It's a Scary Thought

I was listening to Ken Ulmer, pastor of Faithful Central Bible Church in Los Angeles, preach a couple of days ago. Something he said really struck me. He said, "Most Christians are one major tragedy away from giving up on their faith."

Is that really true? If the economy went south, if their child developed a disease, if their marriage fell apart, are most Christians just that close to giving up on God? Are we that fair weather in our faith? It does imply that as pastor/leaders we need to help people understand the real deal about real faith and help them develop a theology of suffering that guides them through the trial. Interesting thoughts.

Got My Grades!

I got my grades for the pre-course work I turned in--about 45 pages of reports on reading before this two-week doctoral residency. Got an A. I don't think this doctoral work is easier than master's work, but it centers in on exactly where I am as a leader and where we are as a church and ministry network. Plus, I'm about ten years older. It just makes more sense now!

A Divine Melting Pot

Our Doctor of Ministry cohort is a melting pot of denominations, ethnicity, and geography. Sitting right around me today are four great guys:

• Allen, white guy, Southern Baptist, North Carolina
• Lance, African-Canadian guy, Episcopalian, Toronto
• Danny, Korean guy, Toronto
• Great, white guy, Baptist of some kind, South Dakota

Within all of that diversity, there is a great common factor--a desire to lead God's people into becoming all that God created them to become! It's a great group.

Boston 4 Detroit 2

Last night, four of us in the doctoral program took the train into downtown Boston and watched the Red Sox come back from being down 2-1 to win the game 4-2 with a three-run homer from a guy hitting .194. Wow. What a comeback.

It was so cool being in a stadium I'd seen on television all my life. We sat near the Green Monster--watched on ball just make it over the monster by one inch. It was amazing.

Leadership Metaphors

Today in class we're talking about leadership metaphors. Every leader has some type of metaphor for their leadership style. That metaphor communicates to the mission and structure of the organization. There are four common types of metaphors:

• Machinery
• Biological
• Cognitive
• Relational

A biological metaphor can be found in the Bible--the Body of Christ. We've all heard the phrase, "It runs like a well oiled machine." That would be a machinery metaphor.

Metaphors are often translated into symbols that are displayed.

As I think about this, I wander what metaphor we've been operating with at Christian Life Assembly? I'll get back to you when I figure it out.

Core Competencies of Leadership

Today, we focused in on core competencies of leaders:

• Self-leadership
• Character which leads to credibility
• Strategic intent (understanding the context)
• Clear communication

It was amazing as we looked at the answers people gave to the question, "What are you looking for in a leader?" The list was eerily similar to 2 Peter 1.5. That's the text for our new message series, "Fusion." It's all about how to add power to your life. You're going to love it!

I Made It On Time

I had a much better start to finding my way to class in Boston today. Yesterday, it took 2.5 hours as I wandered through town. Today, I made it in 35-40 minutes. So, that's a little bit of improvement.

Kingdom Builders Report

We had a great weekend with our Kingdom Builders initiative. Together, Kingdom Builders and the Army of Faithful Believers committed $100,160 to key projects to be completed in the next year! Thank you for stepping out in faith!

Sitting in Class in Boston...er, Roxbury

I was over one hour late to the first day of class at my doctor of ministry program. My mapquest took me to 90 Warren St., Boston. I needed to be at 90 Warren St., Roxbury, MA. It took multiple phone calls to finally get me to the right Warren Street. It was a great tour of Boston, though. I hope it gets better from here.

Personality Tests

I just had a to take another personality test. I hope they find out that I have one. It was for my doctoral degree. The first residency for this degree starts next week--it's all about the leader as a person--personal development kind of stuff. I think that's a key idea that we miss in our effort to find the four new ideas or the one magic key to growing our church or organization.

Maxwell has said it for years--you grow the leader, you grow the organization.

I don't' want to be the lid on the growth that God wants to bring to Christian Life Assembly or to the Iowa Ministry Network. I want to keep growing. It may be discomforting at times to look at ourselves as the leadership lid in our organization, but we've got to do it.

Army of Faithful Believers

I'm excited about this weekend. We're asking each member of our church family to step up to the plate and help us move the kingdom agenda forward in our city. There are three levels of participation:

1. Tithers--Giving ten percent of your income to the Lord. Everyone who signed a membership covenant agreed to tithe regularly to the Lord, but we want to renew that commitment this weekend and invite new tithers to join us.

2. Army of Faithful Believers--These are folks who commit to an amount more than their tithe, but less than $2,500 in a twelve month period. Their giving helps propel the agenda forward (for example, parking lot, signage, TV commercials, etc.)

3. Kingdom Builders--These are folks who commit to give their tithe, plush $2,500 or more over the next twelve months.

These ideas allow everyone to partner together at the level God puts in their hearts so the church can accomplish its mission in the city.

Kingdom Builders

We're launching Kingdom Builders, a brand new ministry at Christian Life Assembly, this Saturday night with a kick off event at the Science Center of Iowa. The purpose of Kingdom Builders is a provide prayer and financial support for capital improvement items at the church--big ticket items, we call them.

Some Kingdom Builders investments will include:

• Expanded Parking Lot ($50-$60,000)
• New Signage at the drive and intersection of Fleur and Highway 5 ($10,000-$15,000)
• New Equipment for KidsCount and elevate Student Ministries ($10,000)
• Worship Experience Upgrades--Audio and Video ($10,000-$15,000)
• Television Advertising ($40,000)

The number of Kingdom investment opportunities depends on the number of families who sign up to be a Kingdom Builders--giving $2,500 or more above their tithe in the next twelve months, as the following chart implies:

• 10 Kingdom Builders=$25,000
• 20 Kingdom Builders=$50,000
• 30 Kingdom Builders=$75,000
• 40 Kingdom Builders=$100,000
• 50 Kingdom Builders=$125,000

If you attend CLA and haven't signed up for the Kingdom Builders' Kick Off Event where you'll learn more about this exciting opportunity, e-mail Vanessa at vanessa@lifenow.org right away so we can get a seat reserved for you.

Small Church...Big God

I saw a roadside sign at a church this week that said, "Come to a small church with a big God." For some reason that sign just hit me the wrong way and I've been trying to figure out why. Here are some thoughts:

1. If you have a big God then why do you have a small church? Sure, success is stewardship. A church in Climax Springs, Missouri will probably be small because it's a small place. But this church is in a city of 200,000 people. And, it's not a new church. It takes the average new Assemblies of God church four years to reach 100 people in weekly attendance. It took us three--81, 99, 110 were our first three year's average.

2. Are they proud of being small? Is there a mindset that says to be big you have to compromise? You have to do something that appeals to people--meaning you have to water down the gospel? Is small pure and big polluted? Is small an attribute that attracts people?

3. What is small? I have no idea how many people attend the church, but I think it's over 125. In the Iowa Assemblies of God, there are only 25 of the 130 churches above 125 in weekly attendance. So, if you're above 125 are you really small? If you're above 200, you're in the upper 20% of all churches across the nation. This church isn't Assemblies of God so I can't check their attendance in our handy dandy church book.

4. Does the sign really reflect the philosophy of the church or did someone just think it was a cute thing to say? This happens all the time in churches--we really don't have a clear message that we send out through all of our media--roadside signs included. We don't always think through the message that we send to the culture or how the culture interprets our message.

Just some thoughts.

Going on a Jet Plane

I just finished booking my airfare for a trip to Boston, where I start my doctoral studies in redemptive leadership and organizational development. I head out May 13 for a week of classes, come back for the weekend of May 20 at CLA then head back for one more week of classes.

So far, I've read over 2,000 pages of leadership material and am writing five different papers to get ready for the residency. After the residency, there's a 15-20 page project. After three of these residencies and projects, I'll be done. My goal is to have my doctorate by the time I'm 40 and so I'm on track for now.