Thom S. Rainer's Blog, page 365

A Cautionary Note for Those of Us in Social Media

I love the freedom of expression pervasive in social media. This relatively new means of expression and communication has given power to those who had little power in the past. Anyone now has a platform to express himself or herself. Everyone has the ability to critique and vent about organizations and people.

There is indeed a sense of liberation in the new world of social media. But some cautionary warning signals are being made lest we who love social media show little or no restraint in what we write, record, photograph, or video.

Growing Legal Concerns

Dana Rousmaniere noted in a recent Harvard Business Review article the growth of lawsuits against social media users. She cited the specific example of a critic of a homebuilder who vented her concerns online about the contractor. As a consequence the homebuilder went forward with a $750,000 defamation lawsuit, stating that the unsubstantiated complaint cost him significant business.

Rousmaniere said: “Free-speech advocates say the lawsuits are heavy-handed attempts to stifle critical — but valuable — consumer information. Business owners argue that a defamatory review can devastate a business. Lawyers say such cases are a cautionary tale for a new era: Those who feel targeted by defamation on the Web are more likely to file suit, and judges and juries are more likely to take such claims seriously than in years past, raising the legal stakes over vitriolic reviews, nasty blog comments and Facebook feuds.”

Employment Issues

I have the opportunity to interact with business leaders often, and the issue of social media arises frequently. Almost every leader I’ve asked told me that checking a prospective employee’s use of social media is now standard before hiring someone. Social media background checks are thus becoming as common as legal checks and credit checks.

One business leader recently told me that his organization decided not to hire the son of a controversial blogger. I disagree with this guilt by association, but it does highlight the level of scrutiny that is taking place in the world of social media.

How Then Do We Respond?

The best path, it would seem, for those of us who engage in social media, is to use wisdom and common sense. We should not engage with a level of fear that precludes our honest exchange with others. At the same time, however, we should always write and say words that are factual and honest. Anytime I create a document, particularly one that will be put on the Internet, I assume that the document will get wide dissemination whether it does or not. I also assume my writing will always be available for others to see indefinitely.

I also try to follow the rule of not engaging social media while I am emotional or upset about something. I give myself a cooling off period, something that has proved beneficial on more than one occasion.

On other occasions, I ask others to preview what I wrote before I send it over the Internet. There are times frankly when I have not had sufficient self awareness to realize that the tone of my contribution could be construed in a way different than I intended.

I do indeed love the world of social media. From my perspective, this new world of communication has done much good for our society. But like any other instrument, something that it used for good can also be used in a harmful way. We who engage this world of social media should be certain that what we say and write is a positive contribution to the world and society.

Do You Want to Be Published?

One of the most frequent questions I am asked is “how do I get published?” There is no quick and simple answer to that question, but there is a quick and simple option for many. That option is CrossBooks.

In 2009,  LifeWay introduced a new innovative style of publishing with the launch of CrossBooks. It continues to be an excellent match of cost-effectiveness and quality publication for authors. They contribute monetarily to cover the cost of publishing, LifeWay maintains the theological and literary standards that every manuscript must meet for us to publish. This theological standard is what sets CrossBooks apart from other non-traditional publishing houses. Unlike similar programs available, every book published through CrossBooks is subject to a trained theological review before publication.

We are proud of the growth of CrossBooks over the past few years. Just a few weeks ago, we published our 1,000th title through CrossBooks and are looking forward to thousands more. In fact, CrossBooks will soon make a publishing dream come true for free for an aspiring author through their annual writing contest. CrossBooks and LifeWay are asking writers to send in their manuscript for this year’s CrossBooks Writing Contest and a opportunity to win a free publishing package.

If you’re interested, you can head to the CrossBooks website for more details and to enter.

Seven Characteristics of an Effective Critic

A few days ago I had a long conversation with a critic of me. Actually, it would be better to say that he is a critic of a decision I made. He would not want to describe himself as a critic of me in the general sense.

Rare is the person who actually enjoys criticisms. I certainly would not be among that unique group. But this man made the criticism tolerable. And he certainly gained my respect by the way he handled it.

Immediately after the conversation, I began to think through how he had approached me. I thought about his words, his body language, and even his preparation for criticizing me. I realized I had a case study on effective criticism. I also was able to note seven of the characteristics of this conversation where he criticized me.

He had no pattern of having a critical spirit. Some people are perpetually critical. Their negativity is known and often avoided. Such people have little credibility. Even if they have something worthy to say, it is often ignored because of their patterns in the past. That was not the case with this man. He was not known as a negative person. He did not speak or write in a critical way on an ongoing basis. Because of this pattern, I was inclined to listen to him.
He prayed before he criticized. In fact, this man prayed every day for two weeks before he ever approached me. He asked God to stop him if his mission was not meant to be. He did not take the moment lightly. To the contrary, he treated it with utmost seriousness.
He communicated concern without anger. This critic did not once raise his voice. His body language did not communicate anger. He was passionate in his position while maintaining his composure.
He avoided any ad hominem attacks. My critic wanted to be certain that I knew he was not attacking me personally. He affirmed me in many ways. He voiced respect for my character. But he did not waver in his expressed concern. Never once did I feel like I was under attack personally.
He asked for my perspective. Frankly, most of my critics through the years have not expressed any desire to hear my side of the story. They are so intent to communicate their position that they leave no room for me to speak. Such was not the case with this critic. He asked a surprising question early in the conversation: “Thom, why did you make this decision? I really want to hear your thoughts straight from you.”
He listened to me. Undoubtedly you’ve been in those conversations where the other person really does not indicate any desire to listen to you. Even while you are speaking, it is evident that he or she is formulating the next response rather than hearing your words. This critic not only asked for my perspective, he really listened as I spoke. The only time he interjected was to ask clarifying questions.
He was humble. One of the primary reasons we get defensive when we are criticized is the attitude of the critic. They often seem to have an all-knowing and condescending spirit. To the contrary, my critic was genuinely humble. He was not a know-it-all. He did not act like the smartest man in the room. Frankly his humility was humbling to me.

You can’t be a leader without being criticized. Leaders have to make decisions, and it’s rare that everyone will agree with your decisions. While dealing with critics is not the most pleasant part of leadership, it is a necessary part. Sometimes leaders must discount the message because of the lack of credibility of the messenger. But, in my case, I heard from a critic who truly made me pause and consider his position. Not only did I hear his position, though, I learned even more about being an effective critic and recipient of criticism.

For those reasons, this fallible leader is very grateful.

Pray for Cornerstone Assembly of God

Location:  Williston, Florida

Pastor: Timothy Hass

Weekly Worship: 10:30 AM Eastern Time

Fast Facts:  Cornerstone Assembly of God is remodeling, regrouping, and re-launching the ministry God has given them.  Rev. Hass says “We are a growing church in a growing community.”  Pray that God will bless their efforts to reach their community for Christ and experience God’s abundance in their own walk with Him.

Website: http://www.cstoneassembly.org/

“Pray for . . .” is the Sunday blog series at ThomRainer.com. We encourage you to pray for these churches noted every Sunday. Please feel free to comment that you are praying as well. If you would like your church to be featured in “Pray for . . .” contact Steve Drake, director of pastoral relations, at Steve.Drake@LifeWay.com.

Churches That Have Culturally Relevant Outreach Ministries

In my Wednesday post, I recalled the decline of traditional outreach ministries in many churches. I further noted that most churches no longer try to connect with people through “cold call” visits in their homes. These churches, more often than not, begin to see declines in their attendance if they did not replace the traditional approach with something else.

In simple terms, churches without any ongoing outreach approach were likely to decline. The ethos of the church changed from other-focused to self-centered.

Churches That Made Positive Changes

A relatively small number of churches, however, did not leave the void of outwardly focused ministries unfilled. They, like the declining churches, stopped doing traditional outreach ministries. But, unlike the declining churches, they replaced the traditional approach with something new.

Though my research is more anecdotal at this point, I did review several dozens churches that have transitioned well. Thus far I have noted three major new approaches toward an outward focus.

Three Successful and Relevant Outreach Approaches

My research to this point is by no means exhaustive, so I will likely have more approaches in the future. For now, here are three outwardly focused ministries that have filled the void left by the abandonment of more traditional approaches.

Additional worship venue. In the 1960s and 1970s many congregations moved to multiple worship services on Sunday mornings. Such transitions were not without their critics and detractors. Today a number of churches are adding a worship service on a different day; or adding a new campus in close proximity to the church; or adding a different venue in the same facility; or moving to video venues. These new starts tend to grow faster and reach unchurched persons more effectively than existing services. While churches above 500 in attendance were more likely to add a venue, many smaller churches are moving in this direction as well.
 Ongoing community ministries. Some churches regularly send their members into the community to minister to those who live and work there. Typically they find the greatest needs and seek to fill two or three of those needs. This approach is not to be confused with the community ministries that require people to come to the church facilities. While those ministries are vitally needed, the members must be going into the community on a regular basis for the church as a whole to become outwardly focused.
Inviting with accountability. Still other churches have developed ministries that encourage and equip members to invite persons to church on an ongoing basis. Those that have proved successful have some type of accountability built into the process. It is not a simple exhortation from the pastor to invite someone to church. It is rather an organized system that can account for the number of people invited to church each week.

The Research Continues

It appears that many churches began to decline when they abandoned traditional outreach programs but did not replace them with anything else. And it appears that the churches that continued to grow made certain that such a void was filled. For that reason, I will continue to research the different approaches of congregations toward keeping an outward focus.

I could use your help in this process. If your church is growing, I would love to hear what outreach methodologies you are using. I have already heard from several church members and their contributions are invaluable. I have even heard from some church leaders where they have continued with the more traditional approaches with great success.

This one thing is clear: If your church does not have some ongoing approach to reach those outside the walls of the congregation, it is likely to be in decline.

I look forward to interacting with many of you on this vital issue. And thanks for the way you love the bride of Christ.

Friday is for Freebies

Today is the second of three opportunities my readers will have to win an autographed Christmas CD by Keith and Kristyn Getty and an accompanying study Bible.

Joy – An Irish Christmas is a unique celebration of Christmas with Keith and Kristyn Getty. Last year, they recorded this exciting Christmas album combining fresh Irish interpretations of traditional carols alongside new carols written by the hymn-writing duo.

Also included is the latest HCSB study Bible from B&H, the Mission of God Study Bible. Edited by Ed Stetzer and Philip Nation, the Mission of God Study Bible encourages followers of Jesus Christ to see their everyday life from God’s perspective and have His heart for people. It’s a reminder that we live around people in desperate need of redemption and reconciliation with God, which can only be found in Jesus. The mission of God has never been just for specialists; it is for all believers to live out through their daily lives and by sharing the good news of what God has done through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus.

To be eligible to win, answer the following question:

What is your favorite Christmas carol?

The deadline to enter is midnight CST this Saturday.  We will draw one winner from the entries on Monday morning.

 

Notable Voices – December 6

Donald Miller’s 2 Best Practical Writing Tips – Barnabas Piper

Like leadership, writing is something on which we can always improve. I found these two quick tips from Donal Miller helpful.

 

What are 10 Practical Tools to Hospital Visitation? – Brian Croft

As the role of pastor has evolved over the past few decades, fewer senior pastors are making personal hospital visits. While I understand it may not be logistically possible to visit every hospital-bound church member, I do think it is important for pastors to make an effort to do some hospital visitation. Brian provides a quick list of tips to make your hospital visits more effective for both you and the patient.

 

7 Specific Ways I Deal with Stress – Ron Edmondson

We all have seasons of life which are more stressful than others. How we deal with that stress often tells a lot about who we are.

 

The Story of God – Matt Papa 

Songwriter & worship leader Matt Papa debuted this spoken word piece in the week week. It’s well worth your time.

One Common Factor in Churches That Start Declining

Over fifteen years ago, I led a major research project on the characteristics of the most evangelistic churches in my denomination. My team was able to identify 576 churches that represented the top five percent of all churches in conversion growth.

From that point, we were able to identify nine correlated characteristics of churches that were evangelistic versus those that were not.

Some of the correlated factors were surprising; others were not. There was one factor, however, that was a bit surprising to me: the evangelistic churches were more likely to have a traditional outreach program.

The Nature of These Outreach Programs

Even back in 1995, traditional outreach programs were in decline. There were two types that were more popular than others. In one approach, church members would visit someone who visited the prior Sunday. Typically these visits were “cold calls,” in that the church members showed up in the visitors’ homes unannounced and unexpected.

The second more common approach was a memorized evangelistic visit, sometimes derogatorily called a “canned” evangelism program. Again, the church members would often visit in the home without an invitation. One of the church members would be responsible for delivering a memorized gospel presentation.

Culture Changed and Outreach Programs Declined

For better or worse, our culture has changed. Most people today really do not want someone showing up in their homes unexpectedly. As less families and individuals were willing to receive these unexpected guests, the excitement of the outreach programs declined. They were deemed ineffective, probably rightly so. Eventually most churches abandoned the traditional outreach approach.

For many established churches, that which was considered a vital part of the church’s ministry, an outreach program, no longer existed. And it was in the abandonment of the program that some fascinating trends developed.

That One Factor

As churches abandoned traditional outreach programs, they took one of two paths. A few replaced the traditional approach with a more culturally acceptable approach. They found ways to equip and encourage their members to develop relationships with lost and unchurched persons without invading their space or their homes. These churches tended to continue their patterns of growth.

Unfortunately, most churches abandoned the traditional outreach program and did not replace it with anything. This one factor may explain the beginning of decline in most of our evangelical churches in America. Indeed, just today I delved into the records of a few dozen churches that were growing a decade ago, but have been in decline for the past several years. Almost without exception, the decline started shortly after the traditional outreach program was abandoned, but not replaced with any other intentional outreach ministry.

Understanding Why the Decline Began

Even when the traditional outreach program was not highly effective, its activity sent a message throughout the church. It reminded the members that the church was not all about the self-serving needs of themselves, but it was about reaching beyond the doors of the church. It was about them as well as us.

But when there was nothing to replace the admittedly ineffective approach, the message changed. The emphasis moved from outreach to inward focus. As a result of the inward obsession in many churches, conflict arose among the members as they now competed for how the church can best meet “my” needs.

For many churches, it was that one simple factor. Traditional outreach ministries were not replaced with any other outward focus.

But, in a few of the churches, the outward focus continued unabated. Though they were no longer making unexpected cold calls, they did find ways to connect their members with lost and unchurched persons. Most of these churches continued to grow.

So what did these other churches do to continue growing? There is no single answer or approach. I can, however, share some clear examples about what specific churches did to maintain their outward focus. That will be the subject of my post this coming Saturday. I hope you can join me then.

Grammar Cop

Based on my readers’ recent submissions, it is easy to see a pattern developing. One of the most common grammatical mistakes involves using an apostrophe when making a noun plural. What makes this error so puzzling is that it is so easy to avoid. You just need to add an “s.” The apostrophe is simply not needed.

As always, you can submit your Grammar Cop photos by tweeting them to me (@ThomRainer).

The double meat will cost you extra, but the unnecessary apostrophe is on the house. (via Dan Kassis)

No double meat here, but you do get double apostrophes. (via Dan Kassis)

While not the same type of mistake as the previous two, this sign is definitely a knockout. (via Micah Fries)

Fourteen Indispensable Leadership Quotes from Jim Collins

The first book I read by Jim Collins was Built to Last. I was hooked immediately on his research, his insights, and his writing style. I later read Good to Great, How the Mighty Fall, Good to Great and the Social Sectors and, most recently, Great by Choice. I have savored every word and read each book at least twice. Collins has been a vital resource for my own leadership development.

Jim Collins is especially adept at writing the pithy quote. He can say more in a few words than I can say in an entire book. Allow me to share with you a few of those quotes.

Quotes about Greatness

Great companies and great leaders fascinate Jim Collins. He has devoted his life toward understanding the essence of greatness in leadership. Here are four of my favorite quotes from him on the topic of greatness (or its opposite, badness):

“Good is the enemy of great.”

“A culture of discipline is not a principle of business, it is a principle of greatness.”

“Bad decisions made with good intentions, are still bad decisions.”

“Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice and discipline.”

Quotes about People with Whom We Work

Collins repeatedly addressed the issue of people on the bus. He used that metaphor to describe how great organizations got the right people on the team, the wrong people off the team, and the right people in the right places on the team. In the final analysis, we will spend more time with co-workers than many of our family members. Here are three meaningful quotes about people:

“For no matter what we achieve, if we don’t spend the vast majority of our time with people we love and respect, we cannot possibly have a great life. But if we spend the vast majority of our time with people we love and respect – people we really enjoy being on the bus with and who will never disappoint us – then we will almost certainly have a great life, no matter where the bus goes. The people we interviewed from the good-to-great companies clearly loved what they did, largely because they loved who they did it with.”

“The moment you feel the need to tightly manage someone, you’ve made a hiring mistake. The best people don’t need to be managed. Guided, taught, led–yes. But not tightly managed.”

 ”Smart people instinctively understand the dangers of entrusting our future to self-serving leaders who use our institutions, whether in the corporate or social sectors, to advance their own interests.”

Quotes about Work Itself

Jim Collins understood that we could not have a joyous life if we had work that was drudgery and conflict-ridden. Most of us will spend more of our waking hours at work than anywhere else. Here are two good reminders of that reality:

“For, in the end, it is impossible to have a great life unless it is a meaningful life. And it is very difficult to have a meaningful life without meaningful work.”

“The purpose of bureaucracy is to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline–a problem that largely goes away if you have the right people in the first place.”

Quotes about Humility and Leadership

It seems that Jim Collins spent more time writing about humble leaders than any other topic. He found that great leaders desire for others to be recognized. A great leader loses his or her greatness when it becomes all about that leader. In almost a biblical sense, greatness comes when those who could be first decide to be last.

“We found that for leaders to make something great, their ambition has to be for the greatness of the work and the company, rather than for themselves.”

“Consider the idea that charisma can be as much a liability as an asset. Your strength of personality can sow the seeds of problems.”

“Level 5 leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company. It’s not that Level 5 leaders have no ego or self-interest. Indeed, they are incredibly ambitious–but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves.”

“Level 5 leaders are a study in duality: modest and willful, humble and fearless.”

“It occurs to me, Jim, that you spend too much time trying to be interesting. Why don’t you invest more time being interested?”

The last quote did not actually originate with Collins. It was advice given to him by John Gardner. Jim Collins took those words to heart.

And we should as well.