Leadership

Don’t Be a “Brand”, Be a Servant  

There is a lot of encouragement today to make yourself a “brand”. From a marketing perspective, it makes a lot of sense. But I would say from a follower of Christ’s perspective it is an undesirable action.

In the last couple of years, I have seen a football player I thoroughly enjoyed and respected move towards becoming a “brand”. Before he was a team player and put others first. Then he became a “brand” and it all became about him. I found it very disappointing.

I have seen a few pastors follow this same path. What made them so appealing was they were really focused on serving and others. Then they became the “brand” and the product (not Jesus). Two had moral failures and lost all they had spent their lives to seek to build. Another just lost influence. All of them hurt the work of God in the end.

When you seek to become a “brand” it is all about you. When you are a servant, it really is all about others.

When you make yourself or your program the “brand”, then Jesus isn’t it any longer.

We need to make our lives all about Jesus and share Him with everyone we can.

Lead Pastors, are you learning from those larger than you are?

I received my September/October 2021 issue of Outreach Magazine today.

As I was looking over the lists of the 100 Fastest Growing and 100 Largest Churches, I was reminded how many of these churches I took pastors and graduate students to over the years:

  • Bayside Church, Roseville, CA
  • Gateway Church, South Lake, TX
  • Harvest Church, Billings, MT
  • Mariners Church, Irvine, CA
  • North Coast Church, Vista, CA
  • Southwest Christian Church, Louisville, KY
  • Northpoint, Alpharetta, GA
  • Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, CA
  • Flatirons Community Church, Lafeyette, CO
  • Red Rocks Church, Littleton, CO
  • The Rock Church, San Diego, CA
  • The Village Church, Flower Mound, TX
  • Plus 4 or 5 others

There is nothing like seeing a great church with your own eyes.

There are several great churches in San Antonio that would make an outstanding trip:

  • Community Bible Church
  • Gateway Fellowship Church
  • Oaks Hills Church
  • Westover Hills Church (AG) and one of the most integrated Churches and staffs in America

This would be a great Fall or Spring trip. The weather in San Antonio would be great.

A California church I have not visit that would be on the top of my list would be Eastside Christian Church in Anaheim, CA. This could easily be done with Mariners and Saddleback.

If you are a lead pastor of a large church, what are you doing to help you see a church larger than you are?

If you can’t envision it, it is much harder to get there.

LDR Church Planting Workbook Released

This week the LDR Church Planting Workbook was released on Amazon.

The Kindle version should be up in a week or two.

This will be followed by the two LDR Church Development Workbooks in the coming months.

LDR is excited to partner with Gravitational Leadership Press on these books.

You can order the Church Planting Workbook at:

amazon.com/Church-Planting-Workbook-Melvyn-Ming/dp/1944858601/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=ming+Church+Planting&qid=1581617024&sr=8-4

What Others are saying about the workbook:

“There’s no doubt in my mind, The Church Development Workbook and Church Planting Workbook are the most comprehensive field guides ever written for ministry leaders. The principles are powerful, and have been a strategic part of my personal journey as a leader for years. You’ll discover how to have the right systems and people in place to move your organization to the next level in health and growth.”

Kent Ingle, DMin
President
Southeastern University

“Nobody does the mission alone. Not even Jesus. So why would you try to plant a church by yourself? Do what I did and go through the church planting workbook and learn from my mentors, Mel Ming & friends.”

Wes Davis
Visionary of “People Becoming the Church”
Lead Pastor
Newlife.TV

“Whether you’re planting a new church or multiplying campuses, finding the right resources in right order makes all the difference. This Church Planting tool has helped and continues to assist us as we build teams, fine tune systems and endeavor to ask the right questions in the right order for greater efficiency and ultimately greater Kingdom impact. I highly recommend it to anyone with a vision for planting a healthy church.

Jeffery Portmann, DMin
Lead Pastor
newhope Church

Collaboration

“Without a culture of collaboration, the best processes, systems, tools, and leadership strategies fall flat.” – Evan Rosen

Effective collaboration is not really a technic or approach. It is a culture and climate in which people feel empowered to act, share, learn and engage.

Nothing kills collaboration faster than command and control leaders and star based cultures. For collaboration to be effective it must cultivate a sharing partnership culture.

Paul says it this way in Romans 12:3-5,

“Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.” NLT

A few cultural elements of collaboration adapted from Evan Rosen are:

  1. Trust: developing comfort with colleagues
  2. Sharing: letting ideas flow and grow
  3. Goals: reading from the same script
  4. Innovation: embracing new approaches
  5. Anticipation: making room for the unexpected
  6. Honesty: willingness for robust dialogue
  7. Community: sharing interests and goals
  8. Appreciation: recognizing the value and contribution of others
  9. Partnership: the priesthood of believers in practice

Reflection questions:

  1. How could your church or organization develop a culture of collaboration?
  2. What could you do to develop a culture of collaboration?

Why is it so easy to over correct?

As someone who has been observing and analyzing the church for most of my adult life, I find that whenever you find an excess, the next generation tends to over correct, much like a pendulum corrects to the opposite direction.

Let me share a few examples:

When the church became so focused on its liturgy, the next generation throughout all liturgy and became the Free Church. Both sides lost. The high church lost out on the vitality of the Spirit’s presence and the free church lost the depth of worship reflect in the liturgy.

When many in the American builder and boomer generations went to excess focusing on individualism to the exclusion of community, the next generation has swung the pendulum so much to community that they have excluded individual roles and responsibilities. I see this really come out in how each generation exegetes Biblical texts. Many in the Boomer/Builder generations read all scripture as if it only applied to the individual. Many in the Xer/ Millennial generations read all texts as if it were only understood in community. Each generation lost something in the over reaction to the previous generation.

While many in the Builder generation emphasized Bible knowledge/theology and the first commandment (Love God). Many in the Xer/Millennial generations emphasize living the life of compassion and the second commandment (Loving others). The older generation missed the importance of compassion and relationships and the younger is missing the strength of orthodox beliefs. I am afraid there are very many in our churches that no longer have a belief system based on Scripture, therefore they fall into relativism.

Many in the older generations tied God to County, sometimes losing sight that our primary citizenship is in heaven and that countries can and do become evil.  Some in the younger generation almost make it God against country. Both miss out of scriptural insights. We are to prayer for and honor our leaders, yet at the same time we have loyalties that supersede where we now live. Daniel in the Bible I think reflects this balance.

Finding the appropriate tension between ways of thinking has always been more difficult than just letting ourselves continue to over correct. I pray the church has the strength to not settle for over-reaction and over correction. The over corrections leave the church continually out of balance.

Developing others

I believe one of the most important roles and responsibilities of a leader is to develop their followers and others God brings them into relationship with.

As I look around I see many leaders who are glad to use people, but see no responsibility for developing them. It seems the roles described in Ephesians 4 and II Timothy 2 are forgotten.

Here are a few functions I believe are part of being a Christian leader:

  1. Look for and discover potential leaders.
    • Potential leaders often do not know their abilities, what they are capable of, or where they would best fit. They need someone to help them develop a clear self-perception.
    • Potential leaders need someone who sees in them what they can become. Someone with discernment and understanding.
    • Potential leader need a leader who will mentor them, not just in how to do what they are now doing, but how to become something more.
  1. Develop potential leaders for the Kingdom of God, not just your ministry.

I find many people in positions of leadership are so consumed with their own church or ministry, they do not take the time to develop potential leaders who don’t fit their pressing needs. This is a shortsighted and selfish perspective. The mission of God needs more leaders, so think God’s Kingdom, not my kingdom. I see many leaders who are so focused on themselves, they miss wonderful opportunities to make Kingdom impact. A healthy church or organization should be producing more leaders than they can use.

  1. When you see leaders with great potential, help them develop for the long haul, not just quick success.

Churches and leaders have a tendency to encourage high potential leaders to skip important developmental steps. They see someone who seems to be a natural leader, so they immediately make them a youth pastor before they have developed spiritual depth and Biblical knowledge and wisdom. This is why I highly recommend churches, when they see a young person with high potential, to provide scholarships for these leaders to get solid academic degrees. Be willing to give up three or four years, to get a solid leader.

  1. Potential leader need someone to help them navigate the organizations structure and culture.

Some churches and organizations are toxic. True leaders help potential leaders navigate landmines and politics, and keep their heart and mind focused on the mission of God and His values and attitudes.

I am sure there are many other principles, but these are a beginning.

Who are you and your church developing?