Will Mancini

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.

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

Two quotes related to vision have trafficked through the social media space in the last six months. These quotes support the position that vision is outdated.

The first quote came from Sam Chand and picked up speed at Leadership Network’s i3 conference in Dallas. The quote is “Toxic Culture Trumps Vision” Listen to Sam’s fantastic podcast related to the subject here.

The second quote is from Dave Gibbons who spoke at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit. His quote is “We need more relationaries not visionaries.”

Both of these quotes are profound partial truths. In their context, these statements bring helpful insight. For example, Gibbons is really against the role of a visionary who is disconnected and out of touch with their followers. He is not against being visionary.

But as stand alone statements they reveal a subtle but powerful dynamic in church leadership circles today: Our concept of vision is so weak and outdated we tend undermine and downplay it because all we have left is a “strawman.” Instead of living with a weak and outdated vision, I suggest that we need to define vision correctly.

Fixing Quote #1

The problem with Sam’s quote is that we are left asking, “How do you fix a toxic culture?” Ironically, the answer has to start with vision! Therefore it is more accurate to say real vision shapes culture. And what Sam should have said is “Toxic culture trumps the results of our poorly conceptualized visioning processes” (Like borrowing a mission statement from North Point, or doing an old-school strategic planning process.)

Fixing Quote #2

Again, Dave’s statement that we need relationaries not visionaries is itself a statement of vision (ironically). Imagine for a moment where the church would be if we had all relationaries and no visionaries. Now, I do get Dave’s point as stated earlier. But why not statement the real truth: We need visionaries who are strong relationaries. The first person who comes to mind now is Jesus not Mister Rogers- imagine that!

A pastor left a message on my 800 line yesterday and on my cell phone today (he was referred from a friend who used Auxano). Interestingly, he used a long string of different terms to describe what he is looking for in his two different voice messages: