Tag Archives: Vision
Be Strategic
Posted on 23. Jan, 2012 by Kenny.
From day one of engaging with Orange (more than 4 years ago), the word strategy was a word I heard often. It’s not a new concept, but it was something that was brought to my attention again last Friday and I’m glad it was. Reggie painted a clear picture of the importance of strategy. He described how many great churches have incredible mission and vision statements that never really seem to do anything. Many of those church’s doors are closed now.
Strategy – A plan of action with an end in mind.
I love it. I’m leading a breakout at Illuminate in Nashville in a few weeks titled, “What Matters Most.” In this breakout I’m going to speak about how sometimes we lose track of that particular “end” in mind or maybe the “end” we’re focused on really isn’t as important as it should be.
I wonder what would happen if we as ministry leaders scripted out all that we did in a given week or month and then asked the very important question, “What is specific end we’re trying to get to as a result of this event/program/resource/meeting?” I think it would reveal what things we’re doing that are strategic and those things that are just wasting time. Man, do I hate wasting time. What’s worse is when I’m wasting time and don’t even know it.
Families, kids and students need us to be as strategic as possible. We must be strategic with our time, our tallent and our resources. How are you being strategic today?
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Vision amnesia
Posted on 29. Nov, 2011 by Kenny.
Is it just me, or have you ever stepped out of the shower and then wonder if you remembered to wash your hair? Sometimes I really can’t remember, so I jump back in again and wash it just in case. Don’t you hate it when you walk into the kitchen and as soon as you get there, you forgot why you went there in the first place. Usually, you don’t remember until you are comfortable on the couch again. We’re not stupid people, we just have an amazing capacity for so many thoughts, ideas and tasks that sometimes things get buried in all of that. Sometimes, the things that get buried are important.
Yesterday I spoke about how we often get so focused on our work that we can’t see the forest from the trees. We lose site of the vision. This happens even more so for those who work for us. Staff and volunteers sometimes see less of the whole picture than we do and sometimes the individual ministry that they’re seeking to fulfill is their big picture. This is why it is so important for ministry leaders to recast the vision on a regular basis. Not only does this keep the vision fresh for us, it gives the rest of the staff a fresh picture of how everyone is working toward a common cause. I don’t have to tell you how easy it is to get mad at another ministry area or staff person because their actions are in conflict with what we’re trying to do. However, in light of the vision, it may just be a simple misunderstanding.
I’ve been on staff where the attitude toward some changes were toxic. The attitude was so rotten because people were more focused on how the change would affect them, not on how the change might help them better achieve a grand vision. This is why vision needs to be recast again an again. As I write this, I embrace my inadequacy in this area. I can’t think of the last time I’ve cast the vision to my staff in a compelling way, which is no wonder why some have a little vision amnesia.
So, this week, think about five or six different ways you can creatively cast vision to your staff, volunteers, manager or whoever runs into you at the grocery store.
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How important is vision?
Posted on 28. Nov, 2011 by Kenny.
I’ve been thinking quite a bit about vision lately. A couple months ago I heard an interesting story. I don’t remember who told it to me, so I can’t confirm it’s validity. However, I was told about a church that was given a significant financial gift. When I say significant, I mean in the multiple millions of dollars. How amazing, right? What a blessing! Unfortunately, it wasn’t for this church. Within a couple of years, the church was defunct, no longer in existence. Why? Because leadership didn’t know what to do with the money and fighting tore the church apart until nothing was left.
I don’t know the details of this particular situation, but if I had to guess, they had a vision problem. Either they didn’t have one, or it wasn’t nearly big enough. At least it wasn’t a million dollar vision. In the case of this church, a lack of vision was fatal.
It seems to me that a ministry with a God-sized vision would know exactly what to do with a gift of any size. That way a substantial gift would immediately be applied toward the vision… no questions asked, right? I believe that God calls us to things that are far bigger than we could ever do just on our own. Maybe that’s because he wants us to truly depend on him… keeping us humble.
I get it though. We’re so busy that we loose track of the vision. We can’t see the forest from the trees. That’s normal and natural. However, I think that it’s healthy for us to take a step back from time to time and refresh ourselves with the God-sized vision he’s called us to. Maybe for you it’s reading back through your journal. For others, it might be enjoying a lunch with fellow staff and dreaming about all the “what ifs” and “what should bes.” These exercises are critical to keeping the vision in front of us.
How clear is your vision? How big is it? Would you know what to do if someone gave you a million bucks tomorrow?
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The Homeless Blogger: What matters in 100 years
Posted on 24. Oct, 2011 by Kenny.
My second post in the Homeless Blogger series was hosted at Jenny Funderburke’s KidminThoughts. Jenny’s a cool cat, she hosted the Illuminate Conference in Birmingham, AL. If you don’t read her blog, you really should. She’s really sharp… except when it comes to math.
This post was inspired by the talk by Dr. Lazarus at the Kidmin Conference. He spoke for a little while about the concept of a 100 year vision. Essentially, what will be different about the world 100 years from now because of something I did. Now, I honestly do believe that I’m making a mark. I believe that lives are being changed here and there by my family and ministry. However, I spend very letting time (if any at all) dreaming about intentionally changing the future. Read more of these thoughts here.
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My big vision for volunteers
Posted on 20. Sep, 2010 by Kenny.
Let me tell you about the vision I’ve had. I actually just started communicating it about 5-6 weeks ago. In recognizing where we need to go as a ministry, I knew that we need significantly more help. As far as room coverage and functionality is concerned, we’re pretty good. However, to have a truly small span of care, we’ve got many positions to fill.
When I’m with or talking to Jim Wideman, I’m always challenged. He talks about develop his first, second and third string of volunteers and backups for his backups. Jim Wideman is an incredible leader and gifted in this area, but there’s no reason why we can’t have a similar experience in our ministry.
So, about a month ago I began telling my staff that my goal was to double our volunteer base in the next 12 months. I’ve done this before when in a rapidly growing church or coming into a run down ministry that I was going to turn around, but that’s not the case here. Things are fairly healthy and we’re currently running more volunteers than we’ve ever had before. In addition, our church is growing, just not at any kind of “rapid” pace. So, doubling our base would be a purely intentional thing that will take a lot of effort as well as God’s help.
So, we’re currently at 300 volunteers at our largest campus. Probably half of our volunteers serve every week. In the next twelve months, my goal is to have 600 volunteers. In addition, I want 75% of our volunteers to serve every week. I’m very excited about this vision and I’m looking forward to working through various strategies and efforts with my team to make this happen. Tomorrow I’ll share how we did something these last two weeks to get 1/3 of the way there.
So, what’s your big vision for your volunteers this year?
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Making Vision Stick: Book Review
Posted on 09. Mar, 2010 by Kenny.
Last year just before the Orange Conference I spent some time at North Point hanging out at both the Alpharetta campus as well as at Buckhead. I spent a small fortune at the bookstore. While there, I picked up this little book, “Making Vision Stick” by Andy Stanley. It’s small, thin and something that can be wholly digested in one sitting. All I can say is this. Thank you Andy Stanley for writing this little book. Let me share with you a few reasons why I like this little 74 page book.
- I’m not the fastest of readers. My life is busy, so I’ll sit down for an hour, read part of a book and then several days later I’ll sit down and read for another hour and over the period of days or weeks, I’ll finish up a book. Each time I sit down though, I have to catch up on what I last read. Not so with this book. Because you can read it from start to finish in one sitting, the impact is more powerful and succinct.
- This book is so direct and to the point. I know, I’m being a hypocrite. I’m one of the wordiest guys I know. However, I wonder if most books could be condensed down to just 100 pages or so. This one is and I love it. Not much fluff, just straight and to the point.
- It’s short enough that I’ll take the time to read it again and again and again. I put this book on my must read list for 2010. After finishing the book though, I’ve officially put it on my “read it every year” list. I’m actually planning to read it 5-6 times this year alone. I need to lead this way more than anything else this year.
Is that enough of a review to make you want to buy the book already? I haven’t even told you what it’s about yet. No worries, you can read the book in a little more time than it will take for you to read this review, so click here and order your copy.
Oh, you’re still reading? What I liked most about this book was how practical it is as well as the simple examples Andy has included how he’s lived these principles out at North Point. The fact that North Point as eleventy-million people doesn’t negate the fact that I can use these principles in my church of 4,500, my volunteer team of 300 or my small staff of 6. It’s so applicable.
Other than this book, the best teaching I’ve heard on vision and purpose is Craig Jutila. Craig offers very practical teaching on shaping a vision and mission statement and has been highly influential in my life and ministry. Craig’s appraoch is heavily “purpose driven” which is the context from which Craig operated for so many years. I was really only at a purpose driven church for 2 years, so outside of that, I’ve had to adapt what I learned from him to a non “purpose driven” approach. In this book, Andy doesn’t get into the weeds of mission, values and goals, but focuses solely on that vision you have and how to make it stick for everyone in the organization.
After clearly defining vision, Andy shares five things about how to make it stick:
- State the vision simply
- Cast the vision convincingly
- Repeat the vision regularly
- Celebrate the vision systematically
- Embrace the vision personally
The books outlines how Andy has and continues to cast the North Point vision doing these very things over and over and over and over again.
No more details. Get the book and read it a couple of times. I’m convinced it will help you regardless of where you are.
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Personal investment equals great influence: followup thoughts
Posted on 04. Feb, 2010 by Kenny.
Yesterday I posted about something Andy Stanley said in the first paragraph of the forward of Think Orange. Click here to read it.
Essentially, I wrote about North Point being so successful in their efforts to reach families. One of the driving forces behind their success was that most of the key leadership and staff had skin in the game. It was so important to be successful in this area becasue their kids and families were at stake too. It sounds selfish, but it’s the truth. We always show more interest in the things that are going to affect us most.
So, what if the average age of the senior leadership at your church is in their mid to late 50′s? You’re passionate about children’s ministry, but the senior leadership really has not “personal” investment in your ministry (other than the fact that most healthy churches have strong ministries to kids). What do you do? How do you convince your leadership that your area has great needs that they don’t see?
There’s probably a hundred ways to answer this question, but I’ll answer it the way I’d approach it. Actually, I’ll answer it the way I’m dealing with this right now. Gateway is not a “family” church. We do have families and they are very important here, but Gateway is not laser focused on families. Half of the church is single and the church is very missional toward reaching the post-modern crowd, and many of that crowd are not parents yet. There are a few on the senior leadership of Gateway that have young kids, but it’s certainly not a majority. So what is the vision and leadership laser focused on? Serving the community and spiritual multiplication is though. So the way I’m leading (especially this year) is to minister to kid and families with excellence, but putting a lot of effort into serving our community through our ministry and creating an environment where NexGen is a hotbed for spiritual multiplication for both kids and adults. If I do that well, I’m serving my church well and I’ll get what I need to be successful. My senior leadership will fuel what’s working.
So, figure out what the senior leadership is most passionate about at your church and see if you can find common ground to fulfill that passion through your ministry. If you can’t find common ground, you’ll never be successful where you’re at and it’s doubtful your ministry will ever be remarkable. That’s basic leadership. Serve the vision of your leadership and you’ll be successful. If it’s not a fit, you’d be better off somewhere else where you can serve the vision of the leadership.
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Gutsy or stupid about your mission
Posted on 06. Jan, 2010 by Kenny.
I’ve been thinking a lot about mission the last few weeks. One of my goals for this year is for pervasive saturation of the vision and mission in the heart and minds of our volunteers and leaders. Actually, it’s not optional for our leaders. They have to know our mission… what we’re trying to accomplish. I’ve been talking with my team how we can continue to over-communicate our mission so that everyone will get it.
Just before Christmas I had to stop at a gas station to use the bathroom. I usually try to refrain from taking pictures in the rest room, but I couldn’t resist. Just above the dirty toilet was Tetco’s mission statement. What was especially ironic was their first line, “…by providing quality service in a clean and pleasant atmosphere.” I’ll give them the benifit of the doubt. It wasn’t one of those really disgusting gas station bathrooms you find in those small interstate towns in Mississippi, but it wasn’t clean.
Here’s my thought though.
Why did Tetco put their mission statement above the toilet in the men’s room, probably the first place to get disgusting at a gas station? It was either gutsy or it was stupid. I kind of admire them for doing it. That way if they actually could keep the bathroom clean, it would make a strong statement about how they live out their mission. But if they don’t, it’s more of a joke. Kind of like the children’s ministry that paint’s “the best hour of your kid’s week” on the wall of a church with a boring children’s ministry.
I think this is risky and I like it. It’s all or nothing. You’re either going to win big or you’ll be a joke. No space for playing it safe.
What do you think? How can you take more risk with living out your vision/mission?
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Forget resolutions. How about vision maps and life themes?
Posted on 21. Dec, 2009 by Kenny.
So we’re a little over a week from 2010. It’s going to be a big year… I can already tell. It’s got some nice even numbers. 2010. I like it. Let’s see… we’ll do another census here in the US. Those are always really exciting. I think the Winter Games are even scheduled for this year. Oh, I’ll turn 33. It’s even cooler than turning 22.
Okay, all that stuff isn’t really that big of a deal unless you work for the census bureau , unless you’re an Olympic athlete going to the games or you’re turning 33 as well. But the biggest thing I can think of about 2010 is the potential it holds for my life. I remember many years ago someone telling me that through this journey as a Christ follower, ever year should be better than the previous. Better in the sense that I’ve grown in my walk with the Lord or my relationship with him is closer. Although I heard that 10-12 years ago, I can’t honestly say that each year since then has been better than the previous when it comes to my relationship with God. I think there were some years where things even took a turn for the worse.
However, the past two years have been great. I have been growing in my faith more than I have had in years past and I can tell you that I’m really excited about 2010. As 2009 is wrapping up, I’ve had several things I’ve been thinking about in the form of resolutions. Then last week I read this blog post and I’m rethinking the whole “resolution” thing. I’ll probably have some goals, but I’m looking into developing a vision map and life theme for 2010. I’ll let you know what I come up with. Like I said, I’m really excited about 2010. Are you? Do you have goals/objectives/resolutions for 2010? What does your process for this look like?
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Casting vision to your church staff (conclusion)
Posted on 11. Dec, 2009 by Kenny.
Thanks for allowing me to crank out 5 or 6 posts all about a 90 minute meeting I had over a week ago. I cranked out a lot of words, but hopefully there was some stuff in there you found helpful. Enough teasing though.
- Here is the handout every staff member had.
- Here’s the same handout with the blanks filled in.
- Here’s my script. I tend to write out my talks rather than outline, so this is essentially everything I said.
So what did I learn from this experience?
- I’m disappointed that I haven’t done this before (at least to this capacity). From this point on, I’ll ask to lead our all-staff at least once every year.
- Although they didn’t know it, the staff wanted to hear about NextGen. It’s not that they don’t care, they just don’t wake up in the morning thinking, “I wonder what’s happening with the kids this week.” However, I had everyone’s attention and they were truly interested in what was being said.
- People truly do respond to vision, even if it’s not a vision that pulls them to action. Since my talk last week, I’ve had many questions about NextGen and a few people wanting to do more to be involved. Most in the room won’t do anything more for NextGen tangibly, but so many were inspired by the vision of this important ministry and will represent NextGen well from this point on.
- Like I said earlier, a good meeting takes time to develop. I put in at least 15 hours into planning, writing and preparation and the end results were more than worth the time invested. This has greatly challenged me toward the level of preparedness that I come to other meetings with.
- Google Wave is a useful tool. I used Wave with several people from my staff. We were able to walk into our first meeting with several notes on the Wave that several people had contributed to. Wave was also the platform we used to document our notes while we were meeting. In the end, I took it out of wave and finalized the talk in Word.
I think that does it for me.
If you haven’t done it before, arrange an opportunity to talk to your staff about what you do and why it’s so important. Most of us don’t have a problem communicating passion, just take plenty of time to organize your thoughts so it really grabs the attention of your listeners.
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