Over the last decade I have read dozens of business leadership books. Two are at the top of the list for impact on my pastoral career.
Good to Great by Jim Collins
The One Thing You Need to Know by Marcus Buckingham

Collins has written another book that holds promise for potential impact. I found the following review about his new book. Hope to pick it up soon and give it a read.

In his newest title, How the Mighty Fall, Jim Collins peers into the causes underlying the decline of greatness. In light of our economic plight, one of Collins' observations loudly rings true. He identifies the "undisciplined pursuit of more" as a key stage in the breakdown of a once-mighty business or nation. In doing so, he makes three points worthy of a closer look.

1) Fear Excessive Ambition More Than Idleness

In examining the histories of companies that regressed from great to good, Collins expected complacency or loss of initiative to be a common denominator. Instead, research showed the reverse to be true. As opposed to laziness, "Overreaching much better explains how the once-invincible self-destruct."

Collins points to Rubbermaid to illustrate. In the mid-'90s Rubbermaid committed itself to introducing a new product every day of the year. Although the company won acclaim for innovation, it abandoned cost discipline along the way. In its efforts to develop thousands of new products, Rubbermaid lost its grip on core competencies and eventually sunk into bankruptcy.

2) Do Not Confuse Growth with Excellence

Collins recounts Merck's decline as a cautionary tale of a company who floundered after pursuing a growth-above-all strategy. In 1995, Merck chose growth as its number one organizational objective. Chasing the holy grail of growth, Merck bet heavily on the success of prescription drug, Vioxx at the turn of the century. Bent on expansion, Merck neglected to investigate troubling data on the cardiovascular risks associated with Vioxx. As time went on, concerns about Vioxx became undeniable. Merck did voluntarily pull Vioxx off the shelves, but not before the company had taken a massive PR hit and had suffered a $15 billion drop in market value.

As Collins observes,

"The greatest leaders do seek growth - growth in performance, growth in distinctive impact, growth in creativity, growth in people - but they do not succumb to growth that undermines long-term value. And they certainly do not confuse growth with excellence. Big does not equal great, and great does not equal big."

3) You Grow Only as Fast as You Can Attract the Right People

More often than not, the attempt of a business to grow its operations becomes its undoing. In the words of David Packard, "More companies die of indigestion than of starvation." Why? Most companies don't bring in the right personnel to handle an uptick in business, and they go under as a result. Growth must be staffed with the talent.

Drawing inspiration from HP's co-founder, Collins and his team coined Packard's Law: "No company can consistently grow revenues faster than its ability to get enough of the right people to implement that growth and still become a great company." Internally motivated, self-disciplined people are the foundation for growth. Without them, new business ventures collapse.

Summary

In another groundbreaking leadership text, How the Mighty Fall, Jim Collins has hit upon a root cause of organizational / societal decline: The Undisciplined Pursuit of More. To maintain a healthy sense of discipline, leaders ought to be wary of the hazards of excessive ambition. In a similar vein, leaders must put growth in perspective. Bigger isn't necessarily better. Finally, leaders would be wise to realize that growth has to be fueled by the right people. Otherwise, the expansionist urge will bleed an organization of its resources.

While on the topic of good books - may I ask:

What was the last good book that you read?

When did you read it?

Homecoming and Memorial Service

Sunday, June 7th, was the 130th Anniversary Homecoming and Memorial Service at Neighbors Grove Wesleyan Church. This service was a testament of God's faithfulness and His desire to continue to use this congregation to reach the Asheboro area with the gospel.

Attendance was 168. Our average attendance for the recent months is around 105. These figures compare to a mid 80s average for the summer months last year. The service had high energy and the sense of the Spirit's presence in our midst. Overall, I felt this was a great day for the church as we near the half way point in our intentional interim journey.

Rev. Luke Jackson, a young man who grew up in the church and who now serves as the Student Ministries Pastor at Mt Zion Wesleyan Church in Thomasville, was our guest speaker. His sister, Creath, and the church choir provided the special music. Luke's message centered on the nature of the God to whom the church prays. I thought this served as a great connection to the intentional interim emphasis of giving the church back to God (signified with the signing of a title deed giving God ownership).

I especially appreciated the closing prayer that Luke prayed over his home church.
"May God give you wet eyes, a broken heart and a bended knee.
May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done. Amen."

Changes to the NGWC Scorecard

In our recent discussions focused on being a missional church we have been using Reggie McNeal’s definition: The people of God partnering with God in His redemptive mission in the world.

During the Mission Possible Pizza Party the Transition Team asked the participants to rate NGWC on a scale of 1 to 10 for having a missional mindset using the above definition. The average rating was 3.6. The participants were then asked to set a goal for where the church should be a year from now. The rating for this goal was 6.5 using the 1 to 10 scale. In other words, a desire for improvement was indicated.

Knowing that this will require the church to change the way some things are done, the Transition Team proposed some changes to the church scorecard. One of the best ways to change behavior is to change what gets counted, to change the scorecard. The L.B.A. agreed to the proposals and yesterday they were presented to the congregation.

1) To nurture a culture in our community of faith in which the importance of mission is continually present the following expectation is implemented throughout the church:

Every Sunday School class and other small group ministry is to have at least two designated “servant evangelism” or “missional” projects per year.

2) Realizing that a missional mindset flows primarily out of our individual lifestyles into the community culture we need a way to have accountability with one another. Therefore, adults and youth attending Sunday School are asked to respond weekly to three questions for the next four months and that the totals be shared with the congregation as a whole.

How many conversations were transformed into spiritual conversations?
How much time was spent in prayer for spiritual needs or blessing others?
How much time was given in individual volunteer service?

Can you think of other changes that a church could make to the scorecard that would emphasize a missional mindset throughout the congregation?

Is Your Church Sending or Sent?

Many churches are "missionary" minded. They have large faith promise budgets and consider themselves a "sending" church as they prayerfully and financially support international and national missionaries. They receive reports and hear testimonies of what God is doing "over there" as the missionaries live and work cross culturally. These missionaries are valuable instruments in God's plan of reaching the whole world with the gospel. Yes, churches should be "sending".

Regrettably, fewer churches have a "missional" mindset. These churches see themselves as a "sent" church. They prayerfully and financially support the efforts of the local missionary members of their congregation. They receive reports and hear testimonies of what is doing "around here" as these missionaries live and work in their own culture. These missionaries are just as valuable instruments in God's plan of reaching the whole world with the gospel as those missionaries who leave home in vocational ministry positions.

In my opinion, congregations should ask themselves two questions:
Is our church a "sending" people that supports the spread of the gospel "over there"?
Is our church a "sent" people that encourages the spread of the gospel "around here?

It is only when both questions are answered with a "yes" answer that a church has fully joined with God in His mission of reaching the whole world with the good news of the gospel.

"Baby Steps" Aren't Baby Steps to Babies

Have you ever heard a baby say, "Look at me, I'm taking baby steps!"? I know - babies walk before they talk real well. So what do we adults mean when we talk about taking baby steps?

Recently our Transition Team was discussing what "baby steps" could be taken by the congregation in order for us to move toward a more missional mindset in the church. As we were talking I was thinking - what would be easy for us to do? Later I realized that "baby steps" are small but never easy.

In fact, "baby steps" are more frightening to babies than adult steps are to adults. Have you ever noticed how a baby holds on to anything and everything when they are learning to walk. They have a fear of falling and don't like the pain of hitting the floor.

Leaders must remember this reality. Baby steps are frightening to anyone who has never walked before. If we are to help our followers to walk on their own we must hold their hand firmly enough that they know we will not let them hurt themselves if they are less than successful in their efforts. And we must offer enough encouragement that their courage will be strong enough to take the risk.

When was the last time you helped someone take some "baby steps" to venture out and try something new and different?

Becoming Part of the Answer to Your Prayers

Recently while visiting an "eating restaurant" as my wife likes to call them (not sure what other kind of restaurants there are) I engaged the server in conversation and built up enough re pore that I was comfortable popping the question that I ask people as a believer on mission with God. "How can I pray for you?"

I explained to the server that I would be blessing my food and would like to bless him in prayer and that I would pray for any special needs that he might have. His response, "That I have a good night here at the restaurant and that the tips are good."

He left and I bowed my head to pray. I prayed for my food and then prayed for Jim to have a good night, get some good tips and that he would remember to give God the thanks for them. In that moment I realized that I had to be part of the answer to my own prayer.

I have heard all my life that we needed to be willing to be part of the answer to our prayers. And here it was coming true. This old tight wad was going to have to lay out some serious cash so that Jim would know that God really does love him.

Don't know if I will ever see Jim again on earth. But it would thrill my socks off (if we wear socks in heaven) to have Jim come up to me in heaven and tell me about a night in an Applebee's restaurant when he got one step closer to Jesus because this old guy prayed for him to have a good night and he had the best night of his serving career.

Are you praying for people to get one step closer to Jesus? Are you willing to become part of the answer to your prayers?

Sins of Omission

One definition of sin that Wesleyans like is "a willful transgression of a known law". Where do sins of omission fit into this definition? They don't! But whether you are Wesleyan or not, you may find yourself struggling to admit it when you sin by your failure to do something.

Why do we have this struggle? I believe it is because sins of omission are never deliberate or intentional. Therefore, we tend to excuse them as "lesser" offenses and just sweep them under the proverbial rug. Recently I failed a brother through a sin of omission. I battled the conviction to go and to ask for forgiveness by justifying myself. It was just an oversight. I would do better next time.

I did ask the brother to forgive me. He had even felt offended and seemed a bit surprised by my request to be forgiven. So was my conscience just overly sensitive? Did I get all bothered for nothing? I don't think so! First, I was trying to obey the Lord! Obedience, even perceived, is a good thing. Second, I imagine that my confession will help me to be more alert the next time I am in a similar situation so that the same omission does not occur again.

When was the last time that you felt conviction over a sin of omission? How did you deal with it?