One of my colleagues recently had his second child. As we were preparing this month’s Leadership Link on Church Planting, I realized a couple’s birth plan is an excellent metaphor for churches who want to be “church-planting” churches.
Unfamiliar with birth plans? It’s ok. Many people are. They help the mother (and father) take initiative in planning how the baby’s arrival will go. It allows them to be intentional about how things will happen, what things won’t, and what things are negotiable. (It should be noted that the birth plan is an imperfect metaphor and obviously not meant to be treated as “equal” to child birth.)
Here are a few reasons why I believe churches should also have a birth plan.
1) Birth Plans Infuse Intentionality
If your church isn’t intentionally planning to plant other churches, it likely won’t. I’m afraid too many pastors leave church planting up to spontaneous combustion or for others to do.
2) Birth Plans Help Prepare Those Involved
No man can imagine the pain and struggle of childbirth; however, planning for what will occur helps to prepare.
Churches who plan for planting to occur will increase their likelihood of enduring the difficult process of planting churches. Birth plans prepare God’s people for the eventual day when people will leave, ministries will change, and faith will be tested.
3) Birth Plans Identify Risks
Before engaging in an endeavor as important as church planting, you should do a risk assessment. This includes planter assessment, viability of the church, impact on the sending church, etc. Anything less is, at a minimum, risky stewardship.
4) Birth Plans Force Us to Accept Responsibility
Many pastors are not planters. That’s okay. But it’s not okay to avoid missional ministry that seeks to multiply kingdom minded churches around the globe (and at home).
5) Birth Plans Identify the Inevitable
If we’ve never made a commitment to church planting, what makes us think we ever will? If we identify church planting as a core part of our ethos, we will increase the chances of doing it.
6) Birth Plans Protect the Mother and Child’s Health
If you plant without a plan, you are planning to plant poorly. Protect the sending church and the church plant by faithfully planning how the sender and the sent will be sent.
7) Birth Plans Stimulate Spiritual Vitality
Objects that are stagnant tend to stay that way. Objects that are moving tend to keep going. If you want your people to be “on the move” and growing, you should plan for your church to be sending and multiplying. A culture of planting ignites innovation and transformation as people realize they and their church will constantly change.
What other benefits do you see to having a birth plan?
What’s your greatest stumbling block from creating a birth plan now for your church?
Want to impact another church?
Want to get connected with a church plant?
Looking to have a kingdom mindset for your church?
We want to be a catalyst and connect you with a church planter,
who you can encourage, support and interact with as you and your church…
Adopt-a-Planter program.
What does it mean to be “Kingdom Minded”? Do you picture yourself at the feet of Jesus who is wearing a stunning crown? Is it when you think of the missionaries who serve people groups around the world? Or could it be that it’s how you see yourself through God’s eyes serving others and caring for their needs…?
When I think of being “Kingdom Minded”, many things come to mind. “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done!” In my reading and understanding what many people mean when they use this term is the idea of making God’s gift and presence available through many opportunities — large and small. One of those opportunities is church planting.
The idea of building a church around the needs and ethos of a community (that may or may not be what we came from or are even familiar with) is actually very appealing…and biblical.
A Different (Yet Affective) Approach
Years ago, we visited a church plant in a very liberal Western European country. For this church plant, the boundaries and the idea of church were very different than anything I had experienced until that point in time.
At first, it was hard to understand and wrap my head around their approach; however, what I found in that church (as well as others in various places) is that often how we worship and serve should accommodate those who we are attempting to minister too.
In one particular church, there were people from around the world living many different lifestyles and finding a place in a church that accepted them and understood that they came to find out something about the God we serve and love. There was freedom there. No staring at the differences. Just worshiping God. Just trying to see who He is, how He loves them and how He wants them to love Him.
Why Plant Another Church?
There is without a doubt a lot to be done in order to plant a church. It is hard work and requires lots prayer and help. “But, there are so many churches” you say. In many areas that’s true. The problem is that there are so many individuals who won’t come to a church that looks like those churches. They don’t want to engage in that.
They are looking for God, people who will accept them, a place to be understood, doubt, ask questions and receive love whether they understand who God is or not.
Think about it. Even mega churches are planting small churches. What is your church doing to be kingdom minded in your community…and beyond?
Church planting is hard. No. Seriously…it’s really hard. The latest research on the state of church planting in America reveals that one-third of new churches die within the first four years. The majority of the remaining new churches launch small and remain small for perpetuity. Despite the harrowing statistics, the research also shows that church plants still outpace established churches in conversion growth and effectiveness in spreading the gospel.
So what’s the difference between success and failure? How can church planters walk the razor-thin edge between growth and decline? Here are five major pitfalls too many church planters succumb to:
1. Count the cost.
Church planting is not only financially expensive, but it takes its toll on your family. There are times in the early phases (and later during busy growth phases), where the church planter will be required to work more hours than seems reasonable. Successful church planters know this in advance and find ways to preserve valuable family time, while still getting the job done. Those that go into church planting while trying to maintain another full-time job or without understanding the necessary commitment level almost always fail.
2. Don’t do it alone.
Lots of church planters think: “I’ll get things started, and then I’ll bring more people on the leadership team.” That line of thinking will lead to failure. It’s critical to have committed people involved in your leadership team (as early as possible) with tasks and jobs that they are entrusted with. If the planter can hire at least one other staff person, great. If not, identify sold-out, trustworthy lay leaders who will join you on your church planting journey. Leaders who try to manage all aspects of a new church alone almost always fail.
3. Don’t plant someone else’s church.
Most church planters get into the business of church planting, because they were inspired by someone else’s story. Most church planters have a friend, a previous experience, or a celebrity pastor that they put on a pedestal, and they strive to reproduce their success. It’s impossible. Church planters have to be committed to planting the church that God has wired them to lead. Pastors who try to imitate someone or somewhere else almost always fail.
4. Know thyself.
Don’t spend only one day thinking about what you want your mission and values to be. Spend months thinking on these things. Then, and only then, should you officially ink them. Church planters sometimes find themselves living out a different mission or set of values than the ones posted on their website, because there was no consideration as to whether or not they would actually work in their cultural context. Another possibility exists that church planters force a mission and values on a community that doesn’t “get” those mission and values. Church plants that are forced to change their values or mission, because they don’t work in their context almost always fail.
5. Don’t hold back.
Church planters, in an honest attempt to be wise, often under-dream. They make plans on what little they have versus planning for what God can provide. Like the unbelieving Israelite spies, they enter the land of church planting thinking that the obstacles are too big. God despises (and punishes) this kind of faithlessness. Dream big! Pray big prayers! And even more important…expect God to do great things. Plan in a way that you have to lean on God to provide. Church planters who set their goals too low almost always fail.
The road to successful church planting is filled with an abundance of pitfalls. Success starts with prayer, continues with solid strategic planning, and ends with God’s providential intervention. If you’re just starting the process of planting a church or thinking about it–be sure you have a coach to help you avoid the pitfalls.
The Malphurs Group offers a coaching program just for church planters that is customized to your unique context. Contact us today to learn more or to receive a free consultation.
Commemorated around the world, Mother’s Day celebrates the lives of mothers who have sacrificed, loved, served, and impacted our lives. We see sales and specials in honor of women on this day; stores selling gifts to shower love on moms. But what about those women who aren’t mothers?
The Gospel Coalition posted a stat that only 53% of women 15-44 years old are mothers. What about the other 47%? Many of those women have chosen not to be mothers. Many have not been able to have children — despite the strong longing in their heart to be a mother. This is a heavy burden on many women’s hearts on Mother’s Day weekend. And it often goes forgotten by those around them — including the church.
As you celebrate your mother today or the mother’s in your church, don’t forget the women (and men!) who are hurting on this day:
Those Battling Infertility – Having gone through infertility and secondary infertility myself, Mother’s Day was one of the hardest days of the year for me and my husband. It’s hard enough having a monthly reminder that you aren’t a mother, but then having a sea of women stand up during a Sunday morning church service brings more tears to the forefront. And my husband could just see the pain in my eyes. As a pastor, attender or member of your church, don’t forget to acknowledge the women who are struggling alongside of the women that are being celebrated.
Single Women - Many single women wrestle with not having a mate, but they also struggle with the longing desire to be a mother. Mother’s Day is a reminder of the unfulfilled future she desires or may never have.
Lost a Mom – Many women are blessed with a strong, deep relationship with their mother, as are men. After a mom has passed away (regardless of the nature of the death), Mother’s Day becomes a yearly reminder of the mom that is no longer in her/his life and the void that remains.
Lost a child - Within my journey of infertility, I gratefully never had to experience a miscarriage nor the loss of a child of any age. Mother’s Day is a reminder of that child who is no longer with us.
Adopted Children – Most adopted children call their adoptive parents “Mom” and “Dad”; however, chances are that Mother’s Day is a reminder that their biological mother is not part of their life or that they haven’t met before.
Woman who had an abortion – A woman who had an abortion once told me: “I will never forget the decision I made to abort my baby. It will forever remain etched in my heart.” Regardless of their ultimate view on abortion, a woman will always be reminded of the decision she made. Mother’s Day is a reminder of the loss of her child and a missed opportunity to mother.
There are so many other circumstances and situations that make Mother’s Day a difficult day to experience; however, most times these are silent struggles that women (and men alike) keep private and struggle to share with others.
We shouldn’t feel like we can’t celebrate Mother’s Day. Our moms deserve being celebrated for all that they do. Yet at the same time, we need to remember those who are often overlooked and forgotten on Mother’s Day.
Celebrate Mom. Remember those who are hurting….and remember the 47%.
We’ve provided free speaker’s notes for all of you who were unable to attend today’s Chick-Fil-A Leader Cast that was held in Atlanta, GA — as well as many other locations around the globe. We wanted the speaker’s notes we took while attending the event to be available to attendees and non-attendees alike. We hope you will be able to “Simply Lead” and welcome your feedback and interaction.
With speakers from John C. Maxwell, to Coach K, to Andy Stanley, to Condoleezza Rice, to Michael Hyatt, Chick-Fil-A put together a powerful group of top leaders from around the United States all focused on the topic of “Simply Lead.” The description found on the website for the event reads: “Our lives are full of things that we think will grow our businesses and increase our influence. What if there was potential impact in simplifying our lives so our leadership could thrive? Leading in a complex world requires simplicity to cut through the clutter.” (found here)
For each speaker we have posted a separate blog post with their core message, some tweetable quotes and, in some cases, the follow-up questions provided by Michael Hyatt live at the event:
1) Andy Stanley: “What are we doing? Why are we doing it? Where do I fit in?”
3) Dr. Henry Cloud: “How to Have Simplicity: Create Necessary Endings and Create Focus”
4) John C. Maxwell: “Process for Simplifying Things and Leadership Math”
6) Condoleezza Rice: “Crisis Leadership, Balance, and Leading From Humble Beginnings”
7) Jack Welch: “How to Let Things Go, How to Classify Your Employees, and How to Educate Your Boss”
8) Lieutenant Commander Rorke Denver: “Importance of Pushing Elite Performers to Go The Extra Mile”
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Strategic Planning Consultant - If you are interested in learning about having a Malphurs Group ministry consultant guide your church through the Strategic Envisioning process to revitalize your church, please complete the contact us form on our website. We’ll usually call you within 24 hours.
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Leadership Link - Our team regularly sends out a Leadership Resource called Leadership Link focusing on equipping pastors and other Christian leaders to lead. Click here to receive this free monthly leadership tool called Leadership Link.
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This post contains the speaker notes from Lieutenant Commander Rorke Denver at the Chick-Fil-A LeaderCast. He starred in the movie “Act of Valor“, graduated from Syracuse University, was an All American Lacrosse Player, and ran every phase of navy seal training in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. He is the author of “Damn Few,” a book about the making of America’s Navy Seals. You can find him at http://www.facebook.com/RorkeDenverAuthor or on Twitter ( @RorkeDenver ).
The big difference for the Navy Seals is our training.
We all struggle with getting high performers to improve.
How do we get our elites to constantly improve.
Every team should have a battle cry. In the military we have Hooyah.
FTX (Final Training Exercise)
- Last exercise before becoming a Navy Seal.
- We realized that we weren’t not going to get there on time and a Master Chief sat us down as officers.
- He said, “As leaders, people will mimic your behavior. The best is they will maximize it. Remember, calm is contagious.”
Every person in America gives each soldier in the armed forces something to fight for.
When you lead, you give us something to fight for.
Everyone has a tactical reserve to improve that little bit. You have one more inch.
Click to access other speaker notes:
Andy Stanley | David Allen | Henry Cloud | John Maxwell
Coach K | Condoleezza Rice | Jack Welch | Rorke Denver
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Strategic Planning Consultant - If you are interested in learning about having a Malphurs Group ministry consultant guide your church through the Strategic Envisioning process to revitalize your church, please complete the contact us form on our website. We’ll usually call you within 24 hours.
============
Leadership Link - Our team regularly sends out a Leadership Resource called Leadership Link focusing on equipping pastors and other Christian leaders to lead. Click here to receive this free monthly leadership tool called Leadership Link.
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This post contains the speaker notes from Jack Welch at the Chick-Fil-A LeaderCast. He is a #1 international best-selling author, Fortune Magazine’s manager of the century, and during his 20 years as CEO GE’s capital rose by $387 Billion. He formed the Jack Welch Management Institute at Strayer University. You can find him at http://www.JWMI.com or on Twitter ( @jack_welch ).
How did you go about knowing how to let things go?
- If you weren’t already in this business, would you enter it today?
- I drew three circles of the three things that our company needed to do.
- I told the people outside these three to Fix, Sell, or Close their businesses.
- Everyone in your company should know where they stand, don’t let them go 30 years without telling them they are the worst employee in the company.
I like to have 3s:
- Self-Confidence
- Simplicity
- Speed
The team that fields the best players wins.
If you don’t have a great team working with great people, knowing where they are going, why they are going there, and how to get there.
When you are pushing for change, make sure you communicate what the change will mean to them.
Budget meetings are nothing other than personnel meetings with numbers.
This is how I classify employees:
High Performance / High Values – move them up
Low Performance / Low Values – out the door
Low Performance / High Values – may have had family issue, keep them because they are trying and need your help.
High Performance / Low Values – these people destroy the culture of a company, their values are inconsistent with the company.
Every personnel move, 1 by 1, will determine your company’s performance.
When you say something is important, back it up with a personnel move.
What should great leaders think about fear?
- We all should have a healthy degree of paranoia.
- You are never as good as they pay you and never as bad either.
- You have to be willing to make mistakes and learn but also know what will get you fired.
- I used to tell my employees, “You should love to be here but also be ready to leave.”
- If a manager knows that he must deliver a culture or environment of growth and excitement, he will always perform better.
- Be happy to be here but be ready to leave.
- My job was to take care of people so well that they would never want to leave.
What are the two things that you would suggest for everyone here?
- Find a job where you love what you are doing or you will never win.
- Make sure to over deliver in all circumstances.
- When given an assignment from your boss, you’ve got to turn that into a whole new education for your boss.
- Make your boss smarter than he or she was before they met you.
- Work all the time to bring new insights to the job and the company. Then you become indispensable.
Click to access other speaker notes:
Andy Stanley | David Allen | Henry Cloud | John Maxwell
Coach K | Condoleezza Rice | Jack Welch | Rorke Denver
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Strategic Planning Consultant - If you are interested in learning about having a Malphurs Group ministry consultant guide your church through the Strategic Envisioning process to revitalize your church, please complete the contact us form on our website. We’ll usually call you within 24 hours.
============
Leadership Link - Our team regularly sends out a Leadership Resource called Leadership Link focusing on equipping pastors and other Christian leaders to lead. Click here to receive this free monthly leadership tool called Leadership Link.
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This post contains the speaker notes Dr. Condoleezza Rice at the Chick-Fil-A LeaderCast. She is currently a professor of political science and the director of the Global Center for Business and the Economy at Stanford University but she previously served as Secretary of State under USA President George W. Bush.
What does it mean to lead in a complex world?
- The key in complexity is to see simplicity.
- Ask yourself: What is the enabling condition? What’s the one thing I can do?
What are the 1 or 2 essentials to being a leader?
- Be right with yourself (for Rice that means spiritual balance).
- Be an optimist (no one wants to follow a person who says things are terrible)
- Be able to motivate people toward a common goal (sometimes that requires looking back toward a time that things seemed impossible. People felt out of control during the wars during 2005. I asked what it was like to come to work during the 1940s and the Cold War. We later saw the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991).
Tell us about your relationship with the president:
- I always recognized that President Bush was the president, not me.
- I had to recognize that I could never say anything publicly that would embarrass or undermine President Bush.
- After the plane flew into the Pentagon, I called President Bush and said, “Sir, please stay where you are.”
How do you keep your act together in a world that doesn’t have its act together?
- It really helps to have a great team. I spent a lot of time building my team.
- You have to find people who also can stay calm during complexity.
- I had the confidence of the president.
- I tried very hard to take care of myself physically by getting regular rest and exercise.
- I tried very hard to take Sunday afternoons off. I’m presbyterian, it only takes an hour.
- After 9/11 I worked 39-40 days in a row but then realized I needed more balance in my life.
How did you balance your life and how can we?
- The most important thing in finding balance is that you have to schedule it in.
- If something isn’t part of the schedule, then it simply won’t get done. I schedule relaxation even on vacation.
- I’ve always been very religious. The key for me is to have time for the contemplative side of life. You have to have time to stop and think, “What am I seeing?” and “How can I better understand and address it?”
How were you so skilled at communicating simply?
- Being a good communicator is really being a good teacher.
- If I’ve thought about something, I can’t start at the end of what I know. I have to walk back to the beginning and take you through the process I went through to get there. You have to help people to see the logic of how you got to where you are.
What should others do who want to have success like you?
- Get out and serve where you can. You can start at secretary of state.
- Make a difference where you are.
Describe the journey of a leader from humble beginnings to Secretary of State:
- I really have had an improbable journey.
- Combination of great parents and hard work.
- I also believe that this is what God meant for me to do.
- We see things happen that we never thought would happen to us ( @JohnCMaxwell interviewing)
- Life is a series of events that seem quite serendipitous. You need to put yourself in position for very unexpected turns.
Click to access other speaker notes:
Andy Stanley | David Allen | Henry Cloud | John Maxwell
Coach K | Condoleezza Rice | Jack Welch | Rorke Denver
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Strategic Planning Consultant - If you are interested in learning about having a Malphurs Group ministry consultant guide your church through the Strategic Envisioning process to revitalize your church, please complete the contact us form on our website. We’ll usually call you within 24 hours.
============
Leadership Link - Our team regularly sends out a Leadership Resource called Leadership Link focusing on equipping pastors and other Christian leaders to lead. Click here to receive this free monthly leadership tool called Leadership Link.
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This post contains the speaker notes for Mike Krzyzewski at the Chick-Fil-A LeaderCast. Mike is the head coach of Duke University‘s basketball team, the head coach of the United States Olympic Basketball team, and the NCAA coach with the most wins in history.
What does a leader do?
- A leader is someone who puts his people in a position to be successful all the time.
- Leaders create a culture of success.
Our team has two big standards:
1) Look one another in the eye anytime you speak to one another.
2) Always tell the truth.
These two standards always increase the chances of having trust on a team.
Rules don’t lead because they aren’t always accepted by the team. If you have standards, you can ask people to own them.
If you can develop standards on the team, you have a chance to complete the mission.
Michael Hyatt’s Takeaways:
1) Don’t focus on winning, focus on creating a culture of success.
2) Truth leads to trust, it is the most important asset of any team.
3) Rules are externally applied but standards are internally owned.
Do I own the standards that I’m holding others to?
Click to access other speaker notes:
Andy Stanley | David Allen | Henry Cloud | John Maxwell
Coach K | Condoleezza Rice | Jack Welch | Rorke Denver
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Strategic Planning Consultant - If you are interested in learning about having a Malphurs Group ministry consultant guide your church through the Strategic Envisioning process to revitalize your church, please complete the contact us form on our website. We’ll usually call you within 24 hours.
============
Leadership Link - Our team regularly sends out a Leadership Resource called Leadership Link focusing on equipping pastors and other Christian leaders to lead. Click here to receive this free monthly leadership tool called Leadership Link.
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