administration including-

• Online reporting
• Garnishment administration
• Employee tax status changes
• Direct deposit
• IRS and DOL audits
• State and federal unemployment tax reports
• W-2 forms & Specialized reports

Ø  Benefit Administration including-

• 401(k) retirement plan
• Medical plans
• Voluntary life insurance
• Short & Long-term disability
• plan administration

Ø  Human Resources Administration and Compliance including consulting on-

• Fair labor standards act
• Family and medical leave act
• Equal employment opportunity
• Wage and hour regulations
• On-site consultations provided

Please enjoy the information provided to you and consider giving me a call if you have any further questions at 205.868.1557.

About the Writer:

Trent Cotton has spent a number of years in management and business consulting. After spending some time in the field, he joined the HR department, beginning in recruiting and eventually serving as the Department Head of HR for one of the major lines of business. With such a varied background, he works to bring all of these together to help churches and other Christian organizations incorporate some common business practices into their ministries to enable them to better serve the Kingdom. He currently works for SourcePointe, an HR Outsourcing Agency while continuing to own and operate Christian Management Consulting as a ministry. In his free time, he also writes a lot on Church Development as a Church Consultant.

In reviewing the state of the church and these topics, I could only surmise that like many businesses, churches are trying to accomplish the most with the least costly church organizational structure available.  The most common solution in the business world it to simply cut the staff to the bare minimum and hope your service levels do not diminish.  In Church Organizations, however, this is not a luxury we have since our “service level” is tied so closely to the Gospel we preach.  So what do you do if you are in this situation?  It is a tough position to find yourself in, however, there is a way out. Let’s look at your current issue in picture form:

So you have these three situations staring at you, all seem to be separated and you are trying to somehow find or prayer through a way to merge them together to resemble something like this:

Is there a way to do it?  There is, however, it will take a paradigm shift for some who are used to or trained by your more structured churches.  Many of us become bound by the old syndrome of “this is how it has always been done.”  Let’s take a look at one role that most likely is the one that needs the most change.

If you look at most church organizational structures, you will find at the top of all of the organization structures is the pastor.  Depending upon the size of the church, this is not a bad thing.  I say this tongue and cheek.  If you are a pastor, then I a more than sure you know this word is used 173 times Bible and can describe the feeding of sheep as in Genesis 29:7 or the spiritual feeding of human beings as in Jeremiah 3:15, “And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding” (KJV).  So where’s my struggle?

I struggle when I see some churches of moderate size and growth with pastors who are doing everything for everyone.  Sometimes, when someone is called into ministry (speaking from experience as a youth minister), we tend to think that Christ has uniquely called us to be everyone’s helper, teacher, prayer partner, and shepherd, all at the same time.  Granted, in smaller churches or churches in the early stage of the life cycle, this is a necessary trait to have.  Unfortunately, as the church size and mission grows, it is hard for some of the pastors to grow out of that mind set.  It is in this transitional time period that pastors are to transition more into the shepherd than a simple herdsman.

Jeremiah 3:15 is a great example of what a pastor should ultimately work toward.  It does not say, “And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall administrate you, take care of the church finances, run from board meeting to board meeting, etc.”  It has become an epidemic in some churches for pastors to run from one meeting to the next, schedule time to minister to those in the hospital, cut the grass, and by the way, schedule some time to work on the sermon series for this coming Sunday.  Granted, there are pastors out there who put the message first, but I am not talking about them.  I am talking about the pastors who are so busy with church life, they forget the main objective for this role is to feed the flock.  I find it no coincidence that Jeremiah 3:15 states God will “shall feed” the flock and the answer Christ gives Peter after the reseurrection is the “feed my flock.”  (John 21:15)  So if the primary and daresay, most important role of the pastor is to feed, why then, does the feeding duty usually come at the end of list?

It is for this reason in the series on Church Organizational Structure discussed establishing an Executive Pastor, or if you were to use business terms, a COO.  What is the role of the Executive Pastor?  Quite simply, the Executive Pastor is the day to day manager of the ministries for the church and anything else that is needed to be overseen to allow the Pastor to spend time in prayer, discernment and preparation for delivering the Word.  Should the pastor be involved in the church activities?  Of course, the pastor should know what is going on and weigh in on major decisions, participate in meetings, and handle ministry needs throughout the church.  However, with having an Executive Pastor, this becomes something the pastor can choose to participate in.  The pastor is then able to focus more on “feeding the flock” than simply administering it.

Another wonderful benefit to this Church Organizational Structure is the benefit of rest to and for the pastor.  How can one preach and teach the Gospel on Wednesday, Sunday, or however many services your church may have, if they can barely keep their eyes open?  Pastors, like Jesus, need to have time to rejeuvenate themselves both physically and spiritually.  Even Jesus would take time to go to the mountain and pray or would take a nap in the boat while his disciples manned the boat.

What Now?

So again, if you find yourself in this type of a situation:

and you want to get to this:

It may be a time for you to shift your focus.  If you are a pastor reading this, then who on your team can be made an Executive Pastor to help allow you to focus on connecting with the vine that is Christ?  In the following blogs, we will have some basic, generic job descriptions for you with one of them being that of the Executive Pastor. I hope this will be some help for you.

If you to have this type of a situation and would like an outside opinion from someone who has helped organizations with this type of a process, please contact Christian Management Consulting.  We will partner with you and help walk you through a step by step process of evaluating your current Church Organizational Structure and developing a plan of action.

Subscribe in a reader

If you currently outsource your payroll, I would encourage you to give me a call today so  I can work with you on strategies to save money, while providing you additional support through our company, SourcePointe.  As a very high-level over-view, we provide the following:

Ø  Payroll Administration including-

• Online reporting
• Garnishment administration
• Employee tax status changes
• Direct deposit
• IRS and DOL audits
• State and federal unemployment tax reports
• W-2 forms & Specialized reports

Ø  Benefit Administration including-

• 401(k) retirement plan
• Medical plans
• Voluntary life insurance
• Short & Long-term disability
• plan administration

Ø  Human Resources Administration and Compliance including consulting on-

• Fair labor standards act
• Family and medical leave act
• Equal employment opportunity
• Wage and hour regulations
• On-site consultations provided

Please enjoy the information provided to you and consider giving me a call if you have any further questions at 205.868.1557.

About the Writer:

Trent Cotton has spent a number of years in management and business consulting. After spending some time in the field, he joined the HR department, beginning in recruiting and eventually serving as the Department Head of HR for one of the major lines of business. With such a varied background, he works to bring all of these together to help churches and other Christian organizations incorporate some common business practices into their ministries to enable them to better serve the Kingdom. He currently works for SourcePointe, an HR Outsourcing Agency while continuing to own and operate Christian Management Consulting as a ministry. In his free time, he also writes a lot on Church Development as a Church Consultant.

So how do you sit down and write a simple business/ministry plan for 2009?  Of course, the first answer should be prayer, solid prayer.  Once you have discerned the direction, what should you do?  Here are some tips for you to consider:

1. Determine what makes you, not just your church, different from the others. People are beginning to actually look more into churches, their make up and their ministries.  Why are you different?  What is your target?  Of course, “the lost” is a common answer, but do you have “knack” for a particular… breed of the lost?  If so, how will you help reach them? Also, what can you do outside of talking in the pulpit to reach the lost?

2. How can you effectively network? Networking is working smarter, not necessarily harder.With the advent of church social media tactics, it is key to learn and lean on those who know more about this arena to help you get the message out.  How will you do it?  Who will be involved?  These are all key questions to ask yourself.

3. Keep it brief, keep it attainable. In this process, don’t try to see how many words you can get on the page.  This is to become your “mode of operation” for 2009, not a glamor shot of your writing skills.

4. Involve Partners. Many times we forget that forging strategic partnerships can help us get into that group we have been courting for years.  Having partnerships with fellow colleagues will help you grow your ministry without having to invest more time in fruitless efforts.

5. Involve continued learning. Do not get caught without knowing how to get the answer.  A good salesperson is one who knows not only their product, but also what is going on in their industry and the industries of their clients.  The same is true for a pastor, preacher, teacher, or just ignited Christian.  Stay on top of the news, those you preach to will.

Whether you are a pastor, minister, business owner, consultant, banker, or salesperson, you need a plan more in 2009 than in years past.  Take some time to develop a great marketing plan, put it into action, and count the money coming to you.  Best of luck in this 2009 Survival of the Fittest!!!

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About the Writer:

Trent Cotton has spent a number of years in management and business consulting. After spending some time in the field, he joined the HR department, beginning in recruiting and eventually serving as the Department Head of HR for one of the major lines of business. With such a varied background, he works to bring all of these together to help churches and other Christian organizations incorporate some common business practices into their ministries to enable them to better serve the Kingdom. He currently works for SourcePointe, an HR Outsourcing Agency while continuing to own and operate Christian Management Consulting as a ministry. In his free time, he also writes a lot on Church Development as a Church Consultant.