The Leadership Blog Interview: George O. Wood

Dr. George O. Wood - General Superintendent

Bio: Dr. George O. Wood was elected chief executive officer of the Assemblies of God at the 52nd General Council in August 2007. As general superintendent of the Assemblies of God, USA, part of the largest Pentecostal denomination in the world, he is a member of the denomination’s Executive Leadership Team and Executive Presbytery. The church has over 12,300 congregations in the United States with some 2.8 million members and adherents.

Prior to his present position, Wood served the church as its general secretary for 14 years. He was assistant superintendent of the Southern California District from 1988-93. He pastored Newport-Mesa Christian Center in Costa Mesa, California, for 17 years. During his tenure, the church experienced significant growth, relocated and constructed new facilities, and gave $1 million to world missions in the last biennium of his pastorate.

Site: Assemblies of God

The Leadership Blog Interview Questions
1. Dr. Wood, what gives you the greatest joy in being a leader?
Dr. Wood: Knowing I’m where the Lord wants me to be. Relationship with people. Accomplishing goals.

2. What is your biggest pet peeve as a leader?
Dr. Wood: A report that is read in a meeting. Better to give an oral synopsis.

3. Who made the biggest influence in your life as a leader?
Dr. Wood: My mother and father.

4. What books have changed your life?
Dr. Wood: Other than the Bible . . . C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Screwtape Letters. Barclay’s commentary set on the NT, when you disregard the neo-orthodoxy and just get to the great illustrative material.

5. What's your biggest challenge as a leader?
Dr. Wood: Making sure that the top priorities are accomplished

6. What goals do you have as a leader?
Dr. Wood: Go to my web site, the general superintendent’s page at www.ag.org

7. Where do you see yourself in ten years?
Dr. Wood: I can’t see that far ahead.

Thank you Dr. Wood for your time!

The Growing Leadership Blog Interviews List

Here's the 60+ Great leaders & pastors that I've had the opportunity to interview!

Dr. Neil T. Anderson - Discipleship Counseling Ministries
Mark Batterson - National Community Church
John Bishop - Living Hope Church
Greg Boyd - Woodland Hills Church
Brian Boyle - West Ridge Church
Dave Browning - Christ the King Community Church
Bob Buford - Leadership Network
Rudy Carrasco - Harambee Christian Family Center
Matt Carter - Austin Stone Community Church
Anthony D. Coppedge - CMS
Wayne Cordeiro - New Hope Christian Fellowship O'ahu
Bil Cornelius - Bay Area Fellowship
Bob Coy - Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale
Buddy Cremeans - Northway Fellowship
Bill Easum -Easum, Bandy & Associates, Inc.
Tim Elmore - GrowingLeaders.com, EQUIP
Mark Evans - The Church at Rock Creek
Dave Ferguson - Community Christian Church
Dave Gibbons - New Song Church
Joseph Girdler - KY District of the A/G Superintendent
Troy Gramling - Flamingo Road Church
Craig Groeschel -Life Church
David Foster - Bellevue Community Church
Ted Haggard -New Life Church
Todd Hudson - Southeast Christian Church
Dr. Joel C. Hunter - Northland Church
Todd Hunter - Alpha USA
Dr. Walt Kallestad - Community Church of Joy
Guy Kawasaki - Author, The Art of the Start
Rob Ketterling - River Valley Church
Dan Kimball - Vintage Faith Church
Kyle Lake - University Baptist Church
Gary Lamb - Ridgestone Church
Mel Lawrenz - Elmbrook Church
John Ed Mathison - Frazer UMC
Brian McLaren - Author
Erwin McManus -Mosaic
Bob Merritt - Eagle Brook Church
Tony Morgan -Granger Community Church
Sally Morgenthaler -Author
Doug Murren - Square One Ministries
Perry Noble - New Spring Church
Mark Oestreicher - Youth Specialties
Dr. Larry Osborne -North Coast Church
Doug Pagitt - Solomon's Porch
Bill Purvis - Cascade Hills Church
Thom Rainer -Author, Lifeway President
Dan Reiland - Crossroads Community Church
Mac Richard - Lake Hills Church
Dino Rizzo - Healing Place Church
Bob Roberts - NorthWood Church
Greg Rohlinger - Palm Valley Community Church
Ed Rowell - Tri-Lakes Chapel
Bob Russell - Southeast Christian Church
Nelson Searcy - The Journey Church
Steve Sjogren -Vineyard Community Church
Toby Slough - Cross Timbers Community Church
Ed Stetzer - NAMB
Terry Storch - Fellowship Church
Greg Surratt - Seacoast Church
Stan Toler - Trinity Church of the Nazarene
Brian Tome - Crossroads Community Church
Thomas Trask - Assemblies of God
Mark Waltz - Granger Community Church
Dave Workman - Vineyard Community Church
Darlene Zschech - Hillsong

You can be Motivated or Intimidated!

Check out this great post by Steven. It's a great reminder.

10 Factors for Higher Attendance in Church Plants

Check out the 10 Factors for Higher Attendance in Church Plants report by Ed Stetzer.
The Ten Factors are:
The Location Factor
The Ministry Factor
The Promotion Factor
The Training Factor
The Expectations Factor
The Financial Factor
The Staff Factor
The Missions Factor
The Leadership Factor
The Achievement Factor

Stop trying to be number 1!

Check out this great post by Bobby from Lifechurch.tv!
-ALL of these lists are simply trying to recognize something that happened last year or in some cases even later than last year (as in THE PAST)

-As fast as this world is changing churches should NOT be looking to last year’s methods/ideas to reach today’s culture. 2006 is not 2007 (February is not March)

-Though some leaders will study what these churches do and use it as a springboard for new ideas for the future…most will attempt to do exactly the same thing except this time a year or two later…what I call “lemming leadership”

-I still see thousands of churches trying their hardest to become like the #1 church of 1995 only to find out that the world has changed by the time they get there.

-I hear from several church leaders that it takes their church a long time to embrace new changes (sometimes as long as 5 years). If that is true for you…I suggest you point your churches’ trajectory at what the church of 2012 looks like.

The Leadership Blog Book Review

Off-Road Disciplines: Spiritual Adventures of Missional Leaders by Earl Creps

The word "missional" is a new buzz word being used by many churches today. Earl Crep explains that "Missional leaders see the world through the eyes of Jesus and see Jesus in the world." This book takes a look at "Off Road Disciplines" used by many "Missional Leaders". What I liked about this book is that it goes against alot of what you read in church leadership and growth books. For example, Crep writes, "The real source of assessment for Christian leaders therefore becomes not the world's bottom line but the Kingdom's top line, the fact that a moment of ultimate accountability with Jesus awaits all of us: "For we will all stand nefore God's judgement seat." The only problem with this book is that the disciplines aren't that rememberable. But if you're an emerging church kind of leader, you will love this book.

Off Road Disciplines: 3 out of 5 stars

FREE Resources!

North Point Community Church (Alpharetta, GA) is offering free downloads of many of their administrative documents. Great stuff. Check it out here!