Leadership in the Making: "Vision"

Over the past few weeks, I have given much thought to the part the "vision leadership" plays in the role of Church leadership.

As I think back over years of leadership with people, I see many times where I led with vision only to see absolutely NOTHING happen. I remember casting vision for a group of students at Cline Avenue Baptist Church - - painting this grand picture of how things should be in our ministry to students. When they didn't respond, I abandoned ship.

Other times, I have seen the vision that God was leading us toward explode! On most recent years, I can plainly see how God's vision and direction communicated clearly and supported by an incredible team of volunteers has helped our student ministry grow from 50 to 150!

So, lest I forget the things that I told Nate yesterday, I want to write them down... btw- I am not saying that i have this figured out - or for that fact, that I always do this right... just trying to lead and learn at the same time.

VISION COMES FROM GOD.

Every vision that I have ever communicated that has actually done ANYTHING has been something that God did. There were times that I looked for it - - and times when it just happened. The common denominator in each instance was that it was obviously something that I could NOT have accomplished alone.

That being said, I don't want there to be confusion about my importance in all of this. Get this clear - there is NO UNIQUE VISION! Everything that God will lead an organization toward is something that He has already led an organization toward. The UNIQUENESS comes from understanding WHO you are and WHAT God is asking you to do next.

That leads me to my next point...

VISION IS BOTH SEASONAL AND PERMANENT!

Vision is about figuring out what God wants us to do next. What is the next step for the organization? What is the next big hurdle? What is the ONE THING that is keeping us from moving forward?

Get this - that vision is something that comes FROM God - - then it's communicated TO people - - then we work on it WITH people - - once we get some traction on that vision, we look for the next component of vision!

In one way, vision is seasonal - in another way, it is permanent. Once an organization gets some traction on that idea, it becomes a core value that makes up the DNA of that organization. Get this - the former idea doesn't get abandoned - it becomes a part of what makes your organization unique.

VISION IS MULTI-DIMENSIONAL

There are 2 parts to vision leadership. INFORMATION and MOTIVATION!

All of the information about how an organization should move forward wont move anyone - even if you have cool graphics, processes and flow charts.

Conversely, all of the hype in the world will only get people excited long enough to realize that you are an empty leader.

Vision is both informational and motivational - it's like love and marriage... "you can't have one without the other."

VISION IS DYNAMIC

Too often, I have tried to be the only one trying to accomplish a vision. If vision is going to be worth following, it MUST apply everywhere from the communicator down. For instance, "our preaching must be Scripture centered" is not a vision that is dynamic - - it only applies to the preacher.

Vision MUST be something that the people who you work with to accomplish this season of ministry can own and sell to the people THEY work with.

All that said, I have a lot of work to do.

Jeremy

How important is "funny?"

Tonight, I had the distinct privilege of hearing Myah (she's 3) first funny joke. She was sitting at the dinner table eating the Mac-n-cheese that I made (Sheila was at MOPS) when she said "Daddy, why did the cow cross the road? He wanted to go to the mooooovie theater."

Now, I know it doesn't have you rolling on the ground... and she certainly won't make the next blue collar tour with that material (although cow jokes might fit in... who knows), but for a dad that values funny... this was a big moment!

I don't know about anyone else, but I guess I think most anything should have some kind of funny moment... or at least an attempt.

I have said this to as many people as will listen to me for more years than I can remember... if there is not a comedian at my funeral someone is not listening to me! (btw - not a Christian comedian - I mean a funny comedian... he can be a christian and he can be clean... just no churchy jokes - theologial humor is neither theological, nor humorous)

Anyway... I often wonder how important is "funny" in the big picture. If I am honest, I came by my desire to make jokes and be an idiot out of necessity to survive Junior high... if they were laughing at me... they weren't laughing AT me.

5 reasons I think humor has a big place in our lives because...

1. it makes us realize that we aren't as big a deal as we think.
2. it takes like a million more muscles to frown than it does to smile (I will leave the exact number of muscles to the geeks... you guys probably don't even understand what I am talking about anyway... too busy flexing those frowning muscles and freaking out over my bad spelling, punctuation and capitalization)
3. it relieves stress
4. it reminds us that things will get better... and then get worse again... and so on
5. I am still happy that people sometimes laugh at me rather than AT me.

Jeremy

Leadership in the Making: "Allow others to lead or fail alone"

I have been keeping a leadership journal of sorts... nothing big... just a document that I write in as I learn lessons about leadership (I figure it will be pretty cool to look back on them 10 or 15 years from now). Anyway, as I learn them... I write them... from time to time, I will post one (when the lesson is not too embarrassing). Here is one that I called "Allow others to lead or fail alone"

When I got to the point where I was supported by talented leaders (not just led by them), it became very obvious that the only thing that was going to keep them from succeeding was my ego.

About 2 months ago, we hired Nate Bristol as the “Student Ministries Assistant Pastor” at New Hope. It became obvious within a couple of weeks that my biggest challenge working with Nate was not going to be getting him started on things – it was going to be slowing him down! While we were in Honduras, I told another of our leaders who was commenting on Nate’s ability, that my worst fear in hiring had come true… the only thing that stands between Nate and success at New Hope is my ego. I questioned then – and continue to do so – how long it will take me to develop the skill of releasing leadership to those around me rather than simply delegating tasks and treating the leaders around me beneath their ability and skill level.

I choose those words carefully – “how long will it take for me to develop the skill of releasing leadership.” I think that there are very few of us who spend years building anything (a business, a ministry, etc) and then willfully hand off the significant parts of leadership in that setting to the first guy that you hire (or who volunteers) without thinking that it would just be easier to do it myself.

This kind of delegation is a skill that I will need to intentionally develop – one that I am thankful other men in my life have chosen to develop. As I look back at the last 15 years in ministry, I am thankful for men like Mike Mihich, Bill Jetton, Mark Wilkins and George Kreger who have seen something in me that they felt confident in developing – confident enough to develop the skill of letting go of their “baby” and letting me cut my ministry teeth on their platforms or in their pulpit – risking not only their reputation, but all of the risk that you run when you let someone else step in.

This past Wednesday night, I failed at this. We knew it would be a big night. We booked American Idol finalist Chris Sligh and knew we would have around 200 students. To make a long story short – guess who took the stage to deliver and under-prepared talk? You guessed it… me. Why? Because “it would just be easier for me to do it myself.” After all, I would need less time to prepare… I already have a relationship with the students… and a half dozen other crappy excuses. In the end, I traded quality and effective leadership for ego – something that I hope to see happen less and less as I develop this skill.

Close friends!

My good friend Smokey is the youth pastor at FBC Biloxi. We have gotten to know him and his family very well since we worked in Biloxi after Hurricane Katrina. It's different knowing someone in the gulf... the news reports and weather updates are surreal!

Please pray for Smokey and his family. They have chosen to board up their house and hunker down for the storm.

It's been a while!

Ok... I know that there are only about 3 people reading this and I also know that you are all either related to me... or you are me... but, I want to be better at posting... it's not to be read... I just want to write more!



I am so stinking impressed with what God is doing right now! I don't get it! This Summer has just FLOWN by. It seems like yesterday that the kids were getting out of school and youth group was finishing up for the season. There was so much in front of me... hire an additional student ministry person to accommodate the new job role at New Hope... work alongside of George (our Lead Pastor) to transition our leadership team while we wait for the third part of the SLT (Dave Nicholls, our "XP") to get on site full time... plan and execute our mission experience trip to Honduras with 28 students and 6 adults... preach a good chunk of the summer... not to mention see my kids enjoy the beautiful Summer weather and spend a week on vacation with my incredible wife and kids... ... and get back just in time to kick off "the Edge" for the fall...



It's hard to believe that students (with the exception of Stryker) are back in school now and we have already started Wednesday nights back up! Each of the past 6 years, we have seen our first night of student ministry grow... 2 years ago, it was 79... last year, it was 84... this year, we saw 144 students (including 90 students in Junior High alone)!!!



I am confident that these notes (assuming I stick to writing them) will be a time line chronicle of some pretty amazing God stories as He unfolds his next great movement in Northwest Ohio! You know... sometimes there isn't much around here... but isn't is just then... when we think that there is nothing special around... that God shows up and does amazing things!!!!



i look forward to ranting here...



Jeremy

Remind me why I do this!

Some of you may already be regular readers of the "vision of New Hope" blog to which I contribute, but if not - this is a post that sums up my heart and passion for New Hope (and the Church in general for that matter!)

I know that I am not the only one who sometimes gets overwhelmed with the demands of my job. At times, I look at all that there is to do and I get discouraged for a bit in a "woe is me" kind of way. It's times like that when I need to be reminded why I do what I do... so here goes:

I love the mission of this Church! Churches have their part in the body of Christ just like we do - we aren't all the same. I think that each local church has to find its niche in the body of Christ. For instance, the church I grew up in was really into missions. We spent a great deal of Sunday evening services (remember those?) hearing from an overseas missionary home on furlough ("here we are with our team under the banana tree..."). Over these years in ministry, I have been to "worshiping churches" where there was just something about the church that made you want to worship. I've been to great teaching churches where the pastor could talk for 2 hours and I wouldn't miss a beat (and that's saying something). Let's just say that there are a LOT of different kinds of churches. I love the mission of New Hope - to help people take their next step toward Christ. As I have watched this church grow (both numerically and spiritually) over the past 5+ years, I love the fact that we are quickly becoming a church that is bent on reaching those in our neighborhoods, workplaces and even families who are outside of a relationship with Christ - THAT IS WHAT GETS ME UP IN THE MORNING!

I love the message of this Church! It's not enough to deliver a good "show" on Sunday morning. As a leadership team, it is without doubt our greatest desire to present the life changing, soul redeeming, unbelievable truth of Christ and what he did for us on the cross! Our goal is to find a culturally relevant vehicle to deliver the timeless truth of Jesus Christ!

I love the people of this Church! Over the past 5 years, I have gotten a chance to know some of the most incredible people in the world! I am not exaggerating! It is comforting to me to know that I am trying my dead level best to reach Northwest Ohio with some of my best friends in the world. I look forward to going to Church on Sunday morning because I get to see friends from every age group from the children my kids play with to the students I have worked with for the past 5 years to their parents and grandparents!
In the end - this church is like family to me... it's not without its issues and struggles, but at the end of the day (and the beginning)... I LOVE THIS CHURCH!!!

And, I'm not alone... check out this email I got from someone in the church a few weeks ago:

"Our church worship and message was AWESOME!!! I can't say it enough, it was AWESOME!! I had a couple of friends visit, and that is all I heard them say, was how AWESOME the worship was, and how they enjoyed how Pastor George related to them/ he kept their attention :) This is one of MANY reasons why I LOVE MY CHURCH!!!!"

How can you help it?

Jeremy

Ultimate Impact

This past Saturday, my dad and I made the trip to Detroit for the North American International Auto Show. (I was shopping for my next used car in 2020)

What an amazing experience - and I am not just talking about the environment, the glitz, the people or the things that they intended for you to be impressed with.

Think about the auto industry.

I have a few friends in the industry (either in sales, dealerships or in the production end) and by all accounts (friends, media, stocks, etc), the industry is hurting. People are just trying to keep their car running longer in an effort to avoid buying large ticket items.

But you can't tell it from the Auto Show!

It was amazing the amount of money, effort and manpower put into putting the best foot of any product forward. It was just as awe inspiring this weekend as it was when I was a kid going to the Chicago show.

Think about church... here is what I am thinking.

If we are honest, there is a thought or two out there that the church is hurting... according to David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons authors of a book called 'Unchristian', "Christianity has an image problem."

Has that perception that is out there stopped us from thinking innovatively about reaching the lost? Have we bothered developing concepts and ideas that might work to revive both the perception and the effectiveness of the Church? Do we really understand that Church IS God's plan to reach a lost and hurting world? This group of people who get together once a week is SO MUCH MORE than that - this is the living, breathing Bride of Christ!

Here is a picture of my dad and I standing in front of a "concept" car for Jeep... just a creative, innovative way to reach a new audience for them - an aggressive attempt to reach a new market.

I am excited to be a part of a church that isn't afraid of rethinking the way we do things to make room for new thoughts, new ideas and most of all for new PEOPLE who don't know Jesus yet!! (We will unpack more of this in the February Sermon series you are hearing so much about!)

J:.

Leadership, Giftedness and Maturity

John Maxwell said "there is no correlation between giftedness and maturity"

I think a lot about that statement and I wonder about a couple of parts of it.

There have been many times in my life where my giftedness have gotten me into situations where I was not mature enough to flourish. You know - being a public speaker, you get a persona about you that has you regarded more highly than you should be. Or, correctly handling something as important as God's Word has people looking to you for answers.

The bottom line is that I can't assume that just because God has given me a gift in a particular area that I am mature enough on my own to handle all of the responsibility that comes with it. I need to leverage every opportunity afforded me by the giftedness that God has given me for maturity. I don't know how many times I have seen my ultimate effectiveness undermined because I assumed that my giftedness qualified me to be at the table rather than looking for times where my giftedness offers an opportunity to grow and mature.

I will likely never grow up. I'm not sure that I really want to. But, just because I refuse to grow up doesn't give me an excuse not to mature...

(I ran spellcheck before I sent this, is that a sign of maturity? :-) OH, NO... NOT THAT!

New Year's Resolutions?

Ok... it's January 2nd... I think I am behind on the New Year's Resolutions thing. I got a comment from my Sister-In-Law the other day (Hi Steph!) saying that she hoped that one of my resolutions would be to blog more... the blogosphere is as full as the health clubs with New year's decisions... Then Sheila and I had a long conversation last night about goals, resolutions and such that starts be thinking...

What is a New Year's resolution? I mean think about it... they say the proof is in the pudding, right? So if, in the end, the list of resolutions winds up being a well intentioned list of failures, why would I want to make a list of things to fail at... I mean... I can fail without a list (I have been awesome at it for 34 years!)

So, here is the deal. The New Year feels like we get a fresh start and the fresh start makes me want to get started on some new things. So, I look back at the last few years... did I make progress because I didn't make a list or did I miss out on making MORE progress because I didn't make a list?

In the end, the only thing we have for sure is the past. Who we have been before - who we wish we would have been. And, as I think about it, the best way to resolve for the New Year is by looking back at the regrets I have for the past few.

So, here goes...

I want to be the father I wish I was for the past few years. I want to play more... love more... laugh more and be more consistent.

I want to be the Husband that I wish I was for the past few years. I want to help more... be more romantic... love more... serve more (and do what made me a father more :-)

I want to be the friend that I wish I was for the past few years. I want to care more about what is going on in my friends lives (and less about how it impacts me)... I want to laugh more (I never regret laughing more)... I want to be more willing to speak truth in love (and be more articulate).

I want to be the pastor that I wish I was for the past few years. I want to lead stronger... focus better and make sure that people can see through me to the Cross. I want people to take me off of the pedestal and put Jesus there (He is much better at King of the Mountain than I am). I want people to hear Truth from me presented in a way that lets the Cross do the offending. I want people to understand who God is and learn to walk with Him because they were close to me. I want to offend more legalists.

I want to be the Christian that I wish I was for the past few years. I want to learn what it means to walk WITH God rather than trying to play catch up. I want to know more about what it means to be pleased with Who He is rather than trying to do something to make Him pleased with who i am (small i intentional). I want to find clarity in my calling - I am tired of being confused all of the time. I would love it if God would help me to long for his presence - to need him like I need air - I would love to passionately pursue a relationship with Him. I want to love the lost... I mean I want to FALL IN LOVE with people who don't know Him... love them like He does.

They are not resolutions - I am not making some statement of my goals for the year that I will soon abandon or lose (it does help that they are stored on the web though)... these are a list of failures that I would like to make shorter next year.

In the end, the best definition of discipleship I have heard to date came from my friend Doug Schrock (who I am sure is not reading this)... he said "I want to be more like Jesus tomorrow than I am today." Now, is that a resolution? I don't know, but it sounds like a great mantra to live by... it will make me a better father, husband, friend, pastor and believer tomorrow than I am today!

Thanks for reading...

Jeremy