Will Mancini

One of Auxano’s navigators, Rich Kannwischer, just sent me this quote from Mother Teresa. We always talk about how unlocking the future is about going deeper with who we already are and what we already have. To understand how much a quote like this means to the Auxano team,you will enjoy Rich’s e-mail subject line, “How can I not send you this quote.” It needs no further introduction.

In our efforts to listen to God’s words to us, we often neglect what might be called his “first word” to us. This is the gift of ourselves to ourselves: our existence, our nature, our personal history, our uniqueness, our identity. All that we have, and indeed, our very existence, is one of the unique and never-to-be-repeated ways God has chosen to express himself in space and time. Each of us, because we are made in God’s image and likeness, is yet another promise that he has made to the universe that he will continue to love it and care for it. (Mother Teresa, Leadership, Vol. 10, no. 4)

Rich is the new Senior Pastor of one of the Presbyterian church’s great pulpits- Saint Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, in Newport Beach, CA. Read about Rich’s experience prior to taking the helm of of Saint Andrews here.

How many dumb mission statements do you hear like: Our challenge is to assertively network economically sound methods of empowerment so that we may continually negotiate performance-based infrastructures.

If you have been around church at all, you know that we are good at specializing in these “corporate hallmark cards” and “Air Supply-like rhythms.”

Yesterday, I spoke to church consultants from across the country at a summit in New Orleans with the Society of Church Consulting.

I challenged them to consider a new approach to vision and strategic planning as outlined in Church Unique. Many resonated with my challenge. Ironically, while I was speaking, this article was sent before I got my hard copy of Fast Company. It is simply one of the best articles on writing a mission statement I have ever read.

The article entitled, How to Write a Mission Statement that Isn’t Dumb is featured in Fast Company by Nancy Lublin, CEO of DoSomething.org

A few days before my 40th birthday I was thinking about a quote that has guiding my life for the last 25 years.  I read somewhere that I can’t remember the idea that in the
first half of your life, the opportunity of every situation is found more
in what you learn than in what you give.

Hmmmm…what does that mean now that the first half of my life is over?  For some reason, I take comfort (maybe too much comfort) in the fact that I still get to learn more than I give. It throws me back to understanding my life as a stewardship.

The next thought that crossed my mind, was “What are the other ideas that have guided my life and work the most.” In 90 minutes I had written about 70. I was surprised that I could list that many, so I boiled it down to 40 and thought it might be fun to tweet them throughout the day. I figure the rest of the twitterville could put up with my extra tweets for one day! You can see the tweets and people’s ERS (emotional resonance spectrum) by searching #40at40.

Also thanks to Brock Sawyer for typing them up on his blog here.

Here are the top six:

1. Clarity isn’t everything but it changes everything.
2. Jesus was totally clear about his origin, his mission, and his destiny.
3. In the first half of your life, the opportunity of every situation is found more in what you learn than in what you give.
4. The rest of your life will be in the future, so prepare for it now.
5. The most important question I have ever discovered is, “What is God up to?”
6. Imagination if more important than knowledge – Einstein

The rest of the list contains my personal, family and Auxano mission; the quote that lead me to write Church Unique and some of my favorite one-liners as a church consultant. Have fun and let me know your favs!

Uncovering your Kingdom Concept is practice along the Vision Pathway to answer the question, “What can your church do better than 10,000 others.” In defining this reality for each church we look closely at Place (Local Predicament), People (Collective Potential) and Passion (Apostolic Esprit).

Jack Thomas is a church planter launching in urban Pittsburgh in May of 2010.  I not only love his cultural exegesis, but the succinct and quality way he is communicating his Local Predicament via video.

LifeStone Community Focus Video from Jack Thomas on Vimeo.

Max Lucado says that writing a book is like giving birth to barbwire. His words as a prolific author encouraged me through the pangs of writing Church Unique.

But as hard as it is to write a book, the hardest thing to do afterwards is reading a poorly written one. Writing forces you to think differently about how you read. Recently, I have been excited about a few books, only to put them down, discouraged by a lack of coherent thought and skilled writing.

That observation sets the stage for why I am posting a Church Unique endorsement from a particular pastor who is a great writer himself- Bruce Miller. Bruce pastors McKinney Fellowship and has written The Leadership Baton and Your Life in Rythm. Bruce leads with great thoughtfulness and discipline.  As a long-time protege of Gene Getz, he launched from Fellowship Bible Church in Dallas years ago to plant McKinney Fellowship- a church that grew to 2,000 in weekend attendance in 10 years.

Today Bruce shot over an endorsement for which I am grateful:

Having read many books on church life, mission and strategy, I wondered if Mancini would offer anything new. He surprised me. Church Unique is outstanding. Frankly, at first, after a quick scan, I wrongly dismissed it as one more lightweight marketing/branding book.  In fact I was not sold on the need to focus on being a unique local church.

However, chapter after chapter took me deeper than I anticipated, challenged me more than I expected and inspired me more than I expected. Well done. I am convinced that we need to discover our uniqueness, clarify it and magnify it. Mancini’s Church Unique deserves a wide reading by thoughtful church leaders passionate for the cause of Christ.