A story is told that soon after the opening of Walt Disney World in 1971 someone said, “Isn’t it too bad Walt Disney didn’t live to see this?” And Mike Vance, former Dean of Disney University replied, “He did see it—that’s why it’s here.”

I don’t know about you…but I love that quote!  I love the idea that Walt Disney dreamed of the place, the environment that would one day be Walt Disney World…that he saw it…and that’s why it it opened the way it did in 1971.

Can you imagine what it was like to hang with Walt?  I don’t know about you, but I am a Walt Disney kind of guy.  My family loves Disneyland!  We love the beauty.  We love the feeling of delight.  We love the design and the intricate detail you see only if you’re looking close.  We love the imagination.  One of our coolest family memories is about the time in 2004 that we first bought a season pass and I surprised everyone and said, “Let’s not just buy the pass.  Let’s get on the Monorail and go into the park!”  It was a good night.  A very good night.

My Dream

Can I tell you something?  As much as I love Disneyland…and as much as I love the idea that Disney World is what it is because Walt saw it in advance…I absolutely LOVE the idea that I can be part of reaching the widening 60% that will never be reached by the attractional model.  I love that.  And I’ll die trying to figure out ways to leverage the existing relationships at crowd’s edge.  I will never stop.  It is the reason I am alive.

I am dreaming of the day when millions of people, friends of the folks at crowd’s edge, look across coffee tables and dinner tables and say, “I am so glad you and your friends were just real with us!  We don’t know why we never noticed Him before…but we met Jesus through you!”

I am dreaming of the day when out of the blue Lance and Lisa say, “We were at a party and the host showed this Nickelback video called Savin’ Me and then there was an interview with the video’s director and the next thing we knew we were in a discussion about the meaning of life that kept us riveted for 90 minutes!  We’re going back to watch Daughtry’s What About Now next week!”

What’s Your Dream?

So I’ve told you mine…what’s yours?  Got a dream?

Now is the time!  Put your dream in black and white!  You can click here to jump into the conversation.

Today is Memorial Day in the United States; a day to honor U.S. service members who died while serving their country.

On Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, I watched the first 25 minutes of the online service of Woodlands Church during which they asked current or past members of the armed forces to stand.  I was reminded how frequently that was done while I served on the staff there.  Memorial Day weekend, July 4th weekend, and even Veteran’s Day if it fell on or near the weekend.

As current and past members of the armed forces stood, I remembered the gratitude I felt for their service when we honored them along with policemen and firemen after 9/11.  It was a powerful experience as we honored them.

As they stood, I was also reminded of our honor-giving, hero-making role as pastors and leaders of ministry.  It is a key opportunity and one we should never miss.  After all, in our ministries, we get to choose who will be honored as a hero.

I remember when I first heard this notion, that we get to choose who will be honored as a hero.  It was the early 90s.  I was attending a conference on developing vision and building teams…and I’ll never forget the realization that in recognizing those who do what is admirable, in making heroes of the right people, we can play a part in helping other people step into a new trajectory.

I was reminded again of this important practice in On the Verge, a new book in the Exponential series by Alan Hirsch and Dave Ferguson (watch for my review later this week).  Clearly, if you want to build a ministry that enters a new trajectory, you will need to rethink who you are honoring as heroes.

If you’ve never done so, you might want to do a kind of honor assessment in your church and for 30 days keep track of who gets mentioned from the platform and other ways (bulletin, newsletter, and website).  Although it may be right on target, you might find you need to pay more attention to who you acknowledging.  You may discover that you’re missing the opportunity to recognize and affirm those whose actions are most in line with a new trajectory you’re dreaming of and instead, continuing to affirm those whose behaviors are aligned with the status quo.

We tend to think that the leader identification and selection challenge is a modern problem.  It’s not.  Faced with the challenge, Jesus “went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.  When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them (Luke 6:12-16).”

I just want to point out three things:

• First, and I know this might bring out your inner theologian, Jesus was 11 for 12.  Sure…He had a reason for choosing Judas.  We all get that.  But isn’t it just part of the deal to know that when you choose leaders you can’t realistically expect to be perfect.
• Second, He could have chosen Gamaliel, Nicodemus, and Joseph of Arimathea.  He could have…but He didn’t.  As John MacArthur pointed out yesterday, He chose “fishermen, a tax collector and other common men.”  He wasn’t looking at resumes.  He wasn’t looking at what they knew how to do.  He was looking at their heart and their willingness to follow.
• Third, He invited them to “come and see” long before He invited them to “come and die.”  This is significant.  He made the ask in a way that was appropriate for the need.  It started out innocently enough.  There was very little danger.  Very little risk.  As they warmed up to the adventure, as they were ready, they grew into the come and die moment.

Can I tell you something?  Don’t overlook Simon Peter while you’re desperately searching for Gamaliel.  Don’t miss out on James and John while you’re waiting for Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea to come around to your philosophy of ministry.

And whatever you do, don’t turn your back on Matthew because he’s not on the usual suspects’ speed dial.  Don’t lose sight of the fact that the Matthews actually know the people in the community.

This game…connecting beyond 100% and impacting communities is not won with Gamaliels.  It’s won with Simon Peters.  It’s won with Jameses and Johns.  It’s won with Matthews.  They have rough edges.  They mess up regularly.  They require supervision.  And they change the world.

What do you think?  Want to argue?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.

You probably know this…but the Twelve were not chosen from the usual suspects.  I know for some that line all by itself might cause you to lump me in with the riffraff.  Sorry about that.  But sometimes the truth hurts.

It’s true, though.  When Jesus selected the twelve apostles they were not first round material.  They were clearly the b team.  They were the riffraff.  They were the ‘am ha’ares; the people of the land.

I like what John MacArthur points out in Twelve Ordinary Men (there’s a first time for everything…I’ve never cited MacArthur before):

“When Jesus chose the Twelve to be His official representatives …He didn’t choose a single rabbi.  He didn’t choose a scribe.  He didn’t choose a Pharisee.  He didn’t choose a Sadducee.  He didn’t choose a pries t…He chose instead men who were not theologically trained–fishermen, a tax collector, and other common men (p. 7).”

Why am I telling you this?

One of the most significant missteps when planning a small group launch (church-wide campaign or otherwise) is to select leaders exclusively from the core…what I often refer to as “the usual suspects.”

Why is that a misstep?

There are several reasons but the first and most important is that in most cases the folks in the square (to refer to the diagram) will tell you that 8, 9, or even all 10 of their best friends…are also inside the square.  To use my friend Allen White’s favorite metaphor, just like a Lego block, there’s a limit to how many people they can connect to…and they’re full!  I explain this much more thoroughly in Clue #1 When Designing Your Small Group System.

Second, new leaders recruited from closer to crowd’s edge are more likely to have friends, family, neighbors and co-workers from the community.  They often have the exact opposite situation than members from the core and will tell you that 8, 9, or even all 10 of their best friends have never been to your church.

Third, once a church reaches a certain size (not average attendance, but total number of adults in the crowd) it is way too easy for some of the most qualified potential leaders to simply disappear into the shadows.  Where’s that number?  Hard to say exactly, but when you see people in the grocery store and know that you’ve seen them at church but don’t know their story…you’re there.

What do you think?  Want to argue?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.

When you think about how you’re spending your time, would you say that you’re patching yesterday’s garment?  Or designing tomorrow’s pattern?

Need definitions?  Patching yesterday’s garment would be “making incremental changes to try and improve less-than-optimal results.”  Designing tomorrow’s pattern would be creating customized steps that lead to what you’ve clarified as a win.”

So what do you think?  If you were totally honest, are you spending more time patching yesterday’s garment or designing tomorrow’s pattern?  By the way, I got this question from Peter Drucker’s great line:

“It is dangerously tempting to keep on patching yesterday’s garment rather than work on designing tomorrow’s pattern (p. 11, Managing for Results).”

By the way, this is a very biblical concept.  Jesus talked about this in Matthew 9:16-17 when He said, “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Truthfully, there are times when we feel stuck.  We look ahead at the challenges of going back to the drawing board, starting with the tabula rasa, and we decide to tweak instead of start over.  Other times we’re just tired.  Ministry is hard.  Sunday’s always just 7 days away.  And honestly, sometimes it’s just too easy to put it off until a later date.

Can I encourage you?  Don’t give in to stuck.  Get renewed and ready for the next run and then jump in.  Don’t give in to the temptation of just patching yesterday’s garment when what’s really needed is a new pattern.

Here are Three Steps You Can Take:

1. Pull together your own team of future travelers. They might be already on your team as a small group leader or coach.  Equally, they might be from another church in the area (One good way to find some folks to make the journey with is to use the Small Group Network’s list of local networks).
2. Go on an assumption hunt. I’ve written about this a number of times.  You can learn how to do an assumption hunt in Determining Essential Ingredients,  The Danger of Unexamined Assumptions, and  Ready to Go on an Assumption Hunt? The essence of the idea is that the ideas that have long anchored your assumptions may very well be based on cultural implications that are no longer true (for example, Sunday as an all day affair was based on the fact that it made sense to drive the wagon into town and spend the day before returning home).
3. Have an Andy Grove retreat.  Andy Stanley (and others) tell a great story of a conversation between Gordon Moore (Intel Chairman and CEO at the time) and Andy Grove (his successor).  In 1985, with Intel’s computer memory business in major trouble, Grove said to Moore, “If we got kicked out and the board brought in a new CEO, what would he do?  Why shouldn’t we walk out, come back in and do it ourselves?”  That’s more than a great quote.  It is the main ingredient for a new pattern moment.  Getting away and asking that profound question might be the inflection point for your ministry.  For a little more on this, see my StrategyCentral post that includes Andy Stanley’s thoughts on this topic.

Can I add a 4th idea?  I love spending time with leadership teams helping them reconsider the design of their ministry.  You can find out how it works right here.

What do you think?  Want to argue?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.

Trying to find a way to connect the widening 60% who are unreachable by the attractional model?  To do it, you must have an unwavering sense of direction.

The very heart of this series of articles on the keys to grouplife at crowd’s edge has to do with the certainty that the well-worn path never leads to a new destination.  Translated…if your current system only connects the people who fill out a sign-up form to join a group…you must realize that connecting different people will require a different strategy.

If you’re connecting the same kinds of people every time you run a small group connection, it’s time to realize that the connection only connects the people in the room.  Want different results?  You’ll need to do different things.

So far, so good.  But here’s where the problem comes along.  Doing different things will be criticized.  Doing different things will cause eyebrows to raise.  Doing different things will draw a challenge.

To maintain course in the face of criticism, to move in a new direction even when eyebrows raise and your wisdom is challenged, will require an unwavering sense of direction.  You’ll need to be certain that the well-worn path never arrives at a new destination.

You won’t be able to hesitate.  You’ll want to be sure you don’t look back.

While I’ve always loved the truth in the Cheshire Cat’s line in Alice in Wonderland (“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”), in this case it is only almost true.  It’s only almost true because the one thing you know for sure is that the well-worn path, the road you’ve been on won’t get you to where you need to go.

How to Develop Directional Confidence

First, you need to be spending time with unconnected people who are representative of the people you’re trying to connect.  You need to develop an awareness of their interests, their hopes and dreams, and their fears and concerns.

Second, you need to recruit a posse that shares your conviction.  You can’t do this alone.  How to get started?  Read The Next Christians and get a team together to discuss the Next Christians DVD-Driven Group Discussion.

Third, you need to learn to recognize the challenges, concerns and raised eyebrows for what they are…fears and uncertainties, particularly about changes in whose needs get prioritized.

And last, you need to learn to cast vision for the importance of connecting the 60% who are unreachable by the attractional model.  These are different times.  We are in post-Christian America (and you’re feeling it wherever you are in the world).  And hearing “well done” will require an entirely different sense of direction.

What do you think?  Want to argue?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.

Want to connect people you’re not currently connecting?  Then you need to do things you’re not doing now.  Obvious…right?  After all, if what you’re currently doing worked, at least to the degree you need it to, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

What’s keeping you from doing things you’re not doing now?  Conventional thinking.  After all, everyone knows you need to be in a group before you can lead a group.  Right?  And everyone knows you need to be an apprentice before you can lead a group.  And while we’re on the subject, doesn’t everyone know you need to be a really mature Christian before you lead a group?

I mean really, don’t you really want to be 100% sure that there’s no possibility of even a slight possibility that there could be any POSSIBILITY of a small group leader leading an innocent sheep astray?  Come on…right?

Let me tell you something.  Every one of those thoughts are examples of conventional thinking.  They’re not an example of biblical absolutes.  Just the way we’ve always done it.

In some ways, like being in a straitjacket.

Want to escape the straitjacket?  I really like the way Gary Hamel describes the challenge of escaping the straitjacket of conventional thinking.

“To escape the straitjacket of conventional thinking, you have to be able to distinguish between beliefs that describe the world as it is, and beliefs that describe the world as it is and must forever remain (p. 131, The Future of Management).”

Got on a straitjacket?  What conventional thinking do you need to shed?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.

Want to connect beyond the usual suspects?  A key to grouplife at crowd’s edge is crowd friendly leader qualification.  Sometimes referred to as “lowering the bar in terms of who can lead a group,” it really has to do with setting appropriate guidelines, procedures and expectations; determining answers to three very important questions:

• who can lead
• how they’ll be recruited and trained
• what you’ll expect of them

Remember, what we’re working on is developing a grouplife system capable of connecting beyond the usual suspects, connecting the widening 60% who are unreachable by the attractional model.  Allegiance to the status quo will not get it done.  That said, let’s look at answers to the three questions.

Who Can Lead?

One of the key aspects to remember here is that in most cases you’re going to construct situations where leaders recruit their own members.  That’s a big factor in determining who can lead.  Can you see it?  If you’re primarily inviting leaders to fill their own group, who will they recruit?  Won’t they largely recruit friends, family members, neighbors and co-workers who are a step or two behind them spiritually speaking?  Does it matter if the leader candidate is a member?  Does it matter if they’re a mature Christ-follower?  Does it really matter if they’re even a believer?  Think about it.  Remember, you’re giving them a study that will somewhat keep them on the rails.

On the other hand, if you’re in the habit of recruiting leaders, taking member sign-ups and then dealing out members to their groups…can you see how you might have reservations?  I wrote about this in Qualifications, Hoops, and Lowering the Bar.

How They’ll Be Recruited and Trained

I’ve written extensively about recruiting leaders (hosts).  How to Recruit Hosts, Messages That Recruit HOSTs, and Take Advantage of Testimony to Recruit HOSTs are just three of many articles on this important subject.  The key here is to thoughtfully consider the way you go about it and the hesitations and fears of the people who will say “yes.”   Who you anticipate recruiting ought to influence the curriculum you select and the way you present your orientations.

What You’ll Expect of Them

Won’t your expectations be influenced by who you anticipate will say “yes?”  Imagine the scenario where you successfully recruit a wave of hosts from the edges of your congregation.  You’ll have asked them to “open their homes for six weeks, serve a few refreshments and tell a few of their friends.”  What are your expectations?  That they’re making a six week commitment.  Will you expect them to keep their group beyond that?  No.  You might hope they do and you might help them keep going if they’d like to, but you’ll be clear on that expectation.

Will you expect them to be a true small group leader right out of the gate?  No.  You’ll expect them to open their home and be a host.  At the same time, you’ll probably connect them with a coach and do what you can to help them grow…but you won’t bait and switch them.  You’[ll have clear expectations.

Will It Be Problem-Free?  No.  It will be messy.  But then, “messy” comes with the territory.  It will be worth it, though, because for some of those that step up to open their homes it will mark their first real sense of God’s smile.  Beyond that, it will be a turning point for friends, neighbors, family members and co-workers who say “yes” to joining the group and end up joining God’s family.

What do you think?  Got a question? You can click here to jump into the conversation.

We’ve all heard the saying, “April showers bring May flowers.”  And no one questions that practical, Farmer’s Almanac kind of wisdom.

Did you know that May decisions bring exponential Septembers?  It’s true.  When you have the right conversations and make the right decisions in May, you dramatically increase the exponential power of your fall ministry season.

Here are five conversations you need to be having right now:

1. How will you leverage the biggest opportunity to launch groups? Will you have a take advantage of a church-wide campaign?  Will you use a group-launching strategy like the Small Group Connection or GroupLink?  Will you implement a system like North Coast’s sermon-based groups or Nelson Searcy’s semester model?  I have my opinion about the best way to launch groups, but now is the time to have that conversation and make that decision.
2. Who do you hope to connect? This is a huge question that rarely gets asked.  The answer to this question should determine the strategy you use and the topic you choose.  Want to connect beyond the usual suspects?  Better choose a topic that is understandable and relevant to the folks at crowd’s edge.  Want to help your congregation deepen their faith or learn to listen to God?  It will take a different topic to do that.  By the way, the answer to the question “who do you hope to connect” cannot be “everyone.”  A lack of clarity here will derail your best efforts on every other decision.  Need help on this question?  Read Who Are You Trying to Connect?
3. What does the launch timeline look like? If you’re doing a church-wide campaign, when will you begin the weekend message series that holds it together?  When will you provide training or an orientation for new leaders?  When will you recruit leaders?  When will you recruit members?  How to Develop a Timeline might be a helpful article on this topic.
4. Can you recruit some new coaches that will help you sustain a larger number of the new groups you will launch in September? Who are they?  When can you begin to talk with them?  When can you begin to train them to do what they’ll need to do?  My Top 10 Articles on Small Group Coaching is a good place to start, particularly How to Build an Effective Coaching Structure.
5. Is your senior pastor committed to playing the part that only they can play? Do they understand what is required of them?  Diagnosis: Senior Pastor Buy-In provides a good overview of the concept.

Trying to figure it out?  Sometimes the best move you can make is to bring in a strategic outsider with fresh eyes to join the conversation.  I’d love to help you.  Why not Email Me to find out how easy it is to get started?

Want to reach people no one else is reaching?  According to Craig Groeschel, you’ll need “to do things no one else is doing.”

If you want to reach people no one else is reaching, you need to do things no one else is doing.  Craig Groeschel

That makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?  After all, if what we’re doing now was capable of reaching them…it would already be working.

I love Groeschel’s line, but I like to add that the people we’re not currently reaching are most likely the widening 60% who are unreachable with the attractional model.

Where do we come in?  Easy.  While the 60% may be unreachable with the attractional model (come to our building), they are very reachable with a “come over to our house” approach.  They may not ever accept your invitation to “come to our Easter service,” but they’ll find irresistible the right “let’s have a block party” approach.

Want to be part of making that happen?  It will take something different.  In some cases, it will take something completely different.  And that completely different is at the heart of what I’m referring to when I talk about grouplife at crowd’s edge.

Keys to GroupLife at Crowd’s Edge

I’m beginning to realize that these keys to grouplife at crowd’s edge are a deeply embedded philosophy for me.  In many ways they are non-negotiables.

Here are what I believe are some of the keys to grouplife at crowd’s edge:

• You need A Bias Toward New Groups
• You need to be Preoccupied with the Needs and Interests of the Right People
• You need An Openness to New Ideas
• You need to know that “Messy” Comes with the Territory
• You need A Willingness to Set Aside Your Own Interests
• You need to develop an “In” But Not “Of” M.O. (way of operating)
• You need to embrace Crowd Friendly Leader Qualification
• You need An Unwavering Sense of Direction
• You need a willingness to Build the Bridge as You Walk On It

As I post this list today, I know I’m not finished.  As more keys occur to me, I’ll add them.  You might have some ideas about other keys to grouplife at crowd’s edge and I’d love your input.

What do you think?  Want to argue or add to to the list?  Got a question? You can click here to jump into the conversation.