Well, this is the final wrap up for my time at LPC but hopefully not the final Sunday Wrap ever. As things evolve and change for us, this wrap will hopefully begin to tell about the places we will be ministering around the world.

As for LPC this Sunday, it was a day full of mixed emotions. We have so enjoyed our time here at Life Pointe and it feels way too short. The friends and extended “family” we have made while living in South Florida are priceless to us and will continue to be a part of everything we are. Here are the highlights of our last Sunday:

• There was a great vibe in the lobby as I walked in this Sunday. It is amazing the way things smoothly run, mostly due to the leadership of Anne Johnson and her team. It was ironic to have someone visiting today from Christ Fellowship (Kendall Campus) to see how we do hospitality. I can take no credit, but have much pride in the effectiveness of this ministry.
• The worship was great in Pier 2, even though Jesse was only playing due to some illness, and Mike Betancourt did an excellent job leading us into God’s presence.
• I spoke about Jonah’s Obedience today as the third installment of the Jonah series. It was timely for us as we are learning every minute how crucial it is to obey God’s voice. I really believe God was calling us all to a new level of obedience in Him and can’t wait to see the results at LPC that will come from an awesome group of people who are ready to ”qwum yalak” (go) to the next level. You can catch the whole thing here.
• I will let Annie wrap up things in Kids Life.
• The service in Plantation Key was excellent as well, with Jesse regaining strength enough to lead worship. The goodbye there was especially poignant as many of the friends in the keys are brand new at best. I will greatly miss the opportunity to see this campus grow and flourish as I am confident it will.
• The night ended with me shuttling the Saturn Project (Alex & Jesse) to West Palm Beach to meet up with Brent Maloney as they prepare to head to Atlanta today and begin recording the Anthems project. Mariah and Nathan went with me to “keep me awake” on the ride home. Thank goodness for ESPN & Fox News on the radio as both kids crashed immediately upon leaving West Palm. We made it safely to the house around 2:30 a.m. making it not only the last day at LPC but officially the longest.

I will leave this wrap up with a promise or committment as it were. This will not be the last blog entry and they will not be so far apart from this point forward. It is important for me to communicate how God is blessing and moving in our lives and I will do so to the best of my ability, even if it kills me!

It is a difficult thing at times to walk as a follower of Christ. I often liken it to white water rafting. This perspective is one I have gained by taking a raft down the Ocoee River in southeast TN on several occasions. When you are rafting, the more difficult and dangerous parts of the journey are also the most exciting. The Ocoee, used as the kayak venue for the Atlanta Summer Olympics, has a couple of Class-4 rapids…some of the most difficult to navigate. The only way to do this effectively is with a good guide who is constantly shouting directions from the back of the raft. You must listen closely and obey immediately to make it through many of the rapids on the river. You have to trust that your guide knows the river and how to make it around the rocks and eddies without tossing the riders into the river. You have to work hard to row and consequently stay in the boat, but the paddling is easier when you trust, listen & obey. Rowing is the main thing that keeps you in the raft, as you push against the force of the river. There is no time in those moments to relax and if you don’t do your part you will likely wind up in the river. The one time I rafted a “calmer” river with no guide required, the journey was completely boring and required much more paddling. Calmer waters are not my thing.

Life, as a follower of Christ, is much the same way. As you go through life, there are times that you don’t know what to expect or what the “river” holds. It is in those moments you have to have a trust in your “guide”, listen carefully and obey. The most terrifying and uncertain moments of life are often the most exciting.

My wife, Annie, & I founded REI Ministries in 2005 in response to a clear call from God to minister to churches/church leaders that desired to be more effective in reaching their communities through the areas of worship, media, children and parenting. We functioned full time in that ministry for 18 months, traveling across the U.S. and to Kiev, Ukraine. In the spring of 2007, we heard God’s voice again and began to connect with a pastor and friend in South Florida. By August, we were on staff at Life Pointe Church in Homestead, FL, and loving every minute of it. While REI Ministries did not cease, we felt the need to focus on the local ministry to which God had called us and not be as proactive in scheduling outside ministry events. I traveled to VA, OK, TX, and even AK for some prescheduled conferences, but did not feel that the timing was right for any further scheduling.

In August of this year, Annie & I both felt that we were to begin moving in a more full time direction with REI, but knew it could not happen if we stayed in Homestead. Life Pointe is an awesome, ever-growing place and needed more focus than we could provide if we began to do more with our own ministry. After much prayer and Godly counsel, we believe we have heard His voice once again and are to move back into a full time position with REI Ministries. The fruitful season we have enjoyed at Life Pointe will be completed at the end of this month and we will relocate to TN after spending Christmas with family in VA.

These rapids are exciting, treacherous and full of promise. We are sad about having to say goodbye to some great friends. We are leaving paradise where churrasco is plentiful and the black beans & rice run like milk and honey. We will be bi-vocational for a season (the ministry is not financially supporting right now) and aren’t sure from where that will come. We are moving to Shelbyville, TN, a small town southeast of Nashville. We will connect with some good friends there who pastor Gateway Ministries. We are excited about the possibilities God has in store for us. We will live exactly halfway between my parents and Annie’s dad. God is still our guide and we are faithfully listening and obeying. He knows the river better than anyone and our trust is solely in Him.

Today was a great day at LPC! Here are the highlights:

• All areas rocked today. Life Pointe volunteers are the best anywhere!
• Music was great! Even the bar song…had to be there.
• Videos were top notch. Kim was rocking the Korean on the big screen.
• Chris Day is the most “Anglo” guy I know…”that’s what I am talking about.”
• I got to know a cool guy during the first service. Marcos, we need to hang out more.
• Travis was awesome as usual. He brought the funk and the noise, talking about the Funk of Loneliness. You can get his notes over at his blog or just watch the message here.
• After the service, we headed over to the office for a couple of hours of work before going to the Capri Restaurant for the membership luncheon. We had approximately 34 people sign covenants, joining LPC as members. That rocks!

Bill Easum – Developing An Equipping Culture

What is a Culture of Equipping?

- Occurs when leaders live for making sure everyone is serving others at every level of the church

- Mobilizing the congregation is the goal, not filling volunteer slots

Biblical Foundation

- Ephesians 4:11-12

- The only biblical role of the pastor is to equip the church.

- John 21

- The role of the shepherd was 3-fold

- Keep the sheep mobile to find good pasture

- don’t focus on building

- keep fed to make more sheep

- Get the sheep into pastures where they can reproduce

- Protect the sheep from the wolves

The Way Jesus Lived Is Our Model

- His legacy was eleven men who would change the world

- His model was to hang out with them and share himself

- His plan included:

- Spending time ith a small, diverse group

- Choosing leaders based on character and giftedness

- Not woking with everyone nor treating everyone the same

- Singling out people to mentor

- The rule of 10-12

Leadership In A Culture Of Equipping

DNA Must First Be In Place

- Jesus shared his DNA with the disciples

- We must share a clear, simple statement of why our church exists

- Must be owned and managed throughout the congregation

When DNA Is In Place

- Leaders are able to articulate it

- Organization is structured and budgeted around it

- All staff should know how and if God has called them to this DNA

- Staff is hired on the basis of being an equipper

Definition Of Leadership

- It is not in what leaders accomplish but what they cause to happen in the lives of other people

Two Metaphors To Explain

- Think spiritual mid-wife

- Think Coach and Scout

- You Get What You Look For

- Don’t Think Player

- Most staff want to play the game rather than coach people to play

Different Levels Of Leadership

- Leader of leaders

- Leaders of systems

- Leaders of major ministries

- Leaders of programs

- Leaders of committees

- Apprentices in training

- Visitors

A Big Step Toward Equipping

- Let go of actual ministry and move from a “doer” to an “equipper”

- Focus on your “To Be” list rather than your “To Do” list

You Are The Curriculum

Hostage To Teaching Content

- Westerners are hostage to content

- Discipleship isn’t something that can be taught in a classroom

- Christians were first called “followers of the Way” not “People of the Book”

The Two Tracks Of Equipping

- Intentional Modeling

- Modeling, mentoring, coaching

- Content training

- Cognitive training and actual equipping

The BIG Question

- How much time do I spend mentoring future leaders and holding our present leaders accountable?

Equipping Systems

Think Incubator

- People need a warm, welcoming, safe place to grow and mature

You Need A Farm System

- An intentional process that takes people from the market place to the mission field

- A process of watching how people serve in small ministries to move them to greater ministries

- New Hope Christian Fellowship

Farm System Requirements

- A system is in place for:

- Identifying

- Inviting

- Equipping

- Deploying

- Coaching

The Staff Meeting

- Focusing on the “To Be” list

Equipping Staff Meetings Are Different

- They focus on people not programs

- The “To Be” list replaces the “to do” list

Questions Asked At The Meeting

- Who have you added this week to your “to be” list?

- Who have you taken off and why?

- What new guest did you meet this week and what did you learn that we need to know?

- Who is new in the small group ministry and how many new apprentices this week?

- Have the new members this month found their way into the community?

- What are you doing to improve your spiritual health?

Changing The Culture

- Step One – Assess The Church

- What is the current culture of the church?

- How is our culture communicated?

- How does our existing program emphasis reflect our culture?

- What and where is our readiness for change?

- Step Two – Envisioning The Future

- Where do we want to go?

- Who do we want to be?

- Who needs to be involved in formulating the vision?

- Who needs to own the vision?

- Who is responsible and capable of communicating and expanding the vision?

- Step Three – Embody Values

- How do we incarnate our values?

- Where do we need to change/grow?

- How do we facilitate change in our leadership team?

- Step Four – Strategize

- How do we reach our desired future state?

- How do we move churchwide culture toward the vision?

- Step Five – Prepare The Foundation

- How do we lay the Biblical framework and foundation for the vision within the church?

- Step Six – Cast The Vision

- How do we share the vision with the church body so each person can see his or her place in it?

- Step Seven – Affirm Models

- What good models/examples are there within our church to affirm?

Building The System

- Step One – Vision, Strategy, and Team

- What and why are we building?

- What is the vision for gift-based ministry?

- Who am I as a leader?

- What do I bring to the ministry?

- What do I need to take care of myself?

- Where are we now?

- What is in place for:

- Identifying

- Recruiting

- Discovering

- Equipping

- Matching

- Deploying

- Coaching

- Affirming

- Who are the builders?

- How do we select and build the equipping ministry teams?

- Where do we go from here?

- Vision casting and strategic planning

- How do we work together?

- Team dynamics

- Step Two – Integrate

- How do we integrate equipping ministry into our existing church systems?

- What might be the barriers?

- What and who are we willing to lose?

- Step Three – Support Systems

- What software do we need?

- What will be the office strategy?

- Step Four – Connecting

- How will we identify and recruit?

- How do we identify the gifts and match?

- Step Five – Equipping Systems

- Training

- Affirmation

- Feedback

- Evaluation

- Leadership development multiplication

- Recognition and reflection

Bill Easum – Staffing A Growing Church

www.easumbandy.com

Staffing A Church Is Like Sailing A Ship

How And When To Add Staff

- 0-100 – Pastor & unpaid Worship Pastor

- 100 – Begin to staff the office

- 125 – Begin hiring Worship Pastor (most important hire)

- 200 – Full-time Worship Pastor (avoid Associate Pastor if mainline)

- 600 – Full-time Business Manager (avoid hiring generalists)

- 800 – Executive Pastor

- 1000 – Divide staff into hubs of four (only four people should ever report to lead pastor)

- See Wayne Cordiero

Needs Constant Course Correction

- Every ship is off course 99% of the time

- Pastor must be able to fire (lovingly)

Staff Is The Pastor’s Most Difficult Responsibility

- Aligning staff around the mission

- Most pastors aren’t equipped

- Most churches don’t understand

How Ships Reach Port

- The captain is in charge

- To question the captain is mutiny

- Only one destination

- The captain sets the waypoints

- The crew works in concert

- each one depending on the other

- each one complimenting the other

Basic Staffing Issues

- Pastors should be responsible for hiring and firing

- Hire on basis of passion for the mission

- Primary role of staff is to create a culture of multiplication, reproduction, and leadership.

Basic Staff Decisions

- Advantage to hiring from within

- Demonstrated credentials

- You’ve seen them in action

- Don’t have to advertise

- More likely to have the right DNA

- Already have relationships

- Tend to be more in touch with the world

- More likely to fit in with staff

- Disadvantage to hiring from within

- Lack of specialized training

- Lack of ideas from the outside

- May have myopic vision

- May have too many family relations in the congregation

How To Hire Staff

- Develop a clear Mission Statement for the position

- Look at a minimum of ten people if looking outside and select two

- If looking within, look at only one person

- Interview all day

A Great Selection Process

- “Describe for me your spiritual journey.”

- “How do you feel about our mission statement?”

- Don’t give them a job description

- “What gifts do you bring that will add value to our mission?”

- “How would you go about adding this value?”

- If team based, then have all of the team interview the person

Basic Staffing Mistakes

- Hiring based on credentials

- Hiring generalists like Associate Pastors

- First hire is a youth pastor

Most Common Mistakes

- Hiring someone when in doubt

- Assigning your best people to fix problems

- Putting off terminating paid staff

- Having someone on staff who IS a mission

The Lead Pastor And Staff

- Below 150

- Pastor recruits and equips

- How to hold accountable

- Above 150

- Pastor learns how to staff

- Laity don’t understand the need

- Pastors can’t give up control

- Does not know how to coach people

- By 350 staffing is the key challenge

- More time required

- Different skills required

- Ability to allow others to shine

- Only takes one bad apple

- Around 800 staffing issues begin to spread out

- Several staff begin to hire

- Business Manager

- Executive Pastor

- Campus Pastor

The Four Primary Roles Of Paid Servants

The Primary Roles of Staff

- To create an environment of multiplication and reproduction

- Staff doesn’t do ministry (Ephesians 4:11-12)

Equipping Staff

- “Who will I mentor today?” (not “What must I do today?”)

- “Who will I discover today?” (not “What is my job today?)

- “How many others can I equip?” (not “What can I get done today?”)

The Primary Roles of Staff

- To model and add value to the Mission Statement

- To be an extension of the goals of the pastor and church

- Hopefully they are the same

- To support all of the paid and unpaid staff

The Basic Staff Roles

Declining Churches

- Pastor for the congregation

- Youth Director

- Programs and out of town trips Admin Lay

- Part-time Music Director Mobil

- Prepares the choir

- Secretary Team

- Bulletin, phones, gossips Leader

- Education Director

- Sunday School and VBS

Worship Out

Reach

Farm System

Realize There Are Levels Of Leadership

- The Lead Pastor

- Leaders of leaders

- Leaders of systems

- Leaders of major ministries

- Leaders of programs

- Leaders of committees

- Leaders in training

Scouts And Coaches

- What if all of your staff functioned this way?

The Example Of Jesus

- Jesus asked people to join him on a journey not perform a task

- His entire ministry was reproducing his DNA in a small, diverse group

Mentor the 3 Disciple the 12 Facilitate the 70 Shepherd the Multitudes

 

- He chose people on the basis of character and giftedness

- He singled out individuals to take under his wing and disciple

- He taught us the mentoring rule of ten to twelve

- He was more concerned with multiplying his DNA than with making converts

What Does This Mean For Our Leadership

- Lead Pastors don’t pastor the church

- They pastor the leaders

- Leaders need leaders

- Lead Pastors need to carefully select the key leaders

- Lead Pastors set their own agenda

- Models the type ministry desired

- Assists the core staff in becoming and effective team

Miscellaneous Issues

- Hire for seven-year minimum

- Lead Pastor and staff should never disagree in public

- Give program/ministry staff a months vacation after first year

Darrin Patrick – Raising Up Good Leaders

Timothy was the typical church planter. Paul’s letters to him are a great resource for those wanting to walk in that path.

Self Leadership

- You must first be aware of your own sinful nature and the beauty of what Christ has done in your life, before you can build leaders that will follow and grow in the Gospel. (1 Timothy 6:20; 1 Timothy 1:1-15)

There is no commitment greater that you can make as a church planter than the one to become close to Jesus. – Scotty Smith (paraphrase)

- Work hard (1 Timothy 4:14)

Leadership Pitfalls

- Wolves will come from your own team. You may be raising up the people that will later attack you. (Acts 20:28-30)

- Be careful how quickly you hand out titles or exalt people to high positions before you have formal definitions of leadership. (1 Timothy 5:2)

- Don’t give in to age and insecurity. (1 Timothy 4:12)

- Don’t react due to pressure or fear. (2 Timothy 1:7)

- Don’t mistake scaffolding for structure.

- Don’t let your worship leader design/plan the worship experience. (1 Tim. 2:8)

 

Leadership Tensions

- Change vs. Stability

Look for stability but don’t forget that you are called to change.

- Solitude vs. People

Find a balance between the time you give to people and time you give to yourself, your wife, your family, etc.

- Shepherding vs. Leadership

Shepherding is using ministry to get people done.

Leadership is using people to get ministry done.

This session was very interesting. It is important to note that Dave taught this session with the assumption that changing your community for Christ is in the DNA  of your church. Therefore, most of the following focuses on how to accomplish that task:

Dave Mills – Making A Community Ministry Work-Compassion By Design

www.compassionbydesign.org

Current Challenges

Budget Driven vs. health Tension

Leadership Capacity Tension (resulting in lack of highly scrutinized point leaders)

Launch Team Size vs. Attendance Tension

Task vs. Relationship Tension (resulting in lack of missional expression)

Networking and Brand Awareness Tension

Biggest Problems after Launch Rooted in Pre-Launch Activity (or lack of)

Turning Challenges into Opportunities

What would an approach look like that is model independent and addresses these challenges?

Three places churches are community focused:

1. Service as an experient or outreach method – Brand related, marketing based

2. Service as a Long-term Strategy and Value – Core value, involved from beginning

3. Service as a Primary Organizing Principle – Organized around service

Imagine a day…

…when new churches start healthier and grow stronger because of their ties to community transformation.

Starting a new CBO (Community Based Organization) Franchise:

Step 1 – Needs Assessment

Community Credibility

Greater Understanding/Awareness

Expanded Relationships (Persons of Peace, Key Influences, etc.)

Step 2 – Community Service

Missional DNA

Expanded Launch Team

Expanded Relationships

Brand Awareness and Credibility

Second Career Incubator/Launcher

Step 3 – Sustained Impact – Where does this lead?

Externally-Focused Church

Effective Felt-Needs Ministry

External Resource Engine Supporting Service

Local Charitable Organization – grants/donors

I really enjoyed this guy and the passion with which he follows Christ. Here are some takeaways:

Vince Antonucci – An Idiots Guide To Idiotic Church Planting

Get out of the box

Be uncivilized

Do something idiotic

Learning from others is cool, but be yourself first and find out what God wants for your community.

Three Possible Paths

1. Ancient Path

Go back to the early church and see what worked

Apply it to your situation rather than looking at current trends in other churches.

2. Mystic’s Path

Don’t look at anything current

Ask God to show you the vision for where you should go and how to do it

Everyone should take this path at some point.

3. Entrepreneur’s Path – (“Blue Ocean Strategy” – W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborn)

Rather than competing for ideas, break away from the competition and do something no one else is doing.

How to get there:

1. Which factors that are taken for granted should be eliminated?

2. Which factors should be reduced?

3. Which factors should be raised?

4. Which factors should be created?

Compare with alternative industries – Don’t compare with other churches.

Reach beyond existing demands.

Summary: To reach people who aren’t being reached you have to do something that hasn’t been done.

What a day! Starting at 6 a.m. and driving to Orlando, checking in and rushing to the first session. Today was great. Looking forward to an exhausting day tomorrow. Here are some notes from the first of many breakout sessions (for main sessions check here-Travis is much more detailed than I could ever hope to be):

Jim Putnam – AlignmentThe Game

There is an opponenet.

There are teams.

We are supposed to win.

Pastors are coaches – They train up and release people to play.

Winning is to make disciples.

Matthew 16:17-18, Ephesians 4:11-13, Matthew 28:18-20

The Job of a Coach

To understand the game

To understand where a player is in his or her development

To create an environment for growth

To create a team with direction, unity, and organizational discipleship

 

Organizational Alignment

The job of a coach is to align the organization in four ways:

Theologically

Philosophically

Relationally

Organizationally

Remember we must have Biblical theology and philosophy

1 Timothy 4:16

Remember we are to be one as at team

1 Corinthians 1:10

Remember that God does not bless our sacrifice when we are divided

Matthew 5:23-24, John 13:35

Remember organization is God’s idea

1 Corinthians 12:28

A coach builds a process that produces that which is valued.

Conveyer Belts

1^st – Bridges

“Therefore go…” – As we go into the world (Matthew 28:19; Acts 1:8)

We meet them in the middle. Don’t expect them to come on to our turf.

Questions to ask and answer:

Who has God brought to our chuch? What skills do they have?

What are the needs in our community?

What is the end goal for everyone we contact?

Where do we want them to go next?

Are the people aware of where you want them to go next?

2^nd – The Weekend Worship Service

Make sure that you speak a language lost people can understand.

Questions to ask and answer:

What is the goal of the worship service?

What is actually happening in them? Are we reaching our goals? How do we know?

What is the next step?

3^rd – The Classes

Questions to ask and answer:

Do I have a way to get everyone on the same page?

Do I have a way to filter out wrong people?

Do I have a way to explain our philosophy continuously?

The 101 – The Playbook (Joining the Team)

It is about team here

Our common salvation

Our common beliefs

Our structure

Our philosophy

What next?

The 201 – The Philosophy (It’s all about discipleship, connection and ministry)

What is a disciple?

There is a process.

Where am I in the process?

What next? (ministry-connection)

The 301 – Leading God’s Team (Remember what we believe, a yearly reminder)

A leader’s job description

A leader’s commitment

A leader’s answers

The tools available to leaders

 

The 401 – Strategy and Skills (On-going training)

How to Facilitate a small group

An Introduction to Counseling

Christian Evidences

4^th The Relational Environment for Discipleship

Every road leads to a relational environment for discipleship (small groups)

Questions to ask and answer:

Do I have a system to produce that which is valued?

Do I ahve a system with an accountability component?

Do my leaders understand what is expected? (a job description outlining expectations)

Do I have a place to live out the values taught in the classes?