The Power of Focus

Last year I read a book titled, "The Power of Focus." I loved the title of this book. It talked about the difference between a lazer and a diffused flourescent light. A lazer displays the power of focus. I was challenged the other day by Nehemiah from the bible who was extremely focused. When persecuted by a couple of thugs named Sanballat and Tobiah he responded with such tact and reslience. They wanted him to come down from his mission of rebuilding the wals of Jerusalem. Nehemiah writes, (6:3)"But I realized they were plotting to harm me, so I replied by sending this message to them: "I am engaged in a great work, so I can't come. WHy should I stop working to meet with you?" I love how Nehemiah said "NO!" and stayed focused on that which God had called him to. Recently this has been helpful for me as a husband, father and pastor. Asking the question, "What things are not leading me towards my mission or the call God has placed on my life?" Where am I involved and engaged in things that aren't helpful and productive. I want to be lazer focused like Nehemiah and able to say no to the things that don't move me in the direction God wants me to go! I love what the Apostle Paul writes in I Corinthians 7:35, "I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord best, with as few distractions as possible."

The Big Ask

I have been thinking lately about the importance of learning how to make the "Big Ask." So much of leadership and life is learning how to ask. Over the last year we've had to make alot of "asks!" We had to ask God to lead us in the process of starting a new church. We had to ask alot of churches to believe in the vision God gave us and come alongside financially and through prayer, we had to ask families to move across the country, we had to ask Hope Church to takeover Breakthrough so we could transition out of Texas, I had to ask my professors to let me pass so I could graduate from school :-), lots of asking. Now, since we have moved out here I will continue to make alot of asks. We will have to ask people to help us start the church. We will have to ask people on our team to contribute with their time, money, and energy. We will have to ask people to follow Christ with their life, and then ask them to get engaged in the vision of South Bay Church. As a leader and a pastor you don't do well if you don't learn how to ask with humility and with confidence. My confidence in asking comes from two places: first it comes from the fact that I know God has lead us to start this church. If I can stand before God with complete confidence knowing I am doing exactly what he has asked me to do, then I should be able to stand before everyone else I know and ask them to join what God has asked me to do. Secondly, there is no one else aside from God who is more passionately, emotionally, physically, sacrificially bought in to this vision. It is easier to ask people to sacrifice as a leader when you have already sacrificed yourself and you know that you are not asking people to do something you are not willing to do yourself. So I have learned that God provides through us learning to ask. Asking Him and asking others.

Loyalty and Disloyalty

Tomorrow we will have our very first South Bay Church staff meeting. As a part of our staff development we will read a book called "Loyalty and Disloyalty" by Heward-Mills, and share key learnings and insights with one another. I have very intentionally chosen this book to be the very first for our team. Here is why: I believe loyalty is one of the most significant ingredients to the strength and longevity of a team. Every pastor of a large healthy growing church that I have been around has a strong team of loyal followers. In addition I have handfuls of friends in ministry who have been burned time and time again by less than loyal people. So we will focus our initial times together on building trust and making sure that we are willing to take bullets for one another. The Kingdom of God is a dirty playing field. Everyone is going to experience pain and rejection as they lead, but I do think that we can make some specific decisions to emphasize the significance of loyalty on our teams and remove people who display any level of disloyalty to the leadership of the church. Pray that God would bless Filipe Santos, Archie Jackson and myself and we work together to build a strong nucleus in our church that is tremendously unified around the vision God has placed on our hearts.

The First In Flight!!

Last week while on our family vacation we took a trip to the Wright Brother's Memorial in Kitty Hawk, NC. Just in case you don't know, the Wright Brothers are the first two human beings to ever fly make and fly in an airplane. So, as we visited the birthplace of mechanical human aviation I could not help but think of the endless leadership lessons from the lives of these two heroes. Here are just a few...

1. Innovation and leadership requires great persistence...
Did you know that the Wright Brothers would travel from Cleveland, Ohio. (a.k.a. as "The armpit of America") to Kitty Hawk North Carolina for several weeks-months each year to work on perfecting their airplane with the goal of being the first in flight. And, it took them not one, two or three but four years of persistence to get that airplane off the ground and that's after years of dreaming and envisioning.

2. Leadership and Innovation requires a clear vision and goal...
Make no mistake the Wright Brother's wanted to be the first in flight. At the time of their first flight they were racing the clock against another man (whom I do not know his name) who was also trying to be the first in flight. They stayed in Kitty Hawk an extra several months the year of their first flight so they could be the first. Nobody remembers #2! This all flowed from a clarity of what they wanted to accomplish. From a clear vision they developed a strategy and plan, and made values based decisions!

3. Leadership and Innovation requires a willingness to be persecuted...
Could you imagine how insane these men must have seemed to the people of their day. Now we jump on an airplane to head from San Francisco to Tokyo and don't think twice. In their day their was no Southwest if you wanted to "get away." Imagine leaving your family for two-to three months at a time to work on what may have seemed like a kite with a motor. Did you know that before the Wright Brothers made the first airplane it was scientifically proven that man would not be able to fly? Now we can put a man on the moon. Aren't you glad they didn't believe that lie! I am always amazed at the response I get when I tell people we are starting a church in the SF Bay Area. Everyone wants to tell me about a gay friend they have, as if everyone in San Francisco is gay. (that's besides the point) Actually it's 13% and that's the actual city! But also, I hear story after story of unsuccessful church starts in the area, and people give me the look, "and why do you think you will be different?" or "how do you expect to start a church that reaches thousands and most can even reach 50?" Over the promise of God and my dead body this church is going to reach thousands of people who are far from God!

4. Leaders and Innovators requires a willingness to stand on others shoulders...
As I walked the memorial I thought to myself, I wonder how many people came along after the Wright Brothers came along and thought they were better because they created a superior aircraft. Have you ever realized how much one innovation inspires the next innovation. If one leader steps out and makes it happen, walls are busted down, people get inspired and the impossible now becomes possible. In the midst of all this we must not forget that we stand taller because we stand on the shoulders of others who have gone before us! Don't ever forget that! We can get trace a man on the moon back to a couple of crazy heroes back in 1903, who were willing to risk it all for the impossible on a couple of sand dunes of Kitty Hawk North Carolina!

PS, I am the dork who bought the 200 page book from the gift shop, titled "Wind and Sand" (the tour guide said this is the best) and I will read it, and I will come up with 6 more leadership lessons from their lives so I can have 10, and maybe I will share it soon. Post if you have thoughts from these principles!

Today I Experienced Elevation Church!

When I say experienced, I mean I experienced it. My wife Stacie and I spent the whole drive back from Charlotte to Columbia remembering it like a good movie. The South Bay staff (a.k.a. “the Dream Team”) and I arrived at Elevation this morning at 5:00am to be a part of “Backstage Elevation.” We got to experience a team of crazy committed volunteers who arrive at dark thirty with an optimistic attitude anticipating what God is going to do that day! Around 5:30 we were greeted by Larry Brey (Assimilation Pastor) who shared the Elevation story, vision, gave us an incredible tour of the whole experience and set up process, and graciously answered our questions. About 7:30am we skipped away for a quick bite to eat and yes a Starbucks! We rushed back to meet our wives at 8:30am as the Worship Experience started. My wife had already checked our 21 month old son Caedmon into child care with no mishaps (a rarity in new churches)! As we rolled into the parking lot we were directed with dozens of sharp signs, and a smiling crew in the parking lot who smoothly lighted the way to the nearest parking spot. As we walked back up to the building for the second time today we were greeted by layers of smiling folks telling us it was going to be a great worship experience and assuring us how glad they were we decided to come to Elevation. As we were ushered into auditorium I could feel a loud roar of worship that enveloped me as I got closer to the stage. I had already experienced Elevation by the time I got to my seat. The music was second to none, the transitions were seamless (pastors notice these things), and the message was clear. Pastor Steven Furtick preached a tough message on the “Altar of Repentance” from the story of Achan in the book of Joshua. He knocked it out of the park! I was amazed with the clarity at which he addressed issues of sin in our lives, yet at the same time gave such hope and inspiration towards living up. The teaching was biblically solid and very helpful for people at all points in the journey. I am encouraged by what God is doing through Elevation and have a lot of respect for their team and their pastor. As we move forward with starting a church in the San Francisco Bay Area it was great for our staff team to experience Elevation and be inspired by the possibilities of what God can do in such a short period of time!! Thanks Elevation, praise God! (ps, I just read on Pastor Steven’s blog 127 people decided to follow Christ for the very first time today, glad I got to be a part of it!) Praying for you guys, keep up the good work!

I have a hard time with school

I just finished up a test in my "Baptist Heritage" class. I had familiar experiene today as I walked in for the test. As I finished up my last minute cramming, looking through notes, praying for help, I thought "I will do better on the next one." If I've thought that once, I've thought that 100 times. It is usually at this point when I realize how bad of an "academic student" I truly have become. So here is my rant on why I have a hard time with school! (before writing, I must defend the fact that I at least have 3.3 g.p.a) :-)

#1: I am very A.D.H.D.
This means that I have a hard time focusing on what the professor is saying... most of the time. In addition, I am able to get internet in class. I often spend time facebooking, blogging, checking email, and lots of other various tasks while sitting in class. I am really hoping that for the second half of this semester, during my last class before graduating I can pay attention... kind of. (my professor is actually gives great lectures, i am the one with the problem)

#2: I don't do well on tests.
Most of the time when I receive the test in class, I look it over it and can't remember ever thinking about half of the content on the exam. In addition, I often feel like tests are such a false representation of knowledge. One can learn how to beat the system, memorize information and actually remember very little.

#3: I learn by doing
By nature I am an activator. I prefer to actually be making things happen, strategizing, mobilizing people, casting vision, reading books on life and leadership and then applying all of this stuff in "reality". I understand that seminary helps shape my theological understanding and the experience has been very helpful for shaping my character, building perseverance and faithfulness. However, in all honesty most of the helpful information for ministry and theology has come from the reading the bible, studying good books, asking lots of questions of good mentors, and staying focused on being a learner outside of class. Evaluated experience has personally been my best teacher.

All leaders are learners, right? I just think leaders learn differently. Leaders learn through evaluated experience. Often times the classroom does not stimulate evaluation, it stimulates regurgitation, and requires very little practical experience to receive your degree. This year thousands of students will graduate from seminaries all over the country and go to take jobs as pastors and various other ministry positions. Most of them will have no clue how to be successful and effective with their work. They will not know how to connect with people who are far from God, they will not know how to resolve work related conflicts, they will not know how to get a vision from God and then empower people ministry, and much much more. Does this make you sad? It breaks my heart and I believe this is one of the greatest problems facing the North American church. We have way too much unhelpful information with very little application, and way too little transformation.

Whenever I am faced with academic decisions it is very difficult for me to focus my time and energy on studying long hours for stuff that I will forget within 3 weeks of learning it. In addition to this, I've been way involved in the local church during seminary, and in all of this school has pushed me away from school. My heart's desire is to be a part of a church and a movement that changes the world, I want to be used by God to reach my generation, I want to see people with broken and messed up lives discover what it means to know that Jesus Christ is a God who loves them deeply and longs for each and every one of us to know him personally. May the decisions I make and the way I live lead me to that end!!

PS, My professor is a brilliant man who is a great writer, great thinker, and dearly loves God. My comments are regarding a system problem not a professor problem.

Leadership and Decision Making

Just finished a book by Malcolm Gladwell titled, "Blink." The general concept of the book is pretty fascinating. Gladwell talks about the process of making decisions and the concept of intuition. He challenges us to go with our "gut" in areas where we have expertise. The major insight i gleaned from the book is this, "knowledge does not necessarily lead to good leadership and decision making."

Gladwell writes, "we have virtually unlimited amounts of data at our fingertips at all times, and we're well versed in the arguments about the dangers of not knowing enough and not doing our homework. But what i have sensed is an enormous frustration with the unexpected costs of knowing too much, of being inundated with information. we have come to confuse information with understanding." later he writes, "the key to good decision making is not knowledge. it is understanding, we are swimming in the former. we are desperately lacking in the latter." (264, 265)

I was challenged by this quote. We must be careful not to assume that information merely leads to good judgment. Leaders must seek understanding in any given situation. Judgment takes into account the various facets of processing information and making decisions. When processing information ask questions, "where does this information come from?" (consider the source) "what do i see in this information?" "what principles are beneath this information?"

This is what is helping me today. i hope it helps as you make decisions this week.