Daniel Im's Blog, page 20

Learning To Wait…Again

My wife, Christina, was recently asked to speak to the group of moms at MOPS. I was so inspired by her talk, that I asked if I could post her transcript here as an article. I pray that this is as inspiring to you as it was to me.

The other day, Victoria asked me if the photos back when I was her age were in color or in black and white. Slightly offended, I answered “Oh hunny, I am not that old. Of course they were in color.”

Daniel, my husband, continued the conversation by telling our children that “Back in the day we didn’t have digital pictures. We had to take a picture with a camera that would only allow 25 pictures, then take them to be developed.”

They all had blank stares on their faces. They literally could not imagine a time when you couldn’t instantly see your selfie.

The majority of us grew up in an interesting time. We can remember not having internet, to all of a sudden having our parents yell at us to get off the dial up because they needed to make a phone call.

We remember having to wait for so.many.things.

Waiting for a snail mail letter to come, waiting to use the only phone at home, waiting to use the pay phone. Waiting was a part of our daily lives. It was just a matter of fact. We may not have enjoyed waiting, but what other choice did we have?

But nowadays, with new technology, there is an insatiable thirst for everything in an instant. In an essence, we have forgotten how to wait.

In an essence, we have forgotten how to wait.
Click To Tweet

Just ask Google. Google aims to load a page in half a second, since their research shows that most people will abandon a site or try to reload if it takes longer than two seconds to appear. Can you believe that? Google knows that our expectation is for the answer to be in our faces in less than two blinks of an eye.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love things in an instant.

The convenience of our society trying to make things easier, faster, brighter, filtered, and shinier is addicting. But, have you ever stopped to ask yourself: What is this doing to my soul? My spiritual journey? My relationship with Christ?

I am reminded of the time that I completely missed baby Jesus.

In Canada, one of our family’s Christmas traditions was to attend a local church’s Walk of Bethlehem. For those not familiar with this event, a church essentially transforms their building into an interactive city of Bethlehem. The one we attended had live animals, Roman soldiers, singing angels that came out swinging from the rafters, vendors pretending to sell you pottery and fabric and fresh pressed olive oil.

It was loud, chaotic, and crowded…probably a lot like how it was in that day.

I was so excited to take Victoria to experience this event. She was two, ferociously curious, and easily thrilled. She loved every single moment of it.

When the walk through was done, groups were brought into the church’s auditorium for cookies and hot chocolate. I think I was more excited about that than Victoria. Daniel and I chatted and laughed about every little cute thing that she did.

As we were walking back to the car, Daniel asked me how old I thought the baby was that was playing baby Jesus.

“Baby? What baby?” I asked.

“You know,” Daniel said, “The one that Mary was holding in that make shift stable where the cows were off to one side; the final part before we went to get the cookies.”

To my horror I realized that I had completely missed that whole scene! I was so busy being busy and thinking about the cookies that I missed Jesus!

Are you ever so busy that you miss Jesus in the everyday?
Click To Tweet

I share with you this slightly embarrassing story because I think it perfectly illustrates the need to learn to wait, to slow down, and to allow space between question and answer so that we don’t miss Jesus or what He is doing.

The Bible is filled with stories of waiting.

Noah and his family waiting for the rains to stop, the Israelites waiting for the promised land, Mary and Martha waiting for Jesus to come to heal their sick brother Lazarus, the woman waiting for Jesus to pass so that she could touch the edge of his hem and be healed from her 12 years of bleeding, the waiting between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, and the waiting for the promised Holy Spirit.

While all these stories are about waiting, they also have something else in common. These stories are about trust.

These people trusted that God would come through. They knew Him, they loved Him, and they put their faith and hope in Him. They chose to turn to God during these difficult times and in the end were able to experience the promises of God.

I think one of the toughest parts about starting a New Year is the expectation that “we are starting fresh.”

We try to convince ourselves that last year’s pain – maybe a broken heart, a job loss, a death in the family, a sick child, an unanswered prayer – will not and cannot follow us into the next calendar year. So, maybe we don’t allow it. We fill our schedules to overflowing, we re-fill our coffee cups to blanket over our lack of sleep, we celebrate our busyness and our productiveness, and like Dory says, we convince ourselves to “just.keep.swimming.”

But, what if we didn’t? What if we learned to trust God? What if we learned to trust God IN our waiting and WITH our waiting? What if we learned to wait with an expectancy, a hope, a deep-hearted knowledge that God is loving, that His timing is perfect, that He is good?

What if we learned to trust God IN our waiting and WITH our waiting?
Click To Tweet

And that, my beautiful friends, is my prayer for all of us today and for this upcoming year. That no matter what 2016 was and no matter what 2017 will be, that we choose to trust God and we choose to wait on Him.

Just like it says in Isaiah 40,

But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.

They spread their wings and soar like eagles,

They run and don’t get tired,

they walk and don’t lag behind.

 

 

The Impact of Commuting on Church Planting and Campuses

Garrett Dash Nelson and Alasdair Rae
What happens when you plot four million commutes on a map?

No, this is not a bad joke. The answer is not exhaust clouds, headaches, or road rage. What you actually get is a different picture of the mega-regions—a cluster of interconnected cities.

A few years back, The Guardian wrote about this “endless city” phenomenon and how the mega-regions of this world are possibly going to be one of the most significant and problematic trends in the next 50 years. I mean, just consider the fact that Anna Tibaijuka, former director of UN-Habitat, discovered that half the world currently lives in cities, and by 2050, it’s estimated that 70% of the world will.

While moving into the city is definitely trendy, and a choice that many are making today, it’s not always affordable or the particular lifestyle choice that everyone wants to make. In fact, this is one of the reasons many millennials, according to 2014 U.S. Census Bureau data, are actually moving the opposite way—from the cities to the suburbs. (Think Millennials Prefer The City? Think Again.)

…which is why this new research on commuting and mega-regions is so insightful for church leaders.

While individuals may choose to move to, or stay in, suburban or rural areas, they are still commuting into the city for work. Hence, the rise of mega-regions.

Just take a look at the map (see above) from research that Garrett Nelson of Dartmouth College and Alasdair Rae of the University of Sheffield did using census data on more four million U.S. commutes.

What you see here is not a decline of the city, but an expansion of it, because of commuting.

Instead of abandoning the suburbs or rural areas to move into the cities, many are just choosing to commute instead. This is why, as you’ll see on the map, the commute distance into many of these cities can be quite long. For the commuter, they are not paying attention to city or county lines. Instead, as long as they have a road and a means of transportation, they will commute.

The Same is True for Our Churches

Why are we okay driving to church? Why do we commute to community? Why do we often pass several, if not dozens of churches, on our way to our church worship service on the weekend?

Why are we okay driving to church? Why do we commute to community?
Click To Tweet

I’ve lived in cities my entire life. From the 2.5 million Greater Vancouver area that I grew up in, to the 4 million Greater Montreal area and 24 million Seoul capital area that I pastored in, to the 1.8 million Nashville metropolitan area where I now reside. If there’s one thing I know and have experienced, it’s city life. In fact, long commutes have always been a part of my life. So instead of dreading it, I’ve just grown accustomed to it and have learned to leverage that time. My wife, Christina, likes to call it time in the margins. So, while on the bus or train, I read. While driving, I listen to audio books, podcasts, and the Bible. And while walking from one location to the next, I pray.

As a result, when we moved to Nashville, we decided that I would commute to work, but not to church. We did not want to commute to community.

Unfortunately, it hasn’t always been this way for us. In the last two cities we lived in, we were at least 30 minutes away from our church. Growing up as children, my wife and I both remember 45 minute long commutes to church every weekend.

So how is it that people can commute to your church from a neighboring city or the complete opposite end of your borough, district, county, or however else your region is divided, and still feel like they belong?

It goes back to mega-regions. Commuting is just a normal part of life. Just like people are willing to commute to work, many are still choosing to commute to church.

Just like people are willing to commute to work, many are still choosing to commute to church.
Click To Tweet

A Church in Every Neighborhood

Instead of kicking long-distance commuters out because you now have a neighborhood-missional-incarnational approach to church, what if you had a church or campus in every neighborhood? What if, instead of just having a heart for your community or city, you developed one for your mega-region? A missional-incarnational approach for your mega-region?

What if you had a church or campus in every neighborhood?
Click To Tweet

Have you ever plotted your membership roll on the map to see where everyone is coming from using a website like batchgeo.com?

If you discovered that you had a concentration of individuals who lived in a particular area of your mega-region, what would you do? Form a small group or mid-size community and leave it at that? Or would you mobilize that community group to be a potential launch team, or core group, for a future campus or church plant?

In most cases, long-distance commuters aren’t making the trek to your church because there aren’t any other churches around. They’re doing it because they connect with your DNA and what your church is about. They’re doing it because they have relational connections and feel like they belong.

Instead of enabling their commute to community, in which they would probably never invite a neighbor to your church because the commute is too long, what if you saw their presence in your church as a seedling for a future campus or church plant in their neighborhood?

Rather than rejecting the mega-region for the sake of incarnational and missional ministry, what if you figured out a way to leverage it?

*My post here was originally published on Dec 13, 2016 in Christianity Today.

The Power of Podcasts

What podcasts do you listen to?

When I downloaded my first podcast in 2008, I remember having to load it onto my mp3 player so that I could listen to it while walking my dog. It didn’t download automatically nor did it sync efficiently. It was quite a bit of work, but since I’m a learner, I was stoked at the possibility of learning while walking, commuting, and going from one place to another. Trust me, I’ve tried reading a book while walking and it never ends well.

But now it’s 2017. And since then, the percentage of U.S. adults who’ve listened to a podcast in the past month went from 9% in 2008 to 21% in 2016, according to a survey conducted by Edison Research.

Podcasts have passed the tipping point, which is why it’s now commonplace to talk about your favorite podcasts, in the same way we do with our favorite books or TV shows (Seth Godin believes we’ve actually hit a podcast surplus in his fascinating article here).

In fact, when we conducted our research on the State of Church Planting (you can download it here), we even measured the impact of podcasting on a church plant.

Take a look at this image. It shows the average number of commitments to Christ made in church plants who used podcasts as a form of communication versus those who didn’t. Amazing, isn’t it?

NewChurches.com – The State of Church Planting

In fact, we also discovered that among new churches that utilized a podcast as a means of communication, 40% started another new church within their first 5 years of existence!

Not only are podcasts a great way to pass time while mowing your lawn, grocery shopping, commuting to work, or exercising, but they are a great way to develop yourself–both personally and spiritually.

Podcasts are a great way to develop yourself–both personally and spiritually
Click To Tweet

This is why I host the New Churches Q&A Podcast (we’ve recorded 100+ episodes), and love being on others.

Here’s a list of the other podcasts that I’ve been interviewed on over the past year:

Daniel Im: Surprising Factors That Make Canadian Churches Grow – Canadian Church Leaders Podcast with Carey Nieuwhof
EP 57: Daniel Im – The Jeremy Roberts Leadership Podcast
Going Outside with Daniel Im – Going Outside with Alton Lee Web
LP12: How to Plant Missional Churches (Daniel Im) – NexGen Podcast
Episode 11: Mid-Sized Groups – The Groups Matter Podcast
Episode 10: Daniel Im – Rejoice Church Podcast
041 Daniel Im – “Planting Missional Churches” – The Rising Generation Leadership Podcast
Using Technology to Unleash a Culture of Multiplication – Exponential Podcast

I’d encourage you to check these podcasts and episodes out!

Interview with Jeff Vanderstelt on Missional Practices

Recently, my friend Jeff Vanderstelt shared his heart on the Saturate Field Guide that he developed with Ben Connelly, another one of my friends and one of our regular authors at NewChurches.com. Here is the interview.

Q. How can an attractional church move towards being more missional using this book?

A. The book guides believers through a study whereby they will come to understand the gospel and its implications for discipleship and mission. As participants work through the daily study and exercises, they will learn to embrace their identity as God’s family, sent as servants and missionaries to the world. The guidebook is most effective when a small group of believers commit to go through it together. As they travel together through the study, not only will they be led to personally grow as God’s missionary people, but collectively they will learn to realign their lives together around God’s purposes and mission. The guide was designed to move people from being Sunday only believers to everyday disciples who make disciples together in community while on mission.

—— Enter the giveaway at the bottom of this article for a chance to win one of four copies of the Saturate Field Guide ——

Q. How do we normalize mission in the life of my church?

A. First of all, we need to preach the gospel indicatives – What is true about 1) who God is as revealed by 2) what God has done (especially in and through the person and work of Jesus Christ) leading to understanding 3) who we are in Christ. Then, we need to help people see how believing the gospel leads to new behaviors. The indicatives of the gospel lead to the imperatives of obedience.

The outcome of the gospel is mission
Click To Tweet

The reason this is key to normalizing mission in the church is because the church needs to understand that the outcome of the gospel is mission. God is a missionary God who sent his only son to rescue and redeem a people for his mission on the earth. God is missionary, and we are his missionary people. It begins with us understanding our true identity as God’s people. Charles Spurgeon was famous for saying: “Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter.” There is not a category for non-missionary Christian. If you are a Christian, you are a missionary.

If you are a Christian, you are a missionary
Click To Tweet

Next, as people begin to understand, believe and live out their identity as missionaries, they also need to be taught that the mission of making disciples happens in the everyday stuff of life – not just church events or mission trips. In fact, the best place for discipleship is not the church event, but the home, the café, at work, at play…where we do life.

And lastly, leaders need to model it for the church. They need to show others how to be on mission in the everyday stuff of life, share their struggles, teach from their own life on mission. The church generally follows their leaders pretty well. So, a church not on mission in the everyday stuff of life may very well just be following their leaders’ examples.

Q. What’s the best way to train up future leaders and church planters in my church?

A. I think formal training is helpful, but very insufficient. Most churches, Bible schools and seminaries focus mainly on formal study and training. But it’s simply not that effective by itself.

You need to embrace a life on life, life in community and life on mission approach to leadership development.

Life on life is the kind of discipleship and leadership development that is visible and accessible. People need to watch our lives – our marriages, our parenting, our interactions with believers and non-believers, neighbors, friends and co-workers. They need to see us handle conflict, address sin, work through our own sin and brokenness. And we need to see the lives of those we are developing. Everyone can look the part in a classroom or church event. We need to see each other in all of life in order to examine where we still need to grow.

We also need life in community discipleship. Too often leaders are developed in one-on-one relationships only to become like the one who developed them. However, we want people to look more like Christ, not us. Therefore, they need a community to disciple them. They need men and women and a diversity of gifts equipping them regularly.

Jesus didn’t say, “Show up to class and listen to me teach.”
Click To Tweet

And lastly, we need life on mission discipleship. Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” He didn’t say “Show up to class and listen to me teach.” He developed them while on mission. They learned what discipleship looked like because he did it to them, and he did it in front of them. Then, he watched them do it and trained them while on mission. Eventually, they could do it without him physically present (though he was still present in their lives through the Spirit). We won’t develop strong gospel-centered, missionally driven, Spirit-led leaders unless we train them in the middle of the mission of making disciples who make disciples.

It needs to be said, that all of this without prayer and any of this without the power of the Spirit, is futile. A church, a leader, a person seeking to engage missionally without the power and direction of the Spirit of God is an exercise in futility. That is why the guide also directs the participants toward regular prayer.

The Spirit of God is the best discipler. As Jesus was sent empowered by the Spirit, so are we.

Enter to Win

Next Steps:

Pick up a copy of the  Saturate Field Guide   by Jeff Vanderstelt and Ben Connelly
Click here to learn more about this book and get additional resources.
Click here to read the book review I wrote for Christianity Today on Jeff Vanderstelt’s initial book,  Saturate

A Lesson From a Reluctant Leader

Joseph is probably one of the most awkwardly and reluctantly blessed men in the world.

No I’m not talking about Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I’m talking about the man in those nativity scenes that always seems to be awkwardly standing beside Mary. In the Scriptures, while he was prominent at the beginning of Jesus’ life, he surprisingly fades away from the narrative as Jesus gets older. This doesn’t mean he was absent. It just means that we don’t know much about him.

One of the things that we do know about Joseph is that he was Jesus’ dad.

Just think about the implications of that for a moment. How would Jesus have been different if Joseph didn’t raise him as his son? What if Joseph left? What if he did actually divorce Mary in secret (Matt 1:19)? What if Jesus grew up fatherless? Or if another man entered the scene? Would Jesus have been different?

Recently, my wife and I have been watching a show called, Designated Survivor. It’s about a low-level cabinet minister that becomes President of the United States after a catastrophic attack destroys the capitol building and the government’s leadership infrastructure.

In a recent episode, there’s this scene where a news reporter asks the President’s son what he thinks about the fact that his dad might not actually be his real dad. Now just imagine how you would feel if someone dropped a bomb like that on you.

In one of the following scenes, while the son is watching TV trying to soak in what he’s going to do, Mike, the secret service agent assigned to him says,

You know, my dad’s called me everyday since I joined the secret service, just to make sure I’m staying safe.

The son responds,

Mike I…I know what you’re doing…You’re trying to tell me, no matter what, my dad cares.

Mike then says,

No I’m telling you about my dad. He taught me how to hoop and how to talk to girls. He pretty much made me who I am today. The funny thing is, I didn’t know him till I was three. That’s when my mom married him. I never met my biological father. Those tests—they tell you biology…but they don’t tell you who your dad is.

So yes, while Jesus is the Savior of the world, our messiah, the prophesied one, and the one who destroyed sin and death—Jesus, while being fully God, was also fully man. And because he was fully man—and had a mom, dad, and siblings—we can’t neglect the crucial role that his family had on him.

Your family played a critical role in shaping you to be the leader you are today.
Click To Tweet

In other words, Jesus was shaped by his earthly dad.

When Joseph stuck with Mary and cared for his “adopted” son, this shaped Jesus. When Joseph brought Mary to Bethlehem, this shaped Jesus. And when Joseph listened to the angel that told him to get up and flee to Egypt since Herod was planning on destroying him, this shaped Jesus.

It wasn’t going to automatically happen. They weren’t going to be teleported to Egypt. Joseph had to get up, pack the caravan (the one with wood paneling on the side), chart the course, and bring his wife and his newborn son to Egypt.

Let alone the fact that they got up THAT NIGHT! Just imagine packing and moving within a moment’s notice?

So what does this have to do with being a reluctant leader?

While there are some areas in your life where you might have the title “leader,” there are many more where you are seen as a leader. These are the areas in our lives where, unfortunately, many of us are most reluctant to grab hold of our leadership responsibilities.

I’m primarily talking about the home. And in this article specifically, to parents. In other words, if you’re a parent, you’re a leader. So don’t neglect your children.

If you’re a parent, you’re a leader. So don’t neglect your children.
Click To Tweet

Your children are watching you:

They’re watching the way you get home from work
They’re watching the way you sometimes choose to be on your phone over interacting with them
They’re watching the way you connect or don’t connect with your neighbors
They’re watching whether or not you’re choosing to join together with the family of God and worship on a weekly basis, regardless of whether or not you want to
They’re watching whether or not you’re in biblical community with others
They’re watching whether or not you’re serving on a regular basis
They’re watching if you’re making reading the Scriptures a priority in your life or not

I know this may sound harsh, but trust me, I’ve had to preach this to myself first. So this is more of a confession than it is anything else.

Since parenting is often caught more than taught, let’s stop leading passively and reluctantly towards an end that we don’t even want. Let’s together stop being reluctant leaders.

After all, just like Joseph’s actions shaped Jesus, the same is true for you. Your actions are shaping your children.

How To Predict the Future?

Remember those Magic 8-Balls? I never owned one, but I had a few friends who did.

We never thought much of it, nor really gave it much credence. After all, how could an inanimate object predict the future anyway? If we only knew that there were 20 standard answers inside of the ball…

Nevertheless for fun, we would, one at a time, ask the Magic 8-Ball questions about our future.

As a pre-teen, our questions were usually about becoming professional hockey players or whether or not certain girls liked us. Once again, we never really gave it much credence—unless it gave us the answer we wanted it to.

“Signs point to yes,” “Outlook good,” and “Without a doubt,” were among my favorite answers. I think I remember throwing the ball against the wall when, “Concentrate and ask again,” “My sources say no,” or “Better not tell you now,” would come up too frequently.

Toys like these were so popular because they fed into our craving to have some semblance of direction for the future.

It was our longing to uncover the future, our desire to know our next steps, and our curiosity as to what’s around the corner that toys like this took advantage of. In a sense, this toy helped us predict the future—well, not really, but it at least gave us the illusion of doing so.

What if the way to predict the future was to simply look into the past? What if the best predictor of the future was the past?

This past weekend, I preached through Matthew 2 at my church (you can listen to the message here by clicking on the sermon from Dec 11, 2016). We’re in an Advent Series entitled, Jesus: The Story. So as I prepared this message, I decided to preach it from three different angles or lenses. Just like a movie director has several cameras he or she can look through, I noticed that this chapter could be viewed three different ways: from Herod’s camera, the Wise Men’s lens, and Joseph’s point of view.

What if the way to predict the future was to simply look into the past?
Click To Tweet

Herod’s Camera

Now, I knew Herod was pretty messed up, since “he gave orders to massacre all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under” (Matt 2:16), but I didn’t realize the extent to his “messedupness.”

So I began looking into the history books to uncover Herod’s story. This was my driving question:

What if the cause for Herod’s manic behavior had to do with his past?

Herod, at the young age of 25, started his political career as the governor of Galilee in 47 BC, and everybody loved him. The Jews and the Romans admired his leadership, and he quickly became powerful and popular among the people.

He was so loved that other politicians, filled with jealousy, went behind his back and ousted him from governorship. Well, they were only partially successful, since he ended up becoming the governor of Coele-Syria instead—only serving to further his experience.

Over the next few years, Herod’s life was complicated, to say the least, as he had to deal with revolts, black mail, treason, and more. Eventually, he went to Rome and was promised Kingship, as long as he “took matters into his own hands,” and gained back control of the region.

So what did he do?

Pay close attention to this next part of the story because, as Henry Cloud so powerfully noted in his book, Necessary Endings, “the best predictor of the future is the past,” unless there has been some big change—and for Herod, there wasn’t.

The best predictor of the future is the past…unless there has been some big change.
Click To Tweet

Herod was the same man as a governor as he was when he became king, when Jesus was born, and when his kingship was threatened. So when Herod was promised Kingship of Judea as long as he took “matters into his own hands” and gained back control of the region, he went in like a bull in a china shop.

When he returned to Palestine from Rome, he recaptured Galilee, and then he captured Jerusalem. He then married the niece of the king, so that he would have a claim to the throne. Once that was settled, he went ahead and beheaded the king, and took his position as king of the Jews.

This guy doesn’t joke around.

And once he grew in power and became king, he basically “took care” of anyone who opposed him.

It’s like in the movie Godfather when Sonny said,

I want you to take care of that **** right away. Paulie sold out the old man, that stronz. I don’t want to see him no more. I want you to make that first thing on your list, understand?

I mean this guy, Herod, executed 45 of the wealthiest aristocrats because they sided with the man he beheaded, the previous king. And then he went ahead and confiscated all their property, adding it to his own kingdom.

He even went up against Cleopatra. And in spite of an earthquake killing 30,000 people in Herod’s land, he still ended up beating her forces.

Then over the next few decades, after accusing his first wife of committing adultery and sentencing her to death, he married over 10 women and had many sons. The only problem is, now he had all of these sons who began fighting over the throne to the point where one son, trying to poison Herod, accidentally poisoned one of his other brother’s who drank the poison by mistake.

Herod’s entire political career consisted of one person after another trying to gain control over his throne—including his family.

Since the best predictor of the future is the past, there’s no wonder why Herod acted the same way when his throne was threatened again—but this time, by a baby who was “born King of the Jews.”

Do you see this in your life?

While the best predictor of the future is the past, that’s not justification to stay the same, remain in sin, in weakness, and in bondage. That statement is only true, unless you experience big change. Unless you learn something new, consciously act differently, and develop new patterns of behavior, through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, the past will be the best predictor for the future.

The source of lasting change, true change, and deep inner change is the Holy Spirit. Don’t forget this. But also, don’t neglect that you also need new patterns of behavior to accompany it.

The source of lasting change, true change, and deep inner change is the Holy Spirit.
Click To Tweet

If this resonates with you, let me encourage you to pick up any one of these resources. They will help you take your next step into change, freedom, and a future that’s different than the past:

Breaking Free – Beth Moore

Breaking Free Bible Study


Necessary Endings – Henry Cloud
The Good and Beautiful God – James Bryan Smith

Questions to Find Your Calling

“If time and money were no object, what would you do with your life?”

I forget who first asked me that question, but when they did, it was a defining moment for me. Well, it eventually became a defining moment for me. In the moment, it was just plain annoying.

I didn’t want to do the hard work of thinking. I wanted someone just to tell me what my plot in life was. I wanted someone to tell me what I was good at, so that I could just do that, and be done with it. I wanted to copy what made others successful, hoping that following their paths would do the same for me.

—— Enter the giveaway at the bottom of this article for a chance to win one of four copies of More: Find Your Personal Calling and Live Life to the Fullest Measure ——

Boy, am I ever glad someone asked me that question. It’s what has partially catapulted me down the road to where I am today and the deep honor and privilege I have to serve pastors and church leaders.

I often return to what Sun Tzu, the Chinese general, military strategist, and author of The Art of War wrote. Let me paraphrase him,

If you know your enemy, you’ll win half of the battles. But when you know yourself, you’ll win the other half. [1]

Just imagine the implications if we spent as much time discovering the unique ways that God has wired, gifted, talented, and called us, as we do reading biographies, copying the “successful,” and mimicking models? Investing in yourself is time never wasted.

Investing in yourself is time never wasted.
Click To Tweet

The Power of the Right Questions

I love what Peter Drucker wrote about the importance of questions,

Answers are important; you need answers before you need action. But the most important thing is to ask…questions.

In order to find your calling in life, take a moment and prayerfully answer the following questions from my friend Todd Wilson’s new book, More: Find Your Personal Calling and Live Life to the Fullest Measure:

Am I willing to move and go wherever God wants me to go?
Am I willing to work with whomever God wants me to work?
Am I willing to go whenever God asks me to go?
Am I willing to do whatever God asks me to do, regardless of consequences?
How can I expect God to send me and use me if I’m not really willing to go? [2]

BE-DO-GO Framework

In More, Todd provides a timely framework to help us discover our personal callings and the unique impact that God is preparing us to make. This framework is broken down into three questions:

“What am I created to BE? (a design or identity question)
“What am I created to DO? (a purpose or mission question)
“Where am I created to GO?” (a compatibility or position question)

These three questions are then divided into two categories: our primary calling and secondary one.

Our “primary calling is to be disciples who make disciples where we are!” Our secondary calling is our unique calling—“the unique, divine equipping God gives each believer to help carry the fullness of Jesus to the world.” This calling is, in the cofounder of Yale University Cotton Mather’s words, a “certain particular employment, by which [a person’s] usefulness in his neighborhood is distinguished.”[4]

Do you know your calling(s) in life?

Are you clear on your primary calling? If so, do you know your secondary calling? In More, Todd Wilson acts as your guide to help you discover both. Be sure to pick up a copy here, and click the button below to enter into a draw to win one of four copies of More: Find Your Personal Calling and Live Life to the Fullest Measure.

Enter to Win

Before we end, let me list ten of my favorite quotes about calling from this book:

Trust deeply the author of your story
Click To Tweet

Step forward in faith, even when you cannot see clearly
Click To Tweet

Abandon the earthbound kingdom of me in order to gladly serve in the eternal kingdom of God
Click To Tweet

Submit to the lordship of Jesus
Click To Tweet

Embrace your mission to carry the fullness of Jesus to every corner of society
Click To Tweet

Live in common with a healthy, local community of faith
Click To Tweet

Take personal responsibility of the unique role Jesus gives you 
Click To Tweet

Trust the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit
Click To Tweet

Be disciples of Jesus who make disciples where you are
Click To Tweet

Fulfill your unique personal calling to play your role in God’s mission
Click To Tweet

Next Steps:

Pick up a copy of  More: Find Your Personal Calling and Live Life to the Fullest Measure.
Enter the draw to win one of four free copies of the book before January 5.
Click here to learn more about this book, download an excerpt, and get additional resources. 

 

End Notes:

[1] Sun Tzu, The Art of War, trans. Lionel Giles (England: Allandale Online Publishing, 2000), 11.

[2] Todd Wilson, More: Find Your Personal Calling and Live Life to the Fullest Measure (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), 72-73.

[3] Ibid., 89.

[4] Ibid., 91.

[5] Ibid., 212.

The Musical Art of Leadership

You may not be aware of this, but I’m actually a classically trained violinist.

No, this is not what I do for a living, but it’s what I did for over a decade growing up. In fact, the capstone to my “musical” career was to play Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto no. 1 in G minor with a full orchestra accompanying me (that’s a picture of me during that concert). You can listen to it here (no, this is not me performing it, it’s Itzhak Perlman, one of my violin heroes.)

In fact, I never thought I’d get the chance to actually hear him live, but it happened! He came to Nashville and it was worth every penny. He’s a living legend.

Have you ever considered the relationship between music and leadership?

In a TED Talk from 2008, Benjamin Zander, the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic, discusses the relationship that music has with effective leadership.

You can watch it here, but let me share a few of my thoughts and reactions on the musical art of leadership, based on his talk:

While you might learn the stuff of leadership in a book, seminar, or classroom, the art of leadership can only be learned overtime through sweat, tears, and practice.
Rather than trying to rationally convince people they need what you’re offering, figure out a way to awaken , within them, a desire for it,
The best leaders focus on making other people powerful, rather than themselves.
When people aren’t following, you need to ask yourself, “Who am I being that others aren’t being inspired?”
Leaders awaken possibility in others, rather than use others to awaken their own possibility.

The art of leadership can only be learned overtime through sweat, tears, and practice.
Click To Tweet

The best leaders focus on making other people powerful, rather than themselves.
Click To Tweet

Leaders awaken possibility in others, rather than use others to awaken their own possibility.
Click To Tweet

Church Planting! Is it for you?

The question, “Am I called to be a church planter?” is not a straightforward one. It’s not like, “Should I breathe?” or “Should I love others as Jesus does?”

The question, “Am I called to be a church planter?” is kind of like asking, “Should I go into an Arts program, Science Program, or a Trade Program?” What’s implied behind this question is the importance of further education. So the question is more a matter of, “Which route will you take?”

Or it’s like the question, “Should I eat a pop-tart for breakfast?” Yes, obviously you need to eat food, but if you eat a pop-tart for breakfast, how is that going to affect what you eat for lunch? And how will you deal with the sugar crash and belly rumblings mid-morning?

When we look at the biblical commandment to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,” the natural outflow of that is the planting of new churches.

We see this through the Early Church and how the apostles preached the gospel, made disciples, and planted churches that then preached the gospel, made disciples, and planted churches. I mean, just look through the book of Acts! And then look at how the New Testament was written to new churches in their respective life situations. Essentially, the New Testament can be seen as an anthology of church plants. The fact is, just like we all need to eat food or we will die, we need to all be about church planting, or the church will die.

We need to all be about church planting, or the church will die.
Click To Tweet

So the better question that we need to answer is, “Am I called to be about church planting?”

And let me make this easy for you. If you’re a follower of Christ, the answer is a default yes.

Now there are people who will object to church planting and will say things like,

“Isn’t one larger church better than a lot of smaller churches?” Well, the fact is, it’s not an either/or. Both are good and necessary, but according to our recent State of Church Planting research, we discovered that new church plants are extremely effective at winning people to Christ. So while there isn’t anything wrong with larger churches, there is definitely something wrong if we don’t plant new ones!
“We have enough churches!” Based on the census data from 2011, there are 11 churches for every 10,000 Americans. Now unless, there are mega churches in every neighborhood in this country, there simply aren’t enough churches. Add that to the fact that our population continues to increase, and the numbers speak for themselves.

We all need to be about church planting.

But the next question we have to ask ourselves is, “Am I called to be a church planter?” That question is a bit more complex.

In the second edition of Planting Missional Churches, we walked through a few of the characteristics of Paul, the church planter, throughout the New Testament. Here’s a few of his characteristics:

He was an evangelist (Acts 9:19-22)
He was entrepreneurial (Rom. 15:20-23)
He empowered other leaders (Titus 1:5)
He cared for people (Acts 20:17-21)
He stayed committed to his calling despite the sacrifice (Acts 16:25)

How many of those characteristics do you identify with? It’s not enough to just be excited about the idea of planting a church, being the boss, and not having to do ministry the way others do. Planting a church is much more nuanced than that. If those are the types of reasons that are pushing you to plant, you will fail, the enemy will have his way, and the cumulative aftermath will be devastating.

Planting a church is not just about being the boss!
Click To Tweet

So who is the ideal church planter? What does a church planter look like?

There certainly isn’t one type of church planter, since there isn’t just one type of church. Depending upon the model you choose, and the context that you plant in, the type of planter will differ.

However, regardless of model and context, the fact is that every planter and pastor needs to first put themselves up against the biblical qualifications as outlined in passages like 1 Timothy 3. For example, planters need to be above reproach, able to teach, self-controlled, not lovers of money, and so on. Be sure to read through this passage and put yourself up against it.

There certainly isn’t one type of church planter, since there isn’t just one type of church.
Click To Tweet

In addition to that list, there are a few other indicators that will give you a glimpse into whether or not God is calling you to be a church planter:

1) Starter. Do you have a pattern of starting things? Lemonade stands, Bible studies, compassion-based ministries, and the like? Are they still around after you’ve left? You will be doing this over and over again in planting.

2) Equipper. Do you always have to be the one doing the work of ministry? Or can you lead and equip others to do the work of ministry? How about leading others who lead others? This is our task as church leaders and pastors—to be equippers, not doers as we read in Ephesians 4:11-13. Without this, your church will never break the 50 barrier or grow beyond your personal leadership lid.

3) Dreamer. Do you long to make a greater impact and change this world? Do you see the world in a different way? Can you help people catch that vision? This hunger and drive is critical for church planters.

4) Doer. No I’m not contradicting myself from point two. Instead, I’m asking, Do you execute, follow through, and get things done? There are many pastors, church planters, and visionaries who love the dreaming stage so much that they can’t actually get things done.

If you see those four indicators in your life, God may be calling you to plant. If you see some, but not others, perhaps this is the best time to develop those competencies.

Now what if you said yes to all four of those indicators?

Well, you need to ask yourself a few qualifier questions:

1) Do I have a burden and a calling to specifically plant a church? In your time with God, is this something that God continues to bring up? I’m not asking if you’re interested in the idea. I’m asking if God is laying this on your heart.

2) Does my family support us planting a church? If you’re married, God will not lead you to start a church if it means you have to leave your spouse and kids. This is because you can’t see planting a church as your day job, and expect it not to seep into the rest of your life! On our New Churches Q&A Podcast, we recently received a question from a guy who became a follower of Christ after getting married, and who is now in ministry. His spouse is still not yet a believer, yet he feels called to plant. The answer is, “Not yet! Wait!”

3) Does my church support me? Do others affirm this calling? If your church and friends are hesitant about your calling and gifting to plant a church, then you should also be hesitant. Are you allowing others to speak into your life? Are you currently sitting under the authority of another pastor, denomination, or team? If not, then why? If yes, then what are they saying about your decision? Involve them into your decision-making process as soon as possible.

If you answered yes to all of the above questions and indicators, then here are a few next steps that I would encourage you to consider:

Get pre-assessed using a tool like churchplanter.lifeway.com. This is the only statistically verified church planting pre-assessment out there. So check it out.
Check out Essential Church Planting. Ed and I developed this course for this very purpose.

Now let’s remember. We are all called to be ABOUT church planting, but we are not all called to be church planters.

God may be calling you to be a student minister, an executive pastor, a worship minister, a launch team member, a funder, an elder, or to be pastor of a church that multiplies and sends out church planters. Regardless of your specific role, the fact is we are all called to be ABOUT church planting.

Lack of Awareness, Bad Change Management, and More Things That Prevent Church Multiplication

There are barriers that you need to overcome in order to take your first steps towards multiplying your church.

In the previous article, we addressed the first four barriers to multiplication. In today’s article, we will address the next four barriers to multiplication:

5. Don’t See the Need for Multiplication

Before churches can multiply, they need to see it first. The problem is, many churches don’t see the need for multiplication. They assume that multiplication is not for them. Their reasoning is predicated on the assumption that other churches will multiply. While they may understand the vision behind multiplication, they just don’t have a personal conviction to multiply.

Before churches can multiply, they need to see it first.
Click To Tweet

We believe every church should not only embrace a vision of multiplication, but personally engage in multiplication.

Leaders do need to assume that even some of the most committed Christians will not have a pre-existing favorable disposition towards multiplication, and will see multiplication as the church’s responsibility and not theirs. This is why it’s vital to share the vision for multiplication, consistently, clearly,
 and in different forms and fashions each time.

We saw this clearly in our research. You can click here to get the State of Church Planting Research Report that this is based upon.

Churches who regularly communicated a commitment to multiplication were more likely to multiply within their first five years than those who didn’t.

Until your church sees multiplication 
as a personal conviction that they should embrace and enact, you will 
be facing an uphill battle. So work on communicating Jesus’ commitment to multiplication to the entire congregation through different means, like vision talks, sermon illustrations, state of the union addresses, print pieces, stories, and video. And if you’re worried about sounding like a broken record, don’t be. After all, “vision leaks.”

6. Absence of a Change Management Strategy

Your efforts to multiply and plant a daughter church will never launch off the ground without a vision for multiplication. However, unless you have a clear change management strategy, your efforts will always stall mid-way. This change management strategy has to address each level of leadership in your church and every venue for public communication.

Unless you have a clear change management strategy, your efforts will always stall mid-way.
Click To Tweet

For example, you may be publicly communicating your vision for multiplication to the adults during
 the worship service, but are the children and youth in your church hearing this same vision? How are the deacons, elders, and leaders of your church contributing to multiplication? What about the special needs ministry, singles, seniors, and staff?

Do not ignore the wisdom of literature out there that addresses the nuances of change management, like John Kotter’s, Leading Change or Thom Rainer’s, Who Moved My Pulpit?

7. No Incentives

There are times in my parenting that I have given my children incentives for good behavior. By offering them incentives, I am reminding them of the joys of obedience. I think failing to remind churches of the incentives and rewards of multiplication prevents them from passionately engaging in God’s mission. Thus, I think we should remind people of the incentives and rewards for participating in multiplication.

I know what some of you are thinking, providing incentives don’t produce 
an obedience of the heart, but it promotes behavioral modification. That may be true to some degree. But the Bible speaks of rewards. For instance, Proverbs 11:18 states,

The wicked man earns an empty wage, but the one who sows righteousness, a true reward.

Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, says,

You are blessed when they insult and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of Me. Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matt. 5:11–12).

The writer of Hebrews in the context of the hall of faith expresses,

Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him (Heb. 11:6).

Possibly one of the best passages to highlight the idea of rewards is Luke 19:11–29, where Jesus shared
 the parable of the Ten Talents. In the parable, the servants who wisely invested their talents and yielded interest were given more. But the servant who hid his talent, ended up losing it. And Jesus said,

I tell you, that to everyone who has, more will be given; and from the one who does not have, even what he does have will be taken away (Luke 19:26).

The reality is that God does reward 
his people for their obedience. People (including churches) who seek to honor the Lord with their life—their time, talents, and treasures—will experience great reward.

Some rewards may
 be an increase in responsibility, an increase in influence, seeing trophies of grace, perhaps sensing a greater and deeper joy, and keeping the lampstand burning. And then some rewards may not come until we pass from this life and enter the next.

So while we don’t want to modify our churches’ behavior, we do want to intensify their hearts towards obedience to the Lord and His Great Commission by reminding them of the rewards of making disciples and planting churches.

8. Debbie Downers

Debbie Downer, according to Wikipedia, is a slang phrase that refers to someone who frequently adds bad news and negative feelings to a gathering, thus bringing down the mood of everyone around them. Many churches, as well as pastors, are infected with Debbie Downers that act as an oppositional force preventing them from experiencing multiplication.

Debbie Downers remind us of the spies who came back from the Promised Land and gave a negative report.

Although God promised Israel the land, the Debbie Downers came back and told all the people it would be impossible to overcome the inhabitants and conquer the land. Because of the Debbie Downers, Israel spent 40 years wandering in the desert eating manna. If you don’t address the Debbie Downers, you may find yourself in a similar predicament as Israel: wandering and missing out on God’s best.

Conclusion

Even the most well intended churches are going to face barriers when it comes to multiplication. After all, the last thing that the enemy would want is for your church to multiply and move towards becoming a Level Five church.

Which of these eight barriers are you most concerned about?
What would it take for you to overcome them and move your church towards multiplication?

Even the most well intended churches are going to face barriers when it comes to multiplication.
Click To Tweet

If you want to also learn about the characteristics of churches that multiply, and the research that all of this is based upon, click here to download the entire book that this article is excerpted from. It’s called Multiplication Today, Movements Tomorrow: Practices, Barriers, and an Ecosystem.

*My post here was originally published on Sep 13, 2016 in Christianity Today.