Leadership Summit 2017: Gary Haugen

Tag Archive - mission

Leadership Summit 2017: Gary Haugen

Friday, August 18, 2017

Gary Haugen leads International Justice Mission (IJM), a world-wide agency rescuing victims of violence, exploitation, slavery and oppression. Recognized by the U.S. State Department as a Trafficking in Persons “Hero” – the highest honor given by the U.S. government for anti-slavery leadership – Haugen is the author of three books and has been featured in Foreign Affairs, The New York Times and Forbes.

There is one thing that stands between what you learn and what you do. And that one thing is fear.
All of the finest leadership training in the world can be rendered useless by fear.
That’s why on his last night with His disciples Jesus tells them not to be afraid.
Fear is the silent destroyer of dreams
Leadership begins with a dream
Fear destroys the love that inspires the dream and replaces it with a preoccupation with self
We are most likely to not know what scares us the most deeply
Being brave is hard
You must relentlessly inventory your own fears…what are you really afraid of?
Switch from playing defense to playing offense. No great dream was built on the fear of what might go wrong
If we are more impressed with bad men than a good God then fear is going to eat your leadership for lunch
You cannot move towards a dream of love while retreating to a bunker of fear
Hell is playing defense not the kingdom of God
46million people on the planet are in slavery today. More people than at any point in the history of the planet.
Great leaders forge a community of courage around them
Lone rangers do not make great dreams come true ever, lone rangers make movies
If anyone was entitled to adopt a lone ranger leadership model it was Jesus…but what did He do? He forged a community of courage around him.
Courage, like fear, is contagious
Remember that we are only servants on the battlefield and that the real soldier is Christ Himself.

Posted in Leadership

3 Big Reasons Why Missions Pastors are an Endangered Species

Sunday, August 6, 2017

I can remember the first international mission trip that I ever went on. A young up and coming ministry leader with a parachurch organization called the Navigators invited me to spend some time in Singapore and Indonesia with him. My life and friendship with Jesus would never be the same.

Most people go on a trip like this hoping to change the world and the world that ends up getting changed is their own. And this is the greatest value in short term mission trips, discipleship. Short term mission trips have the potential to be one of the greatest catalysts of spiritual growth, leadership development and developing an outsider focused culture in your church.

The problem? More and more churches are dropping the role of mission pastors like hot potatoes.

Come & See Mentality

Instead of a go and tell approach to ministry many churches are adopting a come and see mentality. In more and more churches ministry is something that happens at the church not in community.

It’s easier to send Money than People

It’s a lot easier and safer to just sent money than it is to send people. Mobilizing a team of people to go requires time, energy and leadership.

They Keep Going instead of Sending

Often times people who feel called to “international missions” see more value in going than sending and as a result leave a leadership void in the local church. While there can be impact in going that impact can be magnified exponentially by sending.

Posted in Leadership, Spiritual Formation, Staffing

Why More People Don’t Meet Jesus at your Church

Monday, September 26, 2016

Did you know that the majority of churches in America are either plateaued or in decline? In fact 80% of churches in America fall into one of these two categories. Regardless of size, denomination, style, or geographic location; the majority of churches in America simply aren’t moving the right direction when it comes to growth.

One of the key drivers behind these statistics is that few churches are actually helping new people meet Jesus. One of the things we’ve learned through our experience and research at the Unstuck Group is that churches in America are only baptizing around 5% of their weekend attendance on average annually. In other words a church of 500 is seeing an average of 25 people take the step to be publicly baptized on an annual basis.

We can do better than that. We must do better than that. But it is going to take facing down these big 5 issues that prevent more people from meeting Jesus at your church.

1. Churches are Insider Focused

Most churches in America make decisions based on who they are trying to keep, instead of who they are trying to reach. They’re insider-focused. Churches are not only generally change resistant but their practices, ministries they offer, language they use, way finding, guest service experience (or lack thereof), and even the way they spend their money demonstrate that they care more about people who are already in the church as opposed to people who have not yet met Jesus.

2. Lack of Invitation

Sadly, many people never say yes to following Jesus because they aren’t given the opportunity to. Even in most churches. While a majority of churches talk about Jesus and the Gospel may even be clearly preached, fewer and fewer churches are intentionally sharing the Gospel and giving people the opportunity to say yes to following Jesus. I know that I may sound old school in this but I said yes to Jesus at a church service where the “preacher” gave people the opportunity to come forward and say yes to following Jesus. Yes, I know that sounds like an old school “alter call” but it worked for me…and guess what, stuff like that still works today. People just don’t know its old school because they haven’t been exposed to it. My hunch is that the more often you share the Gospel and the more opportunities you give for people to respond the more people will respond and say yes to following Jesus. Try it.

3. Church has become Uninspiring

Unfortunately the majority of churches have taken the most incredible, inspiring, and life changing news about Jesus and the hope of freedom, acceptance and redemption and turned it into a boring academic conversation. While many churches may be biblically educational they’re not very inspirational. Facts don’t change people’s lives. If they did those Surgeon General’s warning labels on the side of a pack of cigarettes would curb smoking and we all know how that’s working out. People want to be a part of something that means something and has real every day power in their life.

4. People are Embarrassed to Invite their Friends

Most people are embarrassed to invite their friends to attend church with them. They’re embarrassed that the facility looks like it’s fresh from the 1980’s (or worse). They’re embarrassed that their friend will be treated poorly and have a bad experience. They’re embarrassed that the worship service is good enough for people who are already in, but not for their friend. They’re rightfully worried that the singing will be subpar or the sermon will be boring.

5. The Church has Forgotten what it’s For

Simply put, the Church in America has forgotten what on Earth it’s here for. It’s forgotten that the Church isn’t for Christians. It doesn’t exist for people inside the Church. The Church exists for people who don’t yet know Jesus. You can’t come to Church because if you’ve said yes to following Jesus you are the Church. The Church is a movement you choose to be a part of to help people meet, know, and follow Jesus.

Photo Credit: Daniel Kulinski via Compfight cc

Posted in Leadership, Spiritual Formation

Vision is a Destination not a Statement

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Vision is a destination, not a statement. Many churches spend an incredible amount of time wordsmithing pithy vision statements instead of providing a clear picture of where they’re going. What a majority of churches view as their vision statement is usually a mission statement.

Mission Answers the Question: Why do we exist?

This is the timeless answer to why your church is on the planet in the first place. We don’t get to pick our mission Jesus did that for us. That’s the whole, “go and make disciples,” part. But we do get to pick language that contextualizes it for our culture.

Vision Answers the Question: Where are we going?

This is the next hill that needs to be taken. Vision typically changes every 3-5 years. Vision changes because once you get there and have taken then hill, there’s always the next hill to take.

Most church staff can’t articulate the next hill their church is taking. They don’t’ know the target on the wall they’re shooting for. One way to begin to bring clarity to the vision at your church is to simply ask the question,

“Where would we be in 3-5 years if our church faithfully lived out the mission Jesus has given us in the context of our community, unique culture of our church, gifting and passions of our Sr. Leadership, and resources that God has given us?”

Doing the serious work to answer this question will help you put a target on the wall to hit. Getting crystal clear on this will have a “trickle down” effect on every decision made in your church over the next 3-5 years. It will allow you to:

Set goals and measure results.
Determine how to allocate resources and budget.
Help you understand how you need to structure your staffing model.
Bring alignment to ministries.

Posted in Leadership

How to Clear Up the Vision at your Church

Sunday, May 8, 2016

In my experience working with churches “vision” seems to be one of the most talked about and least understood concepts in church leadership. Most church leaders have a tendency to over-complicate or over-spiritualize vision. It doesn’t have to be that difficult. I like this definition of vision that I frequently hear a good friend of mine use, “Vision is simply understanding the times and knowing what to do.”

In church-world people are tagged a “visionary” if they are a compelling communicator or seem to generate a lot of ideas. Just because you’re good at sales and can get people to buy into your ideas doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a visionary.

On the other hand many in the church oversimplify vision when asked. I can’t tell you how many church leaders I’ve seen puff out their chest in pride and say that the vision of their church is the same as Jesus’s vision for the church, “to make disciples.”

While that sounds spiritual it’s still a bit off the mark.

Mission

Answers the Question: Why do we exist?
This is the timeless answer to why your business, organization or church is on the planet in the first place. For those of us in church-world we don’t get to pick our mission, Jesus did that for us. That’s the whole, “go and make disciples,” part.

Vision

Answers the Question: Where are we going?
This is the next hill that needs to be taken. Organizational vision typically changes every 3-5 years. Vision changes because once you get there and have taken the hill, there’s always the next hill to take.

Goal

Answers the Question: How do we get there?
Goals are just vision with a timeline. They are the actionable and attainable steps or objectives to be met that move the organization in the direction of the vision. You know you’re winning and moving in the direction of accomplishing the vision when you are meeting your goals!

Need help understanding what’s next at your church? I’d encourage you to check out how the Unstuck Group helps churches gain perspective, plan and prioritize, staff to the vision, and execute strategically!

Posted in Leadership

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