When I was just starting out in student ministry and grasping in the dark for direction, a mentor pointed me to a classic: The Master Plan of Evangelism. Re-reading its pages pours fuel on my flames:
It all started with Jesus calling a few men to follow Him. His concern was not with programs to reach the multitudes, but with men whom the multitudes would follow.
They (the disciples) were impulsive, temperamental, easily offended, and had all the prejudices of their environment. In short, these men selected by the Lord to be His assistants represented an average cross-section of society in their day. Not the kind of group one would expect to win the world for Christ.
We have NOT been called to hold the fort but to STORM THE HEIGHTS!
In an age when facilities for rapid communication of the gospel are available to the Church as never before, we are actually accomplishing less in winning the world for God than before the invention of the horseless carriage.
People are looking for a demonstration, not an explanation.
We must always remember that the GOAL is world conquest.
Those of us who are seeking to train men must be prepared to have them follow us, even as we follow Christ.
In the current edition of Esquire, Bill Murray comments on how to create comedy from his training at Second City in Chicago. Notice how this can apply to leadership as well...
(You gotta) commit. Like: "Don't walk out there with one hand in your pocket unless there's somethin' in there you're going to bring out."
You gotta commit. You've gotta go out there and improvise and you've gotta be completely unafraid to die. You've got to be able to take a chance to die. And you have to die lots. You have to die all the time.
You're goin' out there with just a whisper of an idea. The fear will make you clench up. That's the fear of dying. When you start and the first few lines don't grab and people are going like, "What's this? I'm not laughing and I'm not interested," then you just put your arms out like this and open way up and that allows your stuff to go out. Otherwise it's just stuck inside you.
Conan O'Brien was interviewed in two different settings in the past week. I picked up two solid yet unlikely leadership lessons from him.
#1. Don't throw the past under the bus, even when you have been Leno'd.
This was an awesome-sauce interview.
Here's the thing: Conan didn't throw the past under the bus. Sure, Letterman was publicly sniffing for dirty laundry to air (that's what gossips do), but Conan did not dishonor NBC.
Leaders don't throw the past under the bus, even when they're Leno'd.
There is no honor in tearing down people and organizations... especially in church-world.
Jesus purchased the church with His blood. That's HUGE! God loves the church, created the church, and declares the church to be Christ's bride! Have you ever talked smack about another man's wife? Imagine doing that to Jesus Christ!!
If a church has hurt you in the past, that does not give you the right to muddy its name. If a church leader has disappointed you in the past, they are not your enemy (see Ephesians 6:12!!). Forgive and let go.
Leaders understand that integrity is doing the right thing even when it hurts. Trust me, I've felt hurt a lot over the past year. But I've found that God is honored most when we talk smack the least.
If you're a leader who has walked through the fire, allow Isaac's experience in Genesis 26 to be your model. Isaac was misnderstood, dishonored, and shunned over and over again. But he doesn't fight back. He submits to the Lord's will. And verse 28 is a beautiful display of the gospel.
#2: Amplify, Amplify, Amplify Your Message:
Fascinating Fact: Jay Leno's twitter has 376,000 followers while Conan O'Brien's twitter has 5.7 million.
Lean into Conan's analysis of social media - - crucial learnings for leaders during this tehnological shift in our culture:
- Twitter/blogs/Facebook isn't about self-promotion, it's inviting people into his world. It's relationship-building.
- "It's all about content. Funny content is funny content."
- "How do you create a symbiotic relationship? How do you get people emotionally-involved?"
- 1993: Obsession was don't give anything away. 2012: No surprises, it goes everywhere, creates a wave of viewership - incredible awareness.
- Audience gets information from multiple sources, making it fractured and distracted - must be willing to deliver your message in multiple ways.
- Conan on leveraging social media post-Tonight Show: "This is not the way that I watch television, but I had to make a choice, and I think this is the way."
- Things happen quickly.
- Walt Disney never met a technology he was afraid of. He constantly adapted: animation to talkies to motion pictures to theme parks to television. He always embraced new things. Adapt or die.
- Beatles on Ed Sullivan had 90 million tv viewers. They were tuning in to see what they looked like. YouTube solves that problem today.
Best quote: "Self promotion is not unholy. Occasionally I’ll encounter some well-meaning religious person who thinks self promotion works against the fame of God. I whole-heartedly disagree. In his day, Billy Graham spent millions promoting himself and his crusades, all so people could come HEAR HIM TALK ABOUT GOD. Those who know Mr. Graham would never see him as arrogant. He was over himself. But that didn’t mean God didn’t give him a personality and a mouth and later a microphone. Flowers bloom and mountains tower not to take attention from God, but to display His glory."
The first rule of improvisation is AGREE. Always agree and SAY YES. When you're improvising, this means you are required to agree with whatever your partner has created.
So if we're improvising and I say, "Freeze, I have a gun," and you say, "That's not a gun. It's your finger. You're pointing your finger at me," our improvised scene has ground to a halt.
But if I say, "Freeze, I have a gun!" and you say, "The gun I gave you for Christmas! You bastard!" then we have started a scene because we have AGREED that my finger is in fact a Christmas gun.
Now, obviously in real life you're not always going to agree with everything everyone says. But the Rule of Agreement reminds you to "respect what your partner has created" and to at least start from an open-minded place.
Start with a YES and see where it takes you.
As an improviser, I always find it jarring when I meet someone in real life whose first answer is no.
He wrote a big chunk of the New Testament... You know you're an amazing Bible teacher when your sermons become Scripture!!
So you'd think with this resume that Paul would be an engaging preacher, right?
Wrong!
Paul was boring. Which is fine... except when it leads to someone's death!
Seriously, did you know that dry preaching can be a health hazard?!
In Acts 20, Paul is waxing eloquently. And he waxes on and on and on. Apparently he forgot Mr. Miyagi's number one rule: "Wax on AND wax OFF!"
The message was dry and stuffy. A young guy, Eutychus, sat down by a window to get some fresh air. He needed to do something to keep his attention during the sermon!
First a yawn, then some daydreaming. Until finally, it happened: Paul's preaching was so boring, it put this teenager to sleep.
And Eutychus fell out the window. Three stories. Straight down. Splat.
Now don't worry, the young guy came out ok. It helps to have an Apostle of the living God handy to heal you!
But we don't have that luxury in today's world. Listen, boring preachers can kill you! Don't believe me? Look around:
Are your teens so jacked-up excited about their church that they're texting and Facebooking their friends with massive invites to Sunday mornings?
Do you see young people knocking each other over at church to fill all the seats and create standing-room-only space?
Is there a movement of teenagers and young adults swamping the church's facilities, breathing new life and great hope into the future of your church?
No? Then maybe you're experiencing a Eutychus Moment. If the passion and engagement is missing in the message, the next generation will be missing in the pews!
Young people WILL mobilize behind something they believe in (just google things like "Hunger Games" or "American Idol" if you don't believe me!). The problem is that No one will ever follow you down the street if you're carrying a banner that says, 'Onward toward mediocrity.'
The lesson from Paul is simple: you can have more degrees than fahrenheit, but if you're not preaching life, your church will LOSE life!!
I don't know about you, but I'm ringing the three-alarm fire siren over the fact that the Body of Christ is hemorraging out young people! If we aren't fired up and passionately preaching life, we will continue seeing Eutychuses searching for life outside the church (which always leads to death).
Let's take heed, saddle up, and do whatever it takes to engage a generation with the promise and excitement of Jesus Christ!!
I continue to be amazed, humbled, and genuinely thankful for what the Lord is doing within our church start-up! After a handful of Informational Meetings this past January and February, we held our very first Launch Team Gathering this past Sunday and, WOW, good times are ahead! We saw 30 grace-addicts gather to dream out-loud and believe again:
You can grab my message to our launch team here. After nearly a year of zero preaching, I felt a little rusty :)
Our weekly gatherings are wide-open to anyone who feels far from God (lost), moving on from a messed-up church experience (let-down), or anyone genuinely passionate about reaching our region for the Kingdom (looking).
The plan is to gather every Sunday, 11am at the Arrowhead Golf Club (until we outgrow the facilities). We have fun, God-centered kids ministry while the teens and adults gather for teaching, encouragement, and planning for our future public launch.
The 3 big milestones toward officially launching Life Church that I outlined for our launch team:
LOCATION - Our long-term vision is to launch multiple campuses throughout the Great Lakes Bay Region. Why? Because there are thousands and thousands of people in our generation who don't know Jesus!! The first site for Life Church has not yet been determined. While we're exploring different opportunities, we're still waiting on God to give the green light.
FORTY-ONE - That's the minimum number of committed, sold-out teens and adults we want on our launch team before we launch public worship services. Church planting statistics show that having 41 or more fully-committed servant-leaders is absolutely key to thriving ministry.
50in50 - We are starting from scratch! Right now it's all about individuals and families giving their full tithe to a new venture in great faith. It's been incredible to see donations pouring in from all over: Caro, Saginaw, Pennsylvania, Iowa, South Carolina, Arizona - - wow! I love seeing the Body minister to the Body!! Building a culture of radical generosity is important to our church start-up. We believe that if we can get at least $50k in the bank, we're in good shape for taking some huge steps of faith! You can watch last week's E.T. video here and give online here.
Very, very excited to be part of a church forming from the ground up - - there is so much freedom and creativity to passionately reach people far from God!
Looking forward to gathering again this coming Sunday! Be sure to check out our Facebook e-vite...
And now, the plastic trilogy is complete as Little Plastic Batman again takes on the Windy City.
After a long day of fighting little plastic crime, Batman blows off steam at The Cheesecake Factory:
Here are 3 things you need to know this week - -
1) This coming Sunday, May 6th, everyone is gathering together at Arrowhead Golf Course's banquet facilities in Caro as we begin weekly launch team meetings! Not quite a full-blown worship service, we will offer fun, Jesus-centered kids' ministry while teens and adults are under Jon's teaching.
These new weekly gatherings are super important as we put the pieces together for launching later in the year. Just bring a Bible, a notebook, and be ready to laugh and learn!! Click here to invite your Facebook friends to this event! Together, let's bring Life to Mid-Michigan!
2) That same day, we'll officially kick-off our 50 in 50 initiative! We have an audacious, God-sized goal to raise 50K in 50 Days! Every single dollar will go toward church start-up equipment, kids' ministry, and outreach. More 50 in 50 info + online giving here.
3) Jon and Amber are in Chicago all this week in the running for a major church planting grant for Life Church - - please keep them and that process in prayer! In the meantime, here's a few links to check out:
Watch these recent documentaries on church planting. They paint a great picture about operating in great faith:
Thank you for your prayers, encouragement, and enthusiasm! We truly believe God is putting the pieces together for this new work... we can't wait to go public and do whatever it takes to reach the thousands of people throughout our region so that they might experience new life in Christ!!
Two things come to mind when I think of Van Halen:
Right Now
Crystal Pepsi
The lyrics to Right Now are great for both comedians and leaders:
Don't wanna wait 'til tomorrow Why put it off another day? One more walk through your problems, Built up and stand in our way.
When you are improvising comedy in front of a live audience, you don't have the luxury of slowing things down, chewing it over, and thinking about what comes next.
There's only Right Now.
Del Close, one of the earliest improvisers at Chicago's Second City, was always pushing young comedians to make a choice. Right Now. One of my favorite quotes from Del is:
"Fall, then figure out what to do on the way down."
This is a fantastic principle for church leaders. No, I'm not talking about using the Right Now principle for firing people up to reach the lost. I'm talking about making a choice as a leader.
Church boards are more notorious than Biggie Smalls (yes, that's a 1990's rapper reference - go Google it!) for putting decisions off: "Let's pray about it and come back to it next month." Listen, you don't have to pray about what God has already declared!!
Time after time I've seen Kingdom-sized opportunities choked out by timidity. The Bible is clear: you don't have tomorrow guaranteed to you. Just Right Now.
So as leaders, pull up your big boy pants, swallow back the fear, and make a decision! Right Now!
