Three things every senior leadership team must have

Leadership teams are only successful when they focus constantly on three non-negotiables.  If you guard these components zealously you have significant opportunity for success. If you lack any of the three you will pay a price.

The first is unity. Leadership teams that are on the same page and committed to working together rather than separately, that guard one another’s back and are always willing to take the hill together are strong teams and send a strong message to the rest of the organization. Unity at the top means unity among those they lead. Silos or lack of unity on the top team invariably trickles down to the rest of the staff. If the organization is going to move in the same direction, those in leadership must do the same.

The second component is resolve. The world is full of nice ideas, grand plans and great dreams. What it often lacks is the discipline of intentional execution where dreams are translated into plans and plans are translated into action on a regular basis. Leaders who lack the discipline or resolve to accomplish what the organization has committed to accomplishing send a message that we are not really serious about our mission. Leadership teams that have and exhibit strong resolve send a powerful message that we are serious about where we are going, are not going to deviate and we are intent on getting there.

The third component is dependence on the Holy Spirit. Most organizations will not rise above the spiritual dependence of their leaders because leaders establish the culture. Leaders who are intent on dependence on God and hearing what God has to say to them in terms of their direction and strategy not only are stronger because of it but model for the rest of the organization that dependence is not an option but a necessity.

How is the leadership team in your organization doing in these three critical areas?

Love wins only when truth wins first

The current controversy over Rob Bells new book Love Wins: A Book about Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, while unorthodox in its content and conclusions does have an upside. It is focusing attention on a subject that is politically incorrect in our day: That there is an eternal destiny for each of us, that heaven and hell are real and the latter involves eternal punishment and separation from God. And, that there is only one route to a relationship with God and that is through Jesus Christ. Without Christ, people face eternal separation from Him.

My intent here is not to critique Bell’s exegesis or conclusions. Others have already done that for us (just Google Love Wins for many responses). In addition, a simple reading of the Scriptures is enough to conclude that Bell’s circumlocutions around the clear statements of Jesus on the subject don’t stand up to a logical reading of the text to say nothing of orthodox understanding on this subject for two thousand years. Bell is simply restating liberal theology that has been around for a long time.

However, the truth is that many evangelicals are essentially agnostics on the subject of hell because it is politically incorrect, and we cannot imagine that God would actually punish those who chose to reject Him. If we really believed that our friends, family, coworkers and neighbors face eternal punishment without Christ, would we not be far more motivated to share the Good News? To say nothing of living this life without Jesus. Our lack of evangelism concern (in the United States it takes 168 people one year to lead one person to Christ) either indicates we really don’t believe in the reality of hell, that we are uncaring or so distracted by our own comfort and lives that we don't have time to focus on those who don't know Christ. There are exceptions to this, many who I know, but in general, our evangelism efforts and commitment do not match a biblical understanding of what is truly at stake. Nor do the outreach efforts of congregations that are often so focused inside that they have little impact outside their walls.

Incidentally, just about 300 years ago the entire population of our world was only 600 million, twice the current population of the United States today. Our world has swelled to 6.5 billion since 1700 and it is estimated that half the people who have ever lived in human history are walking our planet today. That means that half the potential population of heaven and hell are alive today. What we do about that has eternal consequences.

Working in many parts of the majority world, I see men and women who are absolutely focused on sharing the Good News because they believe the truth of heaven and hell, of a transformed relationship with Jesus or lostness. Many of these have given up income, comfort, and even their lives out of conviction that people need a savior in this life and the next.

Bell says love wins. Certainly that is true for all who turn to a savior in Jesus Christ. What Bell does not want to acknowledge is that truth wins as well. Scripture does not lack clarity on this subject. As Mark Driscoll tweeted today: “Any preacher who does not tell his people the whole truth may be loved by them but does not love them.” Bell has it backwards. Love wins only when truth wins first.

The question for each of us is whether we take seriously the reality of two eternal destinies and whether we will join Jesus in sharing the Good News with the same concern for people that He had. He commissioned us in John 17:18, “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world,” speaking of us!

Love only wins when we believe the truth of the gospel and it is that truth that motivates us to boldly share the Good News and when people respond - that is when love wins.

The Luke 14 Mandate

What would happen if the church took Luke 14:13 literally? But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.

Jesus is talking about intentionally seeking out the marginalized, the poor, those with disabilities, and those who have nothing to offer us - from the world's point of view (of course they do have something to offer us and it is often profound). If we take Christ at his word, individuals and churches who intentionally seek out the marginalized and minister to them will be blessed by the Father. The reason is obvious: God blesses those who have a heart like Him. This is what He did, how He ministered, who He went out of His way to minister to.

Interestingly, congregations that reach out to families who have members with disabilities find that whole families show up because they want and desire the help and need the support of other families who have the same challenges. And frankly, because so few congregations make this an emphasis, those who invite and welcome the otherwise marginalized and forgotten will see a significant response.

One congregation I know puts on an annual dress up event for young men and women with intellectual disabilities. It is a joyous event as the guys are dressed up in suits and ties and the gals in prom dresses along with their families. A small thing? No, it is a huge event for these families who are being loved on by a congregation.

All too often we associate with and minister to those who are like us or have something to give in return. The Luke 14:13 mandate is that we also intentionally associate with and minister to those who cannot give us anything in return. In this case there is no selfish motive and God's heart shines through in powerful ways. 

For practical tips on ministering to those with disabilities, contact Joni and Friends and ask for their publication "Through the Roof: Assisting churches in developing an effective disability ministry and outreach." It is practical, easy to read and has been used by many congregations. 

God blesses those who take the Luke 14 mandate seriously. It changes our hearts as well.

The Five Why Questions

A simple technique for getting to the bottom of problems is to ask the question "why?" – five times, to drill down to the heart of the matter. I learned this from Toyota motors and their problem solving strategy.

Here is an example. I am meeting with a church board of about fifteen hundred whose board meets twice a month from about seven to midnight – terribly long and inefficient meetings. I ask “why do you do this? I can’t imagine those meetings being very productive.” “Well we have a lot of stuff that we need to do” is the answer.

“Why do you as a board need to do all that stuff?” I ask.  “Are there not staff or volunteers who can do much of it?” “Well, I guess we’re not that good at delegating and think we need to be on top of everything in the church” they answer.

“Why do you need to be on top of everything? Don’t you just need to be on top of the most important things” I ask? “Good question, they answer. We just assumed that we needed to know everything. As I think about it that is kind of impossible in a church our size is it not? I don’t think we do a very good job of differentiating between the small stuff and the big stuff.”

“Why is that?” I ask. “Hmmm,” one of them says. “We don’t really plan our meetings very well. We just have this list of stuff that we need to decide and then the meetings go on and on and on. Our agenda is sort of like a shopping list of stuff we talk about.”

“Why don’t you plan your meetings so that you cover the big rocks first and let the smaller rocks fall to someone else?” I ask. “We never really thought of that,” they answer.  “But we like it.”

By drilling down with five “why?” questions we got to the heart of the issue. This board did not differentiate between key issues they needed to deal with and mundane issues that did not need their attention. And they made faulty assumptions about needing to know everything that went on in the church. Modifying this assumption and paying attention only to the big rocks along with a disciplined meeting structure could reduce their twice monthly meetings from five hours to two. So simple, but they had never taken the time to ask why they did what they did how they did it – in spite of the pain.

The next time you have a problem you would like to solve, try asking the question “Why?” five times, drilling down to the heart of the matter. You may be surprised at what you find.

Want to drill down further? Check out this link.

The Heart of the Matter

Scripture is replete with references to our hearts – the source of our thinking, actions, priorities, motivations and attitudes. Everything important about us comes back to our hearts. Proverbs 4:23 puts this in perspective when it says, “Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.”

We know that God cares about the content and condition of our hearts. The question that we need to constantly ask ourselves is whether our hearts reflect His heart. A helpful exercise is to read Scripture with the constant question in the back of our minds, what does this text say about the heart of God – and therefore our hearts.

Ultimately, spiritual transformation is about my heart becoming more like His heart and the greatest gift we will receive when we see Him face to face is that our hearts indeed will reflect His heart. To the extent that we bring our hearts into alignment with His heart we will become the people He wants us to be and have the impact that He wants us to have.

This goes beyond good theology, biblical knowledge or legalistic obedience. It is about alignment at our very core. When God talks about caring about the orphan and the widow in the Old Testament – what does this say about His heart for those who are without an advocate? When He instructs the Israelites to treat the alien among them well, what does that say about His heart? When He is gracious to the nation of Israel in spite of their wayward heart, what does that say about His heart?

The Gospels are central to a quest for a heart like His because in Christ we see God as one of us living out the perfection of God’s heart in real life ways. Every passage of the Gospels reveals something significant about the heart of God – and in ways we can relate to. Paying attention to Christ’s heart toward His father, toward the hurting and the guilty, toward the poor and the downtrodden, toward the seeker and the religious hypocrite all tell us something about what our hearts should look like. Bring our hearts into alignment with Him and our thinking, priorities and relationships will follow. The very act of incarnation, God becoming man so that man can be reconciled to God tells us something about the amazing, loving, compassionate, forgiving, humble, missional heart of God.

Because the heart is the wellspring of life – out of which all of life flows, the key to becoming what God wants me to become is not trying harder but allowing Him to transform my heart so that it is always becoming more like His heart. A transformed heart brings transformed thinking, attitudes, priorities, actions and relationships. The heart is the heart of the matter. I want my heart to reflect His heart. The rest follows from that.

Pray for Japan

Japan is one of the hardest nation to reach in terms of the gospel. In the aftermath of the devastating earthquake, however, there will be many opportunities for God's people from Japan and elsewhere to share the good news. We should be praying that hurting people would be open to the truth as they experience the love that His people will shower on them.

Pray also for believers who were impacted by this tragedy along with the church in Japan that will be responding in practical ways.

Here are some pictures of the devastation.

Champions and systems

A wise person has observed that “nothing starts without a champion and nothing lasts without a system.”

That truth explains the reason that many organizations (including churches) that start well do not continue on that trajectory and eventually plateau out. And why other organizations and churches are able to transition into long term effectiveness.

Champions are those individuals who have the vision, drive and fortitude to start something new and fresh. Ministry founders are such champions. Church planters are such champions. Missionaries who forge new ground are such champions. Every successful ministry had a champion whose vision and tenacity along with God’s blessing are why they are there.

While starting takes a champion, actually lasting takes something very different: systems that allow the ministry to stabilize, grow and flourish for the long term. As long as the ministry is dependent on its founder for its glue one either has a personality driven ministry or one where everything comes back to the champion. The personality gives the organization excitement and drive but long term that champion or personality will not be present so the transition from founder driven to leader and system driven is a crucial issue.

On a large scale, this was played out with Prison Fellowship with the ministry moving beyond the wonderful leadership of Chuck Colson or Focus on the Family as it moved on beyond James Dobson. On a smaller scale it is played out in numerous ministries where there is a transition from founder to systems.

Founders and champions can make this transition but it is a hard one. Founders are visionaries who were champions for a ministry that had to run by the seat of its pants to get started, was messy in the process and were highly flexible because the founder was the voice and the decision maker. That works for a while. But eventually for the ministry to get to the next level, the founder must either become a leader and build systems or the chaos and messiness of champions takes a toll on focus and effectiveness of the ministry.

Champions are always necessary to get a ministry up and running. They must then transition to leaders with a developed leadership team and systems if they are going to be around for the long run and meet their full potential.