This week has been interesting. I have a friend that has decided to take a break from church staff to spend more time with her family. And as I was listening to Andy Stanley's message from Catalyst and thinking about the idea of cheating on my family (not with another family, but with work), I just felt convicted. And I don't think I am cheating my family right now...although I certainly have in the past at times. But here is what I concluded: My perception of cheating on my family may be different than my families perception. And my families perception is the one that matters.
It is easy for me to rationally look at my work-life and believe that my family is a priority, but that is far less important that what my family perceives. I was so convicted about this yesterday and I made Chantel look me directly in the eyes and asked her one simple question, "Do you feel that my work-life, or anything else in my life, is taking precedent over you and our family?" That is a scary question to ask, and with it comes a potentially scary answer.
How many others need to ask this same question? I have NEVER met a person at the end of their life who just wished they had spent more time in the office, on the road, or at their job. Doesn't happen. I have, though, met many, many people (especially men) that wish they had spent more time with their family. My hope is that I will not be one of those guys, and that I will not only try to keep my family a higher priority than work, but that I will continually check in with my family to be sure they believe I am holding up my end of the bargain.
Gavin Adams, Lead Pastor, Watermarke Church
Friday, February 27, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
I have an addiction...
I have an addiction. Actually, I have several addictions. I am addicted to my kids and my wife...which is a good thing. I realized that recently when they were gone for a day. You think as a married guy with four kids that living the life of a bachelor for a few days sound great, but after a few hours, I want them back. I'm addicted.
I am also addicted to Chick-fil-A. I do a lot of work with these guys, and I have been around them since I was 7 years old. And I swear that they put something in that season coater that is addicting. When I worked in a store as a teenager I ate my weight in nuggets during break and actually started to get tired of chicken, but I think that was really the beginning of the addiction. I'm not even going to start in on sweet tea.
And as a leader, I am also addicted to progress. I cannot help myself. Of course, this is a great addiction for leaders, but like all addictions, I am learning there is a clear downside. Being addicted to progress cause me to:
- Be impatient. When I see something that needs to be fixed or tweaked or completely overhauled, I am ready to do it YESTERDAY. And that is not always the best option. Change takes time, and people take time. Patience is really a virtue as a leader. Indecisiveness is not good, but patiences is absoultely necessary.
- Ignor people. Not like I don't see them and I run them over, but I guess I do have a tendancy to figuratively run them over. People love leaders that take the time to care and invest in them. I know I do. But being addicted to progress can cause you to ignor the people implications of change. Of course, what't the point of progress if there aren't any people around to celebrate success?
- Get frustrated. Progress takes time (see impatient). And inevitablly, with positive steps come some backward steps. Rarely does progress occur in a vaccuum without obsticals and issues that cause backwards steps. And for those addicted to progress, anything that looks backwards is really frustrating.
- Get too far ahead of staff. My addiction to progress causes me to move too fast and expect too much. Our followers want to see where we are going, but I thnk they want to walk with us, not watch us crest the horizon without them.
- Not celebrate success. Wow, this is a big one for me. I love progress, but when we win and succeed in something, my addiction causes me to put it behind me and start looking to what is next. We need to remember to stop and enjoy success...and maybe smell some roses or something.
Loving progress has the potential to make great leaders, but it also has the potential to run over all of our followers. Tomorrow, I am going to just relax and enjoy what God has done...and do so while eating a Chick-fil-A sandwich with buffalo and ranch sause, large tea half sweet/half unsweet with light ice. One addiction to moderate at a time.
I am also addicted to Chick-fil-A. I do a lot of work with these guys, and I have been around them since I was 7 years old. And I swear that they put something in that season coater that is addicting. When I worked in a store as a teenager I ate my weight in nuggets during break and actually started to get tired of chicken, but I think that was really the beginning of the addiction. I'm not even going to start in on sweet tea.
And as a leader, I am also addicted to progress. I cannot help myself. Of course, this is a great addiction for leaders, but like all addictions, I am learning there is a clear downside. Being addicted to progress cause me to:
- Be impatient. When I see something that needs to be fixed or tweaked or completely overhauled, I am ready to do it YESTERDAY. And that is not always the best option. Change takes time, and people take time. Patience is really a virtue as a leader. Indecisiveness is not good, but patiences is absoultely necessary.
- Ignor people. Not like I don't see them and I run them over, but I guess I do have a tendancy to figuratively run them over. People love leaders that take the time to care and invest in them. I know I do. But being addicted to progress can cause you to ignor the people implications of change. Of course, what't the point of progress if there aren't any people around to celebrate success?
- Get frustrated. Progress takes time (see impatient). And inevitablly, with positive steps come some backward steps. Rarely does progress occur in a vaccuum without obsticals and issues that cause backwards steps. And for those addicted to progress, anything that looks backwards is really frustrating.
- Get too far ahead of staff. My addiction to progress causes me to move too fast and expect too much. Our followers want to see where we are going, but I thnk they want to walk with us, not watch us crest the horizon without them.
- Not celebrate success. Wow, this is a big one for me. I love progress, but when we win and succeed in something, my addiction causes me to put it behind me and start looking to what is next. We need to remember to stop and enjoy success...and maybe smell some roses or something.
Loving progress has the potential to make great leaders, but it also has the potential to run over all of our followers. Tomorrow, I am going to just relax and enjoy what God has done...and do so while eating a Chick-fil-A sandwich with buffalo and ranch sause, large tea half sweet/half unsweet with light ice. One addiction to moderate at a time.
Friday, February 13, 2009
How serious are you about the lost?
Just like we can always gauge our personal priorities by looking at our calendar and our checkbook, I think a church can gauge its priorities based on their programming. Now, this is a little tricky, because most churches could look at their programming and say they prioritize EVERYTHING, because they are trying to provide programming for everything. But if we, as the church, are truly concerned about the lost and those NOT sitting in our auditoriums on Sunday morning, would an outsider look at your church's programming and believe we are focused on the lost?
My experience in previous church models tell me that while we all claim to be concerned about the lost, we program for the found. We may claim that most of our programs are not just for insiders, but come on...would any person far from God feel comfortable coming to your men's prayer breakfast, your women's Beth Moore study, etc. What about your weekend services? Are they really attractive and friendly to outsiders? How do you know?
At the church I lead, we are launching a new environment (we don't call them programs, because we are anti-programs and for steps in our process) called Starting Point. As a partner of North Point Community Church, we have the luxury of learning from others and implementing environments that are helpful. Staring Point is a 10-week conversational environment that is meant for people that have questions about Christianity, are new beleivers, or are coming back to church. North Point has been running Starting Point for quite some time and it provides a wonderful environment (you can call it a program) for people that are far from God.
So, what are you offering people that have questions? And please don't answer with anything that involves the word "membership class." What percentage of your programs are really for insiders? That may be a scary ratio to calculate, huh?
Gavin Adams, Lead Pastor, Watermarke Church
My experience in previous church models tell me that while we all claim to be concerned about the lost, we program for the found. We may claim that most of our programs are not just for insiders, but come on...would any person far from God feel comfortable coming to your men's prayer breakfast, your women's Beth Moore study, etc. What about your weekend services? Are they really attractive and friendly to outsiders? How do you know?
At the church I lead, we are launching a new environment (we don't call them programs, because we are anti-programs and for steps in our process) called Starting Point. As a partner of North Point Community Church, we have the luxury of learning from others and implementing environments that are helpful. Staring Point is a 10-week conversational environment that is meant for people that have questions about Christianity, are new beleivers, or are coming back to church. North Point has been running Starting Point for quite some time and it provides a wonderful environment (you can call it a program) for people that are far from God.
So, what are you offering people that have questions? And please don't answer with anything that involves the word "membership class." What percentage of your programs are really for insiders? That may be a scary ratio to calculate, huh?
Gavin Adams, Lead Pastor, Watermarke Church
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Why Does Church Hate Change?
I followed a link on YouTube today. That is a way to start a story that could go in many different directions, right? The link led me to a video of a pastor preaching to his congregation. The video was only shot from the side, so it was really hard to see much, but is seemed pretty obvious that his congregation would fit in my living room. That is not a slam, but it is part of the story.
As this guy in his three-peice suite began to speak, it became clear why there were 10 people listening. For over 20 minutes, this guy ranted and raved about a family member that attended a church in another town. Based on the pastor's message, this church seemed to be overtly satanic. For 20 minutes, this pastor bashed this church. Raked it over the coals in every direction (kinda like I feel I am on the verge of doing to this pastor).
The funny thing is (among many), the church in question is changing lives all over the place. People are being led to Christ in big numbers. God is using their staff and leadership to change people big time. But they are not traditional in any way, they don't look too religious, and they seem to actually enjoy being at church (imagine that).
My question is simple: why does the church hate change and progress? I know that nobody like change, but the church seems to just be completely opposed to change. I am not old enough to know, but I bet when the first organ was brought into a church service, the Christians in attendance freaked out, too. As a leader, I hope I never see the future, our culture, or what is next as a threat. More than that, I hope that I can always look at what others are doing or experimenting with and learn from them, not throw them under the proverbial bus.
One of Satan's greatest successes has to be how he has created such an insider focus in our churches. How he has led believers and church leaders to become so ridiculously focused on our own kind that we pay absolutely NO attention to those around us that are far from God. In fact, it is worse than that. Not only do we ignore and alienate the lost, we actually create an environment that makes it extremely difficult for them to meet Jesus Christ. And before we know it, we are preaching to a living room full of people...
Let's not be this way any longer...and let's do all we can to push everyone we know to be a more accurate representative of our Lord and Savior...cool music or not.
Gavin Adams, Lead Pastor, Watermarke Church
As this guy in his three-peice suite began to speak, it became clear why there were 10 people listening. For over 20 minutes, this guy ranted and raved about a family member that attended a church in another town. Based on the pastor's message, this church seemed to be overtly satanic. For 20 minutes, this pastor bashed this church. Raked it over the coals in every direction (kinda like I feel I am on the verge of doing to this pastor).
The funny thing is (among many), the church in question is changing lives all over the place. People are being led to Christ in big numbers. God is using their staff and leadership to change people big time. But they are not traditional in any way, they don't look too religious, and they seem to actually enjoy being at church (imagine that).
My question is simple: why does the church hate change and progress? I know that nobody like change, but the church seems to just be completely opposed to change. I am not old enough to know, but I bet when the first organ was brought into a church service, the Christians in attendance freaked out, too. As a leader, I hope I never see the future, our culture, or what is next as a threat. More than that, I hope that I can always look at what others are doing or experimenting with and learn from them, not throw them under the proverbial bus.
One of Satan's greatest successes has to be how he has created such an insider focus in our churches. How he has led believers and church leaders to become so ridiculously focused on our own kind that we pay absolutely NO attention to those around us that are far from God. In fact, it is worse than that. Not only do we ignore and alienate the lost, we actually create an environment that makes it extremely difficult for them to meet Jesus Christ. And before we know it, we are preaching to a living room full of people...
Let's not be this way any longer...and let's do all we can to push everyone we know to be a more accurate representative of our Lord and Savior...cool music or not.
Gavin Adams, Lead Pastor, Watermarke Church
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
When you have IT, you know IT
I recently read the book IT, by Craig Groeschel. I absolutely loved it, so much in fact, that we are now reading IT as a staff. Not to mention that every time I type the word "it," I am tempted to capitalize IT or put "it" in quotes. But that is a side note.
Craig is an amazing leader and the Lead Pastor at Life Church, one of the most progressive and innovative churches in the world.
I bring this up for two reasons: 1. If you are a leader in a church, this is a must read, and 2. For maybe the first time since I began at Watermarke Church, we had it, IT, or "it."
It is very elusive, and it is hard to define what it is, and even harder to know how to keep it. But, like Craig states in his book, when you have it, you know it. And on Sunday, we had it.
For the next several days (or weeks or months, or maybe years), I am going to be thinking more about how we, as a Strategic Partner of North Point Ministries, can get and keep it. We are not your average church (for which I am very thankful). We are a video-based venue that is not an actual campus, which creates many new and uncharted challenges for me and our team.
Here is what I am wondering:
- How do you create personal connections through a video when the guy on video is not your real leader?
- How can we add more context to the video content?
- How does a smaller church without a full complement of environments succeed as a video venue?
I am sure some people have some answers. We are experimenting now with these concepts, too, and learning what to do and what not to do in the process. I am feeling there is more to come here...
Gavin Adams, Lead Pastor, Watermarke Church
Craig is an amazing leader and the Lead Pastor at Life Church, one of the most progressive and innovative churches in the world.
I bring this up for two reasons: 1. If you are a leader in a church, this is a must read, and 2. For maybe the first time since I began at Watermarke Church, we had it, IT, or "it."
It is very elusive, and it is hard to define what it is, and even harder to know how to keep it. But, like Craig states in his book, when you have it, you know it. And on Sunday, we had it.
For the next several days (or weeks or months, or maybe years), I am going to be thinking more about how we, as a Strategic Partner of North Point Ministries, can get and keep it. We are not your average church (for which I am very thankful). We are a video-based venue that is not an actual campus, which creates many new and uncharted challenges for me and our team.
Here is what I am wondering:
- How do you create personal connections through a video when the guy on video is not your real leader?
- How can we add more context to the video content?
- How does a smaller church without a full complement of environments succeed as a video venue?
I am sure some people have some answers. We are experimenting now with these concepts, too, and learning what to do and what not to do in the process. I am feeling there is more to come here...
Gavin Adams, Lead Pastor, Watermarke Church
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
What occupies your focus?
There is a place that I love. A place that had an incredible impact on my life. A place where I really first experienced God and watched God reach into others hearts. A place where I first sat with a person and led them through a prayer as they accepted God's gift of eternal life.
And now, that same place seems to have changed. The place that was so attractive to everybody and created such an amazing environment for God to do what only he can do is not the same. Now I know...everything changes. Nothing stays the same. And staying the same may be worse than changing, but the questions is HOW are we changing and to WHAT are we evolving?
This idea is extremely important to our church. As we evolve and change, I hope more than anything that we always are more preoccupied with those we can reach rather than focusing on those that we can keep. Not that I want to run the Christians off, but if we have to focus on ONLY one group, I hope we always lean towards those people not sitting in our seats on Sunday mornings. It just drives me nuts to see churches or other Christian organizations intentionally, or more often subconsciously, make decisions that revolved around making insiders happy at the expense of the outsider. And when this happens, the church can quickly become an insider focused organization, also making it an outsider irrelevant organization. I never want to lead or be associated with an organization that looks like that. That sounds like a Christian organization that is very unChristian.
I hope we never become irrelevant or incorrectly focused as a church. Who are the people not sitting at Watermarke on Sunday mornings...let's be sure we are focused on them, not us!
Gavin Adams
Lead Pastor
And now, that same place seems to have changed. The place that was so attractive to everybody and created such an amazing environment for God to do what only he can do is not the same. Now I know...everything changes. Nothing stays the same. And staying the same may be worse than changing, but the questions is HOW are we changing and to WHAT are we evolving?
This idea is extremely important to our church. As we evolve and change, I hope more than anything that we always are more preoccupied with those we can reach rather than focusing on those that we can keep. Not that I want to run the Christians off, but if we have to focus on ONLY one group, I hope we always lean towards those people not sitting in our seats on Sunday mornings. It just drives me nuts to see churches or other Christian organizations intentionally, or more often subconsciously, make decisions that revolved around making insiders happy at the expense of the outsider. And when this happens, the church can quickly become an insider focused organization, also making it an outsider irrelevant organization. I never want to lead or be associated with an organization that looks like that. That sounds like a Christian organization that is very unChristian.
I hope we never become irrelevant or incorrectly focused as a church. Who are the people not sitting at Watermarke on Sunday mornings...let's be sure we are focused on them, not us!
Gavin Adams
Lead Pastor
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
