Session One: Navigating Culture.
Andy Stanley
Foundation: We believe Jesus gave us everything we need to navigate culture.
Mission: Create churches that unchurched people love to attend.
Walk toward the messes.
INTRODUCTION:
Our approach to cultural engagement is informed by:
Something Jesus said.
Something said about Jesus.
Something Jesus said without saying it
Something Jesus didn't say.
1) Something said about Jesus:
A. Truth
B. Grace
C. The grace/truth tension requires that we present the ideal while embracing what's real.
IDEAL: Sex is for married people.
REAL: Aint nobody doing that.
These won't ever match up.
2) Something Jesus said without saying it:
A. Distinguishing between theology and ministry liberates ministry without compromising theology.
B. Theology is what we believe. Ministry is what we do for others as a result of what we believe.
The law of God is not more important than the people to whom it was given.
The Bible is not more important than the people to whom it was given.
Pharisees: Those people are breaking the law! (Preserve the law)
Jesus: Those people are breaking themselves against the law. (Preserve the people)
IF WHAT YOU BELIEVE LIMITS WHO YOU TO MINISTER TO YOU NEED TO CHANGE WHAT YOU BELIEVE.
C. Jesus' theology broadens rather than limited his scope of ministry.
D. When churches fail to distinguish between theology and ministry, ministry becomes rigid and idealistic.
3) Something Jesus didn't say:
A. Never make a point at the expense of making a difference.
B. Think twice before answering a question that has the potential to burn a bridge or close a door.
When people pressure you to take a stand, they normally want you to take their stand.
This why your groups model is so important...circles are better than rows. It allows people to follow up in one on one circumstances.
4) Something Jesus actually said:
Love your enemies.
Matthew 5:43-48
A. What groups traditionally push back against the local church?
B. What groups are pushing back against your local church?
Those who feel condemned...Sunday AM Sport ppl, drinkers, atheist groups, other churches, music/drum haters..etc. (City Govt. local charity, communities, neighborhoods)
C. Illustrations: Gwinnett Church
D.Objection: But didn't Jesus say we should be concerned about people speaking well of us?
5) Next Steps for your Church
Clarify the win organizationally and departmentally.
Take a fresh look at current policies.
Resist the temptation to create new policies.
Think twice about using weekend services to address complicated or divisive cultural issues.
Teach your leaders to distinguish between ministry and theology.
Brainstorm ways to love your actual and potential enemies.
Matthew 10:16 - to navigate culture we need to be shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves.
Session Two:
Andy Stanley
We need to be the last generation of Church leaders that have kids growing up with same sex attraction has to leave the church.
NPCC Rule: No e-mail or social media interaction about the topic on homosexuality. It all requires an in person conversation.
Results of Gay Meeting Andy had with 13 people:
We don't want to go to churches that affirm gay lifestyle, we want to learn the scripture.
We are worried about the other shoe dropping
Circles are better than ROWS. (Gay Mens Small group)
Survey Question to 25 Gay Attenders: What do you wish your church or school would have said to you when you were in middle school?
Response - tell the young men, they are still a man
THEME: The church should be the safest place in the world for students to talk about anything, including same sex attraction.
Tenets of a Group Presentation to Small Group Leaders at NP on Gay Subject:
There is not and never will be theological consensus on this topic. (Not really consensus on any topic, except that Jesus is God)
What is Gods will for a person who believes the Bible, placed their faith in Christ and has experienced same sex attraction?
Many people have changed their view once someone they loved experienced same sex attraction.
The Question:
1) Can we minister to gay individuals, couples and children without theological consensus?
Gay Christians are faced with 3 real options:
2) Can we minister to, involved and have community with gay individuals based on the theological gay that exists?
3) Are we condoning sin by allowing gay individuals to be a part of your church?
Andy would say no. We are creating a space to have the conversation.
Our approach is to create a safe place for a group of people to decide how best to follow Jesus while bearing a burden Jesus has chosen not to remove.
It is usually easier to figure out how to love, then it is to figure out what to believe.
One side will pressure us to abandon the ideal. One side is will pressure us to ignore whats real. We will do neither.
BREAKOUT SESSION 1: Managing the Tension in MultiSite
Introduction:
Are you considering a multi site strategy? Maybe you have a strategy, but the problems that have surfaced are causing you to rethink it. In this breakout, we'll share the tensions that have helped us construct, share, and evolve our multi site model.
1) What we are convinced of..
A. The local church should be irresistible in the local community.
B. Every new church should be better than the previous one.
C. Every previous church should be better because of the new one.
D. The local expression of the church is always better when we work together.
2) The Greatest Tension of Multisite:
A. Are we on our own, or are we with each other?
B. Who gets to actually make decisions?
C. The tension that multi site creates should not be resolved; the problems created by multi site should be.
D. Our desire is to create and develop healthy churches that are independently aligned.
3) What we have done to solve the problems multisite creates...
A. Communicate consistently and predictably.
B. Collaborate whenever possible.
Collaborate even when there is no consensus.
Consistently cast the vision that collaboration always makes us better.
Create collaboration around ideas and decisions without the expectation of execution.
C. Clarify to create alignment.
Who can we expect to do that?
Who gets to make this decision?
Who is responsible for this?
4) Resist the urge to be one-size-fits-all...
We are more centralized in some areas than others.
The more specific the audience, the more comfortable we are centralized systems, programming, and messaging.
The more diverse the audience, the greater the need to contextualize systems, programming, and messaging.
At certain times of year, there are broad initiatives where one voice matters.
When together, the impact is tangible.
When together, the influence is multiplied.
When together, the invitation is far reaching.
Conclusion:
The multisite model is here to stay. Creating unity and synergy by working together even when miles apart will never be easy. Learning to be comfortable with the tension created by the multisite model is possible. Within the tension, communicates, collaborate, and clarify in order to solve the problems the tensions create.
Breakout 2: The Best Team You've Ever Lead
Introduction:
Wouldn't we all want to lead the team everyone wants to join? In this breakout, we will introduce a new mindset and process for developing a high-capacity team that attracts the best people.
1) Start with Who
We have found that the most successful individuals for our culture and organization are:
Self-directed: they know exactly what they are supposed to do' they go for it every day with determination, confidence and full engagement.
High Capacity: when they have everything they need they are able to achieve great things.
Value-adds: When given the opportunity they are willing and able to contribute beyond what's expected.
Hire the right people
The right people have the right attitude and aptitude.
Right attitude: positive disposition; healthy mental and emotional outlook
Right aptitude: high innate or acquired capacity; quickness in learning they get it done; they will figure it out.
The Right process helps you hire the right people.
North Point Resources Current Practice: hiring process funnel
(Wonderlic Test)
Candidate Pool
Phone Screen
First Office Visit
Right Path Testing
Second Office Visit
Sunday Visit/Operational Tour
Final Interview Offer
Start them right
In Good to great, leadership guru Jim Collins concludes that great leaders begin transformation by first getting the right people on the bus then figuring out where to drive it -- FIRST WHO THEN WHAT.
With new employees, shift your focus from "warm and fuzzy" to equipping them.
Read Ken Blanchard's 3 Keys to Empowerment to learn more about developing employees over time.
2) Articulate the big picture clearly
Change causes confusion and uncertainty on the team. The antidote to confusion and uncertainty is clear communication.
Inspire people with why the team exists
Communicate why each person is on the team and what the team values.
North Point Resources Current Practice: new-staff discussions
Tell people why are they on the team and set them up for success.
Tell them why the team exists
Pinpoint roles by setting and resetting who is doing what.
NPR Current Practices: one-sentence job descriptions and current number one priority.
3) Develop Systems for effective day to day management.
Systems are the 'way we do things'
Implement a system to freely share information with everyone on the team.
Meeting are parts of the system. For better or worse, your meetings share your workplace culture. All meetings should reinforce team values, behaviors, beliefs, and vision.
Is your system of meetings creating desired outcomes?
NPR Current practice: staff meetings, one-on-one meetings, and prayer meetings.
Share clear, time-bound objectives and wins with the team
4) Get Honest Feedback
Ask insightful questions, follow up questions and what we should do. Am I getting the last 10 percent?
Expose and address dysfunction.
Squash 'Power-Tower'; eliminating energy-sapping, negative politics.
Avoid bloody unwinnable battles.
NPR Current Practice: Employment Engagement Survey
Conclusion:
Cultivating a great team requires intentional effort over time. What new practices will you begin with your team?
Session Three: How to lead when you are not in charge.
1) Lead Me.
No one can lead you better than you are leading yourself.
When I wait to be led, I reduce my influence and lose my opportunity to lead.
Leading myself requires:
There are intangible benefits beyond being led well.
You will become the easiest to lead
You will become the most desired to be led
You will become the quickest to lead next.
2) Choose Positivity
The greatest benefit I bring to my team is not my talent, gifts, experiences, or education. Its my energy.
Positivity is a fight for we over me
When I am not part of the decision-making process, my default is to abdicate leadership.
More important than making the right decision is owning the decision and making it right.
In a complex, multitiered, multilevel organization, there is always a choice between these two perspectives.
3) Think Critically.
We want every leader at every level thinking about how we can make it better.
Critical thinking requires a switch from employee to owner.
By being fully present in relationships and environments, critical thinkers have a high with it factor.
Thinking critically is a skill. Being critical is a snare.
4) Reject Passivity.
At every level in our organization, there is information, experience and perspectives that affects our direction.
The lie is that when I'm in the leader's seat, I will have influence. Instead, influence needs to be cultivated wherever you are.
When I am only waiting for someone to hand me something, I have the potential to become someone who will not be handed anything.
Learn to reject passivity while under authority and you will become a leader worthy of authority.
Breakout 4: How to have difficult conversations
difficultconversationsbreakout@gmail.com
INTRO: There is a difference between being willing to have a hard conversation and having a hard conversation well.
1) An Unavoidable Reality
Genuine love is incomplete without difficult conversations.
Difficult conversations are a vital part of our personal growth process.
They are a kind of trial, and God uses trials to grow us.
We will never get better at it without doing it.
They are the responsibility and expectations of leadership.
2) Three Things to Do
Work hard to uncover the real issue.
At the heart of every difficult conversation is a reality that needs to be addressed.
Most issues are rooted in one of the 4 Cs (character, chemistry, culture, competence).
Calculate the influence of design differences.
All of us are combinations of wiring personality, experiences, values and more.
Our designs inform our perspectives, and all perspectives are incomplete and biased.
Reduces the noise to a minimum before the first conversation.
3) Four Keys to Effectiveness.
Healthy detachment is a good indicator of readiness.
Begin the conversation with genuine curiosity by asking discovery-based questions.
Find emotional common ground to help the other person see what you see.
Have realistic expectations for the first conversation.
4) Follow Up
Re-establish communication as quickly as possible.
Affirm that you are for the other person.
As what he/she heard.
Schedule a follow-up conversation right away.
Session Four: That's a Great Questions
Andy Stanley
Introduction:
Great leaders ask great questions
Great leaders surround themselves with people who ask great questions.
Great leaders understand that there is a difference between being asked a question a being questioned.
1) Great Questions:
Reveal Values
Reinforce Values
What happened this weekend? - showing the value Andy has on the weekend.
Numbers matter because people count.
Stories and Questions are the two best ways to reinforce organizational values.
Reinforce Behaviors
2) One of the most powerful, clarifying, and disturbing questions a leader can ask is:
What would a great leader do?
This question raises the standard of your leadership above the circumstances of your leadership.
Great leaders look beyond the immediate. (emotions strap us to the immediate)
Great leaders transcend the emotion of the moment.
Great leaders absorb; mediocre leaders defend.
This question unveils motives.
Corporate mission and vision will eventually conflict with personal ambition.
Leaders are good at camouflaging personal agendas with the languages of mission and vision.
The question creates instant clarity.
This question reveals weakness.
This question will inspire you to reach beyond the limits of personality and style.
Conclusion: What would a great leader do?
