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What I Wish They'd Told Me in Seminary

November 15th will mark a decade for me in full-time ministry.  I have learned a TON over the years - more often than not the hard way! 

Chuck Swindoll is right: "When God has an impossible task to be done, He takes an impossible person and crushes him."

If I could go in a time-machine and give myself advice on the crushing back on Day One, here are some thoughts I might share with myself - - this is what I wish they'd told me in seminary:

1)  It's all about Jesus. 

2)  Sheep bite.  But love wins.

3)  You are not the Messiah. 
Being the Messiah gets you killed.

4)  Protect your family.

5)  Say "No" more than you say "Yes" (see #4).

6)  Don't try to be "well-rounded." 
Amplify your strengths and hire out your weaknesses.

7)  Ask questions.  Never stop reading and learning.

8)  Grace builds trust.  Truth builds confidence.  Balance builds community.

9)  Your church will never be perfect so long as you are the pastor!

10)  Have fun.  Don't take yourself so seriously!  God will accomplish His work in spite of your messiness (see #1).

Anything else you'd say to yourself back on Day One?  I'd love to learn from you!

Thoughts on Dealing with Conflict as a Church Leader

When you accept being in leadership, you accept conflict.  Nobody enjoys conflict, but its part of being a leader.

For what its worth, here are some key principles to keep in mind when engaging in healthy conflict:

- Never attempt to resolve a problem over phone/email/Facebook/Twitter.  Meet in person!

- Deal with any problem immediately - - that day!  Letting something fester invites the enemy.

- There is no room for grudges among Christ-followers.  Grudges imprison you and create a distorted lens for experiencing reality.

- Gossip tears down.  Transparent grace builds up.

- Be quick to listen and slow to speak.

- You can choose to either believe the best about a person's motives or assume the worst.  The former builds trust over the long-haul.

- Humility is contagious.  Humility builds bridges.

- Asking for forgiveness is a freeing experience.  Offering forgiveness is a freeing experience.  Both bring you and the other person closer together in relationship.

Catalyst 2009 Wrap-Up - Thank You, Colwood

The 10th annual Catalyst Conference is now history.  What a week!
I was most impressed with AT&T; with 13,000 in attendance, I had no problem with twittering the entire event (just had to manually shut off 3G to get through!).

It was great catching up with old friends from around the country - iron sharpens iron!

I am so thankful for the people of Colwood Church and their generosity. 
If you regularly support Colwood through prayers and financial giving, know that this conference week was a tremendous gift to our staff team.  The combination of team-bonding and intense learning will ripple through all our leaders and ministries in the months ahead!

I am posting my personal takeaways from Catalyst - my hope is that these notes will help you understand the direction our focused passions will take Colwood in 2010.  Further notes are available on my Twitter feed.

[ pictured: Jay Hardwick & me; Greg Davis, Ryan Geiger & me ]

Catalyst 2009: Perry Noble

Perry Noble opened up the PreLab on Wed morning with Thoughts on Vision.  My takeaways:

• Leadership Myth: Someday it all gets easier.  No, the steps get TOUGHER.  God said, "Abraham, kill your son."
  
• Acts 26 - Vision begins with an accurate view of Jesus.  1st revelation to Paul was NOT the PLAN, it was the PERSON!
  
• Acts 26:16 = Vision calls us to action.  People say, "I'm waiting on God."  What?  You ran ahead of Him?!  No - God's waiting on US!
  
• You can't PLAN a move of God, but you've gotta PREPARE!

Catalyst 2009: Reggie McNeal on the Missional Church

• "Missional Church" is a redundant term.
  
• "If you put anything to a congregational vote, the church will ALWAYS vote for Egypt."
  
• Definition of Missional: People of God partnering with Him in His redemptive mission in the world.
  
• Church is a verb, not a noun.
  
• It's not that the church has a mission.  It's that the mission has a church!

Catalyst 2009: Scott Belsky on Making Ideas Happen

I'll admit it - I had no idea who Scott Belsky was prior to his Catalyst Lab session this past Wednesday.  I just thought the lab description was cool.

I was instantly impressed when I walked into tried to walk into the room - standing room only.  His first book, Making Ideas Happen, releases Spring 2010.  He shared with us the major themes.  Tons of take-aways that I'm still chewing on for our team at Colwood:

• The Problem: Most ideas never happen.
  
• Creativity and Ideas + Organization and Execution + Communal Forces + Leadership Capability = Making Ideas Happen
  
• Generate ideas in MODERATION!  Surplus = Waste.  Have sober monitors.
  
• Distinguish the Urgent from the Important.  Create windows of non-stimulation in your daily rhythms.
  
• Organize with a BIAS toward ACTION.
  
• Creativity x Organization = Impact
  5 x 0 = 0
  10 x 0 = 0
  50 x 2 = 100
  
• Prioritize projects VISUALLY.
  
• Avoid the burden of consensus.
  
• Leaders always talk LAST!  Don't lose potential insights by talking all the time.

Catalyst 2009: Andy Stanley on Making Your Mark

Andy Stanley opened the main sessions Thursday with a soul-penetrating talk for leaders.  My thoughts are in orange:

• "What man is a man who does not leave the world better?"
  
• You won't understand your greatest opportunity until AFTER you've SEIZED it or after you MISSED it.  So true - it is only in the rear-view mirror that we recognize life's moments.
  
  
• Joshua 5 = Asks Angel of the Lord, "Are you FOR us or AGAINST us?"  God's response: "Neither."  Why?  God is saying to us, "I have not come for YOUR story..."
  
• As a leader, I have been invited to play a role in God's story.  Sobering.  Whether you serve in full-time ministry or in a volunteer capacity, it is all a humbling privilege, not a powerful right.
  
• Joshua chose to be a man not IN authority,
  but a man UNDER authority.
  
• It's less about WHOSE SIDE you're on,
  more about WHO is on YOUR SIDE!
  
• "God takes full responsibility for the life wholly devoted to Him." - Charles Stanley  Yes.  This peels away all second-guessing of self.
  
• "If I win, I win.
   If I lose, I win.
   Because my responsibility is to be obedient to God
   and to trust Him with the consequences." - Charles Stanley
  
• OUR mark isn't worth our life.  Living to make MY mark is too small a thing worth giving my life to.  Surrendering and positioning under God to make HIS mark IS worth giving my life to.

Catalyst 2009: Malcolm Gladwell on Mistakes Experts Make

Full Disclaimer:  I love Malcolm Gladwell.  Love him.  His books have greatly influenced my thinking over the past 6 years.  I still reference his Catalyst 2005 notes often. 

Today's Case Study: The Mistakes that Experts Make or What the Financial Crisis taught us about Leadership.

• We overestimate the value of extra information.  Every study shows that accuracy does not improve; only confidence improves.
  
• Over-confidence leads to miscalibration by leaders - - thinking you know more than you actually know!  See: Iraq War planning.
  
• Over-confidence leads to assumptions leads to becoming TRAPPED by our OWN confidence!  See: Financial Experts, circa 2008.
  
• Over-confidence = ignoring reality.
  
• The lesson?  In times of crisis we believe we need daring and bold leadership. 
  No.
  We need HUMILITY.
  
• Humility = Ability to listen to others.
  
• At a certain church growth size, structure MUST change.

Catalyst 2009: Shane Hipps' Flickering Pixels

• You have to innovate your methods; the message stays the same.
  
• Flickering pixels repattern your neural pathways.
  
• Powerful difference between printed words (left brain) and images (right brain).  The info is processed differently.
  
• An essay invites argument (left brain) while an image creates an experience (right brain).
  
• A museum guards lifeless artifacts while a Gardener cultivates life.  A museum is motivated by FEAR while a Gardener is motivated by LOVE.

Catalyst 2009: Matt Chandler

Full Disclaimer: I went bowling with Matt Chandler last summer.  And he's a wicked good bowler.

That said, he's also a wicked good Bible teacher.  My takeaways:

• Proverbs 8 = Universe is designed so that everything (food, sex, drink, etc) rolls up in worship to the Creator.  The Fall destroys this.
  
• Genesis 12 = Unfettered hope!  This is happening now!
  
• 1 John 1 = Confession & Repentance are the regular, daily rhythms of the Christ-follower.
  
  
• "Every inch of hesitancy in obedience is an area you need to confess.  Confession and repentance always leads to deeper intimacy with God."