History in the Making

Our Ideas Set on Fire

Awesome meeting with Joshua Dunford of BURNKIT today here in Atlanta. My favorite design firm. Now I'm off to meet with some Asian American pastors... Happy Friday.

The Follow-up Phone Call

When new guests visit our churches, they want, more than anything, a personal connection. I mean, they don't really want one. That's why they slink in the back, give short answers, and then rush out quickly. But when it's all said and done, after visiting our churches... they really want one.

They're testing the waters. Pinky toe in the swimming pool. They're afraid. But deep down, they really do want to swim.

That's why the follow-up phone call is soooo important. A call to say, "Hey, it was great to have you. We'd love to get to know you better."

The trouble is... we pastors are more afraid of the follow-up phone call than anyone else. We justify not doing it by labeling it "harassment," as in "we won't harass you." (There. Now we certainly can't do it. It's illegal.=) We'll even send gifts and packages and cornucopias of treats with hand-written notes to the children.

Anything to prevent having to actually talk to a guest. Because we're afraid of what they might say. We're afraid of... rejection. Or the awkward silence on the other end of the line.

But they really do want a call. Hey, sometimes it is awkward. But when we do it, the pay-off is huge. At least no one can say we didn't try to reach out. And who knows, it could put someone over the edge. But we pastors are so insecure.

How to Build a Distribution Channel (and why you need one in the first place)

The best way to succeed at anything - whether you're a first-time author, a rock band, a fund-raiser, a singer/songwriter, an itinerant evangelist, or a consultant - is to create a distribution channel. (That's a fancy way of saying "a direct connection with a core audience.")

By the time church planters want to raise money, they're already 8-12 months behind because they never built a mailing list. Aspiring authors can't get published because they never built a readership. It's all about the distribution channel...

Most of the organizations you're familiar with have taken great care to build one -- the Willow Creek Association, LifeChurch, Integrity Music, Catalyst, you name it. They're all leading voices because they have a broadband connection to a core audience.

Seth Godin? Purple distribution channel. Evotional? Chase the distribution channel. One Prayer? One distribution channel.

Even Starbucks realized they'd created an incredible distribution channel for recording artists through their thousands of stores -- a la Paul McCartney's latest CD. Garth Brooks did the same with Wal-Mart.

You can build a channel too, but it takes diligence and hard work. Here are a few ways to do it.

• Keep adding friends on Facebook.
• Publish your own magazine on Issuu.
• Blog every day. Gather an audience of readers.
• Build an ever-growing mailing list in Excel.
• Send newsletters on a monthly basis.
• Podcast or vodcast on a weekly basis.
• Create your own Mogulus channel

By the time you're ready to unveil your next great project or opus, you'll have a group of friends ready to receive it.

Attracting High-Capacity Leaders with a Vision Breakfast

Four years ago, our leadership team at Reston Community Church was trying to figure out how to engage some of the high-capacity leaders in our congregation. Asking them to, say, wear a reflective orange vest to direct parking felt emasculating.

Of course, roles like handing out bulletins are important, but these guys included a rocket scientist for the NSA, a senior vice president for the largest private defense firm, the owner of some radio stations, a doctor, an engineer for NASA, and so on... There was no reason we couldn't offer them a bigger piece of the pie. And it didn't have to be an overtly spiritual role.

High capacity leaders want to be invited to serve. It's not a pride-thing; they just don't know where to plug-in. So we invited 10 of them to a breakfast at the Marriott Hotel. We reserved a private dining room, wore our suits, prepared a formal presentation on Power Point and in print, and cast big vision to them. In essence... we spoke their language.

I can't tell you how much that meeting impacted our church. These leaders felt included. They bought-in. And it wasn't about giving them special treatment - they were the marginalized members of our community. It was about laying down our pride to let gifted leaders lead.

Wednesday Afternoon Crazy Goodness

Awesome day today. Trip to the orthodontist. Great connections with some peeps on the west coast. Lunch with the fabulous DJ Nick Beidel. And now reviewing screen tests for the upcoming Catalyst vodcast. (Marketing director Sally Heffner pictured below). Awesome stuff in the works, people. We're on a roll here in Catalyst headquarters. We're on a roll...

Improvements to CatalystSpace.com

We've been taking CatalystSpace to a whole new level in recent weeks. Here are just some of the changes we've made and some things in the works for August. Our very own Chris Ediger is to thank for these...

• Background refreshes with new submissions from the Artists Together project.
• The all-new Catalyst Store.
• The Catablog now has 5 writers for a constant stream of blog goodness.
• All limitations on commenting at the CataBlog have been turned off.
• Watch videos in the main flash panels without going deeper into the site
• Coming soon: the all-new Catalyst weekly Vodcast
• Coming soon: Catalyst TV - behind the scenes and best-of footage
• Coming soon: play Catalyst audio clips right on the home page
• Coming soon: new articles and content every week

The Stuff Legends are Made of

Church planters are notorious for thinking that a great dream + hard work + insight = a thriving church. But church planters fail all the time with this formula.

What's missing is spiritual fertility. Every area has an established degree of receptivity to the Gospel, which can make or break a chruch plant before it ever gets off the ground. I'm not saying we shouldn't plant churches in difficult areas. I'm saying that in these cases, we should change our primary activity from planting an organization to cultivating relationships.

If you've read The Purpose Driven Church, you know that Rick Warren prayed for a church to pastor for the rest of his life. You know that he scoured maps in his basement, looking for the fastest-growing areas across the country and discovered Orange County. And you know that he sent a letter to a California missions director at the same time that director sent a letter to him.

Now that's the stuff legends are made of. And it's enough to send tens of thousands of church planters charging head-long over the cliff. What we fail to consider is that before Rick planted Saddleback Commmunity Church, he attended and then taught at California Baptist University in Riverside, California for years. But get this - he preached over 100 revivals throughout the Riverside area, which is just a 30-minute drive from where the Saddleback campus currently sits.

Now do you think... that just maybe... he might have helped cultivate this area for a church plant? I'm thinking it might have been the true first base.

I write this because I have a huge heart for the struggling church planter. I think they need to know about spiritual fertility and how it impacts whether a church plant will work.

Just finished a book on this subject, which will hopefully be out by spring. More to come...

How to Attract High-Caliber Leaders to Your Church

Okay, my previous post seemed a little negative. But we have to admit the problem to find a solution. Bottom line is... high-caliber leaders aren't getting involved in the church. They're just not becoming engaged at their level of capacity. So here's a little plan to utilize them. Feel free to add to it.

1. Have big vision. Leaders are too busy for small vision. The greeter ministry might have a need, but think about their sense of significance. Does the church's activity feel like kindergarten to them?

2. Help them know where to start. Many leaders don't know where to step in. The church feels uber spiritual with no practical footholds for involvement. We have to tell them how and why they're needed.

3. Create leadership roles that don't require spiritual qualifications. A lot of ministry doesn't require the pope's sign-off. If they're not Bible scholars, don't write them off. You need help with marketing strategies, development issues, church systems. You need help in areas you don't know you need help in. Let them poke around.

4. Don't be intimidated. They're not going to commandeer the church from you. They'll be more sensitive to your spiritual leadership than you realize. They'll come behind you and support you.

5. Make the ask. A leader wants to be asked. Pastors assume they're too busy to help. But they're like the pretty girl in high school no one asks to the dance because everyone assumes she's got a date.

6. Hang out, but don't have meetings. Leaders abhor meetings. They have too many of them. Plus, they're used to driving them. And much better than we are. We like meetings because they make us feel productive. But these folks don't want to spend weekends theorizing.

The Neutering of Church Volunteers

I'm an unusual person, I guess. I don't look at a sea of people around me and think, "Wow, I must be part of something great." I actually get nervous when too many people are going in the same direction. That goes for malls... and churches. I'm hard-wired to look for undercurrents. For leaders with an unpopular message. My subconscious mantra is "This many people can't be right."

My role in the great vision cannot be "move to another service to make room for someone else" ... or else I feel like a cow. I don't have the energy to pay my dues for significance if there 8,000 people in line ahead of me. Hey, I'll serve in the children's ministry every week if needed, but how do I get one of those strategic roles the staff enjoy so much? And do we really have to import so many of them to lead our local congregation?

It's no wonder I'm meeting more and more high-caliber leaders who aren't serving in the church. Many of them are the best in the world at what they do, but they've essentially been neutered by the church. No one is telling them "We need what only you can do." No one is coming after them. Church leaders aren't stepping aside to accommodate them.

And that's a shame.

But hey, I'm an unusual person.

Architecture for the Olympics

Loving the new buildings that were created for the Olympics in China. Much of the architecture was only possible in recent years because of technological advancements. If only they valued human life as much as they value buildings and nationalism.

Visit from Margaret Feinberg

Writer and speaker Margaret Feinberg, along with her husband/bodyguard Leif, visited the Catalyst offices today. We cozied-up around the Catalyst living room to get some Margaret goodness. Margaret admitted that her crack cocaine is writing. She wakes up every day at 6:30 AM to write... and write... and write. Leif said he's in charge of replacing her keyboard every few months, like you'd change the oil in your car. Such a fun, witty lady.

Receiving Honor vs. Requiring it

Years ago, a man walked into my church and introduced himself to everyone as "Reverend _________."

Squeeze me? I pulled aside my key leaders and told them not to go along with it, even if he had been ordained or it meant we had to give him a first name.

After he attended for a few months, I was able to explain to him the importance of receiving honor... rather than requiring it.

I bring this up because as I visit more and more churches, the choice of honoring the pastor with a title is being taken away from me. It's being required of me instead.

This reminds me of the Verizon customer service rep I contacted the other week who only went by "Ms. Waters," which made me feel like a schoolboy. There was nothing authentic about the honor I was required to give her.

Pastors have a unique calling, but there's nothing honorable about us apart from the word of God we preach. The cross did away with the exclusive priesthood. The temple veil was torn in half.

Our titles don't bring honor to the scripture we preach; it's the other way around. And even then, we should debase ourselves so that God can be the one to lift us up.

Moral of the story is this: Congregations, honor your pastor. Pastors, don't require it.

Slow Motion Decision Making

Today, Pete Richardson, an incredible life-plan coach and branding consultant came-in to help us think through some strategies. Here's a great insight he shared with us...

Americans try to get make decisions too quickly. Decisiveness is a value for us. Chinese leaders, on the other hand, wait for that collective "aha moment." I'm definitely a point A to point B kind of guy, but I'm sure I'm missing out on the best decisions because of it. I remember Harry Truman used to ask aides "How long do I have to make a decision?" He never wanted to be rash.

The Thing

Love this subscription service called "The Thing Quarterly." For $120, you get on a mailing list to receive a package every quarter filled with pieces that have been created by artists. I can't vouch for the value of it, but if you don't have loved ones mailing you things throughout the year, this might be a good substitute. =)

You Might Get a Street Name Out of It

Can you imagine what it must be like to practically "own" a word? Take one guess where I took this photo on my recent visit to Orange County, California. I love it that "Purpose Road" or "Purpose Avenue", in this case, just wouldn't work. =) Imagine having a vision so clear that you could define it with one word and then come to be associated with it by almost everyone. I get dibs on "gnarly." =)

Great Rebranding Story

Kevin Rush has been keeping me updated on the development of 'The Sticks' Conference for churches in small towns on November 11-12, held in Loudonville, Ohio. He and founder Charles Hill originally called it "Re:Source Conference" but realized it wasn't defining their audience, so they changed it. What a great rebranding story. These days, any new conferences have to capture a unique and specific niche, as this one does really well. I'll be rooting for The Sticks because A) I'm from Ohio, and B) I have a heart for the underdog pastor.

"He Has a Dream"

Every day when we go to work, we're either pursuing our own God-given dreams, or we're helping someone else accomplish theirs. The other day, a good friend told me he was dreaming of raising $1,000,000 to eradicate homelessness in his town. Wow. This week, no less than four people told me they've been dreaming of writing a book for years. I don't know anyone who doesn't have a dream. And as I'm interacting with some of the most influential people in ministry through Catalyst, I can tell you that the only thing that distinguishes them is having the disciplined action and courage to pursue it. All of us are accomplishing a dream. It might as well be ours.

How to Stand out From the Crowd

Saw this on Mike Foster's must-read blog: these faceless people were roaming around Wimbleton last week for the tennis championships. Nobody knows their intent, but I agree with Mike - too cool for school. This is how you create buzz, people.

 

Catalyst Vodcast in the Works

Yesterday, we did some screen tests for a new Catalyst vodcast in the works. We have so many people here in headquarters who are good on camera that auditioning was like choosing from a smorgasbord of talent. When this thing launches, we're all in for a real treat. More to come...

Personal Shout-Out to my Honey

It's been seven days and counting since I've seen my wife Ainsley, and I miss her like crazy. She traveled with our boys to Virginia Beach last week while I visited California. As hard as it is, I think every husband and wife should spend at least one week apart every year to reset their affections back to can't-live-without-you status... just in case the dial slipped. By missing Ainsley, I have fallen in love with her all over again. Okay, mushy post over.