This week’s Church Leader Insider is a bit different. This is part 1 and part 2 will come at you in two weeks.
PLUS we have a special new feature – 7 Questions in 7 Minutes. See that audio below.
Last year I read Won’t Lose this Dream: How an Upstart University Rewrote the Rules of a Broken System by Andrew Gumbel. Every page spoke to me about how churches can rewrite the rules to reach new audiences in new ways.
This is not a religious book or centered on a religious college. On the contrary, it is about a large, public, urban university with 74% of the students that are people of color. In the last fifteen years, graduation rates have risen 74% as well. There are over 54,000 students and over 10,000 staff. While that seems high, remember that the population turns over every year among both those constituencies.
This is the first of a two-part bullet point brief on the learnings from that book. I encourage you to read the book and share your own learnings with me over the next month before I share part two.
After both parts, I will have a special resource for readers.
Here is some relevant background: Georgia State University sits smack in downtown Atlanta. The full disclosure for me is that my mother attended there in the 1950s. A few very well-known Atlanta pastors of large churches are also graduates, though in the 1980s. [I will let you guess] I went to school a few miles away at Georgia Tech. [Which also has some prominent graduates that lead churches.]
Gumbel is a British-born investigative reporter who spent significant time interviewing the key players, following students over time, and talking with other education experts.
Here are a few of the obvious learnings, in bullet point format.
It takes a transformative, long-term leader AND team.
You need longevity to do transformative things. The president, Mark Becker, came in 2009 and knew it would take work.
The president had other opportunities to leave for bigger and better but committed to seeing it through.
He brought in another leader, Tim Renick – to get the staff focused on Student Success and guide the team. He committed to stick as well.
The board and larger governmental sponsors bought into the transformation.
If you are familiar with universities, planning processes are not easy. But they had a broad 5-part plan. If something related to one of those five things, it got rewarded; if not, ignored.
Multidimensional chess – each college and grad school had their own vested interest which they tried to protect. The team had to work around and through that.
Steady guidance and pressure on the whole system every time period.
Learnings: If you really want to turn around an established organization, you have to stick with it and have a partner that can help absorb the pain. But stay with it. Hard calls, hard conversations. Watch for the various vested interests blocking the way. Stay at it and keep pressure on constant, not intermittent.
It decided to play in a different league.
In Georgia, it is a “Research Class University” – the highest level. But it is not Georgia Tech or the University of Georgia or the Medical School.
It is an access university. How can we talk to those that are poor, marginal, but have some ambition and help them get a college education?
Instead of playing the admissions game to “improve quality” (higher test scores) – they focused on a different audience. Those that desired an education but didn’t qualify for an elite school.
60% are poor enough to get a Pell Grant. They have 3 times more Pell grant recipients than the entire Ivy League.
It is the largest student population in the state by a wide margin.
“Let’s play in a different league, the most innovative league (currently number 2 or 3).”
How can we serve the student that is seen as marginal to help them succeed?
Learnings: The play for many churches is to reach those NOT typically reached by a church. That is not class or income-related, but the distance from Christ. But to reach them, you can’t play by traditional rules. One does this by measuring yourself against the right peer group and comparison cases.
3. Mindset – these kids can prevail.
If given the right resourcing and encouragement a student can prevail.
They have the desire but they need some special encouragement.
They have motivation but can’t rely solely on self-motivation.
We adjust to meet their needs, not the faculty’s needs or administrator’s needs, or the institution’s needs.
Learnings: Church leaders often fail to see the potential of those that come from much rougher backgrounds than themselves. This is why those that come from very modest to poor backgrounds often have large churches. They can see the potential in those that are from humble and troubling circumstances. How are you encouraging those with lower motivation? How are you providing needed encouragement personally to each?
4. Most universities are built around the needs of the faculty and they had to make it all about the student being successful – which meant a 6-year graduation rate.
That meant course sequences, class schedules had to change
Formed “Learning Communities” of 25 freshmen for mentoring and supplemental instruction
Had to really push hard to get “traditional faculty” on board
Not all students are ready for college but how are we ready for them? Change our understanding
Learnings: Many church ministries are built around the needs of the staff, not the congregants. Often pastors also fall into this trap, planning meetings and sessions around their own preferences, schedules, and desires rather than thinking about the needs of attendees and volunteers. Often the hardest to change are those who are tenured and feel comfortable with what worked early in their tenure but is not working now.
Putting groups of people with similar needs, interests, passions is great. But the task is to resource, challenge, and help them walk closer to Jesus as well. Church staff often feel they are not moving ahead with people because they seemingly have to teach and guide people in the same paths that they covered a few years ago. Not everyone gets it on the first go-round.
See the new audio feature after the ad.
My business continues to grow thanks to referrals from friends like you. I am grateful to you.
Some tell me: “You need to get out there more. More speaking, more promotion, more photos with prominent pastors, more social brag posts. You have good stuff but no one knows you.”
Several of my good friends have excellent marketing. They are out front with frequent emails, social media posts, webinars, and the like. One of my good friends is now even publishing a magazine to hold some of his content and others. Admittedly, I read it all. And all that is great for them, but it’s not me.
My choice is to stay background, behind-the-scenes, make the client the hero mentality.
I choose to spend significant time with each client in a deep relationship helping them do meaningful things needed for their situation.
I focus on three core areas: Pastor Smart Succession, Building Better Boards, and Storycrafting for Church Strategy. I do some things in partnership as well on Residencies and Interns but my core is focused.
Rarely do I speak about my prominent clients or have my pictures made with any of them. I do very few public events. Part of that is I just don’t take the time to develop lots of speaking and promotional materials as others do. Instead, I want to laser-focus my work on you, my prospective clients.
At some time I want to come alongside you and your church as well. Let’s find a way to work together.
The New 7 Questions in 7 Minutes - Scott Wilson
7 Questions in 7 Minutes or less is the new feature in the GREAT THINGS GOD HAS DONE podcast.
It allows you to hear from the featured guest a lighter side of their story before diving into the full interview.
This week check out both at Great Things God Has Done.
The second part of this summary of Won’t Lose this Dream: How an Upstart University Rewrote the Rules of a Broken System will appear a few weeks from now. But for those of you that are readers, go dive deep into it to be inspired and translate the learnings to your situation.
The author has agreed to be a guest at one of our Senior Pastor Happy Hour calls soon. To apply for an invitation, reach out to Linda.Stanley@generis.com.