Over the last number of years I’ve had to work a rhythm of rest and refuelling into my life. It’s meant huge changes. In fact, we’ve programmed Connexus so that staff and volunteers are home most nights. I actually take my vacation now. I have work from my home Mondays and Fridays because I write best when I’m alone out of the office. I’m only good with people about 50% of my work week. Being home Monday means I can pour into staff and volunteers Tuesday – Thursday with enthusiasm. That might not be your rhythm, but it’s mine.

This principle is not a blank check for laziness. This isn’t about counting your 37.58 hours down the minute to make sure you’ve got what’s coming to you. Not at all. But it is about realizing that ministry happens deepest and most profoundly when you pursue God’s work using God’s ways and not your own. You end up accomplishing more in every sphere of your life.

When I started, I wanted to run this marathon like it was a sprint. I still sprint in seasons, but I’ve come squarely to terms with the truth that this is a marathon. A marathon God actually even intends us to enjoy. (Flickr image uploaded by wallyg)

What type of rest do you enjoy the most? What changes would you need to make to work it into your weekly rhythm?

I was terrible at this for years. Rest was for people who just couldn’t handle a real workload. If you went home at 4 p.m., it was because you really weren’t committed to the cause.

There was a strange justification that happened in the back of my mind that told me the harder I worked, the more pleased God would be with me. After all – I was doing his work. And if you were working for God, why wouldn’t you give it everything you had plus 30%?

People would tell me all the time: your pace is unsustainable. You’re going to burn out. I just ignored them. I thought I was stronger than that, and the strange thing is, for the most part, I was. I could sense burn out and pull back from the edge just in time. And for years I just ran in overdrive.

But I’ve come to realize some things:

Just because you don’t burn out, doesn’t mean you don’t miss out. I told my oldest son (who’s 18) the other day that if I could get one thing back in life it would be some of those hours when he was in elementary school. He’s heading off the university this fall, and we’ve had some great times together over the last few years (as we did when he was very young), but I can’t get his formative years back. God redeems time, but I’d love to get some of those hours back.

Rest is a gift. It’s also great strategy. We all know that God rested on the seventh day. But life was also designed with regular pauses scripted in. There was to be no work done once every seven days. And if you’ve ever read the Old Testament, you might realize God loves a party. There were regular holidays, festivals, and even mandated celebration in Old Testament life. For us A types, remember – God wants us to enjoy life. As the creators of our bodies and souls, he also realized that we function best when we’re rested and full of good things. Most of us realize that we’re not nearly as productive on hour 12 of a day as we are on hour one. Pay attention to that. Rest is also a strategy. We’re so much better at work when we’ve rested. (Flickr image by erixl)

In what ways are you tempted to cheat rest? Why do you think this is true of so many leaders?

Where do you need to be BOLD?

I have a friend who just started in ministry and we’ve been brainstorming on how to get consistent weekly leaders for the fall. After a few weeks of making lots of phone calls, piecing together a schedule and closing rooms, it was hard for her to imagine such a thing.

So tonight, she hosted her first “vision” party. She invited eight influential parents in her ministry to come hear the plans for the next year and to see the new Orange curriculum for themselves. She shared sweet treats (food is always a plus) and personal stories of life change because an adult cared enough to show up regularly in the life of a child.

I just got off the phone with her. She started out by admitting that right before the meeting she was tempted to ask for less than a weekly commitment– to settle for every other week or even once a month. But then she thought of Nehemiah and said to God- tired and sweaty after working all day in a supply closet– “As long as I feel called to this job, I’m going to be BOLD, because you put me here.”

As a closing, she read this passage to them from Think Orange p.116: “Nehemiah knew the stakes were high. He saw the next generation standing in the wings, watching its leaders passively continue…. He was personally burdened about the fact that families and children were unprotected and vulnerable, and he knew it would ultimately affect their perception of God. So Nehemiah aggressively pursued a strategic solution. Sure he prayed, and he listened to God. But he didn’t only pray; he acted. He evaluated, rallied, recruited and implemented. He had an integrated strategy. He figured out what God wanted him to do then challenged every leader and worker and parent to do it.”

Instead of getting up to leave, the parents just sat there waiting until someone said, “So can we sign up to help now?” 6 out of 8 parents partnered with this bold leader and plan to volunteer WEEKLY for the next year because they believe in the vision. Now that’s BOLD!

How about you? Where is God calling you to evaluate, rally, recruit and implement boldly? (Image uploaded to Flickr by brownpau)

Talking about change and the church made me think of an article I read about Starbucks struggle in the last few years. The author talked about the tension and the trade-off between a quality experience and the ease of convenience.

I’m rephrasing a quote from the article: Church-goers… “are willing to give up convenience for a great experience, or ditch the experience for great convenience.” Anything in between the author suggests doesn’t have a market today– like music CDs, newspapers, and desktop Windows-based PCs. For church attenders, It’s just so tempting to stay home and watch on-line or listen to a podcast.

His study of the most successful products and services found that they tend to focus and be good at one or the other- experience OR convenience, but not both. In the beginning, Starbucks founder and creator Schultz said the goal was to be “an oasis — a small escape during a day when so many other things are beating you down.”

I think we as church leaders struggle with the same tendency as the used-to-success Starbucks gurus did. “They wanted Starbucks to be available at every moment, everywhere. At the same time, they wanted Starbucks to be unique.” We have to fight against the urge to multiply programs or copy the church down the street. We have to work to hold onto our identity- what can we do best in our community and culture to spread the Gospel? WHY will they come and stay and bring others?

Schultz has again taken on the CEO role to try and bring Starbucks back. He said, “It reminds me of the old days when our company was very creative, very entrepreneurial, and we were fighting for survival and respect.” It makes me think of the church and how I hope we can do that too. What does it make you think?

(Flickr image originally uploaded on July 20, 2007 by d’n'c)

During the summer, there’s a drought in churches everywhere. The volunteer pool just seems to dry up! It’s not just in your ministry. How about we share some of our more creative ideas on how to make it through the next few weeks? I know you feel like you’re in the hot seat– short on leaders and unsure how many kids will show up.

Want to get kids begging the adults in their life to serve? I once ordered a blow-up submarine ball pit and put it out in a central area with sign up sheets. The ball pit started out empty- but every time a parent signed up to sub, they wrote their child’s name on a ball and dropped it in. At the beginning of every service in front of all the kids, I drew out a ball (like a raffle) and gave away things kids value– like Chuck E Cheese coins and Sonic or McDonald’s gift cards. It was funny to see parents’ faces as their kids dragged them over and explained why they should help out. It worked! What else have you tried to get the word out and participation up?

Please keep in mind this was only ever my short-term, quick fix. I was also actively vision-casting for consistent leaders in the fall. One of the best new books on what really motivates us is “Drive” by Daniel Pink. Rewards like the ones above are limited; they won’t last. But research shows that giving people autonomy (choice), mastery (training) and purpose (bigger story) does. Here’s a great video with many of the main concepts from the book.

Another hot topic this summer is TRANSITIONS– like a Dr. Seuss book,  how do we get the people in our ministries from here to there?  In the fall, many churches promote– moving kids and students to new rooms or areas, similar to what happens in school.

Watching my son’s elementary camp hosted by the high school basketball team, I had the thought that churches should do something like this too!  He’s been so excited to meet the high school coach (he’s gone to a few games with his dad) and some of his best players helping out. And they are meeting everyday at the middle school he will also attend in a few years. He’s amazingly aware of all this, proudly wearing his t-shirt with the high school emblem, already looking forward to this time in his life.  And when those teenage players show him things to practice at home to get as fast and skilled as they are, you can bet he’s paying attention and trying it at home. Genius!

I wonder what would happen to the slow fade if more student ministries in our churches tried something intentional and fun like this? What if they created some sort of summer program, with specific goals of meeting kids that will some day be students and giving them a sneak peek of what’s to come, even a look at the space where middle school and youth meet?  I bet the excitement would be easy to see.

Dan Scott, a creative children’s minister at Ada Bible church, posted a video created as a teaser for their Student Ministries along these lines.  Check it out on his blog.  What other ideas have you seen or things have you tried to help with transitions between age groups in your church?

In 2011, more than half of all of Apple’s revenue will come from products that did not exist four years ago.

That’s impressive.

What amazes me about Apple is how it produces products that dazzle many of us over and over again. When I picked up my iPhone 3Gs last summer I thought – I don’t know how the phone could get any better. But Apple wasn’t thinking that at all…they were already working on the iPhone4 (and likely now are reimagining far beyond that). iPad lovers – be sure the iPad2 is already in development.

Sometimes I think if the church ran Apple, we’d still be trying to build momentum around the first generation iPod we designed over ten years ago…watching the declining market share and blaming consumers for not being as excited as they were about them a decade ago. We wouldn’t have produced any new ideas in the last decade…we’d just have one approach we were counting on to work forever. That’s not innovation.

How do you create a culture where innovation thrives, where no one is satisfied with the status quo? I love these four principles Mark Federman outlines:

See what isn’t there. • Think what no one else can think. • Do what no one else dares to do. • Multiply your mind by giving it away.

Summer is a great time to brainstorm what’s coming NEXT in your ministry- to experiment and innovate for the fall. Leaders are evaluating to see what needs tweaking or upgrading, realizing they can’t afford to stay the same. A good way to assess is the Think Orange Handbook.

So what new things are you dreaming up, wanting to try? What area needs a facelift or even an overhaul to be more attractive or effective in reaching the next generation?

For many leaders moving to an Orange approach means navigating change. Talking to Family Ministry leaders, I think that there are some simple, practical changes you can make that get you further faster in shifting to ORANGE. Over the summer, here are three practical steps you could take to catalyze a shift to a more Orange strategy in your family ministry by the Fall.

1. Combine Your Financial Resources

What does your budget say about the priority of an Orange strategy in your church? What would it do for the alignment of your ministry if your volunteer appreciation budget was shared across Family Ministry? What would it do for your working relationship with your Children’s Ministry Director and your passion for children’s ministry if you decided to share your student ministry video budget, event budget, or intern budget? What signal would it send to your lead pastor or your parents if you decided to propose an Orange approach with an Orange budget behind it? Nothing gets people sitting at the same table faster than money.

2. Synchronize your vocabulary

We often think of our family ministries as multiple departments or separate ministries, but parents experience these as a family. The use of common vocabulary for the common experiences across your family ministry helps parents understand the strategy. In what areas of your family ministry can you synchronize your vocabulary? Does your lack of synchronized vocabulary reflect a lack of sitting around the same table, working together?

3. Clarify the Win with Parents

This one sounds easy at first, but it takes some real soul searching. As a family ministry, if you had one thing you could say to parents what would it be? From toddlers to students, what is the win for parents? How are you doing on communicating that win to families?

Do you have other things you’ve done to shift to a more Orange approach that you want to share with other leaders?

Everyone was busy and we didn’t want to intrude on anyone’s life. So we opted to invite volunteers to a single Sunday hour of volunteering a month – which seemed really doable. No one would feel bad inviting someone else to give up one hour a month. What it meant was that we would need 50 volunteers per service – which for a congregation of 75-85 per service seemed unattainable.

We soon found out that a consequence of this approach was that by changing volunteers each week, real relationships were harder to develop with children, which led to natural testing, which led to behavior problems, which led to volunteers not being very excited about volunteering, which led to having to ask for more volunteers. Well, at least it’s only an hour a month, right?

As I like to tell our church, the two worst inventions for our faith are the couch and the microwave. One suggests comfort as the end goal and the other suggests things can develop quickly.

So we went looking for new volunteers. Only this time the commitment was for one of our classes – wait for it – for a full year. It was a high call. Thankfully God was already at work and some people were just waiting for the nudge.

We’re six months into the change and what behavior problems we had have all but disappeared. I just finished reading Dan Pink’s DRIVE, which tells me that people are motivated by autonomy, purpose, and mastery – not money. And I think he’s right.

What changes can you make where you UP the requirements, instead of drop them? How can you engage volunteers in a way that offers them autonomy, purpose and opportunities for mastery?

Guest post by Chris Lema: a marketing and engineering professional who moonlights as a teaching pastor at Creekside Christian Church in Northern California. He’s been colliding since he was a child, but an Orange fan for just over a year.

So we know that ministry is all about working together as a team. We play different roles or parts of the body like the Bible says. But what makes a team great is also the hardest part about being a team. What makes us different from each other can sometimes lead to conflict. But when we learn from each other and work at being a team, we get more than what any of us could accomplish alone.

I recently read an article about the group dynamic on American Idol. I think you’ll recognize a few things that apply to what we do in our churches as well. See how some of these ideas apply in your own ministry.

“As I watched American Idol contestants divide up and perform in group competitions– it was rough! Many of them weren’t used to the give and take singing in a group calls for. Typically someone will name themselves “leader” of the group, but their leadership skills may leave much to be desired.

When everyone is allowed to have their ideas heard there is not only more creativity generated, but better morale among the members. Yes, a group needs a leader; but leading doesn’t mean telling everyone what to sing or play all the time. Nothing will kill the creative spirit quicker than that.

A good leader knows how to let everyone be heard and how to diplomatically make decisions for the overall good of the band. You’ll learn about the different roles in a band and what each member of the band needs to know to develop to their fullest potential onstage.”

Think back on all the teams you’ve been a part of. Which one was the most enjoyable or successful? What made it that way? Did the leader do anything different?