What Is Greatness, How Churches Will Reach The Next Generation And 8 Other Things I’m Thinking About

The following are 10 Things I Am Currently Spending A Significant Amount Of Time Thinking About:

1. What Is Greatness – American Pharaoh ran the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the triple crown, in quarter mile times of 24:06, 24:77, 24:58, 24:58, 24:34 and 24:32 seconds.  It occurs to me greatness is excellence compounded over time.
2. Do Not Confuse Outliers With Staples – When I wrote the post 18 Thoughts On John Luke Robertson’s Visit To Perry Noble And NewSpring Church, I made sure not to focus on the church’s production values.  If I did, pastors and church leaders could potentially write off the lessons provided because NewSpring’s production is an outlier.  However, the staples of their ministry – expecting visitors to show up, an enthusiastic parking ministry, hosts instead of greeters, best seats for visitors, VIP section for visitors, attention to detail like camouflage cupcakes, and timely follow up.  These are things any church, anywhere and any size can do.  If you are someone looking to take their church to the next level and have not read my NewSpring article, click the link above today.
3. Are The Youth In Your Church A Priority?  Really??? – Speaking of NewSpring, this past week they had over 5,000 students and over 1,000 adult volunteers attend their summer camp in Daytona Beach called Gauntlet.  I asked a group of NewSpring attenders, “Other than Easter, what is the one thing on the church calendar everything else points toward?  What takes the highest priority?”  Their answer was Gauntlet.  I wondered how many church’s top priority for the calendar year is student camp.  Maybe this is why their church is so successful.  It is also interesting to note that over half of the employees for their nine campuses came up through Gauntlet.
4. Who Is Going To Reach The Next Generation – Thursday night after watching Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, my daughter asked my wife and I to join her at 10:30 PM at a shaved ice company called Bahama Buck’s.  The establishment is poorly located with limited visibility and did I mention we were meeting at 10:30 PM?  When we arrived we shockingly discovered over 100 students there.  Bahama Buck’s had become a hangout for young people.  I asked the manager with so much seemingly working against him location wise, how was his business attracting so many students?  He said, “Word of mouth.  I did some boosted Facebook posts but it was young people who started talking and inviting their friends.  And this is the result.”  So if a church creates a fun environment where students are valued and not judged, where food and games are provided, where community can be developed, where there is excellence, and where things are worth students inviting their friends to, is it possible hundreds of students will flock there at all hours?  The people who are going to reach the next generation are NOT the previous generation.  The people who are going to reach the next generation are the next generation.
5. Do Not Confuse A Good Decision With A Bad Outcome – Many decisions leaders make do not turn out well.  This just comes with being a leader.  Sometimes the decision process was done well.  All the right questions were asked.  All the research was done.  All the right people were included.  It just did not turn out well.  I bet if you did the same process the next time around you may get the desired result you are looking for.  Never confuse a good decision with a bad outcome.
6. I Have Learned To Elevate Trust Over Agreement – I have a number of millennials on my team.  As a 49-year-old, millennials think, act and approach their work differently than I do.  Candidly, this is why we hired them.  We needed new and different thinking.  On a recent project we worked on together, I said, “I don’t agree with this but I trust you.”  And as it turned out, they were right and we had a great outcome.  I have learned to elevate trust over agreement.  Our team and the churches we work with have been the benefactors.
7. Personal Freedoms Have Become Elevated Over Personal Holiness For Many Christian Leaders – Don’t believe me?  Go to Facebook or Instagram on a Friday or Saturday evening.  Many Christian leaders need to return to prioritizing their personal holiness above all else.
8. The Church And Its Business Leaders – With the Global Leadership Summit taking place later this week (look for live blog posts from the event), I am reminded of the importance for churches to equip their business leaders to be successful in that which they will spend more waking hours doing anything else away from church – their job.  Click 14 Things Churches Can Teach Business Leaders To Have A Competitive Advantage In Their Industry for the reasons why.
9. The Tape Don’t Lie – Isaiah Thomas said the approach to performance evaluation during his days with the two-time defending champion Detroit Pistons was, “The tape don’t lie.”  When comparing the performance between two or more individuals, just watch the video.
10. When Are Decisions Made About Your Future – Decisions are made about your future when you are not in the room.  For more on this topic, click The Top New Leadership Lesson I Learned In The Last Month.

What things are you currently thinking about?

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