Archive for March, 2010

Epically Amazing, Incredibly Overused Words

by Tim Schraeder on 03/31/2010 in Church Communications with 13 Comments

The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone? - Ecclesiastes 6:11

I’m convinced we tend to overuse certain words.

I’m guilty.

We all are… especially in the church space.

Words like ‘amazing’, ‘awesome’, ‘epic’ and others fill our daily vocabulary and most of the time we over promise and under-deliver.

Have you looked at the definition of these words lately?

  • AMAZING – causing great surprise or sudden wonder. To astonish greatly. To affect with great wonder.
  • AWESOME – inspiring awe.
  • INCREDIBLE – beyond belief or understanding.
  • EPIC – heroic; majestic; impressively great. Of unusually great size or extent.

Overused words diminish the power of what the really mean, cheapen communication and give people a general sense of distrust.

People are marketed to every single day and can sniff out when they are trying to be sold to… so stop trying to spin things to be more than they really are.

In the famous words of John Mayer… say what you need to say.

It’s that simple.

What are some of the words you overuse?

Mine: incredible, honestly, awesome.

Creating Personal Spiritual Momentum :: Craig Groeschel

by Tim Schraeder on 03/25/2010 in Catalyst One Day, Notes with 2 Comments
  • The most important contributing factor to ministries that have “IT” is that it’s lead by leaders that have “IT.”
  • It requires leaders who are transparent before God.

How many of you occasionally or often feel overwhelmed, stress, feel like ministry can be a burden, etc?

How many of you would say there was a time in your past that you were closer to God than you are today?

  • A time when you were more passionate about God’s Word.
  • A time when you were more prayerful.
  • You were more excited about sharing your faith.
  • More excited about the Church – not the organization, the numbers, etc.
  • You felt like God was speaking to you more clearly, better led by the Spirit.

Every leadership principle we talk about doesn’t matter unless we get our life with God in order.

  • Genesis 31:43-44
  • “What can I do today?”
  • What is God calling you to do?

I will do today what I can do, to enable me to do tomorrow what I can’t do today.

  • Too many young leaders are trying to do too much too soon.
  • We have to be faithful with what we’ve got right now.

Four Things To Do Today

1 – Do something to defeat your dark side.

  • All of us have a dark side… something that’s not pleasing to God, something that’s a hindrance to us moving forward.
  • Ask God to search you and show you what your dark side is.
  • One of the the healthiest things you can do for your spiritual life is identifying what your dark side is.
  • In ministry we’re far too often worried about what people think about us instead of what God thinks.
  • You will never become all God created you to be when you worry about what other people think about you.
  • Buried within your dark side may be one of the greatest strengths of your ministry… if you will acknowledge your dark side and do something about it.

2 – Create artificial ministry deadlines.

  • You will never be done with your work, EVER.
  • You can always do more.
  • The problem with ministry today is that we don’t care but that we care so much that we are hurting ourselves.
  • We sacrifice our own families and relationship with God to do something that makes little impact.
  • Craig commits to leaving the office by 3:45 each day. Not because he’s done, but it makes him sharper all day long. Makes him delegate what he’d normally do. Forces him to make fast decisions. Causes him to ignore what’s not important. Creates faster decisions.
  • When you are walking by the Spirit, you can make quick, coin toss decisions.
  • We usually end up doing tomorrow what we could have decided today.
  • Artificial deadlines force you to make faster decisions.
  • Meetings are the biggest hindrance to productivity.
  • They cut their meetings in half.
  • Instead of spending so much time working IN the church, they were able to work ON the church.
  • Ministry will kill your relationship with God if you let it.
  • “the way I was doing the work of God was killing the work of God in me.” – Hybels

3 – Delegate what someone else can do.

  • Every time you commit to doing something new, decide what you’re going to give away.
  • We accumulate work.
  • We ask, “Can I?” instead of, “should I?”
  • We are the worst delegators.
  • Don’t delegate responsibilities. Delegate authority.
  • Delegating responsibilities creates followers.
  • Delegating authority creates leaders.
  • We oftentimes delegate tasks… we’re telling people to not be creative.
  • The stupidest thing you can do is micromanage.
  • Give people the chance to lead.
  • A great leader is not marked by what they know but how much the right people know.
  • You’d be wise to write down the three things only you can do and give everything else on your list away.
  • Your capacity to lead is marked by how much you’re willing to give away.
  • GIVE IT AWAY. CREATE. DELEGATE.
  • “If someone can do it 80% as good as you can, give it to them…” – Maxwell

4 – Do something only you can do.

  • Husbands, you are the only one who should be a husband to your wife.
  • Wives, you are the only person who should be a a wife to your husband.
  • Design your ministry around your values.
  • Do not sacrifice your family on the altar of ministry.
  • Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. – Matthew 11:28
  • REST… not rush, anxiety, tension, pressure, worry, fear… REST for your souls.
  • Some of us don’t even know what REST is.
  • We oftentimes do ministry like God doesn’t even exist.
  • We become full-time pastors and part-time followers of Christ.
  • It’s not that we don’t believe, it’s that we’re not believing today.
  • Don’t think about a single leadership principle until you’ve looked into the mirror at your spiritual life.

Are you OK with the fact that you are overwhelmed and stressed when Jesus said His yolk is easy and His burden is light?

Are you OK with the fact that the ‘other person’ in your life is the Church?

Busting Barriers with Mindset Changes :: Craig Groeschel

by Tim Schraeder on 03/25/2010 in Catalyst One Day, Notes with 1 Comment

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. – Romans 12:2

  • One of the big momentum killers is wrong mindsets.
  • Mindsets can propel you forward or hinder what God wants to do.
  • When LifeChurch.tv when multisite, one of the challenges that came up was keeping their team unified.
  • Sometimes it’s easy to miss things that are small and very obvious.
  • Organizations love to settle.
  • Asking people to leave with compassion is one of the most important things you can do.
  • Start having the right conversations early.
  • Give defined, specific expectations with a timeline.
  • In the church world we are too blunt… we don’t have the right conversations early.
  • Churches are no exception.
  • People like what is known, predictable, and what used to be.
  • Known in comfortable.
  • What you did last year is safe.
  • Doing what you did is easy.
  • Doing something new is hard. It takes faith and risk
  • The longer your ministry is flat, the more aggressive moves it will take to break out.
  • Objects at rest stay at rest.
  • You don’t need something better, you need something totally different.
  • We need to think differently.
  • No matter what you are doing, where you are isn’t where God wants you to go.
  • The more successful you are the harder it is to do something different.
  • We have to think differently.

Think differently about your church culture. What people do, what they think and how they behave.

  • Change the mindset: Our people won’t ___________. Fill in your own blank.
  • To: We haven’t LED them to ___________.
  • Are you practicing what you want your people want to model?
  • What our church won’t, we don’t.
  • Have you modeled and worked toward what you want your people to do?
  • It’s not that are people won’t, it’s that we haven’t led them.
  • Whenever you say they can’t or they don’t, ask yourself if you’ve led them.
  • You can lead up if you serve well under.
  • You can gain permission to lead over.
  • Step into the authority and gift of leadership God has given you.

Think differently about programming.

  • We’ve been trained to think: We have to do MORE to reach more.
  • The truth is: We can reach more by doing LESS.
  • Rate of increased activity was proportional to the decreased rate of life transformation.
  • Look at the places you do not have momentum and ask, “why do we keep doing those things?”
  • Look at places where you don’t have momentum and STOP doing them!
  • When you remove something that’s dying, you release life, energy, and resources to do new things that can build momentum.
  • One of the greatest things the church in America can do is to start doing less.
  • To reach people no one is reaching, you have to do things no one else is doing.
  • In order to do what no one’s doing you have to stop doing what everyone else is doing.

Think differently about the mission.

  • Rethink what God is calling you to do.
  • Think about Christ, who He is, and what knowing Him means and what not knowing Him means.
  • The most important thing is people… not buildings, programs, etc.
  • We think: We can’t hurt someone’s feelings.
  • The truth is: We can’t allow someone to hold back the mission of the church.
  • We leave the wrong people in the wrong places.
  • It’s not fair to them, it’s not fair to the organization.
  • Hire and recruit for the future, not the present.
  • Getting the right person in the right place could be one of the most important parts of gaining momentum.
  • You have to be willing to make painful decisions.
  • If you’re not hurting you’re not leading.
  • You’re going to hurt if you are leading well.
  • The mission is more important than people’s feelings.

Think differently about people leaving the church.

  • We tend to think: We can’t let anyone leave.
  • But in reality: We can grow when people leave.
  • Churches can be like “The Firm”
  • Sometimes churches seem soooo needy.
  • When you come off needy, you get people who are there for the wrong reason.
  • One of the best things you can do is bless the wrong people to leave.
  • We are full of spiritual consumers… we need spiritual contributors.

Think differently about limitations.

  • We tend to say all the time in the church: We can’t because we don’t _______________.
  • The truth is: We can because we don’t ____________.
  • Limitation is the breeding ground for innovation.
  • One of the best things God did for us is not giving us what we wanted.
  • God guides by what He withholds.
  • There are times God will not give us what we think we need so we can otherwise see something we would have never seen before.
  • Ask God what He’s trying to show you through your greatest limitation.
  • You do not have what you want because you don’t need it, there’s something greater.
  • God guides by what He withholds, not just with what He provides.
  • A struggling economy can be a catalyst for one of the greatest streaks in the church.
  • We don’t need more money… we need more volunteers, creativity, innovation, and how he does more with less..

Three Assignments

1. Find someone one or two steps ahead of you and learn how they. Most want to learn what they – not how they think.

  • Most people want to learn what they do – not how they think.
  • When you copy the what, you miss the why.
  • Get inside people’s minds… ask them what they think, what they see coming, etc.
  • Don’t look at the what, look at the why behind it.

2. Identify one wrong mindset and ask God to renew your mind with truth.

  • Quit whining and do something about it.
  • Change your mindset and watch what God will do.

3. Identify one painful decision you’ve been avoiding and commit to make the decision no matter what the short-term pain.

  • The difference between where you are and where you want to be is the decision you don’t want to make.

Q&A

  • A struggling economy gives you permission to make decisions you needed to make but didn’t have the equity to make.
  • Creates opportunities for partnership.
  • In order for the church to survive we need to work together.
  • It forces you to be wiser.
  • When we pull back and tighten up, God sends blessings on the other side.
  • When you are faithful with little, God will give you more.
  • We often underestimate what God wants to do in the short term and overestimate what God wants to do in the future.
  • We need to create a culture that allows for failure.
  • In most places we evaluate too late and let things go on too long.
  • The longer you let something go, the harder it is to eliminate.
  • Longevity can lead to personalizing ministries/programs, where you aren’t cutting something, you’re cutting an identity.
  • Pastors are called to lead and shepherd, not just care for people.
  • Pastors can model symbolic leadership… not doing everything, but doing some.
  • We want to create a culture of entrepreneurial ministry and mission.
  • You have permission to go and do what you feel God calling you to do, but we don’t have to pay for it.
  • God gives you everything you need to reach the people you need to reach.
  • Don’t ask what you don’t have, look at what you’ve got.

Gaining and Sustaining Momentum :: Andy Stanley

by Tim Schraeder on 03/25/2010 in Catalyst One Day with No comments
  • Momentum = Forward motion fueled by a series of wins.
  • You love your problems when you have momentum.
  • Ministries that lack momentum are a drag.
  • We all know what momentum is not by definition but by experience.
  • In the marketplace when a company lacks momentum hey do something about immediately.
  • The church can go generations without changing anything.
  • Churches can tend to be anti-leadership culture.
  • The mission for most churches is “pay the bills.”
  • If we pay the bills, why do we need to change?
  • Momentum is disruptive.
  • For some church people, if momentum showed up it would scare people to death.
  • Momentum is all about moving forward and leaders like thing to move forward.
  • You either have it or you don’t.
  • When we come across churches with momentum in our community, it’s our natural tendency to say, “If I had _________, I would have momentum too.”
  • We tend to excuse momentum of other organizations.
  • If you have momentum right now and don’t understand what to do with it, you are one decision away from killing your organization.
  • If you lack momentum, you’ll expend a lot of energy trying to gain it because you don’t have the principles of how to gain and sustain momentum.
  • We have a bad habit to say “well God’s just blessing…”
  • Be careful.
  • What exactly is God blessing?

Three Components of Sustained Momentum

  1. New
  2. Improved
  3. Improving

1 – New

  • New triggers momentum.
  • ANythign new, by definition, generates some kind of momentum.
  • The momentum can be positive or negative.
  • Negative Events – Negative Momentum [9/11]
  • Negative Events – Positive Momentum [Rescue]
  • A senior pastor leaving can great both.
  • Negative circumstances are the fertile soil for a burst of positive momentum.
  • Positive Event – Postivie Momentum = New Sports Franchise.

Organizational Momentum is often triggers by one of three things:

  • New leadership
  • New direction
  • New product [program]

Implication: When evaluating an organization or program or  program that lacks momentum, ask “Do we need a new leader, a new direction, or a new product? Or do we need some combination of the three?

Momentum is never triggered by tweaking something old. It is triggered by introducing something new.

  • We spend too much time in meetings trying to tweak something old.

Warning: New does not guarantee sustained momentum. But new is  an essential trigger for momentum.

2 - Improved

  • The new must be a noticeable improvement over the old.
  • When evaluating a new option, ask, “Is it a significant improvement over wheat we had before?”
  • If you can’t afford an improvement, let go of what’s not effective to make space for something new.
  • In business it’s easy to make these decisions because things rise and fall on money.
  • Churches can sustain themselves financially for generations without making change.
  • Find a way to fund it by unfunding something else.

Warning: Even a significant improvement has a shelf life.

3 – Improving

  • Momentum is sustained through continuous improvement. [Example: household products that continue to improve]
  • Continuous improvement requires systematic evaluation. [Evaluation has to be built into the rhythm of the organization.]
  • Continuous improvement requires unfiltered evaluation. [Feelings will be hurt. Sacrifice the one for the many.]
  • Continuous improvement requires that nothing and nobody be off limits. [If you are not evaluating the areas where you are experiencing momentum, the clock of your success is ticking down.]
  • Everything you do and everything your church does is being evaluated every week. Are you learning from other people’s evaluation of you? Why not build a feedback system?

Applying “New and Improved” to the World of Ministry

  • New Personnel
  • New Programming
  • New Season [Shut programs down for a season so they can relaunch]
  • New Series
  • New Look
  • New Venues

Improving

  • Look for ways to upgrade your presentations.
  • Visit other organizations.
  • Attend other churches.

Momentum Stoppers

  • Disengaged leader.
  • Overactive management. [ Momentum always creates an element of chaos, managers like to minimize it. Managers manage, leaders create momentum]
  • Complacency. [Nothing works forever.]
  • You rarely regain momentum by simply doing what you did to create it in the first place.
  • Understanding momentum is sometimes more important than knowing your history.
  • Complexity [New organizations are always simple.]
  • A breech of trust.

Q&A

  • Gather feedback from multiple sources.
  • Check out Zoomerang.
  • Evaluation has to be environement-specific.
  • Clarify the win for everything you do.
  • You can’t evaluate effectively if no one knows what a “win” is.
  • The goal is never to be fair, the goal is to do the right thing.
  • We don’t add programming, we add steps.
  • When considering something new, ask “Is it an easy, obvious step toward community?”
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