Assimilation… 

As you encourage your church members to bring friends on Easter weekend, think as much about the Monday morning after Easter. You will hopefully have a list of all the guests who attended for the first time. By God’s grace, you will have a list of people who expressed a desire to know Christ personally. What will you do with these people? What will you have invited the people to do next?  

I encourage you to have one "next step" that you clearly communicate to the people who come to your Easter services. Instead of bombarding people during your announcement time with a plethora of things to do, offer them one opportunity to get more connected. You may choose to promo the teaching series you launch or to lovingly nudge people to a “newcomers luncheon.” Whatever the next step is, align all leaders and teams around it. Ensure your first-impression people know this one thing, as well as those who check in the kids and those who interact with guests. Craft your letter or e-mail to guests in a way that points to this one thing. Focus your assimilation energy in one direction for the greatest impact.  

Second, and more importantly—transformation. 

Transformation… 

Assimilation and transformation are not the same thing. They are both important, but don’t confuse the two. Don’t get so focused on the important details of assimilation that you forget about transformation. Transformation will not occur because you decide to unveil a great opening illustration or fresh bulletin design on Easter. There is nothing wrong with those things, but transformation only occurs through Christ.  

Ironically, there is a temptation on Easter weekend, of all weekends, to declare or preach something other than the risen Christ. Many pastors feel this pressure to say something new, something different on Easter. Some have told me, “I feel like I am preaching the same message every Easter and that I need to say something different.” 

This would be a devastating mistake.  

Back in the day, when the church I served in Miami (Christ Fellowship) still offered “The South Florida Easter Pageant,” an elaborate presentation depicting the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, a couple approached me with concerns about “the performance.” They wanted to know if “the show was going to be different.” I was not sure what they meant, so I asked for clarification.  

“Well,” they continued, “we have been Christians for a long time, and the last few years it has been the same show, and we were hoping it would be, well, you know…um, different.” 

I said, “He still rises from the dead. I hope that does not disappoint you.” 

The couple wrongly viewed the message of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection as elementary, as something they graduated from years ago. In their minds, they needed something more, something new and fresh, something “different.” The last thing the couple needed was a different story. To the contrary, they needed to better understand the Story they inadvertently had dismissed as no longer applicable to their lives.  

Sadly, they are not alone in their thinking. The message often subtly communicated in churches is that the gospel is for unbelievers. Logically, believers need more. Nothing could be further from the truth. If people in our churches graduate from the gospel, they are not advancing to spiritual maturity but rather to lifeless religion, moralistic self-righteousness, or performance-based faith inaccurately called Christian. Only Jesus has the power to melt our hearts; thus, there is no transformation apart from the truth of the gospel.  

The apostle Paul reminded believers in Corinth about the importance of the gospel: 

Now brothers, I want to clarify for you the gospel I proclaimed to you; you received it and have taken your stand on it. You are also saved by it, if you hold to the message I proclaimed to you—unless you believed for no purpose. For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. Then He appeared to over 500 brothers at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one abnormally born, He also appeared to me. (1 Cor. 15:1-8) 

The gospel is most important. It is what your people need, not only the new people who come on Easter. As you prepare for Easter, don’t succumb to the temptation to say “something different and new.” Stand firm on the gospel. Preach it with passion and conviction, knowing that it is powerful for transformation (Rom. 1:16). 

As you prepare for Easter, think both “assimilation” and “transformation,” but don’t confuse the two.  

If you want more thoughts on preparing for Easter, check out this free online conference where I am speaking.

In June a book on discipleship I have been honored to co-author with Philip Nation and Michael Kelley will be released. The book is built on what the Scripture teaches us about discipleship but it is informed greatly by a massive LifeWay Research project designed to discover how people in churches mature in their faith.  

One of the simple discoveries in the research is the importance of a believer investing time in the Bible. I know this to be true personally, and the research strongly shows that growing believers continually encounter the grace of God through His Word.  

Most likely you have multiple Bibles in your house; big ones, little ones, camouflage ones, men’s ones, women’s ones, ones for leaders or fisherman, etc. Growing believers move from having a Bible in their house to planting the Bible deeply in their hearts (Psalm 119:11).  

So today, I am giving away 5 copies of Reading God's Story. It is a daily, chronological Bible that helps the reader understand the grand narrative of Scripture.  

To enter, simply comment below and let us know how your life has been impacted by Scripture. I'll pick five winners at the end of the day.

Tony: One thing leaders should consider stopping?

Something good that is stealing energy and resources from the best...

For church leaders, this may be a program that yields little fruit or a meeting that is always on the calendar but never results in any life-giving ministry decisions. A lot of leaders stress better time management to their teams, but if teams are devoting energy to ineffective ministries or programs, then time management only makes the waste more efficient. And who wants more efficient waste? More efficient waste never changed the world.

For this reason, a "stop doing" list is actually more important than a "start" list because only when you stop doing something will you have liberated energy and resources for what matters more. As Von Goethe said, "Things that matter the most must never be at the mercy of things that matter the least."

Some may argue that all the waste has already been eliminated, that everyone is operating at full capacity on what matters most. But such an argument is actually a confession that additional capacity has not been developed. The person has just admitted he or she has stopped growing as a leader or stopped growing the people he or she serves. The truth is that when we grow our teams and ourselves, there is new margin because organizational capacity has been raised. In the same way, business process consultants articulate that whenever a process is improved, new waste is created through greater productivity. The art of leadership is focusing the newly created energy on what produces the most value, which leads to Tony's second question:

Tony: One thing leaders should consider starting?

Placing more resources and energy on what is the most fruitful...

Richard Koch in his book The 80/20 Principle builds the case that 20 percent of what we do accounts for 80 percent of the impact. According to him, if 80/20 thinking had not been in place when a strategy was designed, then the strategy would be deeply flawed. Once you have decided what needs to be stopped, take the energy and resources and reallocate them toward what is most fruitful. In most churches, the less fruitful ministries continually rob resources and energy from the most fruitful. Imagine the impact on the church and the community if the focus was less divided.

For a church leader, this may mean stopping a meeting so you have more time to develop leaders. It may mean eliminating a redundant program so that financial resources and the energy of volunteers can be focused in one direction for greater impact.

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It's the smallest of all the seeds, but when grown, it's taller than the vegetables and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches. (Matt. 13:31-32) 

Jesus told His disciples that His kingdom would have a small start, just as a mustard seed starts small. From a human perspective, His arrival on this earth was a minor and unnoticed event to the vast majority of humanity (stable in Bethlehem rather than palace in Rome coupled with unlearned ordinary disciples). But His kingdom did not and will not stay small. What Jesus declared would happen is being fulfilled. His kingdom is now a large plant, a growing tree. But the parable does not end with a growing kingdom… 

Jesus also told His disciples that “the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches.” That phrase took the disciples back to several Old Testament passages describing earthly kingdoms that were so powerful and fruitful that even people outside of those kingdoms benefited. The disciples knew the story of the Assyrian kingdom, a kingdom that at one time was so strong that other nations were impacted and influenced by the Assyrians—a kingdom where “all the birds of the sky nested in its branches” (Ezek. 31:6). 

The disciples also knew the story of the Babylonian kingdom. In Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of a tree that was strong enough and large enough for people scattered throughout the world to see. Tons of fruit hung on the tree, enough for everyone to eat, and “the birds of the air lived in its branches” (Dan. 4:12). Nebuchadnezzar asked Daniel to interpret his dream. Daniel told the king of Babylon, “You are that tree.” Daniel was essentially telling Nebuchadnezzar, “Your kingdom, the Babylonian kingdom, is so fruitful, so influential, that others are impacted by your influence. Nations are finding comfort, security, and food in the tree that is your kingdom.”

The vision Jesus articulated to His disciples was that the kingdom of God will be such an influential and powerful movement in the culture that those outside the kingdom of God will benefit from its influence. People will rest and receive shelter in its branches. For this reason, the community in which a church resides should benefit from her presence.  

We desire Miami to benefit from our church’s existence. Because Christ tangibly served us, we want to tangibly serve our community. Because of the incarnation, we are motivated to step into the culture around us with the good news of Jesus.  

Also funny in the video is how uncomfortable CF pastors are in suits.

The imagery in the text is incredible. The idols have mouths that cannot speak, but God spoke the world into existence (Ps. 33:9) and still speaks to His children. The gods have carved eyes that cannot see, but God sees and brings strength to His own (2 Chron. 16:9).

The text also says the gods have noses but cannot smell. In the ancient Jewish sacrificial system, the phrase had additional meaning because the Scriptures taught that God smelled the aroma of the sacrifices and was pleased with them (Num. 15:3). Worshiping a god who could not smell would be terrifying for the worshiper. If the god could not smell the sacrifice of the worshiper, consequently the sacrifice would never be enough because the god would never be satisfied. The god would always want and need more from the worshiper.

Still the gods are never satisfied, and they never satisfy. If a career is god, the career will never be quenched, as it demands more time, energy, and sacrifice. If money is god, the bank account will never be fat enough. It will always want more and will never satisfy. If pornography is god, it will demand more focus and passion while never delivering on true satisfaction.

But the one true God smells and is satisfied. God smells and is satisfied with us because of the sacrifice of Jesus. The sacrifices in the Old Testament only foreshadowed the ultimate sacrifice of Christ, which makes us pure before Him. The gods say, "Give me more and more. Your sacrifices will never be finished." Jesus cried, "It is finished," as the righteous requirements of our Holy God were perfectly fulfilled in the death of His Son. God's nose smelled fully the perfect sacrifice of Jesus for us.

He is satisfied and He satisfies.

One summer evening, after staring at dead patches in my yard, I searched online for a solution and discovered many products that would "paint my lawn green." The lawn paint does not cause new growth, restore life to the roots, or foster a healthy yard. It is merely a covering for the sickness, a facade to give the impression of life when there is nothing but death. While some may be tempted to order the paint, it is a temporary fix. My lawn did not need paint. My lawn needed life. My lawn needed nurture in the forms of water and fertilizer. It would be ludicrous to remedy the external look of my lawn and declare it healthy.

In the same way, it is ludicrous for a church to aim for behavior rather than aim for heart transformation. We must be careful that our desire for spiritual fruit does not lead us to teach for fruitfulness apart from transformation. As a church leader, you must be concerned with the dry spots in the field, but you must not paint the dry spots green. Or teach the dry spots to act green.

Spiritual transformation only occurs through the Spirit. Romans 8:8-10 teaches:

"Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God lives in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness."

We, and the people we lead, desperately need the Holy Spirit to fill us, guide us, and sustain us. We cannot fix the dead spots. In our own strength and merit, we cannot overcome sin or defeat the Evil One. Our lives need to be continually made alive by the Spirit of God.

For example--when meeting with staff teams, I have often heard conflicting statements from both leaders and those they lead. A leader will say, "I wish I had people I could trust with greater leadership," while a person he leads will say, "He micromanages me."

How can these conflicting views be reconciled?

Ken Blanchard's model of "situational leadership" challenges the leader to adapt to those he/she leads. I like Blanchard's framework because it sets the leader as the servant, reminding us that Jesus led by serving. According to situational leadership thinking, if someone is highly competent and confident (Blanchard calls this D4), the leader should delegate authority and give lots of freedom. However, if someone is lower in competence (Blanchard calls this D1), the leader should provide ongoing direction and supervision with the intention of developing the person for the future.

Someone who is a D1 who thinks he is a D4 will think he is being micromanaged. So if you think your leader is micromanaging you, take an honest look at your competence. Have you delivered on what you said you would accomplish? Do you execute your job well? If your performance is less than stellar, the leader is wise to provide you more oversight and direction. To be honest, you need some D1 love. Your leader is being a wise steward in giving specific direction; a leader who treats a D1 like a D4 is guilty of leadership neglect.

On the other hand, someone who is a D4 thrives with more freedom and authority. If you are a leader with a high-capacity person who is fully committed to the organization/ministry and not his/her own agenda, it is horrific stewardship of time and gifting to treat the person as a D1. You may consider your specific and prescriptive directives as leadership when in reality you are micromanaging.

How can you reconcile these implications in your current context?

Communicate.

Ask your leader what areas of your role he/she views you as fully competent in, what aspects of your role need more coaching and supporting, and what aspects of your role needs specific and ongoing direction. If you lead others, match your leadership style to the development of those you lead.

In the same way, there is a mammoth difference between offensive discipleship and defensive discipleship--a major difference between offensive pastoring and defensive pastoring. And a leader's approach reveals his theology about the heart of people.

Defensive discipleship plays not to lose the hearts of people to the world because defensive discipleship believes the hearts of people are pure. Consequently, defensive discipleship focuses primarily on protecting people from influences in the world, from anything that could corrupt the perceived purity of the heart. Defensive discipleship strategy is prevalent and ranges from teaching people to isolate themselves from the culture to constantly alerting people of the influences they should avoid.

While defensive discipleship may sound appealing to some, it is theologically inaccurate. Our hearts are not pure in need of protection; they are wicked in need of transformation.

We are sinful from birth, sinful from the time our mothers conceived us. We are not born pure. We are born diseased and tainted with sin. We don't always prefer to be reminded or to remind others of this truth. No sane and loving person looks at a baby and says, "Aw, congratulations on your brand new, seven-pound ball of sin." But it is true.

Defensive discipleship monitors behavior and plays defense. Sadly, time often reveals that the tweaked behavior was never truly grounded in a transformed heart.

Offensive discipleship is very different. It seeks primarily not to protect people from the world but to empower people to overcome the world. Offensive discipleship understands the power of the gospel, trusts the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, and knows that if Jesus brings His transformation, obedience will be the joyful result. Surely offensive discipleship includes some protecting, as the apostle Paul warned about wolves threatening to hurt sheep, but protection is not the end goal--heart change is the goal.

Executive pastor: you have to make “it” happen, and the “it” changes from church to church and season-to-season. You need to be the leader that delivers results, exceeds expectations, and never offers excuses. Some quick suggestions on delivering results:

1. Find out what your senior leader is most passionate about or what frustrates him the most. Pour your leadership fuel on what fires him up and/or solve the constant pain in his side. Continually.

2. Lead with a “we will make it happen” posture. If your senior leader is not most excited to tell you about a new idea or initiative, it means he secretly believes you are the one who will try to manage the idea downward. Have honest discussion but don’t be the killjoy. If his expectations on timeline, cost, or personnel resources need to be managed down (and they often may), don’t begin with the wet blanket. Dream with him, and then develop an execution plan that includes making choices on execution (such as… “We can do A, but then we may have to say “no” to B.)

3. Crush the deadline/timeline. Get things done earlier so that there is margin for improvement. Under-promise on impact and timeline and then over-deliver on the results.

If you can’t deliver results, you should look for another job where you can. What we do is too important and life is too short for everyone to be miserable. An executive pastor who cannot execute is a painfully ironic oxymoron.

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I have seen many executive pastors fail to lead upward or “manage the boss.” While they may be very gifted in leadership or administration, their leadership is greatly hampered because trust is not established with the senior leader.

Dear Executive pastor — if your senior leader does not trust you, your leadership is over and you have become an expensive intern.

So how does an XP manage the boss?

Communication is essential, but the communication needs to be when and how the senior pastor prefers the communication. You never want your senior pastor sighing when he sees your name on caller ID or overwhelmed with the number of messages you send. With the executive pastors I coached, I often used the attached document to help the executive pastor think through communication.

Let me give personal examples from Miami. I quickly learned that Rick is consumed with message preparation and does the majority of his preparation in the mornings; therefore, I rarely called or emailed him in the mornings. Rick also prefers receiving information in chunks as opposed to quick bursts of updates, and he does better with face-to-face communication. So I kept a running list of small topics and went over these with him every Tuesday over lunch. We talked every day on big items, but I tired to discipline myself to hold off on the little items until our weekly meeting. A few times a week, I checked to see “if there was anything I could take off his plate.” I would typically delegate that to a staff member in the area of his concern, but I wanted him to know he could unload even “small things” on me.

The eight years serving as his executive pastor were amazing, but I am convinced it was largely due to the strength of our relationship.

More next blog…

File: Serving-Your-Senior-Pastor.pdf

Loyalty to Rick was easy for me because I trusted him. While I know he is not perfect, I knew he sought the Lord, was faithful to the Scripture, loved his wife, and cared for me. I was honored to serve with him.

At the same time, we were also a perfect fit in terms of gifting. He gave me immense amounts of freedom to be who God crafted me to be for the Kingdom. Based on the attached document, Rick is primarily a “teaching leader” and one of the best teachers alive; therefore, my “visionary/strategic leadership” gifting was a perfect fit. So while the loyalty was extremely important, our gifting was a great match.

I originally developed the attached framework to help senior pastors think through whom would be a good fit as a potential executive pastor. It is merely based on observation, not comprehensive research so I offer it as a simple tool to think through the match between a senior and executive pastor. It is not meant to be a theological treatise on the role of pastor or the nature of spiritual gifting; it was developed as an initial conversation starter to help pastors assess their context.

File: XP-Leader-Match.pdf

The role of executive pastor changes drastically from church to church, as it should, because the role at its best is uniquely designed around the gifting and needs of the senior pastor (or team of pastors in a team model). When a senior pastor asks me to help him think through hiring an executive pastor my response is always, "A lot depends on how God has wired you and how you are gifted to lead."

If a senior pastor is predominately or almost exclusively focused on teaching, then he may desire an executive pastor who is a strong leader to guide the staff, set direction, and oversee daily ministry. If a senior pastor is wired to lead the team and set vision, then he may desire an executive pastor who is an "execution expert" and strong manager. If a senior pastor loves the strategy, being involved in all ministry areas, and just wants the "operations" off his plate, he may need a "business manager" more than an executive pastor.

Consequently as I have sat in rooms with 30 plus "executive pastors," I have seen some that are really "lead pastors" as the senior pastor mainly teaches, some that are truly "business managers," and some that are "execution guys." All are equally valuable assuming they all complement their "senior pastor" well.

As I have helped lead/senior pastors think through the type of executive pastor to work alongside, one diagnostic question is, "How do you (the senior pastor) want staff meetings led?"

a) Senior pastor leads/ executive pastor attends and executes key decisions
b) Executive pastor leads/ senior pastor comes and offers training or direction
c) Executive pastor leads/ senior pastor comes occasionally to offer encouragement

The answer to the question is often revealing as to what the senior/lead pastor desires from an executive pastor. Senior pastors -- my encouragement to you is to bring clarity to what you expect from an executive pastor. Executive pastors - realize your role is built around the senior/lead pastor. Assume the posture that it is your responsibility to adjust to him.

There is tension embedded in the "executive pastor" title. Sometimes what an "executive" would do in a situation and what a "pastor" must do contradict each other. In those moments, "pastor" must trump "executive."

I did not always get this right, and I repent of my sinfulness for I know at times I hurt people in my attempt to see the "bride of Christ" thrive. Painfully ironic is the realization that the people are the bride we are called to serve.

Being "pastor" over "executive" does not mean mediocrity is accepted, people and issues are not confronted, or apathy is allowed. But it must impact how we handle the situations God has placed us in our roles to handle.

As I sat in the library God showed me that the church I moved away from was doing great...without me. The organization I was moving into was functioning and serving churches...without me. I am totally unnecessary for the Kingdom.

The reminder is humbling and liberating. It is humbling because God chooses to use us because He loves us and not because He needs us. And it is liberating because the success of God's Church does not depend on us.

Pastor/Church leader - God does not need you. But because He loves you He invites you to join Him in His redemptive mission in the world.

I am honored to work alongside passionate people who are committed to serving the Church well. I pray that we will wake up each morning eager to serve the bride of Christ and committed to those who lead local churches.

I am currently still on the teaching rotation of Christ Fellowship, traveling back to Miami to teach people I deeply love. Rick (my senior pastor in Miami) and I are still very close. We talk several times a week and I am committed to helping him from a distance.

My online existence has been pretty desolate: no Facebook or Twitter and an average of 6-8 blogs a year. Many of the staff I served alongside in Miami encouraged me with no avail to move into the new decade, but when my new boss urged me to be more “present” in the online world – well, here I am.

Kaye and the girls are doing great. We are enjoying Nashville and the people God is allowing us to meet and serve alongside. 

While my former blogging was schizophrenic in purpose as I was unclear whom I was writing for, my intent with this blog is to be helpful to local church leaders. 

Next week, I will begin with a series for executive pastors…