Aug 2009
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resources.elevationchurch.org

Guest Blogger: Larry Hubatka, Creative Pastor

We have an incredible design team at Elevation Church. They work hard. They play hard. And they produce amazing work.

As you can see, I have no problem bragging on them. I’d take them in a fight over any team in the country-as long as the fight wasn’t too physical, mostly just some light pushing and a little sarcasm.

They spend a lot of time creating just the right elements so our worship experiences speak to anyone who walks through our doors. A series can easily be 200-300 total design hours when it’s all said and done.

The good news for you? We want to give you everything we’ve designed. We want to help you do what you do. And if it means taking a series graphics package and making it work for you, it’s our pleasure to hand it over free-of-charge.

Visit resources.elevationchurch.org and you’ll be able to log in and grab anything we currently have available. We’re working through all our assets and posting them as frequently as we can. Anything you don’t see, be patient, it’ll probably show up soon.

Few quick FAQs-
What’s up with no audio on videos? Most audio tracks require clearance. You’ll need to handle that on your end or use someone like these guys to help you out.
Is there a limit on what I can download? Maybe someday, but not yet.
Can I link the resources page? I’m expecting you to. Thanks.

Register. Log in. Download. We’re giving it all away. Well, everything we can. As fast as we can. Enjoy.

How to get the most out of your disappointments

Disappointment can wipe you out. Or it can move you forward. The choice is yours.

Leaders have a choice to make every time they face a new disappointment: will I use this? Or will I waste it? Will I get something out of this? Or will I let this get the best of me?

A few weeks ago I had an expectation that wasn’t met. Of course, this happens to all of us daily. But this one was a pretty big deal, involving lots of money and affecting lots of people. I couldn’t just let it slide.

So I turned to a clean sheet of paper in my Moleskine, took a deep breath and broke down the elements of my disappointment into four different categories. Putting my frustration in an organized format helped me get it out of my system. And it gave me some handles on how to handle my disappointment.

Over the next couple days I’ll let you in on my process for dealing with disappointment. I’m learning that disappointments never make or break a person. It’s what we do with them that makes the difference.

The meeting is the work

Everything in me used to scream for relief every time I found myself in the middle of a long meeting. Even some of the meetings I was responsible for leading.

“I don’t have time for this meeting. Let’s get back to work! The real work!”

Until one day, 2 hours into an important strategy meeting, the reality hit me:
This is my work. Leading meetings isn’t something I do to get to the actual work. It’s a substantial part of the work itself. Since my job deals largely in the realm of ideas, concepts, and vision, my labor often seems abstract. We have discussions that seem to go around and around. And around.

Some of this can be/should be remedied by more effective moderation and clear prep-work. So I don’t want to run long pointless meetings then blame it on God.

But the most impactful decisions and directions in the history of our church were born or defined in meetings. And often, it seemed like the conversation was going nowhere. Until-

BAM. BREAKTHROUGH.

Stop resenting the hard work of substantial meetings. Shorter meetings aren’t better. Longer meetings aren’t better. Better meetings are better.

Now, get back to work.

There is no phone booth

The topic of marketing came up at our recent staff advance. I presented a paradigm to our entire team that I’ve embraced since pre-day-one of our ministry:

There is no marketing department at Elevation Church. We are all the marketing department. We are all marketing. All the time. We are marketing the greatest message in the history of mankind. Everywhere. To everyone.

The whole team was nodding, and I felt like I was preaching pretty good, so I continued:

A lot of times, we think it’s the job of the creative department to make everything cool and attractive. Like they have some sort of magical process where they can make everything shiny, slick, and exciting with the touch of a button. In reality-

All of us are responsible for both the content and presentation of every message we send. Every initiative we initiate. Every communicative process we instigate.

Then came my favorite line. I thought of it on the spot:

There is no phone booth where we put in crappy and it comes out cool.
(Please tell me you got the Superman reference. It’s the best part!)

The way I stated this seemed to bring a lot of clarity to our staff. I’d suggest you get in front of your team, read Matthew 5:13-16 and Acts 1:8 for foundation, and have this discussion:

In what areas are we putting in crappy ideas and expecting them to come out cool? How can we be more strategic about the presentation of every message we send? Especially considering that it’s the only message that will matter for eternity-

(My acknowledgments to the venerable Seth Godin for ingraining this idea into my mindset)

Spur

My friend Mac Richard is hosting a very unique leadership conference on October 1 & 2 called Spur. When he invited me to be one of the speakers, I was very honored and prayed about it for a few days. Here are some of the reasons I enthusiastically decided to be a part of the event. Maybe you should be a part too.

  • The speaker line up is super diverse and unlike most conferences I’m aware of. Texas Governor Rick Perry, General Tommy Franks, Kem Meyer, and of course, the great Mac Richard-just to name a few. I look forward to taking lots of notes.
  • Austin, Texas is one of the coolest cities in America. So I’ve heard. I’m taking my wife and a few of my guys with me to experience the conference and a little Austin City Limits Music Festival that weekend. Bonus.
  • Pastor Mac Richard is a visionary leader and I look forward to seeing up close what God is doing through him and his team.

Hope to see you in Austin this October. Register here.

Fresh Bread Tastes Better

If you’re going maximize your potential to minister to people, your connection to Christ needs to stay very current.

I make it my aim as a minister to break fresh bread for the people of God each week. This doesn’t require that I wait until the last minute to cook it up. It means that I keep it in the oven through prayer, meditation, and living it out as long as possible.

Holly has a certain restaurant she chooses for our date nights just because the bread always comes out hot and fresh-she doesn’t even necessarily care for their entries. Whether it’s an Italian restaurant or a First Baptist Church, when there’s fresh bread in the house, you can’t keep people away.

Freshness doesn’t necessarily increase the nutritional value of bread. So it is possible to preach cold or reheated sermons and see lives changed. A man I really respect once said: “God will use the Gospel to lead men to Christ if the devil himself preaches it.” Paul’s statement in Philippians 1:18 seems to substantiate this theory.

But freshness does increase the chances that the bread will be consumed in larger quantities. And that’s what I’m after. To feed as much Word to as many hungry people as humanly possible.

Minister from the overflow. Do what you have to do to keep your personal relationship with Jesus piping hot.

Fresh bread tastes better.

The power of an invite

GiveMeFaith

Last weekend at Elevation we strongly urged our people to invite their friends who are far from God to church this coming weekend. We believe very strongly in the power of a simple invite to church. It’s not the only evangelism strategy. I won’t even argue that it’s the best. But we’ve seen over 5000 people indicate that they placed their faith in Christ in the last 3 ½ years through our weekend worship experiences. While we can’t make any assertions about which of these conversion experiences were genuine, we’re so thankful that God has allowed us to scatter so much seed and see such an evident harvest in our city. He will separate the wheat from the chaff. We’ll just keep sowing the Gospel and celebrating the life change we can see.

I wanted to issue one final challenge to our Elevators: don’t come alone this weekend. We’re adding so many worship experience times at our campuses it makes my head hurt trying to keep it straight. Jesus will be preached. Lives will be changed. We’re partners in the Gospel. Let’s do this together.

Below I’ve included a few tools to help you. Take a moment and send an e-vite. Or send 20. I’ll pay the postage.

And I’ve also included the very compelling testimony detailing how Danny Kellas, one of our all-star volunteers who is now with the Lord, invited a friend to church-and now the legacy of Danny’s love for Jesus lives on through Kelly’s changed life.

God wants to use you in a big way-through a small sentence:
Will you come to church with me this weekend?

You can’t imagine what kind of impact your invitation could initiate.

See you this weekend for the first week of Give. Me. Faith.
And the first week of new life in Christ for hundreds of people.

Click here to send an evite to our Matthews Campus
Click here to send an evite to our Providence High School location
Click here to send an evite to our Uptown location

How Twitter is helping me

I was late to the party, but over 300 tweets and I’m going pretty strong. I made fun of everybody on Twitter for several months before becoming one of them. I thought they were twits. I was wrong. I don’t know how long it will last, but for now, I think Twitter is helping me lead better. In a few ways:

  • I never imagined how much inspiration I’d be able to spread to people through a simple daily encouraging thought. I try to get these out almost every morning. When people retweet, it multiplies this impact exponentially. That’s very rewarding and humbling to me. Right after I wake up, I get to begin my day by planting a seed of hope into the life of thousands-both at Elevation, and around the world.
  • It’s forcing me to be more concise. To get to the point, already. I’m getting better at crafting punchy sermon points because my mind is naturally starting to process principles in a 140 character groove. I also have a bucket to put thoughts in and pour them back out that I didn’t have before. Not everything needs to go in a sermon or blog entry. Twitter is a streamlined distribution method for me to impart the little things God lays on my heart.
  • It’s allowing me to open another window into my life for anyone who cares to look. I’m not deluded enough to think that everyone wants to know about my trip to the pool with the family on Fridays. But for those who want insight into the balance of my ministry and family life, it’s now available. That allows me to keep this blog focused primarily on leadership issues. Or, as my wife would put it, the boring stuff.

Now let’s sum it all up (in 140 characters or less, of course!):

Twitter helps me multiply my influence, focus my thought, and share my life.
I guess I’m a full fledged twit.

They’ve heard that before

Of course they have. They’ve heard it all before. You’re not going to tell them anything new.

What you’re aiming for as a leader is to say the same old thing in a fresh new way. Maybe this time you’ll use an illustration that will cause it to finally click. Maybe you’ll tell a story that will stick this time. Maybe you’ll boil it down into a tight and concise principle that will serve as an attention-grabbing handle for an obvious core value.

The role of the preacher, teacher, and writer isn’t creation ex nihilo.
It’s more like the resurrection of the dead-breathing new life into the dry dusty bones of well-worn ideas.

Say the same old stuff in a brand new way.
Then, say it again.

No Show Sunday

Guest Blogger: Chunks Corbett

If you came to Elevation Church on August 9th, you were sorely disappointed. You weren’t greeted, nobody was there to help you park. There were no ushers to help you to your seat. The worship leader carried a powered speaker out on stage and delivered an acoustic set without a band.

Overall, it was not a day to remember for the programming. But the day’s impact will be felt for a long time. A few months ago Pastor Steven came to the Lead team with the idea of “No Show Sunday”. We weren’t thrilled with the idea but the more we talked about it the more it made sense.

So on August 9th we pulled off the most unimpressive worship experience ever and it was awesome-kinda.

The goals were simple. We wanted to appreciate our current volunteer base and motivate the rest to get plugged in. It was a huge success with 500 people signing up to volunteer. It was also a great chance for Pastor Steven to cast vision for our upcoming fall as we add 3 new Worship Experience times and our first permanent campus.

He was also able to dispel the myth that Elevation is a “one man show” with some stats like these. It takes 860 of our current 1800 total volunteers over 3400 hours per week to pull off our 8 Worship Experiences at 3 portable locations every Sunday. The volunteers are the lifeblood of Elevation.

Here are a few more fun details on the day: The only sign we had up was “Elevation Church is meeting today”. We intentionally printed crooked black and white programs with the song lyrics and scriptures. Pastor carried a rickety music stand on stage to preach from with no fancy bumper or video playing in the background. We did have full children’s ministry (the goal was to create an experience not a distraction). It was Bizzarro-Sunday.

Pastor tied it all together with a powerful message of Jesus turning the water into wine. He pointed out that though everyone at the wedding got to experience the product of the miracle, only the servants who fetched the water got to see the actual miracle take place.

Final Friday

I’ve decided to no longer post blog entries on Fridays. There may be exceptions and I may change my mind, but for now we’re going to Monday-Thursday office hours here at stevenfurtick.com.

Since Fridays are Furtick Family Days, feel free to follow the fun on Twitter.

And I’ll see you Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday here on the blog. But probably not Fridays. Don’t worry. Perry, the most consistent blogger in the universe, will be on call.

Tips on growing up in public

Seems like the appropriate way to close a week’s worth of reflections on what it’s like to be a young, inexperienced, radically imperfect church trying to grow up with a reasonable number of people watching is with a list. Here are a few of my thoughts on how to grow up gracefully while the cameras are rolling.

  • I’m free to be myself. No need for me to try to impart wisdom with the 4 syllable eloquence of Bill Hybels or one-liner wit and wisdom of Rick Warren. Doing so will only make me look pretentious and silly. And I’ll fill my quota of silly and pretentious just fine without adding imitation to my list of offenses.
  • I can only speak of what I know. And that body of knowledge isn’t colossal right now. That’s okay. I’ll keep sharing the insight I do have and the issues I’m wrestling through on the level I’m able. And if I’m faithful with little, God will give me more.
  • It’s wise to speak with confident humility about the Gospel, and just plain old humility about everything else. The more I can emphasize that while I strongly believe in the ministry paradigms I endorse, I’m fallible and wet behind the ears, the less cumbersome it will be for me to change directions as God matures and develops me.
  • I refuse go to battle where there are no spoils. People are bound to pick up on things I say and rip them apart more and more as the years go by. Sometimes they’ll be right in their criticism of me-giving me the opportunity to learn and improve. Other times they’ll be spiteful and unfair in their assessment of my position-giving me the opportunity to look to God alone for affirmation. Either way, self defense is a waste of energy.

To all of you who follow this blog and the ministry of Elevation Church, we’re honored that you would participate in our process. We’ll keep publicly sharing our real life ups and downs in real time as much as God allows.

We’ve got a long way to go. But we refuse to make this trip alone.

Where Are They Now?

I saw Stephanie Tanner from Full House on some Where Are They Now type show recently.

Turns out the former child star went on to struggle with serious drug addiction after leaving the show. That’s not uncommon for kid actors. It’s hard to navigate the pressures of growing up, period. It must be nearly impossible to navigate the chaos of growing up in front of the paparazzi or a camera crew. (Although Rev Run’s kids seem pretty down to earth and relatively balanced.)

A friend told me a while back:
“I hope Elevation Church doesn’t end up like one of those Where Are They Now? stories.”
I asked him to clarify.
“Yeah, you know, you guys are really getting a lot of attention at a very young age. Kinda like one of those child stars. I hope it doesn’t spoil you.”

I hope so too. I think about that a lot.

I’m so grateful for the platform God has given us to encourage other churches and pastors all over the world. If something about our journey can accelerate your progress, we’ll gladly give you a lift.

But just because God has given us a platform doesn’t mean we’re stars. In fact, we’re nothing more than the road crew to set the stage for Jesus. He’s the only star in this show.

Every chance I get I challenge our staff and volunteers not to take our platform for granted, or to pervert the purpose of it. We’ve experienced a lot of blessing in a little bit of time. We thank God for it. But we’ve got to be careful of it. Otherwise, our greatest asset will become our greatest liability.

I don’t want to have a few years of good public ministry and wind up in a Where Are They Now? spiral of mediocrity and inertia. By God’s grace, we’ll keep setting the stage for Jesus to act in power and shine in His spotlight.

Please be patient with us

I think there’s a tendency for people to conclude that because Elevation Church has grown at a very fast rate, we must be experts on all subjects related to church leadership.

Ha.

I fear that every time I hit post on a blog entry (ok, I don’t actually know how to post them. I hit send, MBA hits post) I reinforce this misconception.
Hey, check out my insight! We’ve cracked the code to save the world! Here’s how you can do it too!

And that’s not our heart. If you only knew how much we know that we don’t know much at all. I’m not playing humble pie here. I do recognize that I have certain gifts, abilities, and skills, given by God for the good of others. Our church has discovered, borrowed, and occasionally invented some concepts that have helped us reach our city well. And we take immense pride in what Jesus is doing through Elevation. We share our philosophies with passion because we’ve seen God bless them. No apologies there.

But, to paraphrase something Bobby Gruenewald told me the first time we met:
Outside of the Bible, we don’t have ministry philosophies. Everything is a theory.

When we share something about ministry or leadership, we’re not saying:
This is how you do it.
We’re simply saying:
This is how we did it before or this is how we’re doing it now.

Any ministry paradigm that is not clearly prescribed by the Word of God is subject to change: by the Holy Spirit, increased revelation, or cultural shifts. We reserve the right to disagree vehemently with ourselves if and when we learn a better way to do something.

So let me be the first to tell you:
I have said, and will say, some dumb things. I’ve said some inaccurate things. Sometimes, I’ve said accurate things in dumb ways. If it ever sounds like I’m schizophrenic because I say one thing in August and another thing in November, it’s because I’m learning. I’m progressing. I know it’s uncomfortable to watch me change clothes right in front of you. But at least I’m fresh.

Be patient with me. I’m not preaching, teaching, blogging and tweeting because I think I’ve got it figured out. But I figure our church owes it to you to figure it out in front of you. To learn out loud.

We’re bound to hit some bad notes. But at least we’ll have ‘em recorded for playback. Should make some fun blooper reels.

Thoughts on growing up in the public eye

A well-known ministry leader and close friend told me 2 years ago:
“In many ways I don’t envy you. Your church is growing up in the public eye. That’s not easy. I pray the pressure won’t paralyze you.”

I had never thought about it like that. I had never thought of our now 3 ½ year old church as being in the public eye. We’re not on TV. I haven’t released a book (I’m working on my first one as we speak).

But thanks to our podcast, blogs, and opportunities to share the Elevation story at leadership events and conferences nationally, I guess we have been in a spotlight of sorts since about 14 months into our ministry. We’ve been putting it all out there for the world to see. We’ve been showing people our baby pictures since the very first ultrasound.

Every archived blog entry, every 27 month old sermon where I preached too fast and too long about too much-it’s all there to be analyzed, scrutinized, plagiarized-we’re growing up in the public eye.

This week I’ll discuss some of the assets and liabilities that have been a part of our church growing up in the public eye, as well as some disclaimers about our imperfections. Don’t worry, I’m not planning on being all whiny or pompous. I just want to process some of this stuff, and I may as well do it the way we’ve done everything else:
Publicly.

Well Timed Words

A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.
-Proverbs 25:11

One of our E-Kidz Directors, Brandon Hibbard, is a master of speaking thoughtful words. He has sent me emails over past years that could serve as case studies in effective encouragement. I’ve asked him to conclude this week’s discussion on thoughtfulness with some practical tips on how to honor others with well-timed words.

Guest Blog: Brandon Hibbard, E-Kidz Director

It’s been an honor for me to have the opportunity to serve Pastor Furtick over the past couple years, and I’m grateful that I’ve been able to be a voice of encouragement in his life. I heard Pastor Furtick explain one time that the word “encourage” literally means “to give courage,” and that totally transformed my concept of encouragement. Hopefully the thoughts below will help you maximize the impact of your encouragement.

Effective encouragement is specific. That means you have to pay attention to the people around you. Exist with an inclination for encouragement, always looking for the positive in people. Specificity in encouragement communicates value.

Effective encouragement speaks to things that are meaningful to the recipient. Know what they put time and energy into and acknowledge the difference it makes.

Effective encouragement is timely. It should be regular and consistent, but you must also learn specific times or seasons when someone will need extra encouragement.

Effective encouragement is unprompted. If someone has to ask you for encouragement, it kinda defeats the purpose. I’ve heard that if you feel thirsty, you’re already dehydrated. The same applies for encouragement. Don’t let your spouse, kids, pastor, or coworkers get dehydrated.

Effective encouragement is communicated through the right means. If face-to-face is available, it’s the most effective. But heed Proverbs 27:14 and use some common sense.

Effective encouragement does not just come from people with the gift of encouraging, it’s commanded of everyone. It can also be learned, if you put in the practice.

I think the most important element to effective encouragement is the “Holy Spirit Factor.” Listen to the prompts in your spirit. God is all-knowing and will ultimately orchestrate timely encouragement for His people. He wants to use you – don’t miss the opportunity!

Custom Tailored Kindness

Thoughtfulness and kindness are the same species. But thoughtfulness is more specific in its expression than general kindness. I like to think of thoughtfulness as custom tailored kindness. When you’re thoughtful toward someone, it blesses them on two levels-they’re encouraged by both the act and the sentiment. In many cases, the thought behind the gift or service means more than the expression itself.

I like to remind the people in my life that I value them by letting them know I was thinking of them. I enjoy buying clothes for my staff members and my mentors. (And of course, my wife.) It’s a personalized gift that requires me to have some knowledge of their style and preferences. Plus, it’s awfully fun to stretch their fashion boundaries a little on occasion. I try to keep ‘em looking good.

If I’m reading a book that makes me think of someone I care about, I’ll usually send them a copy with a quick note: I read this and thought you’d enjoy it.
I was really surprised when John Bishop, our Ministries Pastor, told me that one of the turning points in his leadership was the time I gave him a certain book along with the comment that I thought he’d like it. He said it made him feel like I really believed in him. To me, it was just a book! But simple, custom tailored kindness can go a long way.

As I’ve tried to stress in each of these entries, this type of thoughtfulness doesn’t have to be expensive. One of the most thoughtful things ever done for my family involved a group of men from Elevation who came over to clear brush in my backyard on a Saturday morning. There’s not much on a material level they could have given me that would have meant as much as their willingness to give up a Saturday morning to take care of their Pastor’s family.

Custom tailored thoughtfulness takes a basic act of kindness to the next level.
It reminds others of their unique worth to you, and ultimately, to God.

Spontaneous Thoughtfulness

Yesterday we discussed the advantages of systematic thoughtfulness. However, no advance strategic planning can replace the value of old-fashioned Spirit-led spontaneous thoughtfulness.

The essence of spontaneous thoughtfulness can be summarized in just a few instructions.

If you see a need, meet it.
If you think a thought of affirmation, give voice to it.
If you have a kind idea, implement it.

For example, when I heard recently that one of our core team members was moving, I thought: I wonder if they’ve booked a moving truck? I wonder if we could help them with that?
Too many times, I’ve let impressions like this die on the vine.
More and more, I’m learning to write the impression down, bring it up to the appropriate person the next day, and do everything in my power to turn good intentions into helpful actions.
(I sent the moving truck, by the way. The couple was very grateful.)

How many encouraging words pass through your head on a daily basis that never make a safe landing in the heart of a recipient? If you think something good, say it! The more accurate and specific, the better.

Spontaneous thoughtfulness keeps you tuned into the frequency of the activity of God all around you. And a posture of thoughtfulness increases the likelihood that God will send opportunities for impact into your life.

Systematic Thoughtfulness

This week we’re talking about how to demonstrate honor through thoughtful actions. One of the best ways to ensure this is by systematizing your thoughtfulness.

Most of us have every intention of being thoughtful toward those we care about. It’s the execution that trips us up. For years I found myself wishing I would have thought to bless someone in a certain way-after the fact. I was always a day late and a dollar short when it came to celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, and accomplishments, or meeting needs.

Adopting a systematic approach to thoughtfulness translates your good intentions into meaningful expressions. Now that I have a larger support staff, I’m able to systematize thoughtfulness on a level I used to only dream about. I’m able to write personal birthday notes a month or so in advance for every staff member and some key volunteers. I also honor our staff systematically with different types of gifts and gift cards for their birthdays and certain other occasions-and it’s all done way in advance.

My office sends personalized Bibles to certain volunteers commemorating each sermon series. I always try to bless my mentors with gifts on their birthdays and special occasions. These events don’t catch us by surprise-we make our plan at the beginning of each month, keep lists of the tastes and preferences of my network of friends, colleagues, and co-workers on hand, and make it happen. I think it means a lot to the people in my life.

Remember, you don’t have to have an assistant or a lot of money to systematize your thoughtfulness. A good calendar with reminders and some stationery will do.

Be as thoughtful as you can with the resources you have. After all, in matters of thoughtfulness, isn’t it the thought that counts?

A Theology of Thoughtfulness

Honor one another above yourselves.
-Romans 12:10

In the last few years I’ve gained an increased appreciation for the art of thoughtfulness. One of our church’s core values is honor. One of the most tangible expressions of honor is thoughtfulness. This week I’ll share some of the ways that I integrate thoughtfulness into my interactions with those above, beside, and under my authority.

I realize that thoughtfulness carries a lot of feminine (girly) connotations. Typically males resort to thoughtfulness only when trying to seal a deal (think opening car doors on first dates) or right a wrong (think flowers after the argument).

Additionally, certain people seem to be much more inclined toward thoughtfulness than others. Writing thank you notes is second nature to some people. Others have a hard time remembering-or knowing how-to express gratitude and act in a thoughtful way.

For me, thoughtfulness isn’t about gender or personality type. A theology of thoughtfulness is essential for anyone who desires to accurately represent Christ to those in your life.

This week we’ll discover how to make it happen on a very practical level.