We will REPRODUCE at Every Level

This third part of our 2016 Vision is not last because it’s the least important. It is foundational–it will shape everything we do, inside and outside the walls of the church.

We will REPRODUCE at Every Level.

By 2016, every follower of Jesus will be a reproducing follower of Jesus. And every church will be a reproducing church.

• We will offer life-changing gatherings for worship and teaching in our current locations, and launch three additional sites in our region with 9,000 gathering as one church in five locations.
• We will raise the temperature for life-on-life discipleship so it is normal for people to become reproducing followers of Jesus by owning their personal growth. Consumer-oriented Christians will, by design, not feel comfortable long-term.
• We will distribute high-quality content wherever and whenever it is needed. At any time we will be able to simultaneously teach, train and inspire thousands of people as they gather from their home, church, business or wherever they are located.
• We will launch and equip Granger Community Church start-ups all over the globe. Micro, mega, multi, rural, suburban, urban, multi-ethnic, local, domestic and international—all united by the same mission and DNA. We will be a movement of more than 100,000 missional followers of Jesus gathering as 2,000 reproducing churches.

Seem like a big, hairy, audacious goal? Uh yeah. Even though we’ve seen success in Tamil Nadu, India (with a viral church-planting networking now numbering 957), we know this is huge. What would it be like for every follower of Jesus to be reproducing? That type of thinking could change the world. We are counting on it.

We will ACTIVATE the Campus

If the first part of the 2016 Vision is about helping the individual be the church wherever they are–the second part is about making that same shift as an organization:

We will ACTIVATE the Campus.

By 2016, we will have remodeled the Granger campus and programs to help not just our congregation, but the greater community with Jesus at the center.

• The Granger campus will become a gathering place for the community. We will build a Chapel to help people through life-defining moments with inspirational architecture. We will build a Commons where people meet and friends gather. We will add paths, benches, pavilions, fireplaces and water features that invite people to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation.
• We will utilize our fabulous Children’s Center and launch a weekday faith-based preschool and/or daycare to meet the growing needs of parents as they try to raise their kids with virtue.
• Like Monroe Circle Community Center has done for a neighborhood in South Bend, and like this remodel will do for Michiana—every location or gathering in our growing GCC network will exist for the unique transformation and elevation of the neighborhood, village, city or region where they are located.

It’s a subtle, but significant shift. For years our church property has been an amazing front porch for those coming to a weekend service. The landscaping is inviting, the buildings were designed so they wouldn’t intimidate the unchurched. But now, with the glaring change in the culture, we are transitioning the property to have scores of front porch opportunities. Whether you come to attend a wedding or funeral, enroll your child in the preschool, eat lunch in the Commons, run on the 5k path or sit in the woods enjoying a fire–you will be welcomed with open arms by grace-filled followers of Jesus who will help you take your next step. And that step might never include sitting in the auditorium at a service.

We Will BE The Church

The 2016 Vision that we have been crafting for more than a year will be presented in its’ final form to a gathering of our core leaders tonight for the first time ever. Here is the first section of our three-part vision:

We will BE the Church.

By 2016, the number of people being the Church in their neighborhoods, schools, cafes and community seven days a week will outnumber the number of casual Christians just going to church.

• Every follower of Jesus has a missional-impulse within them; we will help believers in the GCC family discover and activate this impulse to make a difference in their world.
• We will equip Christ-followers to leverage their leadership and expertise in every domain of society (justice, education, healthcare, government, religion, business and the arts).
• We will transition children and student ministries into a holistic family ministry, partnering with parents to disciple their children and students for 936-weeks—from the time a child is born until they turn eighteen.
• We will find, celebrate and tell stories of our people “being” the church at every opportunity.

Every sentence has layers of strategy behind it and leaders who are ready to engage. For the next month, in every gathering from small to large, we will communicate the vision from beginning to end. Then it’s GO TIME baby.

Simply Strategic Korean

I received a package in the mail yesterday from Group Publishing, the organization that helped with the publishing of the three books I wrote with Tony Morgan. The letter read, “We recently received copies of the Korean version of Simply Strategic Volunteers, and have sent you this copy for your records.”

Fascinating. I didn’t even know the book was published in Korean. I wonder if it is in Japanese also? Or Hindi? Wouldn’t that be cool? Maybe it has even been published in British

There Are Certain Things I Need

I’m in my 40′s, and I’m just now beginning to figure myself out. I’m realizing that, to be whole and healthy, there are certain things I need:

• I need time alone every day. Some people draw energy from other people. I don’t.
• I need to give. A lifestyle of generosity keeps me focused on others more than myself.
• I need a week alone with my wife every year. Secluded–just her and I. No schedule to keep, no email to answer, no other people to please.
• I need to know I’m succeeding. When I don’t know if I’m doing the right things or doing them well enough, I begin to feel off-balanced.
• I need to conquer something. Whether it’s finding the best deal on a flight or managing a $6 million budget, I need to tackle a big problem and craft a solution.
• I need to design and build. If there is an alternate universe, I’m pretty sure I’m an architect over there. I love to dabble in engineering or designing–and then building or managing the project to completion. Sometimes this might be a deck, other times it might be an organizational change.
• I need quiet time. I already mentioned my need for time alone. One benefit of this is whisper time with God. I’m not a person who prays on my knees for a specific set of time each day…I try to whisper prayers to God and listen to His voice all day long. Quiet time in the car or in my office or at home helps me do this.
• I need 8 to 9 hours of sleep a night, and every now and then a good 12-hour night. I envy people who can live on less sleep–but that ain’t me.
• I need to be home. A lot. I’m not a party-er. Home is my haven, and when I can be home in the evening and on weekends, it gives me what I need to lead with strength.
• I need quality time with my kids. When they were younger, I spent time with them because they needed it. As they get older, I gain as much by my time with them as they do. They challenge me, they inspire me, they make me laugh.
• I need a few friends–people who let me be me, who understand my quirks, who laugh with me-not at me, who know I’m not mad when I’m quiet.
• I need to be on a team with people who are A-players. I’m a better person when I have the right people around me.
• I need to write. Writing is a passion. When I can’t find the time to write, I feel mentally constipated. When I have time to write, everything in my brain flows more freely. (Probably not the best analogy, but I’m guessing you know what I mean).

Two questions you might be asking (if you even made it this far)…

Do I always get what I need? No. There are many seasons when I have to ask God for grace to get through a season of too little rest or too much work. But when I’m feeling stressed or tense, it’s often because I’m not paying attention to the above list.

Isn’t this a bit self-focused? Maybe, but I believe God has wired each of us uniquely, and we have to know what we need if we are going to lead others with strength. To be the person I need to be for my kids, my wife, my church and my friends–these are the things I need.

So here’s the question for you–do you know what you need to be whole, loving and full of grace?

Quantity Time Matters

One thing I learned from Mark Beeson: When it comes to spending time with people, you can have quantity time without quality time, but you can never have quality time without quantity. You can’t predict nor program the most important quality conversations you will have with your spouse, your kid or a good friend. It’s only by spending hours together that those times emerge, perhaps for only a few minutes.

This week, our leadership team has had hours together–some with an agenda, some around meals, and others just sitting around a fire at night sharing life. The week is now over–but I will long remember the quality conversations.

It is Finished

I don’t know what John Adams and Ben Franklin and John Hancock felt like when they were crafting the Declaration of Independence. Did they realize the significance of the paper to which they were ascribing their signature? How about Lincoln with the Gettysburg Address? I’m sure he knew it was important–but did he realize it would shape a nation for centuries?

Perhaps the analogy is extreme, but that is how I feel now that we’ve come to the end of our Vision process for Granger Community Church. For two years we have been working on this. For 12 months we have been inviting the staff, leaders, congregation and community to help shape it. For 6 months, we have been distributing drafts to get feedback. For weeks we have been agonizing over every single word.

And today, it is finished.

It is the one-page Vision that will define us as a church for the next five-years. It will shape our decisions, our staffing, and our community impact. It feels weighty…like we just laid the groundwork for a tsunami of love and grace that will sweep through our region and the world.

The opening lines of the Vision sum it up:

The differences at Granger Community Church in the next five years will be greater than the changes of the past twenty-five combined. GCC is not just an institution or location; we are a movement of people who understand that we are Jesus’ plan to transform and heal communities.

We accept the challenge and we are raising the bar.

No Assumptions. No Regrets.

We live our lives based on a series of assumptions. Those assumptions are built on our previous life experiences.

For example, we assume a great deal about other drivers. We assume they will stay on their side of the center line as we fumble with our phone or change the radio station. We assume they will respect a red light as we blow through a green one. We assume pedestrians will stay on the sidewalk as we cruise through a crowded street looking at our GPS.

We order food from people we don’t know and assume it was prepared by someone knowledgeable with clean hands. We board an airplane which has been maintained by strangers and is being flown by strangers–and we take a nap while they transport us at 500 mph to the place they told us we were going.

We send all our money to people we’ve never met who transform it into digital bytes, and we assume it will all work out and our money will be there when we swipe a piece of plastic or enter a series of numbers on a keypad.

We live our lives based on assumptions.

But I wonder if some of our assumptions, even if based on previous experience, are unhealthy?

We buy the house we can barely afford assuming our income won’t change. We ignore a rock-star employee assuming they will stay on our team whether we reward them or not. We choose not to invest our money in a charity or church we care about, assuming other people will. We pass up opportunities for spiritual conversations with those who are asking, assuming there will be time for that later.

We assume our kids will come home from school today. When our wife says, “I’m running to the grocery store…” we assume we will see her again. When a family member or friend says, “I really need to talk,” we assume there will be many opportunities for conversation. When we are planning the big family vacation, we assume we can do it this year or next or two years from now, because nothing will change and everyone will be healthy.

I’m trying to be aware of my assumptions. I want to live in the moment, like Jesus did. I want to pour myself into the relationships around me that matter–as though I will never have another opportunity. I want to go to bed each night with no regrets to how I lived the day.

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” (Matthew 6:34, The Message)

What Does “Church Campus” Communicate?

Yesterday I talked about our vision process. I was asked, “What are some of the changes you are considering?” Here’s something…

I wonder if our terminology sometimes makes it hard for us to accomplish our mission? For example, we tell our congregation, “You are the church…the church isn’t a building…the church is the people of God.” Then we say, “Invite your friend to church” or “Be sure you come to church this weekend.” So which is it? Am I the church, or is this building the church?

We call the property the “church campus” but then say it’s a place to offer help to the community. Wouldn’t that be like calling my home the “Stevens’ house” and then trying to convince people it is open to everyone? Sure doesn’t sound very open.

What if we turned all the terminology upside down. What if the “church campus” was called Harbor Ridge (just a pretend name, for a placeholder). But imagine if the entire community knew that Harbor Ridge was the place you go for hope and healing. You want groceries, people think of Krogers or Jewel. You want a mall, people think of University Park Mall. You need medical attention, people might think of the 24-Hour Medical Center. What if, in the same way, people thought of Harbor Ridge as they place they go for hope and healing, at their moments of greatest need.

Need help with your marriage? There are classes and counseling available at Harbor Ridge led by followers of Jesus. Need help figuring out how to be a great parent? There is coaching available at Harbor Ridge that is based on Scripture. You ask, “Why not just say those things are at the church?” Because many people have a mental block against going to a church for help. If it’s at the church—they won’t go. But if it’s at Harbor Ridge?

Need help with your kids because you both work? Bring them to the daycare or preschool at Harbor Ridge. Your finances a mess? Catch a Financial Peace University class at Harbor Ridge. Struggling with addictions? Recovering from the loss of a child? The first thought that would come to your mind, “I bet Harbor Ridge has something that could help me.”

The place you think of at the biggest moments of transition or crisis in your life—such as weddings or funerals – you think of The Chapel at Harbor Ridge.

And every function, every event, every interaction with every guest is filled with faith and love and spiritual intentionality. People who come to Harbor Ridge for anything walk away having been touched by the love and grace of a Jesus-follower.

Oh, and where does Granger Community Church meet? Lots of places, but in Granger, we meet at Harbor Ridge.

That’s just a glimpse into one of the ways we are thinking differently about Granger’s future and our impact in the community.

What are your thoughts?

The Baby is Almost Here

Some of you know what it’s like to wait 9-months for your first baby. You watch it grow, you prepare the room, you tell all your friends, and you make some significant changes in your life to prepare for the birth.

We’ve been doing that at Granger for more than two years–and the baby is almost here. In fact, planning for this baby has been our number one focus for the past 12-months. We are just a few weeks away, and I am so ready for this baby to be born!

• 2009 – we right-sized our staff to fit the realities of the economy; we reconfigured our Senior Team adding three new leaders; we began to find traction and unity in a shifting view of our future as a church.
• Jan 2010 – we reaffirmed many of our values and tweaked some others. Without a foundation of core values that we all believed in, we knew everything else would be futile.
• Mar 2010 – we went to every group and team in the church and asked for feedback on one key question: “When you dream of the church you would want to give your life to in five or ten years–what does that church look like?”
• May 2010 – we took an entire weekend and asked the same question of our congregation: “As you think five years down the road, what is your dream for your church?”
• Jun 2010 – we went to our community (people who didn’t currently attend our church or any other church) and asked a similar question, “If this community was everything you dreamed five years from now, what would that look like?”
• Jul 2010 – we sorted and organized the dreams from thousands of people in our congregation and community–merged these with the dreams of our leadership team, and began to draft a vision of Granger Community Church in the year 2016.
• Sep 2010 – we published the first draft of the Vision, and began to disperse this through the same groups and teams who had helped us brainstorm six months earlier. We asked, “What makes your heart beat fast? What parts of this vision make you say ‘Yes!’ and what parts make you say ‘Huh?’”
• Nov 2010 – after gathering more than 41 pages of feedback on the new draft, we re-wrote the vision. This time it was three-pages instead of nine-pages. We sent this new version back out to scores of leaders and teams asking for more feedback.
• Today – we now have more than 33-pages of feedback on the second version, and we are feverishly finalizing the vision.

The baby is almost here. Two weeks from now, we will finalize the vision during our senior team retreat. We will come back, present it to our core leaders, and then in February to the entire church.

As big a change as a new baby is for a young married couple–this new vision will significantly shape us for years to come. More on this in the coming weeks.