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April 16th is my 5 year anniversary at Pinnacle where I get to work with a fantasic, talented, challenging team… That’s my story- but I’m reflective to think, 5 years matters… what will I and what will you invest 5 years into (or more?)

Where were you five years ago?  What were you doing?  It went by fast, didn’t it?

As I look on the next five years I think:

• Every day matters- I better be doing what I intend to do and what I know has purpose rather than waste it
• I overestimate what I can do in a day, but what can happen in five years can truly be remarkable
• Is my life on a trajectory that will send me to my Godly purpose five years out?
• There is no guarantee I get to live five more years.  Life can change in a day- don’t forget that.  There is a 100% chance I will die and life will be done on this Earth as I know it- Am I aligning to eternal purposes or tempory, life-here-on-Earth purposes?
• I want to care for and serve people… value people over tasks or quarterly goals
• My kids will almost be out of the house- my time is limited with them
• I want my marriage to be stronger and more intimate with Kem
• I pray I will be more obedient to God and what He desires to do through me rather than what I distract myself with daily

God willing, I may only get 4-6 more 5 year runs before I start thinking retirement (whatever that may mean)…

Five years… how about you?  What path are you on?

Hey Michiana, January 13th, 2012 is the Day of Prayer for our Michiana cities, our region, our neighborhoods, our families, our leaders, our businesses, and our churches.  Yes, Friday the 13th- a perfect day to kick the gates of hell. 

We’ll be meeting Friday, 6:30 AM on the 13th in Mishawaka, IN:  Here

You won’t be put on the spot or asked to do anything but simply pray in your way.

Some wonder, does prayer even work?  Does it even matter?  Well you won’t know if you don’t take a step of faith and see what God does over the next several months and years.  We have a part to play, but we need to get out of God’s way first.  We need to join Him in what He’s planning, not run in circles with our mindless activities.

If you can’t join us in Mishawaka, be part of this day wherever you’re at- connect at your churches, your work, your front yard, a flag pole, or your downstairs sofa…. I don’t care… just pray that God Almighty will bring a great vision and Hope to Michiana.  Here is what we’ll be focusing on:

• That God would draw the people of Michiana to Him and change the hearts in our community
• That the “church” would be re-energized and unify to bring Hope to our community- to feed the hungry, educate our kids, love the outcasts, restore relationships, and proactively engage the needs our our community
• For the businesses in Michiana- that they would prosper, innovate, employ, run with integrity, be a force for fueling our community, bring purpose to the workplace, and make an impact for positive change in our backyard
• For our leaders, our Congressmen, our mayors, and representatives that they would lead with courage, honesty, Truth, and have God-given wisdom for the challenges we face
• That our families, marriages, and children would be strong, united, and full of love

Look, if we believe what we believe- God hears our prayers, He changes us in the process, we get to be part of His story, part of His plan for our city, and we will live our days with greater Purpose.  If we believe what we believe, it’s not about us, it’s not about our short time here on this Earth, and it’s not about what we “do”.  It’s about Christ, living with an eternal beginning in mind, and what we can “do” to be obedient in the part He’s called you and I to play.

We’ll be doing this as a kick-off and launch to our regular Maximizers Friday AM meeting, you can do this in any flavor and place you like- when do we ever pray as a city for our city?  How about Friday the 13th.

In an organization with 100 people:

• 20 people are doers.
• With a leader.
• 80 are hanging around watching, experimenting, consuming, or complaining.
• When the 20 expand to 40, chances are there’s 200 now in the organization (or will be).
• The 20 tend to get frustrated with the 80 for not doing anything and at times will tell them. (They should avoid that.)
• The 80 will ride the coattails of the 20 and feel like they did it and even take credit for it.
• This sometimes frustrates the 20. They should not be frustrated. They should just do.
• Great leaders pour vision into the 20 while casting the net out to the 100.
• Frustrated leaders spend a lot of time trying to get the 80 be part of the 20.
• Of the 80, some will become doers as the organization grows.
• The doers that simply do will some day realize there are people following them.
• Some of the 80 will become part of the 20 with a simple personal invite.
• A leader will be turned down 4 times for every yes. This does not bother great leaders. It frustrates others.
• Frustrated leaders have the opportunity to be great leaders.

I want to be a great leader.

(Repost from July 4, 2008)

In many of the games we’re familiar with in life, there are winners and there are losers- but that’s not all.  Understanding what type of game you’re playing can have a crucial impact with your clients, your co-workers, and in your families.  David Dickinson explores the two types of games we play in Maximizers #6.

One simple Truth, one simple reminder every day can help us stay “dialed in” on our purpose and in our relationships at work and in life.  Matt Meyer discusses the importance of one simple Truth and shifting knowledge to actual application:

How could one simple Truth impact your interactions today like:  James 1: 19   My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry…

Truth, like paint in a can- it’s value is in the application…  What is it you’re dropping into your mind everyday?  How is it playing out?  Does it move you to temporary goals or eternal goals?

David Dickinson leads Maximizers #4 as he discusses Confidence.  What shakes your confidence?  When do you have confidence as a leader and how do you maintain it?  As leaders of people, confidence matters.  Watch the discussion here:

Join us live Friday mornings at 6:15 AM in Mishawaka, IN or keep up with the video posts here.  If you’re in another community, how is Faith and Business colliding where you are?  How is your leadership in business impacting your influence in your city?

• You don’t have to “qualify” in God’s economy because you are loved by God
• Mark Beeson’s birthday, turned 58
• Our days are cherished and valuable, time is continuing to pass by- what will we do with it?
• All of it is really Attraction… 
• Often a church can be a mis-match where the experience doesn’t match the message of Christ
• When new people that come to a new church can be a bother-  As the Sodality is working there better be a plan in the Modality…. small is beautiful… bigger gets tougher…
• Church Planters:  You need to decide how big is too big…. there’s no wrong answer but know what comes with growth…  There are requirements and big challenges to growth…  Or you can make it capped at 10 people and then start another group
• You don’t get to choose problem free living, you just get to choose your problems- big or small
• Jesus was the most attractive person that ever existed- crowds followed him…  As Christ-followers living in His way, so should we also become attractive…
• Where am I on the character scale?  Those with high character you can trust to do good work and be reliable.  The reality of humanity is than there are volumes of people with little or no character…
• God invites us to a higher character… low character people are not attractive…  You’re not attractive just because you have Jesus in your life- you’re more attractive the more you become like Jesus…  Am I like Christ?
• Story of Jacob and Esau… Jacob deceives his father Isaac pretending to be his brother… Isaac ends up blessing Jacob instead of Esau…  Despite all this, why did God still choose Jacob?  What did he do?  Absolutely nothing.  The hero in this story is not Jacob, it’s God.  God uses messed up people, even those with low character…
• Jacob worked 7 years so he could marry Rachel, instead he’s given Leah- Jacob gets a taste of his own medicine… a lesson of character…
• But God doesn’t leave us with low character, he gives us opportunities to build it, take steps, become like Him, with more character…
• Low capacity vs High capacity-  80/20 principle  Move from low character, low capacity to high character and high capacity to become more like Christ…
• High capacity and low character people can be very dangerous
• The bucket/vomit list: High capacity, high character-  pour into these people!
• Dinosaur’s vs Mice….  Most churches have one or two key leaders that if they go down, the whole ship goes down…  This would be the dinosaur….  We want to build the Church on the mice, hundreds and hundreds of leaders empowered …. Mice can reproduce faster than you can kill them… Mice may be able to lead 5 or 10 people…
• This is the model that will revolutionize the world for Christ, the missional model…
• 2 Peter 1:5-8   What are the steps that God wants His people to take? This is where you can find them to build in our character and attractiveness…

• Sites to check-out:  vimeo, youtube, motionagrapher, superfad, trollback, theronin, devour, fubiz, worshiphousemedia, and spotify (all .com)
• Reference videos are helpful in the Idea stage- examples to help the team translate the vision in your head
• When you see great video (or commercials)- share with your team to see examples of what worked (Chrysler video about Detroit during the SuperBowl example)
• Plug-ins:  After Effects, aescripts.com
• Sites to learn from:  creativelive.com, videocopilot.net, grayscalegorilla.com, creativecow.net, lynda.com, fxphd.com, aetuts.com, videohive.net
• The Details:  Think about your story before you shoot it (storyboard, visualize, write it down) otherwise you may find holes in your story.
• The more you prepare, the more flexible you can be….
• Action verbs by the script to help with the intent of the lines for actors
• Get great audio when you shoot video… it has a critical impact on your video- don’t forget the audio because it’s often missed- use boom mics, don’t rely
• Be intentional with your lighting-  a cheap route would be the big china globes for $10 from Akia if you have no budget- that would be better than nothing
• Color Grading can add a unique look to your video- most video editing software has some options- usually the last step to make something  look great… Go with manual as much as possible if you have the time to do it… Be a student about it and play with the presets when you’re first starting out…
• Most people don’t light or color grade and would be an immediate diffentiator to your quality
• Questions?  Twitter: dustinmaust  (Dustin Maust- in case you didn’t figure that out…

• 60% of the US Church will not go to the current model of the Church
• Keep doing the 40% well as a church currently- don’t stop what you’re doing but think in a way that the 40% will be “sent” into the 60%…
• How you see reality is how you’ll be communicating and influencing others about their realities…  How do you communicate to others what a church is?  It matters.
• The paradigms and assumptions we make today will have a dramatic impact on what will or will not be in the future- It is critical we get our paradigms right and defining reality.
• Alan Hirsch:  “We are operating on an old paradigm that the church is a privileged position in our society….  I’ve bet my life on the need for a paradigm shift to an apostolic model…”
• “The Age of the Unthinkable”- recommended book by A.H.
• How the Bible defines the Church: #1  Can be quite small, a house (Local), #2 then city-wide, #3 across the empire (Regional/movement), #4 Theo, entire  body of Christ…..  All of these are “the Church”… Too often we think of a local church meeting in a building…  We must change our thinking to a movement, multi-location, regional, and global…
• If you don’t change the paradigm- you won’t experience the changes that are needed.  What got us here is not going to get us there….  We must work to change the paradigm…
• Yes, you’re going to have to go on a journey- it’s hard as we want to have a quick-fix, but it’s critical we slow down and work to understand the fundamental shifts that need to happen…
• You have Innovators who always want change- and you have Resistors that will never change…
• All you need is 16% of the population to eventually reach the “tipping point”- that’s encouraging to the journey ahead to shift the paradigm needed in the Church
• Plant the Gospel and the story of Jesus, not churches, and let that seed grow… Need to think like a missionary again…
• Imagine then Shift then Innovate= MOVE
• Paradigm at the Core (where change needs to occur), Ethos translates the core into what the practices should be (Strategy), then new Practices exist  (3 circles)
• The Church needs to risk engaging the culture, not seeking safety and security where are large volume of the church and middle class exists today

• We actually sat on the sideline to see what type of success other churches were having with multi-site
• We went back to our roots with a 2nd site approximately 20 minutes away- all by video
• In a movie theater, it would seem that people would be used to experiencing video only at a theater
• Theater works if it’s up-to-par with the expectations of your standards, cleanliness, audio, video
• Then moved to the RV Hall of Fame, 12.3 million dollar building
• Before you start multi-site:  who you are should already be decided
• Autonomy works when identity is clear
• If there isn’t buy-in to your DNA- it won’t be one church, it will be something different
• Launch multi-sites or plant new sites- should be determined what the intent is upfront
• We decided on launch because we felt like we knew who we were and what was working- in “this” area, GCC was known for certain attributes (arts, etc…)
• Clarify what’s what- clarify campus “constants” constantly- noted on andconference.com site
• You’ll never have everything resolved when dealing with multi-site- new questions will always arise
• Course correct early or you’ll end up setting a new course  (always balancing Autonomy/Community with DNA and One Church mentality)
• Keep talking “why”- vision always informs the why and the what…. vision leaks and we always need to recast the vision
• Multi-site is missional; be missional minded- we were intentional about being in a temporary space, but there were some issues…. we were going to build a million dollar commons space at the main campus while telling the multi-site it was to stay mission-minded… it was tough to navigate
• Verbalize “one” often- we are one church with one mission
• Think “region”- planning to launch 3 more multi-sites within a 30-45 minute radius- we want to take that step before we go beyond the region to work to stay as one church
• Go “home” often- to the hub- helps remind people it’s one hub- one single printed program, helps… “The Feed”- information/announcements- consistent at multiple sites
• Shared cross-cultural experiences
• Many dotted lines in your org chart when dealing with multi-site- collaborative effort in shared ministries, kids ministry at one location collaborating with kid’s ministry of the other site
• Say “we” a lot, and work with parallel programming
• Acknowledge “our” pastors
• It’s probably easier to do plant vs. multi-site

What would I do with the plan in the next launch to do it better?

Find tangible ways to find ways to impact and raise the bar in the communities.  More partnerships in the area we launch with other churches and organizations- that those sites would be growing to have an expectation of reproduction to launch another site.

• We now have been given a building at a new location from a church that was closing- the timing was of God as it may have been viewed in a different context prior to our AND Vision process

How does budget work?

• We have a unified split- 70% of the giving goes to fund staffing, 20% to the hub, 10% into a fund for future multi-sites

Branding:  Considering “A Granger Community Church” as a tagline to a different name