He asked me a question the other day that I am putting some thought into. He said: Let’s say you were wanting to plant another church in the states.

What would that look like now?

What would be different from when you planted churches in the 90′s here?

How would you go about doing this?

I believe a lot has changed in the culture here. So I would have to be a learner.

I know I would pray a lot and get a ton of people praying with us.

I know I would learn as much as I could about the place we were feeling called to plant.

I would move into that area.

I would start figuring out the cultural differences between myself and the community and start navigating through them. I am sort of odd in that I am from the South but have spent the last ten years in Western Europe.  No comments about me being odd. smile.

I think would try to find some sort of regular  job in that community even if it were part-time.

I would try to find ways to serve that community by joining existing groups doing just that.

To me those are base lines and not by a long shot  a complete list.

One big thing that I would change is this. I was much more concerned with our Sunday Services than anything else. As a result I would put much more effort into making global disciples instead of having a really good Sunday service. What that would look like I do not know for certain but I have some ideas.

Those are some initial thoughts.  Maybe I will have some more. I hope so. It is a big question. It is a daunting task to plant a church. I am so encouraged my so many people these days planting churches here. I would learn from them for sure.

Peace

I stuck my head in the standing room only door to hear Rick Warren one morning give a devotional to this large gathering of church planters.

I think I listened just at the right time for me.  It was the last day of the conference. To be honest I had become over stimulated by listening to all of the latest models for church planting. They are all over the map. To be honest I feel that these days the church planting world is becoming quite polarized by which model you follow, which network you are involved in, etc.

It can even seem quite elite at times.

I have always enjoyed some of Pastor Rick’s one liners. One of my favorites  is when he said “it will take all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people”.  I believe this is true.

This morning he said there is something that we can learn from each model of church planting and not to be too proud when you look at models differing from yours. He then cited:

That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

James 4:6

I think a danger occurs when I look at a model that seems to be working and then  decide we want to implement that model on ours and do a course correction. Likewise it is dangerous to say our way is the best way and we only play and work with those who do it like we do.

Both extremes can be bad.

Who can you learn from?

How do you apply what you learn?

This morning as I sitting through a german sermon without translation I was trying to figure out a certain word that the preacher was using. Okay, to be honest I was trying to figure out many words that I could not quite get.  I get distracted quite easily and when I finally got close to the meaning of the word then my mind took a turn and I started thinking about being thankful. I did wait til the end of the message to type this out though.

I believe that we cannot use the words “thanks” or “thank you” too much in the context of a team.  I never want to be guilty of under appreciating the work of people who work with me. I know in my early years one of my mentors taught me the power of saying “thank you”. It is not for manipulative purposes. It is about being grateful for what others do and how they give of themselves for the work of the gospel. As you read the letters of Paul in the New Testament he spends a good amount of time saying thanks. Read Philippians 1 for example.

No matter how great or small the task is we need to say thanks to our team members. I do not know if this is always the case. When is the last time you have expressed your gratefulness to your team? What are some tangible ways (excluding bonuses, smile) that you can say thank you?

Peace,

Larry

Over the years I have observed quite a bit on the field. I have had some successes and I have certainly made my share of mistakes along the way in leading teams. In this series of posts I want to share some thoughts for team leaders.

One of the most empowering things we can do with new team members or even the seasoned veteran is to create an environment on our teams where they can dream about possibilities without the fear of hearing negativity or pessimism. I often hear younger workers express how they share their dreams with their team leaders only to hear :

“That will never work here”.

“We tried something similar back in 2005 and that just does not fly here”.

“You just need to stay focused on the work you have in front of you now”.

“We do not have the money for that”.

I know you cannot try every idea and some of them may not work but are there ways you can communicate as a team that will celebrate creativity and encourage dreaming and risking.  The idea may flop or the idea may be a huge success. I do know we need fresh ideas constantly on the mission field.  Often ideas build on one another. If you are a team leader you need to let your team members dream.

Why not take a little time at each meeting to just possibility think? We can get so caught up in the administrative and logistical aspects involved in team and living overseas that we spend a large amount of our time talking about those things instead of dreaming.

Chemistry:

• National Partners

• Other Great Commission Christian organizations and networks

• People who work in the marketplace. For more on this please see www.skybridgecommunity.net.

However,  whether it is our immediate team or our extended team that we are building there are some elements that are vital.

One’s character would be at the top of that list.

I have read before that character is ” who you are when no one else is looking”. Pretty well said.

We see in Psalm 78 ESV that David had character.

⁷⁰He chose David his servant
and took him from the sheepfolds;
⁷¹from following the nursing ewes he brought him
to shepherd Jacob his people,
Israel his inheritance.
⁷²With upright heart he shepherded them
and⁽guided them with his skillful hand.

I find this interesting since we know of some of his mistakes. It is important to know that he was that he was a man after God’s own heart.

The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.” 1 Chronicles 13:14 ESV

I think he wanted to be close. He desired to live upright.

Character is important for we must trust the people we work with. It is hard to trust someone with character issues. It is nearly impossible to work with someone closely that you cannot trust. So as you build team in a cross cultural setting do not forget the importance of one’s character.

I think Vision must be near the top of the list. I know this is vintage but still true.

You need to be able to see things that have not yet happened. I am not talking paranormal activity.

I am talking about having a preferred future for your team, project, ministry, etc… and being able to communicate it to others.  I love what Rick Warren said about this years ago. I also must admit that I heard him when he first wrote it. Sort of dates me.

He said that we must cast vision on a regular basis.

We must do this with our team, our church, our partnerships, ministry advocates, etc…

This is so true. Do you do this?

If so how ? To a group, One on One, Emails, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, podcasts…

Two additional thoughts regarding getting to know your team mates on the field.

- Communication - Ask them about what they need from you in regards to communication.  Do they prefer a facebook message, an email, phone call, skype call with only audio or skype call with video or a face to face?   All of those can be effective. All of them have their place. Often we find ourselves working with people who are on our team organizationally but they are 100 kilometers (62 miles) a way.  It is important to talk about communication and what that should look like.

Guess what? It will most likely look different with each person on your team. We need to be all about flexibility.

Since a lot of this is about relationship my suggestion is to call sometimes “just because”.

No agenda. Just check in.

Ask if they need anything. I know in the past that I have made a lot of calls always with something specifically on my mind. I needed to check something off my TO DO list. People begin to think they are simply chess pieces and you are playing them. I started to find that it was much better when I just checked in and gave them a call to chat for a few minutes. It really does wonders for the team dynamic and morale.

The second one is Expectations - One time in ministry  I had a supervisor who told me that I exceeded their expectations. I was pretty pumped about that until I realized that this person had never told me what their expectations were. I guess I was lucky.

Talk about expectations.

This is not an exhaustive list but hopefully it will get the conversation started.

What do you expect from them? (These are merely examples)

Timeliness

Answering emails within 24 hours  / 7 days a week or just 5 days a week

Perfection

Hard Work

Trust

Status of the projects or ministries they are involved in

What do they expect from you?

Phone calls and regular communication

Good feedback on their work

Help with their projects. I have found that most of us assume too much of our team members. We act as if they do not need help. All of us need help. Offer It! They may not feel the freedom to ask.

Hard Work

Being a good example

The list could go on but the idea is to identify your expectations and talk about them with your team.

More soon.

One thing that I have seen work effectively over the years is for the team leader to get to know his team members. I know that sounds quite simple but you would be surprised how many do not take this step.

How do you get to know them?

Spending Time with them -  What if you just get to know them a bit?  Take some time with them with no agenda and no note taking to just simply sit and talk and have a drink or share a meal together. This sounds way to simple but it works. Remember, leave your agenda (both written and hidden) at home. You will still be

Listening to them - This requires a little more concentration on your end. You have to actively listen.  Ask good open ended questions and then listen. Pay attention to them. Turn that iphone off (that was for me).

– Find out what they care about. Find out about their family. Find out about their interests and hobbies. Find out about their experiences in ministry and ways they have seen God move.

– Ask them about their spiritual gifts. Many people have taken spiritual gift inventories. There are numerous ones online. I like the ones where the person identifies what he / she feel are their spiritual gifts but they also ask a few close friends or co-workers what they observe.

Observing them in group settings or in ministry settings – The purpose of this is not to evaluate them and find their weaknesses but really just the opposite. Find out what they do well and then empower them to do that more often. Help them develop their strengths.

A Result: You get to know your team members.  You will begin realizing what makes them tick, what they do well, what challenges them beyond their competency, etc.. You will start observing the areas where they can make the biggest contribution on the team.

Many times we are more concerned about making our team conform to our way of leading instead of us being willing to be flexible in the way we lead for the sake of the team.

Another result: The team will be more effective and the individuals on your team will be more fulfilled.

Most teams have some goals and objectives.

How do we as a team work together to accomplish those? We need to utilize each other’s giftedness. A good team leader knows the gifts of his team members and uses that to develop the team. Chances are no one person on your team has all of the gifts but each person can be a contributor (of course providing they are willing but that is another issue for another post).

more soon.

I have been thinking a bit this week about the line between “creating awareness” versus  “self promoting”.  Sometimes it seems like a narrow one.

Where is the line in trying to influence others in my ideas and thinking and trying to draw attention to myself?

Social Networking is a great tool for mission and ministry. It is a great tool for staying connected.

It is also easy to self promote and say “look at me”.

Some times I type in a tweet or an update or say something on my blog and feel like “Wow, that was all about me”. I am the hero of my own story and I want to tell everyone.

I am trying to stay away from that line.

more soon,

larry