Core Values – The ideals and values we hold, that are non-negotiable, that serve as filters for all of efforts to accomplish our mission. (My working definition) 

The story of Jehu in 2 Kings 10 came in front of me recently, and reading it again, several things really struck me.

Jehu...found Jehonadab…coming to meet him. He greeted him and then asked, “Is your heart one with mine?

#1 Unity

We can’t accomplish the mission God has given us (Help People Find, Follow and Be-Like Jesus), if there is division in the ranks. Without unity, you will be thrown back two steps for every one you think you’ve made.

#2 Team

It is,” Jehonadab replied. Jehu said, “If it is, give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand, and Jehu pulled him up into the chariot with him.

There is always two parts to a team. We must be willing to take a hand of those we’re running with, and offer a hand as well.

A true team that are owning the mission and vision of your church will not play “turf wars.” If they do…You aren’t casting the vision well enough in the context of how each part is vital to accomplishing the whole.

#3 Passion

Then he said, “Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord!”

As a key leader, it’s vital you own the entire vision, and spread that ownership like a flame among others. We have to live it everyday!

Our passion is our fire, it may be larger on some days than others, but it must always be burning. You can have the greatest vision and the greatest team, but without passion the vision will die a quick death.

Are these values a part of what your church truly believes and practices? It doesn’t matter how you state them, but if these values aren’t practiced, your church will suffer harm from the inside out.

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Author Frank Viola has just released a new book called God’s Favorite Place on Earth that could literally change your relationship with God, help you defeat bitterness, free you from a guilty conscience, and help you overcome fear, doubt and discouragement once and for all.

This is a book that will jar you out of your “Christian rut” and give you new eyes for looking at EVERYTHING. It’s a quick, inspiring, and entertaining read.

In addition, if you get the book between May 1^st to May 7^th, you will also get 25 FREE GIFTS from 15 different authors including Leonard Sweet, Jeff Goins, Andrew Farley, Steve McVey, DeVern Fromke, Pete Briscoe, Frank Viola himself, and many others.

Over 47 Christian leaders have recommended the book including John Ortberg, Mary DeMuth, Jack Hayford, Tricia Goyer, Jon Acuff, Greg Boyd, Mark Batterson, Jenni Catron, Pete Wilson, Anne Marie Miller, and many others.

Pick it up and tell me what you think. 

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Sexy – generally attractive or interesting : appealing <a sexystock> Miriam Webster (M-W.com)

The Church has lost sight of a core command…be a “refection of Jesus.” That means when people see us, they should desire what we have, because they see an,  ”attractive, interesting and appealing” Jesus in us.

We are commanded to…”Go and make followers of all people.” Well, how do you “make” a follower of Jesus, when you don’t look like Jesus…you can’t! Those outside the Kingdom should desire and be drawn to the spiritual relationship we have with Jesus, in other words…

we should be…Spiritually Sexy

How “Spiritually Sexy” or spiritually appealing are you to those who don’t know Jesus. These questions may help you measure it…

#1 Do people genuinely like to be with you?

Come on, you know the answer to that! You may not want to admit it, but many “Christ followers” aren’t really following Jesus, and so no one is following them. When we genuinely reflect Jesus people will be attracted to us, not our morality.

#2 Do those far away from God feel comfortable being around you?

We have to love and accept people unconditionally. Not approve of their choices or actions, but we must love and accept everyone without judgement. We love, and show them the real Jesus, and the Spirit will draw them.

#3 Do you feel a freedom to hang out with those who don’t believe as you do?

If you don’t feel comfortable just hanging out with lost folk, then you’re probably religiously repulsive. You think others should live and believe as you do, even if they don’t know Jesus. That’s ludicrous!

#4 Can you ask questions about life and not feel compeled to tell them the “Truth?”

We need to earn the right in the life of a person to share real biblical truth with them. If we don’t earn that right before we share it, it will be like the seed that feel on the path and was trampled under foot. Give the Spirit time to till the hard ground before you start sowing.

#5 How many friends outside the Kingdom do you have?

This is really the litmus test. People need time to see the real Jesus come through you, but they can’t with a quick church invitation in the drive thru. Take the time and invest in real relationship.

Well…Are you “Spiritually Sexy?”

PS – If you are offended by me using the phrase “Spiritually Sexy” then you are not. Probably the only person that likes to be with you is you. (But I love you anyway, I just don’t want to be around you)

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When I’m looking for a parking place…I drive to the front to the closest possible spot, why…not many do! They can’t imagine there is a great one just waiting for them.

Not many pastors “drive to the front.” I mean not many have a great faith, an expectant faith that says, “I know God is in this, I know this is what God has authored, so I expect to move and find that God has gone before me.”

I know I have many times been to tired, too discouraged or allowed the low expectation of others dampen my faith, and I haven’t pushed in and forward in the assurance that when God speaks, the supernatural occurs.

Just a quick thought…Expect God to show you a supernatural work to assure you that He is going ahead of you. But, if you don’t expect it, if you don’t “drive to the front” in expectation, you wont see it!

Don’t just take the first easy spot you find, no! Go for it, drive pass the passive that took the normal, the easy place.

You… Drive to the Front!

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When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, one of the first things he did was slash the number of products Apple produced from almost 400 to just 10!

He understood one entity can’t do that many things well, and its been said that an organization is only as strong as its weakest product.

In churches, we have so much more at stake than a bottom line.

I have certainly seen where that holds true in the church world. Too often as leaders we feel that the more things we offer, the more likely we are to catch something using such a wide variety of bait…Not so! We really need to be honest with ourselves and ask the hard questions about the real Kingdom fruit we’re seeing from any activity that has our name on it, and requires resources.

The truth is, there is no possible way for any leader or church to put enough resources in many things and make those many things effective and excellent. Find what works. Find those 3 or 4 things that fit your culture, community, and context and do them… BETTER.

Pour yourself and your church’s resources and effort into those few things that you hear God telling you to do. The results won’t be having the world’s richest company, but you’re sure to begin to see kingdom impact all around you!

Have you found this principle to work too?

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We all fail, but I beilieve go BIG or go home. Well…When it comes to Twitter, it seems I fall on the fail side alot more than I do on the win side. Here are 3 times I’ve made some big epic fails on my twitter account.

#1  Not reviewing scheduled posts

This happened shortly after the bombing in Boston…

“Sometimes you have to blow things up in order to see clearly”

Can you imagine reading that!!! Someone @ replied me and said…”You need to hire a publicist to do your tweets…”  I scheduled the tweet several days before and forgot about it. In normal context that Tweet was fine and generic, but after a homeland bombing…Epic fail.

#2 Staying quiet to long

There was a period of about a year where I was…emotionally down, burned out with no energy for anything. I certainly had no energy to tweet or try to share life with anyone. What happened? It seemed like I just didn’t care anymore… like the connections I had on twitter weren’t worth anything to me…Epic fail.

#3 Talking too much

God gave us 2 ears and one mouth. I have forgotten that in life and on twitter. If I’m too busy talking, I can’t hear. If I’m always trying to ‘teach,’ I don’t sit back and learn. I can’t talk too much. I don’t want to dominate my followers’ timeline and I certainly don’t want to sound like I have it all figured out…Epic fail.

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I have been doing some form of pastoring for almost 30-years, and I have certainly been a sucky pastor on many occasions…so I hope you can learn from my failures and use them too…

#1 I was a sucky  pastor when I…Allowed myself to get burned out

I forgot a very simple fact. If you don’t take care of yourself, you will not be able to care for others! A burned out leader is a dangerous leader, please care for yourself emotionally and make sure to do whatever it takes to fill yourself up on a regular basis.

#2 I was a sucky pastor when I…Put church growth ahead of my wife’s well-being

Keeping the accelerator wide open while your wife has to support and love you…at the same time she has to care for  kids, parents, and other church people… it’s not so honoring to her. If she goes down, you will go down! Care for YOUR bride first, and then care for Jesus’ bride.

#3 I was a sucky pastor when I…Ignored the passions of those I lead

I have rolled over those on our team for the sake of the “vision.” Little did I know that in doing that, I greatly delayed and harmed the vision. We can’t do anything of great value by ourselves, and allowing those with us to lead and operate in their passion will bring the vision closer and faster than you ever imagined.

#4 I was a sucky pastor when I…Forgot the importance of the kids ministry

I don’t know how to talk to kids. Honestly, I love mine (all grown now) but I don’t know how to really interact with kids, it’s just not my thing. When my kids were young it was easy to put the proper energy and resources toward that ministry, but once they moved…so did I.

I forgot, “the church that wins the kids, wins the city.” Don’t ever forget that.

#5 I was a sucky pastor when I…Tried to do what worked somewhere else

Trying to stay relevant and on the cutting edge by using someone else’s ”how” is exhausting. Constantly trying something new from someone else just doesn’t work. You have to pay the price on your face before God to know what is really next.

#6 I was a sucky pastor when I…Didn’t remember what was important to those on the team

Stay involved in the life of those on your team. If you forget what’s going on with them, their families and struggles, your team will only be loyal to the paycheck.

#7 I was a sucky pastor when I…Minimized the real pain of others

While running hard for Kingdom, I would forget or not consider the pain of those in the church. Saying to myself, “it’s OK, they will understand, I’m doing great things for God over here.” No they want! And really they shouldn’t, we are in the people business, and it’s easy to keep trying to catch new fish and let the ones we have already caught, starve in the net.

What did you do that really showed your own “suckiness” as a pastor?

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“We have a leadership deficit.”

Words many of us have spoken, and all of us have heard from others. We know how vital it is for every church to have and fill a solid leadership pipeline. But for many, some of the steps involved in that process seem overwhelming, and many don’t know where to start.

I’m a small town simple-minded pastor that has  difficulty with complicated processes. So here is a simple pattern I’ve learned to get new potential leaders on your radar and start a process to  move them through.

#1 Find Them

You will never see what you aren’t actively looking for. I’m guilty of this all the time! I can get so busy with “stuff” I can’t see. If you need leaders, don’t look for them to come to you, you have to go to them, but you first have to find them…So look for them, pray for them, seek them and you find them.

Write down a three step plan for finding them.

#2 Feed Them

Once you’ve found these great gems, you have to feed them. Feed them things like… The Vision, Passion and Direction of the church. Feed them leadership principles that you’ve found valuable, and would consider essential to leading beside you.

Write out the three main essentials you plan to feed those you find.

#3 Free Them

Once they are on board with the direction of the church, don’t hold them under your thumb. Have a plan in place for them to expand and grow in responsibilities with the freedom to fail.

Don’t hoard them just for yourself. If you don’t have space for them, release them to go and grow somewhere else, but don’t leave them, it’s so vital that you help them make it to the next place of growth.

Write down the three steps you will take to help your leaders find their next place.

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Being a leader is tough on any scale, but trying to lead with un-truths bouncing around in your head makes it almost impossible to see success. So let’s bust up a few myths right off the bat…

1) It’s lonely being a Leader

Yes, it can be lonely at times, however most times that is by choice. There are far to many networks and groups to be a part of that know the pain and understand the  challenges of leading a church.

Don’t isolate…initiate

Don’t wait for someone to find you, find other piers and leaders that will circle with you and speak life into you as you fight the good fight.

2) The hardest one to lead, is the one that just doesn’t get it

It’s easy to throw rocks at people that just don’t “get it.” But honestly, the hardest person to lead is yourself.

Don’t make them bleed…lead.

3) I have a deficit of good leaders

You don’t have too few leaders, you have neglected to raise-up, equip and empower new ones. Most of the time your greatest leaders are going to be the one’s you personally invest in, and they begin to live and breathe the vision, passion and direction of the church.

Don’t Stress…Invest

4) It’s all on me

The buck stops with you, but it’s not all ‘on’ you. God will put people around you to take some of the burden. Sure, it can feel weighty at times, but it’s not on you. Church leader: remember, it’s God’s church, not yours.

Feel the weight…Not the pressure

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Any church that doesn’t change in response to the change in culture, community or context will eventually cease to exist. Any church that wants to stay around and keep their doors open will make constant and subtle changes along the way.

How should that change take place?

#1 In response to a new “God-Vision.”

God cares about those perishing in your community far more that you and your church. So, God is all-in for the changes necessary to see as many as possible come to Him. He will give a fresh vision to accomplish that, to the heart of a humble and passionate leader.

#2 A little at a time.

Imagine you are the captain of an aircraft carrier. All of the men on the carrier are standing on the edge at attention. Something happens and you have to change course. How would you change your course? You’d do it very slightly. You’d do it a little at a time. If you took the wheel and jerked it to the right or the left, everyone of your men would fall overboard. They’d be unable to keep their balance.

As a leader, we have to make small, incremental changes. We’re in tune to the “God-Vision” and are constantly making slight adjustments. The people “on board” feel the lean and make a slight correction. They know something is changing and have to correct for it… but they DON’T fall overboard. Make constant changes.

As you seek God, move a little to the left or a little to the right. Let people know something is changing, but don’t get to a spot where you have to jerk the wheel… people WILL fall overboard.

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