Here's some of what we concluded:
- While our role as ministers is to help people walk by faith in the immovable promises of God, there are key expressions of that. One way - to own the "Home Depot effect". We must design retreats and missions trips with equipping as a goal. Like a big box home improvement store we have the opportunity to supply people with the tools and the "know how" to do this themselves all year long. Take the Family Life's Weekend to Remember - good theology, helpful tools, and a whole bunch of reminders wrapped up in one weekend (quite memorable). They equip you to live this out all year long.
- Why? Because we don't want our men to here all the time! The Weekend to Remember would become the Weekend from Hades if we went every weekend! We would have no time to build relationships, share Christ, mow the lawn or see our kids. Our men need time to live as Family, Missionaries, Servants and Learners; the way Jesus want's them to be.
- We cannot tackle every topic that people wish we would. We must take aim like a sniper and target specifically. Let's do a few things and do them well.
- The butcher? To do a few things and do them well we're gonna have to kill a few sacred cows and make hamburger out of 'em, then invite in our neighbors and throw a party.
- We also need a few guys who understand how to initiate; living by "commanders intent". Commanders intent provides clear "direction, that inspires action yet without being overly perscriptive" - allowing men to innovate and create, while keeping them from going off mission or becoming insubordinate. Here's a page that explains even more...
The men's ministry at WBC needs for us to champion these non-earth shattering ideas. These are not new, they are simlpy what we remind each other that we must do. And that's what the deck's all about.
6 comments:
Glad to see you're finally going to contribute something to (blog)society! I'm seriously bummed that I didn't get to hang with you guys on the back porch. Next time!
So...the 'Home Depot Driven Church' sounds like a best seller. '40 Days' of Home Depot.' Nice.
This is good. I like the comparison of how the weekend to remember would become the weekend from sheol, because of the inundation of very practical info. It would be too much too often if all of our weekly gatherings were like that.
I completely agree that one of the biggest weaknesses is failure to initiate. What are some key ways that we can equip men to become better initiators?
Thanks for your friendship and feedback, Josh. We missed you and dear Watson, but we will anticipate the next time.
When it comes to initiation, it seems to be a two way street. I feel that we need to communicate clearly enough so that others know where we are going - what we are trying to accomplish. Why? Because most people do not want to rock the boat, they want to row with the team. If we don't communicate in a clear, inspiring, yet liberating way they will probably not risk for fear of frustrating us.
For their part, I think we need to encourage innovation and reward it. Then we need to take our hands off some tasks - no one likes to have someone rush in and "fix" their mistakes. We can help people work through a mental framework to initiate: "here are the steps I go through when I plan a..." We should also be quick to identify those who can handle a project like this and then challenge them to take it on. And should we not hold them accountable? A coach helps his team to do what they've always wanted to do, but would not if he weren't there. That's a few things I think would work well.
Just some quick thoughts:
- Lowe's has a much better selection than Home Depot. If you want to think big, go with a "Lowe's Effect"
- Initiators & CI. Good stuff, but some initiatives will require multiple people/skills in order to accomplish them. Building that team may be problematic; maintaining that team and a common "passion" for the goal may become disheartening.
That's just an observation, which is not intended to be a discouragement.
Side thought: accountability must be established right up front, but that should already be inline with any well thought out initiative.
Two things.
First, "I think we need to encourage innovation and reward it." Exactly! By "encourage", I think you mean "spur on, motivate, light a fire underneath 'em, etc" right? Yet without guilt. Persuasion, but not manipulation.
Second, "accountability must be established right up front." Absolutely. This has to be a key result area in every leadership position. I think the more clearly we explain the goal and the expectations the more we will be able to plug the right people into the right position. This sets the stage and gives permission for us to consistently coach both in times of success and failure. So we'll be able to pat 'em on the back and kick 'em in the butt when needed.
David, have to admit that I did consider Lowes - I like your adaptation.
Re. the CI side of things - on those tasks that require multiple people/skills (since so much of ministry flows in that stream), is there a process of thought or action that you would recommend? It is exactly those situations that I am trying to think through. For us, it hits our men's ministry. There are more people than one person can minister to and more opportunities than one should do. I guess when I think of the CI, I assume that we have men who are passionate - one about service, another about bringing us together as family, those who focus on learning or mentoring. Another example would be small group leaders - how do we let them lead, but not have them marching in different directions? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Mark, speculating that communication will be the key element. Let's take a generic business organization:
President > Vice-Presidents > Managers > Supervisors > Workers
The drive of the organization flows from the president down into the various branches of the tree. Through each branch, that drive is further refined. To keep the refinement from getting distorted, there has to be regular communication both down and up the chain. To keep life "sane", that communication flow needs to stay in the pre-defined path, and end-arounds in either direction should be discouraged even if there might be a valid reason for it. I don't think people can grow into their roles otherwise.
To expand all of that into the Small Group ministry, I would assume that you (as the Pastor for Teaching and Equipping) or a designated Elder would provide the initial CI to the small group leaders, and then they follow-up with each other and you (or the appointed Elder) on a regular basis. This communication should help everyone stay on track and should also serve as encouragement for everyone involved.
All right, I feel like I'm just rambling on now. Let me tie this up.
Regular communication - takes time, coordination, and possibly innovention - shouldn't be as much of an issue if passion is involved.
Post a Comment