What Do You Need?

This one is for the Pastors out there. This District. Any district in the Wesleyan Church, or any pastor anywhere.

What is the one thing you need to help you go to the next level in your leadership? Or, what do you think would best help you lead your church from where it is to the next growth point in your vision? Yeah, I know all the spiritual things you need, that’s not what I’m talking about. If your District was going to offer an event, or bring in a speaker, or bring in anything, or invite you to anything…what would that be?

I could be more specific, but I don’t want to influence your decision.

So, this only works if you leave a comment. Most of us don’t comment much on blogs since we’re commenting on Twitter all day. But I’d love to generate a little discussion on this one. Thanks!

Listening

We just wrapped up a 5 week series that has been *cheesy over-used word alert* a landmark series for Crosspoint. I can’t think of any other word to describe it. It’s just one of those seasons when you know a lot of people are driving good stakes in the ground, markers of where they were when God spoke to them. It gives you a place to move forward from and to see how God is leading you forward.

One of my own take-away’s from this series is a heightened intensity and awareness to listen to God. I preached all 5 weeks of the series and found myself spending a lot of my study time just being quiet and waiting for God to tell me what to say. I’ll look back on this series as one of those special times when God’s presence was clear and I felt led every step of the way.

So, how do you get in that kind of zone? Is there a formula? Are there things that can be done to reproduce it? Yes and no. Part of certainly comes from a desperate dependence on God. Just admitting that we aren’t smart enough or crafty enough to do what needs to be done on our own. Another take away for me is that I didn’t try to force thoughts or have a deadline on outlines. Each message had an opportunity to perk until God was ready to pour it out.

At the end of the series I pronounced a benediction of sorts it. I wanted to seal some of the thoughts and thank God for his leading. May God help us to always listen and stay out of his way!

What I Would Do Again

Maybe some day I’ll get brave and post ‘what I would never do again’, but for now I’ll share a few things that I would definitely try again. Hopefully there is something here that will be helpful to someone.

- I would take at least 6 months before I went public with a declaration of vision. Some times churches will ask a Pastor during the interview, “What is your vision for this church?” It sounds like a good question but reality is that it will take you some time in that church, in that community before you land on a God-given vision. Don’t rush it, but don’t take forever either.

- I would visit the Seniors first. There really isn’t any ulterior motive here. It’s simply recognizing their contribution and reassuring them that they still have a voice. They are waiting for ‘the visit’, so you may as well visit as soon as you get your stuff off the truck!

- I would create a team culture. Less committees. More teams. Everyone wants to play on a team. No one wants to serve on a committee.

- I would encourage risk. The last thing we want is to have a bunch of regrets. We need to be in the zone where we are totally depending on God to help us. There is a fine line between faith and foolishness. Find it.

- I would hire from within. Of the 6 of us on staff, I’m the only import. Mark was already here and the other 4 were Crosspointers that we hired. I should probably do a blog post sometime on the many reasons why I love hiring from within.

- I would lead the church in Willow Creek’s/Hybels “Just Walk Across the Room”. People inviting people is one of the main contributors to our growth.

- I would spend a ton of time and resources on creating worship experiences that generate good solid disciple making anticipation and expectation. People should look forward to going to church and you shouldn’t have to beg them to invite others. It should just be a natural extension of what God is doing in their lives.

Those are the first things that come to mind. Maybe some Crosspointers have a few other ideas to add. Again, this doesn’t mean we’ve done everything right. We’ve had our share of flops and misfires. These are just what I consider to be the ‘keepers’.

P.S. Hey, BBC, I’d love to come share some of this in a pastoral ministries class!! (shameless plug/hint)

Atlantic Leaders Village

So, I’ve been asked to join a Willow Creek Canada mentoring deal called, ‘The Atlantic Leaders Village’. Interesting name.

My first meeting was last Thursday in Moncton. Willow Can sent out an issues survey a couple of weeks before the event to see what topics would be most germane to each of us. The day didn’t exactly roll out the way I thought it would, but it was very helpful. I was hoping for more interaction with the other guys. Maybe next time! Here are a few details:

- Willow brought in Jeff Lockyer from southridgechurch.ca, St. Catherines. He was the facilitator of the day. 36 years old, has been there 12 years, church has grown from 150 – 1500 in that time. He has an uncanny grasp of concepts, trends, and the big picture of what God is doing in ‘church’. I’d love to shadow him for a week.

- The other guys are high octane, high capacity leaders of large churches. I felt like a donkey invited to the Kentucky Derby. (to steal a line from Perry Noble)

- Jeff took us through the monomythic cycle form of narrative and how it parallels with God’s story in Scripture. The church is the answer in the era of restoration. Do we see our churches as ‘restorative forces’ in our culture?

- He pulled 3 main themes, duties, missions of the church from Genesis 1-2 and connected them with Acts 2. They are: 1. The Spiritual responsibility of a church, Genesis 2:7; 2. The Relational, Genesis 2:18; and 3. The Societal (Missional), Genesis 1:8. Each of these three are clearly represented in Acts 2. He went on to build a case for these three as the foundation of a healthy church culture. The challenge then is how to get all 3 of these working as they should, having maximum impact in our communities.

- The final ‘product’ or outcome of these three themes is a fully devoted life for Jesus Christ. That’s what we want to see accomplished in people’s lives.

- Willow Creek Church has found that an average attender used to worship with them 3.4 times per month. That number has now dropped to 1.4. Someone who shows up 1.4 times per month is considered to be ‘regular’. Interesting.

- “Is drama the new flannel graph?” Great line!

- Jeff’s church organizational structure is 4-fold: 1. Inspiration Team. This involves worship, media, production, whatever they do to pull off a worship service, including Sunday children’s ministry. 2. Connection Team. This is their small groups, discipleship, curriculum writers, including their midweek youth ministry programs. 3. Action Team. This is their outreach ministries, community involvement, etc. 4. Operational Team. Administration staff, facility, human resources, IT, communications, etc. Jeff works directly with the 4 Pastors who lead these 4 teams.

- “We’ve only fired people for one reason…lack of self-awareness.” Great line.

That’s it!

Sermon Based Small Groups

Gotta tell ya. So far, I’m a fan of getting as many groups as possible in the same groove with sermon based groups. If you aren’t sure what I mean, or would like to study it more, google ‘Sticky Church’, surf up, and read the book. The home group I attend started doing sermon based studies last Spring. As a church, we launched most of our groups into the sermon based format this fall and we are getting very positive response.

I write the sermons, but I don’t write the studies. We have a small group editor who journals during my message and then writes a draft of the small group study. She has it ready for preview either Sunday night or by noon on Monday. It’s reviewed by myself and our Group Coordinator. It’s then emailed out to all of our group leaders for them to study and prepare for their upcoming group.

Without permission, I’m going to post our lesson from this Sunday’s message. Yeah, I’m pretty proud of the work our editor, Carolee Leblanc, is doing. I know she doesn’t do it for the props, but it is sooooo good, that I thought I’d share with the world what one of our templates looks like. What an awesome opportunity for a gifted writer to be involved in vision/mission/discipleship.

“Thanks, I’m Giving”

Crosspoint Wesleyan Church, Oct. 11, 2009-10-11

I.                    Ice Breakers

A.       “Stuff can mess you up.”  Pastor Tim   What are some things that we hold tightly to that can mess us up?  (money/possessions, time, talents/resources)

B.      “I WANT you to have smarties… just not MY smarties.”  Pastor Tim  Why is giving so hard?  (I “deserve” this; I’ve earned it; When I give, It feels like losing)

“There is something perverse about more than enough. When we have more, it is never enough. It is always somewhere out there, just out of reach. The more we acquire, the more elusive enough becomes.” –Unknown

II.                   Jesus challenges us to give with a different economy in mind.

Jesus says in Luke 6:38:  (NLT) “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.[c]”to give and you shall receive.  (The Message) Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.”

A.       Jesus said to give.  WHAT did he want us to give?

“All our offerings, whether of music or martyrdom, are like the intrinsically worthless present of a child, which a father values indeed, but values only for the intention.”

C.S. Lewis

B.      Will we always receive back when we give?  Will it always be the same KIND of thing? Give money/get money

C.      Who gave us our stuff?  Who owns it now?

D.     If we truly believed that God owns our stuff, would we live differently?  How?

E.      What does giving….sacrificial giving…say about our trust in the Character of God?

F.       Do you have any stories or testimonies about living with this “giving” economy?  How did God give back to you?

G.     What else can we give to God, our Redeemer, and trust that He will hand it back better than before?

(our…marriages, kids, relationships, failures, pain, fears…)

III.                 Reaping what we sow.  Galatians 6:1-10 (see below)

A.      What does it mean that we will “reap what we sow”? (What goes around comes around.; You get what you deserve.; What do I have coming to me?)

B.      What will we get if we sow greed/materialism?

“The most terrible thing about materialism… even more terrible than its proneness to violence…is its BOREDOM, from which sex, alcohol, drugs ( all devices for putting out the accusing light of reason and suppressing the unrealizable aspirations of love) offer a prospect of deliverance.”  Malcolm Muggeridge

C.       What will we reap if we sow generously with ALL our resources of time, money and personal talents?

“Today, I will know the unadulterated joy of giving with no strings.  I acknowledge that sometimes I hope for praise or reciprocation when I give…and that that detracts from the joy of giving.  Today, the giving will be my joy.  I know that I will reap what I sow, but I will NOT sow for the purpose of REAPING.  I will sow for the JOY OF SOWING.”  Jan Denise

D.     Does the Grace of God change things up in God’s economy?  How does His Grace, freely given, prevent us from reaping what we sowed?

IV.                Digging Deeper

A.       Does this “saving Grace” always prevent us from reaping what we have sown  in our past life?

B.      Does the vastness of the world’s needs ever cause you to do nothing?

“If people did not prefer reaping to sowing, there would not be a hungry person in the land.” Unknown

The Starfish Story

Original Story by: Loren Eisley

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed

a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.

Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”

The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean.

The surf is up and the tide is going out.  If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”

“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish?

You can’t make a difference!”

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish,

and threw it back into the surf.  Then, smiling at the man, he said…”

I made a difference for that one.”

What I meant was…

Gotta do a little repair here, and then I’ll feel better.

I want this blog to be an encouragement. I especially have a burden and interest in smaller churches. If they can learn from some of the good, bad, and ugly of what we’re doing, that’s a good thing. I’ve pastored in small churches with limited resources and I know from experience what it’s like to be invested in by a larger church or dusted off by a larger church.

Earlier this summer I made a post and probably didn’t word a few things right. I was trying to say that I would really would enjoy chatting with other pastors about our journey, what we’ve found to be helpful, and where we’ve messed up. I came across totally wrong and probably sounded cocky, arrogant, and just stupid. That was not my intent. I’m completely humbled by what God is doing in our church and I by no means think that we have all the answers. I just enjoy talking church!

So, if you were one of the ones that I offended, I am sorry. I will choose my words more carefully. I pray for your churches often and I cheer you on far more than you would know!

The Pedal

You can’t keep the pedal down all the time. I’m learning that.

There is a rhythm and tide to church growth that you just have to roll with. You can’t keep your church and your staff floored for weeks on end. You have to plan times when you will come up for air, take a breather, and regroup. For some reason, we’ve almost programmed the times when we feel we are supposed to step on the gas and do ministry at break-neck speeds. What if those times aren’t God’s times? Does God change all providence because we are planning a big kickoff in September? I doubt it.

We’re learning that God’s ways are higher than our ways and if he wants to blow us away over the summer and then cool us off in September we just have to roll with that. Kind of like what we heard Perry Noble say recently, “You can’t plan a revival, but you must prepare for it.”

This applies with spending, worship, new music, new initiatives, change, etc.

Do you know when to step on the pedal and when to let up?

Leading Change = Changed Lives

A traditional church. Little to no growth or even decline. Pretty much doing things the way they always have. Either resistant to change or they simply don’t know how or what to change. A Pastor who isn’t clear of the vision. Or, he has a vision, he just isn’t sure how to bring the right people on board to make any change happen.

I could be wrong, and I don’t want to over simplify complex issues, but… The right change, done at the right time, in the right way would likely generate the synergy and enthusiasm necessary to see new people come and lives changed for eternity. Change equals changed lives.

So, if that is true, how do we equip and inspire more pastors and how do we educate, love, and lead more churches (congregations, boards, decision makers, influencers, etc) towards healthy change? I’m driven by the thought that something as simple as ‘fresh thinking’ could result in hundreds of saved souls.

Thoughts?

Managing

Somewhere between micro-managing the guts out of everyone and not having a clue what anyone is doing, there is a management balance that will work best for each distinct environment. I think.

I’ve worked for people on both ends of that spectrum. Micro-managing makes you feel small, inept, and caged. Loose management makes the whole thing feel adrift with little sense of accomplishment and purpose. I’m finding more and more that the secret to all of this is finding a management rhythm that holds people and responsibilities accountable without becoming tyrannical. I’m also learning that different people respond better to different styles or levels of managerial oversight. If that really is true, then it means that the leader has to have some fluidity and flexibility in their approach. You have to listen to people, learn their responses, and keep trying things until you find what works best for each staff person.

So, if you give someone a responsibility, either a to-do that needs to be done this week or a project that will take several months to accomplish, how do you ensure it is being accomplished? How much trust do you give that person. How much leash do they have to do it when they want, how they want, etc? When do you check back with them without them feeling like, a. You didn’t think they would do it, b. You want it done your way, not theirs, or c. You just won’t forget about it until you know it’s completed? Without going into detail, there has to be some simple checkpoints and expectation of how we will communicate on those things. It’s not enough to just talk about what needs to get done. We have to be able to agree on what, how, and when and how the leader will know when it has been accomplished.

15 Questions to Ask Now if you want Momentum Next Fall

1. What defines us as a church?

2. What does the community think of us?

3. Why do people come?

4. Why don’t people come?

5. What do we do well? (strengths)

6. What do we stink at? (weaknesses)

7. What opportunities do we have?

8. What is our vision?

9. How are we communicating the vision?

10. What would capture the imagination of our people and the attention of our community?

11. What would motivate our church to invite others?

12. Are we seeing salvations and baptisms? Why/Not?

13. What will it cost?

14. Do we have the right people? Staff/Volunteers?

15. Are we ready?