brucedjohnson.com

New Site

It's now been four years since I resigned from my former church, yet for some reason, people keep finding these old posts so I'll keep them up for awhile longer.

However, if you'd like to see what I've been up to over the past four years, come join me on my new blog at www.acceleratedgrowth.org/blog (or if you prefer shorthand, www.theagblog.com). They'll both get you to the same place.

Also, while most of my work now is with business owners and senior executives of small and medium-sized businesses, I still do a fair amount of work with churches (you just won't see that on my site). So, if you need some help growing your church faster or being a better leader or communicator, feel free to drop me a line at bruce@acceleratedgrowth.org.

Hope you're having a great day!

Bruce

P.S. Don't forget to stop on over at www.theagblog.com

Brucedjohnson.com Transition

The past nine months have been a pure joy for me in the blogging world.  The responses from so many of you, either in comments or in e-mails, the links to my posts and the mentions of my blog in your blog rolls have been fully satisfying.  As someone who loves to influence people, the blogging world has opened up a whole new opportunity for me to influence other people (and churches) to be all that God has created them to be.

However, my world has changed a lot over the past few months.  On May 30th, after returning from an anniversary vacation with my wife in Cancun, I was greeted back at my church with a letter from our board informing me that I was to leave the office immediately, that I wasn't allowed to preach for 30 days, go to my office for 30 days or blog for 30 days.  After having planted and led the church I pastored for almost sixteen years, I was shocked.

Over the next couple of weeks it became clear that there was no way that the board and I could work together, so I tendered my resignation—which has not only affected hundreds of people's lives, it's also caused me to decide to discontinue the brucedjohnson.com blog site.

Why?  Because I'm no longer "in the trenches" with you.  What makes blogs so compelling is their immediacy, "This is what happened to me today."  However, I no longer have those "This is what happened to me in ministry today" moments any longer. I'm now a lay person.  All of my experiences with church leadership are past tense, not present tense.

I remember years ago when John Maxwell left the pastorate.  At that point, right or wrong, John lost a lot of his influence on me (though it has increased around the world, for which I am grateful—in fact, if my memory serves me correctly, John has led more people to Christ in the past year than in any five years combined during his time as a pastor).  But the reason John lost some of his influence with me was because I knew he wasn't living in my world any more.  And, right now, I'm no longer living in your world (if you're a pastor reading this).

However, I'm not about to give up blogging.  Since I'm now just another Christ-follower (no Sr. Pastor, Rev. or Rev. Dr. in front of my name), I've decided to create a new blogging site, www.brucedjohnson.net (note the ".net" vs. ".com" at the end).  Instead of sharing "Leadership Lessons for Life-Giving Church Leaders", I'll be sharing "Life Lessons for Those Who Want to Achieve Their Highest God-given Potential."  Since my life mission is to "motivate, educate and lead as many people as possible to achieve their highest God-given potential", this is natural transition.  And as for immediacy, it'll be real.  I'll be sharing with you, what I'm learning on this journey of life—not as a pastor or church leader, but as a fellow human being who longs to be all that God created him to be.

As for the brucedjohnson.com blog site, I'll leave it up for awhile.  There are lots of you with links to a number of my posts.  However, at some point this fall, I'll transition the brucedjohnson.com URL over to a commercial site as I begin this new phase of my life as a professional speaker, writer and consultant (along with Ph.D. student).  So, if there are some past posts that you really like, make sure you print out a hard copy soon.

That said, why don't you hop on over to my new site, www.brucedjohnson.net and check out the new posts I've written (plus a couple of old ones).  I'm not going anywhere.  Just my address is changing. And thanks again for all the memories. Blogging has been one of the highlights of my year!

To Bore or Not to Bore

That is the question. I was talking with a former church member the other day who's in the church "shopping" mode when this person told me the following story. "After visiting [this one church] I asked [my child] what they thought of this church. [This child] said, "Well, once I get used to being bored, I'll be okay." Isn't that an amazing statement? Already, by a young age, this child had come to the conclusion that if they were going to go to church, they had better get used to the idea of church being boring. May it never be!

During the sixteen years I pastored Seneca Creek, I was passionate about church never being boring. But, here's the rub. Even if we think we've figured out a way to make church exciting, vibrant and creative, over a period of time—what was once exciting, vibrant and creative—becomes old, mundane and boring. In other words, one of the things that keeps church from being boring is to make sure that we aren't falling into predictable ruts.

Now, I know that's easier said than done. In the pressure cooker environment of church life, finding the time to be creative, innovative and fresh is difficult to do. It's so much easier to just do what you've been doing. But, no matter what you are doing, no matter how creative you may think you may be, if you keep on doing it the same way, it will become predictable. And predictable, even edgy predictable, will lead to boredom.

So, how have you changed up your services lately? Your children's programs? Your youth programs? Your small groups? Your staff meetings? Your planning processes? Your mailings? Your all-church events? Your evangelistic outreaches? Basically, anything you do. Oh, and by the way, this same principle applies to your marriage and parenting as well. If you keep doing what you're doing the way you're doing it, it will become boring. And life and church are far too important to become boring. So what are you going to do to make sure that no one ever says of your church, "Once I get used to being bored, I'll be okay"?

Get To or Have To?

Everyday, as Christian leaders, we're placed in a position where the amount of tasks facing us is always greater than the amount of time we have to accomplish them.  In addition, everyday, we're required (or asked or expected) to do things that we really don't want to do.  So, how do we respond to this?  Well, for most of us, we just resign ourselves to living with an incredible number of moments of resignation, "I guess I just have to do this."

Now, think about that phrase.  How do you feel saying it?  "I just have to ______."  Any way you say it, it's not very positive is it?  But before you resign yourself once more to having to do something you may not like doing, why don't you try this phrase on for size, "I get to do this."  Feels better doesn't it?  It's such a simple vocabulary change, but the effect is amazingly different. Watch this.

As a church leader, you don't have to put together another message, you get to put together another message.  You don't have to make another call to someone in your congregation, you get to make a call to someone in your congregation.  You don't have to write another report, you get to write another report.  You don't have to attend another meeting, you get to attend another meeting.  You don't have to study another theory, you get to study another theory.  You don't have to attend another conference, you get to attend another conference. 

Can you see and feel the difference?  It's amazing isn't it?  As ministers, we've been given an incredible gift—the gift of standing between two worlds.  We have this wonderful opportunity to spend our full-time vocational efforts in the spreading of the gospel.  Yet we're often not grateful because we get stuck in the "have to's".  So, if you'd like to experience more joy in the ministry and find a more grateful heart, you may want to make this simple vocabulary shift from "I have to" to "I get to."  You'll be amazed at the results!

Certain Knower or Responsible Interpreter?

Have you ever changed your belief about what an individual biblical text means?  Or has there ever been a passage that you absolutely positively knew what it meant—only to find out later that you were wrong?  Well, if you have, you are in good company.  We've all been there.  But, and here's the clincher, don't you think that there's a high probability that five or ten years from now, you'll be thinking the same thing about some of the passages that you now believe you "absolutely positively" know what they mean?  You've got it, "Absolutely!"

The other day, one of the professors in my Ph.D. program, Dr. Corne Bekker, was talking about the subject of hermeneutics.  During one of our breaks, I talked with him about the hermeneutical spiral.  If you're unfamiliar with the hermeneutical spiral, the easiest way to grasp it is to imagine a spiral with a dot in the middle.  The dot refers to what an individual writer (in this case, a biblical writer like Paul) wrote.  Now, since Paul wrote Philippians, he knew exactly what he meant.  However, you and I are not Paul.  We're reading Paul two thousand years later.  And when we approach a text we bring all of us to the text (our past experiences, our past education, our familiarity with Paul or the Bible, our past readings, all of the past sermons we've heard, etc.).  So, when we approach the text, we're usually not as close to the dot as we think we are. Usually, we're far out on the spiral.  We really don't know what Paul wrote, we just think we know. 

Then as time goes on and we read more of Paul and of the culture that Paul wrote into, the closer we progress on the spiral toward the dot.  Then we study Paul some more and the book of Philippians some more and we get closer and closer to what Paul actually meant.  Then we speak with some scholars and read commentaries and we get closer still.  And then we do more textual analysis and study and we bring a breadth of biblical study with us and we get closer still.  However, and this is important, we never get to the dot.  We can never say with absolute certainty, this is exactly what Paul meant when he wrote __________.  We can only say, to the best of our knowledge, I believe this to be most probably true.

Now, I'm sure some of you are having a hard time with this, but just think back to how many people you know who have misunderstood you or who thought they knew exactly what you meant—and they were wrong (and they're your friends living in your community and in this age).  When I was growing up, one of my brother's best friend's father was (and still is) a world famous poet.  He would often go to conferences where other academics would make presentations about what they believed he meant and he would often report back how far they were from what he had meant by his words (and these are scholars living in the same age).

So, back to my conversation with Dr. Bekker.  In that conversation the two of us were having, I shared with him that the hermeneutical spiral had led me to a phrase that I pass on to students and other pastors all of the time,

"God has not called us to be certain knowers, but responsible interpreters."

Dr. B. said, "You ought to share that with our class."  To which I thought, "And I ought to blog about that as well." Once you get this phrase down, it will free you immensely.  No longer will you need to feel the pressure to know with certainty. Nor will you state "truth" (note the small "t" truth) as though you know it with certainty. Instead, you will do your work to be a responsible interpreter, not a perfect one.  And you will start to hear yourself saying, "To the best of my current understanding, this is what Paul meant."  Humility is a good thing in interpretation—because chances are, five years from now, some of what you are absolutely sure about today, you won't be then—and no one likes to eat their words. Remember, you don't need to be a certain knower any longer, just a responsible interpreter (at least that's what I believe to the best of my current understanding of what God expects of us!)

Never Underestimate the Power of Expectation

As I was eating breakfast this morning, I happened to be listening to Robert Schuller and thought I'd pass on to you his closing illustration.  To the best of my recollection, it went something like this.

"I recently met a professor in physics who told me that he taught at a university where he was told he needed to flunk 50% of his students each year.  And each year, that's exactly what happened—50% of his students failed.  Then he started attending a church where the pastor kept preaching on being positive and believing the best about others.  Finally, over time, he bought it all—hook, line and sinker.  The next fall, he began his class with the following statement.

'Class, in previous years, 50% of the students have failed this course.  But this year, I have a feeling, that this year is going to be different.  I've checked your records and you are a special group of students.  So this year, I'm confident that none of you are going to fail.  And to that end, I'm going to help you succeed.'

At the end of that semester," Schuller said, "not one student failed.  One got a C+, another one got a B-, but the rest of his students got B's and A's—and the professor concluded with this statement, 'And I didn't change my grading criteria one iota'"

Incredible!  You know that the intellectual capacity of students didn't change (it was just a normal distribution of students).  You know that content didn't really change.  And you know that the grading didn't change.  There was only one thing that changed.  And that one thing was the attitude of the professor toward his students.  Just by raising his expectations from failure to success, 50% of the students who would have failed in previous years didn't.  That is simply incredible.

But it happens all of the time.  The most famous experiment about this in education happened in the '60's in San Francisco and you can read about it in "Pygmalion in the Classroom."  It that study, a normal distribution of students increased their IQ's by 15 to 30 points in one year simply because the teachers believed they were the best teachers and that they were given the best students (neither of which was true).  Expectations drive so much of what happens around us.

So, as you look around you, what do you expect from those who are around you?  Who do you expect the best from?  Mediocrity from?  And the worst from?  And how much do you think your expectations play a role in how they perform? It could be your staff, your board members, your small group leaders, your ministry leaders, your spouse, your kids, your parents, your in-laws, your neighbors, your team members, or even yourself.  For example, when I talk with pastors, they'll often say, "Well, no one can hit a home run every week.  Sometimes you're going to hit a single and sometimes you're going to strike out.  But you just keep getting up to the plate and every now and then you get to hit a home run."  No!  What a terrible expectation.  I say, you go to the plate expecting to hit a home run every week.  And if you expect that you'll hit a home run every week, you'll hit a whole lot more home runs (and an occasional triple or double, but no singles or strike outs). 

So please, never underestimate the power of your expectations—on the people around you—or on yourself!  In fact, why don't you raise them right now.  You just might be surprised by the difference!

How to Fix the Most Common Preaching/Communication Problem

Have you ever started a message and quickly come to the conclusion, they're not with me? It's a terrible feeling, isn't it?  I like to call that the, "Hey God, this one's for you!" moment.  None of us likes being there.  It's pure pain.  So, how do we get around that?

Well, if you read my previous post, The Number One Mistake that Preachers/Communicators Make, then you know that the number one mistake that preachers/communicators/teachers make is that they don't hook their audiences.  In other words, they start in with their content versus thinking about how to hook their audience into listening to their content.  Or to put it another way, they start from the wrong place.  They start by thinking that the people in their audience are as interested in listening to their content as they are—which is, as you know, a bad assumption.  Remember, we all listen to one radio station, WIIFM (what's in it for me?)

Margaret is worried about how her two year old is doing in the toddlers' room.  Frank is thinking about how he's going to find the time to refinish his deck this afternoon.  Sally is wondering if God has anything to say about how she can win her husband back.  Joe is wondering if anyone at church knows he's a fake.  Angela is struggling with a food addiction and is thinking about how fat she looks in this outfit.  And John is looking over at Marci thinking how good she looks.

Into all of that mess, the preacher stand up and says, "Let's now turn to Ezekiel 37, beginning in verse one."  So, let me ask you, how many people do you think the preacher hooked into listening with that introduction?  You got it.  None.  Okay, maybe his wife (but the hook there is marital harmony . . . maybe?).

So, how do you go about hooking an audience?  The same way you hook a fish—with "bait" that interests those whom you're trying to hook.  In other words, you start out with an introduction that connects with a felt need in their life (not yours).  One of the other big mistakes that most preachers/communicators make is that they assume that the people in their audience are interested in the same things that they are (another bad assumption). 

So, how do you find out their felt needs?  By spending time with them and studying them.  Over time this becomes almost intuitive.  But I always recommend to preachers/communicators that they start out by writing out their audience analysis for at least the next six months.  Here's how I recommend that you do this.

Take out a piece of paper.  At the top, write out, X1 (on the left side), then draw and arrow across the page to X2 (on the right side).  X1 is where your audience starts.  X2 is where you want your audience to end up.  Under X1, write down all that you know about your audience's Needs, Hurts, and Wants—as well as what they know and feel about this subject, plus their interest level.  Graphically it looks like this,

X1                                               X2
Start                                            End

Needs                                          Application
Hurts
Wants
Know
Feel
Interest Level

Write down everything you know about your audience.  Then write down where you want them to end (i.e. what your application points will be—what you want them to do as a result of your message).  Then, since you know where your audience is and where you want them to end up, all you need to do is select an introduction that connects with your audience's needs, hurts and wants.  Basically, I always recommend that you start out by assuming that no one wants to listen to you (a habit  I learned by speaking in college dormitories while serving with Campus Crusade for Christ).   If you start from this assumption, then it'll force you to spend more time encouraging and inspiring your audience to want to listen to what you have to say.  And if people want to listen to what you have to say, then the chances increase dramatically that they will want to apply what you have to say.  Which means that you will probably do a better job at changing people's lives, which is why you prepared your message in the first place.  In other words, everyone wins when you take the time to hook your audience/congregation.

So, this week, before you start working on your message, why don't you start out by doing an X1 to X2 worksheet. List out everything you know about your audience and where you want them to end up by the time you're done.  Then hook them and lead them on a journey until they have to  assent to what you say, so that their lives might change.  You'll be amazed at the difference.  Go ahead.  Give it a try.  You just might get hooked on it!

The Number One Mistake Most Preachers and Communicators Make

The past few days I've been in a seminar with Willie Jolley, one of the top motivational speakers in the country and a recent inductee into the Speaker's Hall of Fame, who shared the business side of motivational speaking with a few of us.  It was a great experience and provided me with the kind of information I need as I begin this new part of God's journey for me.  However, after I asked Willie the following question, "What would you say is the number one mistake that new speakers make as they begin their professional speaking careers?", it dawned on me that if someone asked me that question about preachers, I would know exactly how to answer that question.  Why?  Because I watch and listen to preachers, speakers and communicators all of the time.  And the vast majority of preachers/speakers, even those with large churches, often make this same mistake—all of the time!

So what is the number one mistake that most preachers and communicators make?  They don't hook their congregation/audience.  Now, don't rush past that comment.  I just said something incredibly profound that could change the impact of your preaching/communicating forever (and all of the changed lives that go with it)!  In other words, most preachers/communicators tend to assume that people want to listen to them.  So they just dig in to their (catch the pronoun) material.  Bad decision.  The focus is all wrong.  The assumption is, I have a message to give and you need to listen to it.

However, as ministers, we have a responsibility to communicate to people.  So, the starting point (apart from God and his Word/Truth) is the person with whom we're communicating.  In other words, we need to figure out, how does this truth connect with this person and how can I convince them that they need to listen to this so that their life can be changed and get into greater conformity with the way that God wants them to do, be, think or feel. Assuming that people want to listen is usually a bad assumption.  Why?  Because everyone, including you and me, listens to one radio station, WIIFM (What's in it for me?)  Everyone.  Not convinced yet?  Then listen to these two different introductions to Ezek. 37.

Typical preacher intro.

"Good morning. I'd like all of you to open your bibles and turn to the book of Exekiel, chapter 37, this morning  and let's begin reading in verse one......."

Person centered intro

"How many of you have been feeling kind of dry spiritually lately?  Maybe you've been having a hard time connecting with God or you're dealing with some things in your life and you're emotionally spent.  Or maybe you feeling like you've just been going through the motions.  You're coming to church, attending you small group, having your devotions, but you still feel powerless inside? In other words, you're at a place where God feels distant.  Well, if you've been feeling like that lately, God has some good news for you today.  You do not need to remain there.  And if you'll turn with me to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 37, in your Bibles, I think you'll find the answer to what you've been struggling with."

Now, which preacher would you prefer to listen to?  It's not even close.  Yet, day after day and week after week, I listen (as do millions of Americans) to messages where the preacher/speaker/communicator misses this simple principle.  Sometimes I just want to create a "Did you hook them?" sign and send it to every preacher in America.  And it'd not just about one hook, it's about hooking every single audience every single week in every single message.  Now, how do you go about hooking an audience?  Well that will be tomorrow's post (Did you just get hooked?).  But, in the meantime, why don't ask yourself these two simple questions, "In my last message, what was my hook?"  And secondly "How do I know if I hooked them?" If you'll start asking those questions of every message,  you'll be astounded at how much better people listen to you and then are changed by your message!

Why wait?

My father (the real Don Johnson) shared a simple (but incredibly important) lesson with me the other day.  We were having lunch when he mentioned something he had learned from one of his business partners years ago.  He said, "One of the things I learned from Ben was to act on what you're thinking about immediately.  We would often be in a conversation and I would mention, 'Hey, we should get a hold of _______ (blank) about _________(blank)' and Ben would hand me the phone and say, 'Call him.'" 

Like I often say, "Simple is not simplistic. In fact, the most powerful things in life are simple."  This was one simple lesson, but oh what power.  Just think about it.  How many things have you thought about doing this week, but didn't act upon?  How many phone calls did you not make?  How many decisions did you put off?  How many letters did you not get around to writing that you thought about writing?  How many great ideas did you think about that you haven't executed yet?  How many projects did you think about but didn't do anything about? 

Procrastination kills all of us.  Every day we're confronted with a slew of "to do" items that would bury most people.  And because we're often overwhelmed, we often waste time debating what we ought to do so that we never get around to actually doing what we know we ought to do.  So, what do you need to do immediately before you read another blog?  What have you been putting off doing today? 

Maybe, that simple lesson from Ben Kendig isn't so simplistic after all, is it?  I know for me, that simple lesson has changed my week and productivity!  Hopefully it'll do the same for you!  (By the way, why are you still reading this!!!)

Are You Answering Your Phones Live?

I can't tell you how many times I've talked to pastors about this, but they rarely seem to get it.  As churches, we're in the people business.  When someone calls a church, they expect to find a caring polite voice on the other end.  But what do most churches do?  For economic reasons, they go to automatic voice mail.  Bad choice.  In fact, let me prove it to you.  This morning I received another thank you e-mail from someone who attended the church I used to pastor.  In this person's e-mail, they made the following statement.

After going to a drama called "Hells Fire, Heavens Gates" in February 1995, my husband and I went to the "Alter" and made a commitment to follow Jesus and we said the Sinners Prayer. We were told to find a church. The criteria we set was that the church be "Bible based", within 10 miles of our home, a comfortable atmosphere, and have a pastor we respected who could teach us God's will and build our knowledge of Biblical truths. Armed with telephone numbers of six area churches of various denominations, I proceeded to call each number. Five numbers resulted in a voice mail. Only SC CC was answered with a "live" person (you) and you answered all my questions and were warm, friendly and enthusiastic.

In other words, just because we answered the phones (how simple is that?), we had the privilege of ministering to a new couple of believers for years.  Trust me, I've heard that same kind of story over and over again over the years I led Seneca Creek.  As the saying goes, "In the world of high tech, people long for high touch."  So, are you answering your phones?  If not, have you ever thought about how many people you may have lost simply because you didn't answer your phones with a person, instead of an answering machine or voice mail? 

I remember talking to a pastor of a church of three thousand one time about this.  I said, "Back when you were a church of a thousand, you used to answer your phones.  Now, you're a church of three thousand but you can't answer your phones any more.  What gives?"  He said, "It costs too much to have someone sit and answer the phones all day."  To which I replied, "Let me see if I understand this  It wasn't too expensive when you were a church of a thousand.  But now that you have three times as much money, you can't afford to have a receptionist?"  Actually, it was more important for that large church to have a receptionist than for a small church because large churches are usually perceived by those outside of them to be impersonal and uncaring.  A simple customer service idea like answering the phones, just might make the difference.  And when the potential loss is a person/couple/family, all of a sudden it doesn't seem so expensive to answer the phones does it? 

In fact, if I was in the office and the phone didn't picked up by the fourth ring, I would often pick up the phone (which, of course, shocked people, "I didn't think I'd get you.  What are you doing answering the phones?" As if answering the phones is too difficult a task for a senior pastor of a large church to do).  Why?  Because it's a simple customer service item and because I never knew if it was a new person on the line who might be checking out our church—who might not yet know Christ—but who might come to our church and then come to know Christ simply because we answered the phone and let them know somebody cares.  So, are you convinced yet?  I hope so! This might seem like a little thing, but for the sake of the people in your community (both believers and non-believers), will you please answer your phones?

Stop Doing List Part II

On Wednesday, I talked about "Creating a Stop Doing List" out of an audio recording by Jim Collins (if you haven't read that post, just scroll down below this post to read it).  Having read that, the natural question most people ask  is, "How do I do that?"  In other words, the idea that we need to stop doing a lot of what we're currently doing so that we can focus on those few things that matter most to us and our life, makes intuitive sense.  But how to define what activities I need to reduce or alleviate from my life—well that's often a whole different story.  So let me share with you a common practice i use to do that.

At least once a year (and frequently multiple times per year), I take out a sheet of paper and make a traffic light on the left hand side of the paper (you know, a long rectangular box with three circles inside it) about nine to ten inches long.  Inside each circle I write the color that corresponds to that circle on a traffic light (i.e., red, yellow and green).  Red represents those activities that take energy from me.  Yellow represents those activities that I'm neutral towards (neither take or restore energy, they just are).  And then green represents those activities that restore or replenish me.

So, after I write in the words, "Red, Yellow and Green", I then begin to write down all of the activities I'm currently engaged in and then fit them into the appropriate section.  For example, as an INTJ, being around lots of people is a red light activity for me.  Whereas times of solitude (like when I'm writing or reading) are green light activities (again, for me). Solving problems is green light, managing a process or program is red light.  Creating something new is green light, reading resumes is red light.  You get the idea.

Now, here's the benefit of doing this each year, because chances are, your "Stop Doing" list is probably found in your red light category.  At that point, you may say, "This year, I'm going to stop doing x, y, and z and to do that, I'm going to need to delegate x to Joe and y to Ally and then on z I'm going to need to pray and ask God to bring someone into my life  who can take over z."  In this way, year by year, you'll reduce the amount of red light living you have to encounter (because we all still have to encounter some red light activities in our lives) and increase the amount of green light living you get to do—and that will be a good thing for you and all of those around you!

However, that said, I do have a few more thoughts about this.  If you're ever feeling stressed or burned out, immediately do a traffic light analysis.  Chances are 60-80% of your time is focused on red light activities (not a great way to live). Once you make your list, reduce the red light activities.   Secondly, your traffic light analysis will probably flow out of your personality.  So, the more you know about your personality type, the easier it will be for you to determine what to keep doing and what to stop doing.  And finally, and this is the hardest thing of all to do, in order to focus on what you do best, you may have to stop doing some green light activities as well.  In other words, as I mentioned the other day, you cannot become great by doing more and more of what you are good or excellent at.  You attain your full God-given potential by focusing on what you do best—what you are exceptional or a genius at.  So, have you made your "Stop Doing" list yet?  If not, why don't you do a traffic light analysis today and use that to develop your "Stop Doing" list . . . NOW!

Creating a "Stop Doing" List

Do you ever get frustrated with feeling like there's too much to do and not enough time to do it?  Well, if you have,  Jim Collins just might have a possible prescription for you.  As i mentioned last week, Amazon had a number of their favorite authors record something as a "bonus" for their 10 year anniversary.  In the case of Collins, he chose to expand on an article he had written back on December 30, 2003.  Note: If you're an audio learner, click here for the Amazon audio or if you're a visual learner (like me), click here for the original article that the audio version was based on (and scroll down to December 30, 2003).

The basic storyline is that early on in his twenties, Jim took a course in creativity with Rochelle Myers at Standford.  Afterward he stayed in touch with her.  As a young, energetic and driven individual, Jim regularly planned out his life.  He had his fifteen year BHAGs, then his five year goals, and then his top three one year goals that he used to guide his daily life.  Yet in the midst of all that organized planning, Rochelle said to him, "Jim, I notice that you are a rather undisciplined person."  Obviously, that shocked Jim.  However, she continued,  "Your genetic energy level enables your lack of discipline.  Instead of leading a disciplined life, you lead a busy life."

She then challenged him to what Jim now calls the 20-10 assignment. "It goes like this: Suppose you woke up tomorrow and received two phone calls. The first phone call tells you that you have inherited $20 million, no strings attached. The second tells you that you have an incurable and terminal disease, and you have no more than 10 years to live. What would you do differently, and, in particular, what would you stop doing?"

That assignment was the turning point in Jim's life.  In fact, it's what led him to make a right corner turn in his life and leave HP and take a job as a teacher/professor/researcher (since he is, as he says, "constitutionally unemployable"—I love that phrase)—and we are all the better for that choice.  Since that time, the most important question Jim asks of himself each year is, "What do I need to stop doing?" 

I love that question.  It has a very Pauline ring to it, doesn't it?  For Paul regularly argues that for change to occur, you first need to "take off" the old and "put on" the new.  Or, to put it in more mathematical terminology, "You need to subtract, before you can add."  Anyway you put it, the question that Collins asks is a question all of us, as leaders, need to regularly ask, "What do I need to stop doing, that I'm currently doing, so that I can focus more of my time and energy on the things that matter most and will create the greatest impact over the course of my life and time?"

So how are you doing?  If you were to do an inventory of your time, what percentage of your day or time, would you say, is spent on doing those things that matter most?  That have the greatest impact?  That you're passionate about? That fit your genetic encoding?  If, according to Collins, you're spending less than 50% of your time in those areas, then your "Stop Doing" list, may be the most important list you could make this year—or today!  In fact, don't go to bed tonight without making one up.

Are You Doing What You Love?

Believe it or not, this Saturday marks the 10 year anniversary of Amazon.com.  In fact, they're having a big celebration that you can read about [here] which includes a free live streaming concert of Norah Jones and Bob Dylan as well as their all-time customer-favorite authors and filmmakers. Starting at 5 p.m. PT on Saturday, July 16--the 10th anniversary of the day that Amazon.com first opened its virtual doors for business--the concert will be streamed live on the Amazon.com homepage.

In addition, there are links in this section to their favorite authors—some of whom have recorded short video or audio statements—including one by Marcus Buckingham.  In the short video segment that he records, Marcus states, as he often does, a simple statement about working from our strengths.  Now, we all know we're supposed to work from our strengths.  In fact, most of us have probably preached on numerous occasions, "Do what you love and love what you do."   But rarely do we actually sit down and analyze if we're actually following that principle ourselves.

Now catch this.  In this short video segment, Marcus reveals that he did a survey on how many people actually feel like they spend the majority of their day doing work that they love.  He knew the number wouldn't be 70 or 80%, but he wasn't prepared for the actual answer, which was 17%.  Did you catch that?  Only 17% of us feel like we spend the majority of our time doing what we love.  So much for "Do what you love and love what you do!"

So how about you?  Are you spending the majority of your time doing what you do best?  Dan Sullivan, in How the Best Get Better, talks about four levels of competency.  The first level is what we're not competent at, the second level is what we're competent at.  The third level is what we're excellent at.  And the fourth level is what we're a genius at.  The problem with most leaders, according to Sullivan, is that they spend too much of their time doing what they're competent at and/or excellent at.  But to go the next level, they need to focus their time and energy on what they're a genius at (what only they can do).  Excellence is one level too short for greatness.

So, what are you a genius at?  God has wired you for greatness.  So, what are you great at?  Once you define that for yourself, focus on it—and delegate everything else you possibly can (even if it takes you years to divest yourself of all the things you're now doing that you shouldn't be).  By definition, you cannot become great by doing more of what you're good or excellent at.  You can only reach you highest God-given potential by focusing on what you are great at!

P.S.  I just visited Terry Storch's blog and he posted the other day about creating your dream job, which includes a template for designing your own dream job.  This may help provide you with a starting place.

P.P.S.  Another resource I've found helpful in my transition is a book by the Tieggers, entitled, Do What You Are, which takes a look at your Myers-Briggs Personality Type as a template for finding the right career for yourself.  It's worth a read!

Leadership Capacity: The Biggest Hindrance to the Advancement of the Kingdom

Yesterday I mentioned that I was pursuing my Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership because I believe that the greatest hindrance to the advancement of the kingdom of God (apart from spiritual factors like prayer, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, spiritual warfare, etc.) is the lack of leadership capacity in those who currently lead our churches.  That's a rather bold claim so let me explain what I mean.

In Exodus 22:27-31, Moses quotes God saying.

“I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land. “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River. I will hand over to you the people who live in the land and you will drive them out before you."

In other words, God promised the Hebrew people that He was going to give them an incredible gift, a promised land, but He could not do that all at once.  Why?  Because they didn't have the capacity at that point in time to be able to handle all that God wanted to give them.  Instead, he said, "Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land."  They could have had all night prayer meetings, organized mass media campaigns, fasted for 40 days, had a weekend worship fest, etc. and still God would not have given them all of the promised land.  It had nothing to do with spiritual issues.  They simply lacked the capacity to handle that much land.  It is this passage that has led me to what I call "Capacity Theory", which simply stated goes like this:

"God blesses us in direct relationship to our capacity to handle whatever it is that we seek to be blessed with."

This theory handles just about every area of life: from relationships to finances and from career options to athletics.  God cannot give us more than we can handle or it will be wasted and cause even greater problems.

Likewise, in the church today, God cannot bless us with more people than we can handle.  If a pastor can only handle 120 people, God will not entrust him with 300 people.  If a pastor cannot handle 300 people, then God will not entrust him with 500 people.  And if a pastor cannot handle 3000 people, God will not entrust him with 5000.  God always blesses us (and our organizations) just a little beyond our capacity to handle whatever he blesses us with so that we'll trust Him.  But He does not entrust us (normally) with an amount far beyond our capacity because to do so would be foolish (which is something God does not do).

I'll follow up on this concept in the days to some, but for now, may I encourage you to just change the question you've been asking yourself,  Instead of asking, "How can we grow?", maybe a better question would be, "How can we increase our capacity to handle the blessing God already desire to give us?"  God already wanted to give the Hebrew people the promised land, but He knew he couldn't because they didn't possess the capacity to handle it.  Likewise, God already wants to bless your church with more people (remember, He wants none to perish), but He cannot do so until you possess the capacity to handle the people he wants to bless you with.  Hence, my claim that the greatest hindrance to the advancement of the kingdom is the lack of leadership capacity.  The better we as church leaders become at this thing called the leadership, the more God can bless us with the people He already wants to entrust to our care.  How about that for a life-changing belief?

Thank you!

I have been overwhelmed by the level of support that so many of you have given me over the past 24 hours since I explained why I haven't been posting over the last month and a half.  Within a short span of posting my apology, I was already receiving e-mails from around the country—and even from as far away as someone from New Zealand!!  It really has been a little overwhelming.  For an INTJ, who has, according to his wife, "the lowest level of relational need of anyone [she] knows," I have been humbled by this new "community" of bloggers and blog readers.  So, thank you for your kindness, your encouragement and your prayers.

When I started this little blog about leadership lessons for life-changing church leaders, I never anticipated the kind of response I've received.  Now, that I am transitioned out of my former church (and have a little bit more time on my hands), I'll try to do my best to deliver even better content than I have in the past.  I am still committed to you and am glad that i can now get back to the business of blogging!

P.S.  Yesterday I mentioned that I planned on attending Regent University's School of Leadership Studies to work on a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership.  Well, today I can tell you that I am attending as I received my official acceptance at 3:45 p.m. this afternoon.  What a wild ride the past six weeks have been!!!

Apology

Dear fellow readers

I apologize for the long absence on my blog.  When my wife and I got back from our anniversary trip to Cancun at the end of May, we were greeted by a letter from our church's board, which along with other items, told me that I was to refrain from blogging for thirty days.  Over the next several weeks, our board and i wrestled with a number of issues—the end result being that I had to resign from our church (a church which I planted sixteen years ago).  Obviously, I've learned a lot through this process, but for the sake of those involved and for the health of our church I'll refrain from blogging on those lessons for some time.

As for me, in case you're curious, I'm planning on pursuing my Ph.D at Regent University in Organizational Leadership (so I have no intention of stopping my blog just because I'm no longer employed at Seneca Creek).  In fact, one of the reasons I want to pursue my Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership is because I firmly believe that the greatest hindrance to the advancement of the kingdom of God (apart from spiritual issues) is the lack of leadership capacity from those leading the church.  So, I now want to devote a significant amount of my time left on planet earth to the study of and the  development of the intellectual capital and resources necessary for the church to fulfill the great commission in this generation.

In addition, since I do have to pay the bills, I'll be pursuing motivational speaking, pulpit supply (10-12 maximum engagements per year), consulting, resource development and writing (both books and articles).  So, while I never would have planned on ending my sixteen years at Seneca Creek the I had to, I am excited about this next leg of the journey.  God has been so incredibly gracious throughout this whole process that I can only stand back and give Him praise and thanksgiving.

Note: If you'd like to read my resignation letter to my congregation, you can download a pdf version of it on the left hand side of my blog.

Finally, the other reason I don't want to give up blogging is because of you.  One of the greatest joys of this year for me has been the responses so many of you have shared with me concerning my blog.  However, because of the situation at my former church (and a few anonymous commentators), I have had to turn off comments on my blog.  So, from now on, if you want to make comments, just send me an e-mail.

Quadruple Thinking (or how to communicate so people get it)

I'm currently in the application process for the Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership program at Regent University.  As part of the application process, since a Ph.D. program is a research degree, I've had to write a fair amount just to apply. However, it's also been a blast for someone like me because academia opens up a whole new vocabulary set that I can use.  Where else can I use words like epistemology, ontology, human capital, acuity and discontinuity and not have people look at me funny!  However, i did make the mistake of choosing to read a few paragraphs to a couple of my family members.

My oldest daughter, Chelsea, who's very bright and who took two AP courses this year in 10th grade, just looked at me and said, "I'm sorry, Dad, but I didn't understand a word you just said."  I then laughed and said, "I know.  I would never use this language at church or with you.  I'm just writing to a different audience."  To which she just responded, "Are you saying we're stupid?"  As you can tell, she makes me laugh a lot!  No, I wasn't saying that she (or church people) are stupid, rather I was saying that different people use different vocabulary sets.  And every good communicator knows that you must always adjust your vocabulary set to the people you're speaking to.

The person who helped me to get this early on in my speaking career was John Stott in his classic treatise, Between Two Worlds.  In that book, Stott talked about what he calls, "Quadruple Thinking".  At it's simplest, what quadruple thinking does for a speaker is it requires him or her to think about what they want to say (1), then think about how the other person will hear it (2), then rethink what they want to say (3) in order for the other person to hear what they, the speaker, want them, the listener, to hear (4). It's a four part process that always requires the speaker to  be attentive to the person or audience to whom they're speaking.  And assuming you know, is not always the best assumption.

For example, in my mentoring group, one of the pastors mentioned that he had had one of those experiences that reminded him of this concept recently.  He was speaking at his church, which is composed of a lot of spiritual seekers and he used the phrase, "The people of God".  That sounds innocent enough.  But afterwords a couple of people came up and asked him, "So, who are the people of God?"  In other words, even when we think we're trying to be sensitive to people's vocabularies and knowledge, we may not be.  Now, i know there is a time and a place to raise people's vocabularies.  I try to do it all of the time.  But most of the time, we need to avoid the "higher level" vocabulary sets.  And when we do use them, we need to make sure we define the words we use without forcing those we're speaking to to ask us, "So, what does epistemology mean?"

Note: my father, who is a professor, has told me that the flip side of this principle is that if you are speaking with a professor, you probably don't want to define your vocabulary choices as most professors he's known would take that as an insult.  Again, it goes back to quadruple thinking.  You always want to know your audience!

So, as you're getting ready to preach or teach or write this week, have you taken the time to analyze your audience?  Is your vocabulary within their reach?  And have you used quadruple thinking to make sure that what you want to say is what they're hearing?  I hope so!

My Greatest Writing Lesson

On the plane to Cancun last week, I ended up sitting next to a writer.  Inevitably, our conversation focused on the art of writing—at which point, I asked her my typical question, "So, what was your greatest writing lesson?"  After she shared hers, she asked me, "So what was yours?"  My goes like this.

When I was at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, one of the great theologians of the twentieth century—and the founder of Christianity Today, Carl F.H. Henry, was present for a week long intensive course.  Knowing his background in writing, and desiring to write some day, I set up an appointment to meet with him.  When I walked into his office, he was pouring over a manuscript. I sat down and then asked him my big question.  "As someone who aspires to write sometime in the future, what advice would you give a young writer?"

He looked at me and said, "Come over here."  I walked up behind his desk as he was pointing to the manuscript he was correcting and I was shocked.  I had never seen so much red on a document in all of my life.  Whole paragraphs were crossed off.  Sentences red lined.  Words circled.  New words written above crossed out ones.  Arrows pointing to new places. It was a bloody mess.

Then Professor Henry said something I've never forgotten. "Bruce, this is my third draft."  I was shocked. The great Carl F.H. Henry had just butchered his own third draft.  He then went on to say the second thing I've never forgotten, "You see, the difference between an amateur writer and a professional is that an amateur writes something and says, 'Oh, that's good!'.  But a professional always thinks, 'That could be better,' because the essence of good writing is rewriting."  And then came the clincher, "Bruce, the only thing that stops a professional from continually rewriting a piece he's written is a deadline."

Any writer, worth their salt, could feast on those three statements for a lifetime.  So go ahead.  Take a bite. Chew on them.  And then never forget them.  They'll feed you for life.

Books Worth Reading

I apologize for not having posted for the past week or so.  I took my wife to Cancun for a week and she requested I take a week off.  So I did.  Note: We stayed at the Aventura Spa Palace, which we highly recommend (if you want to get away from it all).  If you do go (and want to get away from it all), then ask for the spa side (versus the aventura side) and a room on the third floor (for the best view of the ocean).

As for the books I read, I think four of the eight are must reads for church leaders.

1.  Breakout Churches by Thom Rainer is worth reading because it takes a look at churches that have grown, hit a plateau or a period of decline and then have started to grow again.  It's the church's version of Collin's "Good to Great" book and highly motivating since very few church only go up.  In other words, misery loves company.

2.  A Community of Kindness by Steve Sjogren (of Servant Evangelism fame).  Steve is coming to our church to do a servant evangelism training event next week, so I thought I would read his book on leading a church/church planting before he arrived (why ask a question he's already answered?).  In essence, the book reads like a blog in a book.  it's chock full of great advice about churches and leading them well.  You probably won't agree with all 106 of his ideas, but at least he'll make you think.  Great read!

3.  When Good People Write Bad Sentences by Robert Harris.  Harris writes that most of us are addicted to malescribism, the habit of writing badly and he sets out to correct it with his new 12 step program for freedom from this addiction.  At first the metaphor is funny, but as the book goes on it does wear on you.  However, the actual content about the writing mistakes we all make is worth reading the book (and then re-reading it!).

4.  Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.  I mentioned that I had started reading this before I left on vacation, but I would still highly recommend this book to any writer, speaker, preacher, artist or human being.  Her language isn't always the most refined (i.e. she does cuss) and her theology clearly isn't mainline evangelical, but her writing helps us to be human beings who write.  Personally, I found this to be very refreshing because as pastors, especially senior pastors, we're rarely allowed to be human beings.  Our people expect so much of us, that we're not allowed to be human like them. So, while I loved this book for writing, I also loved it for what it did for my soul.

I hope you'll like these four books—I did.  Remember, "Readers are leaders and leaders are readers."  So feel free to share any new books you're reading that you'd recommend for other church leaders.

Bird by Bird, Step by Step

One of the great joys of blogging is that the blogosphere is filled with delicious morsels that pop up in unexpected places.  The other day, I was flowing a series of blog links when someone mentioned a book by Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird, which isn't about birds, but writing.  In fact, the subtitle of the book is, "Some Instructions on Writing and Life." A week later, I was in Borders when I came across this little book and, because I had read something positive about it in a blog, picked it up and started to read it.  And have found it to be a delightfully wonderful, thoughtful and inspiring book.

Now, as to the title, it comes from an experience her brother had with their father.

"Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he had three months to write. [It] was due the next day.  We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead of him.  Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder and said, 'Bird by bird, buddy.  Just take it bird by bird."

What a great image and phrase for those of us in ministry.  The hugeness of the task ahead of us can be immobilizing.  Trying to build a life-giving church is a daunting task.  Rarely does a plan ever work out the way we intend it to.  People are people.  Budgets are budgets.  Ministry is ministry.  Expectations are expectations.  Satan is Satan.  Evil is evil.  Conflict is conflict.  And the great commission still lays in front of us every day.

So, how do we overcome the feeling of being immobilized?  Well, one way is to think, "Bird by bird."  Books are not written as books—they're written as words that form paragraphs that form pages that form chapters that form books.  The key to writing a book, says Anne Lamott, is thinking, "Bird by bird."  Don't worry about the whole.  Just do the small task in front of you.  Likewise, successful ministries aren't built overnight.  They're built "bird by bird."  So, whenever you're feeling overwhelmed with having too much to do, maybe you might like to forget thinking about the whole.  And instead think, "Bird by bird I can do this."  Because you can.  Hang in there!  God is faithful!!