Your Journey Blog

Perfect and impossible - Seth Godin

The definition of a revolution: it destroys the perfect and enables the impossible.

The music business was perfect. Radio, record chains, Rolling Stone magazine, the senior prom, limited access to recording studios, the replaceable nature of the LP, the baby boomers... it all added up to a business that seemed perfect, one that could run for ever and ever.

The digital revolution destroyed this perfect business while enabling the seemingly impossible: easy access to the market by new musicians, a cosmic jukebox of just about every song ever recorded, music as a social connector...

If you are in love with the perfect, prepare to see it swept away. If you are able to dream of the impossible, it just might happen.

via sethgodin.typepad.com

Saturdays with Seth. I love his definition of a revolution "It destroys the perfect and enables the impossible”. Didn't Jesus do that? He saved us from the perfect rituals of religion and provided the impossible a intimate relationship with the God of the universe.

"But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement,through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law". Romans 3:21-28

Free Spontaneous Baptism Kit from Pastor Steve Furtick

Want to increase your evangelistic impact and baptism rate?  Check out this Great Post and Free Resource from Steve Furtick (HT)

Just one month ago, we saw 2,158 people get baptized through our spontaneous baptism series, Follow. It was one of the most deeply meaningful events I’ve ever experienced. I got to watch 30 minutes of highlights of the whole experience this past weekend and I had chills the whole time.

I’d like to challenge and encourage all of the pastors and church leaders who read this blog to consider leading your church through spontaneous baptisms. Obviously we certainly don’t believe that the format is right for everyone. But I truly believe that if it fits your church’s culture, the impact it could have would be incalculable. We’re still receiving stories of life change, and I’d love to see the same thing happen in your church.

I am so inspired by what God did in our church through the process of the Follow series, and so proud of the processes that our staff and volunteers have put together that I’d like to offer all of our baptism resources to you for free on the Sun Stand Still website.

You’ll have access to everything from the sermon I preached during the opening weekend along with a transcript of it, to the logistics of how we baptized over 2000 people in 2 weeks at 4 locations…really, everything you need from a practical standpoint to set the stage and pull this off.

You’ll be surprised how comprehensively our staff has broken it down. If we can help save you the hundreds of hours that this type of detailed planning involves, we’re glad to do it.

All of this is free of charge.

I pray that hundreds of you will take the plunge and do this. It has created more momentum and fervor in our church than you can possibly imagine. And I believe it will do the same for yours.

Visit the baptism resource page on sunstandstill.org.

Thanks Pastor Steve for the Great Challenge and Tremedous Resources

How I Used the Spiritual Journey Guide Last Easter

I received the following great email from Pastor Bruce Fosdick at The Rock Southwest in Littleton, Colorado which made me reflect on Jesus words, "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  (Luke 19:10)

Hey Gary,

I wanted to send you an encouragement.

Every Easter at The Rock of Southwest we would have 100s of new people for Easter, but when it came to decisions for Christ, our numbers were very low.  An example was last year we had 6 people receive Christ within a day that had over 1200 adults in church service.   We're an outreach church and see 100s come to the Lord throughout the year, but Easter always seems to be low numbers, especially considering the amount of new people who attend that day.

At the church planter's and coaches training in Arizona last August, you handed out the "The Spiritual Journey Guide" pamphlet.  I read through it and then I wrote myself a note that said:  "This may answer our Easter Sunday conversion issue.  Order 2000 and go through it step by step during the service".  So, this year we decided to do exactly that as part of the sermon.  I told the congregation 3 weeks earlier to pray for me that I could give a very clear call and that people would respond.  They invited the people and I delivered the message.

We had 1400 people and we gave a pamphlet to every person.  In the last 10 minutes of the sermon I read
through all 7 types of people from "Searchers" to "Followers".  I challenged everyone to to pick which one was closest to their relationship with God.  I added some fun stories but still had them go through the "Moving Forward" and Faith Commitment.   It ended up being a great challenge and people responded very well. 

Though we don't have a perfect system of knowing exactly how many people actually receive Christ, we had 110 people lift their hands to receive our "New Believers" bags at the end of the service. To have us go from 6 converts to 100 is very amazing to us.   In fact a few Elders actually said this, and I quote:  "The decision to go through that pamphlet step by step was probably the wisest sermon decision you've ever made"

I know such stories are good to hear.  So, I wanted to pass on to you. 

Thanks for the encouragement,

Bruce Fosdick,
The Rock of Southwest
Littleton, Colorado

You can download Bruce's Easter Sermon 

Download 4-24-11_Easter 

Find out more about The Spiritual Journey Guide

The Making of a Leader J. Robert Clinton - Free Summary Download

No other leadership book has impacted my life like J. Robert Clinton's The Making of A Leader

Robert Clinton identifies the patterns God uses to develop a leader. By studying the lives of hundreds of historical, biblical, and contemporary leaders, Clinton has determined the six stages of leadership development, and he establishes checkpoints to clarify where you are in the process. God’s major work in leaders is not developing fruitfullness through them, but working IN them. Ministry flows from what’s inside a leader.

This summary will help you in the following ways:

1. Identify those with leadership characteristics
2. Direct the development of maturing leaders
3. Recognize where you are in the development process
4. Counsel those who are experiencing periods of trial or frustration.  HT

 Download the summary here: Download The_Making_Of_A_Leader_-J_Robert_Clinton

Leadership Networks Top Trends for 2011

Solomon wrote,^"Ponder the path of your feet;then all your ways will be sure." (Proverbs 4:26 ESV) He is telling us to consider carefully our steps, to reflect, to give weight to each step we have taken and will take in the future.  In an excellent post by Warren Bird of Leadership Network he looks back at 11 trends that they identified in 2011, 10 of the best resources from Leadership Network in 2011 and 100 helpful data points for church leaders, Enjoy!

• Eleven: During 2011 we did an extensive project that identified 11 trends and innovations in top churches. Topics ranged from “team collaboration” to “community engagement.” Here’s a quick overview of the topics, with free download links to each.

• Ten: In sort of a “Top 10” series, we itemize resources released from Leadership Network in 2011. They include new leadership communities and innovation labs, books, concept papers, videos, blogs, and more. See http://leadnet.org/resources/advance/3145.

• Nine: During 2011 my Twitter @warrenbird pointed to well over 100 data points helpful to church leaders. Here are 9 from roughly a year ago:

• 3/15/11: Can a church be sued over social media issue? helpful links, Christianity Today, http://bit.ly/gxlH9c

• 3/10/11: Should you have 1 or 2 Saturday night services? See my blogpost at @warrenbird http://j.mp/eda3TJ - Add your insight as well.

• 3/1/11: What is census saying about U.S. future? Surprise: direction is suburban over back to cities, Joel Kotkin in Forbes http://bit.ly/hD2nmo

• 2/19/11: Church giving fosters generosity: The more you give at church, the more you also donate to other groups http://bit.ly/dGERb2

• 2/7/11: What's a church's economic worth to its community? Answer: lots! Study tallies 54 different types of contributions http://bit.ly/fsYcle

• 2/3/11: How underchurched is your state, county or city? US & Canada maps with ratio of population to churches http://bit.ly/grIOs9

• 1/27/11: US Muslims number 2.6M today, projected 6.2M by 2030. Globally 1/4 of world population, says today's Pew study http://usat.ly/g1mJXT

• 1/19/11: Updated American Factfinder released, do searches with U.S. census data, www.factfinder2.census.gov. Short virtual tour http://bit.ly/gEgTEc

• 1/10/11: Excellent interactive tool: find unchurched communities, map your area's religious makeup, run custom reports www.thearda.com/DemographicMap (HT)

 

Ten Marks of a Coachable Leader - Part 6

Henry Blackaby and Claude King in their landmark book, Experiencing God wrote, "You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing."  As we continue our series on being a coachable leader these two authors hit the nail right on the head.   Coachable leaders are ready and willing to make the needed changes and adjustments in their lives.  Coachable leaders do this because they understand the bigger issue which is: Alignment.  Alignment with God and His purposes.  Without alignment with God one cannot and will not experience all that God has in store for them.

Bob Logan suggests a list of key roadblocks that all leaders need to consider when wrestling with adjustment/alignment issues:

• personal discipline
• relational intimacy
• complacency with status quo ministry
• lack of vision for the harvest
• fear and timidity in giving leadership
• lack of certainty in calling
• poor delegation and management skills
• hireling mentality
• poor change skills

6. Coachable people make key adjustments in their lives.

Coaching isn't about just getting support to continue one's life pretty much as it has been. Rather, the leader who makes key adjustments in his personal and professional life is probably getting more out of the coaching process than those who are not ready to change.

Here are a few key adjustments leaders need to make:

1) Adjusting their Attitudes

As a coach one of my roles is helping leaders "keep their head in the game."  As spiritual leaders every day is filled with troubles and triumphs, heartaches and joys, sweetness and sadness.  The mental challenges in an ever changing environment are daunting. They are emotionally draining and any leader on any given day can drift into discouragement.

I was recently asked how I handle all the complexities of my job.  My response was "a clear vision that is refreshed by God's word."  The LORD said to Joshua, "Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." (Joshua 1:7-8)

The Lord knew that Joshua would need daily doses of God's word to keep his attitude in check as he led God's people.  Coachable leaders adjust their attitudes daily by aligning their thoughts with God's thoughts.

2) Adjusting their Filters

We all have filters on our email programs that keep out all the junk mail we receive. And yet there are times when both the good and wanted information ends up in our junk folder.  Coachable leaders need to pay attention to the information they are receiving, listening to and taking to heart.  In a day of information overload leaders need coaches who are going to help them filter that information so they can take the appropriate steps for implementing it successfully.  Here are a few coaching questions:

• Who am I listening to?
• What makes them creditable?
• What voices do I need to listen to more frequently?
• What voices do I need to stop listening to?
• What are the best voices to help me in my particular situation?
• What voices can help me discern my next steps?

Cultivating the right to counsel is critical. Paul Stanley wrote, "A Christian worker needs a relational network which embraces mentors, peers and emerging leaders in order to ensure a balanced healthy perspective on life and ministry."

3) Adjusting their Priorities

Life is full of adjustments. Nothing is more important than a leader's priorities and yet in the heat of ministry and work our priorities can get out of whack. Coachable leaders allow others to speak into their lives when it comes to adjusting their priorities.  The Apostle Paul gave us a great list of priorities in the last several chapters of his letter to the Christians in Ephesus.

1. God - Ephesians 5:1-20
2. Mate - Ephesians 5:21-33
3. Family - Ephesians 6:1-4
4. Work - Ephesians 6:5-9
5. Ministry - Ephesians 6:10-20

Here are a few reflective questions:

• God:  
  • What do I need to adjust in my daily routine that reflects that God is my first priority?
  • What do I need to adjust to protect my relationship with God?
  • What do I need to adjust in my financial life that acknowledges God is first in my finances?
  • What do I need to adjust in my relationships that recognizes that God has first place?
• Mate/Family:  
  • What do I need to adjust in my life that reflects the priority my spouse has in my life?
  • What do I need to adjust that protects and nurtures my relationship with my spouse?
  • What do I need to adjust in my life that acknowledges the place of my children in my heart?
  • What do I need to adjust that protects and affirms my children?
• Work/Ministry    
  • What is the best use of my time that will bring the best results for my organization?
  • What six things can I accomplish today in my work?
  • What do I need to adjust in my relationships at work?  With my superiors? My equals? My subordinates? My clients? My congregation?
  • What 5 roles do I need to focus on to take our organization to the next level?
  • What 5 things do I need to delegate to make the best use of my gifts and time?
  • What one thing could I do this month to help my church reach its potential?

Next Time: Coachable people embrace reality

Check out the Ten Marks of a Coachable Leader series.