Our staff just returned from our second annual staff advance (not retreat… I hate the word retreat… the church never retreats). A lot of people want to know how our workaholic staff survives for that long without cell signal or Wi-Fi.
A lot of people also want to know what exactly the staff does for 2 and a half days in the mountains. I’ll answer the latter.

First of all:
Man, a lot has changed since last year this time. At our last staff advance, we had an average of 330 people in weekly attendance. A year later, that number is just over 2000 (!) We have over 5 times the number of full time staff we had this time last year. Staff advance is a good time for us to look back and see what God has done, and thank Him.

But we don’t sit around hi-fiving each other about what happened last year for 2 and a half days. We harness our confidence in God’s faithfulness, pray our guts out, and set strategic goals in the areas of attendance, salvation decisions, baptisms, etc.

Another main goal of our time together is to develop and stretch leadership capacity. This year I assigned 2 books for the staff to study before coming together, and I asked each department head to prepare a presentation on the Leadership Pipeline in their area of ministry. This discussion served to keep us connected and aligned, and allow opportunity for input between departments.

I also carve out a lot of time for me to speak into the staff about the season I think God is bringing us into, the audacious dreams He is placing on my heart, and what shifts I think He’s calling us to make as individuals and a leadership team.

In fact, shift is probably the best word to describe what staff advance is all about. Every time we get away like this for intensive leadership training, I feel the tectonic plates of our church move and a new level of velocity set in motion.
Wednesday, as we were fasting, praying, and committing to ridiculous goals for the year 2010, I felt another one of those shifts.

God is all over our staff, and I’ve never been more energized about ministry. 2 and a half days away have paid enormous dividends. We are back with goals worth giving our lives for, and a renewed faith that God will bring them to pass.