Leadership was never meant to be carried alone
In the old myth, Atlas is condemned to hold the heavens on his shoulders, alone and forever. Too many leaders lead like Atlas. The Atlas Factor names that misplaced weight and points to the only One whose shoulders were built to bear it.
“Ford’s assessment is insightful, timely and so important. I’m really grateful for his work and recommend church leaders at every level read this, and humbly engage in taking a fresh look at the systems they’ve built.”
“Lance shows us where our current church leaderships have come from, how they hurt the entire body, what true Christlike pluralistic leadership looks like, and how to practically implement mutual leadership in your church today. This is an incredibly important work if you believe the church is called to so much more!”
Where is the weight actually resting?
Four assessments, one for each seat in the room: members, staff, elder and board, church planter. Twenty statements each. Answer honestly and get your result instantly.
For Church Members
Wondering if your community is faithful? Start here.
Take the Free assessment →For Church Staff
Your team culture matters. Get the insight you need.
Take the Free assessment →For Elders, Boards & Pastors
Healthy leadership starts with courage to self-assess.
Take the Free assessment →For Church Planters
Governance matters. Discover if yours reflects the Gospel.
Take the Free assessment →You do not have to carry it alone
Lance works directly with pastors, elders, and board members who sense that something in their leadership culture is out of alignment and want a wiser way forward. Coaching is confidential, unhurried, and grounded in the same conviction as the book: the weight was never meant to rest on one set of shoulders.
Pastors
One-to-one coaching for the leader who is tired of being Atlas. We work through the load you are carrying, what put it there, and how to hand it back to the only One who can bear it.
Elders
Guidance for elder teams who want to shepherd rather than administrate, and who are ready to examine how authority actually functions in their church.
Boards
Facilitated work with boards on governance, accountability, and structures that keep any one person from becoming the functional head.
Church Planters
Coaching for planters and planting networks who want to build something other than what they left: shared leadership from day one, rather than a platform waiting to be inherited.
Invite Lance into the Community
Lance speaks to churches, conferences, denominations, and planting networks about the thing most leadership events talk around: the way we have built leadership itself. He is direct, disarming, and far more interested in a real conversation than a keynote that flatters the room.
Conferences & Keynotes
A main-stage talk that names the Atlas posture and offers a way out of it. Sized to your event, from a single session to a full track.
Church & Staff Teachings
A weekend with your congregation, or a focused day with your staff. Teaching plus honest Q&A, with room for what people are actually carrying.
Elder & Board Intensives
A working session with the people who hold the authority. Less lecture, more facilitated examination of how your leadership structure really functions.
Planting Networks & Cohorts
For the organizations forming the next generation of planters, and the metrics quietly forming them in return.
Retreats & Workshops
Longer-form, slower work for teams who need more than an hour to tell the truth to each other.
Podcasts & Interviews
Lance is a generous interview, and happy to go wherever the conversation actually wants to go.
Lance Ford
Lance has spent more than thirty years as a pastor, church planter, and coach, and has authored nine books on what happens when church leadership gets it wrong — and what it looks like when it doesn’t. He holds a Master’s in Global Leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary, co-founded the Sentralized Conference, contributes regularly to Christianity Today and The Roys Report, and speaks at the Restore Conference. The Atlas Factor and the Companion Course are where that lifetime of work comes to a point.
More about LanceStart a conversation
Whether you are exploring coaching, inviting Lance to speak, asking about the course, or simply naming something you cannot name anywhere else, this reaches him directly.
Every message is read personally and held in confidence.