Monthly Archives: June 2008

Being mean about the vision

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One of the “Best Practices” that Shawn Lovejoy and David Putman talk about all the time is “being mean about the vision.”

After talking with these guys, and “doing life” around them I can tell you a few things about “being mean about the vision”:

  • It has nothing to do with being a jerk and everything to do with being firm.
  • It has nothing to do with being mean-spirited and everything to do with being uncompromising about the vision that God has called you to.

Some time ago in conversation with some other church planters, and after hearing the stories of way too many pastors and planters I am persuaded that many problems in the church are a reflection of weak leaders who will give away the vision to keep peace.

What is needed in the church are leaders who have a vision from God and the strength and wisdom to see it fulfilled.

Two biblical examples of this are:

  • Paul - Read Galatians chapter one for an example of Paul being “mean about the vision.”
  • Nehemiah - Read Nehemiah chapter six for an example of Nehemiah being “mean about the vision.”

As leaders, we cannot compromise the vision that God has planted in our hearts. We must lead with fortitude, grace, wisdom, and an uncompromising clarity about what God has called us to do. Along the way we will certainly make adjustments as we listen to wise counsel and adjust our methods for maximum effectiveness, but we must NEVER compromise the vision.

How this works out practically:

  • You must be clear about the vision that God has given you. This is the result of prayer, conversation, reflection, and experience.
  • You must be willing to say goodbye to people, even friends, who want to go another direction. While this certainly does not mean you become enemies, it does mean that the nature of your relationship will change.
  • You must be willing to lose resources (e.g. people, money, etc.). When people determine that you are not going to change course they will leave. When you are certain about the vision and clear and uncompromising regarding your intent to follow through on it, people will leave and “take their toys.”
  • As you continue to maintain a clear, unwavering position on this God-given vision you will begin to see the fruit of your labor.

A few tips:

  • Be clear and honest up front! Don’t woo people in with promises you can’t keep. Be very clear about the direction/vision of your church.
  • Be kind as you explain to people that you are not going to change. If necessary help them find a local church that will be better suited to their desires (Craig Groeschel had a great idea here).
  • Keep evaluating your ministry efforts to make sure that you are not getting off track from the original God-given vision.
  • Stay prayerfully focused, and keep close to a handful of trusted mentors as you fulfill the calling that God has placed on your life.

That’s what “being mean about the vision” is all about.

Crisis updates

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Thank you to all of you who have been praying for our family in these days of the “valley of the shadow of death.”

Some updates:

  • Tonight (Thursday) is the viewing.
  • Tomorrow is the funeral and the last “goodbye” to little Ethan.

Some reflections:

  • Perhaps the most commonly asked question I get, as a pastor, at funerals is, “Can he/she see me?” My answer is, ”Nowhere in Scripture are we told that the dead cannot see us here on earth so why not go ahead and believe that your loved one can see you for your comfort.”
  • Death at this young age reminds me that life is so fragile and precious. It can be granted for decades and/or snatched in days. Neither life nor death should be taken for granted.
  • Death without faith in God is a black hole that sucks every ounce of energy and optimism out of life.
  • Death, especially in instances like this, will drive us either to faith or despair. I keep thinking that in situations like this the only question that matters is, “Will I trust God when I don’t understand Him?”
  • What do you say in times like these? Words like, “I’m so sorry”, while true, are just not helpful. Sherri’s sister got it right when she said, in response to these words, “Everybody keeps saying that, but it doesn’t bring him back.” Quite frankly in times like this the most helpful activity is not words but deeds. Simply helping is the best way to communicate care and support in the valley of the shadow of death.

 

Responding to failure

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Reading from The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham this morning and came across a great quote,

Failure is the inevitable companion of a large vision. No one can take on a significant and difficult challenge without stumbling a few times. The important thing is how we respond. The goal is not a fail-safe record but a pattern of increasing effectiveness.

Three cheers for those attempting the BIG STUFF and learning from their failures!

Walls Down logo

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The Walls Down logo has received some cool recognition from Kent Shaffer of churchrelevance.com. He writes,

A good logo design is…

Distinctive. Memorable. And timeless.
It is aesthetically pleasing.

It is scalable, looking good while as large as a billboard or as small as a dime. It looks good in color as well as black and white. And it is simple enough that it can be applied to a media spectrum as broad as paper to plastic and t-shirts to websites.

Most importantly, a good logo communicates the unique qualities of its brand.

And then he gives his list of the top 33 logos.

The Walls Down church makes the list! Check out the whole list here.
walls down logo
(The creator of all this goodness is Justin Michau of Cashmere Creative. Check him out!)

Vision drives everything

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One of the greatest struggles of leadership happens when you have to choose between a friend and the vision of your church/organization. When your friend disagrees with the vision what do you do? Do you acquiesce? Do you water down the vision? Do you change direction to “stay friends”? Let’s complicate it a bit shall we? When your friend is an employee but has reached the point where he/she is either no longer able or willing to press on towards the accomplishment of the vision, what do you do?

As leaders we are entrusted with a vision from God. We are called to be good stewards (i.e. managers) of this vision.

A couple of months ago I heard Joe Champion say something that has given me clarity on this issue. He said, “Stewardship must take precedence over friendship.”

The truth is that if we choose friendship over stewardship of the vision we will flatline our organizational effectiveness, and in the case of the church that means that people’s destinies will be altered because we made a wrong choice, a choice driven by our own convenience.

The determination to live out this principle with grace and rigor is what separates leaders who lead “fruit bearing” churches/organizations and leaders who dream and talk about fruit bearing churches/organizations.

Crisis

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Yesterday as Sherri and I were on our way home from North Carolina she got a call. The kind of call you never want to get.

Yesterday around 6 p.m. Sherri’s younger sister’s 4 month old son, Ethan Ronald, passed away from SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).

Who can explain these things?

There surely are no real good answers at a time like this, but in the absence of answers the void is filled as much as possible by the love of family and friends.

Sherri, “The Ladies” and myself are headed on a 12+ hour trip north to be with our family to cry together, love together, and begin the process of healing together.

Here are some ways you can pray:

  1. For Lori and Mike that they would know the Lord who walks with them through the “valley of the shadow of death.”
  2. For Sherri’s parents as they mourn and care for their grieving daughter.
  3. For my bride and her siblings as they grieve with their sister.
  4. For Sherri, “The Ladies” and me that we will be conduits of God’s light in a dark situation.

Thanks friends.

Moved by Billy Graham

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Today Sherri and I stopped by the Billy Graham Library. It was not a planned visit, just something that occurred to us to do as we drove past the exit on route 85. As we walked onto the grounds it was almost as if we were walking onto holy ground and entering into a divine appointment.

During our time there we were both deeply moved by stories, pictures, and quotes of how God powerfully moved through a North Carolina farm boy. These words by Billy Graham are illustrative of much of what we saw,

I was overwhelmed with the singular focus of this man and his family – to help people find Jesus.

I was struck by the role his parents played in his spiritual development and reminded again of the important role we play as parents. We do not know how God will use our children. Our job is to prepare them to be maximally used by God to bring good into this world as He so chooses.

I was also deeply moved by the relationship between Billy and his wife Ruth. He consistently said that she was the “best Christian” he knew, and he consistently looked to her and counted her as one of his key mentors and advisors. This picture says it all…

As we were leaving we stopped by one of the volunteers, shared our story with him and asked him to pray that the Spirit that led and empowered Billy Graham would go with us to Cincinnati. After leaving the building we sat on a bench in the woods and cried together as we asked God to use us to show His love to our children and the people we will minister to.

This day has been an inspiration and a confirmation of the clear vision God has called us to. It’s why we are starting Walls Down church – to tear down the walls that keep people from knowing Jesus and to help men, women, boys, and girls find the life Jesus promised.

Getting ready to move

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Boxes, boxes, and more boxes…

Yelling at little girls for unpacking boxes… apologizing for yelling… helping repack the boxes…

Trying to figure out what goes, what gets tossed, what gets sold, and what gets given away…

Playing with little girls… helping them make the third move for two of them and a second move for the other two… They’re doing good.

Trying to find food… let’s be honest here. At moving time, eating habits pretty much tank.

Found the best place in the world to get boxes… behind department stores in their “cardboard only” containers! They’re already broken down!

A bit sentimental about leaving friends…

Like a caged lion ready to go, ready to get on the ground and start Walls Down Church!

Trying to balance church work with home work in these crazy days… it’s kind of like God vs. Sherri… Gosh, what’s a guy to do in this situation? ;-)

Coming babe…

Being assessed

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On Monday and Tuesday we participated in a “church planters assessment” with ARC (Association of Related Churches).

Here’s how it went down…

  • In the beginning of May we went to Austin, Texas for the CPR (Church Planter’s Roundtable) where we learned about the ARC planting philosophy and determine whether or not we wanted to pursue a relationship. We did.

Fast forward six weeks…

  • In preparation for this assessment, both Sherri and I had to fill out four different self-analysis tests:
  1. A self-assessment grid in which I had to rate myself on sixteen different questions AND I had to rate Sherri on the same questions. She had to do the same thing!
  2. A LEAD analysis (Leadership Effectiveness & Adaptability Description)
  3. A Spiritual Gifts Analysis
  4. The DISC Personality Factor Profile

Monday

  • Monday at 11 a.m. we showed up for an interview with a professional counselor, Chip Judd, who interviewed and confirmed that we are not psychotic.
  • Monday evening, after supper together, each of the thirteen church planting couples had to stand in front and introduce themselves to the group and the assessors. The assessors then asked each couple a variety of random but strategic questions. For instance, they asked me, “When was the last time you cried?” and “Why would people want to follow you?”
  • We were sent home with an assignment due the next morning: write a letter to the lead assessor dated three years from now telling him how things are going in your church! Gosh! That was a great exercise!

Tuesday

  • The 7:30 breakfast/start time came early but we were all there and ready to roll!
  • We got right into things with a “Church Planting Risk Analysis” which looked at eight variables indicating the level of risk associated with each planter. These variables ranged from ministry experience to the location of the church plant.
  • Then we had to “lead our neighbor to Christ.” It was a role playing scenario in which we split up into groups of two and took turns playing the role of the neighbor who did not follow Christ and the “church planter guy”. We had to have the conversation, answer any objections, etc. and ultimately end up praying with them in their moment of surrender to and faith in Christ. All of this was done in front of an assessor who was evaluating this whole experience! As I was praying with my “neighbor”, even though it was a role play, I started to choke up. This is what I am going to do with the rest of my life… help people discover the “rich and satisfying life” Jesus promised (John 10:10)!
  • Following that little experience, we were split into groups and given a case study that we had to work through as a group. Basically it came down to how we would handle a divisive person in the church. After we worked through this case study, in which we were constantly being observed by note-taking assessors, we had to evaluate each other!
  • The pre, during, and post-lunch exercise was a “Model of Ministry Exercise” in which they divided us into groups and we had to pick a city where we would plant a church. Then we had to develop a model of ministry for the particular city to which we were headed including: styles of worship, leadership, discipleship, teaching, etc. After developing the model, our team had to present it to the entire group for a mock check of $100,000! Of course this whole exercise was done under the watchful eye of the assessors! After the presentation they, once again, had us evaluate each other on various issues: ability to work with others, openness to new ideas, servant leadership, etc.
  • We wrapped up the day with one more interview with an assessor. They asked Sherri and me things like: what does your time with God look like? What will a weekend at your church look like? We prayed together and then went home.

It was an intense yet invigorating experience in which we learned a lot about ourselves and got to meet some great new friends! It was also an opportunity to run our vision through the grid of yet another solid church planting organization and hear their affirmation.

I can’t wait to get on the ground and get Walls Down Church started!

Abortion

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My friend and Rindy’s son, Tim, asked me to help him on his senior exit project. He was making a case for a pro-life position and wanted a “pastor’s perspective” on this issue.

I made a ten minute video for him in which I answered various questions which he posed to me. Yesterday I received this comment on the blog:

This was truly very educational to me and I have shown it to my children because my eldest daughter had a friend considering abortion and she didn’t see anything wrong with it. I have just showed it to her friend that was going to have an abortion and now thank God she was moved by your video and the post and she has decided to not have an abortion and to keep the child even though she knows it is going to be a lot of work! God Bless you and thank you so much for the video you did! It saved a baby’s life!

Tim, during his research for this project made some startling discoveries that you really should read about here.

Gosh, I wonder who that little person will become? I wonder how life would be different for mom if Tim wouldn’t have taken this position? I wonder how many people’s lives, in the future, will be shaped by this little life saved because one young man, Tim, made a case for life. Way to go Tim for making your case, and way to go mom for making this decision.

So anyway, here’s the video…