Communicating for a Cause

Catalyst '09 :: On Your Mark

I look forward to this all year. It is, hands down, my favorite event personally.

I love the combination of brilliant ministry and marketplace leaders that are invited to teach.

I love the electric vibe of being in the same room with 12,000 other passionate leaders with a heart for making a difference for God.

I love how the Catalyst team consistently surprises me, going above and beyond year after year. From simple things like geo tracking games to fun toys on the seats to giving me a chance to do something practical when I'm there.

One year we we all chipped in to build a new water system for an impoverished village in Africa, another we personally filled and shipped shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child and yet another we helped TOMS Shoes help kids in need. They tee up the opportunities and make it easy to get involved. I'm not just learning or connecting with others--I'm able to do something in the moment as well.

But the part I love the most is my teenage son has been coming with me for 3 yrs now. He'll be in college next Fall, so this might be the last one we can do together for a little awhile. [Hold on--I think I need a moment...]

If you haven't already registered, today is the last day
to snag the early bird rate.

Yes, I attend a lot of conferences
and I'm frequently asked which ones are truly worth it.

This is the only one I register for a year in advance...
For the past six years.

5 Questions with Kary Oberbrunner

Recently, I was humbled and honored to be included in Kary Oberbrunner's "5 Questions" interviews with leaders in ministry. If you'd like to see a quick snapshot of how we've gotten from there to here & stuff I stress about, you can find it here.

I was privileged to meet Kary sometime last year when he was getting ready to launch his book, The Fine Line. Fabulous book about being relevant to today's culture without compromising your values. I was really impressed with the book overall which you can read more about here.

Question for you guys-- What irrational fear has held you back from pursuing something God may be prompting you to do?

How Not to Run a Company

This email was received by a friend of mine today from her boss:

Since we seem to have some misunderstandings in how things are working right now, I thought I would document the new rules.

Until we have generated revenue all work is going to be done in the office.  If you have to make up hours then come into the office.  If you have late interviews then stay late or don’t schedule it for evening or weekends. (and I’m sorry *name changed*, I know how hard you are working but I can’t do this for everyone but you)  From now on if you work at home it doesn’t count.

If you don’t work 45 hours a week you are fired.

Everyone needs to come up with suggestions for how we are going to save money and we will discuss in on Monday afternoon.  There needs to be some major changes and everyone is going to have to pitch in.

I’m sick of the excuses, the attitudes, and feeling like I’m being taken advantage of.

If anyone doesn’t like this, I suggest you leave and find alternative employment.

I don't care how tough times are. There is no excuse for poor leadership. 

The Fine Line [between where we are & ought to be]

The fine line between being in but not of the world can often feel like a tight rope. Lean too far in one direction and we're out of touch. Irrelevant. Too far in the other can be a slippery slope that leads to compromised values and stumbles in our faith.

How much is too much?

I had the privilege of getting to know Kary Oberbrunner recently and was just wowed with his passion and humbled by the opportunity to get a sneak peek of his soon-to-be released book, The Fine Line.

Kary has a compelling story that drew me in, challenged my thinking and didn't let go.

He's also captured the attention of the big dogs; a few of whose thoughts you can read here, here and here. [You can find the entire list of tour stops here. Definitely worth checking out] But of course the best thing is to get copies for you and your team at a pre-release steal.

Here's just one of the many snippets that captured my attention:

• "Knowingly or unknowingly, when we fail to define relevance, we sidestep accountability. For how can we be accountable if we haven't defined relevance? ...Relevance is a tricky thing. We can't self-profess our way into it; we have to earn it. Relevance is something others believe about us, not what we believe about ourselves."

.: Food for thought ::.

As leaders of ministries, it seems this tension is even more apparent in
how we reach people. Where does the line get drawn?
What filters do you use to ensure your church is "in"
but not "of" the world? How far has that line been pushed?

Lion Pits

Wow. Mark Batterson knocked it out of the park with his latest book, In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day. My heart was racing with each turn of the page, asking myself, "What lions I have chased down recently? How long will my list of, "I wish I would'ves" be?"

The book uncovers an often overlooked passage in the Bible about Benaiah, who early in his career chased down and killed a lion & eventually rose to be the commander in chief of Israel's army. But the core teaching is about risk-taking. Looking circumstances that may be overwhelming in the eye and seeing them as God-given opportunities. Mark goes on to explain that oftentimes as Christians, we're tempted to play it safe. And at the end of the day, the bigger risk is regretfully looking at a long list of things we wish we would've done, but didn't have the courage.

I think this is especially important for entreprenuerial leaders to remember. Risk-taking is critical if we ever want to inspire change and motivate others to get in the game as well. 

For me personally, the book is just so inspiring. It helped me to take stock of what risks really count as "risks" and not just stretching a little :) Like many of you, my list of "I wish I would'ves" is already longer than I care to admit & this helped give renewed motivation to not let it get any longer.

Forging Ahead

Seth Godin had quoted something in his post today that got me thinking

"...People like to follow the crowd; they go someplace because they see other people do so."

But later the quote ends with

"Everybody goes for something unique. Uniqueness appeals both to the taste and to the intellect."

Now, at first I was wrestling with this clash in perspectives--how can everyone go for something unique, yet follow a crowd?

I think we're inherently hardwired to appreciate [and are drawn to] what is unique. Our God is an infinitely creative God & being made in His image, it just makes sense.

But going where no one has gone before can be scary stuff. So it's the risk-takers--the innovators and entreprenuerially-spirited who keep pushing to bring us the latest/greatest creative unique solution. And it seems like there's only a bold few in this camp who are willing to make the sacrifices and take the hits along the way to bring us there.

I read a quote this morning that really made an impression on me

"You're going to make mistakes in life. It's what you do after the mistakes that counts."
-Brandi Chastain, American soccer player & Olympic champion

The article went on to say that we should think of failure as excellence in training & that it shows we have the courage to try. What a perspective! I don't know about you, but whenever I'm trying to dust myself off from my most recent failure <which seems to happen regularly> I rarely feel like I'm another step closer to excellence. But this shift in thinking made a difference for me.

It's so easy to point fingers at those who are willing to step out in ministry and try something new in an attempt to reach more people for Christ. It may be unconventional. It may seem crazy. But isn't that part of what makes it "new"?

Businesses have R&D units and incubators to nurture new ideas. I'd love to see more ministries supported in this way as well; encouraging [if not applauding] those bold enough to step out and try.

<sidenote: the article referred to was found on justsell.com. I tried to link from the website, but for whatever reason the content displayed online wasn't matching what was sent to my Blackberry. Not sure what the deal is. Sorry.>

Summit '06

Wow. What a ride! I've spent the last two days in South Barrington at Willow's Leadership Summit and they had a great lineup this year.

I'm not going to detail all of the session because there are a lot of posts that do a better job of covering that. [Tim Stevens and Tony Morgan are just two great examples] But I do want to explore some ideas Jim Collins had in his session, When Business Thinking Fails the Church.

Now first, I loved the book Good to Great and sent out many copies of the monograph Good to Great and the Social Sectors once it hit the stands. And I think it's fair to state there are a lot of differences between business and ministry, economic drivers, yada, yada. I'm on board with all of those principles and agree they make total sense.

But I think the key is not throwing the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to looking at business best practices.

Big business corporations are a completely different animal, but startup companies and ministries have a LOT of similarities and require the same innovative, entreprenuerial thinking to thrive. "Architecting conditions that enable decisions to be made" is exactly what's needed in the early stages of ANY organization when there is no "concentrated executive power" to be had. We have a vision of doing something great, and need to work like crazy to convince others to get on the bus as well. There's no money, no fancy building, no sterling reputation to fall back on. Just the vision God gave us beating fast in our hearts and the ability to see how it could meet people's needs.

And I'd love to know the success ratio of startup companies [that are not funded by venture capitalists] to church plants. I know there are a lot of bad businesses out there, but it seems there's still a lot that could be applied in the ministry world & wonder if our problem is that we've been afraid to wade too deeply in those waters because it seems "not biblical."

Jim was so dead on when he said our work is too important to entrust it to the wrong people. I think the same thinking applies with how we build it as well. If we start something and it dies because we didn't apply the best the world has to offer, does it matter?