Author: mustardseedonline10

It’s tempting to think of faith as a kind of magic formula. If you muster up enough of it, you’ll get rich, stay healthy, and live a contented life with automatic answers to all your prayers. But life does not work according to such neat formulas. As proof, the author of Hebrews presents a stirring reminder of what constitutes “true faith” by reviewing the lives of some Old Testament giants of faith (Hebrews. 11).

As a result of their faith, some heroes triumphed: They routed armies, escaped the sword, survived lions. But others met less happy ends: They were flogged, stoned, sawed in two. The chapter concludes, “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised”

The picture of faith that emerges does not fit into an easy formula. Sometimes it leads to victory and triumph. Sometimes it requires a gritty determination to “hang on at any cost.” Of such people, “God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them” (v. 16).

What our faith rests on is the belief that God is in ultimate control and will indeed keep promises—whether that happens in this life or the next.

People follow leaders they trust. When churches have weathered the storm of failed pastoral leadership, people  are understandably challenged to put their trust in someone else. Then it is that those responsible for governance need data driven insight to have accurate evidence on people’s perceptions and perspectives in order to move forward with confidence, while regaining people’s trust.

The connection of leaders to church members when strong, can be an effective pathway to navigating change with positive outcomes. Lasting change cannot be effective with a less-than-trustworthy leader.

Leaders that engage in evidence based discernment that engages all members in offering their voice, perceptions and insights have the greatest opportunity for results that prosper a congregation’s future.

Escellent tools are available today for evidence based discernment are available to faith communities and other non profits.

Mustard Seed provides church leaders trusted, reliable insight via an evidence based discernment process.

We offer customization to assist you in gaining evidence and building awareness needed for specific decisions facing your church:  1)transition of pastors, 2)strategic planning 3)building project campaigns 4)debt reduction 5)stewardship development 6)merging churches.

These are some of the options available to churches wanting to gain evidence to make better decisions, with greater effectiveness for the sake of the mission of Jesus Christ.

One of the things that we say about organizations is that focus trumps picture. That is simply another way of saying that when people reflect on how they feel about an organization, they don’t look at the entire picture of what an organization does. Instead, they focus on a few things that are important to them. The few things they focus on are more decisive than everything else in the picture in determining how they feel about that organization overall. (

-Holy Cow! Consulting blog)

With evidence based discernment leadership gains awareness of the big picture and the particularities that people are focused on. MSC can help your organization take the first steps.

Today “expressing the hopes,fears and anxieties – a congregation needs opportunities for collecting data and other useful information and the space to ask: given what we are seeing in this information, what are we learning that is relevant to the decisions we have to make. Sometimes the the information gathered helps a congregation see more clearly any incongruence between it’s vision and understanding of God’s kingdom and it’s current ways of living as a community.” (A New Day in the City – Urban Church Renewal”. Mustard Seed Consulting can help your congregation with data collection using the best in assessment tools. Contact us today.

Mustard Seed Consulting is my latest venture to pursue my passion for serving God by providing for churches. I want to see congregations grow in health and vitality and by doing so bless people.

Mustard Seed Consulting offers avenues for churches leaders and clergy to gain insight and awareness via the best assessment tools available today.

We offer churches guidance for effective and meaningful change with trusted insight for leadership to discover relevant, data-driven evidence to address a wide-range of endeavors and challenges.

As a trained interpretive consultant for Holy Cow! Consultant tools, I offer churches tools so better decisions may be made in less time and with greater effectiveness.

Im happy to discuss with you options for your church – whether you need assistance through pastoral transition, planning, preparations for campaigns or building projects and so much more.