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Misplaced Priorities

PRIORITIZE – "Good can be the enemy of great."- Jim Collins

There was a family that left the city to go raise some cattle…

Some friends of the family came to them six months later at the cattle ranch…

The friends asked the family, “What are you going to call your cattle ranch?”…

The cattle rancher said, “Well, I wanted to call it the flying dutch.  My wife wanted to call it Suzy Q.  My son wanted to call it the Bar J, and my daughter wanted to call it the Lazy Y.”  “However”,  the cattle rancher said, “We compromised and called the ranch the: Flying D, Suzy Q, Bar J, Lazy Y ranch.”…

The friend asked, “So where is all the cattle?”…

The cattle rancher replied, “None of the cattle survived the branding.”

 

Question:    

 

6 Principles of Priorities:

1. God - Is it pleasing to God?

2. Home - Is it best for my family?

3. Time – Does it have eternal value?

4. Influence – Can it multiply?

5. Potential – Does it empower my gifts?

6. People – Will others join me in it?

 

Yeah BABY!

    My sister Brandie sent me these pictures from our...uh,um... family photo album...lookin' sexy baby!...well, maybe not.  Funny stuff Brandie!

The question for the ages...

Have you ever gone through this process with God?

 

• I’ll talk to God ABOUT what I’m going to do.
• God responds
• I beg God to let me do it.
• I give up and listen to God.
• God reveals His will for your life.

Knowing God's will (say it again with me, only this time say it with a deep, deep voice...KNOWING GOD"S WILL!)…this can be a very heavy topic of discussion for most people.  How does a person really know and understand God’s will for their life?  Have you ever wondered why knowing God’s will has to be this deep, mystical process?  Have you ever wondered is there an element of practicality in knowing God’s will? 

 

Here are my 5 key words that helps me understand God’s will for my life:

• PROCESS – Knowing God’s will is a process (Where have I been?).  One must consider things like your background in life, personal temperament (Myers Brigg’s Type Indicator testing), what you have experienced on your journey in life…all these elements have implications in knowing God’s will for your life.

• POTENTIAL – What are my spiritual gifts?  Do I know what my spiritual gifting are, and am I using them in my life and ministry?

• OPPORTUNITY-– My calling in life will be accompanied by opportunities and open doors. 

• PURPOSE – Do I have a desire to see it accomplished?  Do I have a passion for this thing that God is moving toward.

• PROCEED – Bear Bryant said, “Cause something to happen.”  Proceeding means taking action…after you pray, go do!

    How do you process God's will for your life?

Balance or feel the STING

Have you ever felt the STING at home before?  What do I mean?  You know, the STING your spouse gives you when you have spent so much time putting WORK before FAMILY.  We all have had times when we have had to put quite a bit of time at work out of necessity.  However, it can become very dangerous to your interpersonal relationships if you don't find some kind of balance work and family, and life. 

I came across this article (not sure where I found it) that gives some helpful advice about balancing work and personal life.

• Spend time with God - value your spiritual walk.
• Family comes first- if work occupies most of your thoughts, you've got your priorities messed up and your headed for disaster.
• Remember DATE NIGHT - I mean sexy date nights...not McDonald's!

• Find "you"time - find your own personal growth time.

• Eliminate distractions - don't always go to the Internet right away, and leave your cell turned off for awhile.

• If you can leave your work at the office

• Get back to reality - Vegin' on T.V. isn't always good.

• Divide your time equally - plan how your will spend time with family and friends (you value planning at work, right?)

• Actions speak louder than words - your loved ones know where your priorities are.

• Communicate - Talk about your relationships with your loved ones - value connecting.

• Get out of town - vacation baby, vacation!

How do you spell teamwork?

T      e     A    m    W    O    R    K

I found this little project in some notes I had buried away...What did you notice?

Everything is capitalized except the m and the e.

The point?...whenever the m and the e (the ME) gets capitalized it's no longer teamwork.  Teamwork basically means putting the TEAM before yourself (THE ME).

ONE THING...that can make a team better

Throughout my life I've been on many teams.  As a kid, I was on: football teams, T-Ball teams, and baseball teams.  As an adult, I have joined and worked on many teams as well: custodial team, Kohl's department store team, block-layer construction team, after-school kid's program team, high school security team, and 2 different church ministry staff teams. 

However, out of all the teams I have been on, I've wondered, how many of those teams were truly effective teams.  Do you know what I mean?  So, I've been thinking lately about the question, "What makes a great (healthy and productive) team?"  I know there is many things that make up a healthy and productive team, however, I want to deal with just one.

The ONE THING that helps build a healthy and productive team; is a diligent effort to enhance the effectiveness of team communication.  John Maxwell says, "show me a healthy team, and I'll show you a team that talks to one another."

Since I am now on a church ministry staff team, this is an example of effective team communication:

Lead Pastor to Staff Communication

1. CONSISTENCY - communicate the vision, mission, values, and direction of the organization on a consistent basis to your staff (the staff does not need to be on a roller coaster ride).
2. CLARITY - The Lead pastor should always strive for clarity in communication.
3. COURTESY - Lead pastors should always be KIND in your direction with your team (Never use your position wrongly).

Staff to Lead Pastor Communication

1. RESPECT- show respect to the person leading.
2. LOYALTY- This is hard for many Gen X'ers, however, show loyalty to the one leading.
3. DIRECTNESS/HONESTY - Are you telling the leader what he wants to here? or Are you telling her what she needs to here?

Staff to Staff Communication

1. BE SUPPORTIVE - Learn to help each other out (try not to be so departmental).
2. BE CURRENT- be current in your communication with each other (your working on a project with each other...make sure your talking regularly).
3. BE VULNERABLE - To gain trust you have to be real! 
4. DESIGNATE A COMMUNICATIONS CENTER(for some it is the ADMIN. ASST. where everyone can check in).

  Staff to Congregation Communication

1. HAVE ONE VOICE - have unity together as a team (especially when it comes to key decisions, or tough calls).

Congregation to Staff Communication

1. RECEPTIVITY- Staff should be responsive and listen to people (some church leaders are horrible at truly listening) -
2. CALL PEOPLE BACK - church staff leaders can be really bad at calling people in their congregation back (yes, me too!)
3. REALISM- when people in your congregation comes with ideas or criticism, just be realistic with their ideas or complaints (don't take things personally, or think you have to act on every idea).

       

Smile!

There are photographers...and then...THERE ARE PHOTOGRAPHERS!  You need to check out this dude's photography site (simonmcconico.com).  Simon was a former intern with us at Christ Church International.  I was privileged to work with him in one of our young adult environments called, AfterHours.  Simon was very innovative and creative in video and photography, therefore, he excelled in both our music and promotions department. 

Simon now works in Wisconsin (dang-nab-it...we need to get him back here).  This dude has taken his photography business to a WHOLE NEW CREATIVE LEVEL...he is a fantastic photographer! 

Simon promotes himself as a child, senior, fashion, commercial, and anything else photographer in the Milwaukee area. If it includes taking photos, he says, "count me in."  Go head' and check his site and let him know what you think! 

Blinded me with science...

 Do you remember Thomas Dolby's, She Blinded me with Science?   Anyhow, in high school I was horrible at science, especially chemistry.  However, as I've matured (I think) I have come to understand and appreciate chemistry in a different sort of way.  My understandings of chemistry has moved away from the science lab(Hallelujah) to the people business.  I believe that all leader's would benefit from understanding the chemistry that makes up good teams (synergy).  Good teams don't come together by accident.

All teams have a certain kind of chemistry that makes them either good teams or bad teams.

Chemistry 101: (Chemistry factors that leaders should pay attention to).

Relational Chemistry- - How do the people on your team connect?  Do they like each other?  Do they respect each other?  Do you laugh together?  Do you communicate well with each other?  Do you like being on the team with each other? Do you have trust with each other?  Do the people on your team spend time with each other?

 Production Chemistry - - How productive is your team?  Do the people on your team add value to each other?  Is there a multiplication of productivity when the team comes together?

Cultural Chemistry - - Cultural chemistry is the values, norms, and bias that set all in the environment and context.  Does your team have cultural distinctives (a cultural chemistry) where people feel comfortable.  For example, one my former youth ministries cultural chemistry was the high value we placed on personal growth, racial reconciliation, and leadership. 

How is the chemistry with your team?

Change

Bruce Barton says, "When your through changing, your through."  Isn't it true though, that not every leader embraces change? The leadership myth is that, all leader in an organization embrace change. Church leaders/boards can talk about change, but not all people really have a willingness to adopt to a changing culture in a corresponding church context. 

Leaders have to do more than TALK about change, they must be willing to RISK, and take the action steps that would infuse real change.  Healthy and productive (church) teams/organizations have the willingness to adopt to a changing culture in a corresponding church context.

Here are 4 questions leaders must ask themselves:

1. Are you aware of the changes going on around you? 
2. Are you willing to change?
3. Are your ministries changing to correspond with the changes in society?
4. Does your staff configuration reflect a changing ministry landscape?

What other questions would you add?

The Bad Habits of Highly Ineffective Churches

I've been reading a book by George Barna, its called, The Habits of Highly Effective Churches.  The question that Barna poses is, What is EFFECTIVE ministry?  Great question! 

Barna describes effectiveness when lives are transformed such that people are constantly enabled to become more Christ-like.  So heres the deal: an effective church partners with the Holy Spirit to create environments that help foster significant and continual changes in how people live. 

Barna says, "When your church is able to consistently facilitate a personal metamorphosis among its people, then it is operating in the realm of effectiveness...If being highly effective is defined in this way then the American Church has a serious problem...research suggests that only 10-15 percent of the Protestant churches in our nation today can be deemed highly effective." 

HARMFUL CHURCH HABITS:

• Printing the Bible verse used in a sermon,in the service bulletin or projecting them on a large screen - this has encouraged people to stop carrying their Bibles to Church and ultimately from using them through the week.
• Conducting an "every holiday" outreach - enough said.
• Maintaining a rigid order to servicein the weekend events - there is value to stability and consistency, but the predictability of the service has created disenchantment among many, especially GEN X.
• Expecting the pastor to do everything.
• Requiring the pastor to be the chief fundrasier.
• Developing an information-laden website - people are looking for interactive sites.
• Assuming that community is fostered in a handshake.
• Maintaining church classes or programs because of internal politics or history - church leaders can value tradition over effectiveness. 

"To avoid crating bad habits in ministry--and frankly, more churches have a number of unfortunate bad habits--we must be very conscious of What we do, when we do it, why we do it and the outcome of those actions."- George Barna