The Capacity Of A Leader 3

I hope you read Part 1 and Part 2 of this short series, "The Capacity Of A Leader". The main point I have been driving is that the capacity of our leadership will determine the size of the church or ministry we lead.

In this part, I want to give a few practical ways a person can develop their leadership as I wrap this up. Make sure you check out the dialog that was created in both of those posts, there were some great thoughts.

I know many people don't want to hear and maybe don't even agree with my point. Tough thing is that when I make that point I already assume many things. I assume a leader is praying and working on their relationship with God. I assume a leader is building themselves up in God's Word. I assume that a leader is walking and living by faith. I also assume that ultimately it is all up to God. Take all that away and honestly what point is there in being a leader in God's Kingdom.

I also see that there is a a duality to our spiritual walk as well as the natural dimension of leadership. These two do function hand in hand in our leadership capacity. What I see often though is that the natural dimension of leading is a short-fall of many church leaders thus hurting their ability to lead.

So...let's get down to a little practicality. I don't want to overload you and I think these are mostly self-explanatory.

• Grow Yourself Spiritually - Read the Word and Pray. This above anything else is key. Without your relationship with God...nothing else matters. God is the one that will ultimately raise you up, so stay close to him.
• Be A Reader - Read books of a variety of areas; business, marketing, church growth, systems, spiritual growth. Develop a list and read.
• Find A Mentor - Going on this journey with someone else, especially someone who is in a place where you want to go can really challenge you to grow. In fact surround yourself with people who will take you to another level. You can do this physically in person or even through blogs, books, cd's/podcasts.

I hope we have challenged you to work on growing your capacity to lead. Remember God wants to grow His church even more than we do...and He wants to do it through us. Don't be the one standing in His way. Start growing today. Hey that rhymed.

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[photo from flikr.com - Baobab on the Planet of the Little Prince]

You Give God A Bad Name

Ok...I have a huge confession to make. I know we are supposed to love everyone...right? Isn't that what our Bible says? Love your neighbor as yourself.

Problem is...and this is my huge confession...there are some people that when it comes down to it...I JUST DON'T LIKE.

The real problem - Most of the people I don't like are CHRISTIANS.

There I said it. Hey at least I'm being honest. Let me give you the reason why. Well it might be better if I show you why. In the video below (RSS readers you may need to go to the post to see it) there is a woman who is obviously a Christian by the way she talks and acts, who is...well...you are just going to have to watch the video. Trust me you have 3 minutes and 10 seconds to watch this. The action with the woman picks up at 1.22.

Back story to this is that the now former mayor of a town near Corpus (Alice, TX) is on trail for stealing a dog while she was the mayor. But it is this woman in the video that, well, is trying to cast the devil out of the reporter that...well trust me you have to watch it.



Did you watch it? It is no wonder that so many teens and young adults want to have nothing to do with the church today. This is a blatant perfect reason. If I didn't know that there are actually some great down to earth Christians...this person would TURN ME OFF FROM CHRISTIANITY TOO. I was yelling at the tv.

If you act like this...please stop...you give God a bad name.

What are your thoughts? I know this was an confession of mine, but does this turn you off as well.

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Are You Multi-Site?

One of the values that our church will have is to be a multi-site church. The essence of being an Acts 1:8 church is that Christ's mission moved in ever expanding concentric circles. It moved from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Almost like throwing a stone into a pond.

In the Multi-site Practicum the following facts were shared:

• 9/10 of the largest churches in America are Multi-Site Churches.
• 7/10 of the fastest growing churches in America are Multi-Site Churches.
• The average annual growth of churches since going multi-site = 33%
• The average annual growth since going multi-site = UP 13%

I'll be honest with you, multi-site was a challenge to me in the past. I had this idea, "Why couldn't there be only one church in town and everyone go to it?" After all, if that were to happen couldn't we get more things done than having all these churches of 20, 40, 60, etc... sized churches.

God has really been working in me that having many sites of the same church unique in themselves could be a way to be more effective.

What about you out there? Are you in a church that is multi-site? What are your impressions? How do your sites work?

In a future post I'm going to lay out for you my thoughts on how we will attack being a multi-site church.

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[Thanks to Mike for the stats]

The Capacity Of A Leader 2

Matthew 25 has a great story of stewardship. Of course we see it as an illustration of three people taking care of what God has given them. I think it is a prime example of how we should work to better the leadership God has given us.

Each of us has a capacity to lead. In part 1 we talked about how the size of our ministry is determined by the capacity of our leadership. I believe it is possible to increase that capacity. Not only that but I believe it is our God given responsibility to do so. Maybe you could call it the stewardship of leadership...not sure about that.

As we see in Matthew 25:14-30, each of the servants is entrusted with the Masters property, "each according to his ability".

Here is where I want to break and show you what God is showing me through this. I'm not going to go into what happened. Most of us know the story and/or can read it. What I do want to zero in on is the "ability" part.

Now we could go into who gave them the ability. We could go into a lot of things on this. This is what I do know through experience in my life and in how I see God working.

When I was born, I believe I was given athletic ability as well as a certain level of intelligence. When I got to junior high/high school I began to work hard to develop and not develop those abilities.

In athletics I worked hard and was able to take that ability He gave me and go on to play football in college. To me...I doubled that talent.

As far as intelligence goes I graduated in the top 10% of my class. Only problem is that I never worked hard. I skated by in High School. In fact, you could say that really I was an average student that got by with the intelligence God gave me. I was able to get into college and academically I did horrible. In fact I graduated as a "C" student. To me...I wasted that talent.

God has entrusted us with His church and with the purpose of making disciples. We can either sit on that talent or we can increase our capacity to lead. The choice really is ours. What I have chosen to do is better myself in various areas so that I might be better organized to lead the church God has given me.

What are you doing with what God has entrusted you?

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Best Quote

This is one of the best quotes I saw last week:

If the 1950’s come back…most churches are ready to go… - Ed Stetzer

Boy would I love to unpack that one. This is something that I have been harping on for many years. Although I usually say the church is doing church like the 80's. At least many of the ones who progressed out of the 80's.

I think the church is hoping that it will come back around like "fashion" does. I'm not sure who is to blame or if I dare assign blame.

The blame is probably equally shared. Pastors who accept the status quo and are no longer aware of what is going on in our culture. Christians who just want it to be how they like it.

What must be guarded is the tendency to set up your church or ministry based on how you were saved or grew as a Christian. Take a hard look and ask are the elements that are guiding your church then ones that took you from salvation to maturity. Those very elements may not be effective in this new era.

One of the things I was guilty of as a beginning pastor is I made our "services" how "I" liked them. It was going great until I looked up one service to see that all the people that were coming were disconnected. I was trying to reach them as I liked and wanted church to be.

We must progress as the church as Christianity is quickly becoming the minority in this nation.

Your thoughts...before I dare continue down this line of thinking.

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Post Number 1,000

This is post number 1,000. I'm honestly not to sure what to write. I thought about writing something inspirational. I thought about writing something that was challenging. But honestly I have only one thing on my mind for post 1,000.

THANKS

Thanks to an awesome God who has changed my life from the inside out. A God who has filled my life with vision and passion. A God who poured out His life for a wretched soul like me. I'm so far from what I want to be but so thankful that I'm not where I used to be.

Thanks to a wonderful wife. You are so awesome to put up with a crazy nut like me. I love you so much. You're the apple of my eye, the sugar in my koolaid.

Thanks to my kids. You three girls are the delight of my life. You far exceed all my expectations. Each of you are awesome.

Thanks to my parents. You have been the biggest supporters of us. You have been there for us through the thick and the thin. And you are an inspiration in faithfulness to me.

Thanks to the people who follow this blog. I try to tell myself that I would write even if no one would read but I'd be lying. Especially since I check my stats four or five times a day. I know I don't always get it right but I write from a sincere passion of helping others make a difference in this world. I hope that the next 1,000 are inspirational and helpful.

Thanks to Life Church. Even though at this point it is being birthed, the team is forming and all the people that may grace our doors are yet to come...our passion is to help you be all you can be in God.

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The Capacity Of A Leader

You want a mirror shattering statement?

Perhaps your church or ministry is not growing because of "YOU".

Go ahead look in the mirror. You may be looking at the problem.

"Well...God bless...I'm just going to be faithful with the eleven people God wants me to have."

"Well...maybe God only wants me to have just a few people"

Pathetic...NEWSFLASH...God has come to seek and save the lost. God is more concerned than we will ever be with reaching the lost. His desire is for every church to grow. Get a clue. That means your church is the size it is...because of the capacity of your leadership.

If it is small or big it is because of the capacity of your leadership working in conjunction with the work of the Holy Spirit.

I think it is easy to sit and just lay it on God and say He is the one that is not bringing it to me. Honestly, it is time we as leaders of the church need to stand up and take responsibility repent for this, especially if you have a heart to impact this world.

Your church or ministry is the size it is because of your capacity to lead and the people with whom you surround yourself.

Let me state that another way for those of you that didn't get it.

The capacity of your leadership determines the size of your ministry.

In a future post we are going to look at the story of the three stewards in Matthew 25 and then we will also look at how we can increase our capacity.

What excuses have you been making?

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What To Do With Your Creative Team

You have recruited, assigned, designated your creative team...NOW WHAT??

Remember in a past post called "How To Develop A Creative Team" we gave several examples of how you can build a team. No matter what size of church or even as a sub-ministry you can have a creative team that will help take your content and creativity to a higher level.

With this post I want to give you some specific ways you can work with your creative team. I have seen different churches use them for different things.

• Message Development
• Service Creative Elements
• Facility Set Design
• Creating Content
• Debrief & Download

Working With Your Creative Team
So you can see that having a creative team can really help what you are doing. Let me give you several things you can do with your team to make it more successful

• Define The Roles - It is important going in to your team with them knowing what their role is supposed to be. Remember those points above that we gave you. Sit with your team and specifically tell them the role that the creative team is going to take.


• Create Job Descriptions - Everyone on the team should have a specific job description that lays out the role, how often you will meet, what the team does when they are not in the meeting, expectations, etc... Be as specific as possible so your team will know what is expected.


• Take Time To Create - Your team should meet weekly if possible. Use that time in a variety of ways as well. There can be future brainstorming, debriefing of the previous weekend services, content creation, set and stage design, etc... Again the possibilities are only defined by what it is you as the leader needs or wants.


• Use Any Method Possible - As we said in our previous post don't let size of church or budget stop you. Your team can meet and communicate on all types of levels. You can utilize tools like Google Notebook or Documents where several people can collaborate on messages and/or series ideas. Those tools are great to be able to bring together a lot of heads. Your team could then work at home to gather content and brainstorm at anytime of the day. Oovoo is another free resource where you can meet with your team through the computer as it provides up to six people to video conference together at one time.

What are some things you are doing with your creative team?

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What Are We Doing

I thought it would be great to elaborate a little on what God is doing through us right now and why. Currently we are in process of launching a church in the Corpus Christi, TX area called "Life Church".

This has been something that God has laid on my heart for about 4 or 5 years now. In fact I came here once many years ago and met with some friends about starting a church. At that time though it wasn't in God's timing.

Currently, we are launching in four phases, the build-up, pre-launch, launch and post-launch.

The phase we are in right now is the build-up. In this phase we are recruiting and building a launch team as well as a support team. I wrote a proposal for our church and you can also read more about how to support the church at 300forLife.info.

Corpus is a great area that really needs more churches that are about reaching the unchurched/unchristian population as well as dealing with the social community needs.

I currently work in an at-risk charter school and deal with many students that are a picture of some of the social needs of this community. Our clientèle is composed of teens that are in gangs, teen pregnancy, etc... It has given me a real burden for the broken side of the Coastal Bend.

I feel many churches and pastors are out of touch with the real needs of their city. Some drive their fancy cars, live in their big houses and try and do a few little outreaches to pacify and say they are reaching out...but they have no clue. Some are just building a Kingdom around themselves. I also know that there are some great men and women of God that are doing some tremendous things as well. I guess my experience has been working for some pretty crappy ones when it comes to this.

God leading me here has really changed me and put a burden in me to do something big. To find out more how you can partner with us to change this area visit 300forLife.info.



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Disturbed Yet?

Are you disturbed?

Sir Francis Drake says…

“Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves. When our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little. When we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us, Lord.”

Is your dream large enough to disturb you? Is it large enough to keep you up at night? Is it large enough to drive you to your knees because you can't do it?

It it's not....it's not a God-sized dream. And it will not produce the faith necessary to glorify God. God wants us to dream dreams that only He can make happen. When that happens He is glorified and we are not.

What size is your dream? Is it disturbing you?

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