Will Mancini

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.

The Sticky Teams Conference this year will be a great line-up in one-of-a-kind conference venue. Here’s what’s in store:

• Larry Osborne and Chris Mavity know how to create a culture of accessibility. The focus is on the exchange of seasoned wisdom where you can really hang out together.
• Sticky Teams is one of Larry’s best books. It sets the stage for  team-building content, that is concentrated like nowhere else.
• North Coast will be hosting at their new building which was thoughtfully designed after the venue/multi-site concept was refined. It is rare to find a facility investment of this scale built around venues. One of my favorite North Coast  mantra’s is “Leaders like it big, but people like it small.”
• I will be doing a Church Unique Workshop on Organic Vision to be followed up by a San Diego Vision co::Lab hosted by North Coast. I can’t wait!
• Register early and they are doing a “Three for Free” incentive
• The bottom line: No photocopied vision here, only great folks at a great venue wanting to serve you, your team and your vision well.
• Almost forgot- you won’t want to miss Chris Brown at Monday night’s after party. 

I initially read this post by Rhett Smith (Rhett fuses leadership and counseling insights) because he used a term that intrigued me when he said, “Leaders are only as ’successful’ as their level of differentiation.” Here are a few nuggets from the post, that I think connect directly to leading with clarity and vision. His post was sparked by the book, A Failure of Nerve, by  Edwin Friedman 

• Differentiation is simply ability to “stand on one’s own two feet”, rather than be emotionally fused, or enmeshed with others
• We are all susceptible to being fused with others, but pastoral leadership can have the inherent danger where pastors often get their sense-of-self from others (i.e. congregants, staff, etc.)

When a leader leads from a strong sense of self, and I would add with clear direction and calling from God, you can see effectiveness of leadership in the following contrasts:

• Concern for one’s personal growth rather than obsessed with technique
• Matures the system rather then bettering the immediate conditions
• Is fed up with the treadmill of trying harder rather than focused on the treadmill
• Seeks enduring change rather than eliminating surface-level annoyances
• Adapts toward strengths rather than adapting toward the weak
• Has a universal perspective rather than a reductionist perspective 

In addition to the obvious application to church leadership, these ideas help me appreciate the day of Memorial as an American citizen. We stand on the blessed ground of freedom, because of the perspective, strength, and enduring change provided by sacrifice of many who led without a failure of nerve. My gratitude is heightened by the exposure to the History Channel’s America: The Story of Us. I highly recommend it.

If you don’t yet subscribe to Auxano Insights, you may enjoy the snapshots of client stories and other stuff we share.

This link shares the story of Paul Fleming, the lead pastor of Westport Church in Portland, a church he planted four years ago. A recent transition in Paul’s calling has lead him to be more closely partnred with Auxnao. Paul will be leading some of our upcoming co::Labs this year as he spends more time coaching leaders and church planters.

Read about the core values of Paul’s church, the creative artistic expression of these values, and watch a video of how he leveraged a values-based culture in his transition OUT of lead pastor as the founding pastor of the church.

One of the greatest opportunities in helping people envision a better future is to ask them to draw pictures. One of the secrets of using pictures is that it unleashes a different part of the brain that leaders often DON’T use when planning or problem solving. The attributes of the right brain enable people to live in the conversation of possibilities in a non-threatening way. Imagine scenarios of looking at alternative ways to create, innovate, and structure. It’s always healthy, always helps teams think better, and is often the key to solving a problem or seeing a preferred state.

Several weeks ago I was working with about 30 leaders who were facing obstacles to better team synergy due to their distributed and loosely affiliated network. To use the left side of the brain only would have been extremely difficult. But when we used drawings we saw similar patterns in radically different ways. Each drawing produced new insight and perspective. Again the beauty is that no drawing is “right or wrong.” 

So how do you actually accomplish a meaningful drawing exercise? There are no formulas, but here are some design considerations. 

1) Have people divide into groups of 4-6 to work on common questions. Each group will produce their own unique pictures based on the exercise. 

2) Don’t be afraid to force the exercise with a time limit.  Groups need a time limitation to collaborate and “push” together. It’s common for me to have 20-45 minute time limits based on the complexity of the exercise.

3) Mix up competencies, perspectives and personalities as much as possible. If different functional teams are present, have them meet with colleagues from other departments.

4) Encourage creativity and provide different color markers. A little color goes a long way. 

5) Consider using a “blank slate” and a question. If you do this you need to give a very precise question to answer. For example,, “If we were start our organization all over again today, how might we structure differently in light of the new “glocal” ministry environment?” Or “Given the fact that 70% of the unchurched population around  us doesn’t even care about church, how might we best bring the gospel to them? 

6) Consider  starting with a half-drawn picture.  The part that you draw may be a larger  framework, some organizational non-negotiable  or some shared problem that can be represented as a partial picture. The exercise becomes the work of “completing the picture.” 

7) Keep it serious and fun. In my faith based work, prayer is an essential just before launching into the exercise. Ultimately we are trusting the power of the Holy Spirit to help us see God’s better future together.