Category: Leadership (page 22 of 30)

Finding New Leaders

November 16, 2010 / / 10 Comments

I was given the great opportunity of leading a couple of breakout sessions at the RightNow Conference in Dallas, TX, this year.

Before the official conference launched, there was a pre-conference experience focused on small groups.  With over 300 people in attendance, it is, as far as I know, the largest gathering of (mixed model) small group point leaders in the country.  And I’m convinced that the future of the small group movement sat in those rooms, bounced ideas off of each other, networked, and were challenged.  And not challenged just to follow one small groups model, but to implement the ideas in their local church context.

I shared my thoughts on finding new small group leaders.  I foolishly thought that this would be a lightly attended breakout session…until I remembered that almost every small groups pastor I talk with shares the same struggle of finding new small group leaders.

Here are my notes from my breakout session, followed by my slide presentation.

Finding New Leaders

If you don’t have a leadership deficit (meaning you never have trouble with needing new leaders), then you may just have an evangelism deficit.  So you having a leadership deficit points to the fact that you’re likely doing the hard work of evangelism, inviting those who are from from God to enter community.  It also points to the fact that you’re casting the vision for small groups well, because so many people are ready and willing to jump into group life.

Leadership deficits are a tension to be managed, not a problem to be solved.

Here are 5 principles that I use in finding new leaders:

  1. Lower the bar.  The lower you drop the bar, the easier it will be to find new leaders.  The higher you raise it, the more difficult it will be.  Finding the balance is key.
  2. Work on your vocabulary.  Make sure the language you use when you describe your small groups doesn’t intimidate potential leaders.
  3. Your lead pastor must be your greatest small group champion.
  4. Remove other competing systems that will take potential leaders away from small groups.  Even leaders will often choose the easiest path.
  5. Define your win.  The “win” in your small groups system may look different than in mine, but you’ve got to know what a “win” looks like so that you can be clear with potential group leaders.

10 places to find new leaders

  1. Apprenticeship – though this model produces new leaders who are fully ready to go when their feet hit the ground, getting those feet to hit the ground often takes too long.  Depending on this model alone lends itself to a high leadership deficit in growing churches.
  2. In current groups as they’re ending – have a conversation with the small group leader(s) as their group is wrapping up, and ask them who in the group could potentially lead in the future.  The trouble with this, though, is that group leaders often hesitate to take risks on unproven leaders.
  3. Steal from other churches – yeah…this was just a joke that I shared that nobody laughed at.
  4. “There’s not a group that works for me…” When you get this response from people, ask them if they’re willing to lead a new group.
  5. Start new types of groups – we started a small group aimed at new believers, opening up the door for potential leaders who, previously, didn’t see themselves fitting into our small groups system.
  6. Shame people into leading – joke #2.  Bomb #2.  It was 1:00…people were tired…and didn’t feel like even giving me a courtesy laugh.
  7. Staff members – are there staff members that could lead a group?
  8. Avoid burnout – give leaders a season(s) off from leading.  In that process, they can become refreshed, ready to re-enter group life when life slows down.
  9. Get people around a table – have a group of people that all want to meet on the same night, on the same side of town?  Bring them together and lead them through the process of picking a group facilitator.
  10. Alignment – the shorter length of time, inviting of friends and neighbors, and being handed a curriculum to start out with make this a great way to find new leaders that haven’t stepped up to the plate before.

Here are my slides:

Got any other principles or ideas to add?
 

Max Lucado, Outlive your Life, RightNow 2010

November 11, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Max Lucado is the pastor at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio.  He presented on the idea of outliving your life at the RightNow Conference 2010.

*Max Lucado has sold over 65 million books.  Try to wrap your mind around that.

At the end of time, we will be separated into two groups.  What a sight it will be when all people from all times will be there.

And when the cosmos finally has what it needs, a 1 king kingdom…what a sight it will be.

The first act of the just-crowned king will be to applaud our works of compassions.

We’re right to say that we’re not saved by our works of compassion, but by the compassion of Christ.  But those who are saved by Christ in return to acts of compassion.

And God makes a big deal out of the Church’s response (and applauds) her simple acts of mercy.

We find a great example of God’s compassion at the first all-church meeting.

Acts 6:1-7

Widows in the NT period needed help being taken care of.  Their only option in their culture was to turn to the Church.  And to the credit to the Church, they did care for the widows.  But apparently, some favoritism crept in.

We could envision the church leaders wanting to turn people away, couldn’t we?  We can just hear them say, “We are in the business of building churches, not feeding bodies.  Not serving soup.”

The only time we find Jesus reading a Scripture (Luke 4:16-19, cf. Isaiah 61:1-2), and who does he talk about?

The poor.

And to declare the year of the Lord’s favor.

And what we see from this passage is that God doesn’t want those who have to be so far from those who have not that they don’t see them.

Why is it that 80% of the world’s resources are owned and controlled by 20% of the people?  And should that bother us?  Should we do anything about it?

Some people are poor because they’re lazy.  Others are poor because of latitude.  They are more than willing to work.  And it’s a tough time to be alive on this Earth.

Compassion is our greatest apologetic.

The book of Acts isn’t just a record of what the Church did, but what the Church can do.

Have you been serious when it comes to compassion?

Are you engaging your church in acts around the world?

2000 verses in the Bible tell us to care for the poor.

 

Todd Phillips: A letter to Young Leaders, RightNow 2010

November 11, 2010 / / 1 Comment

Todd Phillips, pastor of Front Line, a ministry at McLean Bible Church presented at the RightNow Conference 2010.  He spoke to young leaders on excelling within the boundaries that God has placed in our lives.

In order to buy into this concept, you’ve got to buy into the concept that God’s in control.

Because we’ve never built a life.  Only God has.

3 truths for all leaders to remember:

  • We are all under authority.  Even the senior pastors and elders.
  • We’re not going to agree with every decision made by those in authority over us.
  • We have been given a certain breadth of responsibility and authority and no more.
Question:
How do we excel within the boundaries that God has placed in our lives?

Because we all see boundaries as those things that are holding us back from the best God has for us.  But God places limits in our lives to limit ours (or others) movement. There is true joy in submitting to the boundaries God has placed in our lives.  And when we submit to those boundaries, God can use us to the fullest.

Joshua is the poster child for maximizing the boundaries for his chapter and station in life.  Joshua experienced the plagues.  Then he experienced the move from Egypt.  Then he went in to check out the land, and was ready to lead the people into the land.  Then he listened to the nation of Israel complaining, in Numbers 14:1-9.

Joshua had an incredible leaning on God.  He knew that He and God were always in the majority.  Which is so important to remember, because God has a history of taking us out of our comfort zones, out of our current environments, to teach us to lean on Him.  In other words, character-building is God’s plan for us.

3 things we can learn from Joshua’s life:

1. Excel where God has placed you. Remember…Joshua did what was right, and still had to wander in the desert for 40 years.  Joshua had to suffer for the poor decisions of others.  Have you ever been in a situation like that.

If results were the key, we’d have a right to be upset when things weren’t going well.  But the key is what God does with us through the trial/injustice/pain/suffering, often brought on by other people.

Question

God, how do you want to use me right now?

2. Simply refuse to let bitterness take root. Nowhere do we find in Scripture an example of Joshua growing bitter in the desert.  He assessed his reality, and began to excel within that.

It’s scary the number of people who have fallen into the habit of badmouthing the people who are over them…instead of learning from them.

Every good decision that the person in authority makes over you is a chance from you to learn what to do…or what not to do. – Max Lucado

It is highly valuable to learn what not to do.

3. Young leaders…when you’re ready to leave, stay just a little bit longer. Never be running from anything.  Try to find what God’s teaching you in it.  Todd shared the story of his son, who left a football game before the end, because they assumed his team was going to lose.  Turns out that they won.  And if they’d stayed just a little bit longer, they would’ve experienced the win.

*When you’re most certain you know what God’s calling you to do…seek counsel.

*Seek counsel from people who are older and wiser, not older and dumber.

Are you excelling within your boundaries?

 

Pete Briscoe, The Mystery of it All, RightNow 2010

November 11, 2010 / / 1 Comment

Pete Briscoe opened up the main session at the RightNow Conference 2010, in Dallas, Texas.  Pete is the lead pastor of Bent Tree Fellowship in Dallas.

How do you evaluate a good trade?  A good trade is what you get is better than what you gave up.  A bad trade is getting something worse than what you gave up.

There was a trader in Scripture named Paul, who traded in a Rabbinic lifestyle for Christ.

Referencing Ephesians 3, here are

5 things Paul traded for

1. Christ (v. 1). Paul was Christocentric, because everything in his life revolved around Christ.  In fact, he even considered himself a prisoner of Christ.  And no matter what his circumstances were, he realized it was for Jesus.

It’s not a matter of trading things in for ministry.  It’s about trading them in for Christ.

Leadership is walking with Jesus and taking others along for the ride.

2. Paul traded law for grace (v. 2). God’s unmitigated love for us.  Pete shared the story of Jean Val Jean from Les Miserables, who was given grace and encouraged to be a trafficker of grace.  Later on in life, he rescued Cosette from the hands of miserable parents, and made her his own daughter.

Grace isn’t something that we simply see and enjoy…we are called to be traffickers of Grace.

3. The mystery (v. 3). Mystery is something that was once hidden.  But now it’s available to the whole Church.  This mystery referred to is Christ himself.  And the fact that Christ indwelling us.  Apart from Christ, we can do nothing.  But as we rest in Christ, He will bear fruit in us.

We’re called to be Christ-intoxicated people, traffickers of grace, and partakers of the mystery of Christ living in us.

4. The Church (v. 6 ). The Church isn’t perfect, but is a unique group of people.  And we take Christ to the world (making it unique).

Parachurch organizations work with, not against the church.

As imperfect as the Church is, never turn your back on her.

5. Ministry (v. 7-8). Paul became a minister of the Gospel because God has given him the gift of ministry.  Which means we shouldn’t compare our station in life to others.  And the one he’s got you in…that’s God’s gift to you.

There are seasons in ministry:

  • This rocks!
  • This works.
  • This sucks.

But whatever season, this text reminds us that ministry is a gift.  We need to be fully engaged in the gracious gift of ministry that God’s called us to.

 

Matt Carter, Transitioning “small group” to “missional community”

November 10, 2010 / / 3 Comments

Matt Carter is pastor at The Austin Stone Community Church in Austin, TX.  He led a main session at the RightNow Conference.

Transitioning “Small Group” to “Missional Community”

The more and more people get on mission, what you have to be careful of is that your people will love their mission more than they love their Savior.  Because the more this happens, the more you’ll find Jesus leaving your mission.

Don’t love your calling for Christ Jesus more than you calling to Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 4:11

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers

God gave the saints to do the work of the ministry.  What causes the body of Christ to grow?

The American Church is declining exponentially.  What causes the body to grow?

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. – Ephesians 4:16

When each part is working properly.

The American church isn’t growing because it’s built off of an attractional model churches: Sunday is the starting point, as opposed to a home based/cell based model, starting church at that level.

We shouldn’t necessarily chuck the attractional model of the church.  Because that model still has a place, where these larger attractional churches can do some things that smaller churches can’t do.

But the attractional model alone is incomplete, and isn’t the answer to turning the tide of our church away from lostness in our country.

What prompted Matt to think that the attracional model alone not work?

1. The track record doesn’t show it.

Bob Roberts poses this question:

What if, in an attempt to see the United States come to Christ, that over the next 10 years, we were going to start 1000 megachurches?  Would we reach America?  No.  We could not.  Because that’s what we just did over the last 10 years.  We in America have launched that many megachurches over the last 10 years.

2. A growing sense of restlessness in the American church.  18-30 year olds aren’t ok sitting on the sidelines of ministry, especially if they’re walking with Jesus.  They’re hard-wired to be a part of something bigger than themselves.  They want to be a part of world-change.  For far too long, the church has placed the burden for mission on clergy, and there’s a growing tension from the everyday person in the pews, wondering why the church in Acts is so different than the American church.

3. Austin Stone is at a crossroads, because they’ve outgrown their current location.  They could continue launching more sites and build bigger buildings.  But these strategies do not change the city of Austin.  What if, instead of taking the extra effort to grow an additional 3,000 people…what if we equipped and trained those additional 3,000 people to go out and live on mission?  Everything changes in the city of Austin.  Jesus would’ve made a horrible American megachurch pastor, because he purposefully ran people off.  He instead took 12 ordinary guys, poured his life into theirs, and released them to go.  And these 12 men changed the world.

What do we do from here?

Is it possible to do both?  To attract people by the hundreds and thousands…and release them by the hundreds and thousands?  Yes.

Through missional communities.

The Transition: 3 ways

1. They changed the definition of success for their small groups.  Here’s success now: is the group gathering, having Bible study, meeting each other’s needs…and has the group moved beyond just gathering?  Have they found a pocket of lostness in the community, and found a way to engage that lostness?  Have they lost community?  No, because there’s nothing on earth that fosters community better than mission.  When we aimed for “community” alone, we rarely got community.  When we aimed at mission, we got mission and community.

2. They changed how they trained their leaders.  They began to teach them how to think and live like missionaries.

3. They’ve created a system that encourages people to teach the Bibles themselves.  So that they can leave The Austin Stone and, as a group, go to another country, and teach the Word there.

4. They have raised the bar on what these groups can do.  The people in your church can do more than you would ever dream they could do.  Do you truly believe that?

People are hungry to be used by God.

Challenge them.

Train them.

Release them.

 

The Linchpin

November 4, 2010 / / 7 Comments

My pastor, Ron Edmondson, often says that we as a church staff need to be at the point where, if any of our staff members disappeared tomorrow, we could carry on without missing a beat.  I’ve heard him say that a lot, and I almost saw it put into practice in my own life just a few months ago.

I was stuck in London because of a volcano.

I was stuck in London because of a volcano.

I put that sentence in there twice so you would know it wasn’t a typo.  I mentioned it in my post HERE, and you can read the Guardian’s article HERE.  Welcome to my life.

Based on my original flight schedule, I was planning on being back ~a week earlier than our upcoming small group launch, but this volcano was threatening my on-time arrival.  Needless to say, I was a little concerned.  About as concerned as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs (as we say in the South).

I was talking back and forth with our staff, updating them on our lack of progress, and beginning to think about the possibility of pushing back our small groups launch.  Then Ron dropped this bomb in my lap via email:

I hate that you can’t be there, but we have to be prepared enough that we don’t revolve around one of us being there or not being there.  Something could always happen like this and the ministry must go on… There are some things just out of our control.

Basically, what I heard was, “You’re dispensable.”  Mark my words: our staff could’ve pulled this event off, and it would’ve been awesome.  I have no doubt.  But hearing that was difficult.  Why?

Not because I want to be important, or need to feel powerful.  Or because I’m narcissistic and think that the ministry has to revolve around me, and I have to be in the spotlight.  Honestly, I’m not a spotlight guy…I’m content spending my hours in the background.  But here’s why it bothered me:

I want to be a linchpin.

A linchpin* is a fastener that secures the add-on at the business end of a tractor.  It’s a small piece, but without it, you can’t do much with your tractor, and your tools will continually fall off.  It’s an irreplaceable piece of equipment that allows more work to be done more efficiently.

And that’s what I’m working to do in my current position at Grace Community Church.

I want to be doing meaningful, Kingdom-building work in a way that fits my gifting…with all of my might.  I want to innovate, create, encourage, and train in such a way that, if I disappeared tomorrow, it would be noticed.  And I say that with every ounce of humility I can muster.  I want to become indispensable.

I feel that if I’m not working to become indispensable, I’m not serving the Church well.  I’m just doing a job, punching the clock, and doing mediocre work.  My good friend Matt Harmer rightly warns that

Being average is contagious.

I just can’t see how God is pleased with mediocre, half-hearted work.

And I’m convinced that if you’re not working to become a linchpin, you need to start working differently.  Or find a new job.

Ever been caught in the trap of mediocre work?

Is God ever pleased with half-hearted mediocrity?

*I read Seth Godin’s Linchpin when it was released earlier this year, so I don’t claim creative rights to this idea…though the story is most definitely mine.

 

Vision Leaks

October 28, 2010 / / 1 Comment

I’ve heard Andy Stanley say that vision “leaks.”  Here’s what he means:

Vision doesn’t “stick,” so you need to continue to cast the vision of your organization.  If you don’t continue to cast that vision, it disappears from the hearts and minds of those in your organization.

And I agree with that.

But let me put a twist on it.

Vision “leaks.”  Here’s what I mean:

If you cast your vision well, then everybody in your organization will “leak” that vision on a consistent basis.

You’ll see the effects of clearly communicated mission and vision in all of the different areas of your organization.  As people put on the lens of the worldview of your church, every idea that they have and every plan they make will fall in line with the vision you’ve cast.  It will leak onto everything they touch.

The goal of casting a vision is that people would not just nod their heads in agreement.  You want people who buy in so much that they become marketers and salesmen of the vision themselves, working to persuade others that their vision is too small, too weak, and too bland.  In effect, they begin to do the same thing that you do: cast vision.

But the vision has to start “leaking” with you.  If you’re not invested to the point that the vision “leaks” out of you in your conversations, ideas, current plans, future plans, and how your corner of the organization impacts the rest…then you need to ask God for a new vision.  Because if it’s not leaking out of you, then I can guarantee it’s not leaking out of those you’re leading.

If your vision isn’t “leaking,” maybe you should recast it.

Or get a new vision.

Have you ever seen your vision “leak” in the way I’ve described it, leaking out to others inside and outside the organization?

Ever had to recast that vision because it quit “leaking”?

 

The value of collecting

October 27, 2010 / / 2 Comments
What did you collect when you were a child?
Baseball cards?  Barbie dolls?  GI Joes?  Pogs?  Rocks?  Pokemon?  Money?  Guitar picks?  Sticks?  Animals?

I was a baseball card collector.  I loved the smell of a new pack of cards.

I remember walking into the card shop, looking at the cards that were of great value (so were kept in the glass case, with a negotiable price tag on them), then getting to pick out a new pack of cards that I wanted.  It was a great treat.  3-4 times per year, our local mall would host a card show, and vendors would be lined up throughout the whole mall, displaying their cards.  That was one of the few things that would draw me to a mall.

Maybe the greatest treat was when I was given a little extra money, and bought a whole box of new cards.  There were usually 24-32 unopened packs/box, and I’d always spread it out across multiple days so as to prolong the excitement.  I would open a pack or two a day, and as I would, I’d check them against the ones I had already opened, find the duplicates, and make sure to put the “rare” ones to the side.  I’d check the latest Beckett prices, look at the trends, and know which cards I needed to finish my collection of that 1994 Fleer set.  I’d barter with my friends to trade my duplicates.

Recently, I’ve stumbled back on those cards. I say recently, because by the time I hit late middle school, I didn’t care so much about collecting baseball cards.  It wasn’t as cool anymore.  It had lost its luster.

Thinking ahead

The reason I care about them now is that one day, I’ll give them to my son.  It thrills me thinking that one day, he’ll be able to flip through my cards and build off of my collection.  That one day, he’ll have that same feeling of excitement when he opens a new pack of cards.

I’ve been doing a lot of forward-thinking lately.  I feel like I’m getting old…but I’ve been thinking a lot about what lasting effect my life will have.  What I do, day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month, that will truly last beyond my life.

Maybe I’m having a pre-mid-life-crisis or something.  Is that even possible?

Here’s what I’m asking myself right now.

How much does what I’m doing at this moment matter beyond the here-and-now?

Will it still matter in 50 years?

How will my children and grandchildren think of the way I spend my time and energy?

Is what I’m amassing going to have any eternal impact?  If not, then why am I amassing it?

Have you ever asked yourself any of these questions?
 

Only you can be you

October 12, 2010 / / 1 Comment

I have hair on my knuckles.

I tore my ACL my senior year of high school.

I have a bachelor’s degree in animal science.

I once said, “I’ll never be on staff at a church.”

I have a 2 year old son.

My wife is hot.

I live less than 2 miles from where I grew up.

I had no plans of living less than 2 miles from where I grew up.

I have a Master’s Degree in counseling.

I was once stuck in London because of a volcano.

I’m decent at golf.

God has gifted me with a passion to learn new things.

I like creating systems that work.

I enjoy running.

I enjoy helping others understand how much God loves them.

______________________________________________

And it is out of these (still not sure, though, where the hair on my knuckles fits in…) that I lead at home, at church, and in my community.  It is out of these experiences, and the ones God continues to give, that I write this blog.

You can’t be me.  And I can’t be you.

If you try to be me, you’ll fail.  You’re not gifted like me.

If I try to be you, I’ll fail.  I’m not gifted like you.

You don’t have to blog like me.  Walk like me.  Talk like me.  Preach like me.  Write like me.

God’s created you unique.  Which means that there’s nobody else like you.

We need you to be you.

 

Scott Harrison, Charity:Water

October 7, 2010 / / 0 Comments

During Catalyst Conference, Scott Harrison, president and founder of Charity:Water, discussed why he chose water as a charity, and what he’s doing to bring clean drinking water to every person on the planet.

So why water?

  • 1,000,000,000 people don’t have access to clean water.
  • 40,000,000,000 hours are used each year by Africans seeking to obtain water.
  • 5,000 children die each day because they don’t have clean drinking water.

Water changes everything.

His idea was to reinvent charity, because so few people trust them.  He did this in 3 ways.

  1. 100% of the donations go directly to the cause.
  2. Prove where each dollar goes.  Every project is linked via GPS coordinates, and pictures are taken as proof at each site.
  3. Create a brand.

He built a campaign that encouraged people to give up their birthday in favor of supporting Charity:Water.  And it worked.

1,000,000 more people have clean water now.

But his goal is massive.  Over the next 10 years, he wants to provide access to clean drinking water to 100,000,000 people (which will cost $2 billion).

To join this movement, visit mycharitywater.org.

 
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