We had a leadership summit this weekend and I shared some personal reflections with our leaders. It's an opportunity for me to zoom out and share 30,000 foot reflections.
We are in a season of blessing at NCC.
It's remarkable when I look back at the last six months. We've opened a coffeehouse on Capitol Hill and launched two Saturday night services. We hosted our first Buzz Conference. We have seventy-six groups meeting this semester. And we've experienced a pretty remarkable growth spurt over the last few months.
I'm extremely grateful for all of the above, but it is coupled with a high degree of solemnity.
Here are seven reminders I shared with our leaders:
1) The bigger we get the more grounded we have to stay
Two words in I Corinthians 3:5 are a vital reminder--"only servants."
I think we have to continually remind ourselves that all we are only servants. No more. No less. Only servants! We have the privilege of planting and watering, but only God gives the increase!
One of the grave dangers that come with the blessings of God is that we can think we had something to do with it. Divine blessings can result in human pride. And if those blessings result in pride it would have been better if we hadn't been blessed in the first place! More often than not, God blesses us in spite of us not because of us!
Here is something I've noticed over the past year. People think I know more than I know because I've written some magazine articles and spoken at some conferences. I hate to say it, but I don't know more now than I knew then. I Corinthians 8:2 is a great gut check for leaders. "The man who thinks he knows does not yet know as he ought to know."
2) The bigger we get the more above reproach we need to be
I made a decision years ago that I would never be alone with a woman besides my wife. That may sound legalistic, but I felt like it was a safeguard against compromise. Leaders have to take extra measures to protect themselves against themselves and protect themselves against those with ungodly motives.
I have taken measures with my writing and speaking to make sure that I'm above financial reproach. For example, I always want NCC to be the direct or indirect beneficiary of everything I do. We've made arrangements with our stewardship team so that I don't benefit more from the sales of my books at NCC than NCC does. Is that necessary? I guess you could argue that it isn't, but I think it is.
I Corinthians 10:23 says, "Everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial." As our leadership expands there can be an unhealthy and unholy tendency toward the permissible end of the spectrum! Guard against it. As our influence expands, I think it is vitally important that leaders move toward the beneficial end of that spectrum!
3) The bigger we get the harder it is to maintain unity
Ephesians 4:3 says, "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." No easy task as a church gets bigger! It was easy to manage sibling rivalry when we only had one child. A lot tougher with three kids! Our church family is no different.
Vision is the key to unity. As a church gets larger you not only need more vision. You need to cast that vision more frequently!
One other thought for pastors. It's ok for people to leave your church. Some people leave for the right reasons. Some people leave for the wrong reasons. Some people leave because there is something wrong with us. Some people leave because there is something wrong with them. We need to learn from all of the above! But the bottom line is this: you can't be all things to all people.
Pruning is normal and natural. It is less painful now than it was when we were a church plant with a few dozen people. We'd take all the dysfunctional people we could get! I have since learned that people need to attend a church they believe in enough to invite their unchurched friends to. That is the litmus test. Dead weight doesn't do anybody any good. I'd much rather have someone happy at another church than unhappy at NCC.
Pruning is part of preserving the integrity and unity of a church!
4) The bigger we get the more complicated things get
Confession time: sometimes I feel like crawling into a hole!
Pastoring isn't getting easier! It's getting harder. But I have to remind myself that the reward for good work in the parable of the talents wasn't less work. It wasn't an early retirement or extended vacation. The reward for good work was more work!
As leaders we have to guard against the Egypt tendency--there will always be people who want to return to the land of familiarity! Some people will want to go backwards. Some people will want to return to the good old days when everybody knew everybody and we sang out of hymnals.
All I know is this: as long as there is one more person who needs a relationship with Christ we need to keep growing. And as we grow, it'll get more and more complicated.
5) The bigger we get the more we have to guard our hearts
As we get bigger so does the target on our back!
We have to make sure we're doing ministry out of the overflow of what God is doing in our own lives! We need to make sure God is doing something in us not just through us! We have to make sure we're doing ministry at a pace that is sustainable! We have to make sure that we are seeking God day in and day out. We have to make sure we're doing the right things for the right reasons. And we have to make sure our heart is in the right place.
Proverbs 4:23 says, "Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life."
6) The bigger we get the better stewards we need to be
It seems like God is explanding our local influence in the Washington, DC area. And in 2007 we'll launch NCC en Espanol as well as our fourth location in Northwest DC.
God is also expanding our national influence. We feel called to be a teaching church. That certainly doesn't mean we have it all figured out, but God seems to be opening lots of doors of opportunity. We want to be very intentional about sharing our best practices and lessons learned with other churches.
As we get bigger the stakes get higher!
Luke 12:48 says, "From everything who have been given much, much will be demanded."
7) The bigger we get the more we have to remind ourselves of why we're doing what we're doing and who we're doing it for
I've said it a thousand times, but I'll say it again. One of the greatest dangers we face is learning how and forgetting why. We stop doing ministry out of imagination and start doing ministry out of memory. We stop creating the future and start repeating the past.
One of the dangers a growing church faces is the temptation to stop doing what got them there! It is so easy to become reactionary or bureaucratic. My role as pastor is protector of the DNA. I need to make sure we keep replicating the DNA that makes us who we are! I need to make sure we keep living out our core values and core convictions. As leaders, our most important and most difficult job is creating and managing culture!
My life has changed dramtically over the past year, but I don't want to change. What I mean by that is this: I don't want to become who I'm not! And the key is remembering why I'm doing what I'm doing and who I'm doing it for!
Am I building altars to God or monuments to myself? Saul went from building altars to God in I Samuel 14:35 to building monuments to himself in I Samuel 15:12. The more insecure we are the more monuments we'll try to build. Go back to building altars to God.
I asked an author friend for some advice before my book came off the press and I got some great advice: "The longer you do this, the more you'll get pushed. And you need to know what's okay for you. That's between you and Jesus. And you need to know, because if you don't, then you'll become the thing you don't want to become."
At the end of the day, the key to leadership is following in the footsteps of Jesus. Follow in His footsteps and you'll never get off track!
Tailgate Jesus!
We are in a season of blessing at NCC.
It's remarkable when I look back at the last six months. We've opened a coffeehouse on Capitol Hill and launched two Saturday night services. We hosted our first Buzz Conference. We have seventy-six groups meeting this semester. And we've experienced a pretty remarkable growth spurt over the last few months.
I'm extremely grateful for all of the above, but it is coupled with a high degree of solemnity.
Here are seven reminders I shared with our leaders:
1) The bigger we get the more grounded we have to stay
Two words in I Corinthians 3:5 are a vital reminder--"only servants."
I think we have to continually remind ourselves that all we are only servants. No more. No less. Only servants! We have the privilege of planting and watering, but only God gives the increase!
One of the grave dangers that come with the blessings of God is that we can think we had something to do with it. Divine blessings can result in human pride. And if those blessings result in pride it would have been better if we hadn't been blessed in the first place! More often than not, God blesses us in spite of us not because of us!
Here is something I've noticed over the past year. People think I know more than I know because I've written some magazine articles and spoken at some conferences. I hate to say it, but I don't know more now than I knew then. I Corinthians 8:2 is a great gut check for leaders. "The man who thinks he knows does not yet know as he ought to know."
2) The bigger we get the more above reproach we need to be
I made a decision years ago that I would never be alone with a woman besides my wife. That may sound legalistic, but I felt like it was a safeguard against compromise. Leaders have to take extra measures to protect themselves against themselves and protect themselves against those with ungodly motives.
I have taken measures with my writing and speaking to make sure that I'm above financial reproach. For example, I always want NCC to be the direct or indirect beneficiary of everything I do. We've made arrangements with our stewardship team so that I don't benefit more from the sales of my books at NCC than NCC does. Is that necessary? I guess you could argue that it isn't, but I think it is.
I Corinthians 10:23 says, "Everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial." As our leadership expands there can be an unhealthy and unholy tendency toward the permissible end of the spectrum! Guard against it. As our influence expands, I think it is vitally important that leaders move toward the beneficial end of that spectrum!
3) The bigger we get the harder it is to maintain unity
Ephesians 4:3 says, "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." No easy task as a church gets bigger! It was easy to manage sibling rivalry when we only had one child. A lot tougher with three kids! Our church family is no different.
Vision is the key to unity. As a church gets larger you not only need more vision. You need to cast that vision more frequently!
One other thought for pastors. It's ok for people to leave your church. Some people leave for the right reasons. Some people leave for the wrong reasons. Some people leave because there is something wrong with us. Some people leave because there is something wrong with them. We need to learn from all of the above! But the bottom line is this: you can't be all things to all people.
Pruning is normal and natural. It is less painful now than it was when we were a church plant with a few dozen people. We'd take all the dysfunctional people we could get! I have since learned that people need to attend a church they believe in enough to invite their unchurched friends to. That is the litmus test. Dead weight doesn't do anybody any good. I'd much rather have someone happy at another church than unhappy at NCC.
Pruning is part of preserving the integrity and unity of a church!
4) The bigger we get the more complicated things get
Confession time: sometimes I feel like crawling into a hole!
Pastoring isn't getting easier! It's getting harder. But I have to remind myself that the reward for good work in the parable of the talents wasn't less work. It wasn't an early retirement or extended vacation. The reward for good work was more work!
As leaders we have to guard against the Egypt tendency--there will always be people who want to return to the land of familiarity! Some people will want to go backwards. Some people will want to return to the good old days when everybody knew everybody and we sang out of hymnals.
All I know is this: as long as there is one more person who needs a relationship with Christ we need to keep growing. And as we grow, it'll get more and more complicated.
5) The bigger we get the more we have to guard our hearts
As we get bigger so does the target on our back!
We have to make sure we're doing ministry out of the overflow of what God is doing in our own lives! We need to make sure God is doing something in us not just through us! We have to make sure we're doing ministry at a pace that is sustainable! We have to make sure that we are seeking God day in and day out. We have to make sure we're doing the right things for the right reasons. And we have to make sure our heart is in the right place.
Proverbs 4:23 says, "Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life."
6) The bigger we get the better stewards we need to be
It seems like God is explanding our local influence in the Washington, DC area. And in 2007 we'll launch NCC en Espanol as well as our fourth location in Northwest DC.
God is also expanding our national influence. We feel called to be a teaching church. That certainly doesn't mean we have it all figured out, but God seems to be opening lots of doors of opportunity. We want to be very intentional about sharing our best practices and lessons learned with other churches.
As we get bigger the stakes get higher!
Luke 12:48 says, "From everything who have been given much, much will be demanded."
7) The bigger we get the more we have to remind ourselves of why we're doing what we're doing and who we're doing it for
I've said it a thousand times, but I'll say it again. One of the greatest dangers we face is learning how and forgetting why. We stop doing ministry out of imagination and start doing ministry out of memory. We stop creating the future and start repeating the past.
One of the dangers a growing church faces is the temptation to stop doing what got them there! It is so easy to become reactionary or bureaucratic. My role as pastor is protector of the DNA. I need to make sure we keep replicating the DNA that makes us who we are! I need to make sure we keep living out our core values and core convictions. As leaders, our most important and most difficult job is creating and managing culture!
My life has changed dramtically over the past year, but I don't want to change. What I mean by that is this: I don't want to become who I'm not! And the key is remembering why I'm doing what I'm doing and who I'm doing it for!
Am I building altars to God or monuments to myself? Saul went from building altars to God in I Samuel 14:35 to building monuments to himself in I Samuel 15:12. The more insecure we are the more monuments we'll try to build. Go back to building altars to God.
I asked an author friend for some advice before my book came off the press and I got some great advice: "The longer you do this, the more you'll get pushed. And you need to know what's okay for you. That's between you and Jesus. And you need to know, because if you don't, then you'll become the thing you don't want to become."
At the end of the day, the key to leadership is following in the footsteps of Jesus. Follow in His footsteps and you'll never get off track!
Tailgate Jesus!
12 Comments:
As always, great thoughts.
as a pastor, you have made me think about me and my flock...thanks for sharing from your heart...many blessings to NCC in 2007...
chill
Well said Mark! Thanks for the great post!
thanks for letting me be part of the cyber leadership 101- now if there was only a way to drink a cup of ebenezers coffee in germany via the net. :)
*hasler
Maybe your best post ever. GREAT stuff!
awesome post - man, perspective is everything! thanks, in particular for the reminder about the parable of the talents - sometimes i feel like i'm drowning w/add'l responsibility - i realize i need to see it as a blessing...on another note...i was stumped by the "tailgate Jesus" remark (sorry, dumb moment) - I was wondering what college football pre-game parties and cookouts had to do with Jesus :)
PM,
As always, really appreciate your heart, vision, integrity, and ability to communicate those things to us - thanks for all you do to teach and serve at NCC!
Erin
Once again you've provided a great conversation peice for my staff meeting. Thanks for the vision, inspiration and perspective.
~ Jim Botts
Rick,
Tailgate Jesus :) I hadn't thought of it in those terms, but I do believe church is where the real party is at.
I sort of meant it in the sense of "follow Jesus" really closely :) In driving terms!
Mark
Good thoughts indeed. "As we get bigger" resonates well in this culture but always begs two questions in my soul...(1) why does God let us "get bigger"?, and (2) what are the implications of our "bigness" in our corner of a world canvas painted so dark with poverty and oppression?
Everything always comes back to stewardship doesn't it. We've got to be faithful with a little or faithful with a lot.
One footnote. I've always felt like God will continue to bless us if we continue to give to missions! So to put it in financial terms--bigness results in a greater ability to bless.
It's just so critical to keep that "make me a blessing" mindset.
My two cents,
Mark
Pastor Mark, Thank you for sharing. It was a great insight of how to be a good steward for God. I sometimes find myself looking backwards because its a safe place to be, but, yes, we all have to stay strong in the Lord and push forward even when things look bad and I believe it's the Pastor job to keep the fire burning in our hearts, so, it does make the Pastor's job seem hard, so, I will be praying for you bro.
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