Wisdom from Beeson

Earlier this week I shared some of my feelings and thoughts about the trauma of having to tell several friends that we no longer had a job for them. Others on our staff have also blogged about it, including Mark Waltz and Kem Meyer. Then last night, Mark Beeson spoke up. Here is a portion of what he wrote…

…Yesterday I did one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done. I eliminated the jobs of several friends. I cried. I hated every minute of it. None of the people losing their jobs was failing. Some have been on staff with me for years. None lost the privilege of serving on staff because of poor performance. They were all doing good work. They are family.

Even so, I signed off on the most thoroughly processed decision my leadership team has ever made. My lead pastors are positive this was the right decision. We’ve done everything possible to avoid it. We know it was necessary. It was difficult but it was right.

I’ve heard it suggested (from others and from the voice of temptation in my head) that we should reduce outreach efforts, stop launching new ministries, reign in multi-site evangelism work and stifle innovation. Some of those tempters have proposed we stop helping other churches and focus on ourselves.  These voices call for an inversion of orthodoxy; they recommend we turn our concerns top-side-down, making it our highest priority to keep every paid person on staff, even if it means we have to abandon our mission. Not a single person of GCC’s staff would ever want that!

I encourage you to read his entire post here.

An Inspiring Story from Rural Arkansas

    Lots of bad news in the world–so sometimes it is nice to hear an inspiring story. Let me tell you about my friend, Shannon O'Dell, who pastors in Bergman, Arkansas (population 407). They call it Brand New Church — yep, that's the actual name of the church, and the story of that church is amazing. Some highlights…

• Six years ago, Shannon was a youth pastor in a church of 3,000+ and took a $30,000 pay-cut to move to a church with 31 aging members in a town with 88 people in rural Arkansas.
• He quickly changed the way the church was governed, from a deacon-led entity to one that was senior pastor led.
• Next they changed the worship, from traditional organ music and hymns to a multimedia experience with upbeat music, a band, videos and innovative preaching. And the growth began.
• They were considering a building campaign in 2005…but stopped when a congregation with six people in a nearby town (Bergman, Arkansas) asked for help. Instead of building, Shannon began preaching in both locations. By easter Sunday in 2006, the church topped 600 people.
• They soon built in Bergman and now that site consistently averages more than 1,000 people (remember, they had 6 in 2005).
• In 13 months, Brand New Church went from a single-campus site to four physical locations and a high-tech internet campus. They are averaging more than 2,000 each weekend!

An amazing story! And I want you to meet Shannon.

In fact, let's meet up at Brand New Church in March. That is the location of the next regional Sticks Conference.I'm going–and you should consider it as well. This conference is for anyone who is leading at a church in small- and medium-sized towns. If you want to be inspired–you have to make your way to Arkansas with me on March 17-18.

Get a taste of Shannon's energy and passion in this video short:

Can You Rap in Church?

Well, I personally can't rap in church or anywhere. But a couple guys did a pretty good job last weekend in a rap spoof in our current series…Help Wanted: Surviving Tough Times.

Pain

Pain. That is the only word to describe the past few weeks. We have met, prayed, agonized, prayed some more, and plead with God to help us find some other way. But in the end, today we had to tell 8 friends that their position has been eliminated. We can no longer pay them to do their ministry. And 15 others were told today of reductions in their hours.

The global economic crisis is alive and well in our small midwestern community. The NY Times described our area as "the white-hot center of the meltdown of the American economy." Every day I hear of someone else in our church who has lost their job. Want to hear about trickle-down economics? Here it is: A poor economy affects jobs; loss of jobs affect income; loss of income affects contributions; and lower contributions mean we can't pay as many staff.

Today's decision is the end result in a slide in contributions that began about 18 months ago. We did everything we could to avoid this move–cutting budgets, freezing salaries, eliminating capital expenses, and delaying projects. But in the end, it wasn't enough.

The past few weeks have been some of the most stressful and difficult that I can recall. But in it all, our senior team has been as unified as I've ever known. We have the greatest staff on the planet, and even though I know today's news will be very painful to several families, I believe in each one of them and am confident God will guide their steps in the coming days. And we will be doing everything we can to help them.

In these hard economic times, the message of the church is needed more now than ever. It has been said that people are most open to God when they are in crisis or transition. A higher percentage of the people in our community fit that profile than has been true for years. Even through the pain of today, I remain optimistic that these decisions will enable us to make a bigger difference in our city…communicating the love of Jesus to those far from God.

If you have time, whisper a prayer up for these families today and leave them an encouraging comment below.

Message from the Bush Girls to the Obama Girls

This was pretty moving…a message from the Bush daughters to the Obama daughters. I love it when people are able to see past all the junk and get to the heart of the matter. Very admirable. See if you agree…

Brilliant Message from Obama

I didn't vote for Obama, but I have been encouraged by some of what I've seen during his tenure as President-Elect (cabinet appointments, etc.).

I just watched this video message (below) to the nation, and was struck by the brilliance of his short message in three areas…

Grasp of Technology — Obama is asking people to text, log on and join social networks online. He has a grasp on today's world and is using it to empower the people.

– Similar to JFK with his "ask what you can do for your country" speech, and Bush 41 with his "thousand points of light" speech, and Clinton with the initiation of AmeriCorps — Obama is telling people that government can't fix our problems…we all have to do this together.

Open Source Celebration — he seems genuinely peeved by the inconvenience that the inaugural activities will cause to those trying to participace. He also seems to think the Inaugural Ball, once available only for rulers and select VIP's, should be available to all through the use of technology and social networking.

There might be plenty to be frustrated by as President Obama begins signing executive orders in a couple days–but for today I am encouraged by his smart leadership. Watch and let me know what you think…

Calling All Blog Designers

Okay, here’s the deal. I started my blog in July 2007. I’ve written 818 posts, accepted 3,905 comments, have 3,347 subscribers and welcome around 20,000 unique visitors each month.

But in all that time, my blog design has remained virtually unchanged. Every now and then I get crazy and bold an entire phrase. If I’m really feeling creative, I use italics or even indent a paragraph.

I’m fairly sure those of you who read this don’t really care. Most of you read the posts through a RSS reader and so you never even see the design.

But I care. I’m tired of it. And it’s tired of me.

So I’m looking for a blog designer who would like to redesign my blog within Typepad. Anyone out there want fame and prestige? Well, you probably won’t get it from me, but you will get a little bit of exposure. And I even have a small amount of money set aside for this project (did I say small?).

Interested? Send me a proposal. I’ve got some ideas–and I’d like to see your portfolio.

Leave a comment below or drop me an email tstevens(at)gccwired.com.

Hurry, before my blog looks as bad as this advertisement. Bad design makes my stomach churn.

Caption This

Mark Waltz and I have no idea what we were doing a few minutes ago when this picture was snapped, but give it your best caption.

Holed Up in a Cabin in Michigan

Every year in January our senior team gets away for a few days of planning, praying and dreaming about the next ministry season. Typically we go south to get away from the frigid winter and clear our minds for strategic thinking.

This year, however, we drove four hours north and settled into a cabin in the woods in Walhalla, Michigan. This saved us money on flights and car rentals…and even on food (since we brought a car full of food for the week–we don't ever have to leave the cabin!).

It's an important week. We are facing some of the biggest challenges we've ever faced at Granger (i.e. our area is one of the hardest hit, economically, in the country). We are considering some of the greatest opportunities and most difficult decisions we've ever contemplated.

I heard Jim Collins say last year, "The only way to get through tough times as an organization is to have the right people on the bus in the right seats. If that is true, you can make it through anything."

We have the right people in this cabin. And there are scores of our friends back home praying for us. I know God will give us the wisdom we need this week.

(Picture by Mark Beeson…one of the many creatures that roam outside our cabin window).

I Thought I Would Hate “Mad Church Disease”

When I heard about a book coming out by Anne Jackson called Mad Church Disease…I was sure I wouldn't like it. I figured it was another one of those writings about the evils of organized religion and large churches, and how big, bad pastors treat their staff like dirt and their people like floor mats.

So, I was in a bit of a quandry when I received a request by the publisher (Zondervan) to consider adding my endorsement to the book. But I responded like I always do, "Feel free to send me a copy, but I'll only endorse it if I really like it."

Last summer the manuscript arrived in the mail, and I carved some time to read it on a long plane ride. I started reading and was instantly sucked in. By half way through I was finding it delightful, and before finishing I was convinced I would need to get a copy for all my staff some day. This book emphasizes balance and health. It focuses on self-care–not blaming others. It is well-written and easy to read.

What really grabbed me was reading Anne's story. Yes, she is young, but has a wealth of history and wisdom that comes from serving in a church, but first from growing up in a pastor's home. And when I had a chance to meet her in October, I found her to be the real deal.

Recently I had a chance to ask Anne, "What were some of your thoughts about God or the church that came from watching some of the junk your dad went through as a pastor?"

Anne replied…

The first time I was exposed to the “junk,” I was in elementary school – third or fourth grade I think – and although I couldn’t really comprehend the spirituality behind what was happening, I knew something had happened that made my dad go from a very involved, relational father to a very depressed, isolated man (who I didn’t recognize).  I ended up spying on one of his deacons meetings, because it always seemed that he was the most emotional following those.  

What I saw angered me and gnawed at me…even though I was so young.  These people who led in our church (and who I thought were family friends) were all fighting with my dad and with each other.  They would lie.  They would yell.  They would spread rumors.  

It wasn’t until I was older, about sixteen, when I started projecting the actions of these people on God.  How could He be in charge and love the church the way He said he did when all these people did were fight and be hypocritical.  I challenged him to show me something different or give me a way to change it, but I didn’t get an answer until almost six years later.

After my dad left the ministry altogether, we uprooted our family and moved.  Seeing my parents in such a desperate emotional and financial state hurt so badly…so I began medicating the pain with prescription drugs, alcohol, and inappropriate relationships.

Even now, over a decade later, it’s still so hard for me to trust people in church leadership (because I had learned everyone puts on a front) and to not get cynical when Christians do stupid things.  Don’t get me wrong…I mean, I do stupid things all the time that don’t bring glory to God. I am in no position to judge anyone…but it’s entirely too easy.

Lots of pastors ask me what I wish my parents would have done differently and my answer has always been this:

Nothing.

I don’t wish they would have protected me more.  In fact, I wish I would have been able to see more.  Do these experiences make me a little more cynical or realistic?  Sure they do…but they also stir a HUGE passion in me to do everything I can to help bring unity to the church…to help people in the Christian faith remember that we will be known by our love for each other.  If I wouldn’t have seen all the hate and hypocrisy, I don’t think those desires would be there.

So my advice to those of you serving in ministry with children? Let them see it. It may be ugly and painful, but that’s only going to allow them the opportunity to hope for and see redemption so much more clearly.

I love Anne's heart. I know you will grow to love her as well through reading her story and advice in Mad Church Disease. It releases in less than two weeks — so preorder it today!