Learnings @ Leadership Network

NFL or Not?

With the Super Bowl last night we have now reached the end of the National Football League season. Believe it or not, the NFL has grown even more of the past two years. It shows no real sign of slowing.

I had a mentor who when asked about the ideal time for a Sunday service would always follow with a question: What time does the NFL kick off in your city? That will determine the ideal time.

What he meant was that the prime service always ends before the early game kickoff. And that depends on time zone.

I know that is ridiculous and says something about our culture, but it’s just the way it is.

But there is a strong possibility that there will be no NFL games later this year. A looming owner/players union standoff is in the offing.

What would be the impact on your community and church? And how could you take advantage of the “no football” season to reach former fans?

I have no great ideas.

I know that some communities that are dependent on fan revenue would be hit hard economically. Business Week reports that each NFL city has $160M in jobs and revenue related to games.

Many sports bars and other communal gathering places across the country depend on the games to bring in clients. (And I don’t think soccer and pro bowling will substitute)

But look at it this way, if all of a sudden the passionate fan freed up three to six hours in their weekly schedule, what could be done to fill the time? Who will fill it? How could you make it productive?

Ideas please in the comments. Thanks.

(and that doesn’t even begin to count the hours spent agonizing over their fantasy teams right?)

What I found interesting this week and why

It’s been a few weeks. I have been buried in prep for THE NINES. So far I think I have previewed and watched 130 videos. Gotta start winnowing now.

I think the Kansas City Paper had a good article on ministry to Sex Offenders.

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/07/31/2120223/with-open-arms-and-open-eyes-churches.html

Very important issue for the future of churches.

 

My friend and co-author Bill Easum did a blog on first time visitors over at Church Consultations.

http://churchconsultations.com/fileadmin/NExt_Level/Audio-Video/FirstTimeVisitors.mp4

Most churches drop the ball there.

 

A closer look at the interracial marriage statistics

http://nortonbooks.typepad.com/everydaysociology/2010/08/a-closer-look-at-interracial-marriage-statistics.html - Do I think our society is more “mixed” than ever? Absolutely. Is this a good thing? Yes. But it ain’t quite there where its promoters think it is just yet.

(HT: @praxishabitus)

 

This used to come up a lot in our Senior Pastor Forums. Seven ways to say no:

http://zenhabits.net/say-no/

 

HBR had this on hiring Senior Executives:

http://blogs.hbr.org/ashkenas/2010/08/how-to-hire-senior-executives.html

Change Executive to Pastor and it still works.

I didn’t go to the Global Leadership Summit but this blog gives you some great insights from it. Fantastic piece of work.

http://www.timschraeder.com/category/notes/willow-creek-global-leadership-summit-2010/ -

 

I know a lot of folks saw the Wall Street Journal slam on “hipster churches” – here is one of the responses from @heretolead, one of the church’s mentioned in the article. Michael is in our current Next Generation Leadership Community too.

http://www.heretolead.com/?p=4702

I would spell Michael’s whole name up there but I always get it wrong. I am so happy his twitter name is easy.

 

Tom Peters built this list of “Five Words of Advice” and it is BRILLIANT – a few:

4 most important words: "What do you think?" (Dave Wheeler @ tompeters.com: "Most important 4 words in organization")

4 most important words: "How can I help?" (Boss as CHRO/Chief Hurdle Removal Officer)

Go read all of them here: http://www.tompeters.com/dispatches/011757.php?rss=1

 

@ToddRhoades of our staff pointed out this one on the difference between i.e. and e.g. I think it is brilliant in substance and presentation: http://ht.ly/2oV4x

 

John Ortberg is blogging on “the problem of depth” over at http://johnortberg.com/ - and I think he is right on so far. Depth is an issue at most churches. But sometimes we want everyone to be the same. I might have to blog on that later.

 

And I think Jenni Catron nailed it on Leadership in this post http://www.jennicatron.tv/2010/08/11/the-trap-of-being-needed/

Do the hard things that are hidden. That is real Leadership.

 

OK, do me a favor. Remember my friend Brian Kluth in the passing of his wife Sandi after a long battle. See his web site though for some stewardship resources.(http://www.kluth.org/) And pray for Danny and Jensine for me as they have some real health challenges. Thanks

 

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

@davetravis

 

Technorati Tags: Sex offenders,Leadership,Megachurches,Megachurch,marriage,saying no

THE NINES Registration Now Open!

The cat is out of the bag! Click over to http://thenines.leadnet.org and you will find that Todd Rhoades snuck the web site up this weekend for testing and wham, it got hit hard with people registering early.

And the DATE is 09/09/10. So September 9^th.

As you will see on the site – our plans have morphed and changed a bit this year. I will also tell you that we keep adding speakers and new plans almost every day. But Todd is headed out on vacation this week and wanted to get something posted before he took off for the hills.

As you will see, you can still participate and attend this Conference for FREE. Just click in there to register and sign up. Last year we broke the registration system but they tell us this year it will work just fine.

We have two other FREEMIUM options for those that want some of the nice extras.

Based on our streaming and survey data we know we had more than 25,000 people watch in 35 countries and six continents last year.

So, join in the fun that day. Register now and there is an easy way to add it to your calendar. And check out the “Host the Nines” option up there on the top menu as well. We had lots of folks have “Nines Parties” last year and we liked that idea so much we are building a whole set of materials just for those that want to do that.

More tomorrow on new wrinkles for #thenines.

Dave Travis

Managing Director

www.twitter.com/davetravis

Links of Interest for the Week

Spoke briefly to Todd Wilson of Exponential this week. They are really gearing up on the 10-10-10 initiative for church planting. They had a big promotion this week. This looks like a really good idea and networks lots of folks interested in Church Planting.

http://101010initiative.org/

An article in Church Executive caught my eye on Women in Church Leadership:

http://churchexecutive.com/archives/churches-lose-strength-when-women-are-excluded-in-leadership

I appreciate all the articles usually in the print version of Church Executive. There is also a regular email you should check out. And they have a fairly new web site here:

http://churchexecutive.com

Apparently Ed Young Jr and my old friend Geoff Surratt were on CNN this week with some video about multi site movement:

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/07/14/virtual.preaching/

And speaking of multi site churches, an article about a church in Illinois taking over a warehouse for a new site:

http://www.galesburg.com/news/x41631636/Warehouse-to-become-satellite-for-church

This young lady is the daughter of one of our former board members. She runs a not for profit called Universal Giving. I love how she is so transparent about her own need to grow as a leader. Here is one of her recent posts:

http://pamelahawley.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/how-this-ceo-needs-to-grow-flow-chart/

I don’t normally point to our own blogs, but this post over at our books blog by Warren Bird on Hispanic Churches is a must read for understanding our shifting US landscape:

http://books.leadnet.org/2010/07/hispanic-churches-in-the-united-states.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+typepad/lnbooks+(Books+%40+Leadership+Network)

I saw a wave of annual reports from churches at the end of last year, but I love the way this church has done a six month vision check in on their blog.

http://blog.buckheadchurch.org/2010/07/15/six-months-

If you have done one for your church, I would love to see it. Please email me the link.

Old friend Doug Lawrence over at Church Central on keeping the relationship strong between pastor and worship leader: http://www.churchcentral.com/blog/3-Ways-to-Have-an-Ideal-Working-Relationship-with-a-Senior-Pastor

I am a Google Chrome user and this was really helpful to maximize the tool:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/use-chrome-like-pro.html

Our research director, Dr. Warren Bird, also sent these along to me.

“This SBC attractional evangelism study might interest you.

http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/BPnews.asp?ID=33294

Note that the used one of my favorite methodologies, which Jim Collins popularized, of comparing an A group with a B group.”

It did interest me. Thanks Warren. I always appreciate good research.

Also: note the “T.D. Jakes Scholars” model of credentialing his staff. It’s the best seminary-connection yet that I’ve read about:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/religion/stories/070810dnmetjakes.1cbf823.html

I agree with Warren and I don’t know why more of our large church clients don’t take this path for training and educating staff. I know there are lots of obstacles to clear with some seminaries but I think the results could be great for both parties and students.

OK, email me with links you think I should see at Dave (dot) Travis@leadnet (dot) org.

And finally for the week: I don’t know the band but I love this album title : What we lose in the fire, we gain in the flood. The Mynabirds.

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

www.twitter.com/davetravis

What I told the School Superintendents – Part 1

Back in April I had the opportunity to talk to a gathering of public school superintendents from across the country. The group, organized by an organization that acts very similarly to Leadership Network, had come to our Dallas Collaboration Studio to talk about Megachurches and to investigate how we do our work.

For more on the group see http://www.schlechtycenter.org/

It was great fun that day. I had fun telling my stories and drawing on the white boards trying to help many of them get their heads around how megachurches help build communities.

Think for a minute – what do you really know about large scale school systems from the inside? We all have impressions, based on perhaps a school system in our own community or something we saw on the news once or twice. Or perhaps one of your parents was a school teacher. (Like my mother) So we see many schools through their lenses.

It’s the same with other “outsiders” when looking at the megachurch movement in the US. They saw something on the news once, or read it in the paper, or perhaps they are a part of A CHURCH that has its own distinctives, but they don’t have a sense of the diversity and breadth of these organizations.

So my task that day was to talk about Leadership in Large Churches and to talk about the practices that could be adapted by schools.

This series of blog posts will try to capture some of the things I dropped on them that day that were a result of our dialog.

The first one is “This is the best time ever to be a leader.”

More on that tomorrow.

 

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

www.twitter.com/davetravis

Links of Interest for the Sevens

Links of Interest for “The Sevens” – 07/07

Hey for those who care, only two more months until “The Nines”. You can see last year’s videos at http://thenines.leadnet.org

More news coming in two weeks about this year’s features.

I thought George Bullard’s Vision Insights were insightful. Free download for now here:

http://columbiapartnership.typepad.com/the_columbia_partnership/2010/07/vision-insights-for-congregations-the-first-75.html#tpe-action-posted-6a010535bfde7e970c01348543fc20970c

I always learn from Amy Sherman and she has an article about Churches responding to sex trafficking in Books and Culture here:

http://www.booksandculture.com/articles/2010/julaug/churchjusticemission.html?paging=off

This was a fascinating article on Trust and Leadership over at Faith and Leadership based on a study of basketball teams:

http://faithandleadership.com/qa/kurt-t-dirks-building-and-restoring-trust

It goes back a month or two but Jonathan Herron sent me his thoughts on Saturday Night Live and how it relates to Church Leadership. Fun stuff. Here is the one on Betty White, the latest darling of the media:

http://jonathanherron.typepad.com/jonathan_herron_dot_com/2010/05/what-your-church-can-learn-from-snls-betty-white-phenomenon.html

A few Large Church stories of interest.

Southland, Lexington becomes latest church to buy a mall:

http://www.kentucky.com/2010/07/04/1335545/southland-christian-to-buy-part.html

Great Story on openness of Idlewild Church in Tampa area for Big Community Events. And great testimony of how lead pastor tries to serve. I find most megachurch pastors to have similar attitudes.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/jul/02/na-pastor-opens-his-heart-and-church/

And a good adoption story about churches in Christianity Today:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/july/11.23.html - and good to see Carla Barnhill’s name on a by line there.

I am going to try and blog on this later but you know all those people that saying hoards of folks are moving back into cities. Well, maybe not.

http://www.newgeography.com/content/001657-the-myth-back-city-migration

That’s enough for now. If you have links to send me, send them on! Or use the comments feature below to add some.

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

www.twitter.com/davetravis

Links of Interest for June 25th, 2010

OK, these are the ones that caught my eye this week:

Here’s one from the Jacksonville Paper about Megachurches and small groups:

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-06-18/story/megachuches-think-small-keep-worshipers-coming-back

It is one of the “sticky points” that keeps people coming back.

More LifeChurch.tv news about their anti porn efforts:

http://www.newsok.com/lifechurch.tv-declares-program-success/article/3469449?custom_click=lead_story_title

Somehow I missed this when it happened but Lifeway had a summit on small groups that is online now. (Video)

http://www.lifeway.com/event/?id=362&CID=RDR-SGSummit

On the church finance front, several items.

This one from Ruben Swint on Capital Campaigns

http://columbiapartnership.typepad.com/the_columbia_partnership/2010/06/the-three-plans-practical-structure-for-successful-capital-campaigns.html

Several on the Giving USA report out earlier this week and its relation to churches:

From Ed Stetzer http://www.edstetzer.com/2010/06/protestant-churches-persevere.html

From The Charis Group http://thecharisgroup.org/2010/06/21/giving-usa-reports-surprise-religious-giving-slightly-declined-in-09/

In a related vein, I enjoyed listening to a podcast about legal issues related to church property here from the Church Law Group: http://churchlawblog.com/?p=384

I follow the various Harvard Business Review blogs, which honestly, are much better than the magazine these days:

Here is the highlight for this week – Storytelling and Strategic Planning

http://blogs.hbr.org/martin/2010/06/strategies-as-happy-stories.html

Our friend DJ Chuang has a mention of two great webinars for this coming Tuesday, unfortunately I am in a meeting all day. Will someone participate and send me a report?

http://djchuang.com/2010/two-for-tuesday-online/

Carlos Whitaker is looking for some new preachers for his ipod and I think the comments here are real interesting:

http://www.ragamuffinsoul.com/2010/06/i-need-a-new-preacher/

I have been wanting to try this service but haven’t got around to it yet. Let’s people pick a time to set up a meeting. Looks interesting. Has anyone used it?

http://www.tungle.me/Home/

I am going to mention a few from the Wall Street Journal, which often get blocked or expire, so if you are interested, go snag them now:

Manute Bol’s Radical Christianity - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704853404575323043046894012.html?mod=djemEditorialPage_h

And for Fun, how not to invest by Dilbert’s Scott Adams:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704025304575285000265955016.html

And I mentioned the Twtpick list last week that we were using to get some suggestions for speakers for THE NINES. It is here and still open for suggestions:

http://twtpick.in/4k

- 35,000 views, 12,500 people commenting, over 400 people suggested.

- But also some bloggers hating it, including Out of Ur, Emerging Mummy to name a few. That’s ok. It’s been a good conversation. Look for more of that this week. Ed Stetzer tries to split the middle and campaigns for friends at his blog. That’s cool too. We weren’t trying to create a kerfuffle but it has served to get us some really new names. So it worked from that standpoint.

It won’t be long until we announce some really big stuff for THE NINES this year. Lots of new ideas we will be trying. So mark your calendars for September 9^th, 2010. Plan for all day too.

That’s enough for a coffee break or two.

Back next week with an Independence Day Edition.

If you have suggestions, send them my way. Just use the comments field below.

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

Follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/davetravis

Or on facebook at www.facebook.com/davetravis

Links of Interest for week of June 18, 2010

OK, these are the links that I lingered over this week:

First off, I have to mention this thing Todd Rhoades, our digital sage, did this week to get input for THE NINES coming this September. The response to this pick list has generated almost 18,000 views in 48 hours AND lots of good suggestions AND almost 6800 people giving an opinion. So, if somehow you have missed it, check it here:

http://twtpick.in/4k

From Mariners Church in California, The Tithe Challenge video

http://vimeo.com/12379124

The Summer Hours idea from Tim Schraeder’s blog. How could I implement this idea?

http://www.timschraeder.com/2010/06/14/summer-hours/

Our friends at LCBC (That is a church which used to be known as Lancaster County Bible Church but is now Lives Changed by Christ) have purchased an old Saturn dealer for a new site:

http://www.yorkdispatch.com/business/ci_15300553

A report in a Canadian paper about research Leadership Network did in Europe on Multi Site churches there:

http://www.bibleleague.ca/news-detail-inter.php?id=172

From Brian Profitt’s blog a story about planting churches based on needs, not demographics:

http://preachingunleashed.com/smart-ministry/90-june-2010/172-church-plant-based-on-need-not-demographics

I thought Kevin Miller’s story over at Christianity Today on “No more don’t ask, don’t tell” was thought provoking.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/buildingleaders/ministrystaff/nomoredontask.html?start=1

Also from CT’s site, John Ortberg puts Paul Heibert’s thoughts on bounded and centered sets in layman’s language. We use this concept a lot at Leadership Network and John does a great job here.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/currenttrendscolumns/leadershipweekly/categoryconfusion.html

And a shout out to the editor over there Marshall Shelley for all his great work at producing these articles.

And finally, some thoughts from Evan McBroom’s blog on focusing not on facts and figures but real lives touched:

http://evanmcbroom.typepad.com/evan_mcbroom_the_other/2010/06/facts-figures-are-boring.html

I will have more next week. Send me some if you think I should see them!

 

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

Follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/davetravis

Or on facebook at www.facebook.com/davetravis

As Promised – Rick Rusaw talk

On Tuesday I interviewed Rick Rusaw, pastor at Lifebridge Church in Longmont, Colorado, along with Eric Swanson about their new book, Externally Focused Quest for THE SHOW. (http://theshow.leadnet.org)

The archive isn’t posted yet but below you will find Rick’s excellent talk from THE NINES last year. More news about this year’s NINES is below.

Eric and Rick have written several books together over the last few years including:

The Externally Focused Church

The Externally Focused Life

and their latest book, The Externally Focused Quest: Becoming the Best Church FOR Your Community.

I personally think it’s the best yet in their series.

 

We are trying an experiment right now for this years “The Nines” that has grown out of control very quickly.

Todd Rhoades, our digital guru, decided to try the new twitpik technology to get input on potential speakers for this year’s big day. You can find the list right here:

http://twtpick.in/4k

About 10,000 people logged into it the first 36 hours or so with more signing on to suggest speakers every day. Go check it out.

Now, enjoy Rick’s talk from last year’s show:

It focuses on “what is the best question as we examine our churches?”

 

You can find all of last year’s presenters at http://thenines.leadnet.org.

Look for more news about this year’s Global Event on 09/09/10 in the next few weeks.

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

Eric Swanson on THE SHOW this week

Want to learn the latest about Externally Focused Churches?

I get to interview Rick Rusaw, Pastor of Lifebridge Church, and Eric Swanson, my colleague at Leadership Network – Tuesday on THE SHOW from Leadership Network.

http://theshow.leadnet.org

Eric and Rick have written several books together over the last few years including:

The Externally Focused Church

The Externally Focused Life

and their latest book, The Externally Focused Quest: Becoming the Best Church FOR Your Community.

 

I personally think it’s the best yet in their series.

I will interview both authors on THE SHOW, 4 p.m. Eastern time on June 15th.

And there will be time for some questions and answers as well so please join us.

 

In addition to the interview I will point you to the recent video from our SAGE Conference last month featuring Eric talking about how he would share the gospel differently as opposed to 30 years ago.

 

 

And yes, he really is a giant.

Don’t forget to join us at http://theshow.leadnet.org

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network