Pastorpreneur

Christmas Gifts for Your Leadership Team

Leaders are learners.  Leaders are readers.  And if you are a leader of a team, I think I've got some cool deals for you this Christmas:

1) If you want to buy 10 copies of my books for your team, I've cut them down as low as I can for the sake of your team.

10 Copies of Leveraging Your Leadership Style for $70!

10 Copies of Pastorpreneur for $100! 

A Case of 26 Pastorpreneur for $165 

2) I'm also willing to hook you up on some bulk copies of Leveraging Your Communication Style or   God-Size Your Church, so if you'd like 10 or more, send me an e-mail to john@cvcwired.com and I will get you 45% off!

Thanks for what you do to help your team become more effective in life and ministry!

Breaking Your Growth Barriers

One of my recent books is God-Size Your Church, Beyond Growth for Growth's Sake.  Here is an article that describes a portion of the content of that book for the benefit of the blog community. Enjoy! 

 

Breaking Through Your Growth Barriers

 

Athletes often describe hitting a “wall” of performance.  It is a barrier where no apparent amount of effort appears able to push through the pain of the moment.  Athletes who hit such a barrier either surrender to it, or they devise new understandings of the mind and disciplines of the body to help break through the barriers of their efforts.  Are there such barriers that affect the life and ministry of churches?

 

Well over 85% of the churches in

America

have fewer than 200 people attending worship services each week.  Church leaders have also reported specific challenges reaching between 300-500 people each week, just under 1,000 people, and around 2,000 people.  Are these “barriers” God-ordained or are there specific understandings and disciplines that we can acquire that will help us lead through these barriers?

 

Bill Sullivan wrote Ten Steps to Breaking the 200 Barrier in 1988 and recently (2005) released an updated version. Carl George and Warren Bird wrote their book, How to Break Growth Barriers in the early 1990’s.  I’ve learned from these books and others, along with seminars and conferences I’ve attended.  But most of what I’ve personally learned about growth barriers has come in the context of leading an established church for 10 years, leading a denominational agency working with over 200 churches, and now planting a church for these past 9 years and working with other churches as a consultant.  In my experience, there are 3 major areas of breakthrough understanding to help your church break growth barriers…the breakthrough of clarity, the breakthrough of consistency, and the breakthrough of congruence.

 

The breakthrough of clarity is all about having a clear and focused vision of a preferred future that is shared by the key leaders in the church.  I am convinced that God wants to give each local church a convicting and compelling vision for being “Jesus with skin on” in their community.  Many churches that I have worked with over the years are really struggling with this question:  “What has God called us to do in this local church in this local community?” While the question is seemingly innocent and elementary, I’ve seen churches go down in flames (sometimes literally!) over the answers.  Hearing clearly from the heart of God and making sure the pastor and the key leadership are united in these matters is absolutely non-negotiable.

 

I’ve recently had the privilege of connecting with several churches that are working on this very issue of clarity.  Interestingly, one of the churches I’m working with has over 2000 people each week and is very fruitful in a number of ways.  Yet the key leadership is clear that they are wandering and in need of a clear word from God.  That same experience is happening with another church that I’m working with that has fewer than 200 people.  Both churches are just beginning to understand the benefit of hearing God clearly and getting the church leadership on the same page.  Larry Osborne’s book, The Unity Factor, is a great little resource on this matter.

 

Question:  Are you clear about what God is specifically calling your church to do in your community?

 

            The breakthrough of consistency is all about insuring that the strategies and programs of the church are executed with regularity and excellence.  We’ve all heard the false saying, “practice makes perfect”.  Many of us now know that is simply not true.  The truth is that “perfect practice makes perfect”.  I’ve experienced the need to discern the will of God and then DO the will of God.  It’s what I call the “lather-rinse-repeat” cycle of obedience.  You know the phrase from hair shampoo.  I think it applies to our ministry in the church.  Once we’ve heard the Lord clearly about His vision, we develop strategies and programs to fulfill the vision.  At that point, walking out our excellent strategies is a matter of consistency and evaluation.

 

 In our church (CVC) , we have done what we call “Discovery 101” (our “first step” welcome class) virtually every single month on Sunday afternoons since we started 9 years ago.  I personally teach that class and have now taught the class just over 100 times!  Our evaluations consistently show that getting someone to our 101 class is a key to connecting them to the vision, mission, and community of our local church.  The book, Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done is a great resource from a business perspective to help your ministry focus on accomplishing your vision with excellence and consistency.

 

Question:  Are you consistently doing with excellence what you are called to do in your community?

 

          The breakthrough of congruence is all about insuring that the message of your church is the same in all of your programs and activities.  My experience in working with churches over 200 is that there are often competing visions and values in the various departments of the church.  Many times in churches under 200 there are competing family networks that have different visions of the future.  Congruence is about making sure that what people hear and receive from the parking lot, the platform, the pulpit, and the program activities are all the same.  I’ve been really excited to see how our church has benefited from a focus on alignment in our strategies throughout the ministries. 

 

We have described our ministry system as “Invite-Connect-Serve”.  Each time we’ve made sure that our guests and regular attenders were all on the “same page”, we’ve seen huge benefit.  Our childrens, student, and adult ministry all utilize the same framework of Invite-Connect-Serve and it has become a great strength of our entire ministry.  More recently, we did an entire teaching series called, The Ripple Effect, where we helped our church “Focus on Five”.  Another strategy we’ve utilized several times is what we call layered learning.  It essentially uses the 40 day campaign type of strategy with weekend teaching, daily devotions, and small group materials.  The power of getting the whole church in agreement and focused together is huge!

 

Question:  Do each of your programs and activities communicate the same message of your mission, vision, and values?

 

Visit my website at www.pastorpreneur.com for additional information

Preaching for Life Impact

Preaching for Leadership Impact

© Dr. John Jackson, 2007

www.pastorpreneur.com

 

            We all know (or should!) that the goal of preaching is life change.  We want to be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans

8:29

).  We want disciples to be made and thus fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20).  Preaching is about life change.  But, I also believe preaching is one of the most powerful tools of leadership.  Pastors who utilize their preaching  opportunities as a leadership instrument will increase the fruitfulness of their ministry.

 

            My friend Ray Johnston of

Bayside

Church

(www.baysideonline.com) in

Sacramento

, says that ordinary people become extraordinary communicators when they are fired with conviction….which then translates into passion…which then translates into impact.  Leadership impact happens when we couple our leadership passion and preaching for the powerful purposes of God among our people.  John Maxwell says one way to determine your passion is to ask, “What makes you cry?  What makes you sing?  What makes you dance?”  Answering those questions will draw you closer to the passion that God has placed within you.

 

Every leader has a vision from God for the future that is compelling for his people.  Habakuk 2:2 tells us to “write the vision and make it plain”.  Preachers who preach for leadership impact recognize the opportunity to cast vision whenever they speak from the pulpit.  Many of us who preach find it far easier to simply explain the text and apply it to the individual lives of our hearers from a pastoral perspective.  While this is noble, it is insufficient.  When a pastor stands before his people, there is an opportunity to fulfill the Old Testament roles of prophet, priest, and king.  The leadership role is a prophetic and kingly assignment that the preacher can best fulfill by intentionally asking the tough questions of himself and of the Biblical text.

 

            Leaders automatically are question askers….and the questions they ask of the Biblical text relate to their roles as leaders of the people of God.  Here are some basic questions that leaders believe the text asks of them and the contrast between the purely pastoral questions…these are admittedly quite broad, but they hint at the key differences

 

Pastoral Questions                                          Leadership Questions

 

What does it say?                                            What does it mean?

 

What does it mean to me?                              What does it mean to us?

 

What should I do?                                          What changes should we make?

 

How does this speak to my present?              How does this speak to our future?

 

Kingdom Impact increases in our ministry when we recognize that we are preaching BOTH to the individual and to the congregation.  Both are needed, and the effective preacher is both aware of the opportunity and the privilege to address both needs.

 

            Ephesians

4:29

tells us that we should “speak only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen”.  As leaders who preach, we are to use the pulpit as a faithful tool for declaring God’s will for individuals

AND

building up the local body of believers that we lead.  Preachers who communicate with excellence are preachers who exercise leadership in and through the pulpit on a regular basis.

 

You can learn more about these and other topics by visiting my website at www.pastorpreneur.com

Discipleship: Teach or Train?

“Discipleship:  Teach or Train?”

 

 

            Should we or shouldn’t we?  Which is better?  Can you prove that?  All those questions are reasonable about a critical issue in the life and ministry of a healthy church.  When we are trying to disciple people, should we teach or should we train?

 

The Miracle of “And”

           

            I believe in the miracle of and.  We in the church are much too quick to dichotomize our solutions to the troubling questions of church leadership and ministry.  We are prone to quickly fall subject to the belief that the issue we are facing has a singular answer in the form of either x or y. 

 

Discipleship is about teaching AND training.  There is both a content aspect to our faith and a conduct dimension to our faith.  Healthy churches and leaders want to see both evidenced in the lives of those who come into relationship with Christ.

 

Discipleship is about Teaching

 

            Discipleship is about forming Christ in the life of a believer through the spiritual transformation of the mind (Romans 12:1-2).  Obviously the Holy Spirit is the only one who produces genuine growth for a young man or woman, but the “seedbed” of that growth is an increasing understanding and application of God’s Word into their thinking and living.  At our church (CVC, www.cvcwired.com), we have grappled these last ten years with how to teach, transmit, and reproduce the content aspect of our faith.  We are coming to the conclusion, after ten years of experimenting, that there is no “silver bullet” to the teaching aspect of the faith.  So, we use:

 

·          One on One Relationships

·         Small Groups

·         Classes

·         Seminars

 

We use all of these methods and yet still find ourselves struggling in this arena.  Willow Creek’s recent study (of which our church was a secondary participant) called REVEAL suggests that our church is not alone in this regard.  I think one of the most helpful tools from Reveal is the understanding that discipleship is a journey.  Identifying where a person is on the journey and customizing the resources and tools available may help undergird their growth.

 

 Discipleship is about Training

 

            Discipleship is about forming Christ in the life of a believer through continual surrender of our will to His will (Colossians 2:6-7).  Most parents know Proverbs 22:6, “Train a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it”.  Study of that text reveals that one of the meanings of the word “train” is to “make narrow”.  Discipleship is about training in that we are helping men and women to become more and more like Christ in the way we think, the way we feel, and the way we live.  The Apostle John is clear that if we know Him (Jesus), then we “must walk as Jesus did” (I John 2:3-6).

 

            Discipleship training is the aspect of spiritual formation where we cultivate surrender of our will to the power and presence of the Holy Spirit and learn to follow God with our mind and with our heart, and with our feet.  In my experience, this never happens until we are in relationship with others where we allow genuine and grace filled accountability; in essence, that we allow other people to speak truth into our lives.  At CVC , we operate with these primary values in view as we live out “Friends Helping Friends Follow Christ”….

 

·          People Matter to God

·         God’s Word Changes Lives

·         Spiritual Growth Happens in Relationships

 

The End Result

 

Our prayer is that Christ is shaped into our hearts and we progressively learn to surrender to His Spirit as we learn to speak the truth to one another and grow up to maturity as a disciple of Jesus (Ephesians 4:29-32).  When we think like and act like Jesus as the result of teaching and training that comes from organic and healthy relationships, we will reproduce health in the lives of those we are able to impact for the sake of His kingdom.

 

 Dr. John Jackson is the Senior Pastor of Carson Valley Christian Center (www.cvcwired.com), the Executive Director of Thriving Churches International (www.thrive2009.com) and an author of several books, including Leveraging Your Leadership Style Leveraging Your Comunication Style, God-Size Your Church and Pastorpreneur.  You may learn more about John’s ministry at www.pastorpreneur.com

 

 

 

Women have natural leadership advantages

One more older article I thought my blog readers might like:

“Women Have Natural Leadership Advantages”

by Dr.

John Jackson

, © 2003

 

Most people agree that women generally have a more finely tuned relationship radar than men.  In part, that may be because of how women and men differ in the way their brains function.  Clinical studies have shown that women think with both hemispheres (the creative and the analytical) of their brain simultaneously, while men are wired up to think with each hemisphere sequentially.  Because of this, I think women have some natural leadership advantages.  Leadership is more like family than it is like war.

 

Leadership requires a focus on the future and strategic decision making ability.  And, since I am one, I like to think that there are lots of good leaders who are men!  But, I see a number of leadership dimensions where women may have a natural leadership advantage.  Dr. John Maxell defines leadership as “influence”.  If that is true, we want to be sure to exercise our leadership influence opportunities with the greatest of care.  I’ve learned over the years that leadership influence rests on certain principles.  So how is leadership more like family than it is like war?

 

Leadership rests on relationship.  While you can certainly be a leader on the basis of a position or on the basis of strength or power, that form of leadership does not change the heart and character of a person.  Leadership based on force or demand may cause someone to act, but it will not cause them to change.  Leadership that rests on relationship recognizes the connection of heart, the sharing of a dream, and the stirring of hope that comes when people are in relationship.  Women have a “natural” advantage in this area of leadership development.

 

Leadership requires commitment for the long haul.  Many leaders make the mistake of accepting a leadership role and then only thinking short term in that role.  My experience suggests that lasting leadership thinks of the long haul.  Rather than a “sprint”, leadership is generally a “marathon”.  Because women generally have greater endurance than men, I think women are uniquely suited for leadership that lasts!

 

Leadership means both strategic focus AND simultaneous sensitivity.  When we first had children, I would periodically “watch the children” when my wife went out for the evening.  When she’d return, she’d find that we’d had a wonderful time….but did nothing other than play and have fun.  When she watched the children, she’d also be cooking dinner, doing laundry, talking on the phone, cleaning the kitchen, and planning her next day’s activities!  I’d get a headache just thinking about it.  Leadership does require strategic focus…but it also requires simultaneous sensitivity to multiple dimensions of behavior, data, and complexity.  Because women think with both hemispheres simultaneously, women have a natural leadership advantage!

 

The truth is, I think God has given both men and women leadership advantages.  God has “wired us” so that we have a natural complementary nature.  Married couples that make it recognize their spouses as “God-gifts” because of their unique and complimentary gift mixes.  Since leadership is influence, I think God has positioned women for major leadership impact in the relationship fabric of our lives.  Women….seize your leadership opportunities and influence your world for Christ!

Leadership Bite Sizes

I'm resurrecting some older posts that touch on core issues for our blog community:

Leaders are learners...Those who are not are not leaders for long....

 

We live in an information society so leaders need to “traffic” in the currency of today’s world…leaders who are not growing and learning will not be leaders for long.  Jim Harrington, the former District Missionary of the Union Baptist Association in Houston said that the 4 skills for the 21^st century leader are:  Personal Mastery (knowing who God made you to be), Developing Vision (ability to discern God’s future for the ministry or organization you lead), Communicating Vision (ability to dynamically communicate God’s vision for your ministry) and  Shepherding Vision (the ability to shape the organization you lead in accordance with God’s vision)

 

Leaders must have a clear leadership development discipline.  We should be learning and growing in our relationship with Christ and our leadership capacity on a sustained basis.  Growing in our understanding of God’s Word, reading books, listening to tapes, attending seminars, investing in personal mentorship with other growing leaders are “baseline” activities for those who want to lead with excellence in the Body of Christ. 

 

Leaders are visionaries....This doesn’t mean they see only the future and not the present.  This means they see the future AND connect the present to it...

               

Bert Nanus said that “The right vision is an idea so powerful that it literally jump-starts the future by calling forth the energies, talents, and resources to make things happen” (Nanus, Visionary Leadership, 1992).  George Barna said that “vision is a clear mental image of a preferable future, imparted by God to his chosen servants, based upon an accurate understanding of God, self, and circumstances”(Barna, Without a Vision, the People Perish, 1991).  Leaders are visionaries to be sure.  However, that doesn’t mean that leaders see only the future without regard to the present.  Leaders understand the need to connect the present (the “what is”) with the future (“what can be”).  One of my favorite people on this subject is Christopher Robin in “Winnie the Pooh” who says “Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it’s not all mixed up”

 

                Leadership and management are really NOT at odds with each other as you may have heard.  The difference is in what they manage.  Managers manage process (making sure things get done the right way).  Leaders manage values (making sure the right things get done).  Both leadership and management are essential…leadership without management leads to chaos; management without leadership leads to stagnation.

 

                God has long used leaders like Moses and linked them with managers like Aaron so that God’s people could go into His future together.

 

                What are you learning lately?  How is God helping you in your leadership role to connect the present with His vision for the future?

 

Making the Holidays Holy-Days

Here's an article I wrote years ago that might be helpful to our blog community:

“How Do I Make My Holidays Holy-Days?”

 

Dr. John Jackson, Senior Pastor, Carson Valley Christian Center

 

 

 

            You know they’re coming.  You can feel it just as certain as the slight chill you sense each fall morning.  And when they come, you hope you’ll be able to hold on in the battle of time, diet, and onslaught of company to retain your sanity and sense of humor.  But isn’t there more to the holidays than all of this?  Is there any hope of making this year’s holiday season one full of peace, joy and happiness?  Can the holidays really become holy-days?  Here are a few tips that can make the difference in your household:

 

1)      Keep your focus clear.  Believe it or not, Thanksgiving is not about a turkey dinner(with apologies to grocery store owners).  Nor is Christmas about getting, or even giving, gifts (with apologies to retail storeowners).  Nothing wrong with food (I love it!), nothing wrong with giving or receiving gifts (I love them too!).  But, the truth is that the first celebrations of these holidays had entirely different meanings than now dominate our thoughts. 

 

Thanksgiving celebrates the provision of God through the harsh seasons of the early years of the Pilgrims.  God supplied through the Indians, and through the work of the people.  Christmas celebrates the birth of the Christ child, given freely by God for the salvation of the world.  The early church took an existing celebration and used it to mark a moment of quiet awe at the gift of God.  This year, determine in advance that you will keep thankfulness in your Thanksgiving and awe in your Christmas.

 

2)      Do something to meet the needs of others.  The quickest way to break the cycle of destructive, hectic, holiday madness is to meet the needs of someone less fortunate than you.  When you participate in a feeding program, when you give clothing to those who need it, when you wrap a gift (new!) for a needy child, you break the cycle of self-absorption that our culture is so capable of fostering.  And by the way…if you have children—make sure they participate with you.  Children are uniquely susceptible to the self-absorption of our time.  And, children are uniquely able to understand the difference between their heightened sense of “want” at this time of year and the very real “need” of others when they see it up close and personal. 

 

3)      Participate in a meaningful holy-day observance.  I know you may not be religious.   But, the holy-days have a way of providing meaning and value to life that is often absent in the rush of our world.  Take time this season to be with people of faith.  Share some moments where you can hear the Christmas story in all the wonder and awe of the first century.   Risk a moment of faith in your hurry up world.  See with awe and majesty what God can do when you risk a single step.

 

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6)

ISS/EQUIP Roundtable with Joel Osteen, Andy Stanley, John Maxwell

In a previous post here, I described an event that I got to attend at Lakewood Church, sponsored by EQUIP/ISS, John Maxwell's organizations.  Joel Osteen, Andy Stanley, John Maxwell

Lots of great stuff at this event...I went to a similar one three years ago.  Here are some rough comments/memories:

 Andy Stanley:  3 campuses, 15 strategic partners (church plants), well over 20,000 in attendance

Joel Osteen:  largest church in America, over 43,000 every weekend

John Maxwell:  America's leadership expert

GREAT day with some really awesome guys in the room.  The structue of these events is very conversational and John Maxwell facilitates.  Lakewood folks were great hosts and Joel Osteen was both gracious and very authentic.  Joel is clearly growing into his assignment.  In fact, Joel was clear that God's blessings were coming because he was staying focused and running his race.

Andy Stanley was brilliant as usual; in particular he was brilliant about his relationship with his father (now great!) and all he had received from him.  He also talked about his frustration (in response to a question) with how much church real estate was under-utilized from a Kingdom standpoint (what an awesome thing it would be for churches across America to be Kingdom focused with empty and near-empty church buildings!)

John Maxwell was not just elder statesman, he was poignant and crisp.  John has got to be one of the biggest leadership influences on me of my life.  In fact, I often say that I don't know when I'm being original and when I'm simply paraphrasing Maxwell.  So, I usually credit him one time and then go from there!

AWESOME experience.  Two final quotes:

God can take it (your ministry) all away in a minute.  Stay in His grace.

Don't pray about doing a great work for God. Pray about what God can do in you.  When you do that, He will be free to do a great work through you.

My Job is Easier than Bill's-Part 3 (Final)

        Previously on this blog in this post   and in this one, I explained why I felt like my job as the Founding and Senior Pastor of a 1600-1800 person church was easier than my friend Bill's.  Having said that, I did want to provide some specific input to his leadership that I thought might be of benefit to our blog community.  I remember leading a church of 300-800.  Based on that, and my years leading and consulting, here is some specific input I gave to Bill:

 

Spend  your time as you reach 300-800 people in 4 areas: 

 

        *Casting Vision/Preaching (I personally believe your preaching ministry and leadership vision casting are the number one areas.  See closing comment below)

 

        *Leadership Development (Identify your top 5 people—MAKE sure these people are multipliers…that your investment in them is being reproduced (think of Jesus and his 12 disciples and then the 3 He focused on)

 

        *Strategic Growth Multipliers (what key ministry areas should you pour gas on?  Where is God working and how can you join Him there to reach more people?  Where is the fruit bearing the most obvious?)

 

        *  Resource raising—most pastors hate this, but I think it is critical that you be the one to help cultivate vision and sacrifice for the top 25 donors in your church to help you get to the next levels.  A growing church will always struggle with leaders, facility, and finances, but once you get over 800 you at least have the core foundation you need.

 

Finally, in a closing thought, I'd like you to reflect on the reality that the role of preaching/communicating and leadership are hard to find in one person.  Pay careful attention to your preaching and your leadership.  If you are weaker in one area than another, then be sure to staff around you to support you and develop your gifts to their full measure

My Job is Easier than Bill's-Part 2

So in my last post, I told you that "My job is easier than Bill's", referring to my friend Bill Mcready who is pastoring a church that is reaching 400 people each week.  He wonders how I can get so much done.  I told him I think his job is harder than mine.  After explaining all that however, I did want to offer my specific advice for those pastoring a church of 300-800.  Here in not exactly rank order, are my inputs to Bill and to those pastoring a church of that size.  I remember leading through that season in our life at CVC as being very difficult....

Here are my first two bits of input to Bill expanded a bit for my blog readers....the final installment tomorrow...

  1) You have to be clear about your own personal sense of gifts and calling.  Operate within your strengths and leverage those to the max.  It might be that you are best suited to shepherd a smaller flock or that you can get the "buy-in" of your board to leverage your own leadership strengths.  Too many pastors try to lead out of a sense of "ought" (e.g. , "I ought to meet everyone's needs and expectations") instead of a sense of call and gifting.  Know your gifts and strengths and maximize them!

2)  Be clear about the vision of the church and where you believe God is calling you and the body.  I don’t think every church will reach a 1,000 people or more.  That’s up to God (of course), up to your leadership and the team around you, and up to your community.  So...are you clear about your assignment in the body of Christ, in your community, and with your gifts and leadership team?  If so, I believe the input I'll give tomorrow will be of help to you in your ministry...