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Friday Five

Okay, I'm a little late with the Friday Five (technically it's 7 minutes into Saturday).  But, here they are:

Seth Godin - What do you know? - Interesting stuff about what every good marketer knows.

Seth Godin - We specialize in everything - Great post about focus

Cary Nieuwhof - How to Be Less Selfish - Awesome post about needing margin in life

Carlos Whittaker - Boomin' - This was even better live.....at Drive

Tony Morgan - Developing New Habits - Interesting info about how the brain works in relation to habits

Yeah, Seth Godin got a double-nod.  That's probably why he's one of the most popular bloggers in the world.

I Love Teams

Tonight our Children's Ministry Leadership Team had our monthly meeting.  But, tonight's was different because we added 2 people to the team.  We poured a lot into 3 hours, mostly in preparation to celebrate and cast vision with our children's ministry volunteers on Sunday at our gathering.  Those 6 people that are a part of the leadership team flat out rock.  As busy as they are, they carve out 3 hours to meet monthly in addition to the many hours they each put into the environments they serve & lead in.  They're high caliber producers, thinkers & leaders and CCC Kids wouldn't be where it is without them. 

In all of the jobs I've ever had until now, I was never really on a "team".  Sure, I was grouped in on the organizational chart with some other people that all reported to the same leader, but it wasn't a team.  In church world I've almost always been on teams, as a volunteer and on staff.  I never want to work anywhere again where I'm not a part of a team and here's why:

• Teams are fun
• Synergy is a good thing and can't be had alone
• Having multiple opinions and viewpoints is a good thing
• Teams accomplish more in less time
• Teams force you to think "we" and not "I"

Disclaimer:  When I say team, I mean healthy team.  There are a ton of teams that aren't healthy and the statements below wouldn't apply to them.

What's even better than that is the children's ministry volunteers, as a team, are like an extension of the leadership team.  What I mean is that they are high caliber producers, thinkers and leaders too.  I love their servant hearts, passion for our vision and their "mad skills".

What a mom....

Perry Noble and NewSpring Church blessed 2 moms on Mother's Day.  You can see the story of one of them in the video below.  I didn't even post anything on Mother's Day, mainly because after hanging out at my mom's I fell asleep until Monday.  For the record, my mom would sacrifice anything for me and my less-loved sister (inside joke there).

Disclaimer:  It's almost 9 minutes long, and you might be crying by the end of it.  (Jump to the blog if you can't see it in your RSS Reader).

Best Job You Ever Have

Yesterday I totally could have had a "case of the Mondays"  (Office Space reference - see here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3lfiuS40g8)

I slept an average of 5 hours/night last week because of having the Drive Conference & KidStuf all in one week.  Fortunately I love both of those things so it was a good tired that I was dealing with.  Then, Sunday night I totally shut down faster than Enron.  So, I made up for a lot of that lack of sleep but Monday I was still dragging.  It made me think about how happy I was that I got to go to a job I love.  I've been there before, where I hated my job.  I've also had jobs I didn't love or hate, but wasn't passionate about. 

In thinking about all that I remembered a quote Andy Stanley said at the Drive Conference.  He said that every few months he meets with all the new hires at North Point and one thing he tells them is that his goal is for their job with North Point to be the best job they ever have.  (Carlos talks about that here.)

That's making me think about what I can do to make sure everybody's experience volunteering in the children's ministry at CCC is the best "job" they have ever had.  Obviously I don't want them to view it as a job but you know what I mean.  Even if they love their job, I hope volunteering at CCC is even better.  So much so that when they have a "case of the Mondays"........on Sunday morning, they leave with a case of the FUNdays (yes - I just made that up and yes I know it's totally corny) because they just spent time serving in CCC Kids. 

Drive Session Openers

Each Drive main session opened with a kickin song.  You can see them all here (scroll down to find them):

http://www.npccproduction.org/?page_id=5

One thing to note.....the songs don't start right away.  They start with a car radio and speakers on the video screens as if it's changing stations and hearing different songs.  Eventually it gets to the song they're going to play and the band jumps in.  Good stuff.

Friday Five

Here are my 5 favorite blog posts from this week:

Ed Stetzer - Avoid Any Hint - Ed talks about setting up moral boundaries and references Saddleback's Ten Commandments.  At CCC we have the same boundaries.

Planting Space - A Good Leader Gets Out Of The Way - Doug Foltz talks about the fact that leaders sometimes don't step up until there's a leadership void for them to step into. 

Pudge Huckaby - A Leader's Thin Line - Great post about the importance of delegating responsibility, and not just tasks, when developing leaders. 

Tim Stevens - Too Risky To Change - Tim talks about the importance of never becoming afraid to take risks even when the stakes are higher.

Orange Families (Adam Flynt) - Adam has like 8 posts about Drive if you want to see a little more behind the scenes than you read here.

Drive Blogger Gathering

As I mentioned at the end of a previous post, Carlos Whittaker (Ragamuffin Soul) organized a gathering for bloggers at the Drive Conference.  Basically we all met at a local restaurant to talk, get videotaped by Carlos and pose for a group picture.  Jennifer and I were definitely out of our comfort zone but it was worth it.  I have to admit it felt a little bit like a Star Trek convention (even though I don't know what that's like).  Nobody there was a huge nerd or anything (except me), but just the idea of a bunch of bloggers getting together when many of them didn't know each other personally doesn't exactly sound like a topic for GQ.  Here's the picture:

Here's the link to Carlos' post about it.

Drive Day 3

The last day of Drive was probably the best....for me.  I had some great conversations with people from other church plants and learned a lot about what they're doing well and what they're struggling with.  One thing is for sure, planting in the north east is nothing like planting in most other places.  Only people who have been a part of it seem to get that. 

I went to a breakout on Preschool Q & A and a breakout on church planting.  The preschool one was really helpful but the church planting one was over-run with questions that weren't relevant to where CCC is right now.  The last main session was the best.  They used their video opener from Easter and it was much better than just seeing online (which you can do here). 

Andy decided to not do the talk he planned to do (Making Vision Stick), and instead went with "Recent Random Thoughts on Church & Leadership".  When we got there and I saw that Making Vision Stick was one of the main sessions I was disappointed.  Not because I don't like the talk (it's awesome and extremely helpful), but because I've heard it 4 times and read the book twice.  Andy said that when he reads or hears a quote that has a major impact on him, he prints it and keeps it on display in his study.  So, he grabbed 5 of those quotes and shared them, along with his thoughts on them.  Here they are:

• "To reach people no one else is reaching we must do what no one else is doing" - Craig Groeschel
  Andy said we should become preoccupied with who we haven't reached rather than with who we have reached
• "The next generation product almost never comes form the previous generation" - Al Ries
  Since the next generation is going to come up with most of the new ideas, older generations should fund them, not fight them.
  You can be so cautious you're irrelevant
  Be a student, not a critic
• "What do I believe is impossible to do in my field, but if it could be done, would fundamentally change my business." - Joel Barker
  Pay attention to the people who are breaking the rules
• "If we got kicked out and the board brought in a new CEO, what would he do?  Why shouldn't we just walk out the front door, come back in and do it ourselves." - Andy Grove
  Acknowledge what's not working and own up to why you aren't willing to do anything about it.  Andy also said they're asking 2 questions at North Point currently:
  What's in decline? 
  Where are we manufacturing energy? (Where is something bad and we're trying to make it look good?)
• "When your memories exceed your dreams, the end is near" - unknown
  If the vision isn't driving it, the past will
  "Success breeds complacency.  Complacency breeds failure." Andy Grove
  A vision is born out of a burden and a burden reflects a broken heart.

And the best of all......Andy was talking about when some churches ask North Point to take them over to help them restart - "You have to have both hands up and a blindfold on if we're taking over."  He said that based on the fact that most churches aren't willing to lose people in the process of changing to become more effective at reaching the unchurched.  Churches all say the right thing but won't act on it. 

Drive Day 2

Well, today was a long day.  I attended breakouts about healthy staff cultures, recruiting and retaining leaders, and church planting.  In Main Session 2 Andy talked about what it takes to become a great staff.  Here are some takeaways:

• To lead, we must serve (Mark 10)
• The goal is a staff culture characterized by mutual submission
• Ask the people you serve/lead - how can I help you?
• What's more important, creating a great organization or creating a name for yourself?
• What's rewarded is repeated

Then we all drove up to Browns Bridge and had dinner on outside and enjoyed a surprise show by Jeff Foxworthy.  I laughed harder than I can ever remember.  On the way back to the hotel we stopped by Bruster's for some ice cream and conversation.  Tonight was a lot of fun and we all had a great time. 

Drive Session 1

The opening session of Drive was excellent.  I have no idea why, but I love super-wide projection screens when used as a backdrop and that's what you see in the middle here:

There's also the really cool buildings, like cityscapes, across the stage.  I borrowed that image from Adam Flynt, I hope he's cool with that.  Andy talked about the importance of team members trusting each other and being trustworthy.  Here are some points:

• Trusting someone is a choice
• The local church should be the best organization to work for in your city
• People know our attitudes towards others in the organization whether we specifically talk about them or not
• Christians have confused sensitivity with dishonesty (not telling someone the truth because it might seem insensitive)
• The consequences of confrontation are far less severe than the consequences of concealment
• Our success in carrying out God's mission does not depend on us being perfect

After the session Jennifer and I attended a blogger gathering that Carlos organized.  Jennifer and I are both very introverted so attending this gathering of people that we've never met was a bit like the first day of middle school.  But, Carlos was very welcoming and helped us feel comfortable.  Unfortunately the music at the restaurant made it hard for us to hear everyone introduce themselves but it was fun anyhow. 

I can't wait for day 2...