About Gary

Gary Mayes - B+W HeadshotGary Mayes serves Church Resource Ministries as a Vice President, Director of ChurchNEXT. He has served with CRM in the area of Church Revitalization since 1997, giving leadership to the expansion and enhancement of the ReFocusing Network Ministry worldwide for five of those years.

Prior to joining CRM Gary spent twenty years in local pastoral ministry and finds that this experience assists him as he works in the trenches with pastors, churches and their leaders across the country. In addition to local pastoral ministry, Gary has been speaking to and training church leaders since 1983. He has authored and co-authored three books and given leadership to the development of numerous resources and training processes used by CRM staff worldwide.

Gary Mayes - Candid

In recent years, Gary has served leaders and churches on every continent but one and has developed a unique relationship in Africa. In addition to U.S. based responsibilities, Gary mentored the development of CRM’s partner, Harvest Leader’s Network,  an African-led movement to develop pastors and leaders for a church that will transform Africa.

He received his B.A. in Christian Education from Biola University in California, his M.Div. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois, and D.Min. in Organizational Systems from Bethel Seminary.

Gary and Margaret Mayes

Married to Margaret for 32 years, they are the parents of two adult children. Margaret is a Middle School teacher with Santa Ana Unified School District.

Gary is currently working on a book that connects the explosive journey of the first century church to the challenges of the 21st century. The working title is: “DNA of a Revolution: releasing the power of the church we have always longed for.”

Recent Content

A Leader’s Prayer

I have often quoted the axiom, "a difference between a leader and a follower is PERSPECTIVE. And, a difference between good leaders and better leaders is better perspective." But, perspective is more than a strategic issue. The greatest perspective is actually spiritual, and as such, it calls for the work of the Spirit.

Change :: Leading is Change

I am fascinated by the ways and reasons we resist change. We don’t just resist changes that are big and scary, we resist change on every level. We laugh at Einstein’s definition of insanity while pretending we don’t live by it every day, “doing what we have always done, expecting different results.” Leader face this [...]

CHANGE :: End of the 40/40 World

That 40/40 world ended sometime near the end of the last millennium. It was replaced by a world where everyone essentially works as a consultant, a world where job security is only as good as the current project you are working on. It’s a world that requires people to put in however many hours it takes to get the job done. And, now both spouses work in this same environment replete with the anxiety, fatigue, and long hours that come with it.

Change :: the new status quo

Picture the scene. Here I was, trying to explain the problem of a 30-year-old analog TV in a flat-screen high-def digital age to a technologically illiterate senior citizen who is almost deaf. He just doesn’t have the categories.

A Tension that Makes Great Teams

Because I spend most of my time working with Christian ministry leaders and leadership teams in churches or ministry organizations, I regularly run into teams that have become hospice care centers to the detriment of quality work that needs to be done. However, as I interact with colleagues in the for-profit business world, I frequently [...]

Our Little Black Book

Drift happens. It happens in all areas of life and it happens in marriage. Last week we celebrated our 32nd anniversary with one of the most important annual traditions in our lives. So, before you get lost on how people as young, hip, and fun as we are could be married that long, check out my blog on the tradition of our little black book at aboutLEADING.com.

The Easiest Way to Avoid Change

It is December 30th and that means we are in the red-zone for the annual “get your life together” rhetoric calling for New Year’s resolutions to fuel personal growth. But, what do you do if you don’t buy into this annual opportunity for a fresh start? What if you would rather avoid another attempt at [...]

about LEADING

  • Most people spend their lives fighting off the wind and the waves of the ocean. Leaders chart a way through them. aboutLEADING is the personal blog of Gary Mayes and a forum to discuss lessons at the intersection of life and leadership.

Asides

Dec 4, 2008
  • The VISION issue of www.noredcapes.com just went live. It features articles and resources to help leaders with the challenges of vision clarification and communication.  (noREDcapes is a journal for leaders that I publish every couple months.)

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