Dick Hardy is in the Blogsosphere

My good friend Dick Hardy of the Hardy Group is blogging. Check out what he has to say at www.dickhardy.blogspot.com.

I LOVE America!

I can't wait for I Love America this Sunday at 10 AM. We finished our final planning meeting for the service. The final part of the service is a drama depicting how Francis Scott Key wrote the national anthem. It is powerful. It combines live drama, multi-media, and, of course, the national anthem. I literally wept as we listened to the story. It is powerful. I'm so thankful for the men and women who have given their lives to serve the rest of us. That reminds me of another song we're doing--Freedom isn't Free.

Sunday Recap

What a great summer Sunday service we had yesterday. If you missed it, let me recap the four principles of perseverance:

1. The start is always exciting.
2. Exits come early and often.
3. You're don't finished until you say so.
4. If you don't quit, you can't lose!

This Sunday is our special "I Love America" presentation. It's going to be great! We'll keep the Fusion series going for two more weeks, including this Sunday.

Build the tracks!

Do you know why we don't have a train running through any of the 40 acres our church owns? It's really not that hard of an answer. No train comes through because there are no tracks!

If you want the train, you've got to build the tracks. Trains only go where there are tracks. The idea came to me during a meeting with a team member. I kept asking why we didn't have certain things happening that I had asked about for weeks--even months. It's not that he didn't want it to happen. It wasn't that he didn't have the skill or personnel to make it happen. There just weren't any tracks. There was no system in place to make it happen. If you want the train to come to town--you've got to build the tracks.

If you want a great marriage--build the tracks of communication, dating, etc.

If you want to create a great worship experience, you've got to build the right tracks.

If you want a train, build the tracks for it to run on. Simple, but sure helped us.

Get a Reality Statement

I read of an interesting idea in a report by the Gallop Organization. It talked about how many businesses and organizations have a vision statement, but most don't have a reality statement. The reality statement defines exactly where they are at the present and what it's going to cost to get to the vision.

It kind of goes along with the idea of orienting toward truth included in Henry Cloud's excellent book Integrity. You've got to know where you are before you can get where you're going. Too often, we live in the fantasy world of the vision, instead of the real world.

Reminds me of what Warren Bennis says, "The first priority of the leader is to define reality." Pretty good thought, uh? It's like when I was lost in Boston. I had a vision for where I wanted to go, but since I had no idea where I was...it was awful hard to figure out how to get there.

Kansas City....There I Went

Amberly and I drove to Kansas City to pick up her grandmother and aunt from Oklahoma at the airport. Wouldn't it be great if Southwest flew into Des Moines so we didn't have to do that 2.5 hour drive. It's great to have them here for a visit.

Her aunt asked, "What do you do when somebody yells 'Preach on' during the sermon." I told her we were too far north for that to happen!

A Just as Scary Thought

I've been thinking about the quote a couple of posts ago--Most Christians are a major tragedy away from giving up on their faith. I think it's true. Here's an even scarier thought--Many Christians are a minor inconvenience away from giving up their faith, or at least their church. If something goes wrong in a relationship, if the worship music isn't right, if someone doesn't call them back then they can easily give up church altogether. How do we build more commitment into the hearts of people?

FUSION Series Off to Great Start

We've had two great services the last two weeks with the launch of the new FUSION message series. We're talking about fusing seven qualities with our faith to release a new energy in our lives. So far, we've looked at goodness and knowledge. Sunday, we're taking a look at the idea of self-leadership. It should be good. I look forward to seeing you there.

What is Leadership?

Here are a couple of definitions for leadership. Do they seem to fit? What are they missing?

Robert Greenleaf
"The essence of leadership is the desire to serve one another and to serve something beyond ourselves."

Bill Thrall
"Leadership is influencing others. When one life touches another--in a family, community, organization or culture--the effect is called influence."

Joseph Jawarski
"Leadership is about the release of human possibilities."

Bobb Biehl
"Leadership is knowing what to do next, why it is important, and bringing the necessary resources to bear on the need at hand."

How does this definition change if it is for "redemptive" leadership?

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.