Tag: change (page 2 of 2)

Quit waiting

July 15, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant.

If they watch every cloud, they never harvest. (Ecclesiastes 11:4)

Change is difficult, no matter who or what you’re trying to change.  We humans quickly habitualize (yep, I just made that word up), meaning that even changing things that aren’t “old and stuffy” is a big task.

Don’t find yourself noticing what needs to change, but paralyzed while you’re waiting for the “perfect” climate.  Or the “perfect” new small group leader.  Or having just the right amount of time.  Or having enough resources.  Or…well…the “perfect” anything.

And the moment you find the “perfect” situation, be ready…a storm is likely on its heels.

If you’re waiting for everything to line up perfectly, change will never happen.

Where things don’t line up “perfectly,” creativity, collaboration, and hard work more than make up the difference.

Leaders know what changes need to happen.  And they go ahead and “plant.”  Because if you never plant, you’ll never harvest.

What changes need to happen in your church?  In your small group?  In your life?

 

Challenging the Status Quo

April 29, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Our culture works hard to prevent change. We have long had systems and organizations and standards designed to dissuade people from challenging the status quo. We enforce our systems and call whoever is crazy enough to challenge them a heretic. And society enforces the standards at the stake, either literally or figuratively. – Tribes, Seth Godin, p. 73

Are you a part of an organization that embraces change?  That encourages people who challenge the system?

If not, then be ready to welcome irrelevance and ineffectiveness.

 

Throw that bathwater out

January 25, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Whether you’re a church leader, a business leader, a small group leader, or the leader of a local gang, you should constantly evaluate your system.

We just had a small groups launch yesterday at Grace Community Church.  10 new small groups launched, with over 150 people committing to joining new groups.  Amazing, right?!?

There’s room for improvement.

There was room for improvement last time we had Connect.

There was room for improvement this time.

  • We had more people indicate they wanted to attend the event than actually showed up.  That’s a problem.
  • We had people attend the event, but not actually sign up for a group.  That’s a problem.
  • We had people who needed to be in a small group, but neither showed interest nor showed up for the event.  That’s a problem.
  • We had people who showed up to the event, signed up for a group, but have already sent me an email and have dropped out.  That’s a problem.

I’m not a prophet, but I’m going to make a statement that will inevitably come true: There will be room for improvement next time.

We don’t allow these problems to cripple us, but rather we learn and grow from them.  Some we can’t help.  But others we can.

I’m willing to change the system, if that’s what’s needed, in order to more effectively carry out our vision.

As the old saying goes, “Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater.”  But what’s often not said:

“Go ahead and throw out that bathwater.”

 

Change starts Small

November 5, 2009 / / 2 Comments

Rex, our 1 year old son, is walking.  Well…sort of.  He’s taking lots of steps.  But he’s taking lots of falls, too.  In fact, at least half of every attempt at walking ends up with him falling to the ground.  Does that mean that I scold him and shame him for even trying to take a step?  Constantly tell him he should’ve tried harder?  Should’ve asked God for more help?  That now he may never be able to walk?

ChangeWe’d like to think that change happens overnight.  But in reality, it rarely does.  I mean, we reward the overnight change.  We give those people stage time.  We herald their stories on videos and movies.  We stand shocked when those folks share their stories with us.  We want to capture them on video so that the rest of our church can see them.  We venerate the “big” salvation experiences.

Oftentimes, change is much slower than we’d like.

More often than not, it’s, “I got saved 2  years ago, and I’m still struggling.”  or “I got saved 6 months ago, and still have to fight against sin on a weekly…daily…hourly…basis.”  or “I’ve been saved since I was 16, and I’ve been fighting against sin, but I still mess up…but with the power of Christ, I soldier on.”

I’ve written about Josh Hamilton before, HERE.  He’s got one of “those stories.”  However, even after having gone public with his fight against drugs and alcohol, after having been saved, after having been restored to his family, he messed up.  But you know what he did after he messed up?  He told his wife and his family.  He sought their forgiveness.  And they granted it.

Change, at one level, happens in an instant.  We are saved, from one specific point in history, forever into eternity.  But from another, very real aspect, we’re still in the process of being saved.  Let’s be honest about this.

You’re not perfect.  Neither am I.  Lets take off the mask and quit acting like something we’re not.

I cheer for Rex every time I see him take a step.  Because that’s one step closer to walking.

Do you need encouragement?  I’ll clap for you.

How can you celebrate and encourage someone today who’s taken a step towards Christ?

 

A Creepy Email

June 24, 2009 / / 0 Comments

I received an email today from a store that I shopped at just a couple of weeks ago.  For the record, I never logged in and told them what I purchased.  This email was sent unsolicited 2 weeks after the purchase.  Here’s the email:

Picture 1

I’ve got two thoughts from this:

1. Nothing is private. Not that we can hide anything from God anyway (see Psalm 139:7-13 for further proof of that), but anytime you use your credit card, that information can be tracked.  Any time you post a picture on Facebook, it’s there permanently.  Any blog post I write is public information, and is representative of me.  I can continue to feel weird about this, or I can wisely use social media and blogging to my advantage.  I choose the latter.

So, be careful what you place online.  It is “tracked” by those you lead and by those you are doing life with.  It is a representative of you, whether you like it or not, and will continue to represent you in the future.  It’s public and permanent.  Make sure that, when you post something online, you ask yourself the question, “Will I be proud of this in 5 years?”

2. Polling those you lead is important. At some level, I feel valued by this organization (represented in the email above).  I feel like I have a voice with them.  They give me the freedom, in my response, to say that I hated what I bought…or that I loved it.  I strangely feel empowered, and that my voice counts for something.  If I say that I hated it, they really may rethink putting that item on the shelf again (or I could be fooling myself, but for argument’s sake, please let me feel important right now).

If you’re a leader, make yourself vulnerable.  Ask, “Is this working?” and be ready and willing to change things if they’re not functioning like they should (i.e., accomplishing the “end” goal).  Asking for opinions shows that you care what others think, but if you open the door, be ready to walk through it.  Making changes based on feedback shows that you value others’ thoughts and the effectiveness of the organization as a whole.  Asking for feedback and making no changes is a slap to the face of those who shared their thoughts.

As a Christian, and a leader, both of these points resonate with me.  I need to be careful with the way that I live my life, and ready and willing to change our system (see my post about that here) when it’s not making disciples of Christ.

How do they resonate with you?

 
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