Groeschel: Busting Barries with Mind Shift Changes

There are few leaders within the church or outside the church that can speak to the topic of "Busting Barriers" with more authority than Craig Groeschel.  Craig planted LifeChurch.tv and has seen it grow from the humble beginnings in his garage to a place where they are reaching 20,000 on a regular basis in multiple campuses in multiple states across the country.

Craig joined Andy Stanely for an awesome "one-two punch" at the Catalyst One Day at Granger Church.  They both did an a tremedous job.  In this talk Craig talked about how we need to think differently in order to bust through the barriers our churches face.  Craig finishes this very practical talk by giving us three assignments for making mind shift changes.  Enjoy...

BUSTING BARRIERS WITH MIND SHIFT CHANGES

Think differently about your church culture.

• Don’t say, “Our people won’t ___________” (insert problem).  Instead you should say, “We have not led our people to ____________” (insert problem). 

Think differently about the mission.

• Are you about the mission or are you about guarding people’s feelings? 

Think differently about people leaving the church.

• The normal mindset is “we can’t let anyone leave.”

Think differently about limitations.

• Most of the time we say, “we can’t because we don’t have  _______.”  Great leaders see opportunities where others see limitations.

3 ASSIGNMENTS FOR MAKING A MIND SHIFT CHANGE

1. Find someone one or two steps ahead of you and learn how they think.
2. Identify one wrong mindset and ask God to renew your mind with truth.
3. Identify one painful decision you’ve been avoiding and commit to making the right decision immediately.

Comments

[210 Leadership Blog]

Excellent notes. I'm so stoked you posted these man. Thanx

[Antwon Davis]

Wish I could have been there. This is a topic so worth discussing with others and taking before God.

Working in college ministry for almost 4 years and experiencing the stagnancy of student ministry, I found myself frustrated with the level of apathy and lack of vision amongst the leaders.

It was during the Catalyst Conference this year that I realized that I had also become stagnant trying to move with the wrong "Tribe" (as Seth Godin would day). Two weeks after the conference, I finally made that painful decision that I had been avoiding to make, and I stepped down from the leadership team as well as from attending the church. I am convinced that it was the right move.

Thanks for posting the insight!

[Troy Kennedy]

Thanks Dave!!! This is very helpful. Any chance you can elaborate more on the “we can’t let anyone leave” idea. Did he say any more about who SHOULD leave?

[Jason Curlee]

great takeaway Dave...for me I grab hold of needing to find a multi-site campus that is ahead of us and where we want to go...and then learn how they think....

[210 Leadership Blog]

I think that first quote reveals a lot about Groeschel's view on leadership.

"Don’t say, “Our people won’t ___ ” Instead you should say, “We have not led our people to ___ ”

I think it shows the mind of a leader who knows that everything in an organization (whether good or bad) comes back to its leadership.

No petty blame games or finger-pointing, just hard-core maturity as a leader .

After all, it was Winston Churchill who said, "The price of greatness is responsibility."

[Michael Trent]

Dave,

I just cranked out an article that was birthed from conversations of hearing church leaders complain with "If we had more ______, then we could get more done." The top three things I hear are "more people, more facilities, and more money...."

(1) We have the greatest people ever - those called, designed, and destined for purpose and greatness.

(2) Churches have some of the best real estate and square footage on the planet -

(3) And, oh yeah, just a friendly reminder, we have the Richest Dad - um, EVER.

A wise man once said (not too many posts ago) - lead with YES, then HOW.........well, that is what we should lead with in the visions that God gives (visions are free) and then let God figure out the how (especially since he's our CFO).

Okay - I'm done for now.

Michael Trent
Your Bartender