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One Word New Years Resolution

“So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12

In January we often make lists. Lists of things you want to start doing or stop doing - things you want to change about yourself. Lists grow of ways to improve your life and your character. When I open my Bible, I find more lists. Things a follower of Christ should do. Things a follower of Christ should resist doing. Traits a follower of Christ should display.

Each January nearly two-thirds of America’s population have made New Year’s resolutions. And you’ve probably found, like I’ve found, that each day keeps blurring into the next while we try to make some progress with our many good intentions. Yet very little actually changes. That ball keeps dropping in Times Square each New Year’s. And we keep dropping the ball on our resolutions to improve. Only 20 percent of resolution makers report achieving any significant long-term change.

Author Mike Ashcraft suggests that we lose the lists and pick a word. “In looking through the lens of a single chosen word, I found a new approach to personal change and spiritual formation — one that is doable, memorable, effective, and sticky. The results have been greater than I expected.” “One of the coolest things to me is how My One Word not only gives people a doable way to focus on their spiritual formation, but an easy way to talk about it.”

Ashcraft goes on to say, “Around here you’ll hear people asking each other, ‘What’s your One Word?’ or, ‘How’s it going with your One Word?’ You’ll hear them answer, ‘My One Word is ___, and so far God’s been showing me ____.’  Change is happening. Couples, family, and friends all help hold each other accountable, simply by talking about their words - around the dinner table, at small group meetings, even on Facebook.”

What would your One Word be for 2018?

Our family will experience two weddings in 2018. Our daughter Abigail will be married on June 9 to Derek Walton in Cincinnati, Ohio. And our son, Joshua will be married to Samantha Cassady on August 4 in Seattle, Washington. The One Word that will be the focus for 2018 for me will be JOY.  Psalm 68:3 says, “But let the righteous be joyful; let them exult before God; let them be jubilant with joy.”

My hope is that this theme verse will echo all year long as we celebrate the weddings of our kids, but also as we face the daily ups and downs of this changing life. Kay Warren defines joy as: “The settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately that everything is going to be alright, and the determined choice to praise God in all things.” Growing our family brings great Joy. It is my prayer that in 2018 The One Word- JOY- will give me the determined choice to praise God in all things.

What will your One Word be? Don’t let the year choose The One Word. You choose your word and let it influence your year. May 2018 find you wrapped in God’s love and emboldened by God’s never-ending peace, mercy, hope and joy.  Pr. Jim

Christmas Eve Traditional Service

Christmas Eve Family Service

Christmas Invite

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Nothing Left in the Tank

My Son, Josh ran Cross Country in high school. He would run year round to prepare for the cross country season. His strategy was to run strong but leave a little to finish the race even stronger. But that didn't always work out as planned.

I came across a newspaper article from when he ran in a state completion. It said "Josh Debner seemed to drag himself up the last hill --- He was running on empty."

We have this vison of living strong in faith, strong in character, strong in body, mind and spirit, but then the hills get steeper and longer and our pace slows and we have nothing left in the tank. We can feel ourselves running on empty this time of year. We seem to have more commitments than time each day to fulfill them. The season of Advent calls for slowing down and finding quiet time. But that doesn't really happen. If you’re like me, than you might find yourself dragging yourself through the next few weeks until Christmas.

 Our vehicles have warning lights when the fuel tank is almost empty. To ignore the light, means that you will be walking rather than riding. We may not have warning lights, but we do have warning symptoms when our tank is low. We become angry, we isolate ourselves, we are irritable, and we don't eat or sleep well. When my tank is empty I don't think very well either.

Maybe as much as we want to run full steam until Christmas, we may need to pause, to slow down, and to enjoy quiet time. Taking time to read scripture, have our hope, our peace, our joy and our love recharged fills our tank. This allows us to finish strong. Remember that the race we are running this Christmas ends at the manger, where God's love story for you becomes flesh.

Maybe you are looking for a miracle this Advent season. Ann Voskamp, writing in The Greatest Gift says, "Miracles begin understated. They begin, and the earth doesn't shake and trumpets don't sound. Miracles begin with the plainsong of a promise-and sometimes not even fully believed. This is always the best place for miracles: God meets us right where we don't believe. When our believing runs out, God's loving runs on. This is the season of the Advent of God. The barren will birth. Dreams will wake into reality. Noting is impossible with God."

Remember that you don't have to work for Christmas. You don't have to earn Christmas, you don't have perform Christmas, you don't have to make Christmas. Take time to rest in Christ, wait in Christ, and breathe easy in Christ. Open you heart to the miracle of grace. God will prepare you heart for the coming of the Lord. No matter the barrenness, the emptiness, the nothing left in the tank feeling, you can have as much of Jesus as you want and need. The Christmas miracle is you get God with you. Emmanuel.

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Sola Worship: October 8th @ Zion Lutheran

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Ignite Worship: October 1st @ Zion Lutheran

Sola Worship: October 1st @ Zion Lutheran

Here is one pastor's response to the brokenness of our world that keeps shocking us with death and destruction. May God's compassion, mercy and the comfort of the Holy Spirit be with all in Las Vegas who have been affected by the death and violence of the shooting last evening.

Thoughts on How to Be the Church in An Age of Terror and Tragedy By Carey Nieuwhof

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Luther Community Choir

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Ignite Worship: September 10th @ Zion Lutheran

Sola Worship: September 10th @ Zion Lutheran

Bishop Eaton on Elijah, the widow and Mission Support

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THE ZIG-ZAG BRIDGE

Last weekend Barbara and I traveled to Grand Rapids to visit the Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. The park is filled with beautiful creations, those made by God and those made with human hands. One of the wonders made with human hands was the Japanese Garden. There as a Zig-Zag Bridge at one end of the garden. It was designed to make sure that those crossing it would go slow and turn in many directions, to see the different views.
It made me wonder how we might be on a Zig-Zag  Bridge in our journey in life. Might God be asking us to slow down and turn in different directions to have a new view? September is often a very busy month with all many new beginnings. If you feel yourself just running from one thing to the next, then maybe you need to cross a Zig-Zag bridge to slow down and have a new view. God is with us in our journey and like those who have gone before us, sometimes we need to be intentional in our slowing down, in our faith formation, in gaining a new view on things.  

Ignite Worship: September 3rd @ Zion Lutheran

Sola Worship 9/3/17

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Ignite Worship: August 27th @ Zion Lutheran

Sola Worship: August 27th @ Zion Lutheran

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Ignite Worship: August 13th @ Zion Lutheran

Sola Worship: August 13th @ Zion Lutheran

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Ignite Worship: July 23rd @ Zion Lutheran

Sola Worship: July 23rd @ Zion Lutheran

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Ignite Worship 7/9/17

Sola Worship 7/9/17

July 5, 2017

Ignite Worship: July 2nd @ Zion Lutheran

Sola Worship: July 2nd @ Zion Lutheran

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Ignite Worship: June 25th @ Zion Lutheran

Sola Worship: June 25th @ Zion Lutheran

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Ignite Worship: June 11th @ Zion Lutheran

Sola Worship: June 11th @ Zion Lutheran

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Ignite Worship 6/4/17

Sola Worship 6/4/17

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Ignite Worship: May 28th @ Zion Lutheran

Sola Worship: May 28th @ Zion Lutheran

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How I Recovered From Burnout: 12 Keys To Finding Your New Normal

By Carey | May 15, 2017

I had never been through anything quite as deep, or frankly, personally frightening as my burnout in 2006.

Burnout moves fatigue and the darkness from a place where it was in your control to place where you can simply no longer control either.

I regularly hear from leaders who have let me know that they’re in the midst burnout right now.

It’s like burnout, fatigue and overwhelm have become epidemics in life and leadership.

If you’re struggling with it, all I can say is I understand, and I’m pulling for you and praying for you.

I told part of my story in this post along with sharing 11 signs you might be burning out.

To diagnose burnout is one thing. But how you recover from it?

Let me share my journey. While everyone’s recovery will be different, there were 12 keys that, in retrospect, were essential to my recovery.

Not an Instant Cure

And as far as time goes, for me there was no instant cure. It took about:

6 months for me to move from ‘crisis’ (20% of normal) to operational (maybe 60%)

Another year to get from 60% to 80% of ‘normal’.

Another three or four years to finally feel 100% again – like myself. Even a new self.

In the process, I completely restructured my patterns and rhythms so I could develop a new normal. Why? Because to recover from burnout and overwhelm, you need better patterns, not just a better attitude.

I’ve been asked so many times what those patterns are, I share them in an online course I offer called The High Impact Leader. I’ll tell you more about that at the end of this post.

12 Keys To Getting Back from Burnout

Along the way, these 12 things helped me immensely. And while your story might be different, I offer them in the hope they might help you even in some small way:

1. Tell someone

2. Get help

3. Lean into your friends

4. Keep leaning into God

5. Rest

6. Find something else to take your attention away from your pain

7. Do what you can

8. Don’t do anything drastic or stupid

9. Trust again

10. Closely monitor balance

11. Watch for the warning signs

12. Take full responsibility for the health of your soul

Nobody else is responsible for your health. You are.  Pray, read your Bible, seek life-giving friendships, replenish your energy, eat right, work out, love deeply.

These things nourish your soul. If you don’t do them, nobody will.

Finding Your New Normal (And My Accidental Discovery)

It took me almost 5 years to get back to normal…but I realized early on that normal wasn’t going to do it this time. This time, I needed a new normal.

Here’s why: getting back to normal will get you into the same burnout it took you in the first place. 

For years now, I’ve worked hard to establish new rhythms and patterns that could sustain my life.

In the process, I accidentally discovered something.

These new habits, rhythms and patterns didn’t just keep me out of burnout, they made me far more productive and effective.

I had spent my thirties wanting to write a book. Since coming back from burnout, I’ve written three and am working on a fourth.

I also started speaking to leaders, writing this blog and hosting a weekly leadership podcast all the while holding down a full time job AND having more family and recreation time.

The #1 question I get asked post-burnout is “How do you get everything done?”

I finally decided to summarize the principles and strategies in an online course called The High Impact Leader.

A Better Normal For You

It was a long road back for me personally, and I had to keep believing that God wasn’t done with me. 11 years later I’m so thankful. Our church has never been healthier or more effective.

I am enjoying what I’m doing more than ever. And the opportunities before me have never been greater.

How much of that could I see or imagine 11 years ago? Exactly 0%. But I had to not give up despite that. In those moments and days where I still don’t feel good, I cling to the hope that the sun will rise again. And it does.

So that’s my story.

I’m praying for you today and I hope that in some small way this helps those of you who are defeated, discouraged or believe it’s over.

It’s not. Our God still lives. And He loves you.

11 Signs You’re More Than Just Tired…You’re Burning Out

By Carey | May 11, 2017 |

Ever wonder if you’re burning out? I know a lot of leaders and people who wonder that.
There’s a fine line between being tired and actually burning out.
The challenge is, once you cross the line, it’s so difficult to get back.
Eleven years ago, I entered into the darkest period of my life. People had always warned me I would burn out. I thought I could prove them wrong. And usually I did. I would get tired – out of balance – but when I saw the edge, I could always pull myself back.
That approach worked just fine until the summer of 2006, when it didn’t.
In that fateful summer eleven years ago, I found the edge, and as I was falling, I knew this time I realized I couldn’t pull myself back.
Although I’m not a person who suffers from depression, I’m sure I would have gone to the doctor and received a diagnosis of clinical depression that summer when I fell off the edge.
Perhaps it wasn’t a stereotypical depression.

I could get out of bed every day, and I did.

As a Christian, I kept praying and reading my bible. I never lost my faith (I just couldn’t feel it).

People who weren’t that close to me didn’t realize it was happening.

But I knew something inside me had broken, and I didn’t know how to fix it.

My speed decreased to a snail’s pace.

Hope felt like it had died.

My motivation and passion dropped to zero. (Make that zero Kelvin).

Like most people who experience burnout, it felt like a strange land. I had been tired before, but I had never truly been burned out. It was so disorienting I didn’t know what to do.
What terrified me is that I knew many in ministry and life had gone down this road before me and some of them never made it back.
For them, ministry was done. And sometimes, tragically, they were done – hope never fully returned and they didn’t ever become the person they were before.
That was the last thing I wanted to happen to me.
Looking back, the diagnosis is still a little elusive and mysterious.
Who really knows what corrodes the soul to the point where it deflates?

But I’d say the most likely candidate for what derailed me is what I’d call emotional burnout. 
In caring for others I had not adequately cared for my heart or soul, or let others who wanted to care for it do so.
I spiralled down for about 3 months before I hit bottom.
Then with the love and assistance of a great wife, board, leadership team, close friends, a counselor, and a very gracious God, I slowly began to recover.
It took, honestly, a few years to really feel full stride again, but I recovered to 80-90% of full strength in the first year. The last 10% took two or three more years.
The good new is, there is life after burnout (my next post will be on ways to recover from burnout).
I’m writing this because burnout seems to be an epidemic among leaders and, increasingly, among people in general.
Maybe you’re right on the edge of the cliff right now. Or maybe you’re in free fall.
So how do you know if you’re more than just tired? How do you know if you’re burning out?
Here are 11 things I personally experienced as I burned out.
I hope they can help you see the edge before you careen past it.

1. Your passion fades

2. Your main emotion is ‘numbness’ – you no longer feel the highs or the lows

3. Little things make you disproportionately angry

4. Everybody drains you 

5. You’re becoming cynical

6. Nothing satisfies you

7. You Can’t Think Straight

8. Your productivity is dropping

9.  You’re self-medicating

10. You don’t laugh anymore

11. Sleep and time off no longer refuel you

Long Term Health Is About Sustainable Patterns
Eleven years on the other side of burnout, I’ve never felt better. All eleven signs are gone and have been gone for years.
Do I have bad days? Of course, but they’re days, not life. I’m so thankful!
On the other side of burnout, I developed new rhythms, patterns and approaches to life and leadership that have helped me thrive. They actually helped my productivity soar while working fewer hours. And they’ve given me a new passion for life and leadership.


So Are You More Than Just Tired?
So how do you know if you’re burning out?
Identifying with just a few of these signs might just be a sign that you’re tired.
If you identify with half, you might be close to the edge.
If you identify with most or all, well, you might be in the same place I found myself—burnout.
If you are burnt out, I would encourage you to seek immediate professional help – a medical doctor and a trained Christian counselor.  I would also encourage you to talk to a close circle of friends (again, my next post will be on recovery from burnout).

Ignite Worship: May 14th @ Zion Lutheran

Sola Worship: May 14th @ Zion Lutheran

Ignite Worship: April 30th @ Zion Lutheran

Sola Worship: April 30th @ Zion Lutheran

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Jessica Rudy, Zion's VBS Coordinator has a greeting and a challenge for Zion.

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Ignite Worship: April 23rd @ Zion Lutheran

Sola Worship 4/23/17

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Sola Worship 4/16/17 Easter Sunday

Ignite Worship: Easter Sunday @ Zion Lutheran

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Midweek Email Update for April 12, 2017



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Ignite Worship: April 2nd @ Zion Lutheran

Sola Worship: April 2nd @ Zion Lutheran

Sola Worship 3/26/17

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Sola Worship: March 19th @ Zion Lutheran

Ignite Worship:March 19th @ Zion Lutheran

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Measure For Measure Skit

Ignite Worship:March 12th @ Zion Lutheran

Sola Worship 3/12/17

Rest and Whitespace

This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.”  - Isaiah 30:15 New International Version (NIV) During the season of Lent we spend time doing repentance. Repentance literally means to turn around and go in a new direction. We begin Lent on Ash Wednesday with a smudge of ash in the form of a cross. This ashen cross reminds us that we are dust and to dust we shall return. Repentance gets real when we have ash on our foreheads. We tend to take death seriously when it stares back at us in the mirror. What about rest? Is that a part of your Lenten discipline? The Lord says, repentance and rest is your salvation. Sometimes, repentance is our main focus during Lent. When was the last time you focused on rest during Lent?  I don’t do rest very well. How about you? Do you rest faithfully? Do you sit in quietness? Do you trust that God will be faithful? I know God is speaking to me, when God says in Isaiah 30:15, “you would have none of this rest and quietness stuff”. Is God speaking to you too? Is God waiting for us to notice our need for rest and quiet? Do you need to practice rest this Lent? Do you need to be intentional about quiet time with God? Rest in God and quiet intimacy with God leads to salvation and strength. I want these things in my life, and I would guess that you do too. Would you consider more whitespace in your life? If you’re tired of being tired, if you’re exhausted from being exhausted, then you need the strength that rest and quietness with God can offer you. I know what it means to work long hours. I know that when I lose whitespace, I am not resting in God. We often believe that whitespace is just blank space. But in art, whitespace is an important element of design. It enables the objects in a composition to exist. Whitespace breathes beauty. God is the Artist and Architect of your soul. God is using spiritual whitespace in our lives to reawaken our souls with rest and quietness. When we make room for spiritual whitespace, we step into the journey of letting go to discover what’s really worth holding on to. We need to slow down, to savor moments, to enjoy conversations and renew intimacy. When we step into whitespace, we are no longer holding onto our old ways of coping, managing and doing. We only hold on to Jesus. In the whitespaces, our soul reawakens to rest with God. I need whitespace. I need rest with God. I need quiet to hear God’s whispers. I need God’s strength to keep living. Will you seek quiet and practice rest this Lent? Is your life in need of God’s quiet whispers of trust and strength? Join me this Lent as we look for whitespace, for strength, for salvation, for rest and quiet in God. “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” - Augustine of Hippo (354–430), in Confessions

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Wittenberg Choir at Zion

Questions to ask each day.

Grace

Sola Worship: February 26th @ Zion Lutheran

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The Paradox of Our Time

Ignite Worship: February 26th @ Zion Lutheran

Luther Hymn Festival @ Zion Lutheran

Inside the Strange Head of A Leader: 5 Mood Swings Any Leader Can Relate To

By Carey Nieuwhof | February 23, 2017

Ever feel like you’re two people? Or three?

Sometimes when I reflect on who I am, I think I just swing from one end of the emotional spectrum to the other.

I’m not talking about struggling with mental health issues or being bi-polar. I have friends who are bi-polar and who struggle with mental health issues on an ongoing basis. I feel for them and I pray for them. And although I burned out at one point in ministry, for the most part, I don’t have any ongoing mental health issues. And that subject—an important one—is a very different topic.

But sometimes if you get into the head of most leaders, it can feel a little strange and moody. This post is about the daily ups and downs and mood swings we all go through as leaders, and in particular, ministry leaders.

Been there?

One my favorite quips from Kara Powell is what she told me in this podcast interview: “Balance is something you achieve as you swing from one extreme to another.”

I still smile every time I think of that quote. So true isn’t it?

Knowing the pendulum swings of ministry and leadership can help you manage the pendulum swings of ministry and leadership.

If you don’t understand the swings involved in leadership, you’ll be tempted to quit before you should. And you’ll likely be unnecessarily confused by the challenges of ministry.

So with all that in mind, here are 5 mood swings I’ve experienced in ministry leadership:

1. I’m doing an awesome job <——-> I’m doing an awful job

I realized early on in leadership that I’m really not the best judge of how I’m doing. For that reason, I’ve sought out feedback early and often.

And yet I realize that as a leader, you’re often the last to know how you’re really doing. And your self-perception can be off.

Left unchecked, I will often drift toward thinking I’m doing a better job than I am… or a worse job than I am. Neither is helpful for the team I lead.

If I think I’m doing better than I am, I ignore problems I need to deal with.

If I think I’m doing worse than I actually am, my discouragement can negatively impact the team.

To stay somewhere in the middle is ideal. Getting formal and informal feedback from people who aren’t afraid to tell you the truth is the best way to do this.

So the question is… are you getting that kind of honest, real-time feedback? If not, what could you do to solicit it?

The reality is that you’re not nearly as good as your best day or nearly as bad as your worst.

2. I’m completely overwhelmed <——-> I’m so bored

Leadership can be overwhelming.

I have a fairly high capacity for work, but I still find myself signing up for more projects and work than I can handle in some seasons. I’m not prone to panic, but every once in a while I get that “What on earth was I thinking??” feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Then… this almost always happens.. .once I get to the other side of all that work, I feel a letdown and I get bored, wondering whether I’m actually doing everything I should be doing.

I think many A type leaders can relate.

The key, of course, is to keep the challenges in balance… to load up with a healthy amount of challenge and then keep it steady.

Easier said than done. But most days… I’m not bored.

3. Things are going great personally <——–> I’m in the ditch

Of all the journeys in ministry, the emotional journey has been the most surprising and the most challenging personally.

It’s hard not to take ministry personally. Unless you really work at establishing accurate boundaries, when people leave your church, it can feel like they’re leaving you. When people criticize your message or your leadership, it can feel like they’re criticizing you. 

Add to that my drive to take on big challenges, and sometimes keeping emotional balance is a weekly… if not a daily… task. After burning out 11 years ago, I’m more sensitive to it than ever.

If you struggle to keep your personal journey healthy, I wrote this post about how to get off the emotional roller coaster of ministry. Hope it helps!

4. I love the church <——–> I’m so frustrated with the church

I really love the local church. Seriously, I love it.

I hear from the critics all the time (anyone who blogs does.), but they can’t deter my passion for the local church.

And I love the church I serve too. Deeply. Most days, I’m thrilled with it.

If you’re leading a church through change, or if your church needs to change, chances are you’ll spend more than a little time feeling frustrated by your church, and about your church. That’s understandable. Keep loving it, though.

If you’ve led for a while and you’re still frustrated by your church, you might discover what I’ve discovered. That I’m not frustrated with the church nearly as much as I’m frustrated with myself.

Why? Because I’m the leader. And somehow I contributed to the problem I can’t figure out how to solve.

Frustrated by your church? Change what’s frustrating you and others.

Frustrated by your church after you’ve led it for a long time? Then change yourself… you’re the one with whom you’re probably most frustrated.

5. Micromanagement <———-> Abdication

Of all the pendulums that swing in my leadership, this is the one I have to manage most actively.

Our church is too big for me to manage everything. Frankly, if your church is even 50 people, it should be too big for you to manage everything.

And I can be a micromanager, especially in areas in which I’m passionate. I also happen to notice every little detail. Not so much in the things I create, but in the things other people create (I need other people to spot the typos in everything I write).

If I decide not to micromanage, I can run to the other side of the spectrum and abdicate completely, a big sign that I’m losing interest.

It’s a horribly perfect storm to create a demotivating work environment.

So I check this every day. I try to make sure I micromanage less in areas of my passion and abdicate less in areas where I really have no natural passion. That makes for a much better culture: a leader who is engaged, but not controlling. Passionate, but not constantly interfering.

And yes, it’s a work in progress.

5 Unfair Criticisms People Levy at Strategic Church Leaders

By Carey Nieuwhof | February 20, 2017 |

If you’re a church leader who thinks strategically, you’re probably going to get criticized. Maybe even more than you ever dreamed.

For some reason, being strategic is often viewed as being unspiritual in the church. Why?

I mean, if you want the church to flounder, be unstrategic. Never use your mind, only use your heart. Never think, only feel.

Saying the church should never be strategic is like saying God wasn’t strategic when he designed the universe or even when he designed you. Everything was just random or emotional; God never invoked what we best understand as rational thought.

The truth is God showed incredible precision and unfathomable accuracy and detail when creating the galaxies.

If God created us to think, why do people criticize leaders who use their minds when leading?

It’s a real question. Talk to many Christians, and you’d think logic and strategy are the enemies of the faith. (Just read the comments scattered throughout the blog… you’ll see the mindset there.)

You know who pays the price for this?  Among others, the church. Because so often, churches are poorly led as a result.

To be fair, we’ve all probably met a few church leaders who were strategic but who showed little evidence of a profound and personal relationship with Jesus. That’s just wrong, and that’s not what this post is justifying.

You can be strategic and deeply devoted to Jesus. You can think and be faithful.

However, if you’re a strategic leader, get ready.

As soon as the conversation gets specific and detailed, some people start criticizing. Here’s what you need to be prepared to hear.

Just because these phrases sound spiritual doesn’t mean they’re always helpful. And just because they’re true doesn’t mean they should shut down intelligent, prayerful discussion.

But too often, they do, and the church pays a horrible price.

1. You’re not trusting God enough

So…  because I’m planning and thinking, I must not be trusting God?

Trusting God doesn’t mean “my half-baked idea is good enough for God.”

It doesn’t mean “let’s just do some ill-considered thing and hope it works out.”

Trust and strategy can be and should be inherently linked.

Trust isn’t blind, and strategy isn’t bullet-proof.

When they work together (like when Paul built the early church), incredible things can happen.

Will God do more than your strategy suggests he will? Absolutely.

When I look at everything God has done in my life and leadership, he’s out-delivered my strategy a thousand times over.  I’ve seen God work in me, through me and in spite of me again and again.

But I often find that leaders who have a (faithful, well-thought-out) strategy tend to do greater things in the Kingdom than leaders who don’t.

2. Just get back to the Gospel

Often when the conversation becomes highly strategic, someone around the table will say something like “Just get back to the Gospel.”

Should you get back to the Gospel?

Of course. In fact, root everything you do deeply in the Gospel and be faithful to it.

Strategy—when done well—is what gives flesh to the Gospel in your context.

I can hear the critics now… The Gospel doesn’t need flesh. It doesn’t need help. It doesn’t need anything. 

I get that…. but what are the critics really railing against?

I don’t think most can answer that.

And notice this: often the critics who speak the loudest are accomplishing little for the Gospel in their lives.

They’re not leading anyone. They may leave critical comments on a blog or write angry emails to church leaders, but who’s following them? (Other than maybe five people who write letters/leave comments with them?)

Who are they leading to Christ?

What are they building?

What seeds are they sowing other than seeds of dissension?

The spiritual gift of criticism is not a spiritual gift.

Do we need to get back to the Gospel? Absolutely. But the Gospel is as much about moving forward as it as about moving back.

So keep moving forward.

3. The scripture says….

Ah… scripture wars.

These are so hard.

When I was a young leader, I tried to justify all my actions with scripture.

But you know what? Often that’s exactly what people try to do when they keep quoting scripture verses: justify their actions.

And when you try to explain your position using a series of scripture verses, guess what someone who disagrees with you will do? The same thing.

And you end up with a scripture war.

I’m not sure that’s why God gave us the scriptures.

Again, every strategy you propose or adopt should be entirely consistent with Scripture and genuinely biblical, but too often Christians will try to use scriptural principles to attack preferences with which they disagree.

Often, strategy comes down to preference.

One person likes this kind of music; another prefers a different style.

Someone likes a more traditional architecture; someone else prefers something far more modern.

One group likes a church with programs running five nights a week; another prefers a simpler model.

I’m not sure scripture should be used to justify our preferences. Biblically, there is freedom on certain issues. And biblically, there is always love.

Sadly, too many strategic conversations go down in the flames of Scripture wars.

And when we do that, don’t we play right into the enemy’s hands? As shocking as it sounds, the scripture sometimes gets used as a weapon against God. (Satan tried this with Jesus.)

All we do as Christian leaders should be deeply biblical and scripturally sound.

It isn’t wise or helpful to use the Bible to beat each other up or shut down needed discussions.

4. The church is not a business, you know

You’re not a CEO, you know. And the church is not a business.

I’ve heard this many times.

Critics who say this are quite right—and very wrong.

The sentiment underneath this criticism suggests the church has nothing to learn from the business world.

Again, without getting into the scripture wars outlined above, you don’t have to read the scriptures very deeply before you encounter organizational leadership in the life of Moses (who couldn’t handle millions of people by himself), or David’s skillful building of a nation, or Jesus’ organization of his followers into a group of 70, 12, 3 and 1, or the early church’s reorganization after explosive initial growth.

As much as it makes some people wince, historical Christianity has always been about corporate strategy because it has always been corporate (from the Latin corpus as in body).  

Anyone who cares about people has to care about organizing people, reaching people and caring for people.

Sadly, the business world has become better at it in many cases than the church. Companies use advanced strategies to make something as shallow and fleeting as profit.

What if the church used that level of strategic thinking to reach people and make disciples?

Think about strategy when it comes to tackling one of the biggest obstacles facing churches today: breaking the 200 attendance mark. (I wrote about why 80% of churches never break that barrier here.)

Most churches fail to break the 200 attendance barrier but it has nothing to do with their…

Desire. Most leaders I know want their church to reach more people.

A lack of prayer. Many small church leaders are incredibly faithful in prayer.

Love. Some of the people in smaller churches love people as authentically as anyone I know.

Facility. Growth can start in the most unlikely places.

You know why most churches don’t push past the 200 mark in attendance?

You ready?

They organize, behave, lead and manage like a small organization.

There’s a world of difference between how you organize a corner store and how you organize a larger supermarket.

In a corner store, Mom and Pop run everything. Want to talk to the CEO? She’s stocking shelves. Want to see the director of marketing? He’s at the cash register.

Mom and Pop do everything, and they organize their business to stay small. Which is fine if you’re Mom and Pop and don’t want to grow.

But you can’t run a supermarket that way. You organize differently. You govern differently. There is a produce manager and there are people who only stock shelves. There’s a floor manager, shift manager, general manager and so much more.

That’s just one tiny example of how better thinking (things we can learn from the wider world) can transform the church’s mission today.

To say you don’t want to organize the body of Christ well is to say you don’t care about Christ’s body.

5. Just pray about it

We should absolutely pray about all of the decisions we make, organizationally and personally. I am full on for prayer.

But often in the context of a meeting, ‘just pray about it’ becomes the ultimate shut-down move.

“Just pray about it” translates to “let’s not make a decision.”

Or it means “let’s defer that… forever.”

Or, even worse, ‘just pray about it’ suggests that if you actually prayed about it, you would realize like all the spiritual people do that God would not approve.

Really? Just because something sounds spiritual doesn’t mean it’s from God. In fact, sometimes that’s the best way to shut down the mission of the church: make it sound spiritual, and then kill all forward momentum.

Should you pray about your decision? Absolutely.

But when you pray, remember that prayer and thought are not mutually incompatible.

In fact, they should go hand in hand. The best prayers bring your heart and your mind before God. They bring all of you and everything you’re dealing with before Christ.

So… by all means, pray about it. Pray about it deeply. Bring all of your plans before God.

But then act.

Don’t let people who say ‘just pray about it’ kill the mission of the very church God created.

Zion Youth Spring Hill Weekend 2017