Jennifer Kay Smith
in love with creativity & its sourceArchive for willowcreek
Reveal conference
The REVEAL conference came about after Willowcreek took a deep look at whether they were really helping people grow closer to Christ. They created a survey that helped measure people’s hearts instead of gauging their spiritual growth by their outward involvement.
Over 500 churches took the survey and it has helped hundreds of churches make course corrections in how they disciple adults. We went to learn how this tool might help Stillwater improve our structures & systems.
- Our goal is to catalyze how people truly grow closer to Christ
- It’s all about love. Love of God and love of people
- How do you measure someone’s heart?
- It would be nice to scan people’s hearts as they enter sanctuary, but we can’t. So we create services, teach classes, do small groups, extend care and serve. We tend to think if we get people participating in those activities, then we’ve produced more disciples.
- We think through the lens of activity
- But people who are minimally involved can have huge hearts for people while those very involved can have a small heart for God
- It’s about intimacy, not activity
There are four kinds of people in our churches…
- Exploring Christ - I believe in God but I’m not sure about Jesus
- Growing in Christ - I’m working on what this all means
- Close to Christ – I depend on Jesus daily for guidance
- Christ-Centered – Jesus is the most important relationship in my life
Bill Hybels
- Most people go to conference so they’ll have affirmed what they’re already doing. This conference will encourage you to overturn the apple cart at your church. Are people truly growing closer to Christ?
- They found that engagement with the Bible most often helped people move forward
- What do we do that helps people move from minimal engagement to maximum engagement with the Bible?
- Serving opportunities for brand new explorers help immensely
- The toughest chasm for people to move from is Close to Christ to Christ-Centered
Greg Hawkins
Top 5 Findings from REVEAL study:
- Reading & reflecting on the Bible is the most powerful catalyst for individual spiritual growth
- Developing core Christian beliefs is crucial for those in the early stages of spiritual growth
- Personal spiritual practices are the building blocks for a Christ-centered life
- Serving is the most catalytic experience offered by churches
- Spiritual community is vital and migrates from Organized to Organic
What do people want from the church?
- Help me understand the Bible in greater depth 87%
- Help me develop a relationship with Christ 86%
- Provide strong programs for children 85%
- Challenge me to grow and take next steps 83%
- Provide compelling worship services 80%
David Loveless from Discovery Church in Orlando
- If you don’t reinvent your church every 3-5 years, you’ll be irrelevant in the 21st century
- Help people evaluate where they are
- Your people should be able to draw your discipleship map and explain it to others
- Senior pastor must drive the survey – if they buy in, everyone else will too
Difference between Good & Great Reveal Churches
- Get people moving – set high expectations – give obvious first steps
- Embed the Bible in everything & everyone – accessible through classes, online
- Create ownership – body of Christ – train people to lead & disciple others
- Pastor the local community – figure out needs of community & meet those needs
- Bottom line is a leader who is consumed with making disciples
Weekend Worship Experiences
- Many people are bored with their current spiritual experiences when they walk in our doors
- If we’re to get the weekends right, it starts with us getting in the authentic presence of God
- Make it accessible to people, no matter where they are in their journey
- How can we facilitate moments of cooperation with the Holy Spirit?
- Worship is not about observing God, it’s about experiencing God
- People will know if the leadership does worship just to do it or if it’s authentically who they are
- In worship, we honor God, the Bible, and people
- Worship is taking people from the front porch to the altar
- Worship leaders are on a platform, not a stage. Stages are built for performance. Platforms are built for influence.
- Are you providing an atmosphere where as many people as possible can have an experience with God?
Creating Ownership
- (Front of Tshirt) I don’t go to church (Back) I am the church
- Cancel worship services sometime and send people into community to be the church
- Give the church away – give power away
- Sometimes we think if we just meet people’s needs, they’ll become disciples
- We can become enablers
John Ortberg
- We admire Michael Phelps, but we’re not his disciples
- An admirer approves, a follower obeys
- Jesus taught to 2 groups in Matthew – one group was impressed with Jesus, the other group felt something deep in them awaken and say, “I could do that, I can help, I must do this”
- We’re trying to move people from an admirer of Jesus to a follower – requires a cost many don’t want to pay
- The process to knowing Jesus in the NT: Strangers to Jesus –> Admirers –> Users (use Jesus to get to heaven and that’s it) –> Followers
- The New Testament uses the word Christian twice – uses disciple 268 times
- It’s easier to make a Christian than a disciple
Three Kinds of Faith
- Public convictions: Things I say because I want you to think I believe them
- Private convictions: Things I actually say I believe, but when situation changes, I didn’t actually believe them
- Core convictions: Things I believe by what I actually do
- In Jesus, all three of these match
and done. 
Gifted to Lead
You know that feeling when your brain can’t take one more bit of information because you can’t physically store it anywhere? Your brain doesn’t know how to organize it or move forward because there’s so much in there?
I’m there.
I got to attend Gifted to Lead: The Art of Leading in the Church as a Woman yesterday. Great day. Great women. Lots of good stuff to lean into and flesh out.
Today we were at Willowcreek for the Reveal conference. Continues tomorrow. Taking a deep look at how our churches help people move from interested in Christ to a deeply committed disciple.
Highlights from Gifted to Lead…
Growing Up a Leader
- Young girls with the gift of leadership can be described as bossy. But boys are described as active and agressive. Girls are more verbal when they’re younger. It’s the line between being strong but likable. Females get confused about how to be assertive yet kind.
- The fear of men & women working closely together has kept people from great tasks & ministries
- There is something very powerful about having your gift named. YOU are a leader.
- Do you have zero ego? Make room for people to use their gifts
- I have to put my call on the altar of community
- Can I receive criticism in a way that provokes growth?
- What is the size of the obstacle it will take to stop you?
Vision of Your Calling
- My vision of leadership must be bigger than my place & situation
- The world needs my gift
- My gift should energize me and bring me joy most of the time
- When you lead well, you will face obstacles
- Stop being surprised that leadership is hard. It’s 80% perserverence
- Fight hard to be the leader God called you to be
- God is the source of my gift
- We must tap into people’s desires to have an impact on their world
- We have great power in our verbiage when we communicate vision
Self-Awareness
- Try to get very clear on who God made you to be and who God didn’t make you to be
- The most difficult person to lead will always be yourself
- Look around you…no one looks like you. Then why do we always try to copy others?
- Do I have a settled understanding of who I am?
- The more comfortable I get with my brokenness, the easier it is to be self-aware
Communication
- Learn the right kind of talking back
- Communicate strongly in order to clarify, direct, encourage, admonish, apologize, envision
- Learn how to speak more, be stronger in your voice
- But maybe your challenge is to speak less and speak better
- Be gracious in your listening, but firm in your decision
- If you have to say something difficult, start from making observations and asking questions
- What am I afraid of? We’re afraid our voice won’t be heard.
- If you do not give yourself a chance to make mistakes, your leadership will be capped
- We must become very comfortable with making mistakes
Managing Power
- Get comfortable saying “I’m sorry, I made a mistake, I dropped the ball, I need help, I don’t know, what do you think?”
- When we handle conflict well, we own our power, collaborate, create momentum, equip & empower, deal directly with issues & people
- Compromise is mutually agreed upon medicority
Creating a Rhythm of Life that Works
- What’s one thing you’re going to take out of your schedule and one thing you’re going to add?
- Henry Cloud: Three things change people – grace, truth & time
- In the majority of life, there is not a right or wrong answer
- There are transitions & then there are seasons
- If you don’t intentionally think about your life after marriage & kids, you’ll gravitate to more traditional roles
- Sometimes you have to lower your standards in different seasons of life
- What do you need to breathe life into you?
- Jesus never journaled
- My heart bursts when I reflect on how much I love my husband & family. That’s the tip of the ice burg of how much God loves me
Leaning into your Tribe
- We are mean to the very women we worship next to on Sunday morning
- We envy the most in the places we feel the most vulnerable
- In the church, we don’t always celebrate the number of options open to women
- There are countless ways to do life – stop criticizing other women’s choices
- Believe the best about other women
- Get over our insecurities
Mentoring & Leaving a Leadership Legacy
- Don’t need a big curriculum – just hang out time
- They want to hear your stories & talk about situations
- Leaders like chaos. Administrators clean it up & sequence it
- Our community needs every valued gift
- We make heroes out of people with certain kinds of gifts
- Every spiritual gift is a reflection of God
- To develop leaders: give them opportunities, challenges & relationships
whew…
Leadership Summit day 1
Bill Hybels – The High Drama of Decision Making
This is part of what leaders do: they make very tough calls
Do you have a process for how you arrive at a decision?
Traditionally, Christian leaders ask these four questions:
1. What does the Bible say about this?
2. What would smart advisors say I should do?
3. P/G/E. What have I learned from the pain of past decisions, the gains and the experiences?
4. What is the Spirit prompting? (there will be peace at your core even on big decisions)
Make a trial decision. Imagine life with the decision made. Is there life and peace or worry and anxiety? You still have time to change the decision.
Journaling helps to chronicle your past decision processes.
If it’s a good decision, thank God/advisors/everyone. If it’s a bad decision, don’t blame anyone. Take the hit. Bear the consequences.
Staying clear about your own responsibility for the poor decisions you make is what keeps the learning intensity so high in your life.
Colin Powell: Promote a clash of ideas. Reward your performers. Get rid of non-performers.
How much energy do you waste trying to take care of non-performers?
Vision leaks. People are like a bucket that has holes in the bottom. It slowly leaks. A leader has to keep pouring vision into people.
Get the right people around the decision-making table, bolt the doors and God WILL speak.
As the senior leader, do you REALLY believe these problems are solvable?
If you have committed Christians, you’ll change the world. You can’t change your block with status quo people who still want God to bless what they want to do.
When something feels funky, engage. When a problem in the church is brewing, don’t believe the lie that problems go away if unattended. Unattended problems grow fangs & claws.
Gary Haugen – Leadership that Actually Matters
Gary is a lawyer who was in charge of the UN’s investigation in the Rwanda genocide. He has established the International Justice Mission.
Just because I’m leading and people are following doesn’t mean I’m leading them in things that matter to God.
Are Jesus and I interested in the same things?
What is God truly passionate about? The world & justice.
The most difficult thing for people to believe about faith is the idea that God is good, because they’re in so much pain.
What is God’s plan for making it believable that God is good? The Bible says we’re the plan. God doesn’t have another plan.
How are people in Dayton supposed to believe God is good?
Did you know there are 2 million children held in forced prostitution right now?
Leading in the struggle against brutal & massive injusice feels intimidating. Sometimes most of us would rather lead people in things that are cheerful, safe and happy. That is not when leadership matters. People will take care of themselves in easy & happy things. Leadership matters precisely when they calling seems hard and tough.
How do we lead when the calling of God feels hopeless?
- recenter your focus on hope
- if God is passionate about getting it done, God is also responsible for getting it done
- Jesus didn’t ask for what was needed, just asked for what disciples had. Give it to him so he can do the miracle.
- Sometimes God is calling you to lead in a work that seems hopeless
How do we lead when the task seems scary?
- Jesus did not come to make us safe, he came to make us brave
- If my life feels safe, I should check to make sure I’m actually following Jesus
- Leaders can liberate people from living a life of making safe bets
- The saddest thing is going on the trip but missing the adventure
- Jesus says: “Follow me beyond your strength, competency, the crowd and you will experience GOD, wisdom, love, power…
How do we lead when it’s hard?
1. Choose not to be safe
- Do we have a life’s work that we can’t imagine doing for 30 minutes without prayer – if not, maybe we need a new life’s work.
2. Choose to seek deep spiritual health
- I won’t survive this if I don’t know what God knows about pain & suffering
- I KNOW I don’t have wisdom & clarity on my own
- If you want to ignite passion & purpose in people’s devotional life, then lead them on a more demanding climb where its unsafe to go without God
3. Choose to seek excellence
- We spiritualize mediocrity
- Reset the bar of excellence
- Flourish under transparency and accountability
4. Choose to seize joy
- The first thing to disappear when spiritual joy departs is laughter
- It should make us laugh every day to see God employ goofy people like us
- God is making his appeal to the world through us. That should strike us as funny.
- Lead others in celebration, feasting, good cheer, playing, recreation, hilarious generosity
- The JOY of the Lord is our strength
Wendy Kopp – Teach for America
Big dog leaders have huge visions and stick with them for a long time
We are so consumed with building churches, fighting AIDS that we look right over the injustice of the education system right here in the US
Great leaders have something that burns inside of them. It’s easy to be a leader if you’re pursuing something you deeply care about.
Our biggest asset can be inexperience. We have no idea it’s a crazy idea.
