I thought it might be fun to share my working out of some of the vision thoughts from my previous blog. So, I will share how that went for me. One quick note before I get started. This vision is always a work in progress. Who knows what this will look like in two months much less ten years. Also, it seems like How and the What might change at some point in the future. I don't think the essence of the Why will or should. Right?
The way my brain words is from big to little, general to specific, from complex to simple, etc. That's how I processed this info. I used a cool program called MindNode to map my ideas (you can see that here, just select vision.pdf)). I am a visual thinker so this helps me map thinks out better. I started with what I knew best. For me that was the how. That was the clearest, easiest to articulate thing in my mind. For me how was a three step strategy: Get believers to build authentic, Gospel centered friendships with God, nonbelievers, and other believers. I used the analogy of Dirt, Seeds, and Roots to communicate those three different experiences. Dirt is those honest, real friendships we need to have with seekers. Seeds represent those early stages where we start hearing basic things from God. Roots picture our experience of growing deeper with God and into leaders. Dirt. Seeds. Roots. Or... Get Dirty. Gather Seeds. Grow Roots. That's my uber-flexible church model/ personal life vision right now. I knew that much. But, what did it mean we were hoping to accomplish. What was the what?
The what came down to the simple idea that we want to start a dirty movement or "Get Boulder Dirty." If you want a more traditional "vision statement" I came up with: Our vision is to start a city wide and world-wide movement of believers growing authentic, Gospel-centered friendships with non-believers. That's the what. That's what we believe the future will look like.
Now, the why. The why is pretty simple. This is the way Boulder must be reached. Boulder must be reached with dirt, i.e. authentic, Gospel centered friendships (and authentic, honest, transparent, Gospel expressions through-out). So, that is where I must start communicating our vision. Boulder (and all people really) must be reached with authentic, lay it all out, non-phoney friendships.
A couple of additional thoughts. One, this fits me, my family, and the other people who are joining us. It fits the "Who" like we talked about in the first blog about this. Second, the how part described above is not something that I have to wait to do. I don't have to "launch the church" in order to practice the "dirt, seeds, roots" part of our vision. I can do it now. I think that may be a good test of your how portion. Can you do it now? If you can't, how will your people be able to do it. Third, if you wanted to break this down into labeled pieces I think that the what would be your vision. It's where you hope to end up. The how would be your mission. It's what you do. The why would be your purpose.
Thanks for playing along! The next vision oriented blog will pick up where this one left off. We will talk about communicating your vision.
Friday, August 27, 2010
How Jesus Built a Discipleship Community
A few days ago a friend and I were chatting about planting churches and the idea dropped into our chat about Jesus and church planting. The thought was pretty basic. A church is community of disciple making. Jesus created a community like this. How did He do it? Here are a few ideas:
1) He met people where they were. Most people who followed Jesus met Jesus at there hang outs or their jobs. He made connections and deepened connections around the interests of his followers. How many times do we read about Jesus in a boat while his followers fished? Jesus did their thing with them.
2) He had authentication from other people. Some of the first followers of Jesus followed because of the suggestion of John the Baptist. The big three were definitely this way, John, Peter, and James.
3) His community grew virally. Similar to the previous comment, Jesus group got bigger and bigger because one follower asked another potential follower to join. That was the marketing strategy. "I have been hanging out with this guy Jesus and His friends. You should try it to."
4) He had authentication from God. It helps when God Himself speaks audibly in front of a crowd telling them you are the Messiah. It also helps when you can heal people with a word. But, don't overlook how this might play out in your life. Of course, God might heal through you, but most likely it will be the testimony of answered prayer, godly living, and changed lives that others will see God's presence in your community.
5) He asked for people to follow Him. This isn't to be overlooked. Some personality types (myself included) are tempted to believe good things only come to those who wait. We need to be willing to challenge people to join our community. "Hey Dude, you need to be a part of what we are doing."
6) He served others with them. Whether it was healing or feeding people, Jesus lived His life for others. He led His community by example AND He got them involved in the process.
7) Similarly, He let them hang out and watch Him as He did His thing. They watched Him heal. They were there for the sermons to the masses.
8) He took them (the core) deeper. I love it when Jesus would pull his boys aside and explain a truth with a little more clarity.
9) I think you could say that He also started His foundation with seekers. People who were looking for the Messiah.
10) He was full time. Jesus doesn't seem to swing a hammer to often after He started building His community. He devoted His life to spending time with the disciples. At some point, do we all need to make this jump?
11) He was willing to forgo the niceties of life to invest in this community. Most scholars suggest that Jesus was raised in an upper middle class home. OK, by most scholars I mean Dr. David Black, my Greek prof in seminary, but he knows his stuff. He abandoned that lifestyle to invest in these men. Would it have looked different had He been married with children? (Sorry for subtly comparing Jesus to Al Bundy) Would He not have a place for his kids to lay their tiny heads? I guess the point is... be willing to abandon the American dream for the gospel, for the sake of the community.
There are probably more comparisons and better ones too. These are the ideas that came from our discussion. It was a helpful for exercise for me. I had never thought of Jesus as a church planter before. (I know, I know, I'm on the church planting short bus.) I hope some others contribute to this list in the future.
Moving from the What to How and the Why
I recently watched a great TED talk (click here) by Simon Sinek about how the best companies and leaders inspire others. I thought his insights would be helpful as we think about developing a vision. To review quickly from the last post, a vision is where we are going (the what/where), how we are going to get there (the how/the strategy) and why we are bothering to go there in the first place(the why, the who, the problem that must be solved, etc.).
Sinek's TED talk reveals that the best companies tell people the why before they tell them the how or the what. He gives the example of Apple, a company that reinvented itself with their "Think Different" campaign (best commercial ever by the way) that communicated who they were, what they were about, and, because of who they were and what they were for, why they did what they did. He also mentions Martin Luther King, who never talked about the how or the what of racial cultural change. He only talked about the why, the dream. He pounded his beliefs to his audience over and over.
People connect to us over the why -the who we we are and what we are about pieces- before they care about what we are doing or how we are doing it. Most people, once they believe in your why, don't care about the why or the how.
For a church planter, I think there is great wisdom in this insight. We talk to people all the time about our visions for planting. We share before church staffs, large audiences, over lunch, through blogs. What do we share most often? What do we share first? If Sinek is right, we should spend most of our time talking about the why.
So...
1. The "what" is where are going. It should be framed by by asking the question "What can we do better than 10,000 other churches?"
2. The "how" is the things we are going to do to get to the what. It is the strategy piece. The unique practices or experiences we are going to create to make the what happen.
3. The "why" is... well, what's the point? "What" we are doing and our "how" will probably not be easy at times. Why should I buy in? What motivated you to do this in the first place? Who are you? What are you about? What makes you do this thing the way you are doing it? The more honest, unique, and real the answer to the question better it will connect to people who agree with you. The more generic it is the less it will weigh. (The more you spread weight over a multitude of people the less weight they feel).
A few more thoughts on "why." The more specific you are the more narrow audience you will attract. The more people you might offend. This is a good thing. Apple's launch into being the most successful company of this decade was the result of alienating some people as much as it was the result of opening their arms to others.
Also, whenever you are done crafting your vision and strategy, determine how you will measure it's success. This is where the what becomes more helpful. Why's are harder to measure. That's all for now. Thanks for listening.
Sinek's TED talk reveals that the best companies tell people the why before they tell them the how or the what. He gives the example of Apple, a company that reinvented itself with their "Think Different" campaign (best commercial ever by the way) that communicated who they were, what they were about, and, because of who they were and what they were for, why they did what they did. He also mentions Martin Luther King, who never talked about the how or the what of racial cultural change. He only talked about the why, the dream. He pounded his beliefs to his audience over and over.
People connect to us over the why -the who we we are and what we are about pieces- before they care about what we are doing or how we are doing it. Most people, once they believe in your why, don't care about the why or the how.
For a church planter, I think there is great wisdom in this insight. We talk to people all the time about our visions for planting. We share before church staffs, large audiences, over lunch, through blogs. What do we share most often? What do we share first? If Sinek is right, we should spend most of our time talking about the why.
So...
1. The "what" is where are going. It should be framed by by asking the question "What can we do better than 10,000 other churches?"
2. The "how" is the things we are going to do to get to the what. It is the strategy piece. The unique practices or experiences we are going to create to make the what happen.
3. The "why" is... well, what's the point? "What" we are doing and our "how" will probably not be easy at times. Why should I buy in? What motivated you to do this in the first place? Who are you? What are you about? What makes you do this thing the way you are doing it? The more honest, unique, and real the answer to the question better it will connect to people who agree with you. The more generic it is the less it will weigh. (The more you spread weight over a multitude of people the less weight they feel).
A few more thoughts on "why." The more specific you are the more narrow audience you will attract. The more people you might offend. This is a good thing. Apple's launch into being the most successful company of this decade was the result of alienating some people as much as it was the result of opening their arms to others.
Also, whenever you are done crafting your vision and strategy, determine how you will measure it's success. This is where the what becomes more helpful. Why's are harder to measure. That's all for now. Thanks for listening.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Creating a Vision
During the previous blog I talked about the four steps to successful leadership. The first step that we talked about was "Creating a Vision." Humor me for a little while as a share a few thoughts on creating a vision.
What is a vision? A vision is simply an idea of where you want to be in the future. For the author it is the finished book. For the runner it is the goal at the end of the race. For an NFL team it might be the Vince Lombardi Trophy for winning a SuperBowl. A vision is not complicated. But, it is very important.
If it is so simple why do some organizations struggle with it? Sometimes a team struggles with vision because their destination is really hard to put into words or pictures. Maybe they're going somewhere they have never been before. Sometimes a group struggles with a vision because it isn't weighty enough. The why question isn't answered. Why should I make this business profitable? What's the big deal?
Some questions to ask yourself about vision: What do we want to accomplish? What imprint do we want to leave on the world? Why do we want to do this? Can we do this? It might be difficult for me to get buy in from a church start team if my vision is to "Win the Super Bowl."
I'm probably getting a little ahead of myself. So much of a successful vision comes in the next steps of leadership, communicating and transferring vision. Creating a vision is often the easy part. But, there are some important things to consider to make sure your vision is clear. Clear for you. Clear for others.
Recently I read this blog where Tony Morgan interviewed Will Mancini, the founder and Clarity Evangelist of Auxano about having a clear vision. I think the most salient piece of information I got from this interview was his "vision framing question." The question is "What can your church do better than 10,000 churches?" I think that is a great place to start. It helps you really think about your organizational strengths and passions. It is clarifying too. It keeps you from just photocopying someone else's brilliant vision. Maybe what they do doesn't fit your team. A great idea for one may not be for everyone. So, vision may start with a little self discovery huh?
Another helpful resource is Andy Stanley's Visioneering. He reminds us that vision is at it's heart a solution to a problem that must to be solved. What problem does your vision solve? Does anyone else care about this problem?
Both of these questions start with the "what." So, vision is the summary of several questions.
Where do we want to end up?
Who are we? (Our vision has to fit)
What are we going to do
But I think the most important question's are how and why. That will probably be a good blog for next time. "Moving from the what to the how and the why."
What is a vision? A vision is simply an idea of where you want to be in the future. For the author it is the finished book. For the runner it is the goal at the end of the race. For an NFL team it might be the Vince Lombardi Trophy for winning a SuperBowl. A vision is not complicated. But, it is very important.
If it is so simple why do some organizations struggle with it? Sometimes a team struggles with vision because their destination is really hard to put into words or pictures. Maybe they're going somewhere they have never been before. Sometimes a group struggles with a vision because it isn't weighty enough. The why question isn't answered. Why should I make this business profitable? What's the big deal?
Some questions to ask yourself about vision: What do we want to accomplish? What imprint do we want to leave on the world? Why do we want to do this? Can we do this? It might be difficult for me to get buy in from a church start team if my vision is to "Win the Super Bowl."
I'm probably getting a little ahead of myself. So much of a successful vision comes in the next steps of leadership, communicating and transferring vision. Creating a vision is often the easy part. But, there are some important things to consider to make sure your vision is clear. Clear for you. Clear for others.
Recently I read this blog where Tony Morgan interviewed Will Mancini, the founder and Clarity Evangelist of Auxano about having a clear vision. I think the most salient piece of information I got from this interview was his "vision framing question." The question is "What can your church do better than 10,000 churches?" I think that is a great place to start. It helps you really think about your organizational strengths and passions. It is clarifying too. It keeps you from just photocopying someone else's brilliant vision. Maybe what they do doesn't fit your team. A great idea for one may not be for everyone. So, vision may start with a little self discovery huh?
Another helpful resource is Andy Stanley's Visioneering. He reminds us that vision is at it's heart a solution to a problem that must to be solved. What problem does your vision solve? Does anyone else care about this problem?
Both of these questions start with the "what." So, vision is the summary of several questions.
Where do we want to end up?
Who are we? (Our vision has to fit)
What are we going to do
But I think the most important question's are how and why. That will probably be a good blog for next time. "Moving from the what to the how and the why."
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
The Leadership Cycle
I was asked a few months ago to explain my philosophy of leadership. Funny, I really hadn't thought about leadership that critically before. I just sought to have impact with people. After a lot of reflection, I developed what for me has been a helpful tool when it comes to consistent leadership. I thought it would be fun to talk about this "Leadership Cycle" on the blog as a way to get started thinking through a few deeper ideas -deeper for me any way.
For today, I will just give a basic overview. Later I will go a little deeper on each part of the process. So here it goes:
The Leadership Cycle is basically four steps which come to think of it might mean it is not a cycle. Nomenclature will come later I guess.
Step 1. Develop a Vision. You can't help people arrive at a destination unless you know where that destination lies.
Step 2. Communicate the Vision. This is a very important step in the process. I would say that most leaders do not spend enough time carefully considering the effects of clearly communicating a vision. A simple test will determine if you are communicating it successfully. Can your team repeat it and explain it at a moments notice? You will not be able to move to the next step until the answer is yes.
Step 3. Transfer the Vision. After your team knows the vision well and can repeat it, do they buy in? Do they take personal ownership of accomplishing the vision? This step is the most important step in the process. It is where real leadership is brought to play.
Step 4. Perform the Vision. Each piece of this process is useless if it is all theoretical. The leader has to help the team accomplish the tasks and actions necessary to make the vision a reality. The leader, at this point, becomes a coach. He develops his team members to make sure they are performing well. He is the constant motivator, teacher, and servant.
So, the leader is a dreamer, a communicator, a leader, and a coach. Over the next few blogs I will attempt to unpack these ideas a little more and provide some resources to help fulfill them at a high level. Until then, one final thought. The leader must involve his team in each step of this process as much as possible. The more the team is a part of each step of the process the more efficiently they will accomplish the vision.
For today, I will just give a basic overview. Later I will go a little deeper on each part of the process. So here it goes:
The Leadership Cycle is basically four steps which come to think of it might mean it is not a cycle. Nomenclature will come later I guess.
Step 1. Develop a Vision. You can't help people arrive at a destination unless you know where that destination lies.
Step 2. Communicate the Vision. This is a very important step in the process. I would say that most leaders do not spend enough time carefully considering the effects of clearly communicating a vision. A simple test will determine if you are communicating it successfully. Can your team repeat it and explain it at a moments notice? You will not be able to move to the next step until the answer is yes.
Step 3. Transfer the Vision. After your team knows the vision well and can repeat it, do they buy in? Do they take personal ownership of accomplishing the vision? This step is the most important step in the process. It is where real leadership is brought to play.
Step 4. Perform the Vision. Each piece of this process is useless if it is all theoretical. The leader has to help the team accomplish the tasks and actions necessary to make the vision a reality. The leader, at this point, becomes a coach. He develops his team members to make sure they are performing well. He is the constant motivator, teacher, and servant.
So, the leader is a dreamer, a communicator, a leader, and a coach. Over the next few blogs I will attempt to unpack these ideas a little more and provide some resources to help fulfill them at a high level. Until then, one final thought. The leader must involve his team in each step of this process as much as possible. The more the team is a part of each step of the process the more efficiently they will accomplish the vision.
Monday, August 16, 2010
We Finally Made it to Boulder!
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