That’s an amazing claim from Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church. In this video, Matt explains one of the early “shaping influences” of his life being Larry Osborn’s book Sticky Teams. (Originally entitled The Unity Factor.) 

Would you like to have that kind of team effectiveness? Of course you would. Then come out and join me along with

• Wayne Cordeiro
• Larry Osborne (1 min. video about Sticky Teams)
• Jamie Munson, Mars Hill Lead Pastor (yes that’s Mark Driscoll’s church) 

at North Coast Church’s Sticky Teams Conference. This is focused content, in a great location, from accessible leaders at a great price. 

• READ MORE on WHY YOU should attend

• SIGN UP HERE

• Come to my PRE-CONFERENCE workshop and COMMENT on this blog and I will bring you a FREE Collaboration Cube, the single best team-building tool, I have ever seen. 

Related posts:

1. Expand Your Ministry, Build Your Team
2. Why I Like Larry Osborne
3. Places to Push the Envelope on Vision

• Austin Stone
• Christian Community Church
• Rock Harbor
• Granger Community Church
• Seacoast Church
• Kennsington Community Church
• Mountain Lake Church
• West Ridge Church 

What’s exciting about this group, is that these churches, most considered to be thought-leaders, are not satisfied with their current strategy. They are pushing the envelope of strategy in the name of things like “missional community” and “apostolic movement.”

KEY QUESTIONS WE’RE ASKING

• How does our declining church influence in our leading cultural cities, help us wake-up to the enormous need for completely new strategies? Right now we are in San Francisco which has a 4-6% churched from an evangelical perspective. 

• As we develop new strategies, how do we keep mission as the organizing principle of all we do? (That is, how are we thinking missional not just talking missional.)

• If our best church models will not even come close to touching 40% of our culture, how do we reach the other 60%? Here is a post from Tim Steven on “The Shrinking 40.”

• How do we get our best churches to a place of re-imagining the future and not just improving existing methods?

• How do we leverage the platform of the “attractional,” mega-church to integrate and launch initiatives that multiply the mission with new “incarnational” strategies. 

• Is the multi-site “strategy of the day” just a stepping stone to a more viral and exponential strategy to expansion that could be captured by the progression: MEGA  > MULTI > MICRO. Read Todd Wilson’s Micro Manifesto. 

I will continue to post learning from this group.

RELATED POSTS

Identity Shapes Activity

2 Movement Killers

Movement Making with Alan Hirsch

Related posts:

1. Movement Making with Alan Hirsch
2. Church Jobs of the Future
3. Identity Shapes Activity: A Church Unique Snapshot From Vision to Website

#1 Create or find your ideal environment. My greatest productivity happens in context. For me it’s a place in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Everything from the climate and the landscape to the food and the art, come together to help me be my best. I like Santa Fe because of the latent spirituality that is far from Christ. I love cultivating spiritual conversations as I write about leadership and the mission of Jesus in the world.

#2 Fine tune your “fuel mix.” When I produce, I like what I call side-ways inspiration. I like reading stuff that may not directly pertain to what I’m writing, but models thoughtful expression and creativity. I like art and conversation with people as fuel too. On this trip I hand picked about 6 books that I will scan or deep dive into as I feel inspired. I do this concurrently with my own writing. If you have never thought of how to fine-tune your fuel mix, give it a try. Experiment and see what happens! 

#3 Know your rhythms and work them over and over. There are several rhythms that are important to me. One is the macro rhythm of getting away at least 3 times per year. Second, is the rhythm that works in and around intense bursts of productivity. They happen best in a 3-6 day period, with a punctuated intensity. For example, I may enjoy a slow lunch then work for 2 hours, then go on a mountain bike ride and work for 2 hours, and so on. For me, the staggering effect is highly productive. The key is to study yourself and know your rhythm. An important aspect of this is knowing how your physical body works best when you are producing. Think like an athlete in terms of “creative productivity fitness.” 

# Ruthlessly eliminate distractions. After you have done the first three things you have to gut everything else. A thousand things will pull you away from the most important thing. Find your laser-focused state of being. Keep in mind that your context, fuel and rhythm may have some built in positive “distractions” based on your personality. And that’s fine. Remember that most people don’t accomplish great things, not because greatness is not in them, but because they have never learned to focus.

Related posts:

1. Creative Problem Solving
2. When are you successful?
3. “Best of” Stories

Yesterday a pastor friend shared a challenge he is issued to his staff and lay leaders. It’s an excellent example of helping a mainline church rethink its identity and mission. (It ties to the discernment of  the “local predicament” circle of the Kingdom Concept)  The church’s name is not referenced to protect the nature of the missional discernment project.

Dear Co-Workers in Christ,

As an officer of the church your primary directive is to make disciples and to make decisions that make disciples.  In other words, officers empower the congregation to look more to Jesus for guidance and more like Jesus in ministry.

 Given that understanding, I want to invite you – challenge you, really – to join in an experience to which I have committed myself and the entire staff. Between now and the first Sunday in August, I want you to use one hour each week in a discernment project.  I want each church officer to join our staff members in taking one hour each week to meet God at Wal-Mart.

 That’s right.  No joke.  You are assigned to meet God at Wal-Mart. Here are the details.

Once a week, go across the freeway to the Wal-Mart. Spend an hour roaming the aisles and watching the shoppers and employees.  Do not go in to shop.  Do not get your groceries during that time.  This is about people, not merchandise or purchasing or recreational browsing.

I want you make note of the people – their culture, socio-economics, dress, expressed values, perceived attitudes, what they seem to be interested/disinterested in.  I want you to imagine what their lives are like leading up to their Wal-Mart visit and returning from their shopping.

As you observe the people, seek God out in prayer, asking, “God, what in the world does our church have to offer these people?  What do we have to offer them and how would you want us to do that?”  Then listen, and take note.

 If the assignment is too confusing or complex, then do this – ask, “Where do I see Jesus today here at Wal-Mart?”

 My hunch is that some of our assumed values and valued programs don’t/won’t play the same in that context.  God might have something to say about that.  We may get some reality checks, with may receive some insights and inspirations, we may even meet God at levels/dimensions where we have not before. 

 If you get bored with Wal-Mart or feel going there is too repetitive, I offer some alternatives.  You are welcome to try the same thing at one or more of these places – Goodwill Industries Store or the nearby bowling alley.

 You may want to take notes, keep a journal, or simply e-mail me as you have discoveries. 

 Hoping you see Jesus anew, Your Pastor

What have you tried like this? What are some examples you could share of a missional mainline?

Related posts:

1. 7 Benefits to Having a “Missional Map” in Your Church
2. How One of America’s Most Strategic Churches Shut Down a Ministry
3. Missional Leadership at The MET

Before my transition to coach-consulting in 2001, I led several different ministry areas at Clear Creek Community Church. An unexpected season of leading the children’s area engaged my love for vision around the importance of serving children. What I learned through this season has changed my life forever. I believe that children’s ministry is THE golden opportunity for these seven reasons:

#1 The Golden Heart: Children model the ideal kingdom participant. Each of the gospel writers record that stunning moment when Jesus rebukes the disciples and tenderly engages some young children (Luke 18:17). In the face of self-importance, Jesus shockingly points to a child as the model for how to enter the kingdom. Maybe serving children holds unexpected benefit for Christian maturity?

#2 The Golden Years: Childhood is the most effective window for responding to the gospel. Eighty percent of people receive Christ between the ages of 4 and 14. Enough said.

#3 The Golden Glow: Children have a longer life to serve Christ and accomplish more for God’s glory. If you had a candle to burn for a nice romantic evening, would you choose the one that’s three-quarters used up, or would you choose a brand new candle? (It makes you wonder why generally speaking,  our children get so little attention in ministry leadership!)

#4 The Golden Baton: Serving children plants the gospel into the next generation. Yes, the gospel is always one generation from extinction. You choose if the race is all about your short window to live or the enduring story of global redemption.

#5 The Golden Gate: Winning a child is a gateway to winning the whole family. I can’t tell you how many redeemed families I have seen on the beachhead of a child’s testimony. And yes, the more our culture idolizes their children, the more we can leverage this negative tendency for the gospel.

#6 The Golden Moment: Children’s lives are moldable and full of teachable moments. There is nothing like the moment of awe and insight, when  child learns or asks a genuine question. Play and plant in the rich soil!

#7 The Golden Crown: Serving children has a unique significance which leads to special blessing. In Matthew 25-31-46, Jesus shares the parable about serving, “the least of these.” It’s apparent that “the least” include people of some status or need where they cannot repay if they are served (hungry, sick, imprisoned, estranged, poor) Children, though not listed explicitly, certainly fit this list by virtue of their inability. I believe that serving children brings an unexpected treasure of blessing.

This post is dedicated to my beautiful fiancée, Romina Andreotti, who spent the last year serving 12, 2-year old children at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church. Those kids are the most fortunate kids on the planet and I am grateful for her model of love and service that nourishes my own spirit.

Related posts:

1. Introducing Open Source Vision Casting
2. Church Unique makes the “Golden Canon”
3. Vision Casting Spotlight: Hillsong

If you are reading my blog, you have probably figured out that it is one thing to talk “simple church” and quite another thing to execute it.  Long before Thom Rainer decided to publish his student’s research project (His student was Eric Geiger and the book was Simple Church) the Auxano team had been working with a wide variety of churches to develop and maintain a simple disciple-making strategy.

What have we learned? Simplifying around discipleship requires ruthlessly consistent communication. 

The single greatest tool for ruthless consistency is what we call the Missional Map (mMap). The mMap is picture that shows how the church will accomplish its mission at the broadest level.  Just imagine if every regular attender’s experience at your church was saturated with a picture that points to discipleship. What if this picture trumped everything else in church communication? The benefits would be huge.

THE MISSIONAL MAP WOULD:

1. Connect the mission with a  few “best” ministries
   
2. Present Jesus and guide people toward life change in Him
3. Remove complexity and clarify a pathway of involvement
4. Limit time “at church” to release people to “be the church”
5. Filter which ministry ideas fit best and which ones don’t fit 
6. Build a climate of invitation that encourages new commitment
   
7. Shape a culture of Christ-following over program-consuming 

The daily work of discipleship is hard and messy work. So why not limit all the random, attention-draining and resourcing-depleting moving parts of your church that keep you from getting the basics done. Why not highlight the best ministries you can offer and show how they relate to each other for the purpose growing people in Jesus and for His mission in the world. This post is adapted from page 150 of Church Unique. To learn more about developing a Missional Map for your church, contact me through Auxano.
.

Related posts:

1. 10 Power Principles on Church Strategy
2. 6 Signs that Your Church is Stuck in “Walmart Thinking”
3. Missional Leadership at The MET

Verge in Austin is Happening NOW. This is the first conference to focus on Missional Communities. It sold out around 2000 folks. The good news is that you can attend the conference via live feed. Sign-up here. Why Verge?

• #1 Missional Communities are the next thing. We’ve gone from “mega” to “multi” to “micro”
• #2 Austin is a great town. (Especially for those who are truly free in Christ.)
• #3 This huge meet-up will be an inspirational high

If you want to meet there I will be coming late and staying over Sunday and Monday to spend time with Alan Hirsch with some other thought leaders. 

The following week you might want to check out the Churchplanters.com Conference in Atlanta. Why do I look forward to this conference each year?

• #1 Sean Lovejoy, David Putnam and company host a great event with focused content.
• #2 The vibe is real and raw- You’ve  gotta love the guts it took to plant a church in Andy Stanely’s backyard. You’ve gotta respect their results.
• #3 Mt. Lake Church and Auxano are partnering to launch an Atlanta based co:Lab 

I look forward to seeing your there. I will be speaking twice on Tuesday and hosting a lunch if you’re interested in the Vision co::Lab

One March 3rd, Leadership Network is bringing their next online conference experience to the masses. This time its called “Aha!”  Why attend Aha!

• #1 It’s totally free and you get to learn from comfort of home!
• #2 40 Aha moments all delivered under six minutes
• #3 Fresh voices will be highlighted, so get off the rock-star train. 

For Aha! I submitted one of my own stories entitled, “How a Funnel Changed My Life.”

While these are the next three, there are many others coming in the next few months where I would love to connect! More on these to come. 

• Cornerstone Alignment Conferences  This fantastic event happens in four big cities- the first one is March 16th in Indianpolis. 
• Large Church Initiative for Methodists in San Antonio on April 12-15th
• Exponential – My favorite of them all! April 19-22 in Orlando
• Q Gathering in Chicago, April 28-30 
• NACBA Conference in Orlando 

Related posts:

1. “Aha!” by Leadership Network- The Next NINES
2. Further Explanation on Using Twitter for Attending a Conference
3. How to Maximize your NINES Learning Experience

• When something exceeds our ability to understand how it works, it sort of becomes magical
  
• It’s hard to see how something so simple can be so capable
  
• It’s going to change the way we do the things we do, every day
  
• I don’t have to change myself to fit it; it fits me
  
• We decided, “Let’s redesign it all…let’s redesign and reimagine and rebuild from the ground up…”
  
• You get an order of magnitude more powerful
  
• There’s automatic orientation 
  
• Everything gets out of the way so that you can focus on the content you care about
  
• We want to put it in the hands as many people as possible right from the start 
  
• This is a new category, but millions and millions of people are going to be instantly familiar with it

A I work daily to help the local church reflect amazing claims like this,  I believe we have a massive opportunity to be schooled by Apple’s achievement. How? Listen to the linchpin strategy of Apple’s success:

“It’s built by our hardware team in concert with our software team and what that gives you is a level of performance that you can’t get any other way. Apple is the one place that you can really do this. We build battery technology, we build chip technology and we build software and we bring all those things together in way that no one else can do it.”

The singular application is that design from the ground up is so fully integrated, that quality and innovation are unsurpassed. In church speak, we would dream that ministry content, ministry environments, ministry people and processes are so integrated that life change and accessibility to the gospel are unsurpassed.

But we prefer not to do the work of designing, thinking and building this way. We like the message of Simple Church, or Church Unique, but get stuck talking with lay leadership about original and simple design. In the end we punt essential principles in favor of ministry environments running with imported programs. We let every staff person makes decisions based on their own “operating system.” 

Related posts:

1. Simple Strategy: Stop Creating Decision Paralysis for Discipleship
2. Two Kinds of “Wins” and Why You Need Both
3. Inspiration or Emulation? – How to Build Your Message

Why do I love Mel? While most church architects have led us to “do church” in the United States of Generica, Mel is showing a better way- the way of Church Unique.  I have worked up close with two churches that have used the services of Visionering Studios, and the product is impressive. 

The church pictured here is Northside Christian Church, in Spring, Texas. Northside is an Auxano client that went through Vision co::Lab, and brought us in to do a Guest Perspective Evaluation. Post grand opening, Northside doubled their attendance from  600 to 1200 in the first six months. This true “third space” comes with stocked pond for fishing and disc golf course among other features.  Imagine having to solve the problem of people smoking weed on your church property. Or wait, is that what architectural evangelism is all about. The first step in their stated strategy is “hang out!”  

What guiding principle drives the redemptive heartbeat and unorthodox creativity behind their design process?  They follow the tenet “form follows fiction,” rather than the traditional “form follows function.” All faith communities have a story to tell, and church buildings provide the perfect medium for this narrative. 

The bottom line: Don’t wrap your unique vision with generic brick and mortar. Find someone like Mel when its time to integrate your DNA and story into a one-of-a-kind building solution that serves as a tool for mission. Read more on “form follows fiction.”

Find out about our co::Labs starting soon both virtually and in Atlanta, Orlando, Houston and Dallas.

Related posts:

1. 10 Power Principles on Church Strategy

#1 Programs don’t attract people; people attract people (Aubrey Malphurs)

#2 Think steps not programs; strategy makes the next step simple, easy and obvious. (Andy Stanley)

#3 Strategy is a missional map, therefore communicate it visually (Church Unique)

#4 As a whole, cluttered and complex churches are not alive. (Thom Ranier) 

#5 Growing people grow people; consuming people consume programs. (Church Unique)

#6 Strategy as assimilation should not be confused with spiritual formation; one is about getting individuals into the body of Christ, the other is about getting the life of Christ into the individual.

#7 Strategy connects programs and events vertically with the mission and horizontally with one another. (adapted from Bill Donahue)

#8 The fewer specials you have the more you sell. (An executive chef  said this in an Auxano Vision Pathway, talking about church strategy.) 

#9 Churches need strategy because mission and values alone are not enough to remove competing pictures of the church’s future. (Church Unique)

#10 The two biggest reasons people don’t get more involved are 1) they don’t know how and 2) nobody invited them. (Auxano survey work)

Related posts:

1. Simple Strategy: Stop Creating Decision Paralysis for Discipleship
2. Guiding Principles and Yogi Church
3. Church Unique “Unconference”