How a Mere 18 Inches Can Start a Counter-Culture Revolution

by: Bryan Rose

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Look at this picture. What do you notice?

These guys that change oil and rotate tires made a small adjustment to their store that could also make a big difference in a first-time guest’s perception of your church:

They came out from behind the counter. 

By turning the computer screens around and standing next to the customer, a type of counter-culture revolution started. According to the mechanic, without the physical barrier in front he feels more connected to each customer and a higher level of trust exists, as they can see what he sees on the computer screen.

And who does not need more trust from their mechanic?

Most churches need a revolution from the “counter-culture” as well. Moving about 18 inches out from behind the typical welcome center desk…

… communicates readiness. Removing the barrier helps host team members feel more accessible to someone new, almost as if guests were actually expected. Take a walk around your church hallways or lobby. Which counters are ripe for removal and which should reside against the wall?

… forces simplicity. Church communications clutter diminishes when it can no longer hide in cabinets or shelves under the counter. Take a look at everything on and behind your welcome desk. Thinking next steps, ask yourself: What are the one or two most important pieces of information a guest needs right now?

… builds intention. Volunteers who are not standing behind a counter move from a passive posture and naturally become more engaged with their surroundings. Take an evening and schedule some training. What skills and practices will help lead your host team members from reactive welcoming into proactive hospitality?

Counters are great when dispensing a product in coffee shops and fast-food restaurants. However, even tire stores can see the relational benefit of moving out from behind desks to serve and engage people where they are.

Isn’t it time to start a counter-culture revolution in your church?

Would you like to know about how your environment can be more engaging? Connect with an Auxano Navigator and start a conversation with our team.

Tags: Bryan Rose, Communication, Counter-Culture Revolution, Welcome, Welcome Center Desk

| What is MyVisionRoom? > | Back to Communication >

5 Reasons You Need to Take a Global Missions Trip

by: Bryan Rose

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Local church ministry can be the most demoralizing and challenging, yet amazingly fulfilling and rewarding, of callings. Regularly placed near the bottom of any ranked list of occupations, pastoring well requires consistent time away to recharge and reconnect with your family and, especially, with God. Most pastors take regular vacations, often for multiple weeks in a row to get beyond the “Next Sermon Syndrome” that comes with only one Sunday “off the clock.” Other times away for church leaders include conferences, sabbaticals or retreats that provide encouragement and engagement away from tending to congregational needs.

After just experiencing a week away, on a short-term trip with my middle-school-aged daughter, I have come to appreciate the sense of rest and refreshment that only time-off working-in global missions can provide.

Having served as a pastor in local church ministry, I feel the need to clarify that I am not referring to the touristic hotel-based “video shoot with village kids” mission trips that some pastors take. I am talking about the heavy-lifting, funky-smelling, dudes-snoring on bunk beds mission trip in which you actually put your hands to the plow of the Great Commission. One of those short-term trips when you get on the plane and realize that the longest week you could have imagined flew by in a blur of constructive activity, cross-cultural relationships and deeply meaningful conversations.

What if we seek the ease of white sand on a cool ocean breezed beach, when the right perspective on how God has called us to live can only come with the weight of wet concrete in a rusted-out wheelbarrow on a steep, bumpy dirt path. 

Here are five reasons every leader needs to regularly take a short-term global missions trip:

1. Leading well requires occasional opportunities for following.

Short-term mission opportunities give Type-A leaders a chance to just do “whatever” needs to be done, without the burden of figuring-out what that “whatever” is. Much can be learned from stepping back and willfully, sometimes forcefully, not being the solutions and planning point person for a few days. If you always have to be the leader, and avoid any situation where you are not in complete control, it is highly likely you can grow as a Christ-follower in significant ways. The discipline to not take over, to lay the reigns down and just follow someone else’s lead will sharpen our leadership tools if we will practice it. In the end, you bring a healthy humility back to your staff after your way was not the “better” way for once.

1. Hard work fills while you are being emptied.

There is nothing more frustrating than closing the office door at the end of a busy, hectic ministry day, and not having any physical evidence that anything actually was done. Meetings, phone calls and empty inboxes lack the satisfaction that the rock piles, shovels and sweat of a short-term construction project can bring. Using physical strength as a part of a spiritual project in a third world country is game changing for corner-office-private-bathroom-type leaders. Literally relying on God for the ability to complete 15 more “missionary minutes” of intensive labor reminds us that this kind of reliance is just as effective, and just as necessary, for everyday ministry back home.

1. You will never be closer than when you are far away.

Following Jesus’ Acts 1:8 mandate to be His witnesses to the world may take you far away, but you will never be relationally closer to your family, to friends or to God. Co-laboring together with others forms a bond in the Spirit, as you see God at work in ways that only He can account for. The knowing smiles, laughter and shared stories in the church lobby bring an unfathomable depth to community across the congregation. Getting off the social-media handheld-device grid for a few days also reminds you that your love for your family is more than a series of heart emojis. And then there is the opportunity to serve side-by-side with a spouse or child… it doesn’t get any better than seeing someone you love loving and serving people. 

1. Local mission is fueled by global perspective.

Our occasional willingness to fly around the world to share the love of Jesus can be mighty convicting when we regularly hesitate to walk across the street to do the same. Short-term mission trips are great reminders of our nonnegotiable calling to love people, and can be a flywheel to Great Commission living in the everyday. Leaders benefit from the chance to gain a fresh point of view on their local-church mission by looking back across a country or ocean and remembering that the Gospel message is just as needed right where they minister the other 51 weeks of the year.

1. Ministry plans are more effective when interrupted.

Something regularly fails to go as originally planned on a short-term missions trip, and that is exactly why you might need to take one regularly. Having to improvise and adapt when the situation changes reminds us that we can make the plans but that God directs the steps. Thinking fast and adjusting to complete an objective, often without notice, places leaders in a responsive posture as the Holy Spirit leads. As a result, we realize a greater depth of effectiveness than we could have ever asked for or imagined in the first place. Seeing God’s plans, not ours, come to fruition brings perspective and builds confident improvisation when one of our carefully crafted home-church ministry plans require rethought.

No matter your reason, one thing is for sure… time spent emptying yourself to serve someone else is the most Christ-like work you will ever do in ministry.

Maybe it is time to get off the grid and get on the grind of a short-term missions trip.

> Read more by Bryan.

Tags: Bryan Rose, Global Missions Trip, Short Term Missions

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Rookie Pastors: Know What You Don’t Know, and Grow From There

by: Bryan Rose

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In the first few years of leading in a new Senior Pastor role, it’s not the answers you don’t have that will set you back.

What promises to halt progress, and likely even cause you to second-guess your calling, are the questions that stem from the signals you missed during the courtship and hiring process.

Here are 11 warning signs of church dysfunction that new pastors might miss when interviewing…

…Sunday School leadership that spends more time decorating their classrooms than preparing their lessons

…the “Hall of Former Pastor Portraits” is carefully arranged so as to have plenty of room for many more

…the church’s website has a copy of the bylaws readily accessible in less than 3 clicks

…teal sanctuary carpet from the late 1980s that, in the name of stewardship, just keeps getting “steam cleaned” with a grocery store rental instead of replaced

…the youth minister prides his or herself in running off all but 10-12 kids because the others just weren’t serious enough about “going deep in their faith”

…spouses are encouraged to attend conferences with the Pastor because you will be using vacation days

…everyone who has been, currently is, or might one day like to be serve in a volunteer role has a copy of the master key

…each “visitor parking” place is full starting with the 8:00 am service, every week, rain or shine

…there are more puppets in the children’s ministry office than there are books

…the pastor is invited to deacon, elder or governing board meetings, “as needed”

…during the interview process, you are always snuck into the church through a back door

While these are extreme examples, each of these signs maintain a firm footing in a reality from which every leader can relate.

Many new pastors let their natural optimism and confidence overshadow theorganizationally obvious during a season of transition. Hope for what could and should be shades the reality of what actually is. Then, during the subsequent honeymoon season, these rookie leaders, well intentioned and operating from search team assurances, tend to run headlong into a large cultural roadblock that overwhelms their abilities and undermines their leadership.

A new pastor does not need to just learn where the cultural sacred cows of the past are grazing.

They need to also be a positive part of making the necessary adjustments for a healthy and productive future. Active participation in a season of uncovering identity and direction for the church, as in the Auxano Vision Framing Process could be a new pastor’s best practice.

Ultimately, success for rookie pastors does not come from knowing everything about your new assignment… it does begin with knowing what you don’t know, and growing from there.

Tags: Beginning Ministry, Bryan Rose, Rookie Pastors, Vision, grow

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2 Things to Remember When Leading Creative People

by: Bryan Rose

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What do these 4 films have in common? Up, Inside Out, Toy Story 3, Monsters Inc.

1. They Are All Hit Movies from Pixar
2. They Have Highly Compelling Stories
3. They Are Kids Movies that Make Grown Men Cry
4. All of the Above

Pixar Studios tells a story like no other team of creatives, anywhere. In fact, if you can watch this clip of Carl & Ellie’s love story in UP without crying you have a heart of stone.

Recently, I read the story of Pixar, entitled Creativity, Inc., authored by Ed Catmull. Ed is a co-founder of Pixar and president of both Pixar and Disney Animation Studios. Creativity, Inc. is a fascinating book to me both as a participant in the creative process (possessing a design degree in Architecture) and a fan of the stories that Pixar tells (possessing every DVD from Toy Story through Monsters University).

I have also struggled to lead and pastor creative teams well during my ministry years. Suffice it to say that I had to fire a couple of worship leaders along the way, both of whom were poorly hired and poorly led, to be honest. I read Catmull’s book accordingly, as a process developer and pastoral leader, in order to understand and help other leaders develop and nurture a depth of creativity in their creative teams.

As anyone who regularly pastors or leads creatives knows, harnessing artists and individuals to accomplish a singular vision can be a complicated endeavor. While great content on navigating the often-choppy waters of developing creative teams stands out in the reading of Creativity, Inc., as I went back and reviewed my Kindle highlights, two clear-cut needs in the complexity of pastoring creatives began to emerge.

Need #1. The Need to Work Your Hardest on Building the Team, not the Idea

Ideas come and go, and let me risk being the first to ever tell you as pastor, that your ideas are not as great as you think they are. Every senior leader needs a great team of creatives around them to develop and execute even the very best of ideas. If you are ideating and executing creativity on your own, even in a church of 100, you are likely spending your time on the wrong things. Pastors who tend to be solo acts in the creative sphere are generally lacking in other key leadership areas – I know… I have been one myself.

“Getting the team right is the necessary precursor to getting the ideas right.”

“Getting the right people and the right chemistry is more important than getting the right idea.”

“Ideas come from people. Therefore, people are more important than ideas.”

“Find, develop, and support good people, and they in turn will find, develop, and own good ideas.”

Great teams should be…

… Balanced in collaboration style, this post describes creative team balance.

… Blended in perspective and ability, break the homogeny, invite risk into the room.

… Built with no freeloaders, including you.

Everyone should have a role to play in the meeting and nobody should walk away from a creative meeting without something to do, create or execute.People without skin in the game tend to either naysay and tear apart good ideas or push toward impossible unachievable goals in creative meetings.

Building the team needs hard work because a poorly constructed creative team will struggle to help a good idea… but a well-built team can rescue any bad idea. If a pastor will spend more time and energy investing in the people above the ideas, they will reap the return of engaged leaders, along with highly creative experiences in which to share the power of the Gospel.

Need #2. The Need to Celebrate Your Loudest over Discipleship, Not Attendance

Seems overly simplistic to state, but the reminder is worth hearing again, that our Great Commission calling is not “go and have great services,” or “go and be highly creative,” or “go and blow people away with your team’s ability to create.”  The clear call is to make disciples, teaching them to go and do the same. In the end, even the best team, developing and executing the greatest ideas, fails if all we have done is pull off a cool moment or memorable service.

I have observed and participated in creative teams when next steps after the service we were planning were an afterthought, if even thought–of at all. It was time, effort and resources spent in doing something remarkable rather than developing someone replicatable. Often, the accelerating downward spiral of being the Buzz Church places a higher value on output from skilled leaders, than input needed to develop leadership in valuable people.

Catmull tells the story in Creativity, Inc. of leading the Pixar team to work hard toward an almost impossible deadline, and team responded as everyone worked beyond his or her limits, even to the detriment of their own health. The wakeup call came one day when a team member, being so tired and burnt out, forgot to take their child to daycare and left them in the car. Immediately no deadline or project was more important than the health of the team members. In the church, no creative element or programed event can become more important than the resultant output of growth as disciples for those service attenders or event participants.

“…we had failed them—causing them pain by putting them in a position they weren’t ready for.”

“…it is the focus on people—their work habits, their talents, their values—that is absolutely central to any creative venture.”

“If we are in this for the long haul, we have to take care of ourselves, support healthy habits, and encourage our employees to have fulfilling lives outside of work.”

Highly creative teams often walk the line between catching converts “out there,” by leveraging their potential to reach and impact from the community and the opposing need of developing leaders “in here,” by leaning into the potential to lead and grow IN community.

There exists in every church a need to focus on outreach and marketing. The greater priority is multiplying your pastoral leadership and growing the people right around you in their relationship with Christ. The investment of Jesus’ leadership throughout the Gospels, was not directed toward drawing the largest crowd of people, but to developing the closest group of disciples.

Remembering these clear-cut needs, to work the hardest on the team itself and celebrate the loudest over disciples made, can help keep the complexity minimized when leading creative teams toward their greatest Kingdom success.

> Read more from Bryan.

Would you like to learn more about leading a creative team? Connect with an Auxano Navigator and start a conversation with our team.

Tags: Bryan Rose, Creative People, Creatives, Creativity Inc

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It’s Really Much Easier to Not Lead with Clarity at All

by: Bryan Rose

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Let’s face it, there are much easier things to do than be a leader in the local church.

Especially easier than being a pastor leading toward a clear vision.

Pastors who are committed to pursuing God’s unique Great Commission call for their church face more than their share of obstacles. Last week, I had some time with three ministers from different parts of the country and varying denominational backgrounds who have all spent the last year in the complex work of leading with the simple clarity of a Vision Frame. These leaders related stories of transitioning staff members in conflict with the vision, and having hard conversations with high-capacity donors, and even watching core families leave the church over personal preferences that fell outside of the church’s defined strategy for making disciples.

However, even during difficult days, each pastor could see the value of clarity despite the high cost of leadership.

There are much easier things to do in the local church than to lead toward a clear vision. Come to think about it, it’s really much easier to not lead with clarity at all.

Here are 10 reasons it’s better to be unclear as a pastor:

1. Hard decisions never have to be made, because every idea is a good idea.
2. Staff meetings are more fun when you can laugh and talk about stuff,without the burden of execution.
3. You can always tell an anecdotal feel good story to refute any criticism, because who can argue with a salvation from 2003?
4. Doing everything and complaining about being busy, obviously makes youimportant and irreplaceable.
5. Besides, it takes too much work to grow and develop leaders, it’s much more simple to just do it yourself.
6. It keeps you from “getting too far ahead” of God… as if that’s even possible.
7. It keeps you dependent on the Holy Spirit, who evidently avoids spreadsheets and thoughtful planning.
8. It keeps you giving all the glory to Jesus when things go well, and confused on who to blame when they don’t.
9. Because the church is no place for business principles like direction, motivation and success measurements.
10. Finally, because there is always another church you can pastor, and you have at least 3 years of good message material.

If any of these reasons make you laugh just a bit uncomfortably, maybe it’s time for a leadership gut check. Are you willing to do what it takes, even when it’s not easy, to lead toward God’s vision for your church? Connect with an Auxano Navigator and start a conversation with our team.

> Read more from Bryan.

Tags: Bryan Rose, Vision, Vision Clarity

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Is Your Mission Well-Lived and Well-Seen?

by: Bryan Rose

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Nike just released yet another great video reminding everyone of why they are one of the top apparel companies globally. In it, Nike gives a clear example of why their mission is so effective, better than most churches’ missions.

Full disclosure, Nike has long been one of my favorite and most often used examples of the difference between a mission statement and a tagline. This blog on the subject a few years ago continues to be highly searched and read.

Nike’s tagline is one of the most well-known in the world: Just Do It. 

Nike’s mission [Bring Inspiration and Innovation to Every Athlete* In The World] is one of the most unknown in the world… with two huge exceptions.

Exception #1. Nike’s mission is well-lived by the team of executives, developers, designers, marketers and salesforce within the company.

Exception #2. Nike’s mission is well-seen by every person who wears a pair of their shoes.

Many pastors tend to be skeptical of investing time and resources into working on statements of identity like mission or values or taglines, especially when things around church “feel” like they are going well enough.

They wonder if the effort and discussions are worth it, and struggle to see the tangible practicality of clearly articulated vision. They question how important it really is to capture our Great Commission mandate in a contextual, concise and catalytic way for the church.

When any organization lives their mission, the results are seen – and life change becomes possible. The marketing piece below from Nike sums up why, for them, people living out their mission is more important than people knowing their tagline. And shows how good they actually are at living it, better than most churches.

Watch the video linked below and ask yourself, or start a conversation with your team:

How much more important, and eternal, is the mandate of the church than a shoe company?

How well defined and well lived, and resultantly effective, is the mission of our church?

Does your mission create movement and reflect the heart of God for the church or is it just words on a website or worship service bulletin? 

Check out this video from Nike and see why it matters.

> Read more from Bryan.

 Do you need help with developing statements of identity like mission and values? Connect with an Auxano Navigator and start a conversation with our team.

Tags: Bryan Rose, Mission, Nike, Tagline

| What is MyVisionRoom? > | Back to Vision >

From A to Z: How Vision Clarity Can Focus Architectural Initiatives at Your Church

by: Bryan Rose

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Your church will never spend more money, invest more time or ask for a higher degree of involvement from its leadership that it will during a season of relocation or expansion. My personal experiences in both the profession of architecture and positions of ministry have, through time, revealed that success in undertaking a major construction project ultimately comes down to a clear understanding of identity and calling.

Discernment and vision-driven direction become critical in every decision during a church building project or facility renovation. Even a seemingly small initiative like Children’s Ministry theming carries great potential for impact when done in context of vision. Understanding your mandate to make disciples through the lens of vision clarity becomes an informative tool in every project to help ensure that the physical environment is a compelling reflection of your missional call.

Most importantly, focusing architectural initiatives through vision clarity also reminds us that buildings are a TOOL for vision, but NOT THE VISION in themselves.

In Architectural Initiatives, a deep sense of vision clarity:

• Anchors Activity
• Buttresses Basics
• Contextualizes Creativity
• Directs Design
• Enables Engagement
• Frames Facades
• Guides Green
• Highlights Hazards
• Infers Importance
• Justifies Juxtaposition
• Keeps Keystones
• Leverages Loans
• Maximizes Moments
• Names Non-Issues
• Optimizes Opportunity
• Prioritizes Phasing
• Quickens Questions
• Right-sizes Resourcing
• Supports Strategy
• Tames Three-Dimensions
• Undergirds Uniqueness
• Visualizes Vision
• Widens Windows
• X-Rays Xenodochium
• Yields Yards
• Zeros-In Zoning

So some of those were a stretch, but you get the point. The excitement of a new season of building, planning or design is a great opportunity to get back to the basics as a church. One opportunity would be to start a conversation with your team on how vision clarity, as seen through a tool like the Vision Frame, can create compelling environments in your next church building project.

Ask: How might a renewed sense of purpose and identity help our next construction project…

    … Echo Missional Meaning?

    … Reveal Core Convictions?

    … Facilitate Intentional Growth?

    … Celebrate Missional Success?

    … Direct Vision Advancement?

> Read more from Bryan.

If you are entering into a season of construction, learn how vision clarity can influence upcoming key decisions related to facilities or building.

Tags: Architecture, Bryan Rose, Buildings, Vision Clarity, Vision Frame

| What is MyVisionRoom? > | Back to Vision >

Welcoming Your Guests with Effective Website Practices

by: Bryan Rose

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As a frequent traveler, nothing beats the feeling of being expected versus being accommodated. Creating break-thru clarity for church teams, as a navigator for Auxano, I have dozens of moments of engagement with hotel, rental car, airline and Starbucks employees every week. I love it when it feels like someone thought of me as their guest by expectation, rather than just thinking of the revenue I represent in accommodation 

Earlier this year I arrived in a new city on a cold, rainy January night. My rental car company chose to give me a car on the far side of the lot, and not under the closer, warmer and dryer canopy. I had just been randomly assigned a car in row 700, and no one had thought about my experience in getting to it. Or so I was told. 

Soon after, I observed a Sunday morning parking lot, as an obvious first-timer circled the guest parking area in the rain (past the member and staff cars who had parked there to be close) finally dropping his young family off at a door, just before the service start time. I wondered if the rain-soaked Dad felt expected or simply accommodated as he ran through the puddles to catch up with his family.

In the springtime,  Sundays through Easter may be the most likely season of guest engagement your church will enjoy. Many pastors and church leaders use this time to assess their presence in the community by evaluating their visual vision elements (like signage and bulletins) and even considering a major web overhaul for the year.

Today, just about every guest visits your church online before they visit onsite. 

A guest will view your digital front door before they walk through your physical front door. Your church website is the first, and most important place to create the feeling that a guest is expected at your church, rather than just able to be accommodated.

>> Here are 10 Guest Welcome Practices of Effective Church Websites:

A Logical Web Address – try to get as close to your actual church name using .com or .org, or both if possible. Do your best to avoid tagline-driven web addresses like “thecaringplace.com” or “growdeepwithus.org.” Don’t forget to use your new domain for connected guest information email addresses like info@yourchurch or pastor@yourchurch.

A Prominent “I’m New” Section – this is all about putting the cookies on the bottom shelf. Nine out of ten first-time guests will visit your website before your worship. This means that up to 80% of your website users are looking for service times and locations, and very little else. Your biggest button, banner or visual element should be geared toward newbies.

Obvious Church Information – keep your church address, phone number and service times highly visible, even if you have an I’m New section. In mobile format, move this information to the top as “clickable” information.

A Usable Maps Link – most maps providers allow for you to embed a link that facilitates creation of point to point directions for your first time guest. It is always a good idea to make sure your church location is accurate in Google.

Landmark Driving Directions – in addition to a maps link, harder-to-find churches should supplement with verbal turn-by-turn directions noting landmarks like exit numbers, community structures or natural features. Including a photo of the front of the church, or church sign, as viewed from the road also builds confidence that a guest could find you easily.

Actual Worship Imagery – set worship style and dress expectations by using engaging, HIGH QUALITY photography from an actual worship service. Pay a professional if you have to. Remember, no pictures on your website are better than bad or amateur pictures on your website.

Practical Children’s Information – your website is a natural place to build confidence in parents that your church or campus is a caring, secure and instructive environment for their children. Note security procedures and give an estimate of how much drop-off time to plan into their first visit. Note any special parking or family entrance locations.

Complete Worship Descriptions – avoid insider-only and cute names for worship services of different styles, this only widens the first-visit gap for an outsider. Be sure to describe what you mean by contemporary, modern or traditional. One great way to mine for the right language is to ask a guest or recent attender to describe your worship in their own words.

An Engaging Pastoral Welcome – demonstrating expectation is as simple as a written welcome note, thanking guests for visiting your online front door. You might even consider a professionally-produced video with imagery of worship, children’s environments and personal testimony. Anchor all of this content with Vision-Frame language and point to key next steps.

Active Social-Media Venues – leverage the interactions around your worship content and member engagement to draw potential guests to community. Feature pastors “in real life” and foster a sense of belonging. Consider relocating announcements and calendars from your church homepage to a Facebook organization page that is more likely to get updated and shared by your body. Instagram and Twitter may also serve to bring immediate attention, interaction and feedback to services or events.

Read more from Bryan.

Want to learn how to create an EXCEPTIONAL Guest Experience at your church? Check out Auxano’s Guest Experience Boot Camp, coming to Orlando, FL on April 3-4.

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Bryan Rose, church websites, websites

| What is MyVisionRoom? > | Back to Communication >

3 Destructive Assumptions Made by Pastor Search Teams

by: Bryan Rose

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Recently, I heard of yet another downtown “First” church repeating the painful cycle of pastoral transition just a few years after replacing their long-tenured senior leader. It seems to be the same story with a different church name: church reels over their perfect replacement candidate, for a beloved pastor of 15+ years, who turns out to not be so perfect after all, and then leaves for another church, or gets asked to leave after a few years of dysfunction and/or less-than-desired results. 

Meanwhile, half of the congregation sits confused because things seemed to be going well enough, even if congregational growth had noticeably slowed down a bit after the first few months. While another half of the body sits pining for the “good-ole” days, dreaming of their old pastor reborn and the way things used to be.

And smack dab in the middle sits a pastor search committee tasked, yet again, with finding “God’s right” leader… but not like the last right one.

The principle of insanity immediately kicks in, with the assumption that searching in essentially the same way, with essentially the same people (even if their names are different) will yield different results.

And honestly, more often than not, it does… and therein lies the problem.

When asked, most of the congregation will attribute the previous seven or so years of transitional expense, missional confusion and stalled growth as “just a part” of getting to the eventual right pastor, and ascend to a point three years down the road when the church is again vibrant and effective. Few will admit to a decade lost and grieve what essentially becomes ten years of inward congregational focus and lost community impact.

Every church in a season of pastoral succession is susceptible to a needlessly extended period of transition and the resultant loss of missional momentum. From observance of this vicious cycle, here are three destructive assumptions made by pastor search teams:

1. “We cannot pursue any new ideas or invest in long-term strategic initiatives until the next pastor gets here.”

The resulting mistake is the hiring of a positional leader to come in and tell the church what their vision is and define what they should do next. Positional leaders like this are attracted to a vision vacuum they can fill – likely having exhausted their ideas and resources at the current church, and will gladly come to yours to do the same. Leaders beyond this positional kind are often called to a visionary people they can lead and celebrate Great Commission impact alongside.

Action 1: Remember true leaders love active vision. They recognize that a church that waits on and wants their new pastor to be the singular visionary voice will likely not be easily led toward that vision.

2. “We should develop a list of pastoral qualifications rather than define congregational convictions.”

The resulting mistake is the search of a candidate based on past accomplishment or present answers, rather than future alignment.This is because the elevation of the radical minimum standards of Biblical eldership becomes a pinnacle of maturity in the church that only a select few might attain. Most of the early Church leadership would not be candidates for a search team today, and it is likely that Jesus himself might have a hard time making it past the first round for many churches. He would definitely blow it in the interview stage, asking really personal questions of the committee and being disproportionately focused on those not in the church yet, unconcerned with making members happy. We like the thought of making disciples, but most congregations have never taken the time to define that actual process or describe the resulting output of a discipleship culture.

Action 2: Hire to culture not just to resume. Skills are developable and experience can be deceiving, but a close attention to alignment in discipleship ethos and practice yields a greater chance to break the cycle.

3. “We will find a candidate who will simultaneously protect the status quo and grow the church.”

The resulting mistake is the painful realization that sustaining what-is becomes a surrender to what should be. Most churches in a season of pastoral change are not there by chance. They have watched a pastor leave sooner than everyone expected for a new, apparently more effective calling. Or they have felt a pastor stay longer than anyone realized, in a safe, but steadily less effective office. Tension arises when what is actually revealed to grow disciples by a church stands in direct opposition to what is revered by most of the members of the church.

Action 3: Choose conviction over comfort. Growth that matters rarely comes without pain, pressure and some degree of change. A congregational willingness to release the next pastor to lead-out toward God’s preferred future will yield a higher quality candidate every time.

There is never a guaranteed result to any pastor search process, and the working of God through the leadership of His Spirit is never to be overlooked or underestimated.

Yet, we must admit that the pastor search team role is an important and needed part of any transition process, or else the church should just sit and wait for the next pastor to knock on the front door, announcing their arrival. Breaking the painful cycle of pastoral turnover takes more than wishful thinking andwistful dreaming.

A successful search for the next pastor takes a willingness by the whole body to attain active leadership, maintain congregational convictions and sustain missional priority.

> Read more from Bryan.

Tags: Bryan Rose, Pastor Search Teams, Pastor Succession

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5 Ways Future-Fueled Leaders Curate Contagious Church Vision

by: Bryan Rose

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Are you hiding behind excuses or leading out front with vision?

Often as leaders, we are quick with the reasons we “can’t do something” and slow to develop the resonate calling as to why we “couldn’t do anything else.” It becomes all too easy to succumb to what would not work rather than submit to what would, by God’s direction and provision.

So, what if your most pressing issue really just comes down to vision?

• An insurmountable lack of volunteers is really a lack of inspirational clarity.
• A team of overwhelmed staff members is really in an underwhelming ability to prioritize what really matters.
• Too few parking spaces is really too little passion to call people to park sacrificially.
• An inadequate children’s environment is really barely-adequate family engagement.
• That missing marketing hook is really an underdeveloped discipleship culture.
• A less-than-creative arts team is really a more-than-comfortable Sunday status quo.
• Your restless conference attendance schedule is really a tiring search for yet another new idea.
• Governance that does not work is really generality at work in managerial leadership.
• A lessening impact in student ministry is really an increasing gap in reaching the culture for Christ.
• Leaders asking for yet another static strategic plan is really a call for dynamic clarity toward what’s next.

Whatever problem we are facing right now as church leaders, the solution comes back to vision. Vision not as a highly tuned statement, but a finely curated state of mind. It is not about trying to be one of “those” visionary leaders, but about leading as a steward of the calling of God on your church.

A vision state of mind looks for consistent opportunities to make vision contagious.

Here are 5 ways future-fueled pastors curate a contagious church vision. They remember that…

… Clear vision is knowable, so they keep it simple.

… Concise vision is repeatable, so they invest in articulation.

… Contextual vision is undeniable, so they ensure it’s authentic.

… Compelling vision is actionable, so they prepare for movement.

… Catalytic vision is unstoppable, so they seek the Spirit’s leadership.

How would a greater focus on what could be, and a lesser focus on what was, bring life – and a way forward – to your most pressing issue this week?

Learn more about engaging a process for developing vision clarity to meet the problems in your church at Auxano.com.

> Read more from Bryan.

Want to know more about the kind of vision described above? Start a conversation with our team. We’re glad to offer our input. Your vision is at stake, so let’s talk.

Tags: Bryan Rose, Catalytic Vision, Clear Vision, Compelling Vision, Concise Vision, Contagious Church Vision, Contagious Vision, Contextual Vision, Future-Fueled Leaders, Vision Clarity, Vision State of Mind

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