echoes of redemption | steven dilla

I did a post a while back where I said, Anything I do alone in ministry is a failure. If you hang around me long, you know I am fasinated by the power of a team.

There is something amazing about connecting with people in such a way that we accomplish something together we never could have accomplished alone.

One of my goals as a leader is to stay ahead of my team. If I can pave the way for where they are headed - for what is next - then I feel like I have succeeded in serving them. The tuff part is, the more talented the team, the more work it is to stay ahead of them. Here’s what I’ve found that helps:

• I must have alone time to refuel/recharge/refocus before I can lead effectively. This alone time is less about leadership of the team (quote above…) and more about self leadership in preparation for leading the team.
• I have to cast the vision to individuals before I cast it to the group - this allows me to see their reaction, learn their concerns and shape the way I cast to the group. (It also means there is always someone for which staff meeting is a rerun of a conversation we had the other day.)
  
• I will often get the vision for what is next and  work with one or two people on the team to pave the way for the rest of the team. Getting ahead is not easy, but if I work with the most gifted people in the room, it is significantly more simple.

Anything I do alone in ministry is a failure.

As a leader, a pastor - someone God has given the task of caring for His Church - if I’m doing ministry alone, I’m failing.

Ministry is all about mobilization. 

It is about raising up other pastors and training them to lead people. It is about empowering people to do things they would never have dreamed of doing. It is about brining the Body of Christ together to accomplish something no one person could accomplish apart from the Body of Christ.

But so many times I find myself doing ministry alone. Raising no one up. Accomplishing small things because there is no team to accomplish great things.

On a side note, Solo-ministry is a big reason why it is so difficult for me, and so many other pastors, to take a day off. God has called me to lead the teams He has placed me over - and He’s called me to take rest in Him. So it’s simple:

If I’m doing what God has asked and it’s taking more time than God has asked, I haven’t surrounded myself with the people God would want.

(Thanks to Anne Jackson and this post for stirring that last thought.)

I have trouble balancing routine and randomness in my life. I’m fairly convinced both are central to a healthy, creative life.

I need enough routine to spend time in Scripture every day. Enough routine to pray without ceasing. Enough routine to show my wife I love her. Enough routine to pour into the ministry God has entrusted with me. Enough routine to see dreams transform into realities.

Balance.

I also need enough randomness to experience God in fresh ways. Enough randomness to keep the conversation ardent. Enough randomness to pursue my wife fresh and vibrant ways. Enough randomness to serve other people and the ministry God has given them. Enough randomness to dream new dreams.

Balance.

Podcast: in the beginning: light

The central act of spiritual leadership is separating light from darkness.

Genesis 1:1-5, Revelation 21:22-26

I recently read a post that combined the names of the top five largest churches in America into one church name. The author was making the point that a few churches carry the most influence on younger, developing churches.

Let’s just use numbers as a way to measure impact for a second. A 2005 study in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion found that there were about 335,000 churches in America. Another study found roughly 40 churches in America have an attendance over 10,000 each week.

The congregants for these 40 largest churches represent about 700,000 of the roughly 56 million people who attend some type of church in the US throughout the year. So, here is the breakdown: the 40 largest churches in America,

• reach 0.00125% of Americans who attend church annually.
• represent 0.00012% of churches in America.

That said, a few observations:

• No church has the corner on the kingdom of God. The 40 largest churches in America (combined) are reaching only a small fraction of our world.
• If you try to copy a small part of the body and replicate it, you will miss the opportunity to become the part of the body God intended for you to be. When we look at these churches, we’re looking at 0.00012% of the body of Christ, in America, at this moment in time. So really, we’re looking at a more infinitesimal part that that. Trying to replicate these churches without vision in place is futile.
• Stop the church worship. Each year a list is released of these 40 largest churches - how crazy is that? Christian’s ranking Christians. As Ed Young pointed out on his blog, many of these churches are guess-timating, estimating, or padding their numbers anyway. It’s not about the numbers - it never has been.
• We can learn immensely from these large churches. (Photocopying and learning are different things.) Most of these large churches have systems and processes in place that get the administration and business end out of the way of ministry. They know how to make decisions, lead people, stay fresh, take care of themselves, expand their ministry and tons more. Not to learn from the wisdom and experience these churches have to offer would be foolish.
• Stop playing hate. I have been a pat of Fellowship Church for three months shy of a decade now. I have also attended Bible College, Seminary and visited many other churches throughout the country. There is a tremendous amount of tension toward large churches. Why? Because the ear wants the hand to be an ear.

It’s that simple. Large churches play a single part of the body during a single time in history. They area not inherently bad simply because of size. On the flip side, a small church isn’t inherently ineffective because of it’s size.

Each church, each pastor, each leader, is called to play one part. I don’t hold you accountable for your part, and neither do you hold me accountable for mine. It is the freedom of grace. We are saved to be free, to lead like we feel we have been called, and to minister to a lost and dyeing culture.

Learn from those who have gone before you, pray your heart out for vision and build the Kingdom in your city.

(for more information on the stats, click here)

I had all the intentions in the world of posting last week - and this weekend - but it’s been a wild ride of a week. To see what I’ve been up to you can check out my pics.

In a few minutes I’m headed out to meet with our volunteer build team. They are the men and women who create the FC Kids environment each year. We are blessed to have the team we have and it has been one of those experiences where you see that excellence breeds excellence.

Walt Disney caught on to this a while back and realized if he kept his parks clean (don’t sell gum anywhere on property, don’t allow smoking, keep the trash picked up) then his guests would help keep the park clean.

In my case, when a group of talented people come together for a project, the talent of the team is attractive to people who are more talented. They join the team and the next project is even greater.

This requires creating an environment where people have room to grow, experiment, fail and move forward together. If the culutre is rigid, the same people will end up doing the same things and get the same results. Creativity, flexibility and grace lead to growth, experimentation and forward motion.

I asked the simple question in staff meeting the other day - who are you following? Or, who is influencing you?

It was interesting, we went around the room and everyone had a list of people. Ministry leader. Parents. Marriages. Creative gurus. Pastors. There was no shortage. Some people had lists of two or three people from different periods in their life.

Chances are, we all have someone we’re following - someone influencing us.

But let me turn the tables.

Who is following you? Or, who are you influencing?

People are following. You are influencing. The question is, are you doing it strategically?

All too often leadership (vision based) turns into management (task based). We don’t strategically connect with people. We are leading them, but we aren’t trying to take them anywhere.

I’ve been working for a week or so to write down some names, pray over them and think about how I can strategically partner with them to see God’s vision for their life unfold.

Who are you influencing? Is it on purpose?