TimSchraeder.com » Notes

The Top 11 of 2011

Tim Schraeder — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:30:51 +0000

It’s that time of the year… lists, reflections, and reviews are in order! So, here’s the Top 11 Posts of 2011 from my blog.

Thanks to the nearly 150,000 of you who have visited my blog this year. I’m grateful for the opportunity to use this space as a platform to share ideas that matter, and to help churches and church leaders communicate and lead more effectively. If you’re reading this, know I’m thankful for you and for the opportunity to share with you. Thank you. Seriously.

1. Love Wins**. Notes from the controversial Rob Bell interview about his book, Love Wins.**

2. Tough Callings: Wess Stafford, Mama Maggie Gorban and Bill Hybels [Leadership Summit] – Probably one of the most awe-inspiring moments of the Global Leadership Summit this year.

3. Steven Furtick [Leadership Summit] – Steven Furtick from Elevation Church challenges us to dig some ditches!

4.What If We Stepped Into All God Called Us To Be? Andy Stanley [Catalyst West] – Andy Stanley shared about the 3 faces of courage in leadership.

5. Seth Godin [Leadership Summit] – Seth Godin condenses about 20 years of his genius ideas into a 30 minute talk at the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit.

6. Creating a Come & See Culture - Andy Stanley [Catalyst One Day] – Andy shares three essential ingredients to creating unique environments for people to experience the Gospel.

7. Ann Voskamp [STORY] – Ann Voskamp shares ideas on creativity. One of the most captivating speakers I heard all year!

8. Joel Houston [Catalyst East] – Joel Houston from Hillsong Church talks about the true calling of a leader.

9. Eugene Peterson [Catalyst West] – Eugene Peterson shares insights on being a pastor.

10. Patrick Lencioni [Leadership Summit] – Patrick shares about the need for vulnerability in leadership.

11. Bill Hybels [Leadership Summit] – Bill Hybels shares 5 critical questions leaders need to ask of themselves and their teams.

What do you think about these posts?

Were there any posts that were helpful for you? What type of content do you enjoy reading most on my blog? I hope to continue to be a great resource for you, so please leave me any suggestions as I begin to dream up content for 2012.

Thanks again for reading… I appreciate you!

While you’re at it, check out my Top 10 Posts of 2010.

Church in the Sticks :: Shannon O’Dell

Tim Schraeder — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:38:25 +0000

Shannon O’Dell is the Senior Pastor of Brand New Church with a passion for healthy church in rural America. He has been pastoring for six years in a town of 407 beginning with a congregation of 31 to now five campuses and 2,000+ in attendance weekly. The county Shannon serves in Arkansas has only 19,000 people in it. If you want to minister in rural America, you better get some tough skin. It’s difficult. One of the biggest obstacles is the local families that end up running the church. Shannon shares the story of his church and the crazy math that resulted from its re-launch: 31 minus 12 equals 2,000.

The Brand New Church Story

God’s will for every pastor is to lead white collar people outside of a major city (sarcasm).
God’s everywhere, go where the money is (sarcastic again).
He knew God had called him to pioneer and blaze a trail by building a church in rural America.
In ministry, pastors and ministers have turned certain churches into “Hollywood”… thinking, “if you make it there, you’ve made it…”
God lead him to South Lead Hill, population of 88.
They want to church of 31… which is now 2,000.
5 campuses and 3 house churches now.
If God calls a man to rural America it looks like they don’t add up to other churches.
Some churches get put on the pedestal for their size, instead of their seismology.
God has called us to do great things wherever He’s called us.
We are so concerned about our significance in eyes of others that we’ll give up success in eyes of God.
Rural America is the most unchurched “churched” place in the world.
God blesses people who are excited about seeing changed lives.
In 2 years they were multisite in rural America!
We have this idea that if you get to the “big church” that God is using you.
Got their name from Colossians 3:10 – brand new…
They have seen explosive growth, life change and record-breaking baptisms.

Church in the Sticks…

None of their campuses have adequate internet services… so they got a Hummer equipped with a satellite.
They have satellite house churches in other rural areas.
Hundreds of people are showing up because they are desperate to hear the Gospel.
There’s familiar soil, not just foreign soil, where people are desperate to hear the Good News.
Why do we have to be church planters outside of metro areas?
Why are there so few called to rural America?
Why do people leave so quickly?
God wants us to be effective wherever we are.
The calling is clear: 1 Tim 3.
God’s given us a prerequisite…

1 – You need to be called.

There are so many people who are good Sunday school teachers but they are not called to be pastors.
In rural America, a whisper is a roar.
When you are called to ministry, you need to be certain that you are called.
We have to know our calling.

2 – You must love your family.

If you are married you a required by God to have a red-hot marriage.
In rural America, your greatest evangelistic tool is your family.
Your marriage is a picture of your salvation.
You cannot have an average marriage and an excellent church.
If you are single, you are called to maintain a level of holiness.

3 – It’s not the size of your church, it’s the seismic activity.

What kind of ripple are you creating in your community?
Everyone wants to be a part of greatness and Jesus Christ and His Church alive is just that.
Instead of saying we have “1,500 people”… say, we’re a “6.5″
The epicenter is your walk with God, your holiness.
You can’t preach something you are not living.

4 – Make certain you have accurate structure.

No one can stand without an excellent skeletal system.
Make sure your by-laws and organizational structures do not limit the hand of God.
It does not begin with deacons or committees, it begins with Jesus as the head of the Church.
Get an accurate structure and fight for it to be biblical.
We need theocratic churches, not churches that are democratic.

God is more concerned about growing congregants instead of congregations.

You Don’t Have It All Together and Neither Do I :: Mark Beeson

Tim Schraeder — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:53:49 +0000

Five ways to describe him: Visionary. Gifted communicator. Committed to Christ. Passionate about his family. And as normal as your next door neighbor (but only if that’s a good thing). What he does for Granger: No, not everything. He’s the first to admit that. Instead, he focuses on the areas in which he excels (have you heard him speak?) and gives Granger’s leadership team the freedom and encouragement to do what they do best, without micromanaging them. In 1986, Mark and his wife, Sheila, planted the seeds of Granger Community Church in their living room, with fewer than 10 people. Their dream was to reach out to those who weren’t currently attending church for whatever reason and share the truth that they mattered to God. And though it began without fanfare, Granger flourished at a phenomenal rate to become one of the top 30 fastest growing churches in the country. More from Mark: markbeeson.com

There has never been a time like this.

There is a new terrain we must nativage together.
Today in the world everything you do is instant, global and permanent.
Things are instantly captured and sent around the globe and forever there.
It’s a new day with new challenges.
We wonder what the role and place of the church is around the world and in our local communities.
Is there any significance in it at all?
Until this generation you needed teachers and masters to learn the craft and trade… today you don’t need a master, mentor or teacher, you’ve got google. You can get knowledge without human touch.
That’s never been the case until now.
We can get knowledge through the web, but can we get wisdom?
The Church is going to have to face one of the great challenges on the horizon… the challenge of technology.
We’re going to need a well-defined theology on the value of human touch, material world connection.
We are moving into a virtual society.
What is the value of incarnation?
What is the value of community?
It’s important that we leverage new technologies to seek it.
Where does the material world weigh in on physical touch and community?
If you don’t tweet, text, Facebook or blog, you need to… or you should maybe consider quitting your job.
Our business is the people business, so we must connect with technologies that make friends with people we’ve never seen.
If we’re going to have moral authority to speak into the lives of others, we need to be engaged and leveraging technologies they are using.
If we are going to be relevant today we better figure out what “that” is, how “it” works and what God has to say about it.
People today have friends they’ve never met, seen or touched. The definition of community is changing.
If we apply good theology to technology we can leverage it for good.
If we ignore it we might find ourselves without influence in culture because we can’t even communicate with culture.
Our great challenge is to figure out a way to be able to bring people together in creative fashion to bring the love of God to the world.
We should pray, regularly and continually.
As our culture changes, we need to build teams to communicate and connect so that Christ is glorified and everyone knows who He is… that He is Lord and King.
These innovations are so critical and we’re going to have to understand to get done what we need to get done, we need to collaborate and build teams.
We need to bring different people together around different projects to bring God glory.

Exposed… How it Really Is.

Exposed. Being exposed is threatening for many of us because we are in pain.
There are moments of difficulty and pain that can grow you and stretch you like never before.
In your valley, know we have all been there.
Time have been tough and this has been a challenging season.
You’re not alone.

Building Teams

Every one of you who is trying to build a team… how do you make a team out of people that are so different?
That’s what God is calling us to do.
He calls us to take people He’s brought to us and bring them together.
What do you do to build a team?
There are things that weave teams together… our mission, vision, values that we share.
Our mission weaves us together.
Our vision holds us together.
Our values bind us together.
It all creates unity.
Unity is not uniformity.
Everyone has a past… what you see isn’t always what you get.
Everyone has momentum. What’s behind it and what’s pushing people?
The laws of physics apply to humanity as well.
People need an outside force to change their course.
Sometimes all people need is clarity. Clarity on the mission, vision and values.
Specify the mission, vision and values of your local church.

2 Questions to Ask…

WHY should people go to church?
WHY do I think people should come to my church?
If you can’t answer that, you might need to rethink why people need church at all.
Is what we’re doing worth people changing their course for?

Teammates

When we all agree on the mission, vision and values, it creates a team.
We say, “I’d like to do this with you…”
Most people spend more time interacting with their teammates than with you, the leader.
If you have a bunch of knuckleheads around you that can’t play well with others… good luck finding people to join your team.
There’s no value in collaborating with people who can’t collaborate.

We have to understand that every group is a free association or a covenant community.

Free association society is something you are born into. You didn’t earn it.
This culture, has been for the church, favorable.
We’ve had people born in the culture that have had a bent toward the values we teach.
You can’t enter into a covenant community until you commit to it.
To get into the community you have to learn about it.
The Church in America free association… it’s not a covenant community. That’s why it’s been decline.
It’s become a free association culture in the church.
The early church never knew this. They were required to keep a covenant.
We’ve failed to insist on teaching covenant.
Anything goes and community has been lost… it can only be recovered by people who will do covenant.

To a world where anything goes, we’re inviting people to covenant community. Where people are known and loved, valued and cherished, and know God’s purpose for their life. And then they are able to invite people into the fabric of God’s Kingdom.

Do it Yourself Church Communications

Tim Schraeder — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 03:48:47 +0000

So this is pretty weird to be posting my own notes… Download a PDF of the Slides here.

HUGE thanks to everyone who came and supported, I hope it was a beneficial session for you guys! And a HUGE thanks to Jarbyco for hooking us up and letting us take questions via text! And, if you are in or near the Chicago area and want to continue the conversation, come check out Cultivate being hosted at Park on Oct 27!

—

A little about me…

I’m 26, going on 27.
I’ve been around doing church communications for almost 8 years now.
I knew there was no money to be had in ministry and didn’t see the need of going to Bible college.
Started at age 19 at Riverside Community Church in Peoria, Illinois as an intern for their college ministry.
I started doing the bulletin for Riverside with a copy of Microsoft Publisher 98, some bad fonts, and clip art that I ripped off from an internet photo site.
They say that “experience can be an educator,” and Riverside provided me a place to become an expert from learning from my mistakes.
In May of 2007 I went on staff at Park Community Church in Chicago.

About Park

Park was founded in 1989 by a group of 50 people who were a part of Moody Memorial Church that had a vision to see a church established in the downtown area of Chicago that would reach out to young, urban professionals.
For 20 years, Park’s motto was: “have church will move” as they moved between various locations throughout the city.
In June of 2008 Park opened their first building, located in the heart of the former Cabrini-Green neighborhood of Chicago.
Park now meets in two locations, soon to be three and has an average weekly attendance of around 2,000 people.

Challenge of Church Communications

Oftentimes when I tell people I do church communications their initial response is, “oh… so you make the bulletin?”
While it’s true that’s something I do, there’s honestly a lot more all of us do.
Church communications is a broad category and many of us wear a lot of different hats and do a lot of different things.

What I do at Park

I do anything the communicates outside of the auditorium
Print (although we don’t do much)
Web strategy
Social Media (Twitter, Facebook)
Texting
Part of Park’s creative team that plans and designs services.

The Changing Face of Church Communications

The way our world communicates has changed dramatically in the past few years.
The way the church communicates is changing, too.
10 years ago the face of church communications was the church secretary.
She used pre-printed bulletin shells that more than likely had misty nature images or Holy Spirit doves and Scripture.
The church had 2 basic platforms from which it communicated: the front platform and the church bulletin.
Church communications today today looks a lot different: we’ve got email,websites, Facebook, Twitter, texting and other social media.

Our Role is Important

It’s really easy to get discouraged in our jobs because our job is essentially a very thankless task.
We’re not the ones up front preaching or leading worship, oftentimes we’re just stuck behind our computer screens.
It’s easy to feel like we’re not really “in ministry”
But you and what you do is REALLY important.
The future potential of the church rests in the hands of people who are thinking and creating ways to communicate the timeless message of the Gospel in a way that connects with the world around us.
What we do is really important.
One day as we were walking into a church a friend of mine said, “you know it’s crazy to think that the people who are coming here are here because of something you created.”
Oftentimes the things we create (postcards, fliers, websites) are the first point of contact people have with our church.
The need for people who are committed to Christ and who are innovating new ways to communicate are vital for the future of the church.

We Have A lot of Critics and Not Many Contributors

Too often the only feedback we get is negative.
People never say, “wow that font changed my life…” or, “that stock image really moved me.”
I used to have someone who would mark all of the errors in our bulletin and slide it under my office door.
While many of our churches value communications and the role we play, in most cases we work as a staff of one. We’re on our own with limited resources, budget and support.

Do it Yourself Church Communications

We’re going to use the analogy of building a house to creating a structure to support our church communications.

Foundation – Getting to the basics of what it means.

“Church marketing” isn’t exactly found in the Bible.
The closest thing to “marketing” is the marketplace where Jesus turned over the tables in the Temple.
There are, however, a lot of great things that can illustrate our calling as church communicators.

Luke 14:16-23

This and other verses (Matthew 28:19-20) show us that we are called to go and tell, to be witnesses and extend the invitation.
Our competition isn’t the other church in town but the things that people are giving their time and attention to.
The invitation that was sent in mass was rejected, but the in person invitation brought more people.
From a marketing perspective, the way the early church grew in size and influence was through viral marketing. People telling other people. People bringing their friends.
With all of the great resources we have available to us today I think the one we need to get better at is the personal invitation.
Our job as communications people is to urge or to compel people to come, “that the house might be full.”

Survey – Get a Feel For the Land

Who is your city? What is the demographic and psychographic of people in your community?
Who is your church? Who are the people that come to your church?
What do they respond to?
How do they communicate?
A major part of our job is to keep a pulse on our church and our community.
We can read reports and surveys but we can learn the most by simple observation.
We need to be keenly aware of our community and who the people are that attend our church.

Chicago

2.9 million people
3rd largest city in the USA
Neighborhood-centric
it’s the “city that works”
also known as the Second City
Center for banking, finance, marketing and business
“a drinking town with a sports problem”

Park

Average age is 29
60% single
Most have a minimum of a college degree
Most work white collar jobs
Online experts
Most people will stay at Park for about 3 years
Most are incredibly BUSY

Once you have a better understanding of your community and your church, you have a better context to filter your communication strategies through.

Blueprint – your guide & plan.

Get a plan.
What’s ONE thing you can do differently NOW?
Focus on what your strengths are and build upon them.
Focus on what you’ve got, not what you think we need.
Don’t compare, be unique!
Ask for help.
A great resource is the Church Marketing Lab.
I shared the story of how the Church Marketing Lab helped us develop our new logo.

There’s a difference between inspiration and imitation. Imitations are just cheap.

Whatever you do, be yourself.
If you’re not hip and trendy, don’t try to be.
Your church is unique, celebrate that.
Open source resources are great but don’t let them be an excuse of laziness.
Just because it worked somewhere else doesn’t mean it’s going to work for you in your context.
There’s not a one-size-fits-all approach to church communications.
If you must “borrow,” ask permission first.
We serve the God of creativity (Gen 1:1), we need to seek Him!
I’ve often found that the times when I’m at a creative block is when I’m not in communion with God.

Union Workers… aka our church staff and ministry leaders.

Our jobs would be a lot easier if we didn’t have to deal with people.
Replace your IM screen and Inbox with face-to-face conversations.
Remove the word “NO” from your vocabulary.
Give people options or alternatives, not ultimatums.
Don’t bog people down with policies, style guides, etc.
Take the time to get to know your staff.
Get to know them and earn their trust.
I didn’t make huge changes when I first started at Park, I took the time to get to know the culture of the staff, church and the city of Chicago first.
That way, when I did start to make change I wasn’t “the new guy who we’re not sure about,” I was “Tim who we know and trust.”
When you need to make change don’t just tell people about it, show them.
I shared the story of how we made the switch to a monthly bulletin and instead of just telling people about it, I created a prototype and showed them what it would look like.

Some Learnings from the move to the monthly bulletin.

Print budget went down by 75%.
Our budget has moved from being 80% print/20% web to 20% print/80% web.
The switch has increased traffic to our website and upped our email subscriptions.
We initially printed it in color but switched to black and white in January to save money.
The move has forced us to be more planned and ahead of schedule.
It’s also forced us to be more creative.

Support Beams

Determine the keys ways to communicate to your church.
Decide what the key things are going to be and plan your budget to your strengths.

Park’s Key Things

Our website. Soon to be re-launched, designed by CHANGEffect, powered by Ekklesia360#mce_temp_url#.
Facebook. Over 1,200 fans and over 10 groups reaching over 3,000 people.
Email. Over 4,000 subscribers. We use ConstantContact.
Texting. We use texting in our services and as a means to communicate to our congregation throughout the week. We are huge fans of Jarbyco.
Twitter @ParkChurch. We currently have over 550 followers.
TheCommon.org used to connect people to ways to volunteer and serve.
We’re soon transitioning to using the Cobblestone Community Network. A blog post about that is coming soon!

Interior Design – Words, Images and Language

Images

Are the images you use a true reflection of who you are?
Be who you are, not who you want to be.
Don’t portray yourself to be something or someone you’re not.
Use real images of real people in your church.
People want to know there are people like them at your church.
Use iStock for objects, concepts, and backgrounds… not people.

Words & Language

Put people and their needs first.
Go through your bulletin and highlight every mention of your church name. If your church name is first, re-write your copy!
Avoid Christianese at all costs.
Keep things concise and simple, not cute and fluffy.
Talk like people in your church talk.
Don’t just answer questions people are asking, ask questions people are asking.
I shared the story of how we marketed our Alpha Course.

Curb Appeal – External Marketing

Your church website is the front door to your church. Is it welcoming?
Church websites used to be an accessory, today they are an absolute necessity.
Your brand is driven more by what other people say than by what you say.
I shared the story of the redesign of Park’s website and showed a sneak preview of our new website.

Closing Thought: Get a Hammer!

I keep a hammer on my desk.
No, I don’t use it on co-workers or my computer.
It was a gift from a friend to be a reminder that everything I do is building the Kingdom of God, the Church.

I closed sharing this poem…

The Magnificent House of God

There is a house different from any other
Filled with light and love
Radiant with a glory that is totally irresistible to all.

It’s an open home
A huge welcome sign hangs from the door
Inside overflows with good food and bountiful supply
Laughter and healthy conversation
And for all who are questioning there are answers
An abundance of hope
Salvation is offered to all
Mercy and grace kiss each one.

A fire is crackling within its solid walls
Always there to warm and soothe
Gently drying tear-stained faces
Affirming the wandering soul and bringing strong counsel to
give clear direction to all negotiating this journey of life.

Captivating melodies fill every inch of every room
A new sound available even to the untrained ear
Causing every heart to willingly sing and every knee to humbly bow.

This is the House I give my life to build
To gather His Church and bring healing to the nations
This is the only House fit for a King
This is the magnificent House of God.

- Darlene Zschech

What’s Working

Tim Schraeder — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:51:07 +0000

Cleve Persinger is the Executive Director of Web and Community Engagement at The Chapel where he’s tasked with helping folks “Rediscover God” by creating compelling experiences within the context of web and all external communications/marketing including community events, print, word-of-mouth, and advertising.

Prior to his current role, Cleve served as web designer for LifeWay Christian Resources, in Nashville, TN where he supported numerous web initiatives including the LifeWay Worship Project.

Off the clock, Cleve has a passion for church planting, leading worship, summer beach trips, mountain cabin retreats, Dallas Cowboys football, Atlanta Braves baseball, and rockin’ the title of “BBQ Connoisseur.” (Keep in mind he was born and raised in North Carolina.)

Cleve and his incredible wife, Katie, reside in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with their children, Cy and Charlotte.

Eric Murrell has been creating websites since he first discovered HTML on his Geocities site in 1996. After working for a large publishing company and a well-known design firm, he is now on staff at Long Hollow Baptist Church where he serves as the Interactive Communications Manager.

When he’s not writing code or fuming about page rendering in Internet Explorer, Eric can be found reading, camping and watching LOST. He and his (beautiful) wife Lauren live just North of Nashville, where they own and operate a small design company together.

Read more from Cleve & Eric at MediaSalt

—
What’s NOT Working?

Elaborate Mailers

it’s more effective to drive people to your website.
Very high cost vs return
Quickly outdated
Use simple, but visually compelling cards

Cute Pop Culture Branding

It’s really easy to be creatively lazy.
We can do better than that.
It’s played out.

Constant Email Blasts

Increasing blindness to marketing emails.
More blasts = less readers.
Send email blasts sparingly.
Provide email subscriptions.

Destination Websites

What IS Working?

BigEggDrop.com
Gathered the community around a humanitarian effort.
Unique spin on a normal event.
Corporate sponsorship
Rave cards sent home with every elementary student in the area.
Website with registration (used EventBrite) and game.
Over 3,500 people attended!

The Chapel

Wanted to do an open house to invite the community to their new campus but turned it into a kid’s day instead.
Got buy-in and support from area businesses, sponsorship, etc.
Most people attending didn’t realize it was a church sponsored event.
Gave them the opportunity to introduce their church to the community in a non-threatening way.
Instead of doing a direct mail for Easter they made postcards that people in the church could send to their friends (that they covered the postage for).
Designed a website with tools to spread the word through Twitter, Facebook, and email-a-friend.
Had an 88% increase in attendance for Easter.

Summary

Small is the new big. It’s not about big and glossy but simple and smart.
Create events to connect your church to the community… not your community to the church.
Get buy-in and cooperation from local businesses in the community… get other people involved.
Be strategic about mailers, emails, and anything else… don’t overload or overwhelm people.
Give people options to opt-in and to receive what content they want how they want it.

Lead Where You Are

Tim Schraeder — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 04:01:55 +0000

I’ve been to the mountain… well, The Summit.

This year’s Leadership Summit was fantastic. Thanks to all of you (well over 3,000!) who found your way to my blog. I guess I take good notes? [By the way, I'm still taking 'Notes for a Cause' donations to go to Kiva.org!]

So I was at The Modern Wing at The Art Institute of Chicago today with a friend and overhead someone saying near the end of their trek through the galleries, “wow, I’m saturated…”

I think that sums up how I feel right now. Absolutely saturated.

There was so much information, inspiration and ideas that leapt out at me over the past couple of days and I’m still processing everything… but while it’s fresh, I thought I’d share a key thought or take-away I had from each session.

Bill Hybels’ first session, Leading in a New Reality, reminded me that I need to slow down and gently listen to God, even in the midst of the chaos of the world around me.
The panel discussion on Hiring, Firing, and Board Meltdowns challenged me to think of the kind of work culture we are creating at Park and how I, as a part of the team, am contributing.
Gary Hamel blew me away. There was so much he said, I don’t think I caught it all. But the one thing he did say that’s going to stick with me is that the Church is God’s plan for humanity and He has no “plan B.”
Tim Keller’s session, Leading People to the Prodigal God, was a sobering reminder to remember the true heart of the Gospel.
Jessica Jackley’s insight on the whole idea of co-creation totally excited me when thinking about new ideas and possibilities that are out there. It just starts be taking one, small step.
Harvey Carey didn’t have to do much to convince me that I just need to do something!
I could have listened to Dave Gibbons a lot longer, but I did get a copy of his book. I’m stoked to read more about his thoughts and insights on creating a Third Culture, a culture of adaptation.
Andrew Rugsira really challenged me to think differently about the continent of Africa and to not just look through the lens of compassion, but to also see the opportunity that is in the people there.
Wess Stafford… wow. What an amazing story. And how humbling to think that nothing is wasted, everything is redeemable.
David Gergen had tons of great insights but the one that stuck with me was the idea that who we are says a lot more about us than what we actually say.
The Heath Brothers were stellar, as usual. I’m going to really cherish their statement that “failure is oftentimes an early warning sign of success.”
Bono was great, too. I think the biggest challenge from him this year wasn’t so much about the HIV/AIDS as it was what he said about the Church. He said some things I think we really need to take to heart.
Tony Blair’s interview was way too short, but I think more than anything his reminder of what a privilege it is to be in leadership was something I needed to hear.
And although not a formal session, Bill Hybels’ closing remarks were a great way to end, reminding us that the little things are often the most important.

So, after all that… what’s my final thought?

I think the theme of this year’s conference says it all: lead where you are. No matter who you are, where you are, what you do, what you have or what you don’t have, God is calling you to do something. To lead where you are.

In thinking through each of this year’s speakers, they were all the first to admit their flaws and shortcomings but also the first to admit that in order to make a difference, you have to be willing to take a risk and do something. Even in the midst of your own failures or at the risk of failure.

I cannot think of a more exciting time and opportunity to be a part of the Church and to be a part of what God is doing in our generation. I’m so thankful for the experience of the Leadership Summit to remind me of the importance of the call to leadership, but more importantly, to remember first and foremost, before I do anything, I’m called to be a child of God.

So how about you?

What’s are your take-away’s from the Leadership Summit? What challenge are you going to face? Or what simple thing are you going to do differently? Would love to hear!

The Simple Things

Tim Schraeder — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:16:53 +0000

Hybels is the founding and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL, and the chairman of the board for the Willow Creek Association. He convened The Leadership Summit in 1995, following a God-given prompting to help raise and develop the spiritual gift of leadership for the local church. Both visionary and passionate about seeing every local church reach its full God-given potential, he speaks around the world on strategic issues to Christian leaders and is a best-selling author of more than 20 books, including Courageous Leadership and Axiom: The Language of Leadership.

Story of Naaman

The OT book of 2 Kings tells the story of a military leader from Syria.
They went from one military conquest to the next.
He was the rock star military leader of the day.
He got a certain death sentence: leprosy.
He goes to a prophet to seek help and got instructions to dip into the water of the Jordan River seven times.
He was offended.
His soldiers reminded him that if the prophet had asked him to do something great that would have required great effort and achievement, he would have done it.
He was a great man who had done great things in great ways.
The prophet had asked him to do something very simple.
He was told to do something simple and to see what God would do.
When he did it, he was healed… perfectly healthy, perfectly whole.
He said: “There’s no other God but the God of Israel.”
The great temptation for some of us is to think that we have to set our minds to go out and do some great thing.
Launch some new idea.
Double or triple our size.
Go global with our local thing.
But we should do simple things, every day.

Simple Things We Should Consider Doing…

1 – Consider establishing a time and place where you will meet personally with God every day.

So often what gets compromised in our doing great things for God is our meeting with God.
In Ephesians 6, Paul asked for prayer to fearlessly proclaim what he needed to proclaim while he was doing what he was supposed to be doing.
Leaders need something fresh from God every day.
When you establish a meeting time and place, there’s some days the fireworks won’t happen, and day when the words will seem just like word on a page.
But if you are in the routine of it, God will speak to you.
It’s a simple thing, really.

2 – Commit to reading good books at least 30 minutes a day.

Steve Sample said, “I challenge you leaders to read something substantial 30 minutes a day for the rest of your life.”
It’s a very simple thing.
Bill has read hundreds of books since that have helped him along the way.

3 – Review your replenishment strategy

Romans 8:6 – if you are filled with the Spirit you will be filled with peace.
Is your “bucket” too depleted?
Instead of doing something big, maybe you should do something simple
Are you on a net gain or in depletion mode?
God will show you what to do.

4 – Decide to say “yes” to God every time His Spirit prompts you to do something.

This is advance decision making.
It means you saying “yes,” then asking God what the question is.
You don’t have to understand it, just test it against the Gospel… and just say yes.
“Some of the most fruit-bearing events I’ve ever been a part of came out of saying yes to God even I had no idea where they are going.”

Other Decisions…

Maybe it’s deciding what your key seats are.
Maybe it’s forgiving someone.
Maybe it’s reconciliation.
Maybe it’s time to stop complaining about the lack of resources and equipping people with what you have.
Maybe it’s time be innovative.
Maybe it’s time to consider a simple way to serve the poor.

The Simple Things

It’s often in the doing of the certain number of simple things that leaders build into their lives that often, over the years, compounds and increases their effectiveness, influence, and impact as a leader.
These simple things are the building blocks of God doing the “great thing” through us some day.
When we do the simple things, God takes responsbiilty for the big things.

Your Life Matters

Your life matters.
This isn’t the pre-game, this is THE game.
You have one life to live full-on for God.
You have one life to develop your leadership to the fullest potential.
You have this life to do something that will last for eternity.
“I only have today to fight for God and for His plan and purposes.”
I will fight hard.
It’s a personal decision we all have to arrive at.
What are you going ot live for?
What will you lay it down for?
What race are you running?
The curious thing God does when we all gather together and submit ourselves to the One, true Leader, Jesus Christ, and the combustible energy that happens when we are together is unlike anything else.
There’s a challenge we, as leaders, offer to each other.
We are building His church, for His glory through His power.

Do some simple things that will compound over the weeks and months ahead… who knows what God will do.

Interview with Tony Blair

Tim Schraeder — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:42:46 +0000

One of Great Britain’s most internationally recognized statesmen, Tony Blair served as Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from 1997 to 2007. During his tenure he helped transform Britain’s public services in education and health care and is widely credited for his contribution towards assisting the Northern Ireland Peace Process. He continues to be active in public life today, working as a key leader in the international community’s efforts to secure peace in the Middle East. He also advocates on issues of personal interest, including Africa and climate change. In 2008, he launched the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, which promotes understanding between the major faiths and increases understanding of the role of faith in the modern world.

On His Early Days as a Leader

Sometimes people look at people in a position of leadership and think they have confidence, etc.
“I’ve never been like that.”
“I felt very normal in an abnormal situation.”
“I felt compelled at a certain point to step out.”
Conventional wisdom can be the comfortable thing to do.
The comfortable thing to do can be the wrong thing to do.
You have step-backs and failures when you step out against the norm.
Most people liked to be liked.

Decision-Making

The thing about leadership is that you have make a decision inside of yourself that there will be things you will stand on and be faced with the fact that other people might not like it.
Part of leadership is having an inner core, an irreducable core, the thing that cannot be chipped away at.
You cannot yield on what is at your core.
You have to do what you know is right, even if it’s not popular.
Your job is to stand by what you think.
Be prepared to walk away.
The times I found most difficult to lead were when I thought I was compromising on what I thought was right.
Most people in leadership know when they are taking a position because they actually believe it.
You’ve got to listen to and absorb criticism.
If the facts change, I change my mind.
You have to have a clear view.

Doubt

Doubt is expressed as a deep reflection of what you are doing and if it’s right.
You need to think through your decisions.
Doubt can be right, it causes you to think.
You’ve got to put aside fear that comes in the moment of decision.
You have to be able and willing to take the responsibility of decision making.
It’s never easy… but in the end, your ultimate duty is to decide… somebody has to.
If you’re not stepping up and deciding, someone is.
Even if people strongly criticize you, they respect your role of decision making.

Faith

If you are of religious faith, it’s the most important thing in your life.
It’s not that you make decisions in a “religious way.”
But it does give strength and support.
Faith and its role in the world is an enormously potent force for good or bad.
Faith plays progressive and constructive role in the 21st century.
There’s a lot people of faith can accomplish together.

Negotiating

I’m a great believer between the differene between tactics and strategy.
There’s strategy in the goal you are trying to reach.
To get there, it requires a lot of compromise and tactical issues along the way.
You’ve got be be prepared to have a lot of give and take.
Things are difficult and tough to get through, but things should always be measured against your goal.

Leading Through Crisis

Do we react by pointing a finger or make a statement of our unity?
Made the judgement that a statement of unity was most important.
In the moment of crisis… get the facts, get the managerial details, get a message that meets the emotions of your people.

Pain + Disappointment

By counting your blessings you can endure pain and disappointment.
Remember it’s a privilege to do your job.
We’re blessed and lucky to be doing what we are doing.
Every day you should wake up and feel motivated.
Whatever pain and disappointment you accumulate, it cannot compare to the blessings you have.
What are you REALLY complaining about?

To Church Leaders

Leadership is a blessing.
It’s a gift that you’ve been given and a gift you can use to help others.
No matter how difficult, challenging or painful, it’s your duty to do it.
The way the world around you works, whatever it is, without a leader, things don’t get done.
The joy of getting something done makes all the pain worthwhile.
It’s a blessing and a gift from God you should use.

Hybels’ Comments

There are things you have to be unyielding on and you have to be ready to walk away if that’s compromised.
What is that irreducible core in you?
We are torn in leadership… people pulling us in different directions.
Are you willing to stay true to what you believe?
1 Corinthians 15:58: be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing your work is never in vain, if it’s in the Lord.
Leadership is a blessing.
It feels heavy at times.
We get to paint pictures for people to aspire to.
We get to lift up causes and people that matter for eternity.
Keep in balance.
There’s pain, blessing and opportunity in all of it.

Bono, the Church… Three Years Later

Tim Schraeder — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 20:44:32 +0000

Bono is the lead singer of Irish rock band U2, which has sold more than 140 million albums and won numerous awards, including 22 Grammys. A well-known activist in the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa, he co-founded DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) in 2002, The One Campaign in 2004, and Product (RED) in 2006, and was named TIME’s Person of the Year for 2005. Interviewed for the Summit in 2006, he challenged church leaders to mobilize against the ravages of global AIDS and poverty. Be a part of the continuing story, as Bono talks in an exclusive video about the church’s inspiring response and about his continuing life journey as a “single issue protagonist.”

JFK lead and the world followed.
Putting the man on the moon proved what American innovation and technology was capable of.
The problems we can fix, we should.
What is possible when the church unites to solve a global crisis?
Only love can leave such a mark.

How is the church doing?

Since the last time Bill and Bono met, “the church has done incredible things.”
“I thought the church was ‘the sleeping giant’ but I didn’t know it could run that fast!”
It’s an offense to Christ or any concept of truth and justice that we aren’t reaching out to help people in need.
The church is in the lead, not in the rear.
41 million bed nets were distributed… malaria deaths are down.
In some places Rwanda is sending back drugs!
Had the church not woken up on the issue of AIDS we would not have 2 million Africans on anti-viral drugs.

Loving our (global) Neighbor

The concept of “our neighbor” has changed.
It’s not advice, it’s a command.
In the global community, Africa is just down the street.
Can we enjoy the benefit of globalization without taking some of the responsibility?
They are our neighbor.
Eaglebook Community Church in Minnesota has woken up to the call to do something globally.
A mark of maturity is when people give out of what they have.
We’re going to be asked what we did for “the least of these.”

Where the Streets Have No Name

Bono wrote the lyrics for the song “Where the Streets Have No Name” in Ethiopia about people in Africa.
He says when he sings it, it changes him and he “feels God walk through the room.”
Sometimes you don’t know what you’re singing.
As smart as somebody can be, intuition is greater than intellect.
Our best work is done when we have no idea what we are doing.
Whittier Area Community Church got it too, gave $518,000!
Jesus has created the church to exist for the world.
Why did it take a rock star to tell us that?

On The Economic Situation

It’s funny that we can’t find money to save hundreds of thousands of lives in Africa but we can find $700 million to save our economy.
That says that in a crisis, we can find the money when we need it…
Doing so shows we believe somebody begging for their lives is not in crisis.

On Church

On church attendance: I go where the life is.
“What I find hard to take is lifeless ceremony… and I see that a lot in churches.”
He wants to go where he finds honesty and humanity.
A place where everyone is welcome.
When you make a sermon, people don’t want things to be too complicated, they want you to be honest. They want a spirit of humility.
We need to stand for poverty.
It’s not charity… it’s justice and equality.

Grace

The church tends to separate itself from people and pick the divisive issues.
That’s not grace.
We would be much better served if we stood for things instead of against things.
Grace is defying the thing that is uncommon.
Whenever I see grace, I am moved.
When you see the grace of how people behave in dire circumstances you will be moved.

On Giving Up

He considered giving up.
We should never think things are dependent on us.
It’s hard, there will always be resistance.
There’s resistance on the journey to equality.
Where have you drawn the line?
Where does your sphere of empathy end?
Everyone is created EQUAL in the eyes of God.
Indifference is an enemy to the greatest of possibilities.

Bill Hybels’ Challenge to Leaders

Jesus spoke with blinding clarity about the issue of our relationship with under-resourced people (Matthew 25).

He said, “I was hungry… naked… sick… in prison…”
Some of the people responded by saying, “we never saw you in those situations.”
He replied, “when you did it to the least of these, you did it to me…”
Others said, “if we would have seen YOU…”
He replied, “you wouldn’t have done it for me.”
There’s a lot of things we’ve got to get better at in leadership.
If we neglect using our leadership positions to serve the poor in some way, we will stand accountable before Christ some day.
“I get no joy out of saying this because I feel the weight of it every day…”

What Bono has done is asked everybody of every faith who leads anything to do something.

I have a deep-seated trust in the sovereign wisdom of the Holy Spirit.
If people get this on their radar screen, God will show them how to do it and finding out what their part is.

No one is exempt from taking responsibility in this great challenge.

What is the right thing to do?
If you’re not engaged, get engaged.
You will want to stand before the One with nail pierced hands and say, “I made the grace you made available to me available to the poor…”
Some of us will be called to life-saving acts of compassion.
Others will create jobs and opportunity for long-term solutions.
God will guide you.
This is something that in our lifetime could be ended.

Switch

Tim Schraeder — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 19:49:59 +0000

Dan Heath is an insightful and engaging communicator, widely recognized business consultant, researcher, and entrepreneur. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and is co-founder of Thinkwell, a publisher of innovative textbooks.

Chip Heath is an author, consultant, speaker, and popular professor at Stanford’s Graduate School of Management. His unique research on what makes ideas succeed has been featured in a wide range of popular media programs and publications.

Switch is all about how to change when change is tough.
Think about something about you or your organization that needs to change.
People’s first knee-jerk reaction to change is the idea that people don’t like change.
If your goal in life is to minimize the amount of change you experience, you’ve made a terrible mistake!
There’s certain kind of changes that are big (marriage, children, etc) that come effortlessly; but there’s other changes that are excruciating.
Sometimes the smallest things are the most difficult to change.

An Elephant and A Rider

Change is filled with conflict.
Part of wants to save for retirement; the other part wants to spend.
There’s a battle in any circumstance of change.
Part of us sees the need for change, the other part of us resists change.
There’s two parts to our brain: the thinking side and the side that actually does the work.
The rider can think of where we need to go, but the elephant doesn’t want to move.
Part of change is aligning the goal of the rider with the will of the elephant.
Emotional appeal triggers change.
Reach past intellectual arguments and tap into something that motivates for the long-haul.

From a ministry-perspective… you have 9 major ministries… 2 are working well, 5 are marginal, and 2 are failing miserably… what would you do?

Ignore the bottom 2; brush past the working 5 and focus on the main 2.
In a time of change, there’s a lot that’s not working… you’ve got to find what’s working, find the bright spots.
Bright spots prove success is possible.
You’ve got to study and clone bright spots.
There’s a new type of therapy that is focused on bright spots instead of negative memories or issues from the past.
Bright spots prove we are capable of solving our problems.
We tend to focus on areas that are weakest, but we need to focus on where God is really working, the bright spots.
When dealing with problems, ignore the True But Useless info (TBUs) and focus on learning from what is working and replicating it.

Big problem, small solution.

Big problems are rarely solved with big solutions.
Big problems are typically solved by a sequence of small solutions.
To accomplish meaningful change, you must be convinced that there is a goal worthy of the pain of changing.

Shrink the change.

By breaking big problems into a series of small solutions, those small success provide motivation.
If you find yourself demoralized, it’s a sign you haven’t shrunk the change enough.
Small victory is impetus for great change.
We often get frustrated and depressed because we ourselves can’t change and we can’t get people to move.

The Valley of Insight

When IDEO starts a new project, the team leader goes to a whiteboard and draws a “U-shaped” curve… you’ll start on a “high” called hope and you’ll end on a “high” called confidence. In between there will be a “dip” of insight.
Insight won’t come as quickly as we want it to come.
We have to struggle through it, because struggle leads to confidence.
We can equate the valley of insight to hell.
How to people interpret hard times?

A Growth Mindset + Failure

People with a “growth mindset” view life through the lens that they can get better, with work.
A “growth mindset” has a tolerance for failure.
Built-in to the “growth mindset” is a tolerance for failure.
We often equate failing to missing God.
Failure is a necessity in a time of change.
If you are going to have a growth mindset, you have to pursue to the point of failure.
Failure is an early warning sign of success.
Some people need to be empowered to fail!

We might not have a person problem, but a situation problem

When we make assumptions about people, we attribute things to them without questioning their situations.
The Fundamental Attribution Error – we look at people but we don’t look at their situations.
We need to think broadly about people’s situations.
Good leaders have the gift of seeing people’s situations.
Sculpting the path is part of creating change.

When change occurs, there’s usually a predictable pattern.

What’s effective is a deep emotional appeal.
The reason we get married and have children is because there’s something deep and emotional we experience.
Think of all the things society does to shape the path.
We need reverse engineer successful changes when facing new ones in front of us.

If there’s something you’re facing, God will help you overcome what you see as a challenge.

The “dip” is a place to gain insight.