Archive for the ‘Leadership’ Category

#LateLeader is a live Q&A session hosted periodically by Pastor Steven on Twitter. Leadership questions are submitted using the #LateLeader hashtag, and he does his best to answer as many as he can – in 140 characters or less. We collected some of the best questions and will be releasing them over the next few months in different volumes. This is Volume 3. And if you missed it earlier, check out Volume 1 and Volume 2 too. Follow Pastor @stevenfurtick on Twitter for your opportunity to participate in the next #LateLeader event.

Click here to read #LateLeader, Volume 3.

#LateLeader is a live Q&A session hosted periodically by Pastor Steven on Twitter. Leadership questions are submitted using the #LateLeader hashtag, and he does his best to answer as many as he can – in 140 characters or less. We collected some of the best questions and will be releasing them over the next few months in different volumes. This is volume 2. And if you missed it earlier, check out Volume 1 too. Follow Pastor @stevenfurtick on Twitter for your opportunity to participate in the next #LateLeader event.

Click here to read #LateLeader, Volume 2.

God has given us so much as a church and we jump at any chance we have to give back and help others fulfill the calling God has placed on their lives. And #LateLeader is one of those opportunities. #LateLeader is a live Q&A session hosted periodically by Pastor Steven on Twitter. Leadership questions are submitted using the #LateLeader hashtag, and he does his best to answer as many as he can – in 140 characters or less. We collected some of the best questions and will be releasing them over the next few months in different volumes. Check out Volume 1 now, and follow @stevenfurtick on Twitter for your opportunity to participate in the next #LateLeader event.

Click here to read #LateLeader, Volume 1.

I’m learning to think a little more long term these days.
I’ll be honest, because I’m young and we have a high growth rate at our church, I can get into a mode that demands immediate results and eliminates anything that doesn’t produce right away.

Now God’s giving me an understanding that you can’t measure everything you started today, tomorrow.

Some of the best innovations are resource suckers until they hit. Then, they either lead to the next, closer thing, or they themselves become the game changer.

I’m praying for God to give me the long term lens through which to see a few issues I’m facing today.

Pastors.

Let me briefly unpack what one of our main goals should be every time we stand up to preach:
To bring timeless truth in real time.

People don’t need timeless truths that are removed from their situation.
If you don’t believe me, just ask Paul. When Paul wrote the book of Romans, he wasn’t writing theology for fun. The whole impetus for the book was two groups of people, Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians, who were judging each other and claiming to be closer to Jesus because of what they did or didn’t do. Paul, gasp, was responding to felt needs – relational and community conflict.

But people don’t need timeless truths to be removed from their situation either.
If you don’t believe me, just ask Paul. When the Romans were having problems judging each other, Paul didn’t preach a sermon on conflict resolution based on Dr. Phil’s 11 laws of relationality. He unpacked the gospel for 11 chapters. And then brought its truths to bear on the Romans’ situation.

Like Paul, we should always be aiming to communicate timeless truth with up-to-the-minute relevance. And that’s because God’s Word is eternal. Relevant. And therefore eternally relevant.

Our job is not to invent new truth. Not to water down old truth. But instead repackage timeless truth so that its light shines on the unique needs and circumstances of our time.

Whether you preach from behind a pulpit or next to a coffee table, in skinny jeans or a pinstriped suit, to 50 people or 5,000 people…

Make it your goal this weekend to communicate timeless truth in a timely way.
Bring timeless truth in real time.

A certain line of wisdom teaches that great leaders work at a near frantic pace. First ones at the office. Last ones to leave. Nose to the grind, dawn to dusk. They put forth the most effort. Work the most hours. Run around the office the fastest to get the most done.

But this isn’t necessarily the case. It can actually be a sign that you don’t know what you’re doing.

It reminds me of when I used to play racquetball a little in high school and college. I played recreationally and I wasn’t really any good. I remember one time I had a conversation with this guy who played all the time and was really good. I told him I thought I could give him some competition.

He said, “You know I’ve been playing for 20 years, right? I doubt you could give me any competition.”

I said, “I may not have much skill, but I make up for it in effort.”

He responded, “So you run around the court all over the place trying to hit the ball?”

“Yeah.”

“Well then you wouldn’t be any competition for me because if you have to run around the court like that then you don’t know what you’re doing. I know how to make the ball come to me.”

Great leaders know how to make the ball come to them. They work hard, yes, but they work hard to make it as easy on themselves as possible. They develop systems that get five times more work done than they could do on their own. They outsource their weaknesses through delegation. They create effective teams that produce a synergy of progress.

The best leaders aren’t running around trying to make things happen all the time. They’re not the executives who live at the office. They’re not the pastors who are frantically trying to get their ministries to grow.

What makes companies like Apple so successful isn’t that everyone is working 80 hours a week. That would make them a company of interns. It’s that they’ve figured out how to get 80 hours worth of productivity in a 50-60 hour week. That makes them a company of professionals.

Don’t get me wrong. If you’ve put in an 80-hour workweek recently, don’t freak out. It might be a sign that you’re dedicated. Or maybe you had a special project at your company or season in your church that demanded it.

But if you’re putting them in consistently, I would worry. It’s only going to lead to burn out, which doesn’t help anybody. And you’re giving double the effort for a fraction of the return, which doesn’t help anybody either.

Hit the pause button for a few hours and reevaluate your systems. Reevaluate yourself. Ask yourself if you’re working the most effectively. Not if you’re putting forth the most effort.

Stop running around all over the court. Figure out how to make the ball come to you.

Simple and obvious leadership tip for you today. But it’s one that I’ve seen pay big dividends over the years.

If you’ve ever watched an infomercial, you know that it says to call their phone number over and over again. The TV personality says it repeatedly. They flash it on the screen multiple times.

It seems repetitive, almost to the point of being obnoxious. But they’re just trying to make it simple for people. Obvious. And they do it for two simple reasons: 1) people need them to, and 2) it works. Otherwise they wouldn’t do it.

I think every church should adopt the same strategy. Obviously I don’t mean flashing numbers repeatedly on the screen. But we do need to make the simple things simple. The obvious things obvious. Because we should never overestimate the ability of people, including ourselves, to miss the simple and the obvious.

Here’s a few ways this works at Elevation:
Every week we tell our first time guests that they’re our VIPs.
Every week we tell everyone to stop by an orange tent to get involved.
We encourage people to give all the time.
We encourage people to get in groups all the time.

In a different way every week and every time. But the same basic, clear messages every week and every time

Is it repetitive? Maybe.
Does it make the obvious things obvious? Definitely.

And those are just the nuts and bolts of a church. Imagine how much more important it is when we’re talking about things like the Gospel. Or the vision of the church. Yet many churches only communicate those things a couple of times per year.

This might seem like a simple and obvious tip to a lot of you. Why even blog it?

Because we’re no better than our audience. Even the simple and obvious leadership principles need to be made simple and obvious, and repeated over and over again to leaders like you and me.

You often hear people talk about how we need to lead like Jesus. I completely agree.

But what many people usually seem to mean by this is simply that we need to be extra nice. Not be too blunt or harsh. Or too demanding. Or put people in situations that overly stretch them.

In other words, leading like Jesus means leading like Mr. Rogers.

I don’t know if you’ve read the gospels, but that’s not how Jesus led. I recently did a quick read-through of Mark and noticed a trend in Jesus’ leadership:
Jesus was a tough, demanding leader to follow. He was always stirring something up, pushing the disciples past their limits, even coming across rude and reckless sometimes.

I mean, think about the fact that for the disciples’ first mission in Mark 6, Jesus he tells them to teach and cast out demons, even though there’s no indication they had ever done it. And then He doesn’t even equip them very well: they only get a staff. No bread, no bag, no money. That’s like your pastor coming up to you and saying “I want you to build me a new campus in 30 days. You’ve got no money, no volunteers to start with. No place to meet yet. I’m preaching there live the first weekend it’s open. Good luck.”

Or how about all the times when the disciples would say stupid things, ask dumb questions, or they just didn’t get it. And Jesus, instead of being sweet with them, would just call them out. Like in Mark 7 when the disciples don’t understand a parable, and Jesus replies, “are you so dull?”

What about in Mark 1:16-20 when Jesus tells Peter, Andrew, James, and John to leave their livelihood to follow Him. Or Mark 1:40-42 when Jesus touches a leper in front of the disciples, which would have been like injecting yourself with AIDS in our day. Or Mark 2:13-17 when Jesus goes to a party with sinners and the disciples have to do PR control with the Pharisees.

That’s just scratching the surface in Mark. And I didn’t even get to the other gospels.

Don’t get me wrong, leading like Jesus doesn’t mean you have to lead like a jerk. That’s not what I’m saying at all. I’m just saying that Jesus knew some things about leadership we all need to learn.

Leadership isn’t letting people stay comfortable. Leadership isn’t being easy on your team. Leadership isn’t speaking in nice generalities and letting crap go by without calling people on it. Leadership isn’t about not putting your people in tough circumstances where they’re going to have to think on their feet.

Leadership isn’t about those things because then you’re not actually leading your people anywhere but where they’ve always been. You’re letting their potential remain dormant. And you’re not serving them. You’re setting them up for failure. Or even worse, successful mediocrity.

Don’t be afraid to expect the best from your people. And don’t be afraid to put them in difficult situations that are going to bring the best out of them.

In short, don’t lead like Mr. Rogers. Lead like Jesus.

I have a growing fear for preachers today. I’m afraid that if we’re not careful, we’re going to end up becoming like the Pharisees.

Here’s what I mean.
Preaching, when done correctly, should unburden people. As preachers, our job is to challenge people, yes, but not to burden them.

When describing the Pharisees and what they did to the people through their teaching, Jesus said: They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders (Matthew 23:4).

What’s interesting is that when we read that, we automatically despise the Pharisees and assume they had bad motives. But if you study their history, their motives were actually very good. What they were trying to do by creating all of the rules they are now infamous for was make the Law applicable to people’s lives.

They’d read a command like, “Keep the Sabbath holy,” and their concern was that everyone could actually do it. So they’d create applications like:
Items used for work can’t be touched on the Sabbath.
You shouldn’t take more than 500 steps on the Sabbath.

Their driving motivation really was to help by giving people things to do. But in their desire to make the Bible applicable, they actually created burdens that weighed their people down.

Here’s how I think this happens today. We do a sermon series on marriage, which in itself is great. But then we say things like “you need to do these 15 things with your spouse to have a great marriage.” Or we do a series on joy, and we then give them the 7 steps to attaining it. We’re trying help, but without realizing it, we’ve actually burdened people who were already carrying such a heavy load.

And we’ve become the group we all love to hate on – the Pharisees.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t give our people applications or practical next steps. Of course we should. Jesus did it many times. But I am saying that we need to be careful. When we stand up to speak to our churches, our goal should be to unburden them. To emulate Jesus’ teaching when he said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

And we do that by simplifying rather than complicating. By pointing to God and all that He has done. Not just at our people and all that they need to do.

Last year I got to read Delivering Happiness by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. If you’re not familiar with Zappos or Hsieh’s story, go ahead and pick up the book. Its insights will benefit you and any team you’re a part of.

One of Hsieh’s comments that really struck me came during a section where he was talking about a phenomenon that I think occurs in countless organizations. A company was struggling, but not from one big thing. It was a bunch of small problems throughout the organization. But all of them combined were severely hampering their production and growth. Hsieh described it as “death by a thousand paper cuts.”

I like that image. It rings true. From my experience, it’s not the big things that cripple a company or church. It’s the sum total of all the small problems. It’s all the little paper cuts.

After all, if the problem is big, it’s obvious. You can’t ignore it and it’s something whose solution is usually straightforward. If one of your team members is awful, you fire them. If you’re severely understaffed, you hire new personnel.

Paper cuts, however, are deceiving. They’re not big. They seem non-threatening, and by themselves, they might be.

Email or voicemails occasionally aren’t returned.
Meetings have a tendency of starting 10 minutes late.
A deadline or two is missed.

None of these problems are seismic in proportion. But combined with each other, they can be lethal. To your productivity. Your effectiveness. And your reputation. Little or not, you’ve got to deal with them.

I’m not suggesting you freak out and obsess over every little failure or misstep in your organization. Sometimes, people just screw up. Sometimes your systems will have hiccups. But once you see these little paper cuts consistently popping up, you can’t hesitate to act. As a leader or team member, you’re responsible not just for averting massive meltdowns, but also eliminating the paper cuts that will eventually kill you.

Some people might think you’re overreacting. Don’t listen to them.
They’re usually one of the paper cuts.

Yesterday I introduced a critical question that every leader must answer when it comes to their vision: When do you know the vision has become ingrained in your culture and not just your own dreams.

I gave the first indicator yesterday of how you can know when that has happened. Today we conclude with the second:

2) Leaders have been raised up who can communicate the vision better in ways more suited to their personality and area of responsibility.
If you’re the only person who can communicate the vision, you’re in trouble. If your staff has to get you to every event to cast vision, there’s a problem. It’s an indication not of how great of a vision caster you are, but of how much your staff has yet to own and appropriate the vision to their own unique contexts.

I remember the first time I heard the original version of Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door by Bob Dylan. I didn’t like it. Not because it wasn’t good, but because I had already heard it played by Guns N’ Roses. And I thought their version was way better.

That’s what you want from the people you lead. You want people who can take your vision and make it better and communicate it more effectively in their own ministry setting. Who can take it and find fresh angles to approach it from that you never would have thought of yourself.

You know the vision has become ingrained when you don’t have to be there in person to ingrain it. Your leaders have so internalized it that when they’re there, it’s as if you’re there. And it’s even better.

The solution: Regularly force your people to articulate the vision in the context of their specific area of responsibilities. To you. To the staff. And to the people they oversee. The more they do, the more they’ll understand it, own it, and spread it. And the more your people will love and believe in the vision, not just the chief vision caster.

There’s a crucial question every ministry leader must answer when it comes to their vision. When do you know the vision has become ingrained in the culture of your church and not just in your own dreams?

It’s not enough to have a vision, even a compelling one. It’s not enough to be able to communicate your vision well. And it definitely isn’t enough to be passionate about your vision. Of course you’re going to be passionate about your vision. It’s your vision.

What you really want is for the vision to stick. To infiltrate and permeate every area of your church. To be so ingrained in your culture that people speak the vision and do the vision without even thinking about it.

But how do you know when that has happened?
Two indicators stick out to me and I’ll be covering them over the next two days. Here’s the first:

1) When the best ideas are not your own.
When the vision has become ingrained in your culture, great ideas should be flowing from all directions. The pastor shouldn’t be the chief idea officer, but the chief vision officer. His responsibility is to make sure that the ideas are fitting into the vision. Not generate all of the ideas for the vision.

If all of the best ideas are coming from the pastor, it’s a sign the vision hasn’t truly been owned by the people. It’s only being served. In other words, for your staff and volunteers, it’s still your vision. And since it’s your vision, you should be the one coming up with the best ideas for it. And then they’ll support you by making them happen. As Christine Caine would say, they see themselves as servants of your vision, rather than as stewards of a vision that has become their own.

The vision isn’t going very far this way. I don’t care if you’re Steve Jobs, you don’t have enough great ideas in you to keep it going.

The solution: regularly demand people to bring their own ideas to the table. Set the expectation that fresh ideas for how to carry out the vision aren’t welcomed, they’re expected. Remind the people you’re leading that the vision isn’t just yours. It’s everyone’s. And everyone can and should contribute.

When they do, reward and recognize them in front of everyone. Make them the standard.
And then don’t be surprised when great ideas start flowing from people other than yourself.

It’s widely accepted that one of the most important duties of any leader is moving people beyond their comfort zone. I completely agree.

But I also feel like we sometimes get the concept all wrong.

It’s good to stretch someone beyond their comfort zone. To put people in situations that stretch their capabilities and familiarity. It’s how you pull potential out of people they didn’t even know they had. Make them realize they are capable of things they won’t believe until they do them. Past the edge of our comfort and convenience is where God can raise our lives to new heights.

But there’s a crucial corollary point that we can’t afford to forget. While it’s good to stretch a person out of their comfort zone, we have to understand that it was God who wired them, gave them life experiences, passions, burdens, and skills to do what He called them to do.

In other words, they have a God-ordained sweet spot. A place of intersection where God has called them to live in and function out of.

People can’t be anything they want to be. Or anything we want them to be. But they can be everything God created them to be. And this only happens as they’re operating in their sweet spot. Where they’re using everything God has equipped them with to be all He has called them to be.

Stretching someone out of their comfort zone should be a means of developing people in their sweet spot. Not taking them out of it. There’s such a thing as being uncomfortable because you’re being stretched. And then there’s being uncomfortable because you’re doing something you weren’t created for.

I want my creative team sweating because they’re working on projects that test their limits. I don’t want my creative team sweating because I decided to stretch them for a week by running the church’s finances.
Extreme example, but you get the point.

As a leader, you’re responsible for helping people maximize the gifts God has given them. But you’re also responsible for making sure they maximize them for the calling God has given them.

Stretch people beyond their comfort zone.
But don’t force them outside of their sweet spot.

Great preachers and leaders know how to move people.

As soon as I say that I know that the first thing that comes to many people’s minds is emotional manipulation. After all, when unchurched people say they really liked your sermon they usually say that it really moved them. And in their minds they’re probably talking about pure emotion. Maybe intellectual curiosity.

But that’s not what I mean. Anyone can do that and it doesn’t guarantee any kind of positive growth in the lives of the people you’re preaching to and leading.

What I mean is the concept of moving people further along in their lives. Advancing them beyond their current level of development. Beyond their current walk with God.

I like that concept. That image. And it’s something that I think all pastors should strive after. Pastors have to know how to move people. And they have to know how to move them on two tracks – 1) individually and 2) corporately.

The words you speak should move people on a personal level. It should grip their hearts and make application to their lives personally. If you don’t move the individual and you’re only casting broad vision to the church as a whole, you’re only going to preach to the highest commitment level people and your church isn’t going to go very far.

For example, you can make the greatest pitch for the greatest capital campaign in church history. But if the individual people and families in your church aren’t moved to live lives of generosity, the thermometer on your stage is going nowhere.

You have to move the people to move the church.

But you also have to move the church as a whole in the right direction. You should always have a direction the church needs to move in corporately. A common goal that you want the collective efforts of the individual people in your church aimed at. If you don’t, the church won’t advance.

Going back to our example, it’s not enough just to move people to tithe. What you have to do is figure out where God wants to take your church. What it’s going to take financially to get there. And then cast a compelling vision that moves individual people to get on board to make it happen.

You have to move the church to move the people.

Good preachers and leaders are great at moving individuals.
Good preachers and leaders are great at moving churches.

Great preachers and leaders are great at both.

What’s intuitive to those outside the church is often revolutionary to church leaders.

This is true when it comes to marketing. Franchise. Structure.
But it might be nowhere more true than when it comes to delegation.

Many pastors and ministry leaders have the propensity to believe they need to do everything themselves. They believe they can probably do a better job anyways, so why give it to someone else? The result is almost always the same: they’re taken out of their sweet spot and they wear themselves out.

But there’s another related effect that’s just as harmful that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough. When leaders refuse to delegate, it not only wears them out, but all of the people following them as well. No one gets to be in their sweet spot. The leader becomes a bottleneck and it frustrates everyone.

I think that’s why Jethro told Moses in Exodus 18 to appoint judges to decide smaller civil cases that were being brought to Moses so he could focus on what he alone could do. It wasn’t just for Moses’ sake: “If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied” (18:23).

When leaders do what only they can do, everyone wins.
And when leaders let other people do what they have been called to do, everyone wins.

This isn’t a one-man show. Pastors and leaders were never designed by God to do all of the ministry for the people they lead. They exist to equip the people they lead with the power and resources to do their own ministry under a common vision.

That’s the true meaning of delegation. It isn’t just about getting someone to do a job you don’t want to do. Or that you don’t have time to do. It’s about empowering others to come alive in their gifting and calling so that the power of Jesus can flow through their life.

You’re freed up to do what you were made to do.
They’re allowed to do what they were created to do.

Refuse to be the limiter or the lid on the ministry that God can accomplish through the powerful people that He’s placed under you. Refuse to be a bottleneck.

Do what only you can do. Let others do what they’ve been called to do under you. And everyone will win.

A common leadership saying is that a leader can only lead people as far as they have gone themselves. I couldn’t agree more.

But there’s one facet of this truth that we need to be careful of, especially when it comes to the way we communicate to inspire and motivate the people we’re leading.

A person walking ten miles ahead of you is a hard person to follow.

It’s one thing to say you’ve been ten miles ahead and you’re going to lead them to the destination. It’s another thing to tell people I’m ten miles ahead, come find me.

Leaders lead the way. Leaders should inspire people to raise their game by their life and what they say. Leaders can only take people as far as they have gone themselves.

But they also have to live and communicate in such a way that the people following them believe it’s possible to get to where they’re going.

For example, if you’re a pastor, you might think that it’s going to be inspiring for your people to hear that you’re like Martin Luther and wake up at 4am to spend three hours in prayer. Good intentions, but that might not inspire people. It might actually make them want to stop trying at all. They’re already having a hard enough time praying for 5 minutes a day.

What you need to do is be a person who can challenge them to move from 5 to 10. And then 10 to 15. And so on. You’ve already been there, so you can inspire them to get there. But it’s also something they’ll believe is possible.

In your leadership, aim to be an example that people can aspire to while still being a person that people can relate to. Then you’ll be able to lead people to where you’ve been.

At Elevation, the people who sit on the front row are hardcore. During worship and the sermon they go nuts. They’re raising their hands. Singing to the top of their lungs. Saying amen, nodding their heads, and scribbling notes furiously.

Because of the way the auditorium is lit, all I can see are the people on the front row. And if you only judged the atmosphere of the room by the front row you’d get the impression that everyone’s into this. And that everyone’s getting it.

But if you look through to the back of the room, it’s not the same. You notice more people disengaged. Their arms are crossed. They’re mouthing the words to songs, if they’re singing at all. When you’re preaching, it’s as if their face has forgotten that their soul got saved.

As leaders it’s easy to find ourselves only paying attention to the people on the front row. And I’m not just talking about the front row in the context of worship. We spend most of our time focused on those who are super committed and involved. Understandably so. They’re where we want everyone to be. They’re encouraging and life affirming. They make us feel like we’re moving forward and not wasting our time.

But the dangerous thing about the front row is that it can skew your assessment of the room and make you think your church or organization is in a better place than it is. You have to be aware of the whole room, not just the front row. The 70-80% of the room that is more complacent, not just the hardcore 20-30%.

There are so many people in the rest of the room that aren’t into what you’re doing yet. They haven’t gotten it. They haven’t bought in. They may need to be brought along a little differently than your crew on the front row. You may need to alter your approach to reach them and get them onboard.

I’m not saying you should ignore your fan base. They’re your most important asset. I fully believe you should preach to the most passionate people in the room. Some bottom feeders are always going to do what they do, so we shouldn’t settle for the lowest common denominator of commitment and enthusiasm. That will get you nowhere.

But we also can’t afford to forever function on the passion and commitment of the front row. If you want your church or organization to reach its full potential, you have to get the people with back row complacency to have front row enthusiasm and motivation. And in order to do that, you first have to be able to correctly gauge the entire atmosphere.

Assess the whole room.
Work your fan base. Preach to the most passionate people in the room.
Just don’t leave the 70-80% on the back rows behind.

I’m currently in the middle of a series called One Generation Away that is focusing on the potential of this present generation.

Some people think that this generation is hopeless. And while sometimes all the signs seem to point that way, I have to disagree. I don’t think we’ve ever seen a generation that has more possibility or promise. This generation might be in danger of losing the truth and biblical values. But they’re also the generation that could change the world.

And for that reason, it would be tragic for us to fail them by not understanding what they most need from us. The list below isn’t exhaustive. But it is essential. If you’re trying to reach this generation without embodying these traits, your impact is going to be marginal at best.

1. Authenticity
This generation can spot a fake a mile away. And they won’t follow one. If you’ve been trying to reach them by pretending to be someone you’re not, stop it. Be yourself. God made you that way. He’s going to use you that way.

They don’t need the person you’re pretending to be. If they did, God would have led the authentic version of that person to them. What they need is the best version of you they’ve ever seen.

You can give them that.

2. Authority
If this generation is lost, it won’t be because they lacked friends. It will be because they lacked leadership.

We safely assume that this generation has more potential than any other in history to change the world. We dangerously assume that they know how to unlock it. Or how to channel it for optimal impact. Or how not to get distracted by low-level pursuits.

That’s where you come in. God hasn’t called you to be their buddy. And they don’t need you to be it either. They already had tons of those when you came around.

He’s put you in their life to be their leader. Their mentor. Their guide.

People believe that this generation is antiauthoritarian. They’re wrong. They’re just looking for someone in authority to lead them in a direction worth following. And to be a person worth following.

Be that person.

3. Audacity
If you’re not challenging this generation to do more than what’s humanly possible, you’re wasting their time. They believe in miracles. They believe they can do the impossible.

And you know what, they’re right. With God, they can.

More than any other organization or movement on this planet, the church should be a safe haven and incubator for audacity. Everyone else talks big, but in reality they have limited resources. For us, there is no limit to what we can see God do through us other than our faith to believe Him for it.

Believe God to do big things through this generation. Challenge them to believe God for big things.

And don’t be surprised when it happens.

(If you missed it, you can catch last week’s sermon here, and you can always view the current week’s sermon at the Elevation Experience.)

And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
Matthew 19:24

I find it interesting that Jesus would have to say anything again. You would think that the Son of God wouldn’t have to repeat himself for people to get the message. Once should have been enough.

But throughout the gospels there are instances where Jesus finds the need to say something again, and he then either builds on something he had said before or gives it a slightly different interpretation. It’s the same essential message. Only expanded, clarified, or taught in a new way.

I think Jesus knew something that every leader has to grasp: you can never repeat your vision too much. There isn’t a single leader who has cast their vision enough. No matter how many times you’ve said it, there’s always someone out there who hasn’t gotten it. Or someone who has lost it.

No one can hold onto any vision indefinitely without reinforcement and repetition. It doesn’t matter how compelling it is. Was any vision ever more compelling than the one Jesus laid out? Yet even he found the need to say it again.

And you’re going to need to as well.

People inevitably lose sight of why they’re doing what they’re doing. They get distracted by the practical realities of getting their work done. They lose the enthusiasm they had when the vision was fresh in their minds.

It happened to the disciples who were with Jesus day and night for three years. So it’s definitely going to happen to people you see for only a few hours a day. Or in the case of pastors, only once or twice a week.

This doesn’t mean you simply have to verbally state your vision or mission statement over and over to your people. You can repeat yourself without being repetitive. Find fresh ways to cast the same vision you have been casting for years. Explore new angles from which you can communicate the heartbeat of your church or organization.

You might have an incredible vision that has the potential to ignite passion in people’s souls and move them into action. Be excited about it. Be thankful for it. Never compromise it.

But it isn’t better than Jesus’. If Jesus had to repeat himself, what makes us think we can do anything less?

No matter how compelling your vision is, say it again.

I want to give you a simple, high-level leadership question you can ask every day that could significantly enhance the way you lead. This question is for everybody. Corporate executives. Low-level managers. Teachers. Parents. Teenagers. Anyone who has any measure of influence.

How can I help you succeed at something today?

It’s simple, but this question could change the standard approach to leadership that many people take:

Cast vision. Set goals. Demand success. Wait for results.

Sounds good and authoritative. Something a leader would do. But the problem is that sometimes the deck is stacked against your people from the get go. Sometimes for one reason or another, they can’t accomplish what you’re asking for and what they genuinely want to give you. And because they can’t succeed, neither can the goals or vision you’re striving after.

Before the success of your goals can be realized, the success of the people you lead must be prioritized.

Servant leadership has often been misunderstood. It isn’t doing menial tasks that take you away from your sweet spot. Servant leadership is essentially about equipping and empowering. Not scrubbing toilets. It’s about doing everything in your power to put the people you lead in a position where they can succeed.

And their success benefits everyone.
They gain confidence in themselves and in your dedication to them.
You are setup for success because they have been successful.
The vision you have cast becomes attainable.

Make a commitment today to start asking how you can set others up for success.

If you’re a boss, ask your people if the systems you have in place are unnecessarily obstructing them from doing their job well.
If you’re a parent, rather than just demanding that your child do better in school, ask them how you can help them ace that upcoming test.
If you’re a husband, ask how you can create space for your wife to recharge spiritually so she can be everything she needs to be.

The question might create extra work for you. But the dividends it will pay will be worth it.

A few weeks ago I tweeted a challenge to leaders that received a lot of positive feedback:

Leaders: Don’t apologize for expecting excellence. God deserves it, and people are capable of it. Call it out.

The impetus for it came from my observation that some leaders are afraid or embarrassed to expect excellence as a normal product from the people they lead. Usually it’s because they don’t want to appear to be demanding or demeaning. Apparently it’s an affront to expect a lot out of a person.

But it’s actually just the opposite. It honors them.

The highest compliment you can give to those you lead is to demand the best from them. Low standards do not communicate appreciation. They communicate contempt for someone’s ability and potential. Once you have stopped challenging someone to do more, you have stopped believing in them. And you have effectively stunted their ability to grow in their God-given gifts and calling.

It’s the responsibility of the leader not only to cast vision, but also to make sure that those serving under the vision are maximizing their gifts in support of it. An indispensable tool that every leader must learn to develop then is the ability to speak life into potential. Call it out. And the best way to call it out is by maintaining a high standard. People don’t grow by being allowed to live in mediocrity.

So leaders: Don’t apologize for expecting excellence. God deserves it, and people are capable of it. Call it out.

You’re not being demeaning by holding your people to a high standard. The real affront would be to allow someone to work at a level that doesn’t correspond to the potential for greatness that God has put in them.

PXGAQ4JCHP86

Effective communication is one the most valuable commodities in any organization. Excellent ideas or initiatives without a corresponding level of excellence in communication will never get off the ground.

Most leaders know this. Yet many companies and churches are still riddled with employees and members who aren’t getting the messages their leaders are trying to convey.

The reason is that most of us usually stick to the base line question, “what are we communicating.” This is necessary, but it is not enough.

Real leaders aren’t satisfied or content with, “what are we saying to our people?” They go a level deeper and ask the question, “what are our people hearing?” They take responsibility not only for the message they are sending, but the message that’s being received, or the way it’s being received.

This is what separates the master vision casters from the wannabes. A lot of people will use the copout, “well I told them that, they just weren’t listening.” This completely misses the point. The goal is not to deliver a message. Anybody, from the kid in the mail room to the executive in the corner suite can do that. The goal is to make sure the intended message was actually received, understood, and responded to.

Whether or not you said it won’t determine whether or not the instruction, encouragement, or correction was acted on. Whether or not they heard it, understood it, and are able to actualize it is what is going to make the difference.

This might mean you’ll have to reorganize your communication structures. Or you might have to find multiple ways to convey your message and keep communicating it well past the point you think it should have been accurately received.

It will require extra work and patience. But that is what the leader has to do. Your job is not done until your people are hearing the exact message you want them to hear.

As a leader, as a vision caster, make sure you’re always asking the question, what are people hearing, not just what are we saying.

Real leaders and master vision casters are going to look at both sides of the same coin.

We are a nation of consumers. Usually this is seen as a bad thing. And for good reason. Economic and material consumerism is ultimately about the maximum selfish accumulation of things for the benefit of ourselves.

But there’s another type of consumerism that is indispensable in our development as leaders and is about obtaining maximum output for the benefit of others. It isn’t selfish. In fact, if you want to be a leader who is continually developing and able to impact others, you are going to have to be a person who consumes a lot.

Sermons. Books. Blogs. Tweets. Podcasts. Anything and everything that will feed your mind and keep it fresh so that you might actually have something to give to the people under your leadership.

For example, in my own life I’m addicted to the art of preaching.” For the last 13 years and counting, I’ve devoured any preaching I can get my hands on. I love it all. Good preaching, bad preaching, country preachers, refined preachers, 3 point alliterated outlines, post-modern narrative ramblings, screamers, forced hushed devotional whisperers, edgy stuff, stuffy stuff- my appetite for sermons is never satisfied.

Why? Because I know that there is always at least another little piece of information that I don’t yet have that I might yet need to become the preacher God made and saved me to be. There is always something new to be learned that I can assimilate into my own style and use to bring my proclamation of the Word of God to a whole new level.

Here is some closing practical advice. First, make a list of the people you admire. The people who are most aligned with your way of thinking. Not only is it permissible to have heroes, role models, and mentors-”it’s mandatory for those who want to get better.” But it’s not simply enough to idolize them. You have to consume anything and everything they’ve ever produced. Listen to everything they’ve said. Read everything they’ve written. Take extensive notes and begin to ask what it looks like to integrate their ideas into what you’re doing to increase the quality of your leadership.

But don’t make the mistake of consuming only from the people you already agree with. It isn’t helpful. This isn’t about having your own personal amen corner. Glean from a variety of perspectives. Read books from authors who wouldn’t eat at the same table together. Absorb both of their material. Then make judgment calls about what you want to assimilate and integrate and what you need to throw away.

Let the inspiration and consumption of how others preach, write, think, lead, and walk with God drive you not to imitation, but better preparation and creation of your own message. Consume the maximum amount of material for the maximum amount of output.

Today we’re hosting an exclusive leadership event for 100 church leaders called IMPART. It’s our attempt to honor and inspire a select group of leaders from around the country by sharing everything we’ve learned along the way-in one day.

Starting tomorrow, we’ll be posting some short teaching clips from the event here on the blog. We want to invest in your leadership development and stretch your imagination.

Check back tomorrow for IMPART video highlight number one.

God began to deal with one of my friends recently about the motivations of his heart. My friend, who is a senior pastor, had been praying that God would bless his church in a big way. Something like this:

“God, may we reach our city with the love of Christ. May tens of thousands come to Christ through our ministry. May millions of dollars be given to this community through our ministry. May governments and businesses and educational systems be turned inside out for the glory of God through this ministry-”

And my friend felt like the Lord responded to him with a challenging thought:

“What if I do everything you’re asking me to do in your city, but I do it through someone else’s ministry? Would you still pray as passionately? Would you be okay with that?”

I’m not sure I’m entirely ready to wrestle with my own motivations at that level. This is pretty advanced stuff. But ultimately, I’d like to get to a place where my heart rejoices with the same intensity because another church in town baptized 100 people as it does when Elevation baptizes 100 people.

I’m not there yet. And let me throw in a caveat: it’s right for me to give most of my focus, attention, emotion and spiritual energy to the work God has called me to do-just like it’s right for me to love my kids more than I love anyone else’s kids. That’s only natural.

I guess I just want to get to the point where at the end of the day, my main concern is that the CAPITAL C CHURCH wins…no matter which lower case c church is putting the points on the board.

In 1 Kings 8:17-19, Solomon recalls one of the biggest leadership disappointments of his father’s life. David really wanted to build a temple for God. Unfortunately, this particular privilege was going to have to skip a generation. God had chosen Solomon, not David, to oversee the construction of His dwelling place. Imagine how devastated David must have felt when God announced to him:

“You are not the one to build the temple-”

David had done so many things so successfully for God’s glory with God’s help. Why would God deny him this crowning achievement? His heart was in the right place. And the temple was definitely high on God’s priority list. But God’s final answer was a resounding no. The definitive decision echoes back:

“You are not the one.”
(Or as my 4 year old is fond of saying: Sorry Charlie. Not this time. Maybe next time.)

It’s painful and confusing when you have a good desire and pure motives, and God gives you the old sorry Charlie. But your seasons of greatest disappointment can serve as the richest soil for growth and maturity.

David passed the Sorry Charlie Test. 2 Samuel 7 records one of the most beautiful prayers in the entire Bible. It is David’s response of unflinching gratitude and unwavering trust when confronted with the brutal facts:
Sorry Charlie. You are not the one.

You want to be the senior pastor of a large thriving church. You want to get married before you turn 27. You want to get picked for the promotion. You want to have a baby girl. Your desire is healthy. Your motives are straight.
And God skips over you like duck duck goose, incontrovertibly establishing:

You are not the one.

Over the next few days we’ll discuss how to pass the Sorry Charlie Test.

Urban Meyer, head coach of the Florida Gators football team, personally coaches his special teams. Special teams are the units that are on the field during punts, free kicks, kickoffs, field goals and extra point attempts.

When I heard about this, it seemed silly to me. Can’t the coach hire someone else to do that for him? Isn’t that a little too small to demand the attention of the head coach?

But it’s kind of hard to argue with the kind of results Coach Meyer produces. He led his team to a national championship last year. I personally think he’ll win it again this year. So there must be something to this idea of the head coach personally overseeing the special teams. And not just for football coaches. I think the principle applies to all leaders.

Football games are often won and lost by special teams. The performance of the special teams determines field position. Field position is one of the most critical elements of football. The game is won or lost in transition.

From that standpoint, it makes perfect sense for Meyer to devote his personal attention to special teams. It may seem like a small thing-but it has a tremendous impact on the outcome of the game.

Some of the areas where wise leaders invest their energy may seem small. But their execution is the key to the success of the organization.

I intentionally devote a disproportionate amount of my time and focus to our worship experience. Some of the details I involve myself in may seem like they shouldn’t make the radar of the Senior Pastor of a growing church. But the worship experience is to us what special teams are to Urban Meyer. It’s where the game is won and lost. So it’s worthy of my personal attention. The miniscule details have a monstrous impact.

This concept shows up in my family a lot too. There are some parts of being a dad that I can’t outsource if I want to raise godly kids. There are elements of my marriage that may seem insignificant. But in reality, they’ll determine whether my marriage is won or lost.

What are the special teams in your family, church, or organization? What activities and initiatives are small on the surface but produce gargantuan effects, and mandate your full attention?

My wife told me recently that I needed to redefine trust. Anyone who knows me-even a little bit-knows that loyalty and trust are my highest values in relationship. I told Holly I married her for 2 primary qualities: Honesty and Loyalty. Indescribable beauty was a close runner up.

But as someone very smart once said:
An unguarded strength is a double weakness.

So my intense desire to trust others and be trustworthy has-at times-come back to bite me. And usually, the damage had little to do with the actions of the other person. It had everything to do with my approach. I’m learning that it’s as important to define what trust is not as to define what it is. Here are my non-prioritized, inconclusive, current thoughts on the subject:

• Trusting someone doesn’t mean they’ll never fail you or hurt you. It just means they wouldn’t intentionally do it, or do it the same way over and over again.

• Trusting someone doesn’t demand that they’re a part of your life forever.

• It’s okay to trust someone in one area of your life, but not in another. Just be clear-with them, and yourself.

• Trust is not a pass/fail class. There are degrees and shades of trust. Discerning the different dimensions is the first step toward developing more trust.

• My level of trust in someone is often about my own moods, experiences, and perceptions. I must monitor these conditions and factor them in.

• People can’t earn your trust where expectations aren’t defined. Everyone you truly care about deserves to understand your standards.

The only one who is completely and eternally trustworthy is Jesus – The man who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.

Stage Three: Lessons and Actions

Thorough reflection and probing questions can actually do more harm than good if you don’t follow them through to the final phase: learning lessons and planning actions.

Disappointments are converted from liabilities to assets when wise leaders acknowledge them, analyze them, and then pose the million dollar question:
What did we learn from this?
If you keep good records of your answers to this question, you can write a book ten years into your ministry and everyone will think you’re a genius. You’re not. You’re just a good steward of your own stupid mistakes.

Follow that question up with this one:
What are we going to do about it?

This part of the process has to be performed collectively. It’s useless for the leader to form these conclusions on his own without transferring the results to the team he leads.

Learning a lesson from every disappointment and planning actions to avoid the same disappointment in the future ensures that the price you pay is not in vain. It’s just tuition.

Stage Two: Questions

You’ve admitted your disappointment. You’ve laid out your frustrations before God, inviting the supernatural involvement of His Spirit. Now you’ve got to follow up your reflections with questions.

Personally, I start listing every question associated with my disappointment that comes to my mind, indiscriminately, as quickly as I can scribble them down. It’s rapid and it’s random. But I can’t get the right answers until I identify the right questions.

I’ll use a hypothetical example: suppose we brainstormed a big promotional element at Elevation and the execution didn’t meet my standard. After I talked it out with a few people, I’d start writing down every question I needed to find an answer to. Stuff like:

-Who was on point for this? Who dropped the ball?
-Have they taken responsibility for it? Or are they making excuses?
-Was I clear about what I wanted? What part did I play in the failure?
(Leaders, we always play some part. Probably a bigger one than we think.)
-What broken system caused this? What’s our plan to fix it? What’s our timeline?

These could go on and on, and can get much more detailed than this according to the nature of the disappointment.

Some questions may have immediate answers. Others may take time to get to the bottom of. And some may have no answer at all-for now.

When Elevation first started, I had to go track down all the answers to these questions myself. Now, I primarily work through a couple of key people to investigate the answers for me, and bring me back their conclusions.

Questions are the vehicle to transport your disappointment out of the realm of regret-into the realm of potential and progress.

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.

One of the sayings we used to employ around here is:
That can’t happen.

Battery in a handheld died during announcements?
That can’t happen.

Audio on a video didn’t fire on cue?
That can’t happen.

Staff member showed up late for a meeting?
That can’t happen.

We don’t use the phrase quite as much these days.
Because fact is:
That can’t happen does happen.
Inevitably. Inconveniently. In recurring patterns.

So what do you do when that happens?
Here are a few suggestions:

Force accountability for the mistake.
In our weekly production meeting, there’s a section called hits and misses. Under misses, everything that went wrong on Sunday is listed and scanned by the entire group. We don’t discuss the majority of the items, but requiring that they be listed and acknowledged is a step toward ensuring that it won’t happen next time.

Diagnosis systems-not symptoms.
Don’t settle for: “Jeff forgot to change the battery-I yelled at him”
as an acceptable explanation for the mistake. Cause Jeff might not be the one to change the battery next time. What’s the system to make sure the batteries get changed? Is it a good one? If so, why was it violated? What have you done to prevent it from happening again-not just next week-but 6 months from now?

If that keeps happening, either change the standard or change the personnel.
Otherwise, you’re sending a message: that really can happen-it’s no big deal.
Mistakes aren’t fatal. Apathy is.

Jesus is in the middle of performing a miracle in Mark 5:36, and some doubters start to voice their cynicism.
To describe Jesus’ reaction, Mark uses a phrase that ministered to me deeply last week:
“Ignoring what they said-”
Then, of course, Jesus goes on to heal the little girl, in spite of the surrounding doubt, teaching us a valuable lesson:
In order to witness the miraculous, sometimes you’ll have to ignore what they said.

Maybe some people are perpetually misjudging your motives, and nothing you say seems to sway their verdict.
Ignore what they said.

Perhaps someone in your past filled your head with insecurity about who you could never be, and what you could never do. (Several people told me adamantly I’d fail as a church planter.)
Ignore what they said.

Sometimes the voice of doubt is internal-and we struggle to tune out the static of condemnation, faithlessness, and worst case scenarios.
Ignore what they said.

If any voice is raising itself in contradiction to the will and Word of God concerning you, be like Jesus.
Practice selective hearing.
Ignore what they said.

Our staff is reading through The Orange Code. It’s a really fun and inspiring inside look at the inception and implementation of the ING Direct Brand.

One of the chapters features a candid, rat-tat-tat biographical sketch of each of the members of Arkadi Kuhlmann’s inner circle. I asked each member of our lead team to complete a similar exercise, writing a condensed description of each of their fellow team members, amplifying unique contributions. Writing the descriptions was hard. Sharing them was an absolute blast.

I highly recommend that you complete a similar activity with any team you lead (a family counts as a team.) The insights will be encouraging and adhesive.

Here’s what I wrote about my people. This is as real as it gets.
I love the team I lead. They’re cooler than a rock band and we’re tighter than the mafia.
(By the way, Chunks cried during this exercise.)

Josh is the newest member of the inner circle. I tested him a few times early to see if he tended to be overly critical or not critical enough. He passed with flying colors. I think he appreciates even more than the others what it means to belong to a tight knit team focused on the cause of Christ. He’s spent enough time on other teams to know: we’ve got it good; this is special. And he reminds us of that often. I look forward to seeing how God taps more and more potential in Josh over the next year or two.

LoB is our Ruth. She was gleaning in the fields one day, she owned the fields the next. That’s how God does it. I tell her favor ain’t fair. Lori seems to be committed to this mission at another level-because he who has been forgiven much loves much. And God really did a work in Lori’s life through Elevation. It’s cool to watch her play such a big part in helping others experience that.

John Bishop is having the time of his life. I’ve never witnessed a more dramatic example of someone coming to terms with his identity and embracing it wholeheartedly. His teachability and desire to grow and learn keep landing him at higher levels of leadership. He’s never been shy about his desire to ascend in influence at Elevation-but I’ve never doubted his motivation.
There are a few examples (too personal to share) of times I’ve seen him perform a complete about face in an attitude, mannerism or behavior based on a piece of input I’ve shared with him. And that makes me all the more eager to keep sharing. He’s a good investment.

Hubatka was on staff, then he wasn’t, then I asked him to come back, and then he didn’t, then he asked to come back, and I said no, but later I said yes. Got that?
I liked him the first time I met him. He is a natural at expressing encouragement. He’s articulate. He singlehandedly changed the workplace environment in his first year on staff. It’s fun to work here now. When he’s in charge of a fun activity, I can hardly wait to see what he has planned.
His demeanor toward me is always honoring and attentive-and he does it without effort. It’s second nature. Whatever he’s lacked in know-how or execution he’s made up for with humility and drive-he’s not as laid back as he seems. He loves this church as much as anyone, and he’s hell-bent on getting better all the time.

Meredith had me at hello. I met her at a youth event-she was the host, I was the speaker. Somehow I knew she was special from the moment she greeted me in the parking lot. I came back and told some of my staff guys-this Meredith girl is going to be on the team one day. She’s a scrapper. Lately I’ve been watching her fight through her insecurity-and she’s winning so far.
I think she’d be the first staff member to pull out a pocketknife to protect her pastor. And when she speaks in a meeting, she offers positive, genuinely insightful stuff. Which pleasantly surprised me, cause I kind of wondered when we hired her: Does she have a kind of edgy personality that might rub me the wrong way?
I don’t worry about that anymore. She’s a stick of dynamite and quickly becoming a go-to-girl for me.

Wade is a short man who packs a powerful punch. He’s also married to Larry Hubatka, which raises questions, but we make it work. I met him while speaking at a summer youth camp. The best thing that ever came out of my 10 year itinerant speaking ministry may have been the eventual acquisition of Wade Joye.
Wade is one of my favorite people to be around. Definitely in the top 3.
He’s with me heart and soul, and he reminds me of that often.
I’ve never met someone who was so gifted with so little ego. He never rolls his eyes when I request a song. Quite the opposite-if I even mention that I kind of like a song, he puts it in the set list the next week. (So I have to be careful what I say I like!)
The only thing that pisses me off about Wade is when he doesn’t see in himself what I see in him-he tends to shortchange himself. But we’re working on that-

One time I told Chunks I didn’t know why no one had ever snatched him up and put him in a ministry position before I did. He said it was because God was saving him for me. That makes a lot of sense.
One thing’s for sure, Chunks has always been my Joshua. And from day one, his unique (and God given) ability to make sound decisions has been his number one asset. I think I trust his ability to make a good decision better than I trust my own.
When I first asked him to start the church with me, he took forever to commit. I almost told him never mind. Holly told me he was worth waiting for.
At the time, I thought his indecision signified a lack of commitment. Looking back, I see that he was just making sure, because when he said yes, he meant yes-forever.
He used to have a really hard time understanding what I meant when I asked him if he was called to me. I think he gets it now.

Isaiah 49:6
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

God really affected my perspective with this verse over my Christmas break.
Of course, the context here is Isaiah’s prophecy about the Messiah, who would extend the offer of the Gospel to the entire world.

I personalized the application of it a little bit and shared it with our staff.
I’m convinced that although we’ve seen some major scale blessings at Elevation so far, we’re still thinking too small.

When we ask God to give us 10,000 people by the year 2010, that’s too small.
It’s definitely a worthy goal, and a required step in the right direction-but it’s only an introductory frame in the movie. We’ve got to think much bigger.
Much much bigger.

I’ve given my staff permission this year to interrupt me at any time, in any meeting, within any discussion, and challenge me:
That’s too small.
(We even have a secret sign language way to say it so no one knows what we’re doing.)

Give the people close to you permission to call you out this year when you’re thinking too small.
The unlimited God lives in you.
You owe it to Him to dream bigger.

One of my mentors was trying to teach me recently about something he learned playing basketball in college:
Let the game come to you.

Sometimes we get so determined to make something happen in our lives and ministries that we take dumb shots. We blow our assignments.
We mistake frantic activity for fruitful accomplishment.
If we truly believe that God is sovereign, we don’t need to make anything happen. God makes things happen. It’s not that we become passive-blaming our inaction on God’s timing-or saying we’re being patient when we’re actually being timid.

Instead, think of it as responding to God’s initiative rather than trying to get Him to respond to yours.

If God called you to start a speaking ministry, go for it! Take every opportunity that comes your way. It’s okay for you to let others know what God has put in your heart to do. Just don’t become the obnoxious “hey-here’s-my-business-card-if-you-ever-need-a-speaker-I’m-great-when-do-you-want-to-have-me” guy.

If you’re in a dating relationship, be forward and plain stated about your intentions. Don’t waste valuable time playing games. Just don’t be a stalker.

If your church or business isn’t growing, by all means: round up the decision makers, lock the doors, and launch into an emergency “we’ve got to change or else” plan of attack. Just don’t hack the hottest methodology in a mad scramble and apply it to your context in a last ditch gamble for success.

Respond-don’t react.
Prioritize-don’t panic.
Let the game come to you.

What level of detail should I be involved in as a leader?
That answer changes constantly to reflect the size and scope of our ministry.
It’s also very dependent on the gift mix of the leader and his team.

But I know this-it’s very dangerous when a leader boasts:
I don’t care about the details.
Translate:
I’ve graduated beyond caring-.period.

There’s a difference between not micromanaging the details and not worrying about the details.
I plan to always be involved in the details of Elevation Church.
I just won’t be dealing with them the same way I did last year, or the year before that.
Hopefully, I’ll be working on problems at the systemic level, not the symptomatic level.
And I’ll be empowering others to make the decisions alongside me, so I don’t have to uphold the standard all by myself going into the future.

Never stop “doing the details.”
Just change the way you do them.

Leaders: it’s our job to set the atmosphere. That goes for department heads who are running meetings, parents who are cultivating households-anyone who leads anything must own this responsibility.
If your home environment is cold and chaotic, warm it up.
If the temperature of your meeting is frigid, reset it.

One of the only weekly meetings I lead recently got stuck. Same conversations every week, no new conclusions. My first inclination was frustration with the people in the room: Come on guys, bring me something fresh.

But it’s my meeting. The atmosphere is my responsibility. I have access to the thermostat like no one else.
So I started shifting the meeting around:
Where we met changed weekly-someone else’s cramped office one week, my house the next, etc.
How we started the meeting was adjusted to reflect priorities and manage energy.
I added a few new people to the meeting to infuse increased insight.
I even started having a few unhealthy snacks brought in to kick start creativity.
(If you can’t get creativity flowing through Holy Spirit synergy, you’ll have to settle for a sugar high.)

These small shifts started to change the atmosphere-in some ways that were dramatic, and in other more subtle ways.
(We’re about to change that same meeting again, breaking it into two more focused meetings. We felt the atmosphere getting a little chilly, so it’s time to adjust accordingly.)

Altering the temperature by just a few degrees can radically affect your environment. And it’s your responsibility.

When God takes you to a new level, you have to start back at the bottom of the class. Like going from Elementary School to Middle School, or Middle School to High School.

When I was in 8th Grade, me and my buddies were king of the hill. We ruled the roost. (You get the point.) Then we “graduated” to High School, which should have been like a promotion. But being a Freshman in high school wasn’t nearly as glamorous as being an 8th grader, even though it represented an advancement. Freshmen got thrown in the trashcan at my High School as an unofficial orientation: Welcome to High School.
Some promotion.

Often your promotion to the next level of your walk with God or your leadership will feel like a demotion rather than an advancement.
You’ll feel like you’re starting back at the bottom rather than moving toward the top.
Leading at the next level requires a new set of skills than the last level did, and it will take you some time to get used to it.
Hang in there. Freshman year doesn’t last forever.
You’ll be walking across the stage in your cap and gown in no time.

Then, it’s time to head off to college-