Will Mancini

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.

I was glad to see Chuck Swindoll get the legacy award at Catalyst today.  He just got off the stage and truly engaged the young audience. It was fun to watch the crowd “surprised” by the wisdom and humor of this ministry giant.  It really exposes our taste for trend. We have little patience and appetite for seasoned ministry perspective at our conference pep-rallies.

Chuck is a giant, and I have been close enough to him to validate that he lives the top ten lessons that he shares. I first met Chuck while at Dallas Seminary, and had the privilege as a young consultant to be his vision navigator during his fourth year at Stonebriar Community Church.  Stonebriar, planted in Frisco in far North Dallas, had 700 people at its first public worship and grew by 1000 people each year for the first four years. As I mentioned in Church Unique, Chuck’s big idea is “joy.”  His mission is to encourage all people to pursue a lifelong, joyous relationship with Jesus Christ.

My favorite learning experience with Chuck was a small think tank with Greg Mott at Houston’s First Baptist. I remember thinking: here is a 70 year-old church planter meeting with a 30 year old senior pastor of a 70- year old church. Chuck’s humility and his command of Scripture is always amazing.  In fact he is one of the most humble and teachable pastors I have ever worked with.  That’s why I especially appreciate his 10 lessons from 50 years of ministry:

1. It’s lonely to lead
2. It’s dangerous to succeed
3. It’s hardest at home
4. It’s essential to be real
5. It’s painful to obey
6. Brokenness and failure are necessary
7. Attitude overshadows actions
8. Integrity eclipses image
9. God’s way is always better than my way
10. Christlikeness begins and ends with humility

Last night I navigated the roll-out of a church's Kingdom Concept with 70 of their core leaders. Some people were blown away by the focus and immediately recognized the opportunity to rally the entire church.  Other experienced a mental vapor lock. With bodies sitting calmly, their minds were violently stiff-arming the conversation.   

Why? Because focus requires limits. 

- "You mean were are not going to…"

- "But what about…"

- "Aren't we leaving out…"

The focus dilemma is the crisis that is created when we feel it's restrictions without seeing it's freedom and benefits. Ironically, it is the forced limitation that creates the power, the meaning, the opportunity.  A river without banks is just a large puddle. 

What's the good news of focus? Through the limitation we experience expansion. What banks have you chosen for your organization?  What channels momentum in your culture? 

Don't be surprised that the majority will never see the power of limitation. That seeing-ability is reserved for a unique subset of people.  If you are one of those people, rejoice.  For you have a special gift to lead and make a significant contribution in the world. What are you leading today- a river or a puddle?

My speaking ministry has ramped up a bit with more people engaging Church Unique. Here are a few places I will be in the next 6 weeks. I will begin updating the blog more with events like these. The reason I speak is to push the envelope on vision. It's all about what God wants to do uniquely through you and your ministry.

• September 29: A Day of Clarity, Portland, OR
• October 12-13: Sticky Church Conference, San Diego, CA
• October 20-21: CB Plus ‘24’ Conference, Anderson, IN
• October 27: Cornerstone Conference, with WFX Charlotte, NC
• November 10: Society for Church Consulting, New Orleans, LA