Author Archives: CraigWhitney

Developing Leaders

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I am traveling for 10 days with John Burke in Finland, Russia and Estonia.  Today, I had an opportunity to meet with a small group of young adult ministry leaders in the Finnish Lutheran church to talk about developing leaders.  I shared two things with  them.
First is the recognition that most of our understanding of leaders is formed culturally, not Biblically.  I believe our best definition of Biblical leadership comes from Ephesians 4:11-13

Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers
for
perfecting of the saints
for
work of the ministry
for
edifying of the body of Christ

Thus, a leader equips God’s people to do more serving that results in more people following Jesus and becoming all God intended them to be.

Next is the need for a framework for developing these kind of leaders.  We are using the following model at ELI in developing church planters.

The order is important.  Being must come first.  Developing skills and knowledge in leaders who lack Christ like character will not multiply the kind of leaders the church needs.  In the same way, doing needs to be prioritized over knowing which means we need more training grounds for practice.  Knowledge is best provided just enough, just in time.  I have added the tools dimension to the familiar heart, hands, head metaphor to acknowledge that leaders in various roles need to to know how to use various tools.  The tools don’t make a leader, but they can help a leader be more effective.

What do you think?  What is your definition of Biblical leadership?  How are you developing those kind of leaders?

How do You Fund a New Church?

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There are a handful of questions most potential church planters ask.  Some are personal: “Is God really calling me to this?”  Some are very practical: “Where will the money come from?”

If you’re wrestling with that one, here are some options:

  1. You’re independently wealthy.  You wouldn’t be asking if you were, but some planters are.  If you are, good for you – now go put your money to work.
  2. You support yourself by working bi-vocationally.  Paul made tents.  Obviously that means you have less time for ministry, but it also means you don’t have the pressure to “grow fast so you can get paid.”
  3. You are supported by a denomination, network or parent church.  If someone is willing to pay you to start a church, you’ll have a huge burden lifted. Keep in mind that kind of support almost always comes with expectations. The expectations may be things you would do anyway.  They may be things you consider well worth doing in exchange for the support – just make sure you know what the expectations are, and that you are willing to work towards them.
  4. You are supported by others outside your church plant.  This is the American “missionary” way.  It works. You need a network of relationships, a clear and compelling vision and a willingness to ask everyone in that network to support you.  If you’re not willing, that may be an indicator of some things that are going to stand in your way in the future.  If you don’t already have the network, building the network is very difficult and time-consuming, and asking strangers for money is doubly hard.
  5. Your are supported by others inside your church plant.  You need people to go with you on this mission.  If they aren’t willing to put their money in it, they aren’t on mission.  Theoretically 10 tithing families can support a pastor at the average income of the group.  Question is, even if you have the 10 families, do you want all their giving to go to pay you?

Each option has its pros and cons.  Practically speaking, it will make a huge difference simply to figure out which one, or which combination, of these options you’re going after – and then go after it.  If you’re going to be bi-vocational, start preparing for that now.  If you’re raising funds, start building your network.  If you’re going to depend on a team, start gathering them.  Most of the funding fiascoes I’ve observed grow out of lack of clarity.  A planter hopes they are getting denominational support, so they don’t fund raise, then when the denomination’s money doesn’t come, they are left in the lurch.  A planter hopes to raise outside support, but doesn’t start raising the money soon enough and then realizes it’s harder than they thought.  Money should never be a hindrance to the work of God.  Get clear on your funding and get going.

This post was also published at elichurchplanting.com

Are you connected?

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I’ll be honest, I remember dialing a telephone to to talk to my friends.  I graduated from high school before Brad Keselowski was born.  If you don’t know who that is, he is a Nascar driver who put his phone in his car during the Daytona 500 and gained over 50,000 twitter followers during an hour+ red flag.

It’s a whole new world, are you connected?

Missional Leader Training w/John Burke (pt. 2)

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Live blogging a training event with John Burke for leaders of Hill Country Bible Church and Gateway Community Church.

09.56

How does someone come to Christ today and BECOME the church?

  • One Jesus-like person who listens, serves, loves, shares faith
  • A tribe of Christians they feel they can belong to (4-5 friends)
  • “Come as you are” learning space (6-18 months)

 

10.37

How does the church grow up out of the culture?

10.42

Questions for Missional Living:

  • How can we empower our church to create relational momentum with those outside the church?
  • How can we organize and empower the whole body to serve their neighbors (even with their neighbors)?
  • Where can non-Christians come for 6-18 months and learn the essentials of following Christ?

 

10.59

The great commission wasn’t given to pastors, it was given to every Christ follower.  Everyone can develop someone and everyone has a ministry.

Missional Leader Training w/John Burke (pt. 1)

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I am in Austin todany attending a training event for leaders of Hill Country Bible Church and Gateway Community Church.  I will be live blogging my notes below.

08.20

Tim Hawks – “If we had to see Jesus in order to know what God is really like, don’t others need to see Jesus in us to know what God is really like?”

08.35

The Postmodern experiment – a generation deciding to live out the philosophy “if it feels good, do it” – created 5 barriers to faith:

* Trust
* Tolerance
* Truth
* Aloneness
* Brokenness

08.43

Tolerance is a cheap substitute for grace.  Tolerance accepts you as you are, but leaves you that way.  Grace loves you you as you are, but wants you to become all God intended you to be.

08.54

Nothing about the Postmodern experiment was free and the this generation is paying for it.
Average Person under 45:

  • 1 out of 3 women have had an abortion
  • 1 out of 4 women have been sexually molested
  • 1 out of 2 people will have lived together before marriage
  • 1 out of 5 people  will struggle with substance abuse.
  • 1 out of 5 people smoke
  • 1 out of 2 marriages fail.

If this messiness is not showing up in your small group or network, what does that mean?

  1. You’re not engaging the world around you.
  2. You’re not creating a safe environment.
  3. You’re not doing what Jesus did.

 

08.59

Is there such a thing as a church full of mature Christ follower who are not seeking and saving those who are lost?

09.05

Is there such a thing as a church full of mature Christ follower who are not seeking and saving those who are lost?  Knowing the bible is important, living it is more important
John 4:32-36 “My food comes from doing the will of God.”
The way we will know we are on mission with Jesus is when alone and broken people are joining us and coming to Jesus.

Texas, Football and Heroes

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I’m in Austin for a few days, so I found a high school nearby with a track I could run on.  I was reminded that football is more than a sport in Texas.  It’s mid february and there was a whole team of guys out there getting on their gear and warming up – hoping their hard work would someday make them heroes.  If touchdowns we’re all that mattered, the 6′ 2″ kid throwing frozen ropes in warm ups might have a shot.  While I was running a Dad walked over to the track from a nearby apartment with his two boys in tow.  They must have been about 4 and 6.  The did a lap around the track and then they all went and found the high jump pit.  Dad was running and doing awkward flips on the pads.  The boys were jumping all over dad.  They were all laughing and smiling.  It made me wonder if any of the football heroes in waiting even noticed that a real hero was already on the field.

Priorities

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About 15 years ago, I experienced a classic case of burnout.  I was trying to do too much and when I couldn’t do it all my solution was to try harder.  In my season of recovery, I discovered the value of living by priorities.  I wrote out six priorities that have remained largely unchanged since:

1. Be a man of God
2. Be a loving husband
3. Be an effective father
4. Be a faithful friend
5. Be a life-changing leader
6. Be a good steward

As 2012 begins, these priorities help me evaluate where I’ve been and where I’m going.

Do you have priorities? What are they? How are they shaping the person you’re becoming?

Vision is Your Signature Song

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Take yourself back to high school. Who was you favorite band?  Now, without thinking about it, what song came to mind? There’s a good chance it is that bands signature song.  For example:

  • Boston – More than a Feeling
  • Eagles – Hotel California
  • Journey – Don’t Stop Believin’
  • Bon Jovi – Livin’ on a Prayer

Besides knowing when I went to high school you’ve also learned something about leadership and vision.  If you’re a leader, vision is you’re signature song.  It’s the song everyone knows you by and the song everyone expects you to sing.

  • People curious about who you are and what you stand for may never get past the 30 second iTunes version – can you capture the heart in just 30 seconds.
  • Most people will know the radio version (yes, I remember radio too) – is it well produced and easily accessible to as many people as possible?
  • Then there will be a the true fans who take the time to download the extended version and add it to their favorite playlist.  – Have you given them something special to make it worth their time and money?

Don’t have a signature song?  If you want to lead, it’s time to write one.

Riding Up

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I bought a road bike last fall.  No carbon fiber frame, just a craigslist bargain.  It’s been good exercise and created great opportunities to ride with friends.  A few months back I was at a meeting with my friend Ken, an avid and more experience cyclist. His advice was simple, “If you want to get better, ride up.”  Made sense, so I thought I’d give it a try.  I found a local group on meetup.com and put the ride on my calendar.  When I went to the garage to load up I had a flat – by the time I got it fixed and drove to the meet up, the group had left.  There were other cyclists in the parking lot so I figured I’d ask around, maybe somebody else still wanted to ride.  I met Danny.  As he was getting ready, he was telling another cyclist about his recent knee surgery – the doctor had just given him permission to ride “easy.”  I’m thinking this may not be the workout I was hoping for, but at least I’ll get in a ride. As we headed out on the 30 mile route Danny began telling me about his double centuries, marathons and 9 IronMan Triathlons.  This wasn’t going to be easy – this was going to be the very epitome of riding up.  My legs, my lunges and my ego survived.  I rode the fastest 30 miles I’d ever done – by 20 minutes.  And, I learned more about cycling in 2 hours than I had in 6 months.  All of that, by simply following someone better than me for a couple of hours.  Ken was right.  If you want to get better, ride up.

Is there a skill you’ve been wanting to improve?  Find someone better than you and ask them if they will let you ride up.