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Chapter Excerpts from Pastorpreneur
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 4
Chapter 4 Excerpts:
Before we dive into each of these strategies in detail, I want to briefly introduce them.
Many churches plan virtually all of their activities and spend all of their resources on the "insiders." Others have discovered that by providing selfless services for their communities, many "outsiders" will quickly respond. One church is known for building and renovating homes for the poor, another has incredible musical programs, and another is known for its program to help the unemployed find jobs. The list of services and entertainment a church can provide in the name of Christ is almost endless. These are an open door for your people to reach out in attractive, powerful ways to those in their neighborhoods.
As it is in most towns and cities, the Fourth of July is a big deal in Carson Valley. When we arrived, the only public place to celebrate that day was at a park that cost about $35 for a family to attend. The leaders of our church saw this as an opportunity to have our own celebration, meet people, and develop a positive impression on hundreds who don't go to church. For the next Fourth, we put an ad in the local newspaper, grilled hot dogs, printed t-shirts, and had all kinds of activities for every age. In response, we had about 2000 people on our grounds! That's two percent of the population of our area, so we were thrilled. The heart-felt appreciation of those who attended was even more significant than the number who came. A number of people tried to give us money to defray the cost, but we refused to take any. Several moms had tears in their eyes as they thanked us for providing such a positive place for their children that day. Our event certainly grabbed the community's attention--and became an annual affair.
Not long ago, we gave $10 to people who attended our worship service and we told them, "In the next thirty days, multiply this money and use it to the glory of God. You can use it any way you wish, as long as it is honoring to the Lord." (I was afraid some people might go to the casino and put the money on red at the roulette table, but to my knowledge, nobody did that!) Some people gave it away to a needy person that same afternoon, and others invested the money so they would have more to give away at the end of the month. One lady used the money to buy supplies for a craft project. She sold the finished product, and used the proceeds to buy more supplies to make even more crafts. By the end of that month, she had made a considerable amount of money to give toward the needs of others. She was thrilled!
Our church's training program for believers helps people understand the compelling motivation of the love of God, and then encourages them to find a role in which they feel excited and fulfilled. We never try to fill slots by using guilt to get someone to serve. Any short-term gains would be offset by long-term devastating losses -- for the person, for the church, and for the leader who tried that heavy-handed, manipulative tactic. I love to see the joy in people's eyes when they see God use them in others' lives.
God hasn't called us to be Lone Rangers. Instead, he wants us to use our skills in mentoring relationships so others are touched and want to emulate our skills. Individuals multiply their impact by mentoring others. Churches multiply their impact by planting new churches, resurrecting dying ones, and sending out missionaries.
Peter Senge, author of Fifth Discipline, wrote: "Any organization that intends to grow must be a learning organization." Those who have a passion for learning usually realize they are deficient in some area. That sense of need drives them to read, to study, and to ask questions. They aren't satisfied with things the way they are, and they long to learn so they can fill the gaps in their own understanding. Their goal is not knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Rather, knowledge becomes a tool to accomplish change.
In his outstanding book, 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, Steven Covey wrote of the necessity of "sharpening your saw," keeping an edge mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally so we don't become dull and ineffective. Almost three millennia ago, Solomon wrote, "If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed but skill will bring success" (Ecc 10:10).
When a lumberjack or carpenter notices that his saw isn't cutting well, he has a choice to make. He can keep cutting with the increasingly dull blade, and he will have to expend more effort and take more time to get the job done. Or he can stop for a few minutes, take out his file, and focus his attention on making his saw sharper and more effective. Has he wasted these minutes filing his saw? He certainly hasn't cut any wood during that time, but those minutes are an investment that pays great dividends in time and effort over the next hour or so.
Some of us became dull months or years ago. In fact, it's been so long that we don't even know where to look for the file! But we need to find one and do whatever it takes to become sharp again. "Sharp" people are excited about God's calling. They have read the latest articles and books, and they are eager to share what they are learning. Sharpened leaders are eager to try new things, and their enthusiasm is infectious to those around them. These leaders have learned to value the file as much as the saw because it makes them far more effective. Entrepreneurs must keep growing and learning or else they simply are not entrepreneurs for long.
When I go to a conference, I ask pastors to tell me the very best things they have done in the past year, the things that have accomplished the most in their ministries. Some of them tell me about a new way of reaching people with the gospel that touched many people who had never responded before. Some talk about a powerful retreat with their leaders, or perhaps a retreat they took just to refresh themselves.
When I hear all kinds of things that these leaders have tried, sometimes I think, "That's a great idea! Why didn't I think of that?" I can implement some of their suggestions immediately. Other ideas don't fit our church for some reason or another, but perhaps I can get a seed of an idea from that person's experience that will germinate into something completely different in our church.
Some leaders try to implement strategies and tools that have worked for a particular church without understanding the context. They expect to start a church in a theater and have a Willow Creek spring up in a few months! It is essential to take time to ask questions about leadership, timing, and communication as you listen to people. When you go to conferences, ask the hard questions about how a strategy applies in certain situations, and how their leaders responded each step of the way. And be sure to ask about the hard decisions and the cost at each step.
Sometimes we look at churches such as Willow Creek or Windsor Hills United Methodist as they are today, and we don't see the hard work, discipline, and crises of faith that got them to this point. Every successful leader and successful church has faced times of testing and trouble. These leaders had the courage to ask good questions, seek God's answers, and take risks. As you read the rest of this book about the strategies that you and your church can implement, be sure to ask those same hard questions.
Jesus was God in the flesh. He was immutable and self-sufficient, but he still took people with him to accomplish the Father's will. Each of us needs encouragement (often) and rebuke (sometimes), but we miss out on both unless we're around someone who cares about us. Networks form a web of encouragement that moves in all directions, up the lines of authority, laterally to friends and peers in ministry, and down to those we shepherd. Following the example of Timothy, each of us needs an authority figure to guide us, like Paul, someone like Titus or others Paul mentored as a trusted friend and compatriot, and a few "faithful men" to pour our lives into.
Steve Wilson, our Pastor of Spiritual Growth at Carson Valley Christian Center, is a very bright man who earned a degree in social ecology, the study of the relationship between people and their environments. Steve responded to God's call to the pastorate, but he realized in seminary and in his ministry experiences that his chief calling is not in platform speaking. Those who minister with him, however, realize that he has incredibly keen insights into the process of spiritual growth. He understands how people learn and respond to God, and he is brilliant at developing and orchestrating systems and relationships that help people take steps in this process.
Steve is able to comprehend large and complex bodies of information, to design systems that help people grasp that information and take specific steps of growth, and then to work with a leadership team which implements these tools in the lives of hundreds of lives. One of the positive effects Steve has had on our body of believers is that everybody can see that you don't have to be an extrovert or a platform speaker to be used by God. This reality has encouraged a huge number of people and opened wide doors of ministry to them. Steve is an excellent example of someone who developed his skills and continually sharpens his saw.
I used to play tennis, and I learned that a racket has a "sweet spot" in the center. If the ball hits the strings there, it flies truer and faster than any other place on the face of the racket. Steve has found the "sweet spot" of his life where his efforts are having the maximum impact and he is most fulfilled. That's what happens when each of us, no matter what our specific leadership role may be, realizes our need to grow and develops essential skills, tools, and networks.
Janell Sheets is a very gifted schoolteacher who is on the other end of the introvert-extrovert spectrum. She has taken part in our STEP (Striving to Experience Peace) ministry for emotionally and spiritually wounded people. Her honesty about her own struggles has given her a wonderful, powerful ministry that she never dreamed she could have when she hid those hurts in her own life. In those earlier years, she was highly effective as a teacher, but now her effectiveness is combined with depth of insight and warmth, and God has given her a place of ministry to capitalize on her skills, tools, and networks of relationships.
Steve and Janell are excellent examples of our church's three core values which find expression in their development and use of skills, tools, and networks. These values are:
Quite often in the mystery of God's will, the dark threads of pain and heartache seem to blot out the lighter colored threads of joy and love. For a while, all we see is the backside of the tapestry. Someday--perhaps tomorrow, perhaps not until we see the Lord face to face--we will see the front side of the fabric in all its complexity and beauty. We will see that the dark threads of failure and hurt are woven into our joys in such a way that we are thrilled with the depth, richness, and vibrancy of God's work in our lives. Today, though, we need faith to believe that God is using our pain, our deficiencies, and our struggles to create something beautiful.
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