Category Archives: BookNotes

To Improve Your Personal Productivity, You’ve Got to Change Your Habits

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Does your team need practical help with personal productivity?

You have a pretty good sense that most of your team has too much to handle and not enough time to get it done – you may not have a sense of how much you are contributing to the problem.

In our fast-paced, get-it-done-now culture, the fact is that almost everyone on your team could use some help in increasing their personal productivity. Why not show them how by modeling effectiveness in your leadership?

By its very nature ministry makes the “I’ve gotten something done today” feeling elusive. For many church leaders, there are no edges to their work – it’s not easy to tell when the work is finished, because it really never is. Most of your team have at least half a dozen things they are trying to achieve right now – today! And a pastoral need could arise at any moment to make that to-do list completely irrelevant.

Solution: Change Your Habits

THE QUICK SUMMARY – The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg

In The Power of Habit, Pulitzer Prize–winning business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. Distilling vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives that take us from the boardrooms of Procter & Gamble to sidelines of the NFL to the front lines of the civil rights movement, Duhigg presents a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential.

At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, being more productive, and achieving success is understanding how habits work. As Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.

A SIMPLE SOLUTION

Following habits is an important part of our personal routine, whether at home, work, or play. When you get up in the morning, you go through a routine to get ready for your day. When you arrive at work, you go through a routine for the day. When you arrive at home after work, you go through a routine for the evening. When tomorrow arrives, you begin it all over again.

Most habits are benign, but even some habits you maintain – at work, for instance – can be ineffective at best and detrimental to your job at worst.

If you desire to be more productive, you need to understand more about habits – and how to change them.

Research has documented that habits are a three-step loop in our brains. First, there is a cue, a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use. Then there is the routine, which can be physical, mental, or emotional. Finally, there is a reward, which helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering for the future.

Over time, this loop – cue, routine, reward – becomes more and more automatic. You become locked in to the habits to the point that you no longer think about it. When a habit emerges, the brain stops fully participating in decision-making. It stops working so hard, or diverts focus to other tasks.

While many of your habits are positive and productive, there are probably a few or more that could be improved. The problem is, habits are hard to change.

Unless you deliberately fight a habit – unless you find new routines – the pattern will unfold automatically.

Changing a habit might not be fast and it isn’t always easy. But with time and effort, almost any habit can be reshaped.

Here’s the framework for changing habits:

  • Identify the routine
  • Experiment with rewards
  • Isolate the cue
  • Have a plan

Step One: Identify the Routine

Researchers at MIT discovered a simple, neurological loop at the core of every habit, a loop that consists of three parts: a cue, a routine, and a reward. To understand your own habits, you need to identify the components of your loops. Once you have diagnosed the habit loop of a particular behavior, you can look for ways to supplant old vices with new routines. The first step is to identify the routine – the behavior you want to change.

Step Two – Experiment with Rewards

Rewards are powerful because they satisfy cravings. But we’re often not conscious of the craving that drives our behaviors. Most cravings are obvious in retrospect, but incredibly hard to see when we are under their sway. To figure out which cravings are driving particular habits, it’s useful to experiment with different rewards. By experimenting with different rewards, you can isolate what you are actually craving.

Step Three: Isolate the Cue

To identify a cue, identify categories of behaviors ahead of time to scrutinize in order to see patterns. Experiments have shown that almost all habitual cues fit into one of five categories:

  • Location
  • Time
  • Emotional state
  • Other people
  • Immediately preceding action

Step Four: Have a Plan

Once you’ve figured out your habit loop – you’ve identified the reward driving your behavior, the cue triggering it, and the routine itself – you can begin to shift the behavior. You can change to a better routine by planning for the cue and choosing a behavior that delivers the reward you are craving.

– Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit

A NEXT STEP

Set aside two hours to examine your typical ministry weekday schedule. Identify at least three habits in your schedule that are not effective in helping you be as effective for the gospel as you could be. Of the three, choose the one habit that, if changed, will benefit you the most.

Using Steps Two – Four from the framework above, begin the process of changing that habit. Follow each of the steps, spending time each day for two weeks on building personal effectiveness into this part of your schedule.

After two weeks of your experiment in modifying the change of habit, evaluate your progress with the following questions:

  • How easy was it to first identify habits that needed to be changed and then select just one?
  • How many rewards did you experiment with changing? What was the key to finding the most successful one?
  • How easy was it to isolate the cue among all the noise of your daily activity? Which of the five categories was the clear leader in the cue?
  • How easy was it for you to begin making choices again in changing your behavior?

Make a calendar reminder for three months to determine if you are still following your changed habit. Once you feel some momentum, lead your team to walk through this process.

Becoming effective in your own work habits will serve as both an inspiration and guide for your team. By demonstrating an effective, balanced role model, you are leading your team to effectiveness of vision, not just managing their output of activity.

Excerpt taken from SUMS Remix 16-1, published June 2015

Part of a weekly series on 27gen, entitled Wednesday Weekly Reader

Regular daily reading of books is an important part of my life. It even extends to my vocation, where as Vision Room Curator for Auxano I am responsible for publishing SUMS Remix, a biweekly book “summary” for church leaders. I’m going to peruse back issues of both SUMS and SUMS Remix and publish excerpts each Wednesday.

Strive for One-Kingdom Living

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Is your congregation stuck seeing generosity as what they cannot give rather than why or how they give?

Generosity is a way of living that involves one’s daily activities, values, and goals for life, and the use of all possessions. It begins with recognition of God as Creator of all things, and our position as steward of some things.

As stewards, we are in charge of the possessions God has given us – an authority that is real, but secondary to God’s ultimate ownership.

When we get these two ownerships mixed up, problems follow.

Solution: Strive for One Kingdom Living

 

THE QUICK SUMMARY – Development 101, by John R. Frank and R. Scott Rodin

In our 60 years of combined experience with faith-based non-profits we have seen a lack of a comprehensive, biblically based, fundamentally sound, development strategy.

We see at least four main reasons for this situation. First, far too few ministries have taken the time to think through and create a theology of development that serves as a rule and guide for all of their work in raising kingdom resources. The result is that the demands for money, rather than Scripture, dictate the techniques used for fundraising. Second, many organizations set unrealistic goals and expectations for their development team. When they are not reached, the ministry makes a change and tries again. Third, we see a serious lack of integration in development work. Ministries take a shotgun approach, trying all sorts of different ways to reach income goals, but far too seldom take a comprehensive, strategic approach that serves the giving partners not just the organization. Finally, we experience consistent misunderstanding and confusion over the board’s role in development work, compounded by an inability by the board to develop metrics for measuring effectiveness and success in raising funds based on kingdom principles.

This book is our attempt to address these concerns and provide development professionals with a tool that can help them build robust, God-honoring development programs.

A SIMPLE SOLUTION

Generosity success is 100% impossible without embracing this valuable principle: God owns everything. We are stewards of a small few things that God owns. God owns your life, your salvation, your uniqueness, your calling, your job, your body, your car, your bank account, your cash, and your television.

It is God’s responsibility to provide for you, your church and family, not your responsibility. Your responsibility is to release ownership and be an obedient steward.

We were created to be one-kingdom people. That is, God created and redeemed us to be children in His kingdom where He and He alone is Lord.

 As one-kingdom people, we know that everything belongs to God, and we respond by living as faithful stewards. The problem of sin is that it tempts us to build a second kingdom where we play the lord over the things we believe we own and control. It could be said that the entire cosmic battle between good and evil is played out in this arena of two-kingdom living. When we submit to the temptation to believe we are in control of our own kingdom, we treat money as something that we ultimately own. When we do this, we cannot be faithful, generous stewards.

Jesus summed it up with razor precision: “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24).

As we go about our development work, we must realize that every one of our giving partners struggles with this two-kingdom temptation. Our work as Christian development professionals is to be used by God to help our giving partners recommit themselves to being one-kingdom people. This may sound like a huge responsibility, and indeed it is. For this reason we believe strongly that development work is ministry. Let us say that again. Rather than seeing your development work as a means for raising the resources necessary for ministry to happen, we want you to reconsider that your development work is ministry. You have a wonderful opportunity to watch God use you in powerful ways in the lives of your giving partners. Once you make this commitment, it will affect everything you do in this field: your messaging, your planning, your budgeting, your writing, your strategy, your metrics, and your prayer life.

Does your organization operate from a two-kingdom or one-kingdom worldview?

John R. Frank and Scott Rodin, Development 101: Building a Comprehensive Development Program on Biblical Values

A NEXT STEP

Think of yourself as the manager of a trust. You have been given a key role and a great responsibility, so make the most of it. God Himself has trusted you with time, money, material things, and great opportunities. Your objective is to maximize the investment of all that has been put into your hands. Take some time to examine the three gauges of how you are managing God’s investment: your calendar, your bank account, and your spiritual gifts.

In light of the one-kingdom principle, how would you grade yourself in each area? What is one thing you can do in the next few weeks to better your One-Kingdom GPA one point?

In the final analysis, the hallmark of stewardship is administration not acquisition. Only by pursuing the goal of pleasing God do we find true pleasure and satisfaction for ourselves.

 

Because a giving God expects a giving people, the generous Christian should be a joyous giver. We give as an expression of our new nature and life in Christ.

When our focus strays from this truth, a resentful attitude will not be far behind. You serve a generous God; remember to strive for one-kingdom living.

Excerpt taken from SUMS Remix 30-1 published December 2015

Part of a weekly series on 27gen, entitled Wednesday Weekly Reader

Regular daily reading of books is an important part of my life. It even extends to my vocation, where as Vision Room Curator for Auxano I am responsible for publishing SUMS Remix, a biweekly book “summary” for church leaders. I’m going to peruse back issues of both SUMS and SUMS Remix and publish excerpts each Wednesday.

It’s Time to Elevate Your Leadership Game

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How do you cultivate long-term commitment within your team?

Many teams today are not really teams at all – organizationally, structurally, and motivationally they are not set up to work as individual parts of a larger, unified whole. Often they reflect outdated organizational charts that have little to do with current reality. There are times when a leader realizes their team is actually a collection of individuals who are looking out for themselves. Left in this state, a team can actually become a divisive and damaging cancer to the organization.

Is it little wonder, then, that leaders seek help in cultivating commitment within their teams? The problem isn’t necessarily with the team members or leaders themselves, but what the team is being asked to do: work together without any larger sense of organizational direction or purpose.

Solution: It’s Time to Elevate Your Leadership Game

 

THE QUICK SUMMARY – Chess, Not Checkers, by Mark Miller

As organizations grow in volume and complexity, the demands on leadership change. The same old moves won’t cut it any more.

The early days of an organization are like checkers: a quickly played game with mostly interchangeable pieces. Everyone, the leader included, does a little bit of everything; the pace is frenetic. But as the organization expands, you can’t just keep jumping from activity to activity. You must think strategically, plan ahead, and leverage every employee’s specific talents—that’s chess. Leaders who continue to play checkers when the name of the game is chess lose.

Chess Not Checkers, by Mark Miller, delivers four essential strategies from the game of chess that will transform leadership and organizations.

A SIMPLE SOLUTION

In Chess Not Checkers, Mark Miller uses a business fable to demonstrate that leaders who elevate their leadership game will in turn make their teams and organizations stronger.

According to Miller, the game of chess contains four specific parallels that can inform and transform teams and organizations seeking new levels of performance. Miller uses the simplicity, repetitiveness, and reactions found in the game of checkers to set up the game of chess as in instructive lesson for leaders in any organization.

 People want to be valued; they want to be useful; they want to contribute. When you make the right moves, people show up in a whole new way.

Most of us began our leadership journey utilizing an approach with striking similarities to the game of checkers, a fun, highly reactionary game often played at a frantic pace. Any strategies we employed in this style of leadership were limited, if not rudimentary.

The game today for most leaders can be better compared to chess – a game in which strategy matters; a game in which individual pieces have unique abilities that drive unique contributions; a game in which heightened focus and a deeper level of thinking are required to win.

Bet on Leadership – Growing leaders grow organizations

  • Leadership growth precedes organizational growth
  • Capacity to grow determines capacity to lead
  • Identify emerging leaders and invest in them early
  • Strengthen your leadership team to become source of additional leadership capacity

Act as One – Alignment multiplies impact

  • Define your win
  • Get agreement from leadership team
  • Cascade and reinforce the win throughout the organization
  • Keep your organization aligned on what matters most

Win the Heart – Engagement energizes effort

  • Leverage unique capabilities of each person
  • Help people find and fulfill their dreams
  • Give people real responsibility
  • Show people you care

Excel at Execution – Greatness hinges on execution

  • Measure what matters most
  • Build your organization on systems, not personality
  • Communicate performance visually
  • Narrow your focus

– Mark Miller, Chess Not Checkers 

A NEXT STEP

You may have begun your leadership path using actions similar to the game of chess – basic, repetitive moves, often carried through at a fast pace with little strategy.

Today you find yourself in a whole new game – one in which strategy matters, individual pieces matter, and intense concentration and focus is required.

At your next team meeting, list the four moves developed by Mark Miller on a white board or flip-chart. For each of the four moves, start where you are – discuss how your organization defines the move. If necessary, modify the definition until your team is in agreement.

Over a period of two weeks, arrange a series of four meetings in which your team will be tackling one of the four moves at each meeting.

Discuss the three biggest challenges facing your team in the area of “Bet on Leadership.” Develop action plans to meet, and overcome each of these challenges. Set a timeline for the action plans, and report on it monthly until it is accomplished.

Discuss your organization’s missional mandate and missional marks of success in this mandate. What are the current gaps between your stated intention and the reality facing your team in the area of “Act as One”?

Ask your team members to define your organization in terms of The Lone Ranger (every man for himself) or The Three Musketeers (all for one and one for all). Brainstorm ideas that could help your team “Win the Heart” and move toward all for one.

Discuss with your team how to “Excel at Execution.” List three action steps your team will take in the next month to accomplish excellence, including who needs to do what to make your vision a reality.

While all too often teams are “teams” in name only, individual commitment to a larger whole is an integral part of the success of any organization.

By elevating their leadership game, leaders can help their teams maintain commitment and accomplish their Great Commission call.

Excerpt taken from SUMS Remix 12-2, published April 2015

Part of a weekly series on 27gen, entitled Wednesday Weekly Reader

Regular daily reading of books is an important part of my life. It even extends to my vocation, where as Vision Room Curator for Auxano I am responsible for publishing SUMS Remix, a biweekly book “summary” for church leaders. I’m going to peruse back issues of both SUMS and SUMS Remix and publish excerpts each Wednesday.

Plan Your Discipleship Process Sequentially

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Do you want to develop basic disciple-making practices, but serve in a weekend-only culture?

Every church should have a clear, simple process for making disciples. Does yours?

Almost every church engages in some form of discipleship. When a pastor uses the Bible in a sermon, or a leader opens the Scriptures to a small group, the church is providing the initial phases, but lasting discipleship must go far beyond that.

If a new Christian who attends weekend worship services only asked for help in becoming more like Christ, what would your answer be? Would everyone in leadership give the same answer? Do you share a clear, simple first step? Followed by a second step?

But this is important for more than just a “new” Christian. How are you intentionally and methodically helping other believers to deepen their walk with Christ? How can you impact a “weekend only” culture and begin to instill basic disciple-making practices into your church’s life?

Solution: Plan Your Discipleship Process Sequentially

THE QUICK SUMMARY – Simple Church, by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger

The simple revolution is here. From the design of Apple products to Google’s uncluttered homepage, simple ideas are changing the world.

Simple Church guides Christians back to the simple gospel-sharing methods of Jesus. No bells or whistles required. With insights based on case studies of 400 American churches, Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger prove the disciple-making process is often too complex. Simple churches thrive by taking four ideas to heart:

Clarity. Movement. Alignment. Focus.

Simple Church examines each idea, clearly showing why it is time to simplify. This updated edition includes a new chapter with further insights the authors have gained through hundreds of conversations with church leaders since this landmark book’s original release.

A SIMPLE SOLUTION

Congestion on a busy highway is no picnic for commuters wanting to get to their destination. Many times it’s simply a matter of inadequate design of the highway for the number of cars currently occupying it.

Congestion in your head or chest prevents proper airflow to the lungs. Reduced airflow to the lungs means your body is not functioning as it was designed.

Congestion causes pain when traffic makes you late or shallow breaths make even simple tasks complex. Congestion in your church is painful, too. Church congestion occurs when competing programs or ministries result in lots of activity, but little or no movement in a person’s spiritual growth.

According to the Scriptures, believers should become more and more like Christ. Movement and transformation is implied, but church congestion slows or prevents growth.

One step away from a “weekend only” culture may require the decongestant of simplicity.

Simple church leaders have learned the wisdom of sequential programing. By placing the programs in sequence along the process, the programs truly become tools to facilitate the process of transformation.

As you sequentially place programs along your ministry process, here are three essentials to guide your thinking.

Order the sequence of your programs to reflect your process. In other words, the order of the programming must flow from the order of the process. If you place the programs sequentially, people will move through your process simply by moving from one program to the next. As people are progressing through the programming, they will simultaneously move through the process that God has given your church.

Designate a clear entry point to your process. The entry point is the first level of programming in your simple process. Without a clear entry point, there is no beginning to the process. When a process lacks a clear beginning, it is definitely not simple.

The entry point is the program through which people are most likely to enter your church. It is the weekly program that guests are most likely to attend. It is the program you encourage your people to invite friends to attend.

Identify the next levels of programming. Just as you have designated an entry point, identify the next levels of programming in your process. What program do you desire people to attend after they have been to your entry-point program? What is the program you want them to attend after that?

– Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger, Simple Church

A NEXT STEP

Does your church have a simple process designed to move people along a path to maturity in Christ?

At your next team meeting, create a fictional person named Joe Grow whose life your team will use to illustrate your process. Using a whiteboard or chart tablet, create a narrative of how Joe Grow came to Christ at your church, listing programs, activities, or processes. Continue to develop the story of Joe Grow’s faith journey toward full Christian maturity.

After completing Joe Grow’s journey, step back and look at your current church programming. Ask these refining questions:

  • What potential areas of congestion or confusion appear in the gap between what should be and what is?
  • Does Joe Grow’s faith journey follow a clearly defined process?
  • Are there currently multiple processes attempting to achieve the same result?
  • Are next steps clear in each program or process?
  • Are there multiple programs for each process, resulting in divided attention and energy?

After these careful considerations, guide your leadership team to exit the congested highway of church busyness toward a simple, yet effective, pattern of disciple-making.

The real beauty in clarifying, focusing, and strengthening the disciple-making process of your church is this: the people who are growing will, by nature, take other people along with them.

Growing people grow people. Consuming people consume programs.

Without stating and integrating a simpler, intentional disciple-making process, your church will remain stuck in a bottleneck of the status quo and “weekend only” follow-ship.

With a simple but sequential process, your church can develop an effectiveness of growing disciples.

Excerpt taken from SUMS Remix 11-2, published March 2015

Part of a weekly series on 27gen, entitled Wednesday Weekly Reader

Regular daily reading of books is an important part of my life. It even extends to my vocation, where as Vision Room Curator for Auxano I am responsible for publishing SUMS Remix, a biweekly book “summary” for church leaders. I’m going to peruse back issues of both SUMS and SUMS Remix and publish excerpts each Wednesday.

Visionary Communicators Develop an Authentic Voice

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Don’t see yourself as a visionary communicator and instead prioritize the maintenance of week-to-week ministry?

Are you finding yourself on a ministry treadmill, where the busyness of ministry creates a progressively irreversible hurriedness in your life? Today’s demands can choke out needed dialogue for tomorrow. When this occurs, your multiplied activity prevents you from living with a clearer vision of what should be.

If you find yourself in this situation, it’s time to call a timeout and evaluate the obstacles that keep you from focusing on visionary communication about God’s preferred future for your church.

Solution: Develop Your Authentic Voice

 

 

THE QUICK SUMMARY – Louder Than Words by Todd Henry

There has never been a better time to build an audience for your idea or product. But with so many people clamoring for attention online and offline, it’s also more challenging than ever do work that deeply resonates and creates a true and lasting effect.

How do you set yourself apart in such a noisy, crowded world? How do you do work that is truly remarkable?

The key is to develop your authentic voice. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a writer, a designer, or a manager building a brand, the more clear and compelling your voice, the more your message will connect with your audience. The result will be more impact and greater personal satisfaction with your work.

Louder Than Words offers a strategy for uncovering, developing, and bravely using your authentic voice to create a body of work you are proud of, that resonates deeply with others, and that ultimately impacts the world.

A SIMPLE SOLUTION

One role of today’s leaders can be seen as clarifying what is already present and helping people perceive what has gone unnoticed.

What is clarity really about? Clarity means to be free from anything that obscures, blocks, pollutes, or darkens. Being clear as a leader means being simple, understandable, and exact. The leader helps others see and understand reality better.

In order to bring clarity, a leader must first develop their authentic voice.

Your authentic voice is the expression of your compelling “why.” It defines the space that you are wired to occupy, and the unique value you are contributing, which means that if you don’t use it, then that contribution is unlikely to ever be seen.

If you set out to build a bridge between two points on a river, you’d better first determine:

  1. The purpose of the bridge and the kind of vehicles that will be crossing it
  2. Whether you have sufficient resources and materials to complete the project
  3. Whether or not a bridge is even the right solution to the problem of crossing the river

To apply this metaphor to your work, it’s important that you are able to articulate the kind of effect you wish to have, and how you want the world to be different through your efforts. You should at least have a sense of how you wish to connect with your intended audience, and how you plan to impact them. Though you don’t want to become paralyzed with inaction out of fear of getting it wrong, your vision provides you with a set of guiding principles to help you stay aligned and measure your progress.

Even though they may not have all the steps mapped out, most great leaders have some sense of where their work is leading and the ultimate impact they want to have. They have a “north pole” toward which to navigate, even if only in a general sense. This vision is what guides their efforts as they continue to refine and develop their voice.

Todd Henry, Louder Than Words

A NEXT STEP

One aspect of speaking with an authentic voice requires a precise focus on whom you are trying to reach – you have to define your intended audience.

In his book Louder Than Words, author Todd Henry advises leaders to ask the following questions when preparing to discuss vision:

  • Who is my intended audience for this?
  • What impact or outcome am I trying to achieve for them?
  • What expectations will they have of me when I talk with them, and how can I meet and surpass them?
  • How might I surprise and delight them by over-delivering in unexpected ways?

As you are preparing for your next opportunity to communicate vision in front of a team or group, walk through each of the questions above.

In advance of the talk, ask a trusted colleague to sit in on the presentation. Following the presentation, schedule a debrief time with your colleague, covering the four points listed above. Ask your colleague for candid observations on how well you covered the four points. Discuss improvements in the next opportunity you will have to talk about vision.

Repeat this exercise at least once per quarter for the next year.

When you find yourself on a ministry treadmill, constantly in motion but going nowhere, step off and learn how to connect with your team and organization with clarity by developing your authentic voice.

Excerpt taken from SUMS Remix 28-1, published November 2015

Part of a weekly series on 27gen, entitled Wednesday Weekly Reader

Regular daily reading of books is an important part of my life. It even extends to my vocation, where as Vision Room Curator for Auxano I am responsible for publishing SUMS Remix, a biweekly book “summary” for church leaders. I’m going to peruse back issues of both SUMS and SUMS Remix and publish excerpts each Wednesday.

Your Discipleship Strategy Starts with Your Definition of a Disciple

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Are you looking for a discipleship strategy, but don’t know where to begin?

How do churches make disciples?

It is perhaps the central question churches face, and only some of them actually have a well-defined answer. As Mike Breen says, “The problem is that most of us have been educated and trained to build, serve, and lead the organization of the church. Most of us have actually never been trained to make disciples.”

Do we now define disciple as someone who attends worship somewhat regularly, gives to us financially, and engages in acts of evangelism and kindness every once in a while?

Solution: Define clearly and biblically what a disciple is.

THE QUICK SUMMARY – DiscipleShift by Jim Putman and Bobby Harrington

Making disciples is the church’s God-given mandate, but too often our churches fall short of their mission. We fill our pews, but fail to create committed disciples.

Discipleshift walks you through five key “shifts” that your church must make to refocus on the biblical mission of discipleship. These changes will attract the world and empower your church members to be salt and light in their communities.

A SIMPLE SOLUTION

 One of the marks of any successful team – from the sports world, business, and yes, even churches – is that all players need to be operating from the same playbook. The team must understand and operate with a basic understanding of the task set before them.

For the church, that task is making disciples. But even when churches come to some acceptance of this task, defining just exactly what “disciple” means is all together different.

Any church wanting to implement a successful discipleship strategy must first begin by defining what a disciple is.

A church must agree on the definition of its most important function, discipleship. Therefore, there must be agreement on behalf of all the church’s leaders regarding this simple, yet incredibly vital foundational question: what is a disciple?

There are two practical criteria that must guide any proposed definition of a disciple. First, the definition needs to be biblical (as Jesus defined it), and second, it needs to be clear. What we’re aiming for is a definition that every leader in your church understands and operates by.

If we dig into Matthew 4:19 as a framework and model for understanding discipleship, we find three important attributes of a disciple.

Follow Me

The first two words of Jesus are a simple invitation. This invitation indicates our acceptance of Jesus – his authority and his truth – at the head level.

 And I Will Make You

The next five words in this verse speak of a process of transformation. This tells us that discipleship involves Jesus molding our hearts to become more like his.

Fishers of Men

The final three words in this verse indicate a response of action, something that affects what we live for and do.

Putting all three attributes together, we see that a disciple is a person who:

– Is following Christ (head);

 – Is being changed by Christ (heart);

 – Is committed to the mission Christ (hands).

– Jim Putman and Bobby Harrington, Discipleshift

A NEXT STEP

At your next team meeting, ask each member to write a definition of “disciple” on a blank piece of paper and turn it in. Compile the definitions onto a single sheet of paper and distribute them to the team.

Before the next meeting, ask all of your team members to provide Scripture verses to support all of the definitions. The scriptures do not need to fully support the definition, but must speak to it in some way.

At your next team meeting, write the definitions and scripture verses that everyone brings on a white board or chart tablet. Work through the entire list, arriving at a single definition of “disciple” that is fully supported by Scripture.

 

The journey to a successful discipleship strategy, like all journeys, will be most successful when you know where you are starting from. Like any journey, you have to start from somewhere, and formulate a baseline definition of a disciple is the best place from which you can launch a successful discipleship strategy.

Excerpt taken from SUMS Remix Issue 10-1, published March 2015

Part of a weekly series on 27gen, entitled Wednesday Weekly Reader

Regular daily reading of books is an important part of my life. It even extends to my vocation, where as Vision Room Curator for Auxano I am responsible for publishing SUMS Remix, a biweekly book “summary” for church leaders. I’m going to peruse back issues of both SUMS and SUMS Remix and publish excerpts each Wednesday.

Be Careful Where You Aim – You Might Hit It There

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a guest post by Mark Miller, bestselling author of Chess Not Checkers and The Heart of Leadership

When was the last time you took a vacation? This may seem like a random question, but it is not intended to be. One of the disciplines I have learned and had to relearn over the years is the value of getting away. Even when I’m not working, I can still learn something…

This learning experience came while playing golf. Now, let me set the record straight; I am a lousy golfer. However, for some strange reason I really enjoy the game. Although I played quite a bit years ago, these days 6 – 8 rounds a year is typical.

We were making our way around the course, and I had enjoyed my share of good shots and bad. I am always excited when I can string two or three good ones together. This greatly enhances my chance of a bogey!

We approached the 9th hole and the yardage indicated about 280 yards to carry the water or a layup with a considerably shorter shot. I should confess, for me to hit a drive 280 yards involves some roll and maybe a bounce on a cart path. To carry the lake was not a likely outcome.

I stepped up and crushed one. We watched in amazement – this was one of the best drives I had hit in years. It landed about 270 yards away… in the lake. The guys with me seemed to be impressed with how far I had hit it; little consolation knowing I would have to hit another one from the tee with the addition of a penalty stroke.

I teed up my second ball – I blasted it! Two in a row – what were the odds? Again, it landed about 270 yards away, exactly where the first one had landed. Wet!

What’s a guy to do? I reloaded and hit a third one. For this one, I really stepped on it. It went about 275 yards. Wet again.

And not to be deterred, I teed up my fourth ball and launched it – you guessed it, SPLASH!

The point of the story? There are probably several, here’s one…

I knew I couldn’t hit a golf ball 280 yards on the fly before I took my first swing. So, what happened? I wasn’t trying to. I was aiming about 20 yards LEFT of where the ball was landing. Or at least I thought I was. In reality, my alignment was off!

Many times, leaders think their organizations are aligned and the truth is they are not. The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting a different outcome. That’s the trap I found myself in. I rationalized my poor outcome:

“I guess I’m just pushing it a little; maybe the wind is a factor; all I need to do is fire through the hitting zone; full rotation with a complete finish.”

All these thoughts ran through my head. Never did I consider, or want to admit, I might be hitting it exactly where I was aiming!

Great performance begins with great alignment.

A former golf coach taught me, “The flight of the golf ball never lies.” As it relates to organizations, my friend and colleague, Randy Gravitt, reminds me that our systems, structure, habits and behaviors are perfectly aligned to create the outcomes we are currently experiencing.

If your organization is not hitting it where you want, there could be many reasons – however, I would start by checking your alignment. Great performance begins with great alignment.

Keep swinging!

Mark Miller is the best-selling author of 6 books, an in-demand speaker and the Vice President of High-Performance Leadership at Chick-fil-A. His latest book, Leaders Made Here, describes how to nurture leaders throughout the organization, from the front lines to the executive ranks and outlines a clear and replicable approach to creating the leadership bench every organization needs.

Impact Your Community by Adopting an Incarnational Posture

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Has the community around your church has changed, but you are not sure how to respond?

Some say that we live in the age of the “selfie” and are raising a generation aware of how they look, and at the same time they are growing more and more unaware of the world around them. What about your church? If you took a “congregational selfie” and then compared it to a “neighborhood selfie” of the community around your church, what would you find?

For many churches, especially established congregations with years of ministry impact, there will be a significant difference.

In the beginning, the church was a reflection of the community where it was located. There was probably significant and steady growth – as the community grew, the church naturally grew. Many churches might even have been seen as their “community center.”

However, over time, every community begins to change. It may be as simple as the community aging – or as complex as an ethnic, racial, or other socioeconomic change. Whatever the case, the community around the church probably changed…

…but the church didn’t change.

Over time, most churches resist, and even fear change.

The growing disparity between a church and its community was probably subtle – maybe even occurring over several generations. It starts with a few people beginning to move into other parts of the town and no longer making the drive back to their old community. Other events beyond the church’s control take place, like key industry moving out of town and the workforce following. Whatever the cause, the end result is that the church begins to no longer look like the community around it and many leaders are not sure how to respond.

Solution: Adopt an incarnational posture.

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THE QUICK SUMMARY – Incarnate: The Body of Christ in an Age of Disengagement, by Michael Frost

The story of Christianity is a story of incarnation:

  • God taking on flesh and dwelling among the people He created.
  • God appointing and sending people as His body, His hands and feet.
  • Disciples of Jesus bearing the good news even as they bear the marks of His passion.

Whatever Christianity is, it is at least a matter of flesh and blood and the ends of the earth.

And yet so much of contemporary Christian culture is rooted not in incarnation but in escape―escape from the earth to heaven, escape from the suffering of this world, escape even from one another. Christianity is increasingly understood as something personal, conceptual, interior, private, and neighborless. If Jesus was God incarnate, the church is in danger of being excarnate.

In Incarnate, Michael Frost expertly and prophetically exposes the gap between the faith we profess and the faith we practice. And he offers new hope for how the church can fulfill its vocation: to be the hands and feet of Christ to one another and to our neighbors, to the ends of the earth and to the end of the age.

A SIMPLE SOLUTION

In a previous Remix, the possibility of a physical exodus of your church’s community was introduced. It may have taken place over several generations, or it could have happened almost overnight.

Even if there has been little physical “leaving” in your community, today’s technology allows anyone to disconnect from reality and be transported almost anywhere in the world, in any time frame, to escape their reality.

How can you lead your church to fight this impulse (both in reality and virtually) and be present in your community?

What are the implications of Christians wishing to countermand the excarnational impulses that pull us up and out of our neighborhoods?

Here are four suggestions for us to adopt the posture, thinking, behavior, and practices of an incarnational body and engage our communities meaningfully and for God’s glory.

Anthropologically (move in). What can we do to become more embedded in our communities, to appreciate their needs, hopes, and yearnings? Moving into the neighborhood is essential. Being able to walk to church isn’t some magical missional practice, but it does ensure that congregations will be an enfleshed presence in their immediate community.

Empathically (listen to them). The church must adopt a posture of active listening, of attentiveness to the disenchantment of our neighbors, in order to know how to offer something more than the deathly, heartless, hedonistic world of secularism.

Collaboratively (partner with them). Who else is invested in meeting the needs of the community and committed to working together in a multidisciplinary manner to meet those needs? If we truly take a kingdom approach to restoring our cities, we should be willing to partner with other churches, businesses, city officials, and social organizations to meet the needs of the city.

Sustainability (stay with them – for a long time). Many church planters or leaders are around long enough to close out their vision before moving on to the next venture. Perception is reality, until we change it. Like a marriage, church leadership should be for the longest time, wedded to a community through thick and thin, come what may.

– Michael Frost, Incarnate

A NEXT STEP

At your next staff meeting, copy and display a map of your church and its community, or draw a simple one on a chart tablet. With the church in the center, draw rings around your church at a 1, 3, and 5-mile diameter. Indicate the location of each member of your team’s house on the map.

After all house locations have been added, reflect on their location in relation to the church. What does where your leadership lives say to you regarding the concept of “move in” or being embedded in the community in which your church is located?

Do you as in individual, or on behalf of the church, participate in any practices that would be categorized as “listen to them”? If so, describe these to the rest of the team. If not, how could you begin to practice active listening in your neighborhood and in your church’s community?

Do you have personal connections with neighborhood or community leaders – do you “partner with them”? Are these connections because they are more related to you as a person or you as a leader in your church? How often do you participate in neighborhood or community gatherings in which local concerns are a topic of discussion? If you regularly participate in such meetings, what do you do with the information you heard? Does any of it filter back to team meetings, ultimately becoming a part of the discussion of fulfilling your church’s mission?

On the same map you drew earlier with staff houses, write a number next to each house indicating the number of years you have lived there. If this number is different than the number of years you have served at the church, write this number in parentheses. After looking at all the information on the map, discuss how this impacts the mission of your church. Are you prepared to “stay with them – for a long time?”

After having these incarnational discussions, create an action plan for strengthening what is working and list the possible next steps toward remedying what isn’t. Plan to revisit this discussion every three months and mark progress on incarnational impact in your community.

Vibrant churches look after the interests of others – starting with their neighbors across the street and around the block. They are involved in community concerns by supporting, if not actually leading, initiatives.

Thriving churches have open doors – open to each and every segment of their community.

If your church is going to remain a vital ministry center in your community, you need to adopt an incarnational posture.

Excerpt taken from SUMS Remix Issue 22-2, published September 2015

Part of a weekly series on 27gen, entitled Wednesday Weekly Reader

Regular daily reading of books is an important part of my life. It even extends to my vocation, where as Vision Room Curator for Auxano I am responsible for publishing SUMS Remix, a biweekly book “summary” for church leaders. I’m going to peruse back issues of both SUMS and SUMS Remix and publish excerpts each Wednesday.

You can find out more information about SUMS Remix here.

Subscribe to SUMS Remix here.

Protect the Past While Envisioning the Future

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Does your church dream more about where you have been than where God is leading you?

Have you ever looked around to realize that your church might be living today by focusing on yesterday?

Many churches long for the past, dreaming about the “good old days.” When faced with questions that are not easily answered, or walking through times of trial and doubt, churches, like people, often want things to be the way they used to be.

The problem is, the past has gone. While we may look back and respect it, and maybe even at times revere it, we cannot live in the past, especially when circumstances demand answers for the future.

If you are interested in learning how to lead your church away from the past in order to focus on what God has ahead, protect the past while envisioning the future.

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THE QUICK SUMMARY – Church Unique by Will Mancini

Church Unique, by Will Mancini, describes a new kind of visioning process designed to help churches develop a stunningly unique model of ministry that leads to redemptive movement. He guides churches away from an internal focus to emphasize participation in their community and surrounding culture.

Mancini offers an approach for rethinking what it means to lead with clarity as a visionary. He does this by explaining that each church has a culture that reflects its particular values, thoughts, attitudes, and actions and then shows how leaders can unlock their church’s individual DNA and unleash their congregation’s one-of-a-kind potential.

A SIMPLE SOLUTION

Bold aspirations must be rooted in the values and visions that have come before. For you to be alive and in touch with God’s work in the world, you were necessarily touched by the vision of others who came before.

Leaders should look for the artifacts of vision every day within their specific ministry contexts. An ongoing discover of uncovering and appreciating the visionary contributions of past and present help prepare your own unique vision to take shape.

Visionary leadership is the art of protecting the past as we champion the future.

We must listen carefully to the ones who have gone before us and learn about their vision. How does their vision intersect with what God is calling us to do? What artifacts of vision exist in the past that can be used to support our vision of the future?

Uncover the creation story – all vision has a creation story, the events and the passion that birth the idea of a better future. Visionary leaders uncover every creation story in the lineage of the people they are influencing.

Collect the hidden gems of vision vocabulary – in the articulation of past vision, there are key terms that live large with meaning. They are “words within the walls” that often stay undiscovered or unpolished. Consequently, they are under-noticed and under-celebrated.

Find the “Hall of Fame” memorabilia – Behind the pictures on the wall, the stained glass windows, and the sound system of your church home are the stories from the people who have forged the character of your church. These “hall of fame” memorabilia speak stories to your church’s uniqueness.

– Will Mancini, Church Unique

A NEXT STEP

Dedicate 20 minutes at the beginning of your next three team meetings to discuss the three vision artifacts listed above.

Meeting Number 1: Uncover the creation stories – the problem with most stories of the past is that they remain in rough form, half-buried in the conscious of the organization with few people who can recall a God-moment that got it started to begin with. If your church is more than five decades old, there may be few, if any, living members who were present at the birth of your church.

Create a plan to recover lost or half-buried memories of your church’s creation stories from long-term members, attic crawl spaces, newsletter archives, or historical documents in your community. The end result should be documented, sharable stories of your church’s birth and ensuing growth that serve as momentum to move forward into what God has for tomorrow. Example: Use significant historical changes like a relocation or renovation to fuel vision for significant changes that lay ahead.

Meeting Number 2: Collect the hidden gems of vision vocabulary – as your teams complete the work of uncovering the creation stories, alert them to be intentionally looking for words and phrases that are often repeated or seem to have significance attached to them. Make sure the teams collect these words and phrases for others to see and enjoy.

As you review these words and phrases, consider how they may be polished and integrated into the living language of your church today, as a way of honoring the past while honing language for the future.

Meeting Number 3: Find the “Hall of Fame” memorabilia – as your teams complete the work of uncovering the creation stories, also alert them to listen for mentions of items and objects to which others have attached importance. Most importantly, record the stories behind those objects that give them significance. Make sure the teams note these items and importance. An old window, chair, or other random object could serve as inspiration from where we have been to get where God is leading.

Not all history is bad, and not all future opportunities will be good. It takes discerning leaders to impartially and prayerfully evaluate “the way things used to be” in order to lead toward the future that God is calling you to create.

If your church is going to remain a vital outpost of Great Commission Transformation in your community, remember to protect the past while envisioning the future.

Excerpt taken from SUMS Remix Issue 22-1, published September 2015

Part of a weekly series on 27gen, entitled Wednesday Weekly Reader

Regular daily reading of books is an important part of my life. It even extends to my vocation, where as Vision Room Curator for Auxano I am responsible for publishing SUMS Remix, a biweekly book “summary” for church leaders. I’m going to peruse back issues of both SUMS and SUMS Remix and publish excerpts each Wednesday.

You can find out more information about SUMS Remix here.

Subscribe to SUMS Remix here.

Leaders Value Sleep and Improve Their Sleep Habits

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Who takes care of the caregiver?

In your role of a leader and servant to your church, you probably push yourself to a point of exhaustion and beyond, rationalizing that you don’t have time for diets or exercise or that you will catch up on sleep later.

The reality is that the more you neglect your personal health, the less effective you actually are at caring for the spiritual health of others. Nodding off during meetings, eating greasy fast food while you drive, and collapsing on the couch during family time after work can be as destructive and sinful to your ministry as a moral failure.

Many leaders struggle with caring for their own health and well-being, and have become defeated and frustrated through the years as quick-fixes and January resolutions have come and gone. It is easier, and way more fun, to give in and neglect your own health.

Does being focused on serving the needs of others make it easy for you to neglect your own health?

 

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THE QUICK SUMMARY – Sleep Smarter, by Shawn Stevenson

Sleep Smarter is a fun and entertaining look at how sleep impacts your mind, body, and performance, without skimping on the “how to’s” to get the sleep you really deserve.

Whether you’ve struggled with sleep problems, or you’re simply interested in living a longer, healthier life, you’re going to be blown away with what you learn.

Here’s just a sampling of what you’re going to discover:

  • Why you need to sleep more and exercise less to get the best fitness results.
  • How to feel more energized and refreshed on less hours of sleep.
  • Why poor sleep quality depresses brain function and leads to poor performance.
  • What exercises you can do to instantly improve your sleep quality.
  • Why going to bed at the right time is more important than how many hours you sleep.
  • What mineral deficiency can cause severe sleep problems (and how to fix it).
  • How to calm your mind so that you can fall asleep faster.

 A SIMPLE SOLUTION

A good night’s sleep is as important to your overall health as breathing and eating. You may think you are resting, but while you’re sleeping your body is busy tending to your physical and mental health and getting you ready for another day.

Here’s another way to look at it: nothing kills your ability to get things done faster than a bad night’s sleep. Repeated studies have shown that sleep deprivation causes significant loss in productivity. A yawn signifies more than just being tired; it means you are having trouble staying awake and making good decisions.

Studies from Harvard Medical School have shown that sleeping less than five hours a night increases the risk of death from all causes by about 15 percent. Researchers understand that sleeping too little causes disruptions in underlying health conditions and biological processes like glucose metabolism, blood pressure, and inflammation.

So not only is sleep important for maintaining alertness, energy for daily duties and health – lack of sleep can lead to serious medical conditions.

Isn’t it time you got a good night’s sleep?

Sleep is not an obstacle we need to go around, it’s a natural state your body requires to boost your hormone function, heal your muscles, tissues, and organs, and make your mind work at its optimal level.

Sleep is the secret sauce.

There isn’t one facet of your mental, emotional, or physical performance that’s not affected by the quality of sleep.

The big challenge is that in our fast-paced world today, millions of people are chronically sleep deprived and suffering the deleterious effects of getting low quality sleep.

The consequences of sleep deprivation aren’t pretty either. Try immune system failure, diabetes, cancer, obesity, depression, and memory loss, just to name a few.

Studies show that sleep deprivation is a missing component to nutrition and smart exercise that could help you shed fat for good. Other studies show sleep deprivation encouraging cancer, Alzheimer’s, depression, and even heart disease. In a society that is overworked and under-rested, it’s more important than ever to pay attention to issues associated with not getting the sleep that we require.

High quality sleep fortifies your immune system, balances your hormones, boosts your metabolism, increases physical energy, and improves the function of your brain. Without all of the essential benefits that sleep is providing, you will never have the body and life you want without giving your body the right amount of sleep.

Always remember the value of your sleep. You will perform better, make better decisions, and have a better body when you get the sleep you require. The shortcut to success is not made by bypassing dreamland. You will factually work better, be more efficient, and get more stuff done when you’re properly rested.

Shawn Stevenson, Sleep Smarter

A NEXT STEP

Contrary to the mantra of the busy leader, you can’t sleep when you’re dead. As noted above, lack of sleep will actually hasten illness, and ultimately, death.

Fortunately, there are a number of proven tips to help you have a better night’s sleep, be healthier, and live a better overall life.

If you are not currently practicing the following sleep tips, why not try them over the next month and see if you are not sleeping – and feeling – much better.

Journal your general feelings of well being, areas of your health you would like to improve, as well as statistical data on blood pressure, weight etc.

Next, identify one to two of the tips below that you will put into practice for the next 14 days. Give your body time to adjust to the first two tweaks then take on the next adjustment. After 60 consistent days of improved sleep habits, again journal your general feelings of well-being and statistical data.

Compare the two journal entries and use the improvements you see and feel to inspire commitment to continue to get great sleep.

  • Follow a regular sleep schedule – Study after study has shown that our bodies obey regular rhythms of sleep and wakefulness. When you shortcut those rhythms, you are shortcutting your health.
  • Manage nighttime stress – Research has shown that stress is a leading cause of sleeplessness; furthermore, worrying about not getting enough sleep can actually keep people awake.
  • Eat right – Avoiding caffeine and spicy foods in the 4-6 hours before bedtime will probably keep you from a good night’s sleep.
  • Exercise – Even moderate amounts of exercise will enable a good night’s sleep.
  • Make sleep a priority in your overall health and wellbeing – Commit to say “no” or to not watch “just one more episode” on Netflix each evening, because establishing a healthy sleep routine is a foundational step in increasing your overall health.
  • Turn off the screens – The “friendly glow” of mobile devices, laptops, and television screens, and even e-readers not only gives off unnecessary light in your (hopefully) darkened room, the content of those devices causes unnecessary stress right when you need to be reducing stress.
  • Talk to your doctor – It may be the last on the list, but lack of sleep may be an early indicator of serious health issues. If you’re not resting well, make an appointment to talk it over with your doctor.

Excerpt taken from SUMS Remix Issue 27-2, published November 2015

 

Part of a weekly series on 27gen, entitled Wednesday Weekly Reader

Regular daily reading of books is an important part of my life. It even extends to my vocation, where as Vision Room Curator for Auxano I am responsible for publishing SUMS Remix, a biweekly book “summary” for church leaders. I’m going to peruse back issues of both SUMS and SUMS Remix and publish excerpts each Wednesday.

You can find out more information about SUMS Remix here.

Subscribe to SUMS Remix here.