The Death of the Five-Year Plan

When I started in ministry two decades ago, everyone I knew made five-year plans. While planning is wise and biblical, I’m changing how I plan.

Instead of planning for specific buildings, campuses, staff roles, and outreach, I’m planning to be prepared for opportunities that I can’t name today. We are creating margin and planning to respond quickly to ideas that we don’t yet have.

Speed, agility, flexibility, and financial margin are far better than a detailed road map.

We are in the ready position. Instead of asking God to bless our carefully crafted plans, we’re trying to be prepared to move when He speaks and guides.

When people ask me what we’ll be doing in five years, I laugh. I have no idea. But I’m certain it will be more fun and more impactful than anything I could plan today.

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Response to Flooding in OKC

Last week, several areas in and around Oklahoma City experienced flooding after record amounts of rainfall. Some of the neighborhoods near our locations saw water levels as high as 4-5 feet, which destroyed nearly everything in their homes. Flooding of this nature is very unusual for these areas, so most of these families did not have flood insurance.

Since Tuesday we’ve been working with the people in those neighborhoods to offer help clearing and cleaning their houses, food, water, prayer, and other assistance. Here are a few of the pieces from local media that have been covering the response:

Helping Flood Victims

Volunteers clean up flooded neighborhoods

We’ve been overwhelmed by the people, organizations, and businesses in the community who have jumped at the chance to help. I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who has been giving their time and resources so generously. It’s great to see the church being the church!

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Swerve Favorites: The Summer Slump

[Repost from May 27, 2008]

Most churches experience a “summer slump.”

• Attendance drops
• Giving slows
• Volunteers miss
• Interest fades

What should a leader do during down times? Although I can’t answer the question for you specifically, I would say, “DO SOMETHING INTENTIONAL!”

You might:

• Challenge the church to host summer neighborhood block parties
• Ask your small groups to take the summer off and challenge them to devote one weekend a month to an inner city mission project.
• Write devotionals for people traveling on vacation.
• Do a summer long overview of the Old Testament
• Experiment with a different style of worship
• Participate in “One Prayer” (Couldn’t resist)
• Take some extended time off
• Challenge people to devote a week of their vacation to minister on an international mission trip

Whatever you do, don’t miss this great opportunity to pray, seek God, and do something intentional! Even though many are distracted, God still wants to do something powerful through your ministry this summer.

Please share any summer ideas or ministries you are excited about.

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Swerve Favorites: Training Your Church

[Repost from April 16, 2009]

If you don’t train your church what boundaries are appropriate, you likely won’t  have many.

If you are the senior pastor, you can set the tone publicly.

I’d suggest a few of the following:

• Publicly communicate when your day off is. Talk about how important that day is to your family.
• At appropriate times, explain the challenges of your schedule. Some people think you only work on Sundays. Explaining some of what you face will create understanding.
• Create some level of screening if possible. Even if you are a solo pastor with no staff, a volunteer could help you with your email or answer phones. Many things you do daily can be handled by capable volunteers. You don’t need to know and do everything.
• Be willing to “go dark” at least once a year. You might explain to the church that you’ll be away with your family and not taking calls for a week. Ask your lay leader to be in charge. I’d suggest you give a phone number to one person who has permission to contact you with only dire emergencies. You need at least one week a year to disconnect.
• Don’t feel pressure to reply to emails instantly. I like all emails returned, won’t be slave to them.
• Protect at least one night a week for dates or family nights. Explain that Monday or Thursday or whatever is the one night you protect. When someone asks for counseling or a wedding rehearsal on that night, don’t do it.
• Be willing to say “no.” As a pastor who loves people, you’ll say “yes” to many invitations. Don’t be afraid to occasionally or often say “no.” Don’t feel pressure to give an explanation. A simple, “No, I’m sorry, but I can’t make it” is enough.

Ministry is a marathon, not a sprint. Set the boundaries that will help you go the distance.

What are your thoughts?

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Honoring Your Church Leaders

1 Timothy 5:17 says, “The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.”

Remember, to dishonor is to treat as common or ordinary. To honor is to highly esteem, to build up.

I remember a time when a church asked me to consult with them. For many years, they had been in decline. I was happy to meet with their pastor and elders to hear their story.

Each time the pastor spoke, the elders talked over him and brushed off his comments as meaningless. The longer the meeting carried on, the more obvious their problem became to me.

When they asked me what I thought, I’m sure they expected me to tell them to change the style of their service or add a Saturday night service, etc.

Instead, I told them that their number one problem was that they were dishonoring their pastor. Immediately, the elders became defensive. It wasn’t until I quoted their words and demonstrated what they had done that they realized their lack of honor.

I explained that I didn’t expect God to bless their church until they trusted and believed in the one God had put there to lead them. On the spot, they sincerely repented to their pastor. Four years later, this church has almost doubled in size.

Showing honor obviously isn’t the key to growth. But a lack of honor certainly doesn’t help. As my church honors me as the God-appointed leader, I feel a deeper sense of urgency to hear from God and do what pleases Him.

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Promise and Deliver—Later

Because we had over triple our projections when we opened our newest campus, we were and still are behind the curve on many things:

• We don’t have nearly enough groups.
• We’re recruiting volunteers and releasing leaders on the fly.
• We’re training newly hired staff.
• We’re recruiting more staff.
• We’re putting finishing touches on the building (including solving parking challenges).
• We’re not close to having the programming in place.

In short, we’re building the airplane while it’s in the air. That’s okay. People understand and actually like it—if we lead well.

Though we don’t have everything the way we want it, we can make promises.

• We’ll be adding parking in the next few months so you won’t have to walk a quarter a mile! Thanks for being a great church and making it work!
• We’ll be adding a Saturday night service one day so you don’t have to sit in the overflow! Thanks for understanding and still bringing your friends!
• We’ll be starting our youth ministry in two months! It’s going to be amazing!
• We’re looking for a junior high pastor right now! Pray God brings us the right one.
• So many of you are new! We thank God you are here. Within the next month, we’ll have some meetings just to get to know you.

You don’t have to have it all today. Make promises for the future—then deliver.

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The Almost Ready Event

When launching a new anything, most people want it to be perfect. Opening before it is perfect is often better than waiting for perfection.

One of my friends opened a yogurt store before he had signs, pictures, or decorations. Instead of a cool clock on the wall, he put up a piece of paper with “clock” written on it.

My friend greeted everyone that came in and explained how they were his special guests. The store has taken off—and they still don’t have the clock up.

In church, people love to be in on the ground floor. The sound system doesn’t have to be perfect. All of the walls don’t have to be painted. The carpet might not even be laid.

When launching a new program, it might not need a logo, a room, or an agenda. Sometimes a vision an the right leader may be all you need to start.

If everything is done, people don’t get to contribute to or enjoy the process.

Even if everything is not perfect, God can still work through a mess.

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Hold Off On Organizing

When any ministry is starting or suddenly experiences growth, most people want to organize it and immediately put systems in place. While over time you’ll be wise to do both; in the beginning, I prefer to enjoy the chaos.

As a leader, you can maximize the chaos and use it to your advantage. Since it is more than you planned for, it’s not a bad idea to tell people with excitement, “Wow! God grossly exceeded our expectations!”

Instead of apologizing that the parking is tight, the classes are full, or that people are standing in the aisles, it’s great to enthusiastically say, “Thank God for what he is doing!”

Instead of trying to figure out how to handle the growth, work with it. For example, on our newest campus, we opened the doors with two services. One the first week, we made an audible to add two more, totaling four.

Do you think it was chaotic going from two to four services in one week? Absolutely. It was wonderfully chaotic. Everything wasn’t perfect. But no one was expecting perfection.

Somehow it simply felt like a “blessed mess.”

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