Leadership – Page 8 – Chad Stutzman

May 17, 2015

A Key to Stronger Relationships

I’ve been studying the idea of vulnerability and how that plays out in our relationships. Brene Brown has some incredible insights on this tough topic. Much of this post is based on her research.

One of the things that keeps us from being vulnerable is shame. Shame thrives in secrecy, silence and judgement. However when we introduce empathy, shame cannot grow. So in order to be open and vulnerable we need to be around people that are great at empathizing and we need to learn how to be empathetic with others. Learning how to be empathetic is one of the most powerful ways to improve your relationships.

In order to be empathetic we need to be able to see the world as others see it. This is all about perspective, being able to take the perspective of another person and not our own. It’s being able to listen to someone and not interject our own experience but to really what to hear it from them. It’s not one upping the person by sharing what you did or how you messed up. It’s being able to realize that our lens of life and our experiences are different than others and being OK with that.

Empathy also requires that we are nonjudgmental. Most of us are judgmental and we are usually judgmental in areas where we are vulnerable to shame. We tend to judge people that are worse than we are so that we feel better about ourselves. We do that because we are looking for validation that at least I’m not as bad as so and so.

Empathy is not our default or natural mode, it’s a skill that must be worked on and developed in order for this to happen naturally. Empathy is usually very subtle, it can be just a knowing look or going to be with someone in a time of crisis instead of calling to express sympathy.

When we empathize with someone, we go to that dark place with them, we don’t flip on the lights and try to cheer them up and fix the problem or make light of the situation. It’s like walking up to your friend that is in a hole and going down into the hole with them, but knowing how to get back out of the hole because it’s not your hole. Sympathy is walking up to the hole and asking what happened. When they tell you, you express that your sorry to hear that, that’s a terrible thing. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help. There is a big difference.

When we empathize with someone, we are creating a safe environment for people to be vulnerable. Being vulnerable is one of the most accurate measures of a persons courage. To be vulnerable takes bravery, because it is walking into uncertainty, it’s taking a risk and it’s exposing your emotions. It takes courage because the reality is you can get hurt when you do this with someone that is not able to empathize or keep things confidential.

However if you live in secrecy, and silence you might feel safe, but are most likely miserable. When we are vulnerable we are our true self. We are showing that we are imperfect, messed up, awkward and goofy. The greatest relationships are the ones where you can be all of that and the person loves you even more.

So if your looking to improve your relationships, first learn how to empathize better with the people around you. Work on those skills of listening and trying to understand their perspective. Don’t try to fix them or the situation, but let them know we can do this together. Then work at being vulnerable with the people in your life. Expose yourself emotionally by being honest about your struggles and your shame. When we do that there is incredible freedom and life when we push past our fear.

March 26, 2015

15 Leadership Tips

I found this in my leadership files and wanted to share this. Not sure where I got it, but some great reminders for everyone that has influence and is leading other people.

15 Leadership Tips:

In other words, for people to embrace and follow compassionate, honest, ethical, peaceful, and fair principles, they must see these qualities demonstrated by their leadership.
A given type of leadership inevitably attracts the same type of followers. Put another way, a leadership cannot behave in any way that it asks its people not to.
Prior to expecting anyone to follow, a leader first needs to demonstrate a vision and values worthy of a following.
The suggestion that loyalty and a following can be built by simply asking or forcing people to be loyal is not any basis for effective leadership.
That is to say – loyalty to leadership relies on the leader having a connection with and understanding of people’s needs and wishes and possibilities. Solutions to leadership challenges do not lie in the leader’s needs and wishes. Leadership solutions lie in the needs and wishes of the followers.
It is not possible for a leader to understand and lead people when the leader’s head is high in the clouds or stuck firmly up his backside.
Incidentally, leading is helping people achieve a shared vision, not telling people what to do.
Leaders get lost because of isolation, delusion, arrogance, plain stupidity, etc., but above all because they become obsessed with imposing their authority, instead of truly leading.
Always, when leaders say that the people are not following, it’s the leaders who are lost, not the people.
People are a lot more clever than most leaders think.
People have a much keener sense of truth than most leaders think.
People quickly lose faith in a leader who behaves as if points 10 and 11 do not exist.
People generally have the answers which elude the leaders – they just have better things to do than help the leader to lead – like getting on with their own lives.
A leadership which screws up in a big way should come clean and admit their errors. People will generally forgive mistakes but they do not tolerate being treated like idiots by leaders.
And on the question of mistakes, a mistake is an opportunity to be better, and to show remorse and a lesson learned.

Lead On

February 7, 2015

5 Elements of a Great Team

There has been a lot written about teams and team work. Yet many companies struggle to have healthy, high functioning teams. Most often that is the result of an unhealthy culture or misguided leadership. There are some fundamental elements of great teams that allow organizations to get things done quickly with excellence.

A Sense of Purpose – The great teams I’ve observed and served on have had a sense of purpose, they all knew where they were headed. That sense of purpose allowed the team to want to be great not just average. The first step in building a great team is to make sure everyone knows the big picture purpose of what they are trying to accomplish. Does everyone know what a win looks like and are they celebrating the right things and changing the wrong things?
Empowered – Great teams are given the ability to do their jobs and the decision making power to get things done. They don’t have to check with the boss before every decision, because the boss trusts them and has given them their purpose and goals. When a team is empowered and trusted great things can happen very quickly. When they are told what to do and how to do it they tend to move slow and become average and apprehensive.
Humble – Great teams might have superstars on the team but everyone knows the team is more important than any individual. People are willing to defer to others if they have more experience and knowledge. They also learn how to push back on ideas without attacking individuals. The team is always trying to find the best and so everyone is open to feedback and evaluate everything together.
Transparent & Honest – Great teams talk to each other and are honest with each other. If they are on the same page as far as purpose and are clear on the objectives they can push each other and hold each other accountable. This can only happen if they are also humble and trust each other.
Cross functional and diverse – The great teams have different personalities, skills and strengths. Team members know what each others strengths and skills are and allow people to work in their area of strength. Great teams communicate about who should be involved in certain projects based on their skill and strengths and not on politics. Team members understand what others are doing on the team and therefore can help each other if needed.

Teams are only as great as the leader. Leaders that try to control and direct instead of casting vision and empowering tend to have average teams. As a leader don’t get caught up in telling your team what to do. Instead make sure they know their purpose and what the wins are. Establish clear goals or outcomes and then allow your team to figure out how to get there. If you can’t trust your team then you have the wrong team and need to find people you can trust.

As the leader you are there to coach along the way and not get involved in the how. This means encouraging people, redirecting people, refocusing people and backing your team up even if they make some mistakes. Building a great team takes great leadership. If you have a very new team or inexperienced team you may have to spend more time with them and give them some of the how. Getting your teams to great is a process, there is an ideal yet you need to work with reality. Start with yourself as the leader and then your team members. The better you lead the better your team becomes.

Lead On

January 19, 2015

Seven Servant Leadership Principles

The greatest leaders in history are the ones that had a mindset to serve others. There has been a lot written about servant leadership and many today try to practice being a servant leader. But just how practical is that in the real world. When you have to get things done, ship your product or close the sale, how can you serve?

It can be hard when the heat is on to be thinking about serving others. Yet if you want to be great you must learn the fine art of serving others as a leader. Here are just a few things I believe are important in having a servant leader mindset.

Keep Growing – If you want to serve the people you lead and the business or organization you work at, then grow. If you become a lid for the organization then you are not serving anyone well. To me this means that you are reading and studying your area of business. It means that you are talking to others that are doing it better than you and learning as much as possible about how to improve yourself as a leader and whatever product or service you offer. The bottom line is that servant leaders are constantly growing and changing and improving. The more you grow the more you can pour into the people around you.
Have a Vision – You have to know where you are going and be able to articulate that to your team on a regular basis. A servant leader is constantly reminding everyone about why we are doing what we are doing. Where we are heading and what the win is every day. Casting vision is vital to being a servant leader.
Think Strategically – A servant leader must be thinking ahead and planning. One of the best ways you can serve people is by being well prepared and by thinking of things that could wrong before they go wrong. This involves analyzing what is working well, what is not working well, what is missing and what is confusing. Going through that process with your team will help bring clarity to the work being done.
Collaborate – Servant leaders realize they don’t have all the answers, so they will involve the people around them in the decision making process. They will ask what other people think and be open to new ideas and suggestions. They allow other people that know more about the situation to make decisions and then back them up. Servant leaders are also very open about what is happening and what is coming, they don’t keep secrets from their team.
Empower People – This is one of the most powerful principles of servant leadership. It’s developing people and then allowing them to do their jobs. Servant leaders do not micro manage unless a person needs that extra attention. Empowering a person is trusting them to make decisions, without having to always check with you first. This can feel risky at times, but it builds your team and develops leaders. People learn from mistakes and it allows you to coach your team along the way.
Hold People Accountable – This is another important servant leadership principle. When you are leading someone it’s important to be clear about what the expectations are and what results you want. It needs to be in writing and you need to talk about it on a regular basis. Setting goals and objectives with your team and then asking for regular updates on the progress is a great way to serve your people. When someone is not hitting the goals or meeting expectations you serve them by having honest conversations with them and telling them the truth and coaching them on how to get back on track.
Care About Others – Finally the people you lead need to know that you actually care about them. That they are more than just an employee that is getting results. This means you have to get to know your team. Find out about their family and personal lives and ask them how they are doing. It means taking time to have conversations with them and carve out time to have fun together as a team. If your all business all the time you won’t connect with your team and your not serving them well. When you take time for people especially when they are going through a crisis it’s a game changer – People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Lead On

December 13, 2014

Three Life Lessons

One of my favorite books is found in the Bible in the Old Testament. It’s the book of Nehemiah. It’s a story about a man that led a movement to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem, a city that had been destroyed and in ruins for many years.

The reason I like this story so much is because it demonstrates how much can be done when a person works hard and involves God.

Here are three simple life lessons from the story of Nehemiah, I hope you will take the time to read his story:

The first step in any venture is to pray – The first thing Nehemiah did when he heard how terrible things were back home was to pray. He talked to God and pleaded with God to help. He also confessed sin for himself and his people, and he asked for specific help in having favor with his boss. Prayer was his first response, Nehemiah knew that on his own he could not accomplish what God and he could do together. When we face a challenge in life the first thing we need to do is talk to God, confess our sin, ask for his help and be specific in our requests.
People under God’s direction can accomplish impossible tasks – Nehemiah was a talented leader but he knew he could not accomplish this huge task without the help of God and other people. He put a plan together and asked for help from many different people. He was able to keep the people focused on the most important things and not get distracted or paralyzed by fear. He kept encouraging the people and praying for help, wisdom, protection and courage. When you have a big vision and you include God on everything and you stay focused, amazing things can happen. They rebuilt the walls around Jerusalem in just 52 days.
There are two parts to real service for God: talking with Him and walking with Him – Serving God means including Him in every area of our lives. It starts by talking with Him through prayer, this builds intimacy with God, a closeness that can only come from spending time together. It also means walking our everyday lives with God. Walking with God is simply including Him on the good and the bad in your life. It’s continually acknowledging that He is in control and that we are seeking to do His will and not our own. Walking with God is also asking for help when tempted, confessing when we mess up and getting back up and continuing on after we fail.

Nehemiah’s story is amazing and well worth reading. Read it here – Nehemiah

October 17, 2014

Examining the Condition of Your Walls

One of my heroes is Nehemiah. His story is found in the Bible and it’s loaded with leadership and spiritual principles. Nehemiah was a Jewish man living in Persia after the Persian empire had taken over Jerusalem and exiled the Jewish people. Slowly over a 90 year period the Jewish people were traveling the 800 miles back to Jerusalem and were trying to rebuild that great city.

Nehemiah had an important and prestigious job as the cup bearer to the king. He found out that the rebuilding process in Jerusalem was not going well and they were struggling to make it. Mainly it was because the walls around the city had been torn down and that left them vulnerable to the people around them. Nehemiah had a great concern about the walls of his beloved city. The rest of the story is how he went about rebuilding the walls.

Here are some of my takeaways:

Wall rebuilding then…. Wall rebuilding now:

Ancient walls served many purposes. They offered Protection, Security, and reflected the strength of the people.

Likewise, today the walls of spiritual disciplines that we build around our lives are vital for our Protection and for building our relationship with God.

We need to examine the condition of our walls.

Are some gates open for the enemy to slip in?
Has neglect allowed a loose piece of stone or mortar to become a hole or a gap?
Have weeds of compromise overrun certain sections until those toppled walls have become a main entrance for sin?

If your walls are in need of repair lets take a look at some principles from Nehemiah.

First: Develop a genuine concern for the condition of the walls.

Is it a burden on your heart? We must have a genuine concern for the condition of our spiritual lives. If spiritual growth is not important it will take a back seat to all the more important stuff in our lives. The spiritual walls we have in our lives keep us focused on the best things and growing in our trust of God.

Second: Express direct prayer for guidance and protection.

Nehemiah started 800 miles away in prayer before the Lord. Prayer tends to be an afterthought many times. It should be the first thing we do. Get into the habit of acting on your burdens only after you have given them a firm foundation in prayer. Prayer is a privilege and God is available at all times. We have access to the only one that controls everything.

Third: Face the situation honestly and with determination until the task is finished.

If we are upfront and honest about a problem we usually can get more of a commitment from the people around us. An honest appraisal of your own spiritual walls will help you stay determined to fill the gaps. We all know were we tend to struggle and where we are allowing things to influence us in a negative way. If your unsure then ask the people that are closest to you for honest feedback.

Fourth: Recognize that we cannot correct the condition alone.

No amount of experience can overcome sin’s power to crumble our walls. It is only when we are willing to live in dependence on God that we have the power to fix and build the spiritual walls we need for survival. If we are serious about making changes in our spiritual lives then allowing other people to speak into our lives is vital. Pray for someone that can hold you accountable by asking tough questions and then pray for courage to be open and honest.

Breezes instead of wind gusts usually knock us down. We get lulled into neglecting our walls. We drift from God and allow other things to take priority in our lives. Slowly we stray away and can find ourselves lost, stuck or alone.

Pray for God’s help in recognizing those subtle breezes in your life that are causing you to drift into moral compromises.

What area of your spiritual wall needs repairs or strengthened?

Are you faithful in all areas of your life? At work, At home, At play?

Take some time soon to think about the condition of your own walls and then follow Nehemiahs example and rebuild them as needed.

October 1, 2014

10 Points of Emphasis

Over the past 12 years I’ve been working at NewPointe Community Church is various leadership positions. NewPointe is a multi-site church meaning it is one church in multiple locations. Currently there are four locations and we are working on locations five and six to be launched in 2015. Over the years there has been a lot of change at NewPointe. The strategy has been a constantly moving thing but the vision has always been steady. Our vision is to lead people to realize and reach their full potential in Jesus Christ. With millions of people in Ohio, which is where we are located, we have to keep growing in order to continue reach more people to help them grow spiritually.

Recently I went over some points of emphasis with my staff at the Millersburg Campus. These are areas that all of us as leaders need to pay attention to and constantly be working on. These points lead to a healthy organizational culture and to steady growth. These points are all transferable to any business or organization. These are leadership issues that I have found to be important in building a healthy organization.

10 Points of Emphasis at NewPointe Community Church:

1. First Impressions matter – So remove all distractions and create wow moments of service. You only have one opportunity to make a positive first impression. Make someone’s day and then keep building on that positive first impression.
2. Lasting Impressions matter – So follow-up is essential. Once a person comes to your organization it’s important to connect with them so that they keep coming back – write notes, send emails, texts and calls – meet with as many people as possible – Each touch matters in building relationships. You don’t want to bombard people, but they need to know that you value them as a customer or client.
3. Lead by example – People are watching and listening so make sure your healthy emotionally, physically, mentally and especially spiritually, so that you can be positive and passionate about the vision. Sometimes you need to do things that are not your job, to show people that you are willing to do whatever it takes to move the organization forward.
4. Focus on the individual – Be fully present with people. When you are talking with someone focus on them and not what’s going on around you. Work at listening and not thinking about everything else you need to do or what you are going to say to respond. When you make the person you are talking to feel like they are the most important person in the room they feel valued, heard and cared for.
5. Do for one what you wish you could do for all – You can’t help everyone, but you can help someone. When you come across a person in need and you can help do all you can to help and serve that person. It might be providing a needed piece of equipment to an employee or finding a way to help during a difficult time.
6. Always try to make it better – 1% improvements over time make a big difference. Have a mindset of how can I improve this. Constantly ask for feedback and give people permission to be negative and honest. When you get negative feedback be grateful and don’t get defensive.
7. Be good stewards of all our resources – Pay attention to details and don’t waste resources. This forces you to be creative and responsible. Work within your budget and spend money as if it’s your own, not the organizations.
8. Don’t just care about your team, care for them – When the people around you know you care because of your actions it builds loyalty, healthy community and a positive culture. You care for people by taking the time to listen to them, serve them, follow up quickly if they have questions, be flexible and give them open honest feedback.
9. Be clear when you communicate – Make sure you clarify the win and the expectations and then repeat and follow up. Repetition is important especially when it comes to values, guiding principles and vision. Don’t make people guess at what you mean. Most people appreciate clear direct communication.
10. Keep it simple – Take the complex and make it simple for people. This is hard the bigger you organization gets. You have to be very intentional about keeping things simple and easy. Remove as much red tape as you can. Systems are good but can become too complex if you as the leader don’t keep pushing for simple.

These are things I think about and try to do on an everyday basis as a leader. Leadership means you are out in front and yet walking behind and with your team. Serving the people you lead is vital in leadership.

September 13, 2014September 13, 2014

Spiritual Fitness

Recently I ran races on back to back weekends. First it was a race called Rough & Rugged which was a 5k cross country, trail, mud kind of race. I finished but was exhausted and struggled along the way. Then the next weekend I ran a 10k on a flat course. Again I finished but struggled and had to reach deep to keep pushing myself. After I finished that second race I made the comment that these races are much harder when you don’t train properly.

You see I had been running once a twice a week in preparation for both of these races. I also did nothing between the two races and I felt it on race day. I know this because at one time I did train hard and went into similar races in much better physical condition. I ran better times and felt better after the races. The preparation I put in made a difference on race day. I was both mentally and physically ready. That was not the case with these last two races.

It is similar in our spiritual lives, when we are staying connected to God and feeding our minds the truth, it is much easier to recognize lies and deal with the difficulties of life. It’s the things we do day in and day out that prepare us for those big moments in life and those small moments that make a big difference. Those crucial conversations, the big decisions, the temptation that comes out of no where or the unexpected tragedy. When we are not training spiritually those things can knock us down and take us out.

So here are some spiritual exercises we can all do to keep fit both spiritually and emotionally.

Pray – This is a very powerful way to train. It has been proven to reduce stress and it’s a great way to express your heart to God. How incredible to know that the God of this universe wants to listen to what is going on in your life right now. Short prayers throughout the day or longer prayer times when you able are great ways to stay spiritually fit. I like to use ACTS when I pray: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication.
Reading the Bible – For some this is a challenge, because they tried it and didn’t understand what they were reading so they gave up. Keep trying, try a different translation, try listening to it, but keep trying. the translation I’ve been reading lately is the New Century Version. I just read through the New Testament in 30 days and am now reading through Psalms in 30 days. You might not be able to read that much so set a goal that works for you. Find a time that you can read for 5-10 minutes and try to stay consistent When you miss a day, just pick it up the next. Pray before you read and ask God to help you understand and to pick something up that he wants to tell you or teach you.
Go to Church – I know that sounds simple, but unless you make that a priority in your life you will only go when it suits your schedule. Today many people only go to church once or twice a month. That’s good but your missing a lot by not going every week. I know life happens and I don’t expect people to be in church every time there is a service, but it should be high on your priority list if you want to be fit spiritually. Find a church that challenges you to grow and get involved. Don’t settle for comfortable, because it’s hard to grow and train and get better when your comfortable.
Volunteer at your Church and in the Community – When you make a commitment to volunteer it gets you out of your comfort zone and into making a difference through the local church and through good local organizations. This is one of the best ways you can grow spiritually. It will help you to serve others and be part of something bigger than yourself. Serving increases your responsibility and develops your character. It also allows you to use your gifts and abilities to make a difference.
Get involved in a group – When you meet with other people to build relationships, learn, and care for each other it stretches you and pushes you to grow spiritually, relationally and emotionally. When you open your life to some other people it brings a new level of accountability and connection that often leads to growth. Find some other men or women or couples that you can get to know better, have fun with, have spiritual conversations and pray with.
Listen to Messages – There is incredible communicators out there. Find someone you connect with and start listening to there messages. Several that I like a lot are Andy Stanley, Craig Groeschel, Jon Weese.
Read – I already mentioned reading the Bible, here I’m talking about reading blogs, articles and books. Some people avoid reading because they hated in in school. I’m not saying you have to read every day, but try to start reading because it’s a great way to get fit spiritually, mentally and emotionally. There are great resources out there that can help you improve your marriage, parenting, finances, work life and build your faith, develop your character and grow your leadership. Here are three books I’m currently reading.

The Top Ten Leadership Commandments by Hans Finzel
The Catalyst Leader by Brad Lomenick
The Cure by John Lynch

I encourage you to pick one or two of the areas I mentioned and start incorporating it into your everyday life. If you do all of those on a regular basis you will grow and become more fit spiritually.

September 3, 2014

Letter From God

What if you received a letter with a return address of Christ: The Universe? We may be afraid, concerned, excited or all of the above. In any case I am sure we would be riveted to the text of this letter. We need to be riveted to the text of the letter Christ wrote through John to the church of Laodicea in Rev. 3:14-22.

It is intensely personal and highly relevant to our search for intimacy. It could have been written to us. Near the end of the letter there is a compelling invitation:

“Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I’ll come right in and sit down to supper with you. Conquerors will sit alongside me at the head table, just as I, having conquered, took the place of honor at the side of my father. That’s my gift to the conquerors! Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches.” Revelation 3:20-22 (Msg.)

Although many times we have taken this passage as being about salvation, the context dictates that it’s actually about a relationship with Christ for those who have already come to know Him.

Christ is standing at the door of our hearts, knocking. The metaphor is powerful. It means that Christ is intentionally, aggressively, passionately pursuing us. There are no qualifiers here. He isn’t speaking to a few select people, but to all the Laodiceans: the weak and the strong, the rich and the poor, those with disabilities and those that are forgotten. Christ portrays Himself as intentionally pursuing intimacy with us.

If Christ makes Himself so accessible, why is it that we don’t open the door? There are at least three reasons for our hesitation:

The First Reason: Fear

Though God does pursue us and though Christ is there knocking, some of us may be afraid to open the door. Many of us have longed for intimacy in human relationships-with our father, mother, or someone else- only to find that our hopes for intimacy were not only dashed and broken but that as we made ourselves vulnerable, we were wounded in the process. We are afraid. We just don’t know if we can trust again.

Thomas Keating, in his book INTIMACY WITH GOD, speaks to this problem:

The Christian’s spiritual path is based on a deepening trust in God. It is trust that first allows us to take that initial leap into the dark, to encounter God at deeper levels of ourselves. And it is trust that guides the intimate refashioning of our being, the transformation of our pain, woundedness, and unconscious motivation into the person that God intended us to be.

Because trust is so important, our spiritual journey may be blocked if we carry negative attitudes toward God from early childhood. If we are afraid of God or see God as an angry father-figure, a suspicious policeman, or a harsh judge, it will be hard to develop enthusiasm, or even an interest , in the journey.

We need to pray , “Lord I want to trust You, Help me to trust you. We need to grasp the truth that God will not disappoint us. He will not abuse us. He will not use us. No one who as ever trusted God and moved toward intimacy has ever ultimately been disappointed – ever.

The Second Reason: Self-Sufficiency

Some of us have the same problem that the Laodiceans had. They were neither hot nor cold, but luke-warm. They were rich and had no material needs, so they thought they didn’t need God. They relied on what they consumed from the material world in order to satisfy, sustain, and secure themselves. Many of us don’t think it is so bad to be self-sufficient, it’s not like being self-centered or self-serving. But it is a big issue to God. Christ said to the Laodiceans that though they had all the stuff, comforts, companions, commodities, they were wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

Wow. God wants us to be rich in the right ways. He wants to fill our lives with truly valuable treasures. He wants us to have His peace, comfort, presence, and power.

The Third Reason: Discontentment

“More. If there is a single word that summarizes American hopes and obsessions, that’s it. More success. More luxuries and gizmos. We live for more-for our next raise, our next house; and the things we already have, however wonderful they are, tend to pale in comparison with the things we might still get.” Laurence Shames

There is that ever-present craving for all that is more, bigger, or better.

He goes on to say this:

“During the past decade, many people came to believe there didn’t have to be a purpose. The mechanism didn’t require it. Consumption kept workers working, which kept the paychecks coming, which kept the people spending, which kept inventors inventing and investors investing, which meant there was more to consume. The system, properly understood, was independent of values and needed no philosophy to prop it up. It was a perfect circle, complete in itself-and empty in the middle.

The Biblical word for satisfaction is the word contentment. We are called to be content with what we have since we have God-and He is fully sufficient. That doesn’t mean we don’t ever want something or that we don’t enjoy a purchase here and there. It means that we are not controlled by the passion to consume. Having Him, we have it all. Anything extra is a bonus.

Paul tells us in Philippians 4:11-13 that he had learned both how to have plenty and how to have little and in both cases to be content. Contentment is not just a reflected in our relationship to things. We can be discontent with our spouse, our job, our place in life, our education, or a long list of other things. Sometimes discontentment can motivate us to righteousness or a zealous commitment to God. This is a healthy kind of discontentment. The kind of discontentment, however, that seeks personal satisfaction and security in “just one more thing, one more experience, one more friendship.” Leads to the emptiness and aloneness.

When we hear Him knocking, it is the trusting, God-sufficient, contented heart that hurries to answer. Opening the door generates the pleasure of experiencing His promise, “I will come right in and have supper with you.”

August 11, 2014

That Church

Recently I had a conversation with some people that attend and volunteer at the church that I work at. As we talked about some of the conversations they had at work and in the community, I heard several times that many of the people they talk to about church say “Oh you go to That Church”. Now I’m guessing that the comment comes from people that are either already going to a church or grew up in church. The reason I say that is because people that are familiar with church tend to have a picture of what a church should be like. I know that I had those same thoughts when I first heard about NewPointe over 17 years ago. I questioned why they did certain things and why they didn’t do certain things. But then I tried it and was changed forever, my picture of church was wrecked in a good way.

When a church comes along that doesn’t line up with our picture of the church we grew up with or currently attend, we will question the validity of that church. Most people’s natural tendency is to poke fun or shoot holes in something they don’t understand.

I actually love that people would say you go to “That Church”. That means that we are getting noticed and people are actually talking about church, maybe in a way that they have not talked before. It leads to spiritual conversations and gets people thinking. There is no perfect church, because there are no perfect people. As a church leader I don’t claim to know it all or have the best way of doing things. I want to create a place where people can connect with God and other people.

So here are some things I love about That Church, otherwise known as NewPointe Community Church:

I love that we accept and love everyone, no matter how they look, act or where they come from.
I love that we speak the truth openly and often and also extend grace openly and often.
I love that we are trying to be a church that unchurched people love to attend.
I love that we are outward focused, wanting to reach as many people as possible.
I love that we try to lead people to take their next step spiritually no matter where they are at spiritually. So no matter where someone is at with God, we want them to take another step closer.
I love that we partner with parents to help children and students grow spiritually.
I love that we are a generous church, giving our time, talent and treasure for God’s work.
I love that our messages are relevant, real and practical.
I love that we focus more on people than on programs.
I love that we use technology to reach people more effectively.
I love that we have a vision to reach Ohio and beyond with the Good News about Jesus Christ.
I love that we are creative and willing to try new and different things to reach and connect with people.
I love that we emphasize leadership and taking responsibility for all our relationships.
I love that we don’t need to put on a mask when we go to church and can be real.
I love that we use music to worship God and that we play it loud.
I love that we are willing to serve our community in practical ways to meet the needs of people and local organizations.
I love that we are willing to partner with other churches and organizations to make a difference in the world around us.
I love that we can laugh in church.
I love that we can drink coffee in church.
I love that we emphasize connecting in small groups and doing life with others.
I love that we deal with conflict directly and speak the truth in love to resolve conflicts.
I love that we know we don’t have all the answers and are willing to learn from others.
I love that people can come and worship God together from all walks of life.
I love my church – That Church!