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Foreword | |
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Acknowledgments | |
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Introduction: Sticky Teams; What Makes Them Different? | |
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What sticky teams do | |
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The power of genuine unity and cohesiveness | |
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Fighting fair, sticking together | |
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Why healthy and unified teams are so hard to come by | |
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Why I wrote this book | |
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Three groups that absolutely must work together | |
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The Unity Factor: The One Thing That Can't Be Left to Chance | |
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Why it's a shocker that I got saved and called into ministry | |
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Why unity is worth worrying about | |
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Where to start | |
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Brian's sad story | |
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Achan's big mistake and what it teaches us about unity | |
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Defining unity | |
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Hot buttons and hot flashes | |
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Deciding what you won't fight over | |
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The difference between friends and strangers | |
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Philosophical unity and why it matters big time | |
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Landmines and Roadblocks: The Traditions, Policies, and Structures That Unintentionally Sabotage Unity | |
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Why Boards Go Bad: Structured for Conflict | |
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My first board meeting | |
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The dumbest debate ever | |
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The five biggest roadblocks to unity | |
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Why location matters | |
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What happens when you sit on my couch | |
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Let's be friends | |
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Who would run a business this way? Who would want to run anything this way? | |
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The two most powerful people in any large decision-making group | |
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Is this what Paul had in mind? | |
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Family systems: boredom personified | |
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Why I smiled when a board member cried | |
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Guarding the Gate: No Guts, No Unity | |
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Winning teams need winning players | |
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Why it's so hard to get rid of a loser | |
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Protecting the board gate | |
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Speak up or shut up | |
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Why representatives make for bad board members | |
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The "no theys" rule | |
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The only question that matters | |
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Pit bulls for Jesus | |
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Philosophical alignment | |
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Why the best players sometimes make bad team members | |
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Protecting the staff gate | |
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Good enough usually isn't | |
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Why r�sum�s always look better than people | |
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Why giftedness is overrated | |
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What Game Are We Playing? How Growth Changes Everything | |
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Bible verses and straitjackets | |
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Surviving an attempted coup | |
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How track, golf, basketball, and football parallel the changes in a growing organization and why leaders and teams who don't adapt pay such a high price | |
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Todd's frustration | |
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Two signs that the game has changed but nobody got the memo | |
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Why changes sneak up on us | |
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Why adding people and programs multiplies complexity | |
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One thing Tiger Woods will never do | |
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Six Things Every Leadership Team Needs to Know: Axioms to Lead By | |
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The six urban legends of leadership | |
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Why most of your weaknesses don't matter | |
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Why surveys are a waste of time | |
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The myth of buy-in and why it kills innovation | |
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The truth about squeaky wheels and why you don't want to oil them | |
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When it's time for a nice Christian burial | |
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Fuzzy budgets and flexible policies, why you need them and why control freaks can't stand them | |
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Clarifying the Pastor's Role: Why Leadership Matters | |
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Why the best role for a pastor depends on the pastor and the church | |
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A bad day at the pancake house | |
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Whose church is it? | |
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The power of time and commitment | |
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Why so many people see their pastor as an outsider | |
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Determining who's best qualified to lead | |
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The power of time and training | |
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Pastors who can't lead | |
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Harnessing a strong leader | |
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The power of a first draft | |
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Why secrets kill | |
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Leading and listening | |
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Clarifying Board and Staff Roles: Why Teamwork Matters | |
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Cutting off conflict before it occurs | |
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The changing role of the board | |
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From doing to approving? | |
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When reviewing makes sense | |
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Setting North Star direction and boundaries | |
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The curse of micromanagement | |
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What if your church goes mega? | |
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When staff roles must change | |
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Generalist to specialist | |
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Doing to empowering | |
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No more silos | |
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Hamstrung on purpose | |
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Making Room at the Top: Why Young Eagles Don't Stay | |
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The strange case of the ever-shrinking freshmen | |
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What happens when the seniors never graduate | |
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Leadership is a zero-sum game and why that leaves little room at the top | |
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Three key questions | |
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Why empowerment needs a platform | |
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How a name change changed everything | |
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Why I used to come back from vacation a day early | |
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In the loop or in the meeting? | |
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Who gets to ride shotgun? | |
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Tenure or talent? | |
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The power of a zero-based retreat | |
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Equipped for Ministry: Getting Everyone on the Same Page | |
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Equipped to Lead: Lobbying isn't Training | |
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The difference between lobbying and training and why it matters | |
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The danger of educational separation | |
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Why short devotions don't help mush | |
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What a direct-mail copywriter taught me about ministry | |
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Why training always works best when it stands alone | |
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When most people do their best thinking | |
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Why the process is more important than the content | |
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Why boring is not always bad | |
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Why John's company would have been shocked | |
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Board Alignment: The Power of an Extra "Shepherds' Meeting" | |
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The three important things most boards never have time to do | |
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Why an extra meeting makes for better meetings | |
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The ideal environment for leadership and ministry training | |
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Why on-the-job training is the best kind of training | |
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Why prayer works best in a separate meeting | |
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How time and growth change things | |
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When the names have no faces | |
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Staff Alignment: Plumb Lines and Assumptions | |
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Why staff alignment used to be a breeze | |
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Road trips, hyper dogs, and scenic routes and what they have to do with leading a multiple staff | |
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How to deal with a geeked-up zealot | |
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Why generic is worthless and politically correct is incorrect | |
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Why effective leaders are almost always weird and what they should do about it | |
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A coach who didn't care about potential and how that helped him produce a national champion | |
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Mission statements and mission creep | |
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The difference between plumb lines and wish lists | |
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Congregational Alignment: Preempting Conflict | |
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An argument in the parking lot | |
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Five tools for congregational alignment | |
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Why so many mission statements sit in a drawer somewhere | |
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Thinning the herd with a front-loaded pastor's class | |
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From crossed arms to nodding heads | |
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The drip method of preaching | |
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Sermon-based small groups | |
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Short and sweet congregational meetings | |
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Why you never want to give a moron a microphone | |
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Why a three-week meeting results in a shorter meeting | |
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Communication: Keeping Everyone on the Same Page | |
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Change Diplomacy: Minimizing Conflict and Chaos | |
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The dark years | |
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What "I love you in the Lord" really means | |
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Why churches and horses are a lot alike | |
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Why resistance to change isn't a spiritual problem | |
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One thing politicians can teach pastors | |
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Why resisters can be an innovator's best friend | |
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Why VMTP was a great name | |
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God and last night's pizza | |
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Choose who you lose | |
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Monogrammed shirts and flip-flops | |
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Setting Salaries: Investment or Expense? | |
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Why setting ministry salaries is a lot like a junior high dance | |
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The vital need for honest feedback | |
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Why too much salary is seldom a good thing | |
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The most important comparison: replacement cost | |
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School teachers and company presidents, where does your pastor fit in? | |
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What if more money comes in? | |
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Are staff members an investment or an expense? | |
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How to tell the difference | |
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Talking about Money: Assumptions, Facts, and a Savings Account | |
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Are you flying blind? | |
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Is it a sin to have a savings account? | |
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The one thing a crisis and an opportunity never send ahead of time | |
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Should a pastor know who gives what? | |
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Why I changed my mind | |
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A strange email | |
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Why facts make for better plans | |
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Smoking out the winners | |
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Thanking donors | |
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Is your church playing with one hand tied behind its back? | |
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When Things Go Wrong: Telling the Truth When the Truth Is Hard | |
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Some letters you never want to write | |
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Moral failures | |
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Is your paradigm family or justice? | |
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The worst board meeting of my life, at least so far | |
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The first two questions everyone wants to know in a financial crisis | |
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God-talk or straight talk? | |
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Why C players are so hard to get rid of | |
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Why pumping sunshine is never a good idea | |
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Conclusion: Final Thoughts: Sticky Teams and the Gates of Hell | |
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Beyond platitudes and wishful thinking | |
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What Paul and Barnabas can teach us about the impact of "loving Jesus" on staff harmony | |
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Exposing the elephants in the room | |
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Why I'm an optimist even when confronted by a pit-bull board member, an Absalom on the staff, or a congregation full of crazies | |
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Discussion Questions | |
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Notes | |