836 words … about a three minute read … enjoy!
A couple of weeks ago, I spent three days in southern California with some senior pastors of rapidly growing churches. We were accompanied by mentors, Larry Osborne (North Coast Church) and Chad Moore (Sun Valley Community Church). It was a reunion of sorts. A year earlier to the day, we had gathered for our first meeting, that time in Atlanta.
At dinner the first night one of the leaders suddenly said in response to an incoming ESPN alert, “Wow, this is getting serious.” His notification indicated that the NCAA March Madness tournament would be conducted without fans.
By the time we gathered the following morning, it became clear that we were now in a pandemic and not only would college basketball be without fans in stands, churches would be without worshipers in sanctuaries. And the “what would you do if” scenario planning typical of these gatherings turned to reality TV tactics for how to get online by Sunday, just five days later.
Churches scrambled to figure out how to stream, how to Zoom and how to be the church in the midst of a pandemic. And they rose to the occasion. We saw more innovation and adaptation in the first few weeks of this crisis then we’d seen in the last decade. Suddenly video preaching was effective, online campuses were real churches and true community happened virtually. We sighed with relief, and patted ourselves on the back. We were going to weather the storm.
And, in many cases, we certainly have. Some things have gotten better. The vaccines are rolling out providing not only some physical protection from the virus but also some sense of mental relief after a year of isolation for many. Depending on what part of the country you are in, restrictions on physical gatherings have loosened. Unless something unprecedented (anyone but me grown weary of that word?) happens in the next 10 days, many will gather in person for worship on Easter Sunday. Not to mention that as I write, I am recovering from a weekend of almost 24/7 watching of March Madness.
I digress … back to the gathering of senior pastors. The common themes of those conversations were measures of gratitude for surviving, even thriving, and also a commitment to press forward into the uncertainties that remain. They spoke of shifts in their understanding of what the most important drivers for ministry were. They dreamed about what opportunities were available as a result of, not in spite of, the challenges of the last year.
More after this commercial break …
The Power of Peer Learning
Dave and I were profoundly impacted by Bob Buford, the founder of Leadership Network, where we each served over 20 years. Bob contributed many things to the kingdom, but perhaps his greatest gift was the introduction of the peer learning model. There is significant power in the gathering of true peers that leads to leader and organizational health and accelerated results.
I will be launching the following two new peer learning opportunities in the coming weeks and months.
LeadWell Senior Pastor Coaching Group
Join with a group of large church senior pastors of growing churches for a one year experience that includes a mixture of in person gatherings, video resource calls, personal and professional coaching and access to some of the leading senior pastors as mentors.
Executive Pastor Weekly Forum
Join other large church executive pastors for a weekly zoom forum where we talk about the questions that are on your mind. This forum is co-hosted with Generis consultant, Jon Wright with frequent contributions from Dave as well.
Both experiences are invitation only. Apply for an invitation to these space limited opportunities by sending an email to daniel@ligongroup.com.
So, what is the biggest difference I’ve seen happen over the last year?
Based on my conversations with these leaders and many others across the country this last year, if pressed to find a word that most fully captures the difference this year has made in the life of the church and the character of her leaders, I would choose two (editorial privilege) - posture and resilience.
Posture
In a world of church that has been highly dominated the last several decades by a platform driven church (see Dave’s earlier article From Platform to Pastoral here), the lack of ability to gather has right-sized the dependence on the facility and weekend worship attendance as a measure of attendance. In its place, has emerged a posture of dependence on the maker over the model. There has been a shift in the oftentimes risk averse attitude of “we’ve got this figured out” to a posture of engaging faith that takes risks, tries new things, pivots (another tired but important 2020 word) toward what is effective and away from what is not.
Resilience
For those that know me, you know that Seth Godin is one of my favorite commentators on culture and leadership. He is most known for his marketing genius, but his way of seeing provides some incredibly wise insight. This week he had this to say about the second word, resilience.
“The world is going to change, and resilience is our best response.
It’s not about building things that always turn out the way we expect. Bulletproof is too expensive, too rigid and requires perfect knowledge of the future.
Resilience is a commitment to a design, an attitude and a system that works even when things don’t turn out the way we planned. Especially then.
Instead of designing for the best case scenario, we make the effort to consider how our work thrives when the best case doesn’t arrive. Because that’s far more likely.
Sailors know that fixing on a point on the horizon is a good way to survive a storm.
Flexibility, community, and a sense of possibility can go a long way. That doesn’t make it easier, but it’s our best path forward.”1
The world is going to change - of that we can be certain. Leaders that will survive and thrive will develop the resilience muscle that includes a sense of flexibility, collaboration and possibility. And they will fix their eyes on the horizon which is the author and perfecter of our faith - Jesus.
What’s the biggest difference you have experienced this year? Welcome your comments!
Schedule a free call to talk about your current situation or predicament by sending an email to greg.ligon@generis.com.
Bonus - Start Strong: XP Edition
(TOMORROW, March 25 @ 11:30 CST)
A multi-topic, high-level briefing tailored specifically for executive pastors who are ready to move beyond surviving and into thriving. This exclusive one day event is being led by Generis' Effective Ministry Team.
REGISTER HERE
Thanks for reading and sharing.
Greg
https://seths.blog/2021/03/resilience-3/