Tag Archive - sun valley

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Why Holiness isn’t what most Churches think it is

At Sun Valley, the church I have the honor of serving at, once a month we gather our team together from all of our campuses. We spend time worshiping together, we share wins with each other, we communicate some stuff that we everyone needs to know, we share a meal together and we do some leadership training with everyone. From time to time I share some of those thought here with you when they may be helpful. This month Chad Moore, who serves as the Lead Pastor at Sun Valley kicked off the new year with our team with a talk that may challenge you to think differently about holiness and following Jesus.

Big Question: How do you know when you’re growing in holiness?

  • What does Jesus mean when He says, “By holy as I am holy?”
  • Technically the word holy means “set apart,” but what does that practically and daily mean for us?
  • For most of us growing up in church, holiness was more about what we don’t do…it was behavior oriented. If that’s accurate then holiness is all about following the rules.
  • But Jesus says holiness = loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; and loving your neighbor as yourself…functionally speaking holiness is relational in nature.

Big Answer: You know you’re growing in holiness when you’re growing in relationship with God and people.

  • Everything that God wants to do in our lives this year is relational.
  • If you can’t be holy you have nothing else left but to be weird by trying to follow a bunch of rules.
  • Jesus said that the world will know us by our love for one another = by the quality of our relationships.
  • Ask most people in church about holy living and they’ll go to a list of what they have done and haven’t done this past week.
  • So many churches leave the relational component out of following Jesus when relationships are the beginning and end of what holiness actually is.
  • The reason the Church is irritating to so many people around the world isn’t because we don’t have the truth or good theology but because we don’t have love. This is why the bible describes love in terms and phrases like, “if I have everything right and together and don’t have love I’m still irritating to everyone around me,”…even if I’m right.
  • Holiness is relational.
  • You cannot be following Jesus in a real way and be a jerk.
  • Relational health is spiritual health.
  • The reason heaven is heaven is because relationships are perfect there.
  • Holiness is relational…that is the Christian life.
  • The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your relationships.

Posted in Leadership

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Are you more concerned about your Bible Study or your Neighbor?

I’ve mentioned before that at Sun Valley (the church I have the privilege of serving at) we routinely gather the staff from all of our campuses together for a time of worship, celebration, communication, training…and of course a good meal. Recently we had the opportunity to spend some time with Dale Peterson who serves as the Executive Director of the Eagle Brook Association. Here are some of my notes from the conversation.

  • The demand for people to know Christ is greater than our current capacity…so what are we going to do?
  • Acts 2:
    • The first church was a megachurch
    • They grew numerically daily
    • Will you be a church where people follow Jesus and a church that I can actually invite my friends to
      • People don’t invite people to things that are average
      • You can’t hire average people because average people get average results
    • Spend time with God
      • If you know God’s heart you’ll make decisions based on God’s heart for people
    • Connect in Community
    • Serve Others out of our giftedness
    • Life Generously
  • BUT what the church wants:
    • Bible study and that’s not bad, unless it stops there
    • Fellowship with people that look and act like us
    • Help out (out of guilt)
    • Give 2.5% of their income to make sure their favorite ministry programs happen and the pastor gets a paycheck so we can keep the doors open
    • 80% of churches in America are plateaued or declining and see 1 conversion a year
    • 3,500 churches in America die every year…last year was the first year church planters kept up with the death rate so it was a zero sum game
    • And there are more people on earth than ever before…the harvest is greater than it’s ever been
    • Passion alone is not enough to motivate the church to go and reach people for Jesus
    • Most Christians are more worried about their bible study than their neighbor
    • Most Christians are sitting around praying and waiting for God to do something at their church…and He did 2,000 years ago…stop praying and do something
    • Most people in ministry are relegated to zookeepers…they feed the church and clean up after it…but the church has nothing to offer outsiders
    • People drive by the church and never think the church has anything to offer them
    • Vision statements don’t change the church
    • Churches that get it done build the right kind of culture
  • Building a vision culture
    • Beliefs: foundational beliefs, what we’re wiling to die for…just a couple (let’s not be willing to die for everything) there’s things we’re willing to die for, there’s things we’ll defend, and there’s things we’ll discuss
    • Values: (beliefs and values answer the question of who are we) – these are the desired behaviors that we’d like the whole church to act like…then we create ministry programs that produce the behaviors that we value most
    • Purpose: Why…Reunited in relationship with the Father (lost people are what Jesus cares about) Matt. 22
    • Mission: What we do…Matt. 28 (reach)…the front door into the church
    • Strategy: How we do it here (is this still working?…and how do you know?)
    • Goals: tell you where you’re going and when you’ll get there
  • How can 3,500 churches die every year while doing their bible studies when there are 7billion people on the planet

Posted in Leadership

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4 Ways Good Shepherds Lead Differently

Never be afraid to ask people to follow Jesus. Whether it’s joining a volunteer team, going to marriage counseling, publicly being baptized, financially supporting the ministry of the church or a whole list of potential other steps someone could take to follow Jesus. Never be afraid to challenge people…because it’s for their good. When people follow Jesus, joy follows them. This is what it means to be a good shepherd. But good leaders know that you can’t lead everyone the same.

Lost Sheep

The painful truth for most shepherds to face is in order to lead them you’ve got to actually be around them. Do you have any relationships with lost sheep? Do you have any lost sheep in your life? If not, you’ll never be others oriented. Love them and be normal!

Stinky Sheep

Here’s the thing about stinky sheep, they complain about everything. That’s why they’re so stinky. Good shepherds never allow whiners to keep them from winning.

  • Are they ignorant? If they’re unaware then be kind and explain things to them in order to bring them along.
  • Are they obstinate? Some sheep don’t care about understanding, they just want things their way. These sheep may need you to listen but don’t bend.

Leadership by its very nature is confrontational. The leader is tasked with taking people somewhere they haven’t been. By its very nature it requires conflict and confrontation. When it comes to conflict and confrontation hired guns run. Owners pull the gun and take on the wolf.

Newly Found Sheep

New sheep are the momentum engine of your ministry. They bring life, fun and excitement. New sheep find other new sheep. But here’s the thing about new sheep. They’re messy. They don’t know the behavioral rhythms and norms of the flock yet. They need to be celebrated and then guided and led. They need to get connected to relationship and responsibility. The faster you can make people feel a part of it the faster they’ll be a part of it. 

Long-Time Sheep

Long-time sheep are the backbone of the ministry at your church and provide stability to the ministry of your church. These sheep need you to remind them what it was like to be a new sheep. They need you to put stories of new sheep in front of them over, and over, and over, and over again.

*Each month the Staff Team at all Sun Valley Community Church Campuses gather together for worship, fun, a meal and some training. The core content for this blog post came from one of those recent trainings by Chad Moore, the Lead Pastor at Sun Valley.


Posted in Leadership

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See you After Sabbatical!

There are a lot of reasons that I love working at Sun Valley Community Church. It’s the best staff culture I’ve ever experienced on a church staff team, every week there are incredible stories of life change, over the past 6 years we’ve opened 4 new locations and there have literally been 1,000’s of people baptized. It’s a really special place to be a part of.

It’s also a place that values and takes care of the staff team. In fact, after 7 years, full-time Director level staff (and up) qualify for a paid sabbatical. It’s a great way to invest in, value, reward, and incentivize longevity with our team. Each person builds a written plan and budget that focus on three key areas that are submitted for approval.

Professional Development

Key Question: What are you going to do to invest in your career?
What skills, training, or development do you need in order to get better at your craft? Is there a class you need to take, a church or organization you need to visit to learn from, or some kind of process certification you need to complete that will resource you to improve your professional capacity?

Personal Development

Key Question: What are you going to do to invest in yourself?
What about you? It’s a question most people in ministry rarely ask. Ministry Staff Members typically spend the majority of their time and energy serving other people. What do you need to do for you that brings you energy? I don’t mean just sitting on the couch vegging out and watching Netflix but doing something that fills you up.

Family Development

Key Question: What are you going to do to invest in your family?
Why don’t you ditch the kids over sabbatical and go do something with just you and your spouse? But then again, plan something with just the kids too, you’ve got the time. What kind of experiences and memories do you want to build with your family?

Over the summer I’ve got a plan to do all three of these things, and I’m grateful to serve at a church that values their staff in this way. So, at the risk of not being very consistent here at Helping Churches Make Vision Real or on social media you’re going to notice that I’ll be around a lot less this summer on these digital platforms. So, I’ll see you after sabbatical!


Posted in Leadership, Spiritual Formation

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[FREE Webinar Replay] Breaking Barriers: Reaching 2,000 and Beyond

One of the most obvious signs of stuckness in churches is declining or plateauing attendance. All churches hit growth barriers—even the large ones. The question is not if growth stalls, but how to respond when it does. The good news? You aren’t alone.

The Unstuck Group recently hosted a webinar, “Breaking Barriers: Reach 2,000 & Beyond,”  in which Tony Morgan (Founder and Lead Strategist at the Unstuck Group), Amy Anderson (Director of Consulting at The Unstuck Group), Chad Moore (lead pastor of Sun Valley Community Church) and Matthew Cork (lead pastor of Friends Church) discussed four reasons large churches hit growth barriers, and how pastors can lead their churches forward.

In this webinar, they talked about:

  •      How to Recognize a Toxic Culture & Turn It Around
  •      Overcoming a Leadership Void in Your Staff and Volunteer Teams
  •      Multisite Model Missteps & How They Set You Back
  •      Complexity Creep & Why It’s Undermining Your Vision

If you missed the webinar you’re in luck! You can watch the replay for FREE by following this link!


Posted in Leadership
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