Daniel Im's Blog, page 23

Germs, UV Sanitizers, and Spirituality

When I used to live in Korea, my wife and I bought a UV sanitizer to sanitize the bottles and toys for our firstborn. Here’s a picture of the box.

It’s fascinating that this company has effectively advertised that germs are from the Devil. Interesting, isn’t it?

When’s the last time you’ve seen a product in North America advertised in a spiritual manner?

We’re talking about worldview here. When I lived in Korea, I noticed that spirituality was much more on the forefront of people’s minds, than it is here in North America.

Now what does a UV sanitizer–with a picture of the devil on it–have to do with church leadership?

The answer is…everything.

When’s the last time you’ve read Ephesians 6?

For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. (Ephesians 6:12 HCSB)

Ultimately, the biggest obstacle to living a vibrant life in Christ isn’t your overbooked schedule, stressful children, or finances…it’s Satan.

In C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, he mentions that one of Satan’s strategies is to try to make it look like he actually doesn’t exist.

My Dear Wormwood, I wonder you should ask me whether it is essential to keep the patient in ignorance of your own existence. That question, at least for the present phase of the struggle, has been answered for us by the High Command. Our policy, for the moment, is to conceal ourselves. Of course this has not always been so. We are really faced with a cruel dilemma. When the humans disbelieve in our existence we lose all the pleasing results of direct terrorism and we make no magicians. On the other hand, when they believe in us, we cannot make them materialists and sceptics. At least, not yet. I have great hopes that we shall learn in due time how to emotionalise and mythologise their science to such an extent that what is, in effect, belief in us, (though not under that name) will creep in while the human mind remains closed to belief in the Enemy. The “Life Force”, the worship of sex, and some aspects of Psychoanalysis, may here prove useful. If once we can produce our perfect work – the Materialist Magician, the man, not using, but veritably worshipping, what he vaguely calls “Forces” while denying the existence of “spirits” – then the end of the war will be in sight. But in the meantime we must obey our orders. I do not think you will have much difficulty in keeping the patient in the dark. The fact that “devils” are predominantly comic figures in the modern imagination will help you. If any faint suspicion of your existence begins to arise in his mind, suggest to him a picture of something in red tights, and persuade him that since he cannot believe in that (it is an old textbook method of confusing them) he therefore cannot believe in you.

Now we can go to either extreme here by attributing every bad circumstance to Satan, or by ignoring him completely, but that’s not what I’m talking about.

What I am talking about is awareness.

Are you aware that a spiritual realm exists and that you have weapons in that spiritual realm?
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Read Ephesians 6:10-20.

When’s the last time you’ve prayed for those in your family, church, or life group? Or what about your coworkers and neighbors? Now I’m not just talking about brief five second prayers, or praying within the allotted “gossip time” during your life group (wait, did I just say that?). I’m talking about setting aside specific times to really pray for those in your life, especially for those who are far from God.

Why not schedule a time this week to do that? Why not pray right now? You may not see immediate physical results, but there will be immediate spiritual results.

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I LOVE Learning

There’s a funny commercial that I recently saw on Hulu. It was a video of Oprah essentially repeating the same thing over and over again. Here’s her script,

This is the joy for me. I LOVE bread. I LOVE bread. I now just manage it. So I don’t deny myself bread. I have bread everyday. I have bread everyday. That’s the genius of this program. I have lost 26 pounds and I have eaten bread every single day!

No, Oprah didn’t pay half a million dollars for these commercial spots just so that she could rant about her love for bread. This was a commercial for…you guessed it, Weight Watchers.

As cheesy as that commercial might be, I get it. When you love something, you just want to tell others about it. You want to proclaim it on the rooftops. And yes, while I do love bread, this post isn’t about ciabatta, focaccia, baguettes, or pretzel buns. This post is about learning.

I LOVE learning.

In the midst of loving and serving my wife and three children, a full-time job leading and running NewChurches.com, preaching at least twice a month at my church, hosting a twice-a-week podcast, writing on my new and upcoming book with B&H (Fall 2017), speaking about the book I just co-wrote with Ed Stetzer, Planting Missional Churches, and writing curriculum for Bible Studies for Life and The Gospel Project, I still carve time away to learn.

This is because I know that…

The moment you stop learning is the moment you’ll stop growing
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I love and hate this quote from Contemplative Prayer by Thomas Merton,

We do not want to be beginners. But let us be convinced of the fact that we will never be anything else but beginners, all our life!

I hate that! I don’t want to be a beginner, I want to be an expert. But when I chew on the truth of those words, I realize the genius of it.

The moment we see ourselves as experts is the moment we allow pride to subtly seep into our lives.

Let me end with a great litany by the author, theologian, and professor, Dr. Leonard Sweet,

I used to be a learned professor. Now I’m a learner.

When I was learned, life was a quiz show. Now that I’m a learner, life is a discovery channel.

When I was learned, it was a question of how much I knew. Now that I’m a learner, it’s a question of how much I’m being stretched.

When I was learned, knowledge was everything. Now that I’m a learner, kindness is everything.

When I was learned, knowledge went to my head. Now that I’m a learner, knowledge travels the longest foot in the universe–-the foot that separates my head from my heart.

When I was learned, I used to point my finger and pontificate. Now that I’m a learner, I slap my forehead all the time.

When I was learned, I used to think I was the best. Now that I’m a learner, I do the best I can.

When I was learned, I was frightened of new ideas. Now that I’m a learner, I’m just as frightened of old ideas.

When I was learned, I looked to the past: to have confirmed the set of beliefs I already had. Now that I’m a learner, I look to the future: to grow, be stretched, and remain open to what I don’t know.

When I was learned, I knew where I was going. Now that I’m a learner, I don’t know where I’m going—-but I know whom I’ve going with.

When I was learned, I loved to talk. Now that I’m a learner, I’d prefer to listen, because that’s when I’m learning.

When I was learned, I had something to teach everybody. Now that I’m a learner, everybody has something to teach me.

When I was learned, I was impatient with dumb people. Now that I’m a learner, I’m grateful when people are patient enough to dumb down to me and care enough to smarten me up.

When I was learned, I thought that all knowledge was a form of power. Now that I’m a learner, I suspect much knowledge is a form of weakness.

When I was learned, life was knowledge about God. Now that I’m a learner, life is knowledge of God.

When I was learned, I knew where my nose was headed. Now that I’m a learner, I go where my nose leads me.

When I was learned, mission meant “go to give.” Now that I’m learned, mission work is becoming pilgrimage: mission means “go to learn.”

When I was learned, my life revolved around what other people thought about me. Now that I’m a learner, my life revolves around what I think about myself and what God thinks about me.

When I was learned, from the high ground of hindsight I instructed the past on where it went wrong. Now that I’m a learner, the past instructs me about how I can right the future.

When I was learned, the power and mystery were in the big words. Now that I’m a learner, the power and mystery are in the small, simple words.

When I was learned, I thought that the educational system was so much better than the market, the other main channel for the mediation of cultural capital. Now that I’m a learner, I realize just how closed and controlling the knowledge industry can be.

When I was learned, I deemed the great threats those made dangerous by strength. Now that I’m a learner, I deem the great threats those made dangerous by weakness.

When I was learned, I loved to fill out questionnaires. Now that I’m a learner, questionnaires are an exercise in saying “I Dunno” since I keep checking the “don’t know” box. (“Don’t know” doesn’t mean “don’t care”)

When I was learned, I imagined myself the church’s resident “know-it-all.” Now that I’m a learner, I’m more willing to admit I don’t know everything.

When I was learned, I was always trying to speed things up. Now that I’m a learner, I’m always trying to slow things down, even when I’m speeding up.

When I was learned, I bragged about how our knowledge is an ever deepening ocean. Now that I’m a learner, I shudder at how our wisdom is an ever-shrinking drop.

When I was learned, I said, “Take it from me.” Now that I’m a learner, I say, “Don’t take it from me.” I boast no immaculate perceptions. I see through a glass dimly.

I’m still an academic. As a theologian, I have my little bottle of Windex and am cleaning that glass for all it’s worth. I’m trying to get rid of as much fog and film as I can. But the best I will ever do is to “know in part.” I will never “know it all.” God’s ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8), and God’s thoughts not our thoughts.

There are still some know-it-alls out there. Some people are like Moses. They think they can see the face of God. . . and live.

The best we can do is hear God’s voice, and in rare moments of mystical and metaphorical ecstasy, gently touch his face.

My name is Daniel Im, and I’m a Learner.

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5 Steps to Being Missional

Last post, I covered some important concepts on serving as a group, but today, I want to go a bit more in detail on being a group that extends and lives out the love of God–a group that is, as Jesus puts it–salt and light.

Evangelism is best done out of the context of a gospel community whose corporate life demonstrates the reality of the word that gave her life. – Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church

In this day and age, how do we tangibly tell others about the good news that has so shaped our lives? Out of love, we want to tell others about Jesus, but how do we do this in a way that doesn’t feel like we are shoving something down someone else’s throat? How do we appropriately engage others with the truth of the Gospel?

Here are five steps that will help us to better share about the wonderful hope that we have in Jesus Christ with our family, coworkers, neighbours, and friends.

1. Developing Trust

This is all about developing trusting relationships. After all, people don’t care what we have to say, unless they know that we care. This isn’t about trying to fake a trusting relationship, this is all about genuinely loving and caring for those around us so that trust is built up between us. This isn’t a bait and switch thing either, it’s simply about being a great friend. Doesn’t everyone need great friends whom they can trust and rely on? That’s what we need to do–be the best friend, coworker, neighbour, and family member that you can be. Why? Because that’s what Jesus would do, wouldn’t he?

2. Having Conversations and Living Life Together

This is all about sharing the stories of our lives. As you continue to develop trust and friendships with others, take time to listen to the stories that have shaped them into who they are today. Also, take time to share the stories that have shaped you into who you are today. When you talk, don’t just talk about the sports or the weather; talk about things that really matter. Invite others into your Christian community, help others understand that Christians are just normal people, we have just placed our hope in something that is eternal. Help others understand what our purpose in life is, and share about the ways that God has intervened in our lives and revealed himself to us. Throw parties and live life together. By doing all of this, maybe others will begin asking questions about the hope we have in Jesus Christ? After all, we believe Jesus is good news, so let’s just share that good news with others. It’s as simple as that.

3. Intentional Prodding

This is all about asking questions–good questions. Share how certain decisions that we used to make in life led us to the conclusion that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Share how our worldview became deconstructed. Help them see their life and worldview in a different light. Ask how they are meeting their needs, and what their purpose in life is. Speak the truth in love. Pray for them and pray with them if they’re open. How is God already at work in their lives? Ask them these types of questions.

4. Seeking God

This is all about coming alongside others to help them seek God. In this stage, our friends are wanting to intentionally seek after the truth, so help them do that. Engage in conversations with them, study the Bible together, read a thought provoking book together (Soul Cravings, The Reason for God, The Case for Christ or The Case for Faith, Mere Christianity), etc. Encourage them to pray and to bring certain situations before God. Be a great friend to them and live life with them. Invite them out to your Christian community.

5. Crossing the Line and Continuing to Seek God

This is all about helping our friends live out Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Help others come to understand what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ and what happens when we make this amazing decision. Share about the hope that we have in Jesus and the way God transforms us when we choose to follow him. Share that we don’t have to have it all together, but that following Christ is more about a trajectory than it is about a destination. Seek God together and be a great friend.

Consequently, being missional and being a follower of Christ is all about being a trusting and available friend–not a coercive or sneaky friend.

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A New Paradigm on Serving

Since we all understand “serving” differently, my goal in this article is to re-envision or redefine our understanding of serving. In a way, if our understanding of serving is a box, then instead of thinking outside of the box, I want to grab an eraser and give you a blank canvas.

So take a look at these two spectrums and self-analyze where you’re at personally and where your group is at in regards to serving:

The fact is, our lives are filled with opportunities to serve at every moment–and most of us are serving on a regular basis, without even knowing it.

i.e. When you choose to do those dishes, that’s an act of service.
i.e. When you choose to shovel your neighbor’s sidewalk as you do your own, that’s an act of service.
i.e. When you wave “thank you” while you are driving, rather than giving people another gesture, that’s an act of service.

However, especially in group life, serving has become a task, rather than a regular rhythm of our groups. Serving has become a task because we myopically view serving merely as a project that we do together, in a concerted effort, rather than something that we would do ourselves. It’s unnatural for us.

Now, I’m not saying, “Don’t get together to serve.”

What I am suggesting is that we admit that there are some inherent problems in service projects as we’ve come to know them.

Service projects are great because people in need are being served, but what often happens is that we interpret serving through a consumeristic lens. For example, “I’m the one giving you the goods of service, so you better be thankful, but I have the authority and power over you because I’m the one serving you.” I know that none of us actually say or think this, but this is what is actually happening. After all, what happens when those who we are serving don’t respond with gratitude? Or even better yet, tear us down? It doesn’t make us feel that good anymore, does it? If we were really serving out of a pure heart, and not to tick a check box off, or get a pat on the back, then we ought to be okay with being “persecuted” when we serve. After all, it’s ultimately Christ we are serving, isn’t it?

The fact is, most service projects are one-offs that are task oriented, rather than relationships that are being developed and cultivated.
What would it look like to move away from task dominated serving, to relationship dominated serving?

In my group, we’re trying to figure out what this looks like. What does it look like to incorporate serving one another as a part of the rhythms of our lives, rather than as tasks? Click here to read my post about it.

As we do this, our community is painting a picture of the Kingdom of God. My conviction is that the way we live our lives in community is going to be the most powerful apologetic for Christ in the 21st century. When the world sees the love that we have for one another, the way we serve one another, and care for one another, how can the world not want to be a part of it?

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. – 1 Peter 2:12

Check out these stellar quotes:

Today, contemporary people are searching for an inclusive community that is democratic, non patriarchal and compassionate. Their preference for a group is that it be raw, not refined; earthy, not sophisticated; concerned with action, not just theory. – Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost, The Shaping of Things to Come
What postmodern people are crying out for is not better doctrine or clearer theology, but simply kindness in a chaotic and haphazard world. – Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost, The Shaping of Things to Come
Evangelism is best done out of the context of a gospel community whose corporate life demonstrates the reality of the word that gave her life. – Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church
The invisible God is made visible through the love of the people of God. The life of the Christian community is part of the way by which the gospel is communicated. Leslie Newbigin describes the local congregation as “the hermeneutic of the gospel” – the way in which people understand the gospel. – Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church

So here’s the million dollar question:

“Are you a group with a mission?” or “Are you a group of missionaries?”

On the one hand, a group with a mission comes together for one common purpose, or calling, to serve together and be a blessing together in a concerted effort, over a long period of time. This could be at the local shelter, food bank, or even at a watering hole in your neighbourhood.

On the other hand, a group of missionaries all have their own environments where they’re called to be a blessing to. Thus, when the group comes together, they will share stories and ask one another how they’ve shown the love of God to those they’re called to.

Neither is right nor wrong. The important thing is that you define, as a group, what you’re called to in this season–it may change, but it’s important to define. What’s wrong is not having a focus.

 

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Living as a Missional Community

One of the things that fascinates me about Jesus was that he was a masterful communicator. One of the ways that he loved to communicate was via word pictures.

Jesus loved to paint word pictures.

He did this because he knew that, through word pictures, we would be able to intrinsically understand and connect the truths that he was teaching us with our real lives today.

Two of the most powerful word pictures that he used to describe you and I were salt and light:

Matt 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

Matt 5:14 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

When we read these verses, we, in our western individualistic world views, think that he’s talking about you and I individually–that we are individually the salt of the earth and the light of the world. However, when you look at the original language, the word “you” is actually plural.

You (the community together) are the salt of the earth.

You (the community together) are the light of the world – a city on a hill.

You (the community together) are the body of Christ, and each of us is a part of it (1 Cor 12:27).

Jesus never intended any of us to journey through life alone. Faith is not a private thing, it’s a community thing. We each have our own relationship with God, but it is in the context of community that we live it out and grow.

We are a community that lives out and represents the Gospel. We are a community where you belong before you believe. We are a community that is not about whether you are in or out, but more about the direction that you are journeying in. In a sense, we are an extended family, with all of our own junk, but a family that accepts one another knowing and understanding that the relationships we are developing right now don’t just end when you move away, but actually extend into eternity.

In a sense, we are a fragmented group of individuals journeying toward wholeness in Christ Jesus because we realize that he is the one who heals us, restores us, and gives us meaning to life. He shows us the way to life.

So we are a community–not a set of meetings.

We are a community desiring to know each other and be known. Yes, we have our regular weekend gatherings, our small groups, and our missional communities, but that’s beside the point. It’s not about the meetings, it’s about the relationships.

And one of the most powerful ways that we can develop relationships is by serving one another. So I’m going to propose a challenge for each of us to take.

Get together with you small group or missional community. Choose something that you could do yourself, but that you are willing to have someone else come alongside you to do. Then get together and do it for each other within the next two months. Spend that time together intentionally serving one another and living life together. It’s less about the activity and more about the time spent together.

Remember, although you are going to practically help one another, it’s really less about that, and more about spending time with one another.

So what are you going to do?

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Cultivating Missional Community in the Summer

 

Back when I lived in Edmonton, Canada, it was literally winter six months out of the year. We used to say that there were only two seasons in Edmonton: winter and construction. So you could guess my excitement for those blissful summer months where it didn’t take a century to get in and out of the house with all of our winter gear, and I could just walk out with flip-flops! For some, summer is about jumping into a pool, with no worries, timelines, or meetings. For others, summer is about hiking, biking, being outside, and enjoying God’s creation. And still for others, summer is about getting those honey-do lists done. In any case, as adults, summer vacation is usually a couple weeks long, and then we have to get back at it and put our noses to the grindstone.

Although we all love taking a break in the summer, and the natural rhythms of life dictate our need for one, the one thing that doesn’t stop over the summer is our need for community.

So here is that infamous question that every small group or missional community needs to ask over the summer, “To continue, or not?”

Here are a few of my suggestions:

Live life together; don’t schedule reoccurring meetings together. Take time to just live life together as a group. Go take a walk together, play games together, have a barbecue, or visit a summer festival as a group.
Don’t feel the need to do a study during the summer months, but remember not to keep God out of the picture. Share about the things that God is doing in your lives. Have a worship time together as a group. Pray with each other, not just for each other. Go to a weekend service together as a group and then go out for a meal afterward, while eating, talk about the sermon.
Invest and invite. Intentionally spend increasing amounts of time with the non-Christians that you live, eat, and play with. Be a blessing to them! Invite them to your group and to a weekend service.
Serve one another. Don’t tackle those honey-do lists, home, and garden projects alone. Invite others from your group to help you out, even if you can do it yourself. This is a great opportunity to spend time with each other and serve each other!

If you do things like that during the summer months, just imagine the momentum that you will be able to build up for the Fall, when your group starts to meet up again on a regular basis.

Happy Summer Months!!

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Two Ear Active Listening

There’s this old episode from Everybody Loves Raymond where Debra (Ray’s wife) is scolding their daughter, Ally, because she ripped her brother’s giraffe. When Ray walks into the house, and sees that they’re fighting, he runs to the scene with joy exclaiming, “Oh great!”

“This is Michael’s giraffe and he’s crying, so why did you do it?” says Donna.

Ally responds back, with folded arms, and pursed lips, “Because!”

Donna then says, “Because is not an answer!”

It’s at this point, that Ray responds with, “Active listening. It works. I use it on the worst kids in the neighborhood!”

While the live audience is chuckling to themselves, Ray then goes on to coach his wife—in real time, while she’s trying to talk to Ally—by telling her how she needs to reflect back instead of accuse, while also be accepting, instead of judgmental.

Saying Versus Hearing

Active listening is one of those things that is often made fun of because it seems so elementary and basic. “Why should I repeat back exactly what the other person said? They heard themselves and so did I!” This is one of the common objections that people share while learning the skills of active listening. However, the fact of the matter is, just because something is said, doesn’t mean that we all hear it the same way.

We see this most with children—they are the best at selective listening. For example, we might say, “Go and clean up your room, before we get ice cream,” but they probably heard, “Blah, blah, blah, ice cream.” It’s reminiscent of Charlie Brown’s teacher, isn’t it? Or how about in meetings when someone is rattling off information that doesn’t relate at all with your area—how often do you remember what they say?

Most of us are better at selective listening, than we are at active listening…hence this article.

Active listening is about being fully attentive to the other person during a conversation. While it might require you to verbally reflect back what the person just said—“If I heard you correctly, you are trying to say…”—oftentimes you can convey that you’re listening with your body language as well.

After all, 93 percent of communication is “non-verbal” in nature, according to a UCLA study conducted by Dr. Mehrabian.

SOLER

Gerard Egan developed something called the SOLER theory in 1986 to easily describe the non-verbal techniques required for active listening. He defines SOLER as “micro-skills” that allow you to convey to the other party that you care for them and are present, without using words.

S – Sit up straight

Face the person squarely, rather than sitting to the side or slouching back.

O – Open your body posture

Don’t cross your arms because this often connotes that you’re closed or skeptical of the other person’s opinion.

L – Lean forward slightly in your chair

Leaning forward during serious moments or moments of self-disclosure can express trust and confidence.

E – Eye Contact

Eye contact means something different in every culture. For example, in many Eastern cultures, eye contact is considered a challenge to authority, or an intimate gesture. So use this one accordingly.

R – Relax

Be relaxed in your mannerisms and be cognizant of your facial expressions while the other person is talking.

In essence, active listening is quite simple because it can be reduced down to these four things:

Put down your phone
Talk less
Listen more
Ask questions

Now what is Two-Ear Active Listening, as indicated by the title of this article?

I came up with this phrase, Two-Ear Active Listening because leading and discipling others is not as simple as listening and responding with our opinions.

If we truly want to lead, disciple, mentor, coach, and care for others, this requires one ear open to them, and the other ear open to the Holy Spirit.

As a result, whenever I’m in a conversation with another person, I’m always prayerfully asking God for His wisdom and His words. I’m constantly looking for phrases that stick out, or expressions that seem off or different. I’m asking God to speak to me and through me, so that I can be a blessing to others and be a tool for God to use.

So there you go. Try it this week. Next time you’re in a conversation with another person, employ the SOLER skills, while keeping an ear open to what the Holy Spirit might want to say to you and through you.

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Why We Need to Be Mean About The Vision

 
A Personal Conversation with Shawn

I remember having a conversation with Shawn Lovejoy a year after starting my new position with LifeWay Christian Resources. I had moved my family down to Nashville, TN to figure out how LifeWay was going to resource church planters, multisite churches, and multiplying churches (we started NewChurches.com as a result).

So we were together at the Exponential conference, and Shawn asked me, “How’s everything going?”

I just responded the way I normally do with a big grin, “It’s going great!”

But then, he stopped, looked at me straight in the eyes and asked me one more time, “How’s everything going?”

I remember thinking to myself, Shawn’s a really nice guy, and I enjoy working with him, but why is he asking me this question again?? We’re in a public place at a conference…does he expect to “counsel” me here?

Sure, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed, but who wasn’t anyway? After all, in the previous months, I was rewriting Planting Missional Churches with Ed Stetzer, developing and launching the strategy for NewChurches.com, leading a major software redevelopment initiative with the North American Mission Board to better assess, train, and coach their church planters, launching The State of Church Planting research project, and now speaking four times at the Exponential conference, but this season was eventually going to pass, right?

I was at a conference and had to put my “game face” on, so who was Shawn to be confronting me like this? Well, the reality was, Shawn was just being himself. He was acting as a wise mentor who had travelled this path many times, and was seeing someone else who was heading down the same path.

So he looked at me and said, “I’ve been where you are bro, I’ve burnt the candle at both ends, and it just wasn’t worth it.”

At that, I decided it was time to sit down and have a real conversation with him.

A Mentor and a Guide

While reading Shawn Lovejoy’s, Be Mean About The Vision: Preserving and Protecting What Matters, I felt like we were back at that table all over again. In this book, not only does he share leadership wisdom and experience from his years of planting and leading a multiplying church, but he also guides the reader through this incredibly important topic of vision and leadership through questions at the end of each chapter, like this one,

Could my pace be silently killing off the vision in me?

In this book, Shawn serves as a mentor and guide to the reader through his honest stories and masterful questions. As a result, this book feels less like an information dump, and more like a transformational journey.

Ultimately, being mean about the vision is about being intentional. Shawn defines it well, “Being mean about the vision is about keeping our organization so focused on the goal that people are willing to sacrifice for it.”

Systems in Leadership

While there’s much to be gleaned in every chapter of this book, like how to identify and prevent vision hijackers from damaging your church, or how to transition your church from being attractional to being missional, or even how to simplify your church so that you are clear and focused on your vision, my favorite chapter was the sixth one because it was all about systems and structure.

In order to “keep the vision alive in others” (the title of chapter six), you need to first have a vision statement that is short and simple. Shawn suggests that the vision shouldn’t take longer than 10 seconds to share and that it shouldn’t be longer than one sentence. After all, “a vision is only as strong as it can be shared and applied.”

Once you have a simple and compelling vision statement, it’s important to communicate it so often and in a variety of different ways so that it becomes contagious and unstoppable. Here are a few of ways that Shawn suggests you can do this:

Have multiple mission moments. This is about sharing your vision and mission every Sunday during your worship service in a creative manner. You can also do this via email, video, and in your everyday conversations.
Orient the newbies. This is about ensuring every newcomer and staff member understands the vision, sees the vision, and has the chance to experience the vision. You can do this in your newcomer class as well as in your staff orientation.
Circle the wagons. This is about meeting with your leaders on a regular basis because “vision alignment among leaders requires two fundamental things: proximity and consistency.” When Shawn was pastoring Mountain Lake Church, he would meet with his direct reports weekly, the other pastors bi-weekly, the staff monthly, and the finance team and advisory team on a bi-monthly basis. He would also make sure that his pastors were meeting monthly with their own leaders, while meeting as a church semi-annually with every leader in all of their campuses.
Teach on vision. This is about aligning your preaching calendar around the vision statement of your church. For example, Mountain Lake’s vision was “Giving people a place to belong in a healthy relationship with God and others; become more like Jesus; and bless our world.” As a result, every teaching series they did was about either helping people belong, become, or bless.
Celebrate it constantly. This is about making celebration a regular part of your culture. After all, “what gets celebrated gets done, because what we celebrate communicates what we value…Being mean about the vision requires celebrating every time we see the vision happening in and around our organization.”

“All pastors are interim pastors. Every leader is an interim leader.”

In the last chapter of Be Mean About The Vision, Shawn shares how he transitioned from founding and leading a multisite mega church, Mountain Lake, to his new efforts with CourageToLead.com. The insights in this concluding chapter are worth the price of this book because thousands of churches in the upcoming years will have to figure out succession. After all, over 10,000 boomers are retiring daily in America! So imagine what would happen if we all began to see our current leadership positions as temporary ones, since “every leader is an interim leader”?

Here’s a sobering question,

If you knew you were leaving your organization in one year, and had no fear of losing your job, what decisions would you make? Here’s a thought: Why not make those decisions now? Leadership requires the courage and the character to do what needs to be done, regardless of the perceived costs or outcomes.

If I haven’t convinced you to get this book yet, let me just come right out and say it. Buy the book here and start Being Mean about the Vision!

The post Why We Need to Be Mean About The Vision appeared first on Daniel Im.

Trends for Church Conferences

Today, I am in New York speaking at the first-ever New City Gathering and spending time with my friend, Drew Hyun and his new network. Learn about the five values that they see as being critical for new churches here.

What’s interesting to me is that their church planting conference is brand new.

I’m not against new conferences, nor am I against church planting; after all, I serve as the Director of Church Multiplication for NewChurches.com! But, what’s fascinating to me is how the trend with church conferences seems to be heading in the direction of small, regional, and specialized.

Take the Catalyst conference for example. They grew their single location conference in Atlanta to 10,000+ attendees, and then started a West Coast version of it. Soon afterwards, they introduced smaller one day regionals across the country.
Exponential went the same route. They had their Exponential East conference of over 5000+ attendees, started a West Coast version of it, and are now introducing regionals in the U.S. and in other parts of the world.
The Verge Network did the same. After growing their Austin based conference to 3000+, they shut it down for a year, and have now opened up with a regional only strategy.
The SEND Network had a 10,000+ sized conference in Nashville last year, and are moving to a regional strategy this next year. They’ve decided to alternate between one big conference and smaller regionals every other year.

–> The tension that big conferences face is the push to generalize their content, in order to broaden their registration base.
–> The benefit of small conferences is knowing your target audience, so you’re able to specialize and specifically equip your niche audience with what they need.

So when I spoke at the V3 Praxis Gathering last year, there were less than 200 people, but their targeted focus was missional/incarnational practitioners passionate about disciple-making. You could never grow a conference to thousands and thousands based on this highly niche focus.
As I’m speaking at the New City Gathering this year, there will also be less than 200 people, but they are able to focus on church planters who are passionate about urban, multiethnic, spirit-filled, emotional health, and missional practice oriented ministry.
When I speak at the HCPN Gathering, they too will be under 200, but I will be able to speak specifically into what it looks like to multiply churches in the Houston area.
And when I speak at the LifeWay Leadership Pipeline Conference, though the first day will be a big conference, their second day experience will be under 100 so that we can consult and help churches develop and implement a leadership pipeline in their church.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not against big conferences. In fact, I’ve had significant God-moments in the course of my life during them. After all, worshipping together with 5000+ people oftentimes feels like heaven-on-earth. I’m merely reporting on the trend that I’m seeing with church conferences. And that trend is towards small, regional, and specialized.

What are your thoughts? Which would you rather attend? A small or large conference?

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Multisite AND Church Planting

Through the research LifeWay conducted surveying multisite pastors, we discovered a trend among many pastors considering multisite. For them, “the multi-site strategy [did] not replace any other method of participating in kingdom growth. It [did] not replace church planting, personal evangelism, visitation programs, investing and inviting, servant evangelism, or evangelistic training.”[1]

For them it was merely another strategy to reach their city:

Planting churches, building larger buildings, adding services, adding venues at your current site, and relocating a campus are all still viable solutions today. Multi-site does not replace these other solutions. It adds one more possibility for consideration.[2]

Some once believed this move to grow via multiple campuses was a temporary trend, but it appears to be a trend that’s here to stay. After all, there are more than 8,000 multisite churches in the US alone with more than 5 million people worshipping in them![3] While it was once the domain of only the largest megachurches, multisite is now a common option for smaller churches to consider. In fact, although a thousand is the average size of the church that goes multisite, many have gone multisite at eighty.[4]

What’s interesting though, is the number of churches that utilize a multisite methodology and are also committed to church planting. The two are definitely not exclusive of each other.

Take a look at these three different models that are committed to both multisite and church planting:

1. Both/And

The Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina, is passionate about multiplication and is using both church planting and multisite as strategies toward that end. Albeit The Summit did “stumble” onto multisite more than anything, as David Thompson, the lead pastor of executive leadership at The Summit explains:

When the church began running out of room at the high school, they decided to try a third service in the two hundred-seat church building [that was four miles down the road]. Pastor Greear would preach the first service at the high school. As soon as he finished preaching, he would walk off stage and jump into a car prepared to drive him to the old church. Four miles, a Mountain Dew and a Snickers bar later, he would walk immediately onto the stage and preach again. Immediately after preaching, he would get back in the car, return to the high school, and preach the second service. These were long and taxing days, but the church was committed to reaching people, and God continued to bring people.

When The Summit Church moved to a warehouse fifteen minutes away, they decided to keep the service going at the two hundred-seat church building in north Durham. They were determined to give it a shot and asked one of the pastors to consider hosting the service each weekend. They had no idea what a “campus pastor” was and had little vision for multisite, but they were willing to try just about anything. Around four hundred people took them up on the opportunity and thus began their journey down the multisite road.[4]

For The Summit, “multisite is not a substitute for church planting; it’s a substitute for a large auditorium.”[5] That’s why they are committed to both. J. D. Greear, the pastor of The Summit, explains their multiplication strategy: “It is our prayer that by 2050, God will allow us to put campuses within 15 minutes of everyone in Raleigh-Durham (with some rare but notable exceptions in places where a Summit campus might hinder the work of another local church), as well as 1000 churches planted in cities around the world.”[6]

2. Both/Then

Instead of the both/and approach to multisite and church planting that The Summit is employing, The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas, is taking a both/then approach. Back when The Village Church was known as Highland Village First Baptist Church, Matt Chandler, the lead pastor, always had a vision that this church would be a church planting church. As the church grew, the elders at The Village decided to employ the multisite model instead of building one giant campus. As they continued to start new campuses, their existing ones began to mature to the point that the elders began praying about the possibility of seeing their campuses roll off and become their own autonomous churches. This first happened for them with their Denton campus in 2015. They see this as an opportunity to do both multisite and church planting by first establishing and strengthening campuses and then spinning them off as church plants when those campuses are ready. The Village is essentially “leveraging the typical multisite approach to, instead, plant more churches.”[7]

3. Both/Equal

Churches like NewLife Community Church in Chicago and Trinity Grace Church in New York are using the both/equal approach. Churches like them are allowing each of their campuses to have a considerable amount of autonomy with their own campus pastor who preaches, leads, and shepherds their campus like any church planter would their church. So in that sense the campuses are equal to church plants. However, those churches are then taking advantage of the benefits of multisite by cultivating a community of pastors where they can learn from one another, prepare their sermons together, and also draw from central administrative services.

Conclusion

I am not anti-multisite or anti-megachurch; after all, I’ve been a pastor at multiple multisite and megachurches, and am currently serving in a multisite church at the time of this writing!

What I am is anti-consumerism.

Church is not about being the best purveyor of religious “goods and services.” And if a megachurch or a multisite thrives by appealing solely to the “come and see” mentality that is so prevalent, we will all regret it.

No matter the number of campuses your church has, reproduction NEEDS to be the goal—reproducing believers, ministries, groups, and churches. That can be in a megachurch, multisite church, or, for that matter, in a simple church. So, if you are going multisite, make sure you stay focused on multiplying the mission of God—not just your brand of church or the reach of one person. Let’s make it more than projecting the image of a pastor on another screen.

*This is a modified excerpt from Planting Missional Churches: Your Guide to Starting Churches that Multiply.

Footnotes:

[1] Scott McConnell, Multi-Site Churches: Guidance for the Movement’s Next Generation (Nashville: B&H, 2009), Kindle ed., locs. 228–29.

[2] Ibid., 222–24.

[3]Warren Bird, “Leadership Network/Generis Multisite Church Scorecard: Faster Growth, More New Believers and Greater Lay Participation,” Leadership Network, accessed July 14, 2015, http://leadnet.org/wp-content/uploads... Scorecard_ Report_v2.pdf.

[4] McConnell, 222-24.

[5] David Thompson, “Propelling a Movement of Multiplying Churches from the Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina” (DMin Final project, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2014), 41.

[6] Ibid., 42.

[7] J. D. Geear, “Why The Summit Church Is Multi-Site,” June 3, 2013, accessed September 19, 2015, http://www.jdgreear.com/my_weblog/201....

[8] “Campus Transitions,” The Village Church, August 17, 2014, accessed September 19, 2015, http://www.thevillagechurch.net/sermo....

 

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