It’s Worth Every Penny

Every Wednesday our entire staff meets together for 60 minutes. All 75 of us, from the interns to the pastors, from the worship team to the children’s staff, from the senior pastor to the accounting team. We all stop by the Connection Cafe on our way and pick up a free beverage of choice from a great group of volunteers.

Then we jump into a meeting that contains the same three parts each week:

• Stories — about God and about life-change. We start out the same way each week, “Where have you seen God at work in or through the church in the past seven days?” This is a great way to spread the vision. It would be easy to forget why we do what we do (sweep floors, answer phones, prepare lessons, set up the drums) without the constant stories about changed lives.
• Spotlight — Many times we spotlight a staff member, learning about their family, their past and pretty much anything else we want to know (of course, they don’t have to answer). Then we take time to speak into that person, telling them why we are so glad they are on the team. Other times we spotlight a ministry in the church, letting the leaders of that area give us information about what they do, and what excites them about the future.
• Stuff — the final portion of the meeting is to share inside information. It can be deflating for a staff member to hear about something big from the platform on Sunday morning. We try to make sure they hear about it well ahead of time and have a chance to have their questions answered. Another part of the “stuff” is teaching or training–like last week, when Mark pointed us to Acts 4 and talk about what God has been teaching him. Or like last fall, when we took several weeks to teach through The Forgotten Ways principles.

With offices that are spread out and ministries that are quite diverse–these weekly staff meetings keep us connected and keep the vision alive. I ran some numbers not too long ago, and figured out that this 60-minute meeting costs us $1,400 of staff-time (not including those fancy frou-frou drinks). In my opinion, it is worth every penny.

I personally think any organization, church, or business that has more than 20 employees should do some version of the same thing. Nothing can be replaced by flat-lining the org chart and letting everyone on the team hear the unfiltered thoughts of the lead pastor, director or CEO.

Bloggers: Less Posts, Better Quality

Five years ago George Bush still had two years left in office, Saddam Hussein was found guilty and hanged, and I entered the world of blogging. At the time, I felt like I was late to the game. But I jumped in without looking back.

Even though it’s only been five years, blogging has changed significantly. Much of that has to do with Twitter. When I first began blogging, it was common for writers to post several times a day to their blog. If we wanted to share a quote, or a web link, or embed a video–we would post that on our blog.

Then along came Twitter. I jumped on board in May 2008. Twitter was two-years old, but most the world had never even heard of it. It’s only been in the past couple years that Twitter has taken off and realized mainstream acceptance. And it has changed the world of online communication.

Clive Thompson wrote in a recent issue of Wired Magazine, “…years ago, my favorite bloggers wrote a link with a couple of sentences of commentary–and they’d update a few times a day. Once Twitter arrived, they began blogging less often with much longer, more-in-depth essays.”

Five years ago, the general rule when posting on your blog was: Keep it short. When talking to people starting up a blog, I said many times, “People won’t read your blog if the articles are too long.” That’s when blogs were the front door to the information you wanted. Now Twitter is the front door. People will write a 140-character micro-summary with a link–and if it hooks you, you will click on it to read the article. Fewer and fewer people will go directly to your blog, and most won’t let it junk up their inbox. Instead they will follow Twitter and only click on links to articles that catch their interest.

For that reason, I think it is actually advisable to change the way you blog. Focus on quality, not quantity. Don’t feel guilty if you can only post once every few weeks. Make those articles count. Treat each post like you are writing a chapter in a book.

Length doesn’t matter anymore. Thompson (the dude from Wired Magazine) agrees. He quotes a blogger who says, “I save the little stuff for Twitter and blog only when I have something big to say.” Thompson goes on to say, “I turns out readers prefer this: One survey found that the most popular blog posts today are the longest ones, 1,600 words on average.”

With that as a benchmark, this post is way too short at 455 words. Even so, hopefully it will help you look at blogging through a new lens.

A Million Dollar Miracle

A couple weeks ago I was meeting with several leaders who are part of my Executive Pastors’ Coaching Network. We were talking about casting vision and raising money for projects. During that conversation, I said to them:

We have launched six stewardship campaigns over the history of the church, and every time the consultants tell us that if we are going to reach our goal, we will need to have a significant pledge from several families in the church. In fact, they say, “You will need to have one family give $1 million, and you’ll need to have 3 or 4 give in the range of $300k to $500k.” And we just look at the consultants, and nod and smile, because never in our 25-year history have we received a gift of that size. We remind them that we are not located in southern California or Miami or Houston or the suburbs of Chicago. “We live in South Flippin’ Bend. People don’t stay here if they want to make a bunch of money.”

And yet every time, we pray our guts out for a gift of that size. But year after year, the ministry continues and grows because a whole bunch of “average” people do what they can. That is how the church has been built. And we have been so grateful that we have a broad, grass-roots buy-in from hundreds of families in the region.

That is background for what happened last week.

I had just returned from a lunch meeting, and had messages waiting for me from a couple whom I had never met. They were five minutes away and asked if they could come right over to ask some questions about the vision and the New Normal Project.

What happened next still makes me shake when I think about it. We had an amazing conversation, talking about life, faith, their story, and the new vision that Granger is chasing. They brought with them a copy of our vision magazine, and it was like a well-worn book. They had taken it home on the weekend during our “Picture This” series, and had been living in it. They were astounded at how closely their own spiritual journey aligned with the vision that we were presenting to the congregation.

They said God had spoken very clearly to them in last weekend’s service. (Side note: On that previous weekend, for the first time ever, Mark Beeson publicly told the church he was specifically praying for a family to give $1 million to the New Normal Project. Even though we’ve prayed for a gift of that size for years, up until that service, Mark had never felt the release to say it out loud to the weekend crowd). It was at that point in the service, when this couple knew God was asking them to be that family.

“We believe God wants us to commit $1 million to the church for this new vision.”

I have no idea what I said next. I think I may have said “no way!” very loudly, I’m not sure. I’m not an emotional person, but at that moment I felt as close to tears as I ever have with total strangers. I had goosebumps on every inch of my body and was somewhat in shock.

After we finished the meeting, I sat in my office for a few minutes soaking in what had just happened. I wrote down some of my thoughts…

• We have talked for more than a year how there will be people who will be drawn to the church because of the vision. These people have been completely captured by the vision of where God is taking us. How affirming!
• What would have happened if I had not responded to their message, or had been too busy to meet with them, or had encouraged them to drop me an email rather than stopping by the office?
• Why now? Why did God wait 25 years to give us a million dollar commitment? What does this mean?
• Sometimes, in my flesh, I think, “If God is going to give us $1 million, it’s going to come from one of these three people.” Like I can figure it out. And yet this came from someone who wouldn’t have been on any of my lists. God is so much bigger than anything we can manage or strategize or manipulate.
• This is just the beginning. We’ve been putting in so much work over the past year with very little tangible response. This commitment feels like God just returned our homework with a smiley face on it. And yet I think it is just the beginning of what God is going to do with and through us.

I am so energized by this commitment, yet humbled at the same time. And it was awesome to feel the excitement shared by the congregation as Mark told the good news to the congregation this weekend. I truly believe their example is going to motivate scores of others in the coming weeks and months.

This is Where We Live

This weekend, hundreds of families made a decision to stand with our community. To make a difference in our city. Why? Because we are the people of God and this is where we live. This is our story. These are the people we love. Others may say our area is dying, but we believe different. We are the people of Granger Community Church and we won’t just accept the status quo. We’re pushing back the darkness and chapter two has just begun.

A Dad’s View on Generosity

A few days ago, I wrote a post titled Generosity Can’t Be Taught. It stimulated a great conversation on Facebook about whether generosity and sharing are the same thing. We teach a kid to share, right? So why can’t we teach them generosity?

My friend, Bill Zimmer, who I respect greatly as a dad and husband, shared these words:

We started teaching sharing, then we explain why that is important, then we point out to the kids the results when they do. Lots and lots of those moments over time lead to the generosity of sharing as an adult. My kids started tithing when they were four. It wasn’t much with their $1 a week allowance but they did it. My son had an odd look on his face and finally asked how God was going to get in the church to get his money. What a teaching moment. We talked about how he is helping support the church. Lots of those moments led to more saving and they now donate toys to the shelter, books to Monroe Circle Community Center, and we as a family save and sacrifice to save lives and support baby girls in India who would otherwise die because they were born female.

It was a process starting with sharing when they were two. At ten now they are coming to us with ideas of who they can help with their money. I wonder how many humans are born generous? I know in our house we were intentional with the process. We let the kids watch us serve and included them when we gave (time or money). We explained why it was important and let them see the results. I remember a couple of months ago me and daughter were at McDonalds on the west side. I noticed a man outside (very cold) going up to everybody leaving. I didn’t see him when we were ready to go but when we left, he was outside. My daughter stood behind me as I spoke to the man. He asked for food money. I spoke to him several minutes and found out he suffered from severe mental illness. I had choices to buy the food or give the money or walk away and do nothing. I gave him money even though I’m pretty sure he didn’t buy food. I chose to do so because my daughter was there. The dialog I had with my daughter the next several days was amazing. We talked about the dangers and risks, Biblical principles of giving, the compassion he needed, homelessness, mental illness, the possible results including that he might buy drugs, about how God blesses us and we need to share, etc. She still asks me questions about that night. For me, I was very intentional to build on years of teaching and even though there have been some surprises, the results have been awesome. The key for us is to show our kids the why. Once they understand why, once they understand the need, once they understand they can help, the rest starts to come easier and easier.

I love Bill’s heart and his example in modeling for his kids.

Does the Bible Make You Dance?

This is 2011. I have a smart phone. I can push a button for a Bible app–and choose from 20 different versions in my language–and within seconds I am reading God’s Word. Amazing technology.

And yet there are people in the world who still have no access to Scripture. Here is a video of a tribe celebrating when they received the Bible in their language for the first time  just a few months ago.

Amazing, huh? Does it make you value your access to the Scriptures?

A Debut Album Worth Your Time

I love music, but I’m not a big music guy. What?

What I mean is I don’t go around with ear buds in all day long. I don’t have music playing in my office or my car every minute of the day. I don’t have the names of every new artist memorized. I’m more of a selective music listener. When I’m listening, I want it to be full-blast-in-your-face-loud (especially if it’s Muse or Linkin Park). Hearing music playing softly in the background is annoying. I want to enjoy it. And I particularly lean in when I hear music that is excellent.

I just reviewed the debut album of Seth Abram–and I’m impressed. I’ve known Seth for a few years, and some of you know that I was a big fan of his KickStarter.com project to fund his first album. I get lots of opportunities to support projects–but I chose this one because I’m a firm believer in Seth. He’s an amazing songwriter, musician and vocalist–and I believe the world will get to know his music in the coming years in a big way.

Somebody asked me what kind of music it is–and it’s hard to categorize. Seth Abram is a worship leader–but this isn’t a worship album. Seth is a disciple of Jesus–but this won’t be categorized as a Christian music album. It’s just really good music that gives me a reason to crank up the volume.

The self-titled Seth Abram debut album releases today–and is available on iTunes or Amazon for download.

Generosity Can’t Be Taught

Last week, Taylor (our 10-year old) came home from church talking about ways he could earn money so he could give it to the church. The next day, Megan (16 yrs) came home wanting to develop a system so she would remember to set aside 10% of her earned money to give back to God.

I love that my kids are learning to be more generous. So much goes right in your life if you can figure out generosity. And I’m fairly confident that generosity can’t be taught–it is caught, it is nurtured, it is imitated, it is developed. We don’t become generous because we hear a message on generosity. We become generous over time when we begin to practice actions of generosity.

As a teen, I began the practice of taking 10% of my paycheck and giving it to the church. During my first three years after high school, I was traveling around the country and not able to attend my home church–but continued to mail them my tithe checks. In those early years when I was literally living on less than the established poverty-level, it wasn’t easy to give. I didn’t always do it because I felt like it. But I believe those weekly acts of disciplined giving established within me a life of generosity. And I’m grateful for the adults in my life who helped me learn this.

So many of the blessings of God on my life are directly connected to learning to be generous. How do I know that? Here are a few reasons…

• The act of giving blesses the person giving more than the person receiving (Acts 20:35).
• Generosity has a guaranteed return on investment. Perhaps not always financially, but when you give, you are guaranteed a return (Luke 6:38).
• Better yet, when you give you are guaranteed future blessings (I Timothy 6:17-19).
• When I don’t give, I am less loving and less able to be a carrier of God’s love (I John 3:17).
• If I learn generosity when I have nothing, God is more likely to trust me with more (Matthew 25:21).
• A life of generosity proves that I am interested in others. Lack of generosity proves I am interested only in myself (Matthew 6:21).
• Being generous directly imitates God. He gave His most precious possession (Jesus), yet is is often a struggle for us to give up a few dollars (John 3:16).

It means so much to me that there are leaders at our church who are teaching my kids about generosity. If they get this, it will do more to prepare them for life than a college education or a killer first job. I believe that to my core.

How about you–is there a step you can take today to become more generous?

I’ve Never Been a Rob Bell Fan

I just took an hour to watch the Livestream Q&A with Rob Bell that aired last week. I hope you will too. It was incredibly interesting. I’ve ordered his new book, Love Wins, but it hasn’t arrived yet. So this is the closest I’ve come to hearing Rob Bell talk about what he believes about heaven and hell.

I figure I should give a little bit of background first. I’ve never been a Rob Bell fan. Not because of his theology–but just because I haven’t connected with his style of teaching or writing. I’m not wired as an intellectual or as a theologian, so he often loses me. However, I’ve been leaning into the discussion about his new book in the past few days mostly because of the volume of the controversy. When I begin to hear certain factions of Christianity paint a fellow-believer with such slanderous words–my “hypocrisy meter” starts to ping off the charts and I can’t help but jump in and call for a more balanced debate.

The great thing (as I said a couple of days ago) is that the controversy is driving believers, myself included, to consider questions about heaven and hell and the afterlife. Things that I typically don’t think about.

After watching this Q&A, here are a few of my thoughts…

• Bell relies on Scripture. He answers most questions with a verse or passage or illustration from the Bible. I respect that.
• He also answers a fair number of questions with “I think…” At first, that might seem offensive to you. It doesn’t matter what we think–it only matters what God’s Word says, right? Well, yes and no. Pick any verse or major doctrine in the Bible, and you will find very learned and respected men or women of God giving VERY different interpretations of the same passage. How can the same passage mean two opposite things? That means one theologian is right, and the other is a heretic. I don’t think it’s that simple. I think we need to give space for the conversation, be slow to label people with opposing views, and realize that if God had meant it to be less of a mystery and more definitive–it would be.
• I think what frustrates people is that Rob Bell won’t spend much time answering questions about what heaven or hell is in the future. It seems like he believes that argument is futile. He continues to bring it back to the here and now. Someone asks about heaven, and he quickly answers but then talks for a few minutes about bringing up there down here–heaven here on earth. Someone asks about hell, and he gives a very quick answer, but then talks about rape and abuse and hunger, and wants to focus on how we eliminate hell here on earth.
• I have a slight aversion to people who write books while sitting in a library all day long while they have no connection to real people in the real world. Rob Bell is a pastor, and for that he has my respect. His church is a couple hours from where I serve–and has a great reputation for helping people meet Jesus and grow in their faith.

What additional thoughts do you have after watching the video?

I Have Homework

A couple days ago I received in my email a LOAD of homework. And I couldn’t be more excited.

No, I haven’t enrolled in college. And I’m not taking a Kay Arthur class. Rather, it’s because I’m only three months away from going through a LifePlan process that I’ve been looking forward to for a few years. You might be asking, “What is a LifePlan?”

The LifePlan™ experience is a one-on-one, two-day intensive. Designed by Tom Paterson, LifePlanning is a proven, spiritually and behaviorally sound process designed to help you discover your unique design, clarify your life mission, and apply your discoveries to your personal, family, vocation, church and community life domains.

My facilitator is Doug Slaybaugh, a man I respect and have known for many years. We will be walking this journey together in June. I’d appreciate your prayers as we work on a custom-tailored master plan that will define my total-life strategy.

You might be asking why I’m doing this. Am I feeling restless? No. Am I tired of what I’m doing? Not at all. Am I trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up? Nope. Am I becoming senile and starting to ask myself too many questions? Probably.

Here’s the deal: I’m 43 years old. That means I’ve been an adult for 25-years. In those 25 years I married an amazing woman, had four tremendous kids, worked at a great organization for 9 years and have served at Granger for the past 16 years. I’ve written four books, traveled the world, and taught workshops to thousands of church leaders. It’s been a great run.

I want to make sure my next 25-years are just as awesome. I want to be laser-focused on how I can best impact the kingdom. I have no intention of changing jobs or moving locations–I just want to leverage everything God has given me to maximize this next chapter of my life.

And that is why I’m excited about the homework I just received!

Leave me a comment if you’d pray that God would prepare me for my LifePlan journey.