CALLING PLAYS THE PLAYERS CAN PLAY
An interview with Kennon Callahan
Marshall Shelley and Mark Galli
April 1, 1991
At least one church's long-range planning committee has had long-term and international impact.
In 1958, Kennon Callahan, then minister of evangelism at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas, began working with the church's long-range planning committee, developing a plan for the future mission of that congregation.
Other churches, sensing their need for long-range planning but uncertain how to proceed, heard about the approach and began to ask him to come and help them. Such grapevine invitations accelerated rapidly when in 1970 he joined the faculty of Emory University in Atlanta. From there, the reputation and consulting opportunities of Kennon Callahan expanded extraordinarily.
Kennon is a man who, with a quiet and steady passion, aims to help the church reach the world. He does that by putting to full use his "gifts, strengths, and competencies" (to use his phrase) in research, analysis, and long-range planning.
In 1983 he authored Twelve Keys to an Effective Church, filled with insights that pastors and church leaders eagerly consumed. The Twelve Keys Leaders' Guide and The Twelve Keys Planning Workbook followed. His most recent book is Effective Church Leadership: Building on the Twelve Keys (Harper & Row, 1990). Over the past thirty-plus years, Dr. Callahan has led countless seminars with churches and held consultations with more than 1,000 congregations in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. LEADERSHIP editors Marshall Shelley and Mark Galli caught up with Kennon in Denver, Colorado, where he was on his way to help another church.
What prompts a church to call you?
About half the churches I help are stable and growing churches that want to improve their mission and outreach. The other ...
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