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On October 1-2, 2009, I will be attending the 2009 Spur Leadership Conference…a unique opportunity to listen to a collision of thought leaders from the church, government, business, technology, and the military. Why?

I am an Operations Manager of a technology firm and just recently am the Online Church Director for Granger Community Church. Everyday my worlds collide with real challenges, how to have faith at work, providing leadership to a team of 58 people, strategizing growth plans, and there are no boxes to compartmentalize. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

As leaders:

• Churches struggle to tap into the strengths of leaders in their communities… what could the Church learn from the expertise’ of industry that sit in their seats every Sunday morning?
• There are leaders in your church waiting for a mountain to climb. Are you working to find BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) opportunities for these entreprenuer leaders to jump in with renewed purpose?
• There are business men who struggle with how to effectively apply their faith into the culture of their organizations. Paralysis can set in…what’s appropriate? What’s too much? What’s effective?
• As a business leader, I need to be reminded it’s not all about profits and growth. My pendulum can drift into spreadsheets and away from real people with real lives and needs.
• Business leaders cringe at the inefficiency of many churches and would naturally seem wired to think, “why would I want to invest resources there?”. Note to non-profits/churches: effectiveness, excellence, and great management of gifts matters.
• Marketplace leaders need to be reminded that “to those who much has been given, much is expected…” While building your organizations, have you given as much focus to your “give back” initiatives? What might you be able to do in your community to make a real difference?

Straddling the blend of marketplace and ministry can be daunting. I need tools to help me manage on the front lines… There are only a few events a year that offer this unique mix, I hope to meet you there!

You and your team can register here.

• A couch was purchased to have a place to sit- It becomes an emotional attachment over time that lingers around even when it becomes outdated and irrelevant. We keep it around too long…. how does this apply to your church, business, team…. ?
• Leadership styles are going to vary, there is no cookie- cutter- don’t spend all your time trying to mirror other people’s style- press into your own God-given flavor-
• If we were to start completely over, would we still choose to be doing the things we’re currently doing?
• Church programming is created to meet a specific need-
• As programming begins as an answer to a question, over time it becomes part of a church’s organizational culture- (makes them difficult to change but may not be needed or is no longer effective any more)
• As culture changes, the methods will need to change but the questions tend to stay the same
• As leaders we’re called to lead people to see things the way we see them- otherwise we’ll never be able to get them to do what needs to be done to make a difference-
• If we institutionalize an answer, the day will come that it will no longer be an an answer
• “I want to help you think differently”- we need to see the “couch” in our ministry/business differently
• We need to be more committed to our mission than our programming or model. Programming and models can become old, outdated couches we get emotionally attached to…
• Over time, sustaining the model becomes the mission… When you fall in love with anything other than the mission- you can quickly lose focus on God’s original mission for you
• The model can begin to work against the mission- as leaders we need to monitor this- when we see this beginning, we need to lead our team/organization back to the mission-
• What have we fallen in love with that’s not as effective as it used to be?
• Where are we manufacturing energy? Having to pretend or manufacture enthusiasm for something that just isn’t that good…
• If a new person came into our church or organization, what is it that they would scrap and get rid of because they’re able to see it for what it really is? No emotional attachment… Do you have the ability to stay objective and pull the plug on things that need to be over?
• What are our organizational assumptions? Leaders must bring these assumptions in alignment with changes in the external environment. The world changes… our assumptions become wrong over time…
• Don’t try to tweak things that are broken…they’ll still be broken.
• The assumptions a team have held the longest or deeply are likely to be the things that become its undoing- Why churches don’t change- What are the things that are “off limits” for debate? Beware….
• What assumptions are false?
• :Example: We assume people want to sit in rows and listen to a speaker.
• Example: We assume Christians love to worship by singing songs they don’t know that well.
• Which assumptions are true but are not being fully leveraged?
• To reach people no one else is reaching we need to do things no one else is doing…
• How do you get rid of couches when people aren’t on board yet? You need to lead them through the process, may take time.
• Fresh eyes are needed at times to come in and point out the couches in our life, ministry, or organization…

Busting Barriers with Mindset Changes: Craig Groeschel

• Similar to when you have kids- your mindset changes
  5 Mindset Changes:
  · Think Differently About Our Church/Organization Culture
• Complaint: “Our People won’t _______ “
• SOLUTION: We have not led them to ________ . We have not led them to the desired results.
• Pray, God make me _______- whatever the leadership quality needed to break out of the stuck culture…. Lead by example.
• Think Differently About Programming
• Evaluate “true” effectiveness- what is actually creating spiritual growth?
• What is actually creating profit and positive customer experiences?
• Do less, do what you can be the best in the world- Reach more by doing less.
  · Think Differently About Your Mission
• Are we about our mission or guarding people’s feelings?
• We can’t allow someone to hold back the mission of the church.
• On our staff- who is it that is a blockade to the mission?
  · Think Differently About People Leaving the Church
• We can grow when people leave
• We can make it difficult for the wrong people to leave
• Allows the gripers and grumblers to leave
• Churches need to be confident in who they are like a dating relationship- that culture is attractive
  · Think Differently About Limitations
• Many times your greatest blessing is going to come from your greatest limitation
• Great leaders see opportunities while others see limitations

  ACTION ITEMS:

• Find someone a few steps ahead of me and find out how they “think”- How do they think/process? Value understanding how one thinks over how they “do” something
• Identify one painful decision that you’ve been avoiding and commit to making the right decision no matter what the short-term effect may be
• Lead by example. Am I modeling what I want my team to be doing?

“A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.”- Warren Buffet

Lesson: Observe what the masses are doing and consider an authentic distinction to do exactly the opposite.

How many times have you been part of a meeting talking about what the competition is doing and the reaction is to adopt a “we do that also” strategy?

• While the masses dread Monday at work, find a way to love it.
• When no one wants to deal with a particular client, be the one to ask for that account.
• While everyone is looking for fuel efficient vehicles, look for a ridiculously low priced SUV
• If everyone’s cutting their lawns with vertical lines, go horizontal…or better yet, put in astro-turf
• When people are panicked about the economy, have peace knowing our God will provide
• When all insurance agents send out calendars with mug-shots of themselves to their clients, send all your clients $5 Starbucks cards and offer to meet them for coffee
• When one candidate for President is for a $700 Billion bailout, be the candidate against it with a confident, thoughtful plan B

It’s time to go launch a mortgage company. Thanks for the reminder Mr. Buffet.

How Leaders Can Get IT and Keep IT

Craig Groeschel: Life Church TV

When you walk into certain churches, some seem to just have a different feeling… they have “IT”…. life… growth… something special…anticipation…expectation… God was present… power, motion

• Same elements at each location they have (13), however, the output was very different… How could there be different results with so many of the same factors/systems/processes?
• What is IT? Answer: “Don’t know”
• God makes IT happen… it’s from Him, by Him, and for His glory…. we can’t make IT, or manufacture IT….
• It’s rare for one person to bring IT…. yet one wrong person can kill IT
• IT attracts critics…. “You could say IT happens”… if you have IT, it doesn’t mean you’re going to keep IT, if you don’t have IT now, you could get IT later
• Acts 2:42-47…. People were saved “daily”… do we want IT?
• 4 Qualities present when IT is present:
• 1- Laser focused- Better ministry is better, not more ministry- What can we be the very best at? In order to reach people that no one is reaching, you’ll have to do things no one is doing…. Less is more…
• 2- They see opportunities rather than obstacles- You have everything you need to do what God has called you to do- We waste too much time whining about what we don’t have… Do what you can with what you have.
• 3- They are willing to fail. Those without IT tend to play it safe… Failure is a NECESSITY! Peter experienced Jesus in a new way in his failure… Need to shake off failure… shake off what people are saying about you… blogging about you…
• 4- Led by people who have IT. You need to have IT for your ministry to get IT. Ministry can kill IT… when we focus on building our ministry rather than His Kingdom- we can start losing IT. Leaders that have IT seem to draw people because they want to be part of IT.
• “I became a full-time pastor and a part-time follwer of Christ”- CG
• If you’ve lost IT- getting back to center/core is part of the process to get back-

Thoughts:

• If I truly believe what I believe… am I giving my life to it? Am I giving my life to what I can do best
• What am I doing that I need to stop doing?
• What is God trying to show me through my greatest limitation?
• What has God called me to do that I’m afraid to do?
• If I don’t have IT, what do I need to do get IT?

Session 4a: Leading in New Cultural Realities- John Burke from Gateway Community Church Book: No Perfect People Allowed

He’s from Austin, TX… thus the cowboy hat.

• Making and maintaining good soil is everything in planting… what is healthy, rich soil for people? I Cor 3: 6-9 God causes the growth… we’re responsible for the soil/environment…
• Church can be messy…how many sexually active, drunk Athiests are going to your church?
• Do we allow for question and struggle in our church, relationships, and conversations?
• What do we need to be doing to help our leaders engage with messy people? (Some of us are pretty messy as well)
• Messy leadership: Helping and leading messy, broken people…
• Are we leading people to first see others through the eyes of grace and acceptance?
• Too many times the Church makes it difficult for the emerging cultures to experience Grace? What barriers do we need to remove?
• “I just couldn’t go to a church that hated a group of people (homosexuals)”- Emerging Seeker
• “What do you think about Muhammed?”- Cultural barrier to Grace for a Muslim
• Our job is not to fix, grow, or change people- only to work on the soil/environments we create…

Thoughts:

• Creative methodology in church can be part of the good soil needed for people to experience growth in Christ…
• We need to know our faith to be able to answer the “Barriers to Grace” that many people in our emerging culture are asking…
• I have a few friends that are struggling with faith, grew up in the faith… good soil… it makes we wonder what causes this? Do some people need to experience bad soil to appreciate good soil?
  

I am loving this four week push of One Prayer uniting with 1544 other churches and 864,524 total attendance. This past week we were challenged to learn “wisdom from the ages” with Wayne Cordeiro (pay no attention to the palm trees, crashing waves, and scenic volcanoes in the background- thanks Wayne for helping me love Indiana…)

The leverage of technology continues to amaze me to the possibilities….

• A great leader could launch a church supplemented or fully driven by messages from the greatest, God-fearing communicators all over the world… Leverage of Teaching
• As more synergy is generated within the church, portals or venues will continue to grow to have a warehouse of phenominal teaching resourcing ministry- Who’s leading this charge? How will this come together? Leverage of Resources
• Multi-site or internet churches will continue to boom- No longer will a pastor need to be a jack-of-all trades- More will be able to focus on their strengths of shepherding, managing, or worship- Leaders with management and a strong vision for their community will be a growing asset and need in fueling growth-
• A decentralized, unified brand of church will launch, “One Church”
• Helping connect the message with arts, next steps, and a strong vision for changing our local communities will be the challenge in threading these video messages to local relevance-
• While many will criticize this methodology… is not God speaking through these great leaders in our generation? Are they not seeking His will and guidance in how they prepare for these messages? I think God happens to know where and how these messages will be used- He’s big enough to have that covered.
• Many will say that this could be the glorification of man, culture, or other things “of this world”. Others will say this may add to the entertainment, consumerism of the church- that this lacks depth or authenticity. I couldn’t disagree more.

Thanks Craig for saying yes to God with this incredible vision of One Prayer….

Today’s technology-driven, viral world has made it easier and easier for businesses, people, and ideologies to become more decentralized in our generation.

Decentralized: No leader. Chaotic. No order. Creative. Not about profit. Quick. Easily mutates. Mobile. Think Napster, al Qaeda, AA…

Individuals are now able to work from their phones, play games on the road, have nearly constant internet access, and can stay in contact minute by minute with friends all over the globe. Life is mobile. As backwards as it seems, relationships can actually grow with technology with no face to face contact. The pendulum is swinging towards decentralization. What about the church?

• As people become more decentralized, they will trend toward decentralized options over centralized options. (Church online or podcasts vs. the 10:00 service on Sunday morning)
• We have options to experience some of the greatest speakers in the world every week at any time and any place. (There will need to be some strong reasons other than the pastor to keep me at your church)
• This trend will distract many people to fall away from their faith, lose focus, and without the weekly structure in their life, ultimately will be distracted in life and simply be growing old. This is true.
• This trend will cause ongoing growth throughout the week with multiple options for study, teaching, and connecting with mission all over the world. Faith in action will explode and more people will come to know Christ. This also is true.
• Churches that are losing people will either deny this trend, blame culture, blame their local economy or census report, blame other churches or will press into understanding our changing world to find ways to re-connect with the people in their community.
• God can handle centralized or decentralized. He is God. He’s good. This has not surprised Him. He can handle our various methodologies, styles, trends and personalities.
• No change in today’s church model will lead to continued decline in church attendance in the upcoming decade. (Just because people aren’t within the four walls doesn’t mean that God isn’t at work- He’s always way ahead of any curve, on the curve, and helping those behind the curve)

What does that look like for your church and community? What questions are you asking? This is one takaway from The Starfish and the Spider.

“Unchristian” by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons

First, notice the nice copy and paste of this book that includes the “Buy the Book”- in this case, it’s worthy to leave on… BUY THE BOOK.

This is a top ten read for me and has me pretty messed up right now… I have lots of notes but here are some quick items of note:

1. I’ve been pretty frustrated with the image of the church and Christianity… I thought this was pretty unique of me… after reading this book- I realize I am more mainstream with my generation than I ever imagined…

2. I read most of this by a pool in Florida with “beverage” in hand… I had two different people stop and ask what the book was about and generated some great conversations… That makes me take notice… wow…. People are curious about spirituality and have opinions… It was a great opportunity to listen and ask questions… I was jazzed…

3. If you ran a company and your image/perception to “outsiders” was: Judgment, Hypocritical, Too Political, Anti-Homosexual, Sheltered, and focused too much on getting recruits…. what would that board of directors think/do? Uh…Houston, we have a problem… There it is… the research of what “outsiders”/those outside the faith think about Christianity. What is my/our responsibility with this information?

4. The book is very “data”/numbers oriented… that’s probably why I loved it… I love numbers…it took a few chapters to get going but after that… I just got smacked between the eyes again and again…. I’m both overwhelmed and inspired…

5. While I think I’m a pretty good dude… I was helpfully reminded again of how much I still judge people, how I still have “baggage” from the church a generation ago, and how much I need grace in my life.

6. I’m overwhelmed by how much the church seems to be missing the target… The resistance ahead from within the church is daunting… the perception for those outside of the church is monsterous… The numbers are the numbers, we can either accept it or deny it… Part of my emotion simply says….”Ugh… I just want to cash it in…”

7. However, the opportunity is amazing… I have the opportunity to be part of the generation(s) that get to right the ship… to present a new face of what it means to be a Christian… I’m inspired by the leaders and vision in this book… it’s time to roll-up the sleeves…

8. “Hate the sin and love the sinner” is just one example of cliches’ that I’ve heard for many years… the reality/perception of those outside the church is that they hear those words but don’t see it in our actions…. it’s more like “Hate the sin…and, well… let’s just hate the sinner too…” In business and in ministry…perception matters… and this perception is or is pretty darn close to reality for us… what will we do?

9. I realize that I am careless in how I communicate about various topics. While I believe the the church and Christ is the hope of the world… I can be opinionated around the water cooler about politics, illegal immigrants, lazy people who don’t take responsibility for their own actions, government, annoying neighbors, co-workers, other countries and their leaders…(only to name a few)…. Am I really living out me being responsible for me and the people I encounter and impact? Am I modeling the hope and peace we have in Christ, my reliance on God rather than government, my value for others rather than myself…. sadly…. no…. I can do much better…ugh.

10. I’m struggling with an old paridigm of “Saved Souls is the ultimate measurement” to “Just love people… serve… don’t have an agenda…. Model Christ..” (Big exhale)…..

I have lots of notes on this… I’ll be chunking them out topically for my own processing… if it’s helpful for you… great…. I need to get this out of my head…. My “Wi-Fi” time ends in a few minutes with the 3-day package we bought… I look forward to all your thoughts in these upcoming days…