Your Experience Does Not Entitle You to Lead

The statement by Nancy Ortberg hit me like the chill that you get when you first jump into a cool pool on a hot summer day.  At first there’s the gasp of air leaving the lungs and the and the tightening of my skin just like when we first react to the cold.  Then something strange happens.  There’s a soothing feeling that follows as your body adjusts and remember why you jumped in. Sitting in the sun had caused you to become heated an sweaty, you wanted to be cooled down.  The water shocks at first but them soothes as as it cools.  Nancy’s statement did the same thing.

As I recovered from the brief shock, there was a soothing sigh of “Yes, that’s why I came.”  She brought out many insights on leadership in her session.  Experience doesn’t entitle a person to lead calling and character do.  I often articulated to people that maturity isn’t measured in years but in how much of the fruit of the Spirit one grows.  I had long felt the same way about leadership.  “Just because you’ve been in the church 15 years doesn’t mean you should be an elder.” was one discussion but I struggled to make it clearer.

I the soothing that Nancy’s teaching brought.  Saul couldn’t face Goliath but a teen shepherd boy could.  (1 Sam 17)  David asked why no one would fight the giant.  the reactions were interesting.  First, David’s brother accused him of being prideful and wicked for coming to the battle but David was just following his father’s instruction.  David ignored his brother and went to others again asking why none of them defended the Lord’s name.  Finally they brought him to Saul.  Saul reluctantly relented to David’s story of the God giving him the lion and the bear.  “Alright, you can go but wear my armor.”  Saul breathed.

In other words, “Ok, maybe God has sent you but do it my way.”  Saul had the experience to lead.  He was a king and a warrior.  But God didn’t call a warrior.  God knew no warrior could stand against the might of a giant who was a warrior since he was a youth.  No God called a shepherd boy.  New methods emerged.  A sling and stone instead of a sword and a spear.  Faith was his protection not a bronze shield.

I know understood how to articulate to others what the Spirit of God had been showing me.  Calling and character are what gives people the influence to lead not title nor experience.

Thanks Nancy.  That alone was worth the price of the Catalyst Conference and we’re just getting started!

Creative Church Conference – Part 2

The church should be the most creative entity on the planet!  Not Hollywood, not Silicon Valley, not the Times Best Sellers but the church of Jesus Christ.  After all we serve the one who invented creativity!  He is the only one who can create something from nothing.  He is the only one who ever had a new idea. Today Ed Young Jr. told us that children score off the charts on the creativity aptitude tests when they are under 5 but as soon as they start school it quickly drops.  Creativity is replaced with rules for how to play, when to sit, techniques for math and writing.  It’s not that education is bad; it’s that learning best works through repetition.  Repetition stifles creativity.

Romans 12 teaches us not to be squeezed into the world’s mold.  There is no right or wrong way to “do church”.  Jesus communicated in creative, illustrated ways.  He held up a little child and taught us how to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  This upset the religious people of their day.  Why because they had forgotten about making the truths of God simple to understand and easy to apply to one’s life.  It is the same today.  If you use creative communication techniques people will accuse you of being a “performance church” instead of seeing that more people understand the word of God that is being taught than before.

One of the main themes of the Creative Church Conference (C3) was that mature people reproduce.  Think of it, people are born, grow up, get married and then have babies.  The immature or babies don’t reproduce.  If you’re church isn’t birthing new babies in the kingdom then maybe it isn’t as mature as you think.

Spiritual babies say, “I’m just not being fed.”  A person can be a Christian for 20 years but if all they care about is hearing a new twist on a scripture they haven’t heard before, they are self-centered babies when they should be healthy, reproducing adult believers.  Ed talked further about church’s that were meant to hospitals where babies are born of hurting people are helped have been turned into discriminating restaurants where food critics sample morsels and critique the good food being served.

As communicators of God’s all powerful word we must never bend to the pressure to cater to those who are hearers only and not doers of the word.  We will continue to use every creative method we can to help people grasp and apply the word of God to their life.

Creative Church Conference

I am excited to be going to the Creative Church Conference (C3) regional at Northway Church in Clifton Park.  I’ve been to the C3 in Dallas for the last three years and always feel it’s so impacting for our ministry.  I’ve heard Ed Young, T.D. Jakes, Erwin McManus, and Perry Noble to name a few.  I can honestly say that these conferences have changed the way I “do” church. 

I’ve always believed that church should be fun.  That was our theme as the Children’s Pastors at Mt. Zion Ministries and now as the Lead Pastors at House of Praise we think adults should enjoy church also.  It’s much deeper than that though.  By using creative ways to illustrate sermons, we give people greater retention of the word of God that is being preached.

We use art, dance, music, video, costumes, decorations, give-aways, drama, costumes and games to help people visualize and remember what is taught.  For example:  When I taught on Small Groups a couple years ago, we called it “Honey I Shrunk the Church” and decorated the sanctuary with giant pencils, crayons, and a laundry line that had enormous t-shirts and socks on it.  Years later when I ask people about it they still remember “we grow larger by getting smaller” and that it was about small groups.  If remembering the word of God is your goal, Creative Sermons work!

Back to the C3 regional…Ed Young is taking his show on the road to Capital District, specifically the Northway Church.  Think about it 500 leaders from churches around the Northeast meeting to learn how the church can be more creative in presenting the message of Jesus Christ.  I can’t wait!