Wayne Hedlund

Category: LEADERSHIP

Leadership Articles prior to 2016

  • Thursday Quote – Steven Furtick & Perry Noble

    I read two great blogs this week and couldn’t decide which of them to quote for today’s Thursday quote – so I’ve added them both.

     
    Steven Furtick

    Steven Furtick challenges us to stretch people to the limits . . . but to be sure to not stretch them beyond what they are called or capable of. Here’s an excerpt of the article…

    Stretching someone out of their comfort zone should be a means of developing people in their sweet spot. Not taking them out of it. There’s such a thing as being uncomfortable because you’re being stretched. And then there’s being uncomfortable because you’re doing something you weren’t created for.


    Perry Noble

    Perry Noble shares Five Core Values of a Church in Decline. Very thought provoking and very true. Hopefully, the shoe, in this case, just doesn’t fit. Here’s the first core value…

    #1 – Laziness – Most people/churches are not “stuck” or in decline because they do not know or understand what the Lord wants them to do…God speaks very clearly in His Word and through His Spirit. It’s just that God’s work always requires people to take a step of faith! Remember, God promised the Israelites the “Promised Land,” but they actually had to go in and fight the battles. A church that refuses to do whatever it takes and embraces laziness will eventually settle in the desert until that generation dies off.

    Disclosure of Quoted Text: Permission has been granted by the offices of Steven Furtick and Perry Noble to quote and link to their blogs.

  • What did you say?

    Several years ago I purchased a book by Dr. Minirth called, A Brilliant Mind: Proven Ways to Increase Your Brainpower. Like you, I’d really like to be smarter. So I had a mild hope that this book might help. What I found astounded and disappointed me. The premise of the entire book is that you’ll be smarter when you increase your vocabulary. So the book is full of lists of words to learn, prefixes, roots of words, adjectives, verbs, etc. After a quick leaf through the book I set it down and chocked it off as not super relevant to me.

    The idea kept coming back to me that perhaps Dr. Minirth really knew what he was talking about. Today, I can say I’m pretty sure he did. Language is powerful. Your words can be confusing, irrelevant, boring, disabling and offensive; or they can be inspiring, motivating, informative, equipping and empowering. Here’s a great example from Scripture of the power of words (emphasis mine):

    Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. John 4:39-41

    So many times we can be guilty of just saying whatever comes to mind without thinking about what we are saying and how it is being said. This apply’s both inside and outside of the pulpit. When you work hard at communicating clearly and effectively, you are partnering with God to give the very best to those with whom you are talking to.

    This 2 minute video illustrates this idea really well. Check it out.

     
    What did you say?
     
    Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

  • Ready for the Rain (Ugandan Water Project)

    Have you sensed in your heart that there is much more to the ministry God has for your life than you are actually seeing today? Is there perhaps, an internal tension that is hard to describe or put your finger on which you walk out each day. The tension comes from believing there is more of God’s purposes that could/should be operating in your life than you experience week in and week out at the church you help lead. Do you know what I mean?

    If so, then I would like to suggest that the tension you are experiencing may very well be Holy Spirit inspired. There is very possibly more to the calling on your life than you see represented in your ministry each day. Let me share with you a very profound key to unlocking that potential in ministry. Here it is:

    Build Towards Your Faith-Inspired Future Right Now.

    Functioning Water Tank at local school in Kkalwe 

    I suppose there are better ways of saying that – but there it is. Let me explain with a powerful, yet simple, illustration. In May of 2007 the Ugandan Water Project was birthed through a man in our church named James Harrington. The Ugandan Water Project is a humanitarian effort that places rainwater collection tanks on community buildings throughout the East African nation of Uganda. The concept and design is very simple. These large tanks are placed near buildings with metal roofs. When it rains in Uganda the rain runs off the roofs, into a gutter system that drains the collected water into the tank. This simple method is saving entire villages that were wracked with sickness and suffering due to unsanitary conditions. (To learn more, check out their website at www.ugandanwaterproject.com.) As you might expect, it takes a period of weeks to several months to raise the appropriate funds, order and ship the materials, and install the system. Even then, after the tank is ready to go, the village will likely have to wait longer until the rains have filled the tank to the appropriate capacity to serve that village.

    Here’s my point. James Harrington and his team don’t wait until it rains to start building towards their desired future in Uganda. Of course, that wouldn’t make any sense. No, they spend every day building towards their faith-inspired desired future. In fact, they NEVER see the end result until they’ve completed building the water tanks. It rains every year in the country of Uganda. The resource each village needs has always been readily available – they just need a way to capture that blessing.

    I hope you’ve made the connection by now. To be clear, let me close the loop on how this applies to you. A growing church will not wait until they see fruit before they build towards their faith-inspired future. A growing church MUST have a steadfast commitment to build now for something that is not happening yet. This attitude should permeate every level of your ministry.

    What do you believe God wants to do at your church one day? What vision has he placed in your heart that you dream will someday happen? You know it’s been raining. You know the blessing of God is available to you. You believe you and your church has something (Someone) that can transform the lives of those in your community.

    Your first step is the toughest. It happens in your heart and in your head. It’s the step of choosing to plan and build towards the vision God has given you right now, rather than simply staying where you are. It means you’ll start acting like you’ve already arrived before you really have. It means you’re building towards a goal that many around you won’t understand. Reminds me of that guy in Genesis who also had a God-ordained vision to prepare for rain. It’s a good thing he didn’t wait until the last minute!

  • Would You Rather?

    This post has been removed. It is now part of my new e-book entitled:

    I’d love it if you would consider purchasing the book and letting me know what you think. You can learn more about this e-book right here or feel free to purchase it right now! Cost is only $3.99. Thanks!


  • Thursday Quote: Stating Vision Simply {Andy Stanley}

     
    Andy Stanley

    I have heard it said that your mission statements is too complicated if you can’t put it on a T-Shirt. Some organizations call it the “T-Shirt” test. This week’s Thursday Quote is from Andy Stanley’s Leadership Podcast located at northpoint.org/podcasts entitled “Stating Vision Simply“. In this 30 minute presentation you will be left with a very clear understanding of WHY your mission and vision statements MUST be simple. I highly recommend you take the time this week to listen to this presentation.

    “If it’s not memorable, it’s not portable, it doesn’t roll off the tip of your tongue, it’s not easy to integrate into a conversation…. For vision to stick it’s got to be stated simply, simply, simply, simply. This is difficult and here’s part of the reason why – some of you will really struggle with this. In order to make your vision simple it can’t be complete. That means you’ve got to leave some stuff out. It’s not going to be theologically correct, because to make it theologically correct it’ll be too long. It’ll be accurate, but nobody’s going to know what it is. You’ve got to make the decision, do we want to make it portable and transferable and do we want to make it stick? Or do we want it to be theologically correct and accurately complete but nobody’s going to know what it is?”  Andy Stanley

    CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE PRESENTATION!

     

  • The Power of Why

    This post has been removed. It is now part of my new e-book entitled:

    Thinking for a Change:
    a fresh look at critical thinking

    I’d love it if you would consider purchasing the book and letting me know what you think. You can learn more about this e-book right here or feel free to purchase it right now! Cost is only $3.99. Thanks!



  • Strategic Planning Worksheet

     

    A few months ago I introduced the five step “Strategic Process” through a series of posts which have become quite popular. The post series was entitled, “Guest Experience“. I even provided a worksheet to help you get started utilizing the process in everyday challenges you face. Since that time I have been in communication with the author of the book “Being Strategic“, Erika Andersen. She has graciously given me permission to provide her version of the “Strategic Process Worksheet” to my readers. I’ve discovered I like hers better than mine.

    Feel free to download and use this worksheet as often as you like. It will be of great assistance to you in strategic planning and critical thinking.

     
    Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

  • Finding Your Sacred Cow

    This week I suggested that your church may have a ‘sacred cow‘ or two that you’ve been holding onto. I haven’t been entirely fair in my blunt and vague references to the ‘cow’. Today, I will attempt to be more clear and practical.

     

    Definitions:

    • Wikipedia defines a ‘sacred cow’ as something considered (perhaps unreasonably) immune from question or criticism. 
    • Dictionary.com proclaims it as an individual, organization, institution, etc., considered to be exempt from criticism or questioning. 
    • Miriam Webster’s Learners Dictionary says it best from my perspective though: someone or something that has been accepted or respected for a long time and that people are afraid or unwilling to criticize or question.
    A Real Example:
    Several years ago I was leading a Strategic Meeting at Elim Gospel Church. We were discussing the number of programs, events, and activities that were potentially sideways energy and not centered around our primary mission as a church. The reality was that some of these activities were stealing our best people and resources – and they weren’t strategically helping our church and it’s people grow. We had just read Andy Stanley’s book, Seven Practices for Effective Ministry (required reading at our church) and decided we needed to “Narrow the Focus”.
     
    So far, so good. We all acknowledged that we needed to streamline our church programs to maximize effectiveness and make room for focused growth. Our next step was when the sacred cows stepped into the room (Note: cows don’t mix with elephants very well!). We wrote down on a white board all of the church related activities that could be counted as something that should be evaluated. Once we built our list we systematically began discussing each activity to decide what to do with them. At the end of the meeting we had decided to cut exactly ZERO things.
     
    Here’s what the conversation sort of sounded like, 

    Wayne: “So how about VBS? Is that something we should consider ending?”

    Team Member: “No. We can’t lose that. We have hundreds of children attend that each year and it’s attracting a lot of families from the community.”

    Wayne: “OK. Well, let’s consider the ‘Women’s Community Bible Study’.”

    Team Member: “No, no. I feel we would really be making a big mistake there. A lot of women from the other churches attend that event. It’s a great way to serve those other churches and it’s very well attended.”

    Wayne: “Umm. Our Easter Production?”

    Team Member: “Wow. You really think we should consider doing a normal service? Besides Christmas Eve services that Sunday service is our highest attending service of the year!”

    Suffice it to say, that was not one of our funnest meetings. I left that meeting feeling deflated and as if we had wasted several hours of everybody’s time. What we realized was that although we wanted to do the right thing and cut back, none of us were committed to really questioning these and other events. They had become sacred cows for us. (Note: I specifically used those three examples from our discussion for a reason. We have since successfully ‘killed the cow’ in each of those cases. If you’re interested in how we did it, shoot me an email or post a comment.)
     
    Three Disclaimers:
    1. Before you look at the final section below, please be reminded that IF one of these have become a ‘sacred cow’ it’s possible you either don’t know it or aren’t willing to admit it. I talk about that in my post entitled, “The Smelly Cow“.
    2. I am NOT trying to say that the below examples shouldn’t be happening in your church. It’s quite probable that many of them should. However, what may be very appropriate, strategic, and anointed by God in one church may in fact become the opposite in another.
    3. If you look closely at the above definitions you will note that a sacred cow is NOT NECESSARILY something that you shouldn’t be doing. It can also include something that you should be doing, but that you ARE NOT willing to question. So here it is, “Are you willing to question any or all of the below examples in your church ministry?”
    Sacred Cow Examples:
    Following are a few examples of activities, events, etc. that COULD end up becoming ‘sacred cows’ for your church. I’d love to listen to your internal dialog as you read them. Hopefully, they won’t sound that meeting we had many years ago!
    • A Program or Ministry.
      It is possible your church supports a ministry that happens every week or month that isn’t really an integral part of your church’s mission. This may include a men’s or women’s program, a children’s program, a class, perhaps even your mid-week service {gasp}! 
    • An Event.
      Of course, there may be many events that you host occasionally or even annually that really need to be questioned and evaluated. Understand, you shouldn’t really be checking to see if the event is successful based on how many people attend or even how effective the event is. Rather, you want to know, “Is it strategic and fulfilling our mission as a church?” An event may include a special service like an Easter or Christmas service, a youth overnight retreat, a seminar or conference that you host, maybe even your Vacation Bible School.
    • A Service Element.
      A service element may include ANYTHING you do immediately before, during, or after a Sunday service. Often, churches get so used to doing the same things every week that they become sacred and untouchable. This is how church services can become ineffective and irrelevant in reaching their communities. Your members who have been around for years don’t even question what happens each week, but your guests sure do! Examples of service elements include your style of worship, how you receive the offering, the volume of the service, the temperature in the room, how you give the announcements, how you host communion, whether Aunt Edith should play the piano and possibly even how you preach every single week! Ouch.
    • Your Language.
      Sometimes the words you use every week are inappropriate and unhelpful to your listeners – and in particular to your guests. This will include the obvious words like “sanctification”, “justification” and what-not. However, it may also include words like “visitor”, “heathens”, and “secular”. (Example: We no longer refer to new people each Sunday as ‘visitors’ – it sounds like they won’t be staying long. We now call them our guests.) Finally, your language will also include the many assumptions you may make from the pulpit about your listeners, like ‘everyone here already knows all the stories/people in the Bible’ and ‘everyone here understands our church’s history and culture’.
    • Your Things.
      What would happen if you walked down the hall and removed that picture of the founding pastor from 50 years ago? What things does your church possess and most often display that have become sacred cows? How about the seats in the sanctuary? The offering baskets? The stained glass windows? I’m not suggesting you clean house this Saturday – if you do so, you may end up with a church split. I AM suggesting that you may have some sacred cow ‘things’ kicking around that should be identified. What to do with them is another topic entirely.
    • Your Building.
      Every pastor and leader understands intellectually that the ‘church’ is the people, not the building. However, we can often be guilty of giving our building more ‘sacred value’ than our people. Nowhere in your mission statement is there a reference to your building (I hope). How have you preferred your building over your people? Additionally, parts of the building can become sacred cows – like the color of the carpet or walls or the wall that divides two rooms which could really serve your church better as one big room.
    • Your People.
      Don’t get me wrong, I’m not calling your people cows. However, sometimes we can have people in positions of influence or ministry in the church and nobody is willing to question whether they are really serving the church well in that role. Just because someone has been on the worship team, an elder, or a greeter for the last 20 years does not mean they should be today and tomorrow.
    • Your Systems.
      You may not realize it, but you have systems. They are the procedures that you either officially or unofficially utilize to get things done. Here’s the deal with systems: rarely do the same systems serve the church forever. In fact, just like the parts of your car, systems can get old and wear-out. A growing church will always be evaluating how decisions are made, how the bulletins are produced, how guests are followed up on, etc. to ensure those systems are still serving the ministry of the church as best as possible. If you ever hear someone respond to the question, ‘Why do you do it this way?’ with ‘Because that’s how we’ve always done it.’ then I submit that you may have a system that has run it’s course.
    Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
    Image Source Unknown

  • Thursday Quote: Shutting Down Low Performing Ministries

    Will Mancini

    My Thursday quote this week is from Will Mancini’s blog entitled, “3 Strategic Alternatives to Shutting Down a Low Performing Ministry“. If you’ve been following the thread of this week’s series about ‘The Sacred Cow‘ then you’ll also discover this article particularly helpful.

    Here’s a teaser from Will’s post:

    “Is it time to close a program in your church? Many leaders will tell you, “When the horse is dead, dismount.” But this classic advice rolls of the tongue much easier than it plays in real life.

    As a leader in ministry you have no doubt faced ministries that just ought to go. Like sour milk, they live past their shelf-life. But for various reasons, you just can’t do it. Maybe there is still a group of precious saints being served by the program. Or maybe the decision-making culture of the church just requires more time to process.”

    Want to read more? Check it out RIGHT HERE.

     

  • The Smelly Cow

    Every once in a while I have the privilege to lead all day meetings at Elim Gospel Church where I serve as Executive Pastor. After a couple hours of intense discussions we’ll take a break. Everyone will stand up, leave the room, go to the bathroom, get a new cup of coffee, etc. Ten minutes later, I’ll walk back in the room and be inundated with an odor I hadn’t noticed before. Ugh. We’ll all notice it. The windows get opened and we valiantly attempt to air it out. All those bodies stuffed into that room add up to some serious BO. Here’s the deal. Most of us didn’t notice it until we left and came back.

     
    Two days ago I told you my sad story about a cow I cared about and then had to kill. I also suggested that some of our churches have cows as well. They are most often referred to and known as sacred cows.
     
    Their not. They are only treated like sacred cows. They are really smelly cows. You know what it’s like to get used to a smell. You’ve been in numerous situations where the odor is mildly unbearable for most people – but surprisingly not to you.
     
    By now you’re wondering what in the world my point is. Simply this. The ‘cows’ in your church aren’t very obvious to you and your members. They may be staring you in the face. You just might be gently patting one on the back while reading this article.

    However, sacred cows are usually quite obvious to your guests. Ouch. Is it possible that’s one of the reason some of them don’t come back?

     
    Do you have any sacred cows at your church? Not sure? I have a suggestion for you. Try sniffing them out. Here are a few ideas on how to get started…
    • Draft a few questions that are designed specifically to sniff out sacred (smelly) cows. Here are a couple to consider: 
      Was there anything that made you feel uncomfortable when you first arrived at our church? Was there anything about the Sunday service that was confusing to you or that didn’t seem to have a real point that you could tell? Is there anything anyone did or said that made you feel like an outsider? Is there anything about the facility that seems out of place? What can you think of about this church that has always been confusing to you? If you have attended other churches before, what would you say is really different compared to your other church experiences – good or bad?
    • Ask key people who might have some measure of authority to answer these questions. This could include:
      Any new members of your church within the past year. First time guests within the past 2 months (give them a call). First time guests each Sunday (make a feedback card or form). Guest speakers who have spoken in the past year. Trusted family members of attendees who visited from out of town.
    • Select four people who you trust know how to think critically to spend two weeks asking the question, “why?” to anything and everything. 
      I recommend you give them a notebook and have them journal all of their ‘why’ questions in the notebook. I also suggest they not share their ‘why’ questions with you or anyone else until the two weeks are over. Anytime they have a ‘why’ question that they can’t reasonably answer themselves, have them highlight them for further consideration after the two weeks are over.
    • Hire a mystery guest to come to your church. 
      Check out my post about mystery guests right here. 
    If you find some cows, I’d love it if you’d let me know.