Tag: Leadership

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Is It Our Responsibility?

nehemiah-wallSeveral weeks ago I asked our people at New Passion, “Do you see the mission Jesus calls us to as your personal responsibility?”

I love the story of Nehemiah. One of the things that keeps sticking out to me is how everyone worked together for the common vision that God gave Nehemiah. There is no doubt that each person saw this mission from God as their personal responsibility. The Bible says that each person repaired the section of the wall in front of their own home. This mission was very personal.

I love the fact that it points out in one occasion that the people worked with enthusiasm and how Baruch zealously repaired an additional section of the wall. That means he didn’t have tunnel vision – he saw the entire project as his responsibility, not just his piece of the wall…he went above and beyond…Passion will cause you to do that. It’s kind of like the Lays potato chips challenge, “I Bet You Can’t Eat Just One” – When God puts a passion in your heart, you won’t be satisfied with a mundane approach to the mission he calls you to, you’ll want more! The Nobles  and Officials agreed to give back to the poor the interest they had charged them and to require no more payments for their debt to help relieve the financial stress and pressure on the lower class. These people were willing to sacrifice in order to unify under a common vision and a  common mission. They saw it as their responsibility!

So what about you? Do you see the mission Jesus calls His followers to as all of our personal responsibility? I believe when we get to that point, it adds a whole new dimension to the way we live out our faith. I believe it is an essential ingredient needed to change the world with the gospel.

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UNLEASH 2010: Session 2 Perry Noble

perry-noble1Unleash 2010 Main Session 2

Session Notes

Acts 14:8-

The best thing a church can do is make sure their senior pastor is healthy

Be careful for the crowd….those who deify will crucify. (My Note: Wow!!!)

The problem with a lot of pastors is that we will not admit our humanity

vs 19 – The people stoned Paul…not Barnabas or anyone else. Paul, the Leader. The main guy…that’s it.

3 Words:

1. Awareness –

Many times we make mistakes because we are unaware.

  • Some people’s thoughts is that they do as much as the Senior Pastor and they carry the same load.
    (Its not that they are trying to be mean…they are just UNAWARE)
    (When Satan wants to stop a movement he always goes after the leader)
  • 3 Rocks Pastors Need to Be Aware Of –
  1. Rock of Distractions – Distractions will come our way.
    Pastor, do not get distracted with things outside of Jesus

    • Don’t get distracted by false agendas
    • Don’t get distracted by yourself
    • Don’t get distracted by Pride

    If God is using us, its because we were barren, and God changed our lives, we did nothing ourselves.

  2. Rock of Deception –
    • The deception that the Pastor has to do everything
    • The Bible calls those who do not work, lazy; It calls the one who will not rest, disobedient
    • Pastor – Do you have a date night with your wife? Without the kids? Without the cell phone?
    • Pastor, if this world can’t live without you for an hour…it’s in trouble!
    • Pastor, your kids need you!
    • Pastor, your marriage is the most important marriage in the church. It’s got to remain strong.
  3. The Rock of Discouragement –

    • Listen to your coaches, not your critics

2. Unity –

  • Pastor – Be a man worth rallying around
    How to be a man worth rallying around:

    • Lead with Integrity (Be real – Be Sexually Pure – ETC.)
    • Get Big Vision from God (You want great leaders? Have a great vision)
    • Listen to your staff (Ask your staff: What do you think?)
      Your leaders will have a solution, your robots will wait until they are told what to do.
      Pastor, make sure your leaders are resourced, and get out of their way.
    • Keep short accounts – Don’t be bitter at people.
    • Make expectations clear – You can’t keep people accountable to an unspoken rule or expectation.
    • Honor your leader’s time

3. Passion –

  • The average pastor is the SBC is 22 months.
  • Churches are unhealthy because there are men of God who are unwilling to stand when the rocks are thrown.
  • If you can’t support the vision of the pastor, get off his team. If he is disobeying God…God will cut him down, not you.
  • When a man of God has a supportive team or staff gathered around him, he can get back up when the stones are thrown.
  • If a staff will rally around the pastor, no rock thrower is a match for them.
  • Pastor, who do you have standing around you?

…updating

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UNLEASH 2010: Breakout Session 1

perry-noble1stevenfurtick-buttonUnleash 2010 Breakout Session 1: Senior  Pastors Only

Perry Noble &
Steven Furtick

Breakout Session Notes

God can speak through people who are equivalent to Balaam’s donkey – Steven Furtick (They’re pretty much jackasses…Don’t tithe, don’t get involved, etc. But God can speak through them)

  • The parameters of the overall vision gives the leadership freedom to lead & think Big – The overall vision comes from the pastor – Steve Furtick

(I was reminded about this quote from Church Planters Conference) “You can’t have a strategy without first having a philosophy” – Pete Wilson

  • When you hear from God and your leaders know you hear from God, you can lead them to do some stupid stuff 🙂 However, you have to REALLY hear from God, you cannot front like you hear from God.
  • Leaders have to choose the path of humility – “God cannot lift an unbowed head” – Steven Furtick
  • The unspoken lid to our leadership is the fear of being burned – Steven Furtick
  • The Great players play hurt. Preach hurt, don’t preach bitter! – Perry Noble
  • God’s promise is bigger than your perhaps – Steven Furtick
  • A pastor cannot choose his successor – Perry Noble quoting Rick Warren
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People of the Second Chance

There’s been a buzz around Twitter today. Here’s what its all about. Keep your eyes open for this: I Copied this from POTSC –


potsc_logoToday something starts anew.

It is the first small step into officially beginning People of the Second Chance (Website).

What is People of the Second Chance? Truthfully, we’re still sort of figuring that out.

But we do know this…we have dreamed for years about a movement of people that would let radical integrity and radical grace consume them in their life and leadership.

And in God’s perfect and ironic timing, People of the Second Chance is no longer just a nice concept with some stickers and tee shirts, but the very story we are living out right now.

In the past few weeks of learning, loss, tears, and experiencing a significant valley in our lives, we are more certain than ever that God does his best work in brokenness.

But let us be very clear here. This isn’t about us. It never has been. You see we have this simple belief that deep inside of all us we are desperately wanting grace, forgiveness, second chances and a fresh start.

We realize this is a little sloppy, unclear, and a bit rough around the edges. Even so, we still want to humbly and with sincerity invite you to join us.

Every journey must begin somewhere. This is our very simple somewhere. Welcome to the People of the Second Chance

Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite

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Church Planters Don’t Come In a Box

cardboard-boxI haven’t joined the MAC cult as many of my friends have. I’m very curious about owning my own MAC, but my main decision to stay PC has been solely financial.

One of the things that attracts me to the MAC is the out-of-the-box uniformity. With PC’s we have the good family members and then we have the distant, red headed step cousins that we wish weren’t at the family reunions, no names…E-Machines and the like. With PC there are vast differences between a Toshiba and an E-Machine.

The more time I log in this “Church Planting” journey the more I am coming to realize that church planters and new churches (known as church plants…not the fake green things) are more like PCs and not like MACs. Church planters do not come in a box just as new churches do not come in a box.

I allowed myself to be defeated in the early days of our launch. It seemed like everything I’ve heard in conferences or read in books or listened to on Podcasts simply didn’t happen for New Passion. I allowed myself to have high hopes based on plans I created and from the promise of support and help from groups and individuals and even from the closest of friends. Though I can never control the circumstances around me, I’ve come to the reality that though God uses people in the most powerful of ways in our lives, there are times that he has a specific plan for us where we have to fully rely on and fully trust in him alone. I came to the realization that God was building New Passion in such a way that HE alone would get the glory.

There are things that all church planters experience and have to go through. I understand that. I consider these the mouse and the keyboards of the industry. We all have to have them to function properly. However, there are some things based on each church planter’s circumstances that they cannot learn from just anybody. The sad reality is, some church planters will spend a ton of time looking at attractive “successful” churches and adopting just about everything they do, but they never see or understand the realities that led that “successful” church to adopt those programs or processes. There are some church planters who want to be everyone but themselves and though I  have dealt with the temptation of falling into that trap, I am slowly seeing that many of the “successful” churches I could look at  haven’t dealt with what New Passion has to deal with.

It would be much easier if all church planters came in a box packaged with $75,000-$100,000 to start with, a launch team of at least 100 people,  a partnering organization that fulfills their purpose, all of the equipment needed for success, and every promise made to them fulfilled, and the ability to launch as a full time pastor, etc.  (That DOES happen for some)

My box consisted of…$15,000 ($5,000 of which was a loan & a majority of the remaining amount provided by some amazing generous individuals), 23 adults on our launch team, an organization where my “coach” abandoned his team and that has given no local support, not 1 church supporting us  financially on a monthly basis, several broken promises by other churches and by *gasp* friends, equipment loaned to us by an amazing church for about a year (maybe more), and a job from another Kingdom minded church where I can work and still launch our church bi-vocationally.

I don’t say this to complain. I say this to point out that church planters do not come in a box. New Passion Church is New Passion Church and God has given us this path to travel because I believe he has a specific plan and purpose for our church. If we whine and complain that we didn’t get to launch like other churches or if we whine and complain that life’s not fair, then I believe we set ourselves on a path that will miss what God has for us. Trust me, I am a student of other churches and what they are doing to have success, but I want to be careful not to miss what God has for us! What can’t God do with New Passion Church? I believe he has put us in a place where he can blow our minds, and make everyone else wish they could have a little bit of the credit. 😉

Join the Conversation…What Did Your Box Look Like?