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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.