Catalyst 2012 (Andy Stanley)

I had an incredible opportunity to attend Catalyst Dallas in May of 2012 and it was an incredible event.  There will be several posts with my notes on the speakers who had the most impact on me personally.  Andy Stanley gave a talk called "It takes One to Know One."  He taught primarily out of Luke.

Luke 5:27-28, Luke 6:12-16  - Andy pointed out that Jesus selected his disciples.

1) Defining Terms:
     A. Apprenticing selecting, modeling, and coaching for the purpose of replacing yourself.
     B.  The NT calls this process discipleship.
2) Jesus' Approach:
     A. He began with succession in mind.
     B. He handpicked those to whom he would entrust his mission.  He didn't as for volunteers.
     C.  He rarely did ministry ALONE.
    D. He gave his disciples opportunities to do ministry alone while he was still around to debrief.
3) 'But' Removal
     A. "But I'm not an expert"
           1) You will never feel like you are adequately prepared to apprentice another leader.
           2) You are not responsible for :  knowing everything, or knowing more than anyone
           3) You are responsible for passing along what you know to somebody else.
           4) Your responsibility is to empty your cup!
     B. "But what will I do?"
            1) In a healthy organization, if you replace yourself, you will always have a PLACE.
            2) In an unhealthy organization...GET OUT.
4) Two Outcomes:
     A. You become multi-site leader.
     B. You become a multi-generational leader
5) Application
     A.  Hire for the future.
     B.  Don't Work alone.
     REPLACE YOURSELF.

In general, Andy was teaching about succession.  Many churches with Baby Boomer generation leaders are not in a process where they are training the next generation and as a result, in a few years, after they retire, we will have leadership problems.  If leaders in Christianity didn't believe this, why would there be such a push for leadership training?  I think Andy is right, but the push-back as usual, is sin, this one in particular, the sin of PRIDE.

A kingdom minded pastor willing to swallow his pride and train a young leader to take his place one day. There are plenty of us willing to be trained!

Modern Poor

Recently I was at a conference, and like many conferences, in order to make the participants feel like they get their moneys worth, they give you ton's of 'free stuff.'   Don't get me wrong, I like the 'free stuff' and I like the conference, but lets just cut the junk and call it what it is, "my conference price is paying for a bunch of magazines, along with keynotes and bands."  But anyway, thats not what this is about, this is about an article in one such free magazine.  This article was detailing statistics about the modern poor in America, and if you look above, the graphic is staggering.  99.6% of America's poor have a refrigerator that they can keep food in!  This indicates America's poor are all eating well enough to keep food from the day before!  63.7% are well entertained, because they have a satellite dish to watch quality HD television.  Combined between the iPhone and the iMac, 92.7% own an apple product, which is by far the most expensive item a person can purchase in the electronic world.  No slight on Apple intended.
Here is the issue.  We cry out about needed to redistribute wealth to the poor, but there aren't poor people in our country anymore.  I don't have an iMac or an iPhone and i'm not considered poor by the standards of this article!!  What the bottom line?  Some sort of financial training should be required before we start giving out money.  These stats simply indicate that our 'poor' will always be poor because they don't know how to save up and build wealth!  Why would they, they don't have to do much to get more than I have!

Now don't hear what I'm not saying.  While I believe there are plenty of people capitalizing and profiteering off of generous Americans, I know there are those who need our help as Christians and/or generous people.  I'm not opposed to giving a hand up, just frustrated with what people are doing with their handouts.  It has not always been this way, the 'poor' used to be 'poor' and it was a noble thing to offer assistance.  Now, you have to wonder, what device will this person be purchasing that I don't even own yet!

Fellowship One (the software conference)

     Recently I had a chance to go to the Fellowship One conference, at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas.  Before going, I asked myself the question 'why would I want to go to a software conference?'  However, soon after learning what the software was capable of, I began to see great value.  While I'm still not a Fellowship One 'evangelist' per-say, it has worked for CrossRoads and I believe it can be a great ministry tool.
     Interestingly enough, at this conference, it was more than just software, there were theory tracks which covered the 'why' behind the 'how to' of the more practical classes.  Its the summary of these classes that is  contained below.
     Eric Soon was the communicator of this information and began by outlining the Systems Trinity.  People, Process and Technology.  Process is where software system comes in, but it is what you use to make your systems efficient.  The goal is to be centered in the 'systems trinity' with a solid balance on the value of people, process and technology in your organization.  Eric reminded us of a great story about meatloaf.  A new wife was making meatloaf and cut off the ends of the loaf and threw it away.  The husband thought it was a waste, so he challenged her thinking.  Other than that was the way she as taught, she didn't have answer, so she asked her mother, who also didn't have an answer, other than thats the way she was taught.  They together went to the next generation above them, the mothers mother and asked her why they cut the ends of the meatloaf off, and Grandma informed them it was because it didn't fit in the oven otherwise.  All these there, mother and daughter were following a process simply because it had always been done that way.  This is the danger in process and why it must be revisited and reviewed.
     Eric then proceeded to dive into the 'process of processes' which is a never ending cycle.  It begins with 'define' -> 'document' -> 'communicate' -> 'implement' -> 'evaluate' -> repeat!
You always want to get more out of a process then you put in.  Further, it is important to begin with the end in mind.   Finally, Eric wrapped up with some observations that are quite valuable:

• Change is a process NOT and EVENT.
• The goal is not to innovate the MOST (goal is efficiency).
• Its not enough to have the best ideas (must have implementation)
• You need to redefine the resistance.
• Re-culturing is the main subject of change.
• Relate, represent, and reframe.  Work the relationship you have and cultivate new ones!

Preaching Rocket Wisdom

A few weeks back I had the opportunity to tune into a 1 day web-inar that was really the kick off for The Preaching Rocket (www.preachingrocket.com).  It was a great opportunity to gather nuggets of preaching preparation wisdom from several of the nations top church communicators.  Below are some of the nuggets I picked up on that I will be applying to the next message I prepare this weekend!

Perry Noble: (Pastor at NewSpring Church)

     "If you want to communicate for change, you need to have ONE main point....most of my content ideas for my sermons come from my quiet times....it is important to utilize other peoples creativity in message preparation in order to ensure the most creative gospel presentation that can happen..."

Jud Wilhite:  (Pastor at Central Christian Church)

     Three phases of a message communication:
     1) Grab the attention of the audience.
     2) Establish the problem that the audience needs to know about
     3) Address the issue with scripture

Jud doesn't see any problems with using life stories in your message.  In fact, he encourages it, "no life related stories are ineffective..."  Preaching is simply truth through personality.  The key is honest communication, and a solid understanding of truth.  Its not a revolving target.

Andy Stanley:  (Pastor at North Point)

     Andy grabs the attention of the audience by generating a creative tension in the first few minutes, and he believes in order to get better, you MUST watch and critique yourself.  He uses the following message structure:

Me - This is what I think is going on, and the tension that I bring to the table.
We - This is how it relates to you, and how you are involved
God - This is what God has to say about the issue.
You - What are you doing to do with this new information, its a personal decision point
We - What are we going to do with this information as a body?

Jeff Foxworthy

Jeff believes that integrating humor into sermons is very important.  He believes you should always trim from jokes, and never add to them.  This will leave them always wanting more. Start you joke with the end in mind, where do you want to take them.  And remember, making an impact is a good thing, making an impression is a great thing.

Leadership Essentials

     Recently in staff meeting at CrossRoads, Lead Pastor Griff put in front of us some teaching from Andy Stanley, a pastor out of Atlanta.  He was teaching on creating and maintaining a culture of trust in your organization, as well as the importance of that culture.  The reality is, in our world, so many fellow employees are always at each others throats, arguing and fighting about things that are usually insignificant.  Worse such, church staff members who are attempting to complete an ultimate purpose are completely unaware how to work together in a manor worthy of their purpose.

     Andy makes a few suggestions.  Employees need to take up two positions 1) I'm going to trust you. 2) I'm going to be trustworthy.  Its simple, basic Christianity.  As employee's we must choose to fill the gap between what we currently know about a person, and what we are discovering with trust.   Unity is a must to create this positive culture and extinguish suspicion.  These are the highlights of Andy's talk:

• Being trustworthy does not mean being flawless.
• We must committed to do what we say were going to do, and if something changes, commit to be the one to notify of it.
• Harboring suspicion and mistrust will eventually poison the culture of your organization.
• People know who you have a hard time trusting based on your attitude. This is impossible to hide.