I liked these 7 questions over on Perry Noble’s blog today. He goes into lots more detail there, but here’s the list before you make the jump. Been thinking some about these in regards to our church, more specifically HSM:

• #1 – What do we need to stop doing?
• #2 – What bothers us about our church?
• #3 – What bothers us about our community?
• #4 – What bothers us about the world?
• #5 – How can we do things better?
• #6 – Who do we need to be talking to?
• #7 – What’s next?

JG

Enjoyed reading the sometimes painful blog 15 Signs a Church is in Trouble by Perry Noble this morning. Good stuff in here, hope it stings us a bit so we fight against it! Here are a couple of them before you head there for the rest:

#2 – When the church becomes content with merely receiving people that come rather than actually going out and finding them…in other words, they lose their passion for evangelism!

#9 – The church is reactive rather than proactive.

#10 – The people in the church lose sight of the next generation and refuse to fund ministry simply because they don’t understand “those young people.”

#11 – The goal of the church is to simply maintain the way things are…to NOT rock the boat and/or upset anyone…especially the big givers!

#15 – When the leaders/staff refuse to go the extra mile in leading and serving because of how “inconvenient” doing so would be.

JG

Loved reading Perry Noble’s post about serving in his youth ministry this morning (a senior pastor from SC) – he’s figured out one of the most amazing joys of youth ministry – when you serve students, you grow so much yourself. I feel it myself, I see it in my team – and small groups leaders tell it to me every week. Here’s a clip of his full post, head over there for the rest:

About three or four months ago I really felt the Lord impressing upon me that I really needed to spend more time investing in our teenagers here at NewSpring Church…which was weird for me because I feel that we have a pretty incredible youth ministry going on and the last thing they needed was me getting in the way.

So…I fought this urge for a while until it became so strong that I was just about to bust.

What came out of me praying through this was God leading me and Lucretia to spend this next school year pouring our lives into 12 or so students (juniors and seniors) that are currently involved in the youth ministry here at NewSpring.

I met with some of our youth staff here at the Anderson campus and asked them to prayerfully select this crew…and they put together a team of teens that have so much potential that it blows my mind.

And ‘Cretia and I are FULLY INVESTING in the lives of these young men and women.  I meet with them at least once a month for the purpose of seeing what Jesus is doing in their lives…and asnwering any questions that they have came up with in regards to Scripture, the church, leadership and life in general.

JG

Loved that Perry Noble addressed a really tough ministry question today on this blog. “What if I Have People on Staff That Don’t Like the Church?”. Here’s an excerpt of his answer that might be helpful to you in your ministry:

#2 – WHAT is going on in this staff members life? Pastors–remember, we are called to lead people–NOT DRIVE THEM!  And quite often hurting people hurt people.  One of the things I’ve discovered is that sometimes people say things they don’t mean when their lives are seemingly hitting rock bottom.  MAYBE it isn’t a church issue…MAYBE it’s a personal issue that is spilling over into this area in their lives.

#3 – WHY is the staff member feeling this way? The only way you can answer this question is through a conversation.  If a person claims they would not attend the church if not on staff then they have GOT to have a reason (or reasons) why.  SO…ask them!  Sometimes leaders will avoid this because they fear controversy…or maybe because they might hear what they don’t want to hear…but…if we truly value the contribution the staff member is making to the team then we should pay attention to their concern.

#4 – Is the staff member being divisive? If the answer is “yes” then the issue must be dealt with as quickly as possible.  I have often told church leaders, “satan is way more passionate about dividing your staff rather than your church!”  Staff unity MUST be protected…ALWAYS!  PLEASE note I did not say, “Staff Uniformity,” people can have different opinions…but Jesus said something about a Kingdom divided against itself will surely fall!!!

JG

It: How Churches and Leaders Can Get It and Keep It by Craig Groeschel is a fantastic book on leadership and the local church. We’ve all been to churches that have “it” and visited some that clearly didn’t. From the first page of the book to the last I was nodding my head in agreement with LifeChurch.tv’s pastor as he journeyed me through what a church must be and it’s leaders have to become.

He boils down the modern church with all of it’s trappings to come up with a description of what a healthy “it” church looks like. He focuses on walking with God, failures, teamwork and other classic leadership teachings. He profiles maybe a half dozen churches (Granger, NewSpring, etc) that have “it” right now and warned everyone that “it” comes from God and isn’t because of personality or performance. Groeschel borrows from tons of other leadership books and teachings but frames it in such a way that you can intuitively see whether a church gets “it” collectively or not. The best part of the book aren’t specific principles, but in the way Craig details how they do and don’t do those things. Brilliant transparency about the good, the bad and the ugly.

Here’s the challenging part – as you read the book, you’ll throw what he says up against your church. You’ll question whether your church has “it” or not. And I think that’s the point – he is giving a friendly reminder to all churches and church leaders, like yourself, to strive for what God intended the church to be, not what it has become.

Next year, I want you on the “it” list. A

JG

I think it is uncanny how Perry Noble clearly identifies the 4 types of staff people. Here’s a clip, very much worth the read over at his place:

#2 – The “Can Do” Staff Member
The one thing that has to be addressed on a staff is competency level. Because, while you may have someone who loves what they do…they just might not be able to do it. (And…in my opinion, the church should hold a higher standard here than the business community; after all, there is a lot more at stake.)
Can the person doing the job do the job? OR…has their skill set and ability been maxed out? It’s a tough call…but one that must be made in order to protect the church and the staff member.
AND…let me say that the first option should always be to move the staff member to another job…because if they are a “Love To Do” staff member then they will thrive!

#3 – The “Should Do” Staff Member
This is the person on staff that gets to the office 3 minutes late and leaves 5 minutes early. They are gone a really long time for lunch…but no one ever really knows why. They spend a lot of time on their facebook pages (that are completely not ministry related) and often talk to their friends and waste time.
Sure, they get their job done–barely…but their hearts are not into it. They do what they “should do,” nothing more, nothing less!
AND they have to go! You can’t afford this kind of dead weight in your church! God’s kingdom is WAY too important to keep these kind of people around. They are not doing what they are doing because of passion but rather a paycheck. NOT GOOD!

JG

Very excited about this – MoreThanDodgeball.com made it on AllTop! They just opened up a church channel this past week and I’m (undeservedly) right next to Perry Noble. Oh man! If you don’t AllTop, you’re missing out.

JG

Just read over Perry Noble’s thoughts on the first two sessions here at the PD Summit. Here’s a clip, great stuff happening over there:

The church that doesn’t want to grow is saying to the world, “You go to hell…we’re doctrinally correct…you go to hell.”

Every church caters to somebody.  If you don’t believe me–change your music style next week.  A church either caters to selfish church people are either those who don’t know Christ.

It takes UNSELFISH people go grow a church.

“I don’t care if you love to preach…do you love the people you preach to?”

I am unafraid to tell people the truth because I love them.

Sixth, if you want to make it in ministry–make time for daily renewal.  Divert daily–withdraw weekly and abandon annually.

Do things on a daily basis that de-stress you.  If you are going to de-stress…don’t do something competitive.

“Are you taking a day off every week?”  (Dead silence!!!)  God made the Sabbath for our benefit.  If you are not taking a day off you are breaking one of the ten commandments.  Do NOT call it your day off…call it your Sabbath!!!

JG

There are going to be some amazing people here this week dropping in for the Purpose Driven Network Summit. Some I’ve always wanted to hear … Perry Noble, Mark Driscoll, Mark Batterson, Mark Beeson, Bil Cornelius, Kerry Shook and lots more. Above is the list of the session speakers over the next 2.5 days. I’ll be actively blogging this week from the conference, along with blog notables Tony Morgan, Carlos and DJ. Are you here, too? Hit me up in the comments!

JG

Shoot … Perry Noble is brilliant. He has some super-high expectations of his team, and I love it. Here’s a clip of Five Things You Should Never Hear From A Staff Member, a recent post on his blog:

#4 – “Recognize Me!”
Beware of the staff member who is always telling you how much work they did, how many hours they put in and how tired they are.

HOLD ON…as a leader it is our job to make sure that staff members are not sacrificed on the alter of ministry. We should pay them well and make sure they have adequate time off. More often than not we have to FORCE people around here to take time off.

BUT…when someone is always demanding attention for the work they’ve done then you can be sure that either pride or insecurity is coming out…and neither are good!

#5 – “My ministry needs BLANK to…and if we don’t get it then…”
When a staff member begins to focus on his/her ministry more than the church as a whole…trust me, you have a HUGE problem.

A good staff member does have passion and vision for their particular area of ministry; however, they have an even greater passion for the church as a whole and will gladly lay aside their plans if it means that it is best for the church.

The church will either operate as a loosely organized group of sub ministries…OR ONE BODY with many parts…and if a staff member cannot be a part of the body then they most likely do not have a kingdom mindset.

JG