Innovative Church Community

For those who missed or want to review our ICC session with Gary Combs from January 2012: http://vimeo.com/35110543

Pastor Steve Davis of Spout Springs Church has a brand new ebook out on Amazon.  Transform(180) is a devotional ebook we are all bound to love (despite the fact that many of us know the author!).  Click here to purchase your Kindle version on Amazon. Be reminded, Kindle Readers work on almost all computers, smart phones and tablets.

Here is the Amazon product description:

“This is not your typical warm, fuzzy devotional book. Filled with cutting-edge analogies and real-life applications, Transform(180) contains 180 daily readings designed to redirect your spiritual journey and reignite your passion for God.

And with titles like Cranked to Eleven, Faith and Stupidity, Arrogant Butterflies, and The Buffalo Chicken Prayer, you’re sure to have quite a few laughs along the way.”

In light of today’s session with Bob Felts on the topic of Leadership and Sex, this list of accountability questions seems appropriate.  These are taken from Gene Getz’s book “Elders and Leaders.”  Every man, especially a leader in the church, needs an accountability partner or group.  Often, when starting an accountability group or relationship, we don’t know exactly how to get going.  This list of questions would be a great place to start.

Accountability Questions:

1.    How often did you meet with God this week?

2.    What has God been saying to you through His Word this week?

3.    What sins in your personal or business life did you experience this week that need confession?

4.    Are you giving to the Lord’s work regularly and proportionately as God has blessed you?  What percentage did you give last month?

5.    What movies did you see this past week?  Do you feel good about viewing these movies?  What about the Internet?  Would you be able to tell your fellow Christians in your church what you have seen without being embarrassed?

6.    How did you influence your marriage and family this week?  How positively?  How negatively?  What could you do to improve?

7.    Did you pray for me/us this week?

8.    What challenges or struggles are weighing on your mind?

9.    What lives did you influence for Christ this week?

10. Did you just lie to me?

Gene Getz

Elders and Leaders, Moody, 2003, p. 274-275.

Want to affair proof your marriage and ministry? Click out this article from Ron Edmondson:

http://bit.ly/t0wguK

Based on the topic of our upcoming ICC Learning Community in December, I thought a link to this article that just came to my inbox might be appropriate:

Why a Healthy Sex Life Makes You A Better Leader

Do you know the real, underlying values at your church?

If you attended our last ICC session in Burlington, you heard Angie Ward of The Leadership Lab talk about her doctoral work on the topic of Church Organizational Culture (COC for short). COC is the system of shared beliefs, assumptions and operational values that impact how your church approaches leadership, its mission, and relationships. Angie’s research has resulted in the development of the Church Organizational Culture Survey to measure these values.

You have the opportunity for your church to participate in the next round of pilot testing of this online COC Survey this fall. By participating in the survey, you will gain valuable information about your church’s culture to help you move toward greater ministry effectiveness. Best of all, participation in this phase of the survey is FREE and includes a free phone consultation to help interpret your church’s results and possible next steps.

If you are interested in your church participating, please email Angie at angie@theleadershiplab.net BY NEXT FRIDAY, September 30, to receive a Participant Kit with more information. We hope you will consider taking advantage of this unique opportunity!

Chances are, you have a church website.  And, I presume, you want people who are searching for a new church home to find your church website if they do a search online.  So what happens when someone in your community is searching for churches in your area?  Does your church website show up?  Or is it buried 10+ pages deep on the search engine?  If you want to maximize the number of people who discover your church website, you need to learn and apply a few principles of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

So here’s Step 1. Go to one of the main search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.) and do a search for churches in your area using keywords you think someone would use to search for a church.  For instance, I use the search terms “morrisville nc churches” or “churches morrisville nc.”  Scroll through the results and find your church.  Are you the first church listed on page one of the search?  Are you on page two? Page three?  If you’re not #1 on page 1, then you have potential to improve your SEO.  (Before we go any further, just know that there are no guarantees with SEO.  But in my humble estimation, you should be able to at least get your church website to front page of a search.) Read the rest of this entry →

On August 8th, the ICC gathered at Wilson Community Church in Wilson, NC.  Pastor Gary Combs led the session he titled, “Learnings From My Top Ten Leadership Mistakes.”  Pastor Gary shared with transparency as he uncovered how he and WCC grew as church through some of his leadership mistakes in 19 years as a church plant in Wilson.

Here’s the list of mistakes Gary took us through:

1.    Attempting to do too much myself.
Give your job away. Keep only what only you can do.
2.    Putting the target ahead of the team
Make building a team your first target.
3.    Failure to communicate adequately.
Communicate until everyone involved knows what is going on.
4.    Promoting competence over character.
Make sure you test a person’s “4 C’s” first before promotion/hiring.
i.    Character
ii.    Commitment
iii.    Chemistry
iv.    Competence
5.    Failure to recognize my role as chief fundraiser.
Don’t be afraid to share the vision and make the “big ask.” Read the rest of this entry →

For those of you who were a part of our March ICC Learning Community, here are the leadership style descriptions Bud referenced in his session:

Telling (Directive)
When a task is hard, and those performing it are inexperienced or have low commitment or maturity levels, it is necessary to give instructions as to how the task should be done. This instructing style implies a high orientation toward the task, and low orientation toward the person.

Selling (Coaching)
When a task is difficult, and the skill level of the individual is relatively low, for whatever reason. Perhaps they inexperienced, and they are just not capable. However, they are willing – maybe even excited – about contributing. They will need some support and recognition to build their confidence in themselves, and hopefully their abilities will follow. They will also, obviously, need relatively close instruction regarding particulars of performing the task, to help them overcome deficiencies in that realm.

Note: People who consistently fall short in task accomplishment, even if they are the most committed folks in the organization, need to be moved to another position of functional responsibility, in which their level task accomplishment can be maximized. If such a position does not exist in the organization, then there may need to be a separation from the organization.

Participating (Supporting)
This is a tough place to be. The individual’s competence in performing the tasks is adequate – maybe even more than adequate, but their willingness and commitment may be problematic. Perhaps there are attitudinal issues that exist. Maybe they just have significant issues with self-confidence. The leader needs to help the person overcome problems that lead to this situation, and at the same time needs to place the individual in positions where problems with attitude, commitment, etc. don’t adversely affect others in the organization.

Delegating (observing)
There is high competence and commitment as it relates to the individual. The individual is able and willing to work on a project by themselves with little supervision or support. Occasional monitoring allows the leader to stay aware of what is going on with the individual, and through such monitoring can know and understand how to best enable the individual, primarily through resourcing and clearing out obstacles to success.

Begining in March 2011, The Innovative Church Community is modifying its current structure from Regional to Super-Regional events.  While some of the Regional communities will continue to meet, the focus of the ICC will shift to larger Super-Regional events that will be hosted monthly in varying regional locations.  The first Super-Regional on March 14 will be held at Integrity Community Church in Burlington.

This shift in format is a logical next step in the development of ICC as an leadership community. Dating back to its inception in 2001, the Innovative Church Community was birthed in Burlington, NC as a small group of pastors whose common denominator was a desire to expand God’s kingdom through innovative approaches to ministry.  Almost naturally, the community grew as other NC pastors caught the vision for reshaping their own personal leadership and church structure for maximizing kingdom growth.  Purpose Driven principles served as a rallying point and a launch pad for innovative practices.  The ICC met monthly at Integrity Community Church in Burlington as 40-50 pastors and church leaders traveled across the state to sharpen their ministry skills. Read the rest of this entry →