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What If The Church Took The Night Off?

My high school age daughter Amy is a barista at Starbucks.  A few weeks ago all the Starbucks across North America closed shop for three and half hours in the evening.  Why?  To hear from Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz via video about the companies need to get back to it's original vision.  Next, the store manager talked about several strategic changes that the store would make to give the customer better and more personalized service.  And the evening ended by re-training everyone at that Starbucks store.  When my daughter got home here is what she said to me, "Dad, you would have loved it!...It's really weird, I know that I really work at a fast food chain, but they made me believe that it really matters."

So here is my question: If we were to close all the churches across North America for three and half hours and we had the chance to vision-cast and re-train every Christ Follower, what would need to be said and what would you do?

90 Minutes with the World's Wealthiest

Rich DeVos is one of the wealthiest men in the world and more importantly he is a follower of Jesus. I had a post last year where I told about a question and answer session with Rich.  As an Editorial Adviser for Building Church Leaders they will re-post stuff from this blog. So if you are new reader or would like to re-read it, just check out the Off The Agenda section of Building Church Leaders Blog.  There is lots of other great stuff there too!

The Power of Apprenticing New Leaders

I spent some time talking with Perry Tobin of Pastors.com a couple weeks ago.  If you are one of the few who have not checked out Pastors.com, you should - lots of good stuff.  The idea was to feature an interview from me to hype the Exponential Conference coming up April 21-24 (you can still get the early bird rate of $129!) by talking about the power of apprenticeships.  So Perry called me and we talked about reproducing leaders, reproducing sites and reproducing new churches.  The theme of the Exponential Conference is The DNA of a Reproducing Church - so that fits!   As a result of the interview they wrote this article:  Reproduce Your Ministries Through Apprenticing New Leaders that appears in Ministry Tool Box.

Leadership Community - A Must Monthly Event!

One of the most critical events in the life of Community happens on the first Saturday morning of every month. Once a month we gather all our leaders (adults, students and kids ministry) from all of our locations for Leadership Community. Check out the Vision time from our January Leadership Community to see and hear about our initiatives for this year and why Leadership Community is such an important event for us.

I believe that Leadership Community is an absolute must monthly event for CCC.  If I was to choose only one gathering for our church, I would choose the small group.  If I got to add a second gathering, I would choose Leadership Community.  Third would be our celebration service.  That is how important I believe Leadership Community to be.  So, why do we need Leadership Community?  I'm glad you asked.  Here are at least three reasons.

• Vision Leaks - Even the best of leaders get worn out and discouraged and the vision that once inspired them to "keep on" begins to leak.  I once heard Carl George say, "the vision dies every 60 days"; that is why we need to keep the vision in front of all our leaders on at least a monthly basis.
  
• Leaders Need To Be Around Other Leaders - Only leaders know what it is like to face the challenges of leadership.  And because of that for leaders there is nothing like the encouragement of being around other leaders. So at Leadership Community we put leaders into coaching huddles where they can talk, trouble-shoot and pray together.
  
• It's a Great Place To Sharpen Your Leadership Skills - There is a specific skill-set that is needed to be the most effective leader you can be.  So at Leadership Community  we offer specific skills training so that leaders can be their very best!

At the September Leadership Community I lay out the vision for the coming ministry year and explain the 3-4 all-church initiatives that we are going after.  This year our initiatives were the following:

1. Reproduce A Campus In Plainfield
2. Operation Generosity
3. Alternative 3C Communities
4. Defining Spiritual Maturity

Usually in January I come back to those initiatives and give an update.  I did that that again this year.  It is our goal to have every leader understand where we are going as a church and to have all of us moving in the same direction.  This month, we captured the January Leadership Community vision time on video for our CCC leaders to review and share with others and for those outside CCC to check out.

Reflections on Onnuri Community Church in Seoul

This is a picture of Seoul that I took from where I sat every morning while having breakfast. Right now I'm sitting in the Incheon International Airport waiting for my flight back to Chicago.  It has been a great trip. I hope I was a positive influence on the thousands of church leaders that gathered here from all over the world.  But I know that being at Onnuri Community Church has been a tremendously positive influence on me. Here are a couple things that I will take away from this trip about this amazing church:

1. They work hard and they pray hard.  After my first trip I kind of dismissed the daily early prayer meetings as a reason for their huge impact.  Why?  Because they work so hard that I came away thinking that the real reason for their remarkable growth is that every staff person literally works over 12 hours a day and never takes a full-day off. And while the work ethic is remarkable (and unhealthy), this time I couldn't help but take note that they started this year with 40 days of prayer.  And prayer is integral to everything they do.  And of course there are the daily early prayer meetings that thousands of people attend.  So, I'm taking back that we need to keep working hard (but still take time off!) and we need to start praying even harder.
2. The vision is big and broad.  It is astounding the breadth of arenas this church is involved:  church planting, community betterment, publishing, broadcasting, crusades, artist development, outreach to influential leaders and personalities, ministry to all ages and multiple languages.  Just when you think you have a lot going on, you run into somebody who has ten times as much going on.  When Pastor Ha was asked about how does he lead and provide vision to so many different causes and organizations he said, "When I'm with the publishing group I turn off all the other switches and turn on only the publishing group switch...which ever ministry I working with, I think only about that one."  Interesting.  I'm not sure how this will play out at CCC / NewThing, but it is inspiring.

60,000 people at 8 locations and 32 church plants!

Landed in Seoul a little before 6 am on Wednesday and Andy (right) who oversees the English and International Ministry of Onnuri Community Church was there to greet me.  After a quick breakfast I went to their all-staff meeting.  I found out that things have continued to grow since I was here last.  The church now has 8 locations in Korea and about 60,000 in attendance (if you are keeping score, that is like double Joel Osteen's church!) and 32 church plants around the world.  Very cool.  I got to spend a little time with  Pastor Ha who founded the church.  We are scheduled to get together for a meeting in the next couple days.  I am already working on a list of questions.  Mark Choi (middle), a friend of mine from the last trip to Korea showed up early and then took Andy and I out to dinner tonight at a terrific Italian restaurant.  Two years ago Mark left Seoul to start the in2church in Manhattan, New York City.  The church is primarily targeting first and second generation Koreans and already has about 500 people that are a part of that church.

Tomorrow I will do a pre-conference workshop with church leaders and missionaries on the topic of The Big Idea.  Should be fun!  Then the Leadership Conference kicks off tomorrow night.  Stay tuned...

Off to Seoul, South Korea...

I'm sitting at the airport waiting on my 1:00 am (yes, as in the morning) flight to Seoul, South Korea. I'm going to be speaking at a Leadership Conference sponsored by Onnuri Church in Seoul. I was asked to speak for a conference at this church three years ago and it was an amazing experience at an amazing church!  Last I heard this church has over 40,000 people that attend at six locations with 36 worship services in 12 different languages.  They have asked me to speak on the Big Idea and Creating Missional Velocity so, I'm totally jazzed about this opportunity.  If you think about it, you can say a pray for me.

San Diego, NOC, book signing & getting work done on planes...

Just landed in San Diego for the National Outreach Convention.  It is going to be pretty quick for me.  I have a dinner tonight, a workshop in the morning a couple connections I'm making in between and then I'm back on a plane headed to Chicago.   

If you are here, come to my workshop on the BIG IDEA.  Or better yet - come to the book signing.  Seriously, they asked me to do a book signing which I have a hunch is really a cruel joke because nobody is going to show up.  Now  you might think this is me trying to be self-deprecating, but it's not!  They had a book signing for us at the Catalyst Conference and Jon and I stood at a table and one guy showed up to have us sign his copy of The Big Idea.  And I think he really just came up to talk to us and we started signing the book before he knew what happened.  Meanwhile Leonard Sweet is right next to us and he has a line full of people waiting for him to sign his book. Funny.  Oh well.  Probably good for me.

Did I mention it is not sunny in San Diego?  Ugh. 

And by the way - plane rides are great places to get work done.  I edited a powerpoint presentation, worked on my workshop talk and wrote two articles for different publications while flying from Chicago to San Diego.  That is awesome.

Q & A with Rich DeVos

On Monday and Tuesday I was at the Leadership Summit Debrief in Chicago. It's a gathering of all the Lead Pastors from different churches that serve as satellite sites for the Leadership Summit. This group gathers to review the Summit and be mentored by Bill Hybels and other key leaders that they bring in. 

One of the leaders that they brought in this year was Rich DeVos. DeVos is a billionaire (listed as the 73rd wealthiest  person in the United States and the 248th wealthiest person in the world), founder of the Amway Corporation, the owner of the Orlando Magic and Christ Follower.  We had about ninety minutes to do questions and answers with this remarkable leader and here are a few of the highlights:

Why did you decide to trust Bill and invest so much in the Willow Creek Association?
First of all, I believe success attracts success.  I first met Bill through his father and I saw his ministry continue to grow and grow. I was always fascinated with church builders – people could grow a church that would reach people. Bill was a success and I wanted to be a part of helping him. Secondly, I’m a cheerleader. I believe the most important words you can say to a person are “you can do it!” It’s awful simple, but I just want to tell people they can accomplish their dreams.

You did an interview for the Leadership Summit a few years ago and when asked about getting money from wealthy people you told pastors to “Hit’em up” How?
First, introduce yourself and help them get to know you. Be straight forward in your presentation and tell them what you need and what it will accomplish. They will like to see something started and finished. Don’t just tell them it is for the budget. Tell them what you need and what it will accomplish. Be specific.

When you have to fire someone, what is the best way to do that?
I always want to be able to say, “I’ve been talking to you about this for 6 months…” It should not be a surprise.

What is one challenge you have for pastors?
I like motivation more than encouragement. Illustrations and stories are a great way to motivate people and I think that is the biggest thing lacking in their preaching. The question pastors need to ask is “will they remember what was said?”  Keep the message clear.

You are writing a new book titled Powerful Phrases of Positive People what are some of those phrases?
Here are some of those powerful phrases:

• I’m wrong,
• I’m sorry.
• I trust you.
• I’m proud of you.
• I luv ya!

Bill Hybels on Inspirational Leadership

Bill Hybels closed out the Leadership Summit with a talk about inspirational leadership.  He began by telling us that he had thought about this topic for many years and finally felt like he was ready to talk about it.

On a personal note I amazed and amused at how I still find Bill personally inspiring.  Even when I know he is going to say it; I still find myself getting an adrenalin rush when he says, "The local church is the hope of the world!"  So I was ready to listen when a leader like Bill who inspires me and so many says he wants to talk about inspirational leadership.  He focused his talk on the following four questions:

Question #1:  How much does inspiration and motivation really matter?  There is at least a 40% performance differential between a motivated and un-motivated employee.  The statistics are endless pointing out how motivated people not only make a greater impact to how un-motivated people use more sick days.  Bottom line:  motivation matters a lot!

Question #2:  Who's job is it to keep me motivated?  Our followers deserve to have a motivated leader to follow. I need to be in an inspired state.  How do I stay in an inspired state?  Here are some things that I have learned about staying motivated:

1. I need to be crystal clear about my mission.  When I'm clear about my calling I can stand almost anything.  It is my job to know God deeply enough and to seek after Him often enough, to stay on my knees long enough to make sure I know God's calling in my life!  If you don't know your calling, then you need to clear your calendar; find a time to spend time with God so you are absolutely crystal clear about your mission.
2. I need to be crystal clear about my spiritual gifts.  What are your spiritual gifts?  They will tell you how to orient and carry out your mission.
3. I need players on my team are inspiring people.  To be an inspiring person I need to be around inspiring people!  Get people around you that give you a positive emotional jolt!
4. Read books that inspire me.
5. Be around exceptionally inspiring people.  Sometimes that is through their writings.  You find time to read what they write and get inspired.  If you have access to
6. Participate in exceptionally inspiring events.  The Leadership Summit is designed to be an exceptionally inspiring event.
7. Pay attention to physical discipline.  Health experts agree that the average person can experience a 20% gain in energy if they are sticking to their physical disciplines.
8. Pay attention to your work environment.  Your work space will either add to your motivation or will distract from it.
9. Participate in inspiring recreation.  What is it that re-creates you?
10. Practicing daily spiritual disciplines.  It is almost embarrassing to admit how much it lifts my spirit when I feel like I have heard from God.  Saturation and reflection on the word of God inspires me!

Question #3:  What is the best way to inspire the people around me?  The single most powerful way to motivate the people around you and to pump them up is to live a motivated life around them and in front of them.  This is where it starts!  Your motivation level is a force multiplier!  The daily grind will get fun again when you are willing to take full responsibility for your own inspiration level.  Beyond your example, how do you motivate people?  Here is how to motivate those around you:

1. Connect everyone you lead to a compelling cause. For example:  "We are not just building buildings, we are building homes for people to raise their kids in."
2. Learn the inspiration language of your team members and speak it.  People want to be inspired in different ways.  Some people respond to public praise and others prefer gifts and plaques others want to know how it impacts you.
3. We have to identify and reduce every de-motivating dynamic around. Frederick Herzberg did a study on job satisfaction that showed that highly motivated employees will be de-motivated if the de-motivating dynamics are not addressed and resolved.
4. Celebrate every sign of progress.  Divide your long term goals into smaller achievable goals so that you can celebrate progress every week, month or quarter.

Question #4:  What would a church look like if every person in a church was inspired?  Why did God put that leadership gift in you?  To help a local church be motivated and inspired. And inspired, motivated churches will change people and communities for eternity.