​Peter Drucker is credited with the statement, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. This statement is especially true when it relates to the church and how we approach disciple-making.  Many churches have what I call a weekend only culture.  This weekend only culture is when most of our energy and resources go into creating and sustaining a weekend service that attracts a large number of worshipers who mostly come merely to consume. 

I know this approach well.  I spent most of my early church planting efforts planting this kind of church.  As one of my buddies put it, “I think we planted a lot of weekend services, but I’m not sure we planted many churches”.  Mike Bream sums it up well when it says, “If you make disciples, you always get the church.  But if you make a church, you rarely get disciples”.

This may explain why no matter what program or strategy we import into your church we fail to get the disciple-making results we desire.  Is there any hope?
Absolutely!

One of our challenges is we often start with the wrong question, “How do we make more and better disciples?”   The better question is, “How do we transition a weekend only culture to a discipleship culture?”

The reality is we need to install a new disciple-making operational system.  This new operational system begins with an intentional process of reshaping our culture.  The process below represents a set of master tools developed by Will Mancini of Auxano.  These tools are the best in class for shaping your culture.  As a Lead Navigator with Auxano, I have spent the last five years mastering these tools and seeing some amazing discipleship results.  Let’s take a few moments to look at them through our disciple- making lens.

Rethink
We must begin by confronting the brutal facts.  Do we have a disciple-making culture?  Chances are you don’t, or you would know it.  Matter-of-fact welcome to the club. Very few churches actually have a disciple-making culture.  You may have some disciples, but are you really making more and better disciples?  Why not take our simple Disciple-Making Culture Assessment.  This tool will help you identify whether or not you have a disciple-making culture and where to begin your disciple-making journey.

Uncover
One of the keys to a disciple-making culture is to discover your unique disciple-making DNA as a church.  This disciple-making DNA is informed by your unique passion, place, and people. Once you discover your DNA, it is time to replicate it in every living cell of your church by reshaping a culture that replicates your DNA.   

Talk Up
To have a disciple-making culture, you must do a deep dive into your identity as a church and develop your disciple-making identity. Here are some key questions you need to ask:

1. What’s your unique disciple-making mission?
2. What are the principles and values that drive your disciple-making mission?
3. What’s your way of making disciples that make disciples?
4. What does a disciple look like in our context?

If you, your leadership, and the entire church can’t answer these questions, you probably have an identity issue.

Go Ahead
Once you have developed your identity it time to discover your disciple-making dream.  Ultimately, where is God taking you collectively on this disciple-making journey? What is our disciple-making dream?  Once you understand God’s dream for you as a church, you can then and only then begin developing a tactical plan to accomplish that dream.

Live Out
Culture is the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an organization.  Key to developing a disciple-making culture is the intentional integration of disciple-making from the top-down and the inside-out.  For a disciple-making culture to replicate throughout an organization, there must be deep ownership and buy-in at the senior staff level, leader level, and ultimately member and attender level.  This kind of integration must be intentional and takes time.

Start you disciple-making journey by completing Disciple-Making Assessment and join me for our upcoming Webinar on October 23 at 2 PM EDT on Transitioning a Weekend Only Culture to a Disciple-Making Culture.

Here are my observations...many leaders default to what we call generic vision.  Generic vision is akin to having no vision at all.  There are several different types of generic vision.  They all take a kind of general tone like love God and love people, reach more people, or go make disciples. 
 
I’m glad you love God and people.  I’m glad that you want to reach more people and make more disciples.  We already know that, but what if God wants to do something cosmically significant and locally specific through you and your church?  
 
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve worked with a church when they actually “name” the vision and then for whatever the reason they blink.  They default back to generic vision.  I mean they pull back and retreat to the safe and secure lands of Generica. 
 
What we need and what it takes to lead with specific and clear vision is courage.  Everyone loves you as long as you don’t have vision or have some common form of a lesser vision.  Get specific and guess what?  There are going to be people who are going to disagree with you.  Be bold and courageous!  Name your vision!  Get specific!  
 
Let’s face it, we all lack courage at times.  You are not alone, but what if you could gain courage and by doing so discover that God is able to do abundantly above all you ask or imagine! 


Here are three things that will give the confidence and courage when it comes to vision.
 
Collaboration with a Team
Don’t take the vision journey alone.  Build a team of both strategic and tactical people who are willing to own the journey with you.  A common mistake when it comes to vision is the idea that if we get it down on paper, we have a vision.  We may have a vision statement or a visionary plan, but what we want and need to build courage is so much more.  We need a sense of shared vision. This visionary plan isn’t a document that a leader wrote and is now sharing with us, but it is a shared vision that we discovered together.  Each person on the team is now a stakeholder and has a deep level of ownership.  Together we are more courageous than when we are separated.  We draw strength from the collective genius of all. 
 
Confidence in a Process
As an organization (Auxano.com), we consider ourselves a team of Navigators.  You the client are the content experts.  You and your organization are unique.  You consist of a unique people, in a unique place, and with a unique passion.  There is no one or any given place quite like you. At the same time, our navigators are process experts.  We believe God is at work in you and a great navigator with the best process tools should serve you well in helping you discover God’s unique vision for your church.  We have seen it work hundreds of times and we believe it can work for you.  Go ahead and check it out for yourself.  We included our entire process and many of our tools in a book by our founder Will Mancini titled God Dreams.
 
Clarity of Vision
The final component of courage when it comes to vision is clarity.  The way we say it is, “Clarity isn’t everything, but it changes everything.”  That’s right clarity changes everything.  When you have it, you experience the confidence and even the courage needed to lead with it.  However, getting to the point of clarity isn’t easy, if it were everyone would have it.  Clarity requires hard work.  Clarity requires time and testing.  There is rarely a day that I don’t encourage one or more of my clients to slow down in order to speed up.  That’s right, slow down and do the hard work of vision.  Work the process with your team until you experience breakthrough.  My consistent prayer for the teams I work with is for God to give us breakthrough.  Prior to clarity, it is my observation that we often have to go through the tunnel of chaos to get there.  This alone takes a level of courage.  You can be courageous even when you feel fear.  Courage is not the absent of fear, but the willingness to continue in spite of fear.  


A great team, proven process, and clarity goes a long way when it comes to leading with confidence and courage.
 
Join Bryan Rose and David Putman on May 10 at 2 PM EDT for our upcoming webinar on How 2 Days Can Impact the Next 10 Years!  Click here to register for this free webinar.

Glad to have the opportunity to partner with Bryan Rose, Lead Navigator with Auxano in an upcoming webinar.  Read his blog here and sign up now for our May 10th webinar.  

Imagine a day when every staff member and key lay leader wakes up with a clear and shared understanding of God’s better future for your church. A day when the question “What’s your vision, Pastor?” brings you energy and excitement and not dread or suspicion. Imagine a day when every ministry understands their role in fulfilling the entire church’s disciple-making call, not just their role in filling a ministry program.
How does this become a reality? Is it possible that a time away together as a staff and leadership team could lead to these God-sized dreams? It will never happen if you keep putting off scheduling a meaningful leadership retreat.

This type of pastoral procrastination often happens because:

1. There has never been any measurable return on the investment of the time it will take.
2. Leadership is living from Sunday to Sunday putting out fires and cannot focus together for long.
3. Everyone typically makes great relational strides on retreats but achieves very little tactical progress.
4. There have never been any resources budgeted for getting the team away to pray and plan.
5. The team’s credibility is at stake if yet another plan gets created but not executed.
6. It is easier to install yet another “silver bullet” program than it is to invest in a lasting process.
7. Anyone on the team could lead a good enough retreat, but nobody has the time to facilitate an excellent one.
8. It has always been easier to just rely on the Senior Pastor for all the answers.
9. There is so much that needs to be done, it is hard to know where to even start.

If you've been putting off pulling away for a staff retreat one or more of the above reasons likely resonate with you. Waiting until you have enough time or money to get the team away just masks the reality that you won’t ever get around to it…
Until a significant enough crisis arrives and forces your hand.  There is good news!

​You don’t have to solve every staff retreat problem all at once. You only need to take the first step. Join David Putman and me in our upcoming webinar on May 10 at 2 pm EDT - Gain (and Don't Lose) Ground this Summer: How 2 Days Can Produce 10 Years of Actionable Results - Together we will walk through a dynamic and reproducible plan for two days of catalytic process with your team that will impact the next decade. We will introduce you to the only church-leadership planning tool that fulfills your team’s need for visionary direction as well as strategic execution. During the webinar, you will gain the information you need to take the next critical step toward even more effective disciple-making growth.
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Register for the Gain (and Don’t Lose) Ground this Summer webinar here.

Register for the Gain (and Don’t Lose) Ground this Summer webinar here.

Ran across this old post on an old blog and didn't want to loose it.  I'm so grateful that tomorrow I will have New Years Day dinner with my son and one of his army friends eleven years later....

Last night we received a phone call from the front lines of the War on Terror.  Not one you necessary want to get.  With our Son serving in the 82nd Airborne in Afghanistan we consider "no news, good news".   Thank God it was our son.  He was on a Satellite phone in one of the most remote and dangerous places in Afghanistan.  He had just survived an IED (Improvised Explosive Device).  He began the conversation with his mom saying something like, "Mom I'm okay, but we just got hit by an IED and I wanted to call you before you got a call from the Army and the story got all messed up."  As they were leaving a village they were hit.  The IED blow up the Humvee.  Two of the brave soldier  in the Humvee was blown from the vehicle.  Another one was blown into the bulletproof windshield.  Somehow they all walked away.  
While the others were taken in...my son loaded up his radio, weapons,  and other gear and headed to the top of a mountain where he spent the night.  As a Forward Observer he is trained to call in the heavy artillery.  He spend the night running recon, ready to rain fire down on the enemy at any moment.  The next morning he made it back to the camp where he called me.  We were able to talk for about 30 minutes.  He was banged up pretty good. He had intense pain in his back and legs from the blast, but he was alive.  He was hungry and thought he might get a hot meal.  All of the soldiers hit by the IED are being flown to a larger Forward Operational Base where they have the medical equipment for CT Scans and observation.  In approximately a week my son along with the other three will be refitted and sent back out to continue the War on Terror.  
I was on the runway at the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta when I got the news.  I immediately thanked God and gave Him all the credit for saving my son and the other troops lives.  I thought of Psalm 91.  I read it often as I pray for my son and others.  
1 Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
      will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 This I declare about the Lord:
   He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
      he is my God, and I trust him.
3 For he will rescue you from every trap
      and protect you from deadly disease.
4 He will cover you with his feathers.
      He will shelter you with his wings.
      His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
5 Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
      nor the arrow that flies in the day.
6 Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
      nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
7 Though a thousand fall at your side,
      though ten thousand are dying around you,
      these evils will not touch you.
8 Just open your eyes,
      and see how the wicked are punished.
I tell you this story to say thanks for praying...prayer does make a difference.  I also tell you story to encourage you to continue to pray for my son and our troops...david 

The essence of gospel is good news. It’s an announcement that God has done something for us that we could not do for ourselves. All other religious systems offer us good advice. The gospel offers us the Good News.
Jesus begins his ministry with an announcement, “The time has come the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news” (Mark 1:15, NIV)! In essence he was saying the King has come. Everything has changed. What God began in Genesis, he completes in Jesus. This announcement is good news because in Jesus, God announces that we are redeemed, we are being renewed, and he is restoring all things through us.
We Are Redeemed
The gospel is an announcement of good news that in Christ we have been redeemed. Paul understood this when he wrote, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering” (Romans 1:1 & 3, NIV).
The announcement is that God sent Jesus in his perfection to take the wrath of our sin and punishment upon himself. The time had come in that in one moment in history Jesus took all of our past, present, and future sins upon himself; absorbing their wrath and setting us free.
The good news is that “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:45-46, NIV). In this parable grace cuts both ways. Grace is God’s abundant love given to us freely without price or cost. We don’t deserve it. We can’t earn it. It is beyond our reach. The only possible way to receive it is to have it gifted to us by someone beyond our reach. In this parable God is the Great Merchant who is looking for something of great value. When he finds it he sells all that he has in order to purchase it. He redeems the pearl by selling all. He holds nothing back. In Christ, God holds nothing back. He purchases us with his very blood and life. He redeems us.
It cuts both ways in that this becomes our motivation, life. I no longer have to prove anything. I no longer have to gain man’s approval. I no longer have to live up to any particular standard. I have been redeemed. I know what we think. Doesn’t this lead to carelessness? Not at all, because God in Christ has redeemed me, my motivation for life is his love. I am now fully approved, accepted, and complete, resulting in a life of humble gratitude and devotion. When I realize the nature of this good news, I find myself selling all to follow him.
We Are Being Renewed
What I just described is the idea that we are saved by grace. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV). For most of my Christian life I have understood this aspect of good news. However, I must confess there was a time when I was young that I struggled with God’s sovereignty and found myself shackled by doubts. These days are long behind me. However, what I didn’t realize, that not only are we saved by grace, we are renewed by grace. I lived as if my salvation was free, but if I was to grow as a Christian it could only be accomplish by my aspiring to some moralistic code or level of performance.
If I did five uninterrupted quiet times in a row I felt good about myself and would declare that I was a growing Christian. If I controlled my temper, abstained from alcohol, and avoided angry people who indulged a bit I was a good Christian. On the other hand, when I fail on either count I was a bad Christian or I stopped growing.
While I depended on the gospel to save me, I depended on my ability to live up to all certain standards and expectations to grow me. I found myself running faster and faster in religious circles in need of rest. My life simply didn’t line up with the teachings of Jesus, who invites us into his rest, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). Once again this was good news breaking into my tired soul.
The announcement of good news is that God in Christ doesn’t only save us by grace, but he grows us by grace. We see this best in Jesus’ parable of the growing seed. He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain – first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come” (Mark 4:26-29, NIV). The seed in this parable is the gospel and soil is our hearts. When we receive the seed into the good soil of our heart something happens. We can’t explain it, but it does. Jesus says, “Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.” This is an amazing truth that changes everything; gospel in, gospel out.
Paul understood this when he said, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approved what God’s will is – his good, pleasing, and perfect will” (Romans 12:1-2, NIV). In this text Paul demonstrates that our devotion is based on our understanding of the gospel. We are to offer our bodies, but only as a result of being in full view of his mercy. We don’t present our bodies to get God’s mercy we present our bodies because of God’s mercy. The order has been reversed. I don’t do in order to earn God’s favor, but I do because I have God’s favor. He goes on and addresses the idea of transformation. We are transformed by the renewal of our minds. Once again we see gospel in, gospel out.
When I come to understand that I am fully loved, then and only then can I offer love. When I come to understand God’s forgiveness of me, I become more forgiving and understanding of others. As I come to understand God’s provision for me, only then can I truly become more generous. As I come to apprehend the gospel there is a reformatting and aligning of my values that take place. I am transformed.
This understanding of the renewal aspect of the gospel has the potential to change everything. As a preacher, I once thought I had something to say. I thought it was my job to give people good tips on how to live the good life. Much of my preaching and teaching was about me. As a result we saw many people come and many people go. However, we saw very little spiritual transformation. We preached a kind of moralistic therapeutic deism. We referred to scripture. We even taught passages of scripture, but we had very little gospel in what we preach and taught often seeing the scriptures simply as a guidebook of what to do and not to do in order to experience the good life.
When you understand gospel in, gospel out it changes everything. It produces an urgency concerning, proclaiming a healthy gospel-centered hermeneutic. Our goal in teaching and preaching isn’t to be cool, clever, or even relevant. Our goal is to preach the gospel in every text. Some who read this are thinking I do that, but in essence you don’t. Tagging a gospel presentation at the end of a moralistic theoretic message is not the same as preaching the gospel. We must seek to preach the whole gospel, which includes the redemptive, renewing, and restorative nature of the gospel.
The gospel is not a tag we put at the end of a good blog for those who are searching. The gospel is God’s story of redemption, renewal, and ultimate restoration. It is the entire story. It is the truth that makes its way through out every book in the Bible. Together it tells the story of Creation, rebellion, rescue, redemption, renewal, and restoration. It is the announcement that everything has changed.
He Is Restoring All Things (through us)
This is a profound truth. What God begins, God concludes. He makes all things new! In Genesis we see God’s creative purpose in full bloom. There is relational harmony among all creation and we are at rest. Sin disrupts and destroys. Relational brokenness enters the world. God’s creation looses its way. We are lost.
In Christ we are redeemed, renewed, and ultimately all things are restored. Once again Jesus uses the power of a simple parable to convey this pregnant truth. “He told them another parable: ‘the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches’” (Matthew 13:31-32, NIV). In this parable we see the impact of the gospel to restore all things. A mustard seed grows, becomes the larges of garden plants, even becomes a tree, and the birds of creation come and find rest in them. What God began he completes in Jesus.
If you flip over and read the last chapters of Revelation you see this playing out. John “saw a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God” (Revelations 21:2, NIV). In this picture we aren’t going up, but heaven is coming down in keeping with Jesus’ message of the kingdom of heaven is here or at hand. God is doing a work in his world. He isn’t done. He is restoring all things. What he began in one garden he concludes in another garden.
Now God is working through his church to restore all things. As Paul declares, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his very appeal through us” (I Corinthians 5: 20, NIV). Jesus tells us we “are the salt of the earth and light of the world” (Matthew 5:13 &14, NIV). Salt and light has their greatest impact from within.” As restorers we enter into God’s redemptive, renewal, and restorative work. As restorers we enter into the lives of those who are in the most need of redemption, renewal, and restoration. We become God’s ambassadors. The gospel restores us that we might be restorers.
This changes everything. I no longer see people as a means to an end. I see people as the end. God has our interest at heart in all things. It’s no longer about planting and growing a big church. It’s no longer about my sermons. It’s no longer about feeding my own narcissism. It is about the restorative work of the gospel. I see all things through that lens.
And all this is to the glory of God! May our redeemer, renewer, and restorer of life and all creation receive all praise, honor, and glory.

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