I'm excited to announce that I'm now a certified coach and consultant for Natural Church Development (NCD), adding a powerful new compass to guide churches on their journey toward organizational flourishing.

NCD brings over 25 years of global research and proven methodology to help churches assess their health across eight vital quality characteristics—from empowering leadership and passionate spirituality to loving relationships and gift-based ministry. This research-based approach has helped over 90,000 churches worldwide identify their unique strengths and growth areas, resulting in an average 50% increase in growth rates.

This certification deepens my toolkit for guiding faith communities through their organizational landscapes. Just as every expedition benefits from both a skilled guide and reliable navigation tools, NCD provides the proven framework to help your church not just reach a destination, but become the kind of vibrant community that naturally creates conditions for ongoing spiritual flourishing.

Whether your church is navigating familiar valleys or ready to explore new summits of ministry impact, NCD's assessment and development process illuminates the path forward—turning your church's greatest potential into lived reality.

Upcoming Certification Journey: Korn Ferry Leadership Architect™ with Duke University

I'm thrilled to share that I'll soon be embarking on an exciting new expedition in my leadership development journey—pursuing certification through the prestigious partnership between Korn Ferry and Duke University.

This comprehensive certification program represents a convergence of world-class research and practical application. Built on decades of research and best practices, Korn Ferry Leadership Architect™ offers one of today's most powerful frameworks, encompassing 38 competencies that define behavioral skills required for organizational success at all levels. Through Duke Corporate Education (ranked among The Financial Times' top three university programs for custom executive education for 19 years), the program focuses explicitly on building leaders who can master the three critical domains: strategy, work, and people.

This rigorous certification journey will equip me with advanced tools to help organizations navigate the complex terrain of talent management—from identifying differentiating competencies critical for success to recognizing career stallers and developing targeted strategies for behavior change. Upon completion, I'll earn certification from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, adding academic rigor to my practical consulting experience.

For the organizations I guide, this means access to a globally validated framework that's helped transform leadership effectiveness across more than 92,000 leaders worldwide. It's not just about reaching new summits—it's about building the navigation systems that help entire organizations chart their course toward sustained excellence.

As I prepare for this certification adventure, I'm energized by the opportunity to bring these research-backed methodologies to the churches, nonprofits, and businesses I serve, helping them align their talent strategy with their mission in even more powerful ways.

Stay tuned as I share insights from this journey—because the best expeditions are those where fellow travelers can learn from each other along the trail.

Joshua P. Stelly is a strategic leadership consultant and organizational change expert with over 20 years of experience guiding institutions through transformative growth and renewal. As a Lead Pastor and certified organizational health consultant, Joshua specializes in helping churches and nonprofits navigate complex transitions, build sustainable systems, and align their operations with their mission.

His proven track record in organizational transformation includes leading successful rebranding initiatives, implementing comprehensive strategic planning processes, and building healthy organizational cultures from the ground up.

As an executive leader and board strategist, Joshua brings high-level governance expertise from his service on multiple boards including the Open Bible National Board, Northwest Christian Schools (where he served as Board Chair overseeing a $7.5 million annual budget), and Great Northern University Board of Trustees. This boardroom experience, combined with his hands-on operational leadership, gives him unique insight into both the strategic and practical aspects of organizational change.

Joshua's approach to organizational health integrates research-based methodologies with practical wisdom. As a certified Natural Church Development coach and consultant (with upcoming Korn Ferry Leadership Architect™ certification through Duke University), he employs proven assessment tools to diagnose organizational strengths and growth areas, then develops targeted strategies for sustainable improvement. His expertise spans strategic planning, change management, leadership pipeline development, systems implementation, team alignment, and creating accountability structures that drive results.

Whether guiding an organization through crisis, facilitating strategic visioning processes, restructuring for growth, or building leadership capacity, Joshua combines analytical rigor with relational wisdom to help organizations not just survive change, but thrive through it. His unique ability to see both the 30,000-foot strategic view and the ground-level implementation details makes him an invaluable partner for organizations ready to move from stuck to strategic, from surviving to thriving.

Completed the Murdock Trust Board Leadership and Development Program, a comprehensive six-month training designed to strengthen nonprofit board governance and organizational capacity. The program included intensive sessions covering the four pillars of high-performing boards, board-executive director relationships, strategic planning, and organizational sustainability metrics. Through dedicated coaching and collaborative learning with fellow nonprofit leaders, I gained practical tools and frameworks to enhance board effectiveness and advance organizational mission.