thougths from somebody way smarter than me

i know, i know, i've been writing about money a lot lately. HERE's one post in case you missed it.

but these thoughts about money aren't my own. these are just some of my fav from Andy Stanley's book Fields of Gold. you should definitely go get it and read it. you can even borrow it from me if you want.

enjoy...

“Any fear associated with giving to God’s kingdom is irrational. It’s on par with a farmer who, out of fear of losing his seed, refuses to plant his fields.”

American Christians give less today to the church than we did during the Great Depression! 

[WHAT!? holy crap. that's crazy. how is that even possible?]

**The thing to fear isn’t giving away too much, but giving too little.
[yep.] 

“If you truly believe everything belongs to God, then you have nothing to fear after all. And if God is the source of all wealth and He controls the comings and goings of your money, then there’s no reason not to give.”

[just think about that for a minute]

“So whenever God blesses us with more than we need, we see it as an opportunity to insure our future or to guarantee our next meal, while all along, God meant it as an opportunity for us to give more.”

i love this phrase that Andy uses = "FEARLESS giving." i like it.

*Andy thinks the amount of money entrusted to you in your life often depends on how well you steward what you have. i agree in principle.

“I’m afraid to sow my seed because then I won’t have the seed anymore.” = insane

“This is powerful news for anyone who’s afraid to give because of financial insecurity. It suggests that the wisest move we could make financially is to begin sowing our financial seed. When we do, God gets involved in our finances. And that’s the most financially secure place we could be.”

Andy asks an AWESOME Question – “why in the world would God drain you of your resources and then not replenish them to accomplish what He’s committed to doing?”

while reading this book i was inspired to do something i hadn't done very often = PRAY and ask God to be involved in our finances!

this is SO SIMPLE! God doesn’t give us a % or amount to give. No pressure. Just “not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

God eliminates giving reactively or out of guilt. In other words, if that’s how you feel about giving, God says, “That’s OK, you just keep it. I’ll use somebody else’s.”

AWESOME = just so nobody can possibly pressure you into it!

great little book. i hope you enjoyed the highlights.

personal spiritual momentum

(This was originally posted to renown on November 17, 2009.)

Yesterday was Catalyst One Day in Baltimore. Actually it was like the 5th Catalyst One Day this year with Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel all around the country. I actually mentioned it before the 1st one here. It's basically 2 awesome talks from Andy, 2 awesome talks from Craig and then a Q&A time with both of them.
I didn't get to go in Baltimore yesterday, but I did listen to the entire conference audio from the one at North Point in ATL. It was awesome!

I just want to share a few things I walked away with from one of Craig Groeschel's talks at Catlayst One Day '09 = Creating and Sustaining Personal Spiritual Momentum

I felt like the talk was directly for me. I'm one of the peeps Craig talked about who = "So often (and with pure motives because we love Jesus) we try to do MORE than we were designed to do!"
*And stemming from that reality check this next "nifty" statement was the biggest thing I needed to hear. It's my main takeaway...

"Do today what I can do today to enable me to do tomorrow what I can't do today."

Man, I so need to hear that on a regular basis. I am a futurist and can see the end goal & just wanna get there all in 1 day. It's like my wife - when she gets in "cleaning/house work mode" she wants to do a whole year's worth of stuff in 1 Saturday... and I'm like, "baby, we can only do 1 thing at a time..." I need to take my own advice sometimes.

So what can I do today (if I can't do it all)? Craig gave us all 4 suggestions:

1.   Do something to defeat my dark side

2.   Create Artificial Ministry Deadlines - this is a biggie for me, bkuz my dark side is working too much... I have to work hard to not let myself work all the time! Craig sharing his practices were so freeing for me... to hear that he makes himself stop working on a talk after a certain day. It's just done... no matter what.

3.   Delegate what someone else can do - ***And "delegate authority not responsibility!"

"Delegating responsibility creates followers, but delegating authority creates leaders."

"You will not create or retain great leaders by telling them what to do/delegating responsibility."

4.   Do something only you can do - like take time off, be a husband to my wife, and remain broken before God.

**This was awesome stuff for me! I hope it was beneficial for some of you leaders out there too!

What are some of your thoughts on these points from Craig's talk? 

How do YOU create & sustain personal spiritual momentum?

Andy Stanley coming to Ridge Church

yep, Andy Stanley is coming to Charlotte to hang out with us at Ridge Church. and we are stoked.

But, i'll let Andy tell you about it himself. You can click HERE or watch below to see Andy telling us about his visit.


Ridge Church Night of Worship from Ridge Church on Vimeo.

Andy is the Lead Pastor of North Point Community Church in Atlanta & we (Ridge Church) are a strategic partner church of North Point.

If you live in the Charlotte area this is a special invitation to you to be there on that Thursday evening - September 15th!

God is doing some crazy stuff at Ridge. i'm constantly thankful for how He is using us for His kingdom. glad to have Andy come chill with us.

your vision is too small

If your vision doesn't exceed your ability, then your vision is too small.

period.

(i actually wrote that. wow, surprised myself because it's pretty fancy... like an Andy Stanley quote or something. of course i did write this line in my journal while reading Andy's book Visioneering.)

THEN next in my journal i wrote "i'm pretty sure... right?" haha.

i am right, don't you think? i mean, if your vision is not bigger than what you're actually able to do... that's not even a vision. that's just mediocrity. 

that's just blah.

safe.

normal.

boring.

because if it doesn't exceed YOUR ability and competency and capacity then it's not truly a God-sized vision.

i've got some crazy vision that is so far beyond my ability & competency. some days it just feels plain crazy.

maybe it is.

but i'm going for it.

revisiting my $ dilemma

i wrote about my $ dilemma a couple weeks ago HERE. i asked for all you wise peeps to give me some advice. a lot of you emailed me and wrote/talked to me privately. i appreciate everything. you all said a lot of really good stuff. i feel like i could write a book on all the advice.
thanks!

As i wrote the article about my dilemma i was already thinking that it was possibly just one of those tensions to manage not a problem to solve. that's quoting Andy & i wrote about his brilliant concept HERE. (it's also the theme of Catalyst this year!)

then, somebody actually wrote that very thing an email to me. pretty cool.

basically giving and saving will probably always be a tension to manage. it feels like a dilemma to me... a problem to solve, but it's not really. because i'll never solve it. both are needed.

so balance is key which many of you said, *BUT i would argue that pretty much ALL OF US are way out of balance to one side of this tension. and i think we all know which side. i've never met or heard of anyone who was out balance and gave away too much money. i don't know that it's possible.

(i love what i heard Francis Chan say 1 time = "Do you think you'll get to heaven and Jesus will say 'What were you thinking? you gave away way too much!'" probably not...)

so, for me, i'm going to fight and work toward "balance"... but balance really means giving away a whole lot more.

lead like Jesus (repost)

(this is a repost from January 19, 2008.)

andy is one of my favorite leaders, speakers, and authors in the world. as i mentioned in an earlier post, he is also extremely humble. He kicked off Catalyst this year with this pimp talk about leadership - Jesus style. EVERY leader needs to hear this... especially those of us who are "next generation leaders." It seems that many leaders today abuse their power and leverage it for their own gain. That's the opposite of what Jesus did. Weak leaders leverage power for their own sake... strong leaders leverage it for others in humility. Go check out John 13 & then watch this 2 minute clip of andy communicating to us all what Jesus wants us to do with the power that comes along with leadership!

so, when YOU have the power... follow Jesus' example. leverage that power for others to leave a mark on the world for generations after you're gone. that's reverb.

leadership coaching (thoughts)

i'm getting way behind on posting and processing my thoughts on takeaways from the leadership coaching network i'm in with Tony Morgan. You can read more about it HERE.
(i have several thoughts i want to post soon from the past couple months with Tony... i'm learning a lot of great stuff from him.)

*i want to learn and grow and implement these important principles and strategies i'm learning about leadership. i want to put them into action.
here's what i'm thinking about from the last time we met = structure and staffing. we're in a season of change and growth at Ridge so this is a constant conversation and thought process right now... especially within family ministries.
So, we must constantly structure and hire based on what God’s called us to do and our strategy.

 

*i love that Tony backs up what Andy always says about structure = Who is at the lead team meeting is not based on their ROLE, but based on their LEADERSHIP CAPACITY! *Don’t have a structure that keeps the best voices out of the room!

**i posted a few blogs on thoughts from what Andy has to say about this. it's brilliant! you can read my thoughts on that HERE and HERE!

you want peeps at the table who have a global/holistic view of the ministry (no matter their role). Big picture peeps.    

*Tony laid out a good challenge to find kid's ministry leaders who don't like kids! Because they need to be LEADERS who lead adults... not necessarily gifted with kids. i think we do a great job of this at Ridge. There are several leadership positions in kid's ministry that just desperately calls for talented leaders, not necessarily talented kid's people. i think we're rocking this challenge.

Great thought from John Maxwell on leading leaders. Just say to them - “Here’s the address. Here’s the keys. See you there.” – equip, empower, & then let go. [easier said than done, but way easier with good leaders.]

i'm liking the suggestion that between 5-8 direct reports is probably the most you should have at any 1 time. 8 seems like a lot... my capacity might need to stop at the perfect number of 7. But i'll take it a step further and say that everyone (even volunteers) all the way down the organization should probably follow this rule of 7. (everyone leads a few!) nobody should be leading like 10 or 12 people! (not for long anyway.)

*i know our structure and the roles people fill has to allow them to play to their strengths at least 80% of the time! we've got to figure out how to be a better job at this!

*i think this is a good suggestion = in the early days, hire all leaders and no specialists or support staff. you don't have enough room (or $) for them early on. the focus has to be on leaders. then as the church/organization grows, that can shift into hiring more support staff (assistants) and specialists, etc... i really like this and think there is a lot of wisdom in it.


OK, i'm going to cut it off there, but within 24 hours i'll post my thoughts on 10 principles on staffing. great stuff coming...
*i'm actually in Atlanta again right now for this leadership coaching 1st thing in the morning. looking forward to it! (+ really thankful to my awesome friend and host Andy Jones for letting me crash on his couch. always good conversations with this guy...)

teams that work

(i think this will be my last post on my takeaways from Drive 2010. You can catch up on tons of my thoughts and takeaways over the past 9 posts!)

the 1st breakout i went to was "Developing Teams that Work". it was probably the best breakout session ever. (And i've been to hundreds!) the content was masterful!
it was with Clay Scroggins (aka - the "Scrog Dog") who's in the student ministry, but i think he said this was developed by Reggie Joiner & Kendra Fleming at North Point. And i'm almost positive i've read it before from one of them...

The subtitle explains it better. These are "5 Critical Responsibilities EVERY Ministry Team Must Monitor to Stay on Track"
(So, we've got 7 Core Values + 7 Practices we live by... but these are 5 things that MUST BE PRESENT on our team! i am working this out currently in my head. trying to figure out how our teams can improve...)

These 5 responsibilities are simply necessary in order to accomplish our mission. they are probably directly related to the success of our mission. When stuff goes wrong or when we want to improve it will usually come back to 1 of these 5 areas.
I am now convinced that every team needs to have an expert in each of these 5 areas! here they are...

1  Refine the Environment - we've got to have an environment person. Somebody who can practice "Vuja De" = always see the environment with fresh eyes. (It's a George Carlan joke... the opposite of "Deja Vu" where you've never been to an environment but feel like you have. "Vuja De" is a unique ability to have been in an environment hundreds of times, but still be able to see it for the 1st time.) We all know that the environment is HUGE! We must have peeps from the outside speaking into our processes and environments! ("Listen to Outsiders.")
If we don't continually do this 1st one with expertise then ultimately a generation will be lost! it's a pretty big deal.

2  Nurture the Leader - we need an expert leader of leaders. "Coached leaders go further faster." - Andy. we just need an expert leader coaching the top leaders... and then everyone leads a few... all the way down. this expert has gotta be a people person.
I'm thankful that if we're a part of any culture in this North Point system, we're a part of a leadership culture!
Speed of the leader = speed of the team. Our quality and growth will be determined by the quality of our leader!

3  Value the Team - We need a relational guru who can motivate with vision and appreciate the heck out of the individuals on the team! (I feel like #s 2 & 3 might have a little overlap.) ***Everybody needs to value everybody else's role! Connect every single person's role to the big vision! (remember we're a body like Paul said in 1 Corinthians...)

4  Inform the Crowd - We need a marketing genius like Seth Godin on our team! (i wonder if he's looking for a job at a small church plant in NC? seems like that'd be right up his alley...) somebody who can communicate & market to the masses.. how else are they gonna know?
i can't tell you how many times i've thought (and i'm not the only one) - "i just wish more people would have experienced that!" (it's the marketing experts job to make sure they do! or at least know about it.)

5  Perfect the System - Oh yeah, we need a systems nerd. An orgizational guru! someone who says "How are all these disorganized people [like me] even Christians??? Disorganization is so ungodly!" i want that person on my team!! Because they are the opposite of me.
if we don't perfect the system we "waste critical resources ($) and time."


I think we need somebody who MAJORS in each of these 5 areas on our teams!
*When these 5 are working it simply removes most of the barriers so that the Holy Spirit can work.

***I have not stopped thinking about this for over a week now. i can't get it out of my mind. i know we've got to step it up in some of these areas because the mission is that important!

*some other great leadership stuff during this breakout:
-  "The longer something is neglected, the greater the damage and the harder it is to fix." [man we need to keep that in mind!]
-  our job in every environment is to "Build a bridge and turn on a light." - Reggie Joiner
-  "Teams need a rallying cry." - Patrick Lencioni

what do you think of these 5 responsibilities for teams that work?

agree/disagree? anything left out? 

i would love to hear your thoughts!

"the funnel" (continued...)

You can read the 1st half of this post HERE. (Seriously take 2 minutes to read that post. This won't make sense without reading that setup. this will just feel cold and rigid and you will probably accuse us of being idiots... you might do that anyway, but just read the last post!)

Today we'll dive into the 8 steps of "the funnel" that looks something like this:

And remember from yesterday's post that the whole point is LIFE CHANGE. but there is no sense in offending people with our crap. The only thing that should ever offend them is the gospel! (the message itself.) So we want to earn the right to challenge people each Sunday by intentionally walking through the steps of this funnel. (Not all 8 steps happen every Sunday.)
1  Pre-Service Experience - this begins in the parking lot. This is the broadest part of the funnel, trying to welcome everyone and make them feel GREAT!

2  Opener - Usually a song or game of some sort or something fun/entertaining... *We want to make people HAPPY they are here! **If we can make them laugh/smile the 1st 5 minutes they are here that's a huge WIN!

3  Welcome - Because there are GUESTS! we welcome guests into our home... we don't load them up with a bunch of info. We want 1st timers to feel WELCOMED, not announced at (that's not the win)!

4  Singing/Worship - (it's all worship... so the musical part of worship is step 4). There is a funnel even within this step of the funnel. we must be sensitive to the emotional flow... don't start with a crazy intense song about the blood of Jesus flowing down... that should come at the end of this step of the funnel. Start with a worship song that's way broader and more engaging.

5  Baptism - the way we do baptisms and the stories will get all the people in the room involved emotionally. You can't argue with someone's story! you just emotionally connect.

6  Tension (Andy calls this a "special") - Goal = to create a tension that the message will address. this is usually a song, maybe a video or interview or something. the tension should not resolve during this step! just create it! **tap into human emotion here. make eveeryone in the room say "I hope someone can answer that".

7  Message - start a whole new funnel here! Start out broad and catch everyone and then funnel down to the point that we RISK challenging them... risk offending with the gospel... for the sake of life change.

8  Closer - the only point is to punctuate the point of the message (or whole series).

Following this funnel/template should allow us to be way more creative!

*Here are some great Rules for the exceptions to the rules!
- It's OK to move away from this template on purpose, but it's not OK to drift by accident! You can decide to do it, but don't do it unintentionally. (we recently did this on purpose at Ridge for "Throwback" in April! It was intentional and we all acknowledged it and talked about it.)

- It's never OK to move away from this template because we're bored, we want to do something "cool", or we just want to change it up... *** "If we can leverage cool fro something good that's awesome, but cool is never the goal."

- When we move outside the template, there needs to be a good reason. (Like Throwback for us or our upcoming "Strategic Service" Sunday.)


There you have it. Our funnel or Sunday morning strategic template.

I would love to hear YOUR thoughts! Where do you agree and disagree??

"the funnel" (steps on sunday morning)

(If you missed the video set up for this yesterday, just click HERE. or even if you just want a good laugh watch the video HERE.)

**Everything we do at Ridge Church we do on purpose. Especially on Sunday mornings. Every single word, action, movement, environment, color, angle, etc... it's intentional. Nothing is an accident. it's all strategic. We have planned and are ready for every person who comes through the doors.

This is modeled for us beautifully by our "mother" church who we are a strategic partner with = North Point. Andy Stanley (their lead pastor & 1 of our teaching pastors) does a better job communicating most things than most people. But he definitely does the best job communicating how intentional we are about what we do on Sunday mornings. Below is my humble attempt to download and think through 2 talks he has done about "the funnel". (The 1st talk was with strategic partnerships in '09 and the 2nd was just last week at Drive 2010.)

This funnel is like a road map or a template for the experience we want to create every Sunday morning. (I think he might call it "Rules of Engagement" now?)
To create this funnel (or template) we have to begin with the end in mind. Which in my very humble opinion and in my limited experience most churches don't do! 

So, on a Sunday morning, one of the goals for us is to have people change their thinking which leads them to change how they live. Goal = Life Change!
We're all about clarifying WINS at Ridge too. When an adult (or student or child really...) comes to Ridge who is not a "church person" and usually not a believer -> a WIN is when that person finds an environment (context) that's welcoming and good and comfortable (familiar) + communication that is engaging and helpful so that it makes them say "I'll come back next week." That's the WIN for us.
But, of course long term the win is life change as they keep coming back again and again.

In our church & no doubt at your church there is a wide range of peeps showing up. Peeps who have never been to church and don't like Jesus and peeps who were born at church and haven't left since.
So, here's a big Question = How do you help such a wide range of people take steps forward spiritually?
Answer = Do what Jesus did... unite them around a common emotion! 

Take 3 minutes and read Luke 15. you can even just click HERE if you don't have a Bible handy.

In that passage Jesus is speaking to a WIDE range of peeps. The craziest "sinners" around who knew nothing about God + the Pharisees and teachers of the law who knew everything about God. How in the world does Jesus engage both ends of the spectrum? He brings them together on common ground with a common emotion! = "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them..."

The sinner & the teacher are immediately FEELING the same emotion together! they're thinking "ahhh, that would be horrible..." 
**Jesus 1st takes them ALL somewhere emotionally! Doesn't matter if they are learned theologically or a "newbie"... He takes them all to the same place emotionally. Because "We build common ground with emotion, NOT INFORMATION."

He keeps going and creates 2 more emotions like this in order to drive home how he wants their thinking and their LIVES TO CHANGE!

*Jesus skipped giving information. He just got everyone nodding their heads "yep".

So, here are 3 Questions you should ask yourselves as you develope the elements for your template for what your Sunday mornings look like. (you do have a template even if you don't know you do.)
1) How will this make people feel?
2) What do we want people to feel?
3) At what point is it worth the risk to make people feel uncomfortable?
*This is so important because every Sunday we have to earn the right to challenge people.

OK, I hope that got you warmed up to actually see "the funnel." Here it is...

Impressive, eh? 

Tomorrow we'll dive in to the actual 8 elements of the funnel and I'm going to think through some other great thoughts about what our Sunday mornings should look like.

"funnel" spoof ("sunday's coming")

This was a hilarious video at Drive 2010. It was the perfect bumper video to play right before Andy Stanley talked about the funnel. That's the "funnel of love" or the "rules of engangement" North Point plans a Sunday worship service by. At Ridge we operate by the exact same funnel.
Our team of 26 people were sitting there cracking up. I love a good spoof video and I love it when The Church can be sarcastic and laugh at itself. ENJOY!


("Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.)

Haha, are you laughing your head off yet? What was the funniest part to you?
(What do you get when you mix contemporary and relevant?)

*check out my post tomorrow as I process my thoughts on "the funnel". This video is the perfect intro for "the funnel." i'm going through 2 different sets of notes when Andy taught us about it... Should be good.

leadership culture (Zappos, Chick-Fil-A, & NPCC)

These are some scattered thoughts from one of the greatest breakout sessions ever this week at Drive 2010 at North Point. It was called "Creating a Culture Where Leaders Thrive". I went to it because I think Jeff Henderson is one of the greatest leaders around... but it wasn't just him! The Chick-Fil-A VICE PRESIDENT (David Salyers) + a big dog with Zappos.com (Donavon Roberson) were also talking with us in the breakout!!!

It was freaking awesome. 3 great leaders from 3 great organizations with great leadership cultures talking leadership culture! like i said... freaking awesome.

So, here are my random thoughts & takeaways as i process them:
- Solomon was the wisest man in the world and he talked more than anyone about getting advice and counsel.

- Chick-Fil-A studies the greatest organizations in the world in order to learn from them. A couple years ago they studied NORTH POINT! Wow! CFA, one of the greatest - studying a church!

- "Endearing actions create enduring organizations." Do awesome things for family of staff, unexpected surprises, etc...

- The bottom line is PEOPLE. never lose sight of that.

- "There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn't care who gets the credit." - Truett Cathy

- Don't motivate people. RELEASE people. I've gotta release the potential of our team! Release them to try, experiment, and lead in their own way (within the guardrails of our mission and core values of course).

- On that above note, i love this formula from the VP @ CFA = Quality of the Idea X Acceptance = Effectiveness (Q x A = E)
10 that is the best idea ever, but the Acceptance is only 5 that = 50. BUT, If the Quality of the idea is only a 9, but Acceptance is a full on 10 the Effectiveness will be 90! that's powerful even though the idea wasn't quite as good.> I hope this is encouraging to all leaders to be accepting of all the half crazy ideas from leaders on their teams.

- "Creating a great leadership culture where the team thrives doesn't cost a lot of money. It does require intentionality." - Jeff Henderson

- We gotta Coach our leaders all the time. If we only do it when something goes wrong then that's really Criticism.

- "We want people to be just as clear on what we want for them as what we want from them." - Salyers. That is great great advice! I am going to start implementing that TODAY!

- ***Probably the greatest thing i took from this whole session was something Jeff said. It convicted me and brought something important back to the forefront of my mind! = "The best thing we can do to lead up is to pray for our leader! My job is to make Andy Stanley as successful as possible."
**I fully agree. My job is to make Chris Brown as successful as possible!
Jeff again encouraged us that we don't have to wait on formal authority! especially when it comes to this. right on. I need to be honoring our pastor & not wait on some kind of formal authority to do this. i need to figure out how to do this practically. working on it...

Those are my random takeaways as i break them down and try to apply them.  

Do YOU have any thoughts on my thoughts?

opposable thumbs & leadership

(This post is simply me processing my thoughts from Andy Stanley's final talk at the Drive Conference 2010. It looks like the guys at Catalyst liked the talk so well they have made it the theme of Catalyst 2010!)
This is brilliant! I'm just trying to process it and take it from my brain to action (via this blog).

"THE OPPOSABLE LEADER"

Why organizational tension is essential to progress (like THUMBS)

*Humans have opposable thumbs and it is an amazing phenomenon. That phenomenon is responsible for much of the good things we do and all the progress we have made through the millennia. It is all possible because we can apply pressure and tension with our opposable thumbs.
**Just like the thumb - the right amount of pressure/conflict/tension lets us make progress! There are some tensions that if taken away, would be like cutting off our thumbs!

Every Organization Has Problems That Shouldn't Be Solved and Tensions That Shouldn't Be Resolved. (because to do so would be like cutting of your thumbs.)
Some examples would be:
- Excellence vs. Stewardship = you can't choose 1! that's a tension that needs to stay.
- Time @ work vs. Time @ home = you cannot neglect either one!
- missional vs. attractional = we'll always need both.
- safe environment for unbelievers vs. deeper teaching for believers = this is a tension we will always need to live with.
- and there are hundreds, probably thousands more...

*If we "resolve" any of these tensions...

1) we create a new tension. but that new tension is more like a big problem that will wreck everything! **So don't "SOLVE" it... you're not solving anything, just making everything worse!
2) we create a barrier to progress. because...
**Progress depends not on the resolution of those tensions, but on the successful management of those tensions. (our Pastor tells us all the time all the time = "That's not a problem to solve. That's a tension to manage!" brilliant.)

a Great Question is = Are there mature advocates for both sides? - if so, chances are this is a tension to be managed. most of us grew up where all these necessary tensions ONLY had advocates for one side... so the ministry was screwed!

**We have got to be comfortable managing and leading through these tensions!

The Role of Leadership Is to LEVERAGE the Tension to the Benefit of the Organization.
YES! As leaders we have to maximize the upsides of each view and minimize the downsides!

*Here's some great suggestions for how we can leverage these tensions for the benefit of God's mission:
- "Identify the tensions in our organization." **We dare not let anyone  "win" this argument! if we do then we lose as an organization.

- "Continually give VALUE to both sides."

- "Don't weigh in too heavily based on my personal biases." = I lean to 1 side or the other in all these tensions because God wired me that way. We're all this way. SO, we've gotta give value to the other side!
**As a leader you could naturally champion 1 side & suffocate the other side! "See the Upside of the other side and the downside of your side." that is beautiful, mature advice for ANY situation!

- "Don't allow strong personalities to win the day." Don't let their side win just because they're loudest or complain a lot.
** "We need passionate people who will champion their sides, but mature people who understand this principle."

- "Don't think in terms of balance. Think Rhythm." Managers don't naturally go by rhythm, they lean toward balance and fairness. But rhythm goes by the crazy seasons in ministry...
Balance is equal, but we don't always need the same amounts of things. It depends on the time and rhythm of ministry.

Andy concluded with this:
** "As a leader, one of the most valuable things you can do for your organization is to differentiate between tensions your organization will always need to manage vs. problems that need to be solved."


**This is such great stuff. I feel FREED up to EMBRACE TENSION. Tension is a good thing. It lets us make progress in our mission!

I am stoked to work for a great leader like my pastor and boss, Chris. Andy started this talk by saying he had "never taught on this concept publicly" but had only taught it to his staff, etc... BUT, Chris says this stuff to the Ridge staff ALL THE TIME! maybe Andy passed this on to Chris at some point?
i feel pretty lucky.

I hope this has been helpful! This was awesome for me. In every facet of our ministries we must learn to embrace tensions between all the different kinds of people and ministry ideas and philosophies, etc... 
**Many times it's BOTH/AND NOT EITHER/OR!

THOUGHTS?

Drive 2010 - Day 1

Drive 2010 kicked off tonight & it was bumpin!
Around 3-4K Church leaders from around the world gathered for the kickoff tonight at North Point.

(i shot a short video of the opener on my iPhone and i was gonna post it here, but then i think i read somewhere that they ask we don't post video or something like that... can't remember where i saw that, but i'll be safe and not post it. my crappy quality video wouldn't do it justice anyway!)

Basically they rocked a cover of "Run this Town" from Jay-Z & Rhianna with a girl doing the Rhianna part who dropped down from the roof. pretty crazy. but no Jay-Z part... it was a crazy combined remix with Toby Mac's "Ignition" & 2 guys flowing with that. pretty sick.

Jeff Henderson said the last time somebody dropped through the roof in church was Luke 5 with the paralyzed guy and his 4 buddies... lol.

so, yeah. good times tonight. 3-4K church leaders worshipping God together at the top of our lungs is always an amazing thing! We took communion together and that was awesome.

I was overwhelmed by 1 of the verses on the screens during communion = Hebrews 2:9 = "...He suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone."
blown away by that awesome thought tonight. that Word was powerful tonight.

Andy Stanley's talk tonight was great as always. I'm honestly really intrigued about what he's gonna say in the morning! They moved session #2 to 8:30am because he said it's really important for us all to hear what he has to say before all the breakout sessions tomorrow...
*I kind of think it will be about learning and being great learning and growing organizations.

Anyway, his talk tonight was stellar. He set it up by talking about the Vision God gives us and this "impossible" Dream we have that actually seems possible. BUT LIFE HAPPENS and we begin to shrink our dream to make it "manageable". (not cool.)

What's your dream? Does it seem impossible these days?
Andy reminded us all that Christianity growing and spreading was ridiculous and even laughable. it was impossible. But God made it happen. all God and He gets all the glory.

But Christians also had a part in changing the world by living out John 13:34-35 & loving each other! Loving slaves, women, the outcasts, Gentiles, etc...
**Jesus gave every single person value when He called us to love each other!

Because of all that - Andy's tagline over & over was "today, there's a cross hanging at the Emperor's entrance in the Roman Colosseum." Which of course, would have been an impossible thought back in the day when the Roman Colosseum was the height of violence and torture and everything that was wrong with the world...
just 1 example to show that no dream is too big. All this vision that God gave us is absolutely possible!

Nothing is too big.

Nothing is impossible.

DREAM BIG AGAIN.

DRIVE Conference starts 2moro

i am so tired.
but tonight's Family Birthday Celebration was awesome. Big thanks to everybody who made it happen. & all glory to an amazing God who does amazing things in our lives for His Name's sake.

Drive Conference 2010 kicks off tomorrow at North Point. We'll be there for the pre-session at whatever time that starts. leaving at 8am for the ATL. The whole Ridge staff team is going + a ton of volunteer leaders. It's gonna be a great week.

As always, i'll be learning and soaking up a TON of awesome stuff and this blog is my outlet for all that great stuff i'm learning... so, i'll try to write a blog each night with some takeaways from that day at the conference.

So thankful to be under the wing of an excellent and learning organization like North Point. tonsa love and respect.

looking forward with some big anticipation all that God has for me over the next 3 days. looking forward to dumping it here on renown each night. (Assuming I'll have internet access...)

the day after...

Not being at this Passion Conference (Passion 2010) has really made me nostalgic. It has brought back so many memories and emotions from all the years I was there.
Unfortunately, I guess I am officially old now since this is the 1st one I wasn't allowed to be at. Feels like I'm kicked out of the 268 generation a little bit. JK.

But, I do remember what today felt like. Today being the 1st day back home after the most amazing 4 days at Passion were over. I was so renewed and resolved to CHANGE THE WORLD. (& I still am today, so it never wore off.) My passion was ignited and I was so happy to let my life only be about 1 thing = RENOWN! and not my renown or name or glory or fame either. But my life was going to be all about the renown and glory of the only One who matters; the only One who lasts; the only One worth living for.

As I said several times over the past few days, nothing has changed and radically influenced my life in my 20s like the Passion Movement. No doubt there are thousands of college students right now who are feeling the same way. And maybe this was even their 1st Passion experience.

I think one of the greatest things I did "the day after" was to keep myself surrounded with people who had the same "awakening" as myself. To be in constant conversation with friends who had also determined that the only thing worth living for was to make God famous!
So, any college students who might see this, make sure you do that! The people you went with who now have the same passion as you = to live for the glory of God -> stay close to each other and constantly encourage each other in living that life!

I think another great thing I started doing "the day after" was to get my hands on every single talk and book from the people in the Passion movement! That has kept my mind and heart centered on this 1 passion for my life. So, find all the talks you can from Louie and Piper and Francis Chan and Andy. You can even download their podcasts for free and pop them on your iPod. I've listened to pretty much all those guys have had to say for the past 6-7 years and God is changing my life through what they're saying! Buy their books. be reading one all the time.

anyway, that's just some humble advice from me for "the day after"...

And for all of you who may be experiencing "Passion withdrawals" over the next several days... don't worry.
I'm planning to post some thoughts here on renown from the talks from Andy, Piper, Louie, maybe even Beth Moore...
***Which btw, you can still listen to Andy's and Piper's talks HERE. but hurry before they're gone!

I am also planning to post my top 10 moments since I first was "awakened" to the movement through One Day '03 to now...
So basically my top 10 memories from Passion Conferences! hopefully some of you might enjoy that stuff.

my prayer today: God, today there are thousands from a generation who were awakened to the reality that Your glory is the only thing worth living for. Be near to us today. Kindle that flame in us. Satisfy us in You as we live for Your fame. Use us to change the world for Your renown!

What's YOUR prayer today?

more of the new songs in our hearts - Passion 2010

Monday I wrote a little about Passion HERE. This morning I wrote some thoughts about the beauty of the new songs in our hearts birthed their from Passion 2010 HERE.
I'm just loving these new songs, so tonight I wanted to post some of the lyrics of these songs that were sung for the 1st time ever at Passion 2010 this past week...
I wish you could hear them. you will soon enough...

I guarantee you these songs are being sung in the hearts of a generation tonight as they put their heads on their pillows. As they go back to their dorm rooms in the next weeks these are the songs that will be resounding in their hearts. These words and the awesome words God spoke through Louie, Piper, Andy, Francis Chan, & Beth Moore will be the words that will change their hearts & God may use to change their campuses... and the world.

Charlie Hall has several new ones he led. This one fit with Passion 2010's "Awakening" theme:

"heaven's light shining bright

come and open up our eyes,
You are Hope and You are Life,

let the earth awake

Heaven's Kingdom coming down,

Your heart beating in us now

Moving in Your power
let the earth awake

Whoa oh, whoa oh, whoa oh, 

LET THE EARTH AWAKE!"

Kristian Stanfill brought a new anthem like a lot of his other of his awesome upbeat songs where you get to shout some!

"Some are chasing the treasures of this world

We run to a glorious reward

The only Name worth living for!

Say, Say, Say you believe it
Sing for the whole world to hear it

We know and we declare it, Jesus is King
Say, Say, Say you believe it

Sing loud, sing like you mean it

We know and we declare it, Jesus is King
We open wide our mouths to praise

Let this generation raise

A song of freedom all our days!

I believe/ (I believe)

Your Kingdom Come (Your Kingdom Come)

Son of God (Son of God)

King of Love (King of Love)"

Here are 2 more new ones from Charlie...

"oh oh, oh oh oh,
King of Heaven come down

oh oh, oh oh oh,

King of Heaven come down

We come together in the wave of God

We stand together in Your great compassion

Pouring out our hearts and lives

Fill us up with an expectation

oh oh, oh oh oh

King of heaven come down...

We'll sing the news of all Your grace
We'll help the broken hearted praise

We'll put Your glory on display

King of heaven"

& this one from Charlie... 

"Just like the sun shines/ You have been our Light

Leading us into beautiful places

We've walked through fire/ but You made us brighter

Leading us into beautiful places

Faithful Jesus/ Healing Savior

Compass Center/ Bread of Life

Faithful Jesus/ Cherished Treasure

Our Portion/ Wisdom/ God's great Life

Just like the star at night You shine in the black of night

Leading us into beautiful places
Just like the atmosphere You have come to surround us here

Leading us into beautiful places

God You are here with us, constantly here with us

You are our Everything, faithful and true"

[I love that!]


Tomlin led this one on the 1st night & then a couple more times throughout Passion 2010. The lyrics are straight up amazing like so many Tomlin songs. I think we'll be singing this a lot:

"We are a chosen generation
Rise up holy nation

God, we live for You

You have called us out of darkness 

and into light so glorious

God, we live for You, we live for You, we live for You 
Our God will not be moved

Our God will never be shaken

We run to You/ We run...

You are everything

More than all we need

God, we live for You
I found this world to be not enough for me

God, we live for You, God, we live for You"

Chris and Christy Nockels led this one a few times together. Beautiful repeat part with Christy.

"We know where the Spirit of the Lord is...

Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty
We know living in Your freedom

Living in Your freedom we see Your glory

We know where the Spirit of the Lord is...

Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty

We're Yours and Yours is the Kingdom!

We're Yours and Yours is the Kingdom!

You are the flame that burns inside

We need Your presence more than anything

You're all that we want

You're all that we need"

And then I'm guessing this song will be called Awakening - awesome song that starts so soft and then builds so big. I'm guessing it will be the title track of the live album. It created a glorious worshipful moment at Passion 2010... I could tell just from watching. It was powerful in me here on my couch!

"Holy Spirit we desire awakening

For You and You alone

Awake my soul, awake my soul...
Your will be done, Your will be done in me

In Your presence, In Your power awaken me

For this moment, for this hour, awaken me

Like the rising sun that shines

Awake my soul, Awake my soul & sing!

From the darkness comes a light

Awake my soul, Awake my soul & sing!

Only You can raise a life
Awake my soul, Awake my soul & sing!

I hear Your voice say 'This is my awakening'"

You'll be hearing these songs soon & I'm sure they'll be resonating in your hearts too.

awesome songs...

Of all these new songs, Do you have a favorite? One that REALLY resonates in your soul?

new songs in our hearts

(I wrote a lot about Passion and Passion 2010 yesterday HERE. Passion 2010 actually ends today.)
One of the awesome things about the Passion Conferences is that it's where all the most amazing, gifted, and "God anointed" worship leaders in the world lead their brand new & fresh songs for the 1st time ever. It's the perfect audience to introduce a new song to.

I can't even remember how many tons of songs being sung in churches all across the world today, I heard the 1st time they were ever sung at a Passion Conference. It's a really awesome thing. Louie talked about that on Sunday. I was right with him agreeing big time.
A lot of the sixsteps guys, along with Louie, got together over the last several weeks to write some brand new songs God had put in their hearts specifically for this Passion gathering.
Tomlin ended up writing one called "Awakening" that's pretty sweet.
There are always so many songs that are exactly what is in the heart of this generation & what we want to say to God!

But I would have to say my favorite new song so far debuted at Passion 2010 has been "Our God Is Greater". Matt Redman and Chris Tomlin have both led it, but I think Chris wrote it.
I wish you could hear it, but for now I just want to leave you with some of this amazing song that is resounding in my heart today:

"There's no one like You; none like You...

Our God is greater/ Our God is stronger

God, you are higher than any other,

Our God is healer/ Awesome in power,

Our God, our God...

And if our God is for us then who could ever stop us,

And if our God is with us then what could stand against..."

Passion

I think I have said a ton of times on this blog how the Passion Movement has had the most radical influence in my life over the past 7 years.
No other thing in my 20s has influenced me more than this movement! After I decided to follow Jesus with my whole life, Passion has been the single most influential thing in my life.
(I won't even bother to link to all the times I've written about this because there are too many...)

The name of this blog even comes from the radical God-centered vision birthed in me through the Passion movement which from the beginning ('97) has been all about Isaiah 26:8...
"Yes Lord, walking in the way of Your truth, we wait eagerly for You; for Your Name and renown are the desire of our souls."

Somewhere around 2004 or 2005 I decided that I would leverage my entire life for 1 thing = God's Renown! Life is all about that. I've traded it all in... the hope of anything else I've ever wanted... all for making God famous... spreading His renown to more and more people! That's what I'm living life for.

And that was birthed in me through the Passion Movement (including following books and talks of guys like Louie and Piper, etc...). I remember that Passion '05 was probably one of the most amazing experiences of my life! I'm a very experiential person and I love spiritual experiences and experiencing God as INTENSELY as I can. That happened for me every time I was at a Passion Conference.

So, Passion has been a major part of my spiritual journey in this era of my life. I am who I am today because of how God has used Passion in my life. So many different people and things influenced me up to my 20s, but for these past 6 years or so I have been largely shaped by the Passion movement... maybe that's a better way to say it.

So, I am a little bummed that I'm not at Passion 2010 today. I wrote about that briefly yesterday. I'm very thankful for technology though that lets me still experience it from my couch. You can click HERE and see the Main Sessions streaming. I hooked it up to my big screen plasma TV & cranked up the volume... listened to my fav speaker of all time bring it in session 1 (Louie) & kind of in session 2 (even tho he wasn't even the speaker, haha. + stoked about Piper coming up in Session 4 i think...

+ I've been worshipping in my living room with my fav lead worshippers - the whole sixsteps crew = Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, Charlie Hall, Christy Nockels, and Kristian Stanfill + some guests who have been part of the movement directly & indirectly = Steve Fee & Hillsong United (Joel Houston, Brooke Frasor, etc...) We have had an awesome time together as I'm sure it's crazy amazing there in ATL.

So, since it's Passion 2010 this week I might be blogging more often about it. Just my thoughts on what's going down there... as if I were there.

Most of all I am still in constant prayer for God to move in power there like He has so many times before in my life.

I'm praying that he births a passion in so many other 20somethings for His renown just like He did in my heart years ago! 
I'm praying that thousands and thousands follow God to "Do Something Now" and they end up changing the world.
I hope that thousands camp out in the "GO Center" like I did for a few years and go after it with God for the nations...
And most of all my prayer is the same as Louie's last prayer before it started:
"We need You more than ever.  You are everything.  Be happy at Passion 2010.  It’s all for You, Jesus.  Amen"

i wish i were at Passion 2010

i can't believe i'm not at Passion 2010 right now!
i'm hating it.
i wish i were there so bad. This is the 1st Passion gathering i've missed since 2003. Honestly it hurts my heart to not be experiencing the movement at this very moment.

i've had a heck of a day and am physically and emotionally drained, so i'll write more about Passion 2010 tomorrow.
i've been praying for over a week now for the 22K + who are there. Praying that God does revolutionary things for His glory in the lives of peeps there thru these days... just like He's done in my life these past 7 years.

Glorify Your Name God!