Leadership Lessons I've Learned, Number 2

2. Improve Continuously

The term kaizen is a Japanese word adopted into English referring to a philosophy or practices focusing on continuous improvement in manufacturing activities, business activities in general, and even life in general, depending on interpretation and usage. As I studied business in graduate school and then went on to work in consulting, I sat in meetings...and more meetings...and more meetings specifically around kaizen - continuous improvement.

These meetings and discussions were taken very seriously in these business organizations, mostly because the outcome of these meetings represented profitability, shareholder value, etc. And then their was church.

As a church, we don't create profit (although we LOVE margin), and we don't have any shareholders to appease. But, as a church, I believe we are leading THE most important organization in the world. And in my past church experiences, I was always amazed as I watched smart people walk into Elder and Deacon meetings and check their brain at the door. That may be too harsh (or it may be exactly correct). During the day they are pouring through every little nuance of their business, squeezing out every drop of profit, and then they walk into a church meeting and NOBODY seems to care about progress or success. We argue about what we should wear to serve communion and what volume the music should be run at as to not create permanent hearing damage. Meanwhile, there are people all over our communities completely lost - far from God - just trying to make it by as sin, sorrow, and death seem to not have answers. And here we are, at the church, sitting in a meeting, worried about what color the chairs should be.

I decided long ago that when it came to church, I was going to do all I could to never be satisfied with status quo. To never be just serve in a "pretty good" church. To never be fine with just getting by. As a church, we want to be passionately committed to God's leading and His desire for the world through His church. And every time I study His word or hear from Him, I continue to see how passionate He is about reconnecting people back to Himself. So, as a church, that is what we do, and we evaluate how successful we are every week. And we constantly change for the purpose of getting better.

Now, to evaluate, you need measurable goals and objectives. I hate it when church leaders say that they just want to be Spirit led, and so counting or measuring or anything goal related goes against the Spirit. That is just not correct. We count not to brag, but to evaluate success and look at how we are trending as an organization. The question is not "should we count." The real question is "what should we count," and "what do we do with what we find out."

Here's what we count:
- Total people in service (to measure growth, because if you aren't growing, your not doing something right and we need to know if our people are bring others far from God to Watermarke).
- People in groups (to measure progress towards our win, as a percentage of total adults)
- Baptisms (to help gauge spiritual growth and steps in their relationship with Christ)
- Giving Units and Serving (are people engaging in our vision and mission)
- Gospel (How often do we present the best news ever given? How often do we create opportunities for people to respond to the message?)

Here's what we can't totally count, but in the end, it is the most important: Life Change. Every meeting we hold begins with stories of life change. Every meeting begins with sharing stories of real people and real change. That's the goal, so that's what we celebrate. We measure numbers, but we don't celebrate full auditoriums. We celebrate life change.

So, here's the question: How are you measuring success, and how are you improving continuously? Do you have a target/win for which to create metrics?

Gavin Adams
Lead Pastor, Watermarke Church

Leadership Lessons I've Learned, Number 1

1. Never stop learning or asking questions

Every leader knows that we should always learn and ask questions. Nothing new there. Let me give you another take on this thought...

My first week as Lead Pastor of Watermarke Church was a whirlwind of information, problem identification, and meetings. Actually, the entire week was just one long meeting with the staff and key leaders. It was mentally, physically, and spiritually exhausting. But these conversations proved invaluable.

And there was my first lesson. I thought I had a good understanding of SOME of the issues facing Watermarke. I decided to spend my first month just listening and learning. I didn't hold completely to that promise, though, as I did have to make some significant changes to our staff and budget in my first week, but I did do an awful lot of listening. In my first week, I spent at least two hours with each staff member listening and casting vision for the future. Secondly, I invited 30 - 40 key people from our church to sit down with me and I asked them each the same two questions: What do you love about Watermarke, and what has caused you the most frustration? Funny looking back, as each conversation started with "Do you REALLY want to hear everything?"

And let me tell you - I received some great information from some passionate people. What I heard was great, but really secondary. The most important part of these Q&A sessions was connecting with key leaders AND the identifying my first action steps. Specifically, this is where these meetings got me:
- I heard the same basic story, issues, etc., from each person. That was great confirmation of the issues at our church. And I let each person tell me the whole story. It was good for them to get it off their chest, and it was confirming for me to hear.
- I was able to identify some low hanging fruit that allowed me to create some quick success and build trust. Quick success created easy momentum. Huge for us as we began to reverse our attendance and giving trends. Trust in my leadership was even more important, especially when I needed to make some bigger asks over time. Faith and trust in leadership is important, and it is even more important during our leadership transition.
- I was able to cast vision over and over to people that walked away and regurgitated our conversations. More trust and more momentum. More people hearing my heart and catching the vision for Watermarke. Invaluable.

As I think back, I doubt we would be where we are today had I not spent this time asking these key questions. What a great start for me as a Lead Pastor, and what an incredible time of connecting, learning, and building for the changes that came next.

Gavin Adams
Lead Pastor, Watermarke Church

Leadership Lessons I've Learned, The Beginning

I have been compiling a list of things I've learned since taking the position of Lead Pastor at Watermarke Church. I am going to spend the next several weeks thinking and talking about each lesson right here. It has been such a great journey of discovery and learning, and I bet I have only learned a fraction of what I need to know. My hope is that I will continue to learn, and maybe even be able to help someone coming along behind me, too. There's certainly room for improvement.

To begin, the greatest lesson I have learned is simply this: I'm starting to know what I don't know. This is difficult to follow, but stay with me through this Abbott and Costello-ish routine. I have spent many years not knowing what I didn't know. If you don't know what you don't know, then you end up thinking you know more than you actually know. I am also sure there are still more things I don't know I don't know than not, but it has been so helpful for me as a Lead Pastor to identify those things I know I don't completely know or understand.

I have seen too many leaders in business and church fail to know what they don't know, and that is a deadly position to be in as a decision maker. When a leader fails to realize what they don't know, decisions too often are made based on bad assumptions and faulty information.

So, based on knowing what I don't know (or at least didn't completely know), below is a list of what I've learned thus far. Don't laugh at the length of my list...I've learned a lot. For me, the best part of this list is that it is incomplete, because I certainly haven't learned all that I don't know.

1. Never stop learning or asking questions
2. Improve Continuously
3. Develop People and Teams
4. Be Honest and Transparent
5. Decisions Need to be Made
6. Patience is a Virtue
7. Flexibility is a Necessity
8. Have Some Fun
9. Create a Vision Lens
10. Humility Wins
11. Communicate Well
12. Always Rely on God

I look forward to walking through this list. Somebody smarter than I should write a 12 chapter book from this list...

Gavin Adams
Lead Pastor, Watermarke Church

Bad Blogger

OK, so last night on Atlanta Live, Shelley called me out for not updating my blog enough. I think there are two kinds of bloggers out there...people that have something to say that is helpful, and people that love to be critical of everybody and everything. Well, there are probably more than just those two categories, but those seem to be the most prevalent.

I guess moving forward, I am going to try and be a better blogger. Or, let me say that, moving forward, I am going to try and write more about what we are doing at Watermarke and what I am learning as a leader.

Thanks for the call out, Shelley...

God, Me, and Patience - Part 2

As I thought about the idea of patience, I began digging into the concept of God's patience. What I noticed pretty quickly is that, when it comes to God, we are quick to focus on His grace, mercy, love, strength, but not really His patience. Why is that? Is God's patience even on the same playing field as His grace and mercy? Is God even patient?

Here is what I ultimately concluded. I believe God IS patient. He is ridiculously patient. But God's patience is not noticeable until we understand His grace and mercy. When we begin to grasp what we, as His creation, deserve for our behavior and sin, God's grace and mercy enter into a new perspective. In fact, God's patience is ultimately seen in His grace and mercy with us.

I know that if I created you and a world for you to exist and then watched my creation constantly deny me and ignore my love and provision for their own selfish ambition, the results would be pretty predictable. I would just head back to the drawing board and start over. "I brought you into my world, and I'll take you out," would be my mantra.

But instead of showing wrath, God chose to display grace and mercy. Mercy by not giving us what we deserve (eternal death and separation from Him). And grace by giving us a free gift that we in no way deserve (forgiveness through His Son, Jesus Christ, for all who believe). And God's grace and mercy is ultimately founded in His unbelievable patience. Jesus Christ is the results of God's patience. God's power is not best seen in His creation, but with His creation.

"God, thank you for your patience with me and your deep desire to be personally connected to me. Thank you for your mighty display of patience found in the innocent death and resurrection of your one and only Son, Jesus Christ. Thank you for displaying how truly powerful you are through your enduring patience with me. I love you, Heavenly Father."

Gavin Adams
Lead Pastor, Watermarke Church

God, Me, and Patience - Part 1

On Sunday, we spent some time looking at patience, and we announced that we were going to delay our move to American Heritage Academy for two reasons:

1. Funding - To make this move, we need to have $110,000 in disposable margin. To date, we have raised $60,000. And while we are so excited that we have make this progress, it is clear we hvae a ways to go.

2. Lease - After the financial terms were decided, some ancillary items came to the surface that will require some additional information to ensure we create a situation that provides stability and more permanence in our next location.

And as disappointing as this is for all of us, I am please to hear the feedback I have already received about our decision and our display of faith in and patience with God. Over the next few days and weeks, we will keep everyone at Watermarke updated on our progress (giving and lease), and continue to learn and grow in our patience with God's timing.

For today, here is the thought that I continue to come back to:
Isaiah 64:4; Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

God is extremely involved in what is happening daily at Watermarke Church, and we are going to continue to allow Him to stay involved through our patience with His timing.

If you missed the message, I highly encourage you to go to www.watermarkechurch.com and click "Message Archive" to listen. And please let me know how this idea of patience is being displayed in your life.

Gavin Adams
Lead Pastor, Watermarke Church

It Is Well With My Soul

So at the North Point DRIVE09 Conference this year, Todd Fields led worship for a set or two or three (I lost count, but it doesn't matter), and one song just immediately jumped out to me. I remember leaning down to one of my staff members saying, "This is a song that will be in our regular rotation soon..."

What I loved about this song is that it reminded me of where I am at right now, and it took me back in time to the church days of my youth. I remember holding a hymnal (some of you have never seen these books, I know), and there was always that guy behind me that would sing the chorus echo.
High - It is well,
Low echo - It is well,
High - With my soul,
Low echo With my soul...
I think at one point we may have sang it in the round. Nevertheless, when the crazy echo guy was at the lake instead of sitting behind me on a Sunday morning, I realized how unbelievably beautiful these lyrics really are.

And as Todd led us at DRIVE09 and as we sang it with all our hearts, I was overcome with the message behind these awesome lyrics:

Here is the chorus we sang:
It is well, It is well, Through the storm, I am held, It is well, It is well with my soul
It is well, It is well, God has won, Christ prevailed, It is well, It is well with my soul.

It's too fast and rock'n for any echo dudes, but man - this song freaking rocks. We are singing this for the first time at Watermarke on Sunday, and I am going to be backstage during this song preparing to come out for a welcome and announcement time, but I bet it will be tough, because there will be tears in my eyes as I reflect on what these lyrics mean to me. What they mean to all those I know. What they mean to everyone standing and worshipping along with us on Sunday. I'll be worshipping backstage through the blaring amps and insanely loud drum kit.

It is well with my soul, because I am held by my God and His Son has prevailed. Powerful message.

Gavin Adams
Lead Pastor, Watermarke Church