Top 10 Lessons from 2011 - Part 1

It's the start of a New Year, so everyone will have their Top 10 Year-In-Review lists. This one just happens to be mine. 2011 was a year of learning some great lessons both personally and in ministry for me. Here's the first half of the list:

BILL'S TOP 10 LESSONS LEARNED IN 2011

10. - Learn from the Pony Express: If you have to choose, choose the ponies over the mail. No ponies, no mail. I heard this idea from Pastor Larry Osborn at North Coast Church over a year ago, but this past year, the more I worked to implement this principle, the better it worked. You don't get very far with exhausted people on your team, so working to take care of the folks who 'carry the mail' has to be a priority for a leader. It makes people feel loved to know you are as concerned for them personally as you are interested in their productivity. Take care of your horses, or you'll be delivering the mail by yourself.

9. - From the hymnal: Trust and Obey, for there's no other way... Trusting God and obeying His call and prompting is the only way to lead in His church. Listening to His word and doing what it says, conditioning yourself to hear His voice, and leaning into the courage it takes to follow when it's difficult or when it's new and 'we've never done it that way before' is pressing in, these are keys to leading into the future and not living in the rear view mirror.

8. - "There's no substitute for TIME." (Pastor Roy font). This quote is from Roy Conover, one of our pastors here at LifePoint Church, and it comes up so often I had to include it. Growth takes time. Change takes time. Learning takes time. Trust takes time. Health takes time. Culture shift takes time. You can take some steps to move them each along, but in the end, time will always be a factor. You don't get to microwave people into their next level of maturity, it will always take some time.

7. - People will rise to the challenge if you are honest about the challenge. All this past year, as we've been working to grow in our missional side of the ministry here at LifePoint, there have been moments when people were concerned that people weren't going to get on board with serving in the community, or giving beyond themselves to see others impacted. But each time, as we've clearly explained the reason why we were moving in that direction, the steps we were going to take, and the hoped for impact those steps would bring, we got great buy in and cooperation. Our Project 40/40 was a huge example. We hoped we could get our 40 small groups to each do one project to serve in the community during the 40 days leading up to Easter. Some folks were nervous that we wouldn't hit our goals (no harm in that, they were just sharing their honest feedback). We never said it would be easy, and we never promised success. And when it was all over, we didn't hit our goals... we EXCEEDED THEM!! People stepped up to the challenge, groups served like crazy all over the Carson Valley and beyond, and (total bonus) NEW GROUPS WERE FORMED!! Don't back down from a challenge, help people step up to it by being honest and clear about the challenge.

More learnings to come, including two learned the hard way...

Out Of Context

After a week of stay-cation (and a great celebration of Thanksgiving, coming from my heart full of gratitude for ALL God has done in my life), I got to go to another church last weekend. Pastor Roy Conover was teaching at LifePoint Church, I was on vacation, so I went down the road to another church in the valley to see what was going on there. Saw some cool stuff, heard a message on praising and giving thanks to God, and went home encouraged. God is doing good work in churches in the Carson Valley.

Now, as I write this, I'm in a hotel room in Minneapolis, MN, waiting to meet with Pastor Leith Anderson of Wooddale Church. I'm here with some other leaders from Growing Healthy Churches, a network of folks committed to seeing the message of Jesus spread across our region, our nation and our world. There were seven of us at dinner tonight from very different churches in very different situations and cultures, including one from Napa, CA, and one from Charlotte, NC.

What I love about these types of experiences is how great it is to get out of my own context and see what God is up to in other places. I learn boatloads from pastors in different places, doing different types and styles of ministry. I learn from seeing the place where it happens and, whenever I can, experiencing worship with a church family that is not mine, just to see how they bring their worship to God. Those kinds of "out of context" experiences teach me lots of lessons: I get to see what is going right in other churches, and what answers other wise folks have gotten to the questions of how to love like Jesus in their community. I also get a fresh perspective on my own church family, what we're doing really right and what needs work. If I never go anywhere or experience another church doing the ministry God gave them to do, then I miss out on all that God can teach me in another context.

So if you're out of town on a weekend, let me encourage you to stop in an experience another church family. When we at LifePoint Church do our Thank You Weekend on December 25 and 26, take advantage of that Sunday to go explore what other churches are doing. Don't miss the chance to learn something new, or get a fresh perspective on what God is doing back home in your church. It won't matter if the experience is great or awful, exciting or boring; in the experience, God will have an opportunity to show you something. Take Him up on the offer!

I'll tell you what I learned from this trip later this week. (yep, I'm getting back in the blog habit...)