As part of speaking week last week I drove up to Charlotte
They wanted me to come riff about things I see as significant changes from my seat at Leadership Network. I did, and I will tell you what I told them in later installments.
But I did want to talk about the value of networks like Cornerstone.
Cornerstone is a network of Church Service Companies. You can check out their web site here to see the various partners. The founders were two construction firms that are based close to one another, compete with one another, but were great friends. They figured that it is better to learn together to better serve churches, so they formed a network of friends and companies who are all in it to both serve churches.
They host several conferences around the country about Building and Planning for Churches. (you can find all that on their site here) But several times a year they gather leaders of the various companies to meet and talk about what each is seeing in their industry. I don’t think they have formal referral systems for their businesses, but they are more about sharing with each other so they can all be better.
In their case they also partner with Christianity Today in the Building Church Leaders resources to help spread what they are learning.
As dinner was ending Ed Bahler invited the participants who are members of CKN to share what the network had meant to them in 2009. Most shared some of the great things they had learned during the year from other members.
I reflected on this and compared it to our own work at Leadership Network.
Leadership Network is very clearly focused on churches. We convene high level conversations with high level church leaders to explore, establish connections and encourage multiplication.
We have multiple programs that do this, but it is really about convening those crucial conversations.
My role with CKN that night was to throw a few brain bombs into the group to get them to think in new ways. I had fun teasing some things and being overly rambunctious at points. Bombast and big ideas at my best. Half truths and conjecture at my worst. But that’s what they wanted. They wanted to dialog with each other about these issues affecting the church.
It was great fun for me of course and I appreciated the invitation.
(Full disclosure: CKN and a few of their member companies have sponsored Leadership Network things in the past)
But my point of this post is: Who is in your own network that forces you to think differently and creatively about what is happening now and in the future?
These companies have formed their own network to do that and it is helping them.
Have you?
From time to time in this space and on our enewsletters and other publications you will read about networks we are constantly forming. If one of those fits you, or you think it might, we want to hear from you.
So just hit the email or twitter and tell us.
Dave Travis
Managing Director
Leadership Network
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