Sailors, Saints, & Sinners

Great sayings that have shaped me: PART III

“Less is more.”  {Andy Stanley; others}

This has defined so much of what I do and don’t do and what our church does and does not do. 

• We will do a few things well rather than a lot of things average.
• We will be focused, we will be simple, we will disciplined.
• This means we say ‘No’ to a lot of things so that the things we say ‘Yes’ to are done with excellence.

A lot of people have a hard time understanding this.  Typically, the church has tried to have a program or ministry or sub-ministry for everything under the sun.  The end result is everything can end up competing for space, dollars, and time.  The staff gets stretched too thin and committed members end up feeling guilty because they cannot be there every time the church doors open (which grows with every new ministry that gets started).  Ten years later the program that started with such excitement isn’t as exciting but you can’t kill it because “We’ve always done it that way.”

So at Rock Bridge we made a strategic decision.  We will only do a few things that fit our vision … the one God gave us almost five years ago … and we will do those things for the glory of God!!

Our “few things” include weekend worship, adult small groups/discipleship, children & students, and multiple campuses. (I once heard this guy respond to the question of ”Do you have a men’s ministry?” with the reply, “Yes, we encourage our men to come to worship every Sunday!” Whether that reply fits or not is up to each church but the focus, simplicity, and committment to doing only a few things well is refreshing and is proving effective in churches (see the book Simple Church by Thom Rainer) and in businesses (see the book Good to Great by Jim Collins).

I could be even simpler by saying we do two things: LARGE group and SMALL group environments for adults, students, and children modeled after Acts 2.

Great sayings that shaped me (PART II)

“Everything rises or falls on leadership.”  {John Maxwell; experiences in the Navy}

The Naval Academy was all about producing leaders.  I saw great and bad leadership in action and quickly realized that leadership is the difference maker in any organization.

• Throughout Scripture, God raised up leaders to accomplish His purposes.
• I thank God for the leadership we have at Rock Bridge.
• The level of leadership that got us where we are will not take us where we are going.  (i.e. — what it takes to lead a church of 100 is different than the leadership it takes to lead a church of 500, 1000, 1500, 2000 … etc.) Click here for a great post on this.
• I pray God raises up more leaders as our church grows and our influence expands.
• I realize the enormous responsibility God has given me as the lead pastor of Rock Bridge.
  • I have committed myself to continue to grow and learn as a leader.
  • As our church has grown so has my desire for and need to pray.  Spiritual leadership flows from time with God … period.
  • I know I need help.  I know I cannot do everything.  I know I am only good at a few things.  That is why leadership is not an endeavor that occurs in a vacuum.  We have a great staff, godly Elders, and awesome people at RBCC who help lead this church. 

Hanging Tough (Part 2)

Because ministry is tough we’ve all got to find a way to hang tough in order to last.  I hear so many stories of people no longing in full-time ministry.  The stats of people who enter ministry and then leave are staggering.  I want to be in this for the long haul.  I want to finish well.  I don’t want to be a “one hit wonder” (remember “Achy Breaky Heart“?).  I still have a lot to learn in this area but here are some things that have helped me.

• Celebrate wins.  Share stories of life change.  Listen to the people God puts in your path to encourage you and build you up.  I am convinced that the devil can make a few sound like many.   My tendency can be to get over critical and dwell on the stuff I/we messed up or on what the critical few are saying.  However, there is SO MUCH good God stuff going on that deserves celebrating … heaven throws a massive party every time someone gets saved … maybe there is a lesson for us down here on earth!?
• Staff well.  Boy, have we learned this one the hard way.  We allowed our staff to attendance ratio to get dangerously high and most of our staff was on the verge of burnout.  Staffing well allows for margin and margin is often where I hear from God and am most productive in my thinking. 
  • The Executive Pastor:  Let me say that for me personally as the Lead Pastor hiring Aaron Gable as our Executive Pastor was a great hire for both selfish reasons and strategic reasons.  First, he and I have great chemistry and think VERY much alike when it comes to church operations.  Our approaches and thought ‘processes’ are different (a good thing) but our goal is the same (also a good thing).  Aaron has freed me up to spend more time with God on the mountain, to focus on preaching and leading, and to be a better husband.  Here are the practicals of what Aaron does:
    • Oversees our discipleship and involvement processes including small groups and Inquirer’s Lunch.  (I used to do this and it got no where near the attention it deserved or demands.  Producing disciples is central to the Great Commission and churches cannot neglect this.)
    • Supervises the majority of the ministers on staff and the office/support staff.  (Again, I used to do this but the reality was I was not available to train, coach, mentor, correct, and encourage them like they needed.  Aaron leads most of our staff meetings on a weekly basis.  I lead a once-a-month all staff meeting.)
    • Oversees the hiring of new staff/personnel (and if needed, the firing of personnel).
    • Assists with any counseling, pastoral care, and meetings.
    • Leadership development and overall church strategies/systems to accomplish the vision we have as a church.
• Have a true Sabbath.  Early on in the church planting process, Beth & I carved out Mondays as our day.  90% of the time we do something together that has nothing to do with church.  We are very strict about this.  When RBCC first started I was going to go to seminary in Atlanta every Monday.  That meant waking up at 0430, driving through commuter traffic, going to class for 6-8 hours, and driving back home through commuter traffic.  That lasted 2 weeks.  I honestly believe that we would have lost either our marriage, our ministry, or our minds had I kept that up. 
• Get a hobby or have a ‘toy’.  Again, something that allows me to relax my mind (which tends to never stop thinking or strategizing about church).  I lift weights.  Beth is taking up horseback riding.  We have a Sea Doo   We like to watch movies.  Nothing complicated, but I think those ‘mindless’ activities are healthy and wise for us to remain strong in ministry.
• Wise Counsel.  Rock Bridge has been blessed from before we launched to now to have wise people on our team either as Elders, Staff members, or financial gurus.  Their collective wise counsel has helped us navigate many obstacles and cleared many paths for our church to continue to move forward aggressively pursuing God’s vision for us.  Many pastors have to worry about financial accounting, purchase orders, budgets, etc. — I don’t.  90% of any renovation project or remodeling we have done has been managed by non-staff members in our church — again this allows us to focus on ministry.  Also, our Elders have ALWAYS encouraged me and expected me to prepare, study, read, and pray BEFORE anything else.  They understand the role of a Lead/Teaching Pastor.  When my time in prayer and study ever slacked off to the growing demands in a growing church, we have hired additional staff. 
• Pray as God’s child FIRST.  Too many times I have spent time in prayer as a pastor first and as God’s child second.  This is both sinful and stupid.  I will always be God’s child.  I will not always be a pastor.  I have learned that being hungry and passionate for God on a personal level, precedes being passionate and hungry for God on a pastoral/leadership level.  (In other words, preparing for a sermon does not count as my daily devotional time.)  Personal prayer helps guard my heart, maintains my perspective, and keeps my focus on Christ above all else … when those things (heart, perspective, and focus) are right, then ministry is much easier and easier to be enjoyed like it should be.

Why I Love First Wednesdays

We have struggled for years regarding Wednesdays and what to do … if anything at all.   Finally, I think we have found what works for us, our culture, and our congregation.  We decided we would not meet every Wednesday but only the First Wednesday of every month (except for July and January … depending on where the 4th and New Year’s fall).  This has become a great environment for what I’ll call for lack of a better word, ‘insiders’ or the ‘home’ crowd.  The fellowship is great (we even wear name tags) and the worship is powerful.  I typically teach for 20-25 minutes through a passage verse by verse and try to cast a lot of vision and enforce our main values.  Then we take communion and end in a time of prayer.

I used to hate (well not quite hate) Wednesday nights because to me it was just “one more thing” on my plate and I did not do it with excellence.  My heart was not in it.  That has changed.  Here’s why First Wednesdays is a great service to me:

• The people.  Rock Bridge is all about people & relationships. and this service is easier to speak with people and talk to them.  We wear name tags to help out in getting to know each other. 
• Communion.  I grew up in Southern Baptist churches and I am convinced that taking communion once a quarter just is not enough.  While there is no biblical prescription for how frequently we should observe the Lord’s Supper, I think regular and intentional times to focus on the Cross are so important to any Christ-follower and to the Body of believers.
• Talking vision.  I LOVE TO TALK ABOUT THE VISION of this church.  I love seeing our people’s faces when we talk about the next mountain God is asking us to climb or when we share what God is doing in our midst.  It’s awesome.  I am a BIG BELIEVER that you absolutely can never talk too much about God-given, God-glorifying vision!!
• Prayer.  We started ending every service by circling hands around the inside of the theatre and praying.  Last night our circle was too big!! But there is power, Acts 2 power, when we pray together … I believe it!!
• Special offering.  We take a ‘loose change’ offering … 100% of the money goes to support a local partnership that we have with Christ-centered organizations doing ministry in NW Georgia.
• Fun.  I have fun being a part of this church.  My job is a blast because our people are a blast.  We have fun every time (well, almost every time) we get together.  God’s people are awesome!  The people God has called together here at RBCC are awesome! It is the joy of my life to serve God alongside each of you!!

Staff Evaluations

We’re doing formal staff evaluations during the next few days for our entire paid staff at Rock Bridge.  Evaluations were something that were a regular part of Navy life and I’m a big believer in them.  Of course, feedback and ongoing evaluations of our people & ministry effectiveness is a regular occurrence around here but this scheduled, intentional time has been very healthy for us.

• I believe people want to know where there stand: what they are doing well at and how they can improve.
• Evals provide a great way to encourage our staff with specifics and challenge them with goals.
• No employee should be surprised by low or high performance. 
• If we are not open to constructive criticism, we probably are not ready to lead, grow and be part of a team that is on mission from God.
• I have a tendency to be critical when one thing goes wrong and then I replay that in my mind over and over again.  Evals give me a broad perspective of performance and helps me to be more objective and more helpful with team members
• Intentional one-on-one time with team members is never a bad thing.
• We take working on church staff as a serious stewardship of the mission, vision, and resources of RBCC.

How it works:

• We do formal, scheduled evals about 3 times a year. (We used to do it only twice a year but felt like one more would be better.)
• Direct supervisors conduct the evaluation with input from me and/or Aaron.
• Staff members first complete part of the eval on their own. The supervisor then completes the eval.  Any differences are thoroughly discussed at the meeting to make sure they are no misunderstandings.
• By and large this is a positive experience that should leave people encouraged and yet challenged by realistic goals and action steps.
• Prayer is a key part of this!

No Summer Vacation!!

Summer is a traditional time to slow down, take a break, get out of town, and enjoy the awesome weather at the beach, lake, or pool.

In church planting, we know that in the summer several things typically happen:  attendance dips, giving drops, and committment drops off somewhat.  As a result, we generally don’t plan anything big, the staff takes vacation (as everyone should), we are not as creative, we may even leave the office early a time or two

However, I got to thinking recently about this.  Does God ever slack off?  Does God ever mentally just check out?  Does God ever NOT want people to worship Him, get saved by His name, surrender their lives to Him, study His word, or pray?

God is working 24/7, 365.  He is the ultimate version of Jack Bauer and CTU!  Always on call. Always ready.  Always there for us.

So here’s 10 things we’ll resolve to do this summer:

1. Yes, Beth & I will take some vacation.  We need it.  You need it. 
2. When I am at work, I will be 110%.  I will not slack on my sermon preparation, prayer time, or leadership of this church.
3. I will continue to expect and ask God to grow this church, make us more like Him, save people by His grace and love, and build a church that attacks Hell!
4. We will aggressively and passionatly get ready to launch Rock Bridge Calhoun with excellence in the Fall.
5. We will be working to improve our Small Group ministry.
6. We will be preparing our Campus Master Plan to be ready to pull the trigger some time in late ’07 or early ’08.
7. We will bring on new (and much needed) staff in our Technical/Creative areas.
8. We will continue the work to enhance and improve our campus to support our vision (i.e.-finishing the 1st floor Wink bathrooms, improving the Lobby & Information center, Wink technical improvements, and renovating the Furniture building).
9. We will be ready with creative and excellent environments each week for you and the guests you bring with you.
10. We WILL have First Wednesday in June!!  This time of worship, teaching, prayer, and communion is becoming more special and more essential as we seek God’s glory to be done through our church.

Bottom line:  There is no vacation from God’s business!!!

A Little Intimidating

Just got back from my trip to South Carolina.  It was absolutely awesome.  Here’s a few things that really challenged and spoke to me:

• Pastors need to rely on their calling and anointing from spending time with God more than on message preparation/study.  (Whoa!! That one challenged me about my own personal time/walk with God!)
• Is my goal to seek Jesus or grow the church? (This one helps purify motives and hearts real fast!)
• If people are not leaving your church, then you may not be leading the church.  (Whoa!  For the people pleaser in me that is a hard pill to swallow.  But the bottom line is that clear vision gives people a clear choice and some people will leave.  That is normal and healthy.  The church is a ‘body’ and every ‘body’ has a colon.)

I have to admit that being around this great group of pastors/leaders/men of God was a little intimidating for me and yet exciting at the same time.

• Can I lead at the level some of the guys are currently leading?
• Can RBCC continue to grow and reach people as these churches are doing across America?
• Why am I even here with this group?

But at the end of the day despite feeling insecure, inadequate, or even scared … the bottom line for me is I want to find out the answers to those questions, I want to swing for the fence,  I want to step out in faith, I want to dream bigger, I want to pray with more boldness, and I want to see MORE of Jesus in myself and our church!!

In South Carolina

Up in South Carolina since Wednesday evening at a Pastor’s roundtable.  Had a great dinner last night and heard some AWESOME stories from some absolutely incredible men.

• God’s kingdom is moving!! This is a GREAT time to be in the North American church!!
• God is working across the nation, through different types of churches, different types of people BUT for one purpose: to redeem people He died for!!

We’ll be back tonight.

Great Staff!

Today was an AWESOME all-staff meeting!!  We’ve changed the way we do staff meetings, and one of the changes is to get the entire staff together once a month and to have smaller, more focused meetings each week.  Today was an “all staff” meeting.

We are giving out two ‘awards’ each month.  The first is the “Lame Duck” award for the staff member that did the ‘lamest’ thing that month.  This award is one of my personal favorites for two reasons: -1) We want be to be trying hard, focused on action, and not ‘risk adverse’ … this means mistakes will happen.  -2) We need to be able to laugh at ourselves.

The second award is the “knocking it out of the park award”.  This goes to the staff member who has been really getting it done for the past month.

The month’s winners were: Aaron Gable as the Lame Duck.  We recently moved offices and Aaron was super-motivated and moved three people’s offices without them knowing it.  Aaron did not know but they had already coordinated their move with the phone, internet, and furniture people.  Needless to say, Aaron’s initiative (while commendable) threw some things out of whack!

The ‘knocking it out of the park’ award went to Gus Waters.  Gus has been coming to RBCC for over 2 years now and we just brought him on staff to help with Generational Ministries (Youth) and our Creative process.  I am so pumped Gus is on staff! He loves Jesus, loves people, loves Rock Bridge, and is a ‘utility’ player who will serve where needed when needed and does a great job!  Right now, Gus is filling in the gap while we continue our search for a Children’s Minister.

After these two awards we worshipped together and I shared about where things are headed for the rest of the year.  I think for the first time in my life my view of God is large enough that I am asking God for things that are actually worth His glory!  The next 5-6 months are going to rock!!

Leadership is as easy as listening to God.

Ever since we got back from NewSpring and their Unleash Conference, I have thought extensively about Perry Noble’s words: “Leadership is as easy as listening to God.”  His statement has motivated me to prayer more, study more, and ultimately seek God more. 

This statement has convicted me tremendously as I have looked at how I have lead and NOT listened to God.  As soon as Perry said it, I knew he was right.  But after I have begun to weave that leadership skill into my life … all I can say is ‘WOW’!! 

Here are some of my insights and convictions:

• Why would God NOT want to speak His truth to us?
• God wants our lives, our marriages, our jobs, and our churches to succeed more than we do (because they are for His glory).  If seeking Him first is paramount to success (Proverbs 3:5-6), then why would God make it hard on us?
• Jesus died so we can have unlimited and unrestricted access to the throne of God (Hebrews 4:16).  How much do we actually practice what Christ has made so readily available?
• The Church is God’s Plan A, B, C, … Z.  Jesus is not a silent head of the church.  He has something to say!
• Listening to God requires NOT listening to the world, traditions, critical people, and sometimes even ourselves.
• Listening to God requires that I actually am neutral before God.  (How many times have I prayed with a pre-determined outcome already in mind?  Instead, I should pray seeking God’s desire and make that my desire as well.)
• Sin silences God.
• How available am I to actually hear from God?  Ever notice that the people who actually ”hear from God” actually spend time with God!?

My resolve is to spend more time listening to God, to be more available for God to speak to.  Here’s some practices I am in the process of adding into my life:

• Add hours to the day through the morning.  I am naturally a morning person but by adding just 30 minutes to my morning I can add more opportunities to spend time with God.  If I wait until later in the day to meet with God, that time tends to get gone really fast.
• Read God Word as a letter to me.  God speaks through His word.
• Get away!  This is why I was not at church last Sunday.  I went away to pray, study, and plan.  It is amazing how God honors our time when it is devoted exclusively to listening to Him!  I plan on doing this at least 2-3 times per year.
• Seek wisdom from wise people.  I’m reading through Proverbs and I cannot count how many times it encourages us to pursue wisdom at all costs and over anything else.  God speaks through other people.  Yes, we have to be careful who we listen to and here is a good set of criteria:  they need to love Jesus, they need to love you, and they need to love God’s Word.
• Get before God and just be still!!  Don’t talk, don’t read, don’t write … just sit in stillness and share the time with God.  God speaks to the soul that is still before Him.

I don’t have it mastered yet and probably never will but leadership is as easy as listening to God!!  Thanks Perry, for the challenge!