Seven Practices of Effective Ministry

Last year I was privileged to get my hands on an awesome book that summarizes a lot of what I learned in my Organizational Leadership studies: 7 Practices of Effective Ministry.

It takes some fairly complex concepts and puts them in ways that are easy to understand, communicate, and apply. This is something that we were working through in Breckenridge when I left and something that we have started working through with our leadership team at Bethel Minneapolis!
Here's a quick summary. I highly recommend this book to you if you are in leadership.

Practice #1 – Clarify the Win: Define what is important at every level of the organization.

• As long as the win in unclear, you force your team to guess at what a win looks like.
• If the win is unclear, you may force those in leadership roles to define winning in their own terms.
• When you clarify the win on every level you help your team stay on the same page.
• When you clarify the win you can manage your resources effectively.

Practice #2 – Think Steps, not Programs: Before you start anything, make sure it takes you where you need to go.

• Every step should be easy
• Every step has to be obvious
• Every step must be strategic

Practice #3 – Narrow the Focus: Do fewer things in order to make a greater impact.

• Churches feel constant pressure to provide programs on the basis of needs.
• Resist complexity and pursue simplicity.
• Choose what potentially works best over what is presently working.
• The more you focus the environment, the greater the relevance, the better the connection, the higher the quality, and the stronger the impact.

Practice #4 – Teach Less for More: Say only what you need to say to the people who need to hear it.

• Decide what you are going to say
• Decide to say one thing at a time
• Decide how you are going to say it
• Say it over and over again

Practice #5 – Listen to Outsiders: Focus on who you’re trying to reach, not who you’re trying to keep.
- (we really miss the boat the on this one sometimes)

Practice #6 – Replace Yourself: Learn to hand off what you do.

• Prepare someone to do what you do and strategically replace yourself.

Practice #7 – Work On It: Take time to evaluate your work, and to celebrate your wins.


I highly reccomend you read this book if you would like to know some of the details involved in this process. You may also find it helpful to go through this with your leadership team and apply this to every level of leadership.

Goals Update

At the beginning of the year I set some goals of what I felt God wanted me to do as a steward of what He has given me this year. I share them with you briefly. I hope to get better at dreaming God's dreams for the future and moving towards what God has.

- Read Through the Bible chronologically in the English Standard Version in a year.

• This is going great, especially now that I switched to an RSS feed.

Get Back in Shape

• I've lost 20 pounds so far this year and am hoping to lose 8 more by the end of the year.

Finish Graduate School

• I was blessed to complete a Master's degree in Organizational Leadership AND Practical Ministry. By starting at Regent University and completing at Beacon University I was able to get a dual emphasis in practical ministry (specifically small groups and other ministry things) as well as Organizational Leadership.

Work on Book:

• I put a basic outline together last year. Unfortunately I haven't done any work on this in 2009. I do want to work on refining the outline and beginning to put content into the right spots.

Transition:

• Work on transitioning Valley Christian's worship and student ministries to continue strong after we leave. I was able to work with Dean and other staff members to setup some systems to keep things running smoothly and set the stage for MORE growth in those areas.
  

Work with a Church Plant that is an Intentional and Missional Community:

• Sarah and I dreamed of doing this for a while, but it was a "some day" dream and god has blessed us to begin leading a church plant with Bethel Christian Fellowship.
  
• The first thing I wanted to do was to work to clarify the "wins" and define our steps for implementing the vision and "win" in the ministry. And it's been awesome to begin this process.
  
• One of the things we really wanted to make a part of our church life was to do small groups as part of the service after the message on Sundays and then to also meet outside of the church to DO ministry.

Message Series Prayer and Planning:

• I have been working on praying and planning out the series of sermons for at least a year in advance; including concepts and images used in the messages. This is still a work in progress, but I am working towards it: I have sets of series plans, but need to work harder on filling in the message titles and contents farther ahead of time.
  

To Grow as an Effective Communicator:

• By working on how I prepare and deliver messages using more than just words.

Lead My Family:

• I decided a while back that I will not sacrifice my family on the altar of ministry! This is something that takes work and I have to move towards this intentionally (word of the week) by spending more time with my family by using the free evenings we have and by guarding my day off. I am a work in a progress, but I am looking for progress.
  

Reading:

• My goal is to read all of the books I own that I have not read yet...this has been a problem as I have continued to add books to my collection.
  

These are the goals I have been working towards this year and as the year ends I will be looking at what God wants for next year!

Bible in a Year

Earlier this year I made a list of goals for the year. One of those was to read through the Bible chronologically in the English Standard Version. I have grown to enjoy doing that each year, although there have been years that I have focused on specific parts of the Bible and just read them over and over. There was one year I just read and studied the Gospels over and over while another year I just read the New Testament several times. Although I don't know how many times I have read through the Bible I DO know that the chronological way has been the best way for me to get the most out of it. It really helps me to get the bigger picture of God's work throughout the Bible and throughout history.
If you've ever tried a Bible reading plan or a chronological reading you have probably had some difficulties keeping track of where you were, losing your reading guide, losing your place as you jumped around in the chronological piece. Or falling too far behind that you felt like giving up. Well don't be troubled because everyone that has ever set out to learn more about God has faced similar difficulties UNTIL NOW (cue the "ShamWow" music): I just found an AWESOME way to do my Bible reading the other day. www.BibleGateway.com has an awesome reading plan system that allows you to choose between 5 different plans. You can currently add your plan to your RSS reader and it will appear each day as your other blog posts do (they are currently working on an email system too). Here are several reasons that I have found most helpful:

• You don't have to carry around reading plans (I just read my Bible and Bible reading on my phone or laptop).
• You don't have to wonder whether or not you already read something.
• If you miss a day it will be there for you when you come back.
• When you're doing a chronological reading you don't have to jump all over the place and you can really feel the flow of the greater story.
• If you're a blog reader, it sets up a system for you where you will be reminded of reading every day...which when you think about it, it's kind of messed up that we would have time to read a blog and not God's story...

So, in making the switch between my chronological plan and BibleGateway's I missed some pieces of the Prophets, but the overall benefits of switching to something that helps me be more intentional (word of the week) far outweighs that.

Another really cool thing was you can choose from multiple versions. I'm finishing up the ESV this year, but next year I'm reading the Bible in The Message translation. Trying different translations has helped me continue to gain greater perspective as I grow, so I'm very excited about finishing this year in the ESV and doing next year in The Message!

Church Planting

I'm at a meeting today and tomorrow where many things have been discussed and will be discussed, but the one that I was eagerly anticipating was the discussion on church planting. A group of pastors in our region (MN, IA, and Western WI/MI) worked on an intentional plan for starting churches in our area by working together that I am VERY excited about and today it was presented to the other regions. The plan is called Apostello (sent forth) and you can access the full version of it here. Today we talked about what role we need to play in church planting; locally, regionally, and nationally as the Fellowship of Christian Assemblies. The conclusion was that church planting is something that is already happening in our fellowship but that we can definitely grow more in that area by being more intentional. I'm excited that we're having this discussion about church planting and here's why:

• I believe that we have to be intentional (my word of the week) about reaching people everywhere with the good news of Jesus Christ and one local church cannot do that.
• I believe that churches should plant churches that plant churches that plant churches...I don't just say that because I am now working with a church plant, but because I firmly believe that healthy things grow and reproduce. Sarah and I talked about working with a church planting team "some day" for many years. I even had a vision for church planting 9 years ago. For doing many of the things we're doing as part of Bethel Christian Fellowship. Neither Sarah or I were expecting "some day" to come this soon, but we are blessed to be part of Bethel and be leading such an awesome group of people!
  
• I believe that starting new churches creates opportunities for more people to get involved in ministering to other people.
  
• I believe that churches that start new churches unleash leaders to serve in capacities in the new church and also creates opportunities for other leaders to take their place where they were. Many leaders also emerge from other areas of ministry in successful church plants and more leaders are raised up because there was a place for their giftings to be used in making a difference in people's lives.
  

I'm not saying everything will be easy for any church that decides to plant a church (or for us for that matter), but I do believe that working together towards what God has for us is better than working alone. I am eagerly looking forward to what God has in store for us in Minneapolis and throughout the churches of the FCA!

way, Way...WAY More!

Sarah and I are very excited to be joining an awesome group that has launched out from Bethel Christian Fellowship in St. Paul to start a church in Minneapolis. We are currently commuting from Breckenridge on the weekends. The whole thing of launching out from this place of safety to start a church goes back to a clear impression I had of God calling us to step out of the boat, our place of safety, and take a step into the unknown where we would have to keep our eyes focused on Him. In the last several months leading up to this there have been several verses that God has used to strengthen and encourage me for the task ahead.

2 Peter 1:3 HIS divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

God's power has given us EVERYTHING we need to live for Him! Everything we need for the move. Everything we need to start a church. EVERYTHING we need for what He has called us to do!!!
One of the other passages is Ephesians 3:16-21 that says,

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do Immeasurably More than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to HIM be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

• Immeasurably More = exceeding abundantly above = way, Way...WAY More!

Our God is Powerful...He is Awesome! If you're facing something that seems like more than you can do in your own strength, remember that it is in our weakness that we see Him move in power! In Him we have EVERYTHING we need for life! We have been allowed to participate in God's divine Presence, Power and Purpose! We need to make sure we are tapping into His power that He has for us. I know I can get distracted easily, but these verses inspire me to pursue Him passionately!!!
He wants to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine IN and THROUGH our lives!

Last Day

Today was my last day at Valley Christian Church. I've been on staff here for over 6 years! Wow, time flies when you're having fun! It was a privilege to serve at this church and with these students! I will miss everyone very much...Don't hesitate to come visit us!
Tonight Stephen Bjorlin, who will be leading the Student and Worship Ministries for the summer, opened up the mic and let students share after I had said my final words of encouragement to the group. It was a great time, sad, but nice to go out this way then the other ways Stephen mentioned he has seen happen. I was also surprised to see that Stephen had taken some group shots from over the years and framed them for Sarah and I. Then they went beyone that and the students wrote notes on a poster for us as well. I even got an awesome cookie gift from Tiffany and her mom (the cross and the Bible one in the pic)! It was a good way to say goodbye. Stephen mentioned closure, but hopefully no one gets so much closure that they don't come help us load up the truck when we find a house! :-D

Mixed Feelings

There have been lots of changes in the last several weeks and with those changes come mixed emotions. We've announced that we are moving to Minneapolis to lead a church planting team sent out from one of our sister churches. There's sadness and then anticipation as I think about leaving here (sadness) and I think about moving to Minneapolis (anticipation). In the weeks since the announcement we've looked at houses and have found really good deals only to find out they had been sold and the system wasn't updated right away. So there's anticipation and then sadness.
Here's another one for you, this week we dropped off my favorite dog in the world (Mocha) with some friends of ours. They're checking her out for a week and if they like her they will get to keep her. They're a great family and I know they will take care of her and she'll even have a buddy named Moses to play with, but the mixed emotions come into play when I am sad that she won't be a part of our lives, yet I'm happy that she will have a good family to be a part of.
Wouldn't it be easier if things were just good or just bad? :-) I know that all of that is part of the the experience that we call life, but I thought I would share what's going on in my head at 12:50 in the morning: I have sadness as I begin the process of saying goodbye to what has been our life for the last 6 years, but I also look forward with anticipation to what God "has prepared for those who love Him!"

Greater Things

God has blessed me so much! I have a wonderful family, an amazingly awesome wife, and a beautiful miracle of a daughter. God has done exceedingly above all that I could have asked or imagined! I find myself randomly smiling throughout the day when I think of Abby. She really is the meaning of her name, "a father's joy" or another way to look at it "the joy of the Father." Even though I could not have imagined this stage of life a couple of years ago when we were going through losses...God was preparing us for Abby. There is a tremendous joy and appreciation in my heart for the privilege it is to have Abby in our lives because of everything that we went through. God was preparing us for what He had for us. Now I am filled with Joy and it makes me think of the fact that we cannot fully appreciate joy if we do not endure suffering.

The song and the phrase "Greater Things" has been stuck in my mind for the last several weeks. Here's where that's coming from: 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 and John 14:12-14. There are two things that have just stuck with me from those verses:

The first is that, and you can quote me on this one, "God will prepare you for what He has prepared for you."
The second, is that we have NO idea what God has prepared for those who LOVE Him! There's so much more in these two passages, but for now suffice it to say that I truly believe that God has GREATER THINGS for each of us than what we have experienced (in terms of relationship to Him, to others, and His overall plan for us) IF we LOVE Him.

I recognize that this is where we struggle...Loving Him. It's easy to get excited about the things that God has for us to do and His plan for our lives, but those greater things flow from a loving relationship and not from striving...from being and not from doing.

I am persuaded that God will do exceedingly above all that we can ask or imagine when we make it our goal to pursue Him! My desire is to seek His Face and not His Hand...His Presence, not His Power.

I want to share a song with you that has been in my heart since early October when I first heard it: