Leaders Understand the Power of Lollipops

"Leadership" might be the most overused and misunderstood word in our modern vocabulary.  Hundreds of new books are published every year on this subject, and yet it seems that the growing library of research and commentary makes leadership more mystical and less accessible to the average person.

Jesus said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all" (Mk 9:35). According to Jesus it is the servant, not the ruler, who has the ultimate power.  He went on to demonstrate the power of a servant by humbling himself to death on the cross so that he might overcome death, defeating the powers of darkness and securing our eternal salvation.

Anyone who is willing to serve others wields immense spiritual power, for God has chosen "...the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong."  Marianne Williamson suggests that, "Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our greatest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."

Are all of us given the spiritual gift of leadership?  No.  In his infinite wisdom God has made some members of the body to be eyes, some to be hands and others to be feet (see 1 Cor 12).  But does that mean that only a few may be leaders?  Certainly not.  Anyone who assumes the role of a servant has tremendous leadership potential, but not necessarily in the way our world (which often describes leadership in terms of power and position) defines it.

Can I encourage you to invest six minutes and fourteen seconds to have your assumptions about leadership challenged and see how God can use you today to have a positive powerful force in someone else's life?  What's all this got to do with lollipops?   Watch this... 

Across the Generations

I think there is something beautiful about the multi-generational composition of the Body of Christ.  Recent ministry opportunities have put me in the midst of the generations and I found it to be a wonderfully enriching experience.

On Monday I got to spend time at OK Cafe with Bill Swaim.  Bill has been a member of this church for many years and drives a long distance across town to be a part of this fellowship.  His association with the church goes back to the time when a few hundred believers gathered for worship in a school and the church offices were in an office complex.

Bill is a "cards on the table," straight-forward kind of guy.  At age 83, he doesn't spend a lot of time beating around the bush.  He spent over three decades providing leadership training to first line managers at IBM (In IBM parlance "first line managers" are executive leaders who report directly to division VPs).   Bill will take a few minutes to size you up (assessing, I think, how "Bill" he will be able to be without blowing you away) and then will quickly establish a deep, meaningful connection to you.  Bill and I hit it off wonderfully, right from the start.  I'm hoping he'll become a mentor.

Bill asked about my history, my family and other ministries I've served before he got to the real question, "Why are you here?" spoken with his typical forthrightness.  His question (which I viewed as wholly appropriate coming from a man with his leadership experience) had the tone of God's question to Adam in Genesis 3.  God didn't ask Adam "Where are you?" because he didn't know where Adam was...He wanted to know if Adam knew where Adam was.  Bill wanted to know if I understood why I had been brought here.

I have learned much from the writings of Patrick Lencioni, so I started into my "elevator speech."  (Your "elevator speech" is a 20-second summation of your purpose and why you do what you do...a speech that can be delivered between floors during an elevator ride.)

"Well, I build my job on four fundamental purposes: first, I want to develop a cohesive leadership team.  Second, I want to create clarity.  Third..."

"Stop!"  Bill said.

He then continued..."Do you follow Lencioni?  I just watched a Lencioni webinar last Thursday."

I pointed back across the parking lot toward the church and replied, "I was watching the same webinar in my office."

"Lencioni knows what he's talking about.  Great guy!"  Bill said, and I agreed.

"In that case," I replied, "I'm not going to finish my elevator speech."

Bill was so affirming, so encouraging...it was great to spend an hour with him.  As only an 83-year-old can tell a 53-year-old, he said, "You're still young...you ought to go to seminary and get your M.Div.  You've got plenty of time!"  I've got a few other things on my plate right now...maybe next year.

The next day, Tuesday, took me to the other end of Atlanta and to the other end of the age range to another wonderfully fulfilling ministry opportunity.  Again, I wasn't the one giving ministry, I was the one enriched by the experience.

Because of our similar calling and similar theological understanding of worship ministry, Aaron Keyes and I have developed a close bond (okay, to be honest anyone who spends ten minutes with Aaron gets immersed in the love of Christ and finds an immediate bond to this godly man).  Aaron's Ten Thousand Fathers Worship School brings developing 20-something worship musicians together for intense training in worship, discipleship and theology.  Aaron invited me to drive out to Snellville to spend the day with the current class.  I went out with the goal of being a fly on the wall...listening to the training and spending time with the students.  The development of young worship leaders has long been a personal passion of mine and it was a privilege to spend the day with them.  It was a wonderful juxtaposition, having spent the day before with an 83-year-old.  I found both of these times to be wonderful learning experiences.

At the end of the day at the worship school, Aaron gathered everyone together in his living room for a round-table discussion.  As I'm finding the case to be with increasing frequency, I was the oldest guy in the room.  Aaron started the discussion by gesturing toward me and saying, "We're blessed to have a real sage here with us today..."

I looked at him over my reading glasses (the way us "old folks" do) and said, "Oh, now I'm a 'sage.'  I guess that's how it goes; one day your vital and active and the next day you wake up and someone is calling you 'sage.'"

Of course that drew snickers from the group and that big, beautiful smile from Aaron, so I poured it on (in a somewhat older sounding voice).

"I'm very happy to be here with you today, but if I start to drool I do hope someone will stop me."

Everyone's laughing at this point, so I nudged the guy next to me and said, "Let me know when it's 4:30 will 'ya?  I've got to be sure to get to the Golden Corral for the senior special at five."

It was a beautiful experience for me.  Unlike the way 20-somethings are sometimes portrayed, I found a group that had a growing love and appreciation for the history of the church -- "hymnody" for lack of a better word -- and a desire to bring the best of our Christian heritage into our present time in the context of worship and music.  On Monday, Dr. Youssef again expressed to me his deep desire to see us invest ourselves in the next generation of leaders and I will long treasure the opportunities I had to be a blessing to and be blessed by my brothers and sisters in Christ across the generations.

A Colorful, Messy Church

I don't know about you, but I really enjoyed our time together this morning.  It was great to gather a few minutes before our devotional time just to hang out and enjoy some coffee and bagels (Thanks, Amy!).  It's interesting for me to watch the first few people who show up after my PA announcement, entering the room rather apprehensively when they see they're the first ones there.  In time others show up and the room quickly fills with laughter and warm greetings (although I noticed today that the ladies greet each other with a hug and the guys greet each other with a comfortably distant wave and then sit at separate tables.  Don't worry guys, I'm not going to invoke a "no hug = no coffee" rule.)

The time of worship together is turning out to be one of my favorite times of the week.  I loved hearing you sing "O Worship the King" and "Behold Our God" today.  The picture to the left is linked to a youtube recording of "Behold Our God" if you'd like to hear it again.  I hear this song fairly often on my "Sovereign Grace" Pandora channel while driving to work and it's become one of my favorites (mostly because of the great text but also because the highest note is easily in my baritone vocal range!)

We were a little out of sequence today by holding the Green Team meeting before the Blue Team meeting, but I thought our first gathering went very well (you can see I've made another valiant attempt at finding green in my font color palette).  The Green Team meeting is a place for anyone to ask any question; no one should ever leave the room with a question unresolved.  We tackled some thorny issues today like the validity of announcements in a worship service and our "Guest Month" outreach strategy.  In an environment where we have strong, loving relationships and have established trust in one another, there's no reason why we can't have healthy, robust dialog on a topic knowing that we're hammering away at issues...not hammering away at each other.

By the way, do you know the difference between "discussion" and "dialog"?

"Discussion" comes from the same root word as CONcussion and PERcussion...something is being hit!

"Dialog" connects the prefix "dia-" which means "beside" to the Greek word "logos" which means "word."  In a dialog, you bring one word (i.e. thought) to the conversation and I bring another word.  When we release ownership of our individual words by putting our two words side-by-side and allow our two words to interact, something new is formed in the synthesis, something that neither you nor I could have created alone.  I want to create a spiritually and organizationally healthy environment that facilitates creative dialog.

This painting has been hanging in my office for about eight years, first in Minnesota and now at Apostles.  It was painted in 1963 in Minnesota by an artist named Don Ricca.  I hope you'll stop by my office to view the original for yourself.  The painting is abstract but has some discernible features.  I never met the artist so the following interpretation is my own (which of course is the essential feature of abstract art).  You'll see three steeples at the top of the painting, each erected on three very different structures of varying shape and size.  The steeples find their definition in the turbulent sky behind them.  A large horizontal darkened area divides the painting into two parts.  I see the bottom of the painting as an inexact reflection of the top, perhaps in a reflecting pool.  The steeples are reaching up to God while their reflection extends out toward the world and eventually to the one viewing the painting.  The brushstrokes are varied, some heavy, some light.  The work almost appears unfinished but never feels hasty, ugly or ill-conceived.  The texture is sometimes smooth and often very rough.  The color palette is very wide, ranging from white to onyx.  

I display this painting in my office because it reminds me of Jesus' Church.  Simultaneously it reaches up to God while the light of God reflecting from it extends out to the world.  The trinity of churches in the painting speak of the unity and fullness of the kingdom of God; the churches are very dissimilar but stand side by side in spiritual unity.  The vitality and vibrancy of the church stands in contrast to the turbulence of the world, an open invitation to find sanctuary within its walls.  The church's reflection in the world appears distorted and is often indiscernible to the world.  The church of Jesus Christ abounds with colorful people (wouldn't you agree?) and is sometimes a very messy place.  The adorning of the Church for the day of our reunion with Christ is an ongoing process, reflecting the gentle, persistent work of the Holy Spirit in our midst.

I'm glad to be a part of THE Church.  I'm thrilled to be a part of THIS church.  Let us continually surrender ourselves to the will of the Artist who "makes all things beautiful in His time" (Ecc 3:11).

Team Structure, Organization and Communication

Not everyone was available for staff devotions today when I took a few minutes to describe the composition of teams and the meeting schedule for the future.  I've included some screenshots from the powerpoint presentation along with a description of the process.

Basically, we're going to group the staff into three teams which I've called the "Gray Team," the "Blue Team" and the "Green Team."  The Gray Team is comprised of the guys with gray hair (with the exception of Aaron Keyes...but he's not far behind!) and are responsible for "direction leadership."  Led by Dr. Youssef, the Gray Team will cast the overall vision for the future of the church.







The Blue Team are the dreamers, "blue" because they've got their heads in the clouds.  Their function is to take the vision and imagine all the possible ways the vision could be accomplished.  This team will provide "possibility leadership."  They will identify 2-3 annual strategic priorities to make qualitative improvements to the ministry and establish benchmarks for measuring those improvements.








The Green Team ("green" taken from a traffic signal... GO!) provides implementation leadership.  This is the largest team and perhaps the most important, as they are the ones who work most closely with the people who actually do ministry...church members ("...equipping the saints for the work of the ministry.")  The Green Team is characterized by massive information sharing.  Anyone at that meeting should be able to ask any question at any time.

The Gray Team meets weekly on Wednesday at 2:00pm.  The Blue Team is going to meet after staff devotions on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month.  The Green Team is scheduled to meet on the 3rd Wednesday of the month after devotions.

Offsite Planning Retreat, A Report

On Thursday, October 9 a group of folks gathered at my home in Mableton for an offsite retreat.  I still hadn't finalized who was going to end up on the "ministry team" or the "planning team," but I wanted to begin the discussion of where we are organizationally and where we want to be in the future.  This initial meeting was attended by Mark, Brian, Connie, Melanie, James, Stan, Dave, Zack, TJ, Amber and myself.

As with all the meetings we hold on- and off-site from now on, I want everyone to have access to all the information all the time.  Sometimes when one group goes off to plan, others are left behind to wonder "What are they going to decide in my absence and then expect me to buy into?"  I don't want that to happen in any of our planning sessions, so I'm providing a fairly detailed report of our day.  Here's the agenda we followed...more or less:

7:45  IHOP breakfast

9:00a  Meet at Bill’s house

9:10-9:30a  Devotional/prayer

9:30-10:15  Strengths assessment (see below)

10:15-10:30  break

10:30-noon  Four functions of the XP.  (see below)
Team reflections on First 100 Days.  Describe the culture in which you want to work.  What are the operational values we want to embrace?

Noon-1:00  lunch, discussion

1:30-3:00  Identify the practices of healthy families.  (see below)

Team composition and function: Gray, Blue and Green Team.  Planning, decision-making and communications

3:00-3:20  break

3:30-4:00  Identifying next steps.  What do you want to do next?

After eating a rooty-tooty-fresh-and-fruity pancake at IHOP, we met for prayer at my house.  Here's Dave Hubbard's description of the opening session:

One of the most powerful segments of our team strategy session was the “Strengths Assessment”. Each participant was given the task (as we went around the circle) of (1) telling the group one thing that they personally, consistently, have to give back to the Lord. In other words, something that maybe they have struggled with for a long time that Satan likes to use against them, to produce fear, anxiousness, pride, quilt, etc., and (2) telling the group what they thought were the strengths, talents, giftedness, etc. of the person sitting to their right.  

The depth of sharing was quite remarkable. Each person was open and honest, not only in explaining the nagging “give it back to God” struggle in their life, but especially in articulating genuine praise and thanks for the brother or sister sitting next to them. It was an emotionally charged time, that most definitely will be used in a positive way by the Holy Spirit going forward. 

We spent quite a lot of time praying for each other.  After our prayer time I shared my thoughts on what I believe we've accomplished in the last two months together and an overview of the basic components of my job as I understand it.  Here's my handout on the four functions of the XP.  I'd like your feedback on these points.

Build a cohesive leadership team. 

a.       A cohesive team builds trust through loving vulnerability .

b.      A cohesive team does not shy away from conflict.

c.       A cohesive team has a high level of personal commitment.

d.      A cohesive team holds each other accountable for assignments.

e.       A cohesive team strives for observable results.

Create clarity. 

Organizational health is based on everyone knowing and agreeing on the answers to the eight critical questions:

a.       How are we doing spiritually?

b.      What is our purpose?

c.       What is our cultural DNA?

d.      Who is responsible for what?

e.       What do we do to fulfill our purpose?

f.       What is our strategy?

g.      What is most important right now?

h.      What’s after what’s next?

Overcommunicate clarity.

a.       Strengthen communication links between departments

b.      Create cascading communication between teams (gray, blue, green)

c.       Constantly seek out and resolve chaos, confusion and misunderstanding.

d.      Strive for effective, productive meetings.

e.       Ensure clarity of post-meeting meeting assignments: WWDWBW?

f.       Ensure four-way communication: up/down (teams) and lateral (departments)

 Develop systems that reinforce clarity

a.       Hiring

b.      Orientation

c.       Performance management

d.      Compensation and reward

e.       Recognition

f.       Planning systems

g.      Communication systems

h.      Information sharing systems

By the way, these points aren't original to me.  They're taken from the writings of Patrick Lencioni, a writer I follow pretty closely.


After lunch (Chinese delivery!!) we divided the group into three teams and explored the habits of healthy families.  We came back together to discuss how we can adopt the habits of a healthy family into the life of our staff.  There was lots of good discussion here, and we'll follow up on these ideas and make some specific assignments in our future on-site meetings.

TJ provided this synopsis of this part of our discussion:

1. What does a healthy family do to encourage each other?
Support, talk, affirm, resolve conflict, pray, praise/criticize, personal encouragement

2. What does a healthy family do to make decisions?
Pray, listen, consider impact before acting, state criteria of a good decision, explain decisions

3. What does a healthy family do to resolve conflict?
Honest without rationalization, love, forgive, pray together, “I could be wrong”

4. What does a healthy family do to build memories?
Set aside time, new ventures, vacations, tell stories, fun, do life together, informal

5. What does a healthy family do to celebrate milestones and accomplishments?
Pictures, tell stories, share mementos, celebration meals/events, bookmarks 

6. What does a healthy family do to develop spiritually?
Group prayer, open dialogue/honest questions, building trust, Bible study with life-application discussion, confession and forgiveness, keep short accounts

7. What does a healthy family do to get through difficult times?
Intentional dependence upon God (prayer + heart attitude), open communication, sees God’s activity in midst (James 1), honesty, don’t blame or find fault in others

8. What does a healthy family do to deal with disappointments?
Seek God’s perspective, Learn from it/grow, be joyful/thankful, don’t blame of find fault, encourage one another, pray

Romans 12:9-12
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.  Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

We concluded the day talking about the composition of teams moving forward.  In the past, we've used the words "ministry team" and "planning team," but sometimes people infer position, rank and personal value because of the connotations of the terms.  I'm going to set up a structure based on gray, blue and green teams.  I'll discuss these after our staff devotional on Wednesday, Oct 8 at 9am and will also include the info in the next blog post.

As you can tell, these discussions were more theoretical than strategic.  We're still in the phase where we need to build relationships and learn how to related spiritually and organizationally to one another.  While we didn't walk away from the meeting with a list of action plans, I think we did accomplish some great foundational work for future meetings.  I'd encourage you to stop by the office of someone who was there and get their impressions of our time together.

Off-site planning sessions like these take a lot of preparation, generate a lot of teamwork and great ideas and then (if done correctly) give a sense of purpose and direction for the future.  Our first off-site was a success and I plan to hold an event like this quarterly.

Each of these planning times will be followed by a report to the entire staff so everyone knows what's going on and has a chance to contribute at some level.

My door's always open and I'd be grateful for your feedback.

A Turning Point in our Journey

Critical Questions

Today we're going to wrestle with some of the issues that have prevented us from being as effective as we would like to be.  Fundamentally we're going to ask these questions:

• Where Are We?
• Where Do We Want To Be?
• What Do We Have To Do To Get There?

I've been a part of the COTA family for six weeks now and I am grateful for the warm welcome Charlene and I have received.  I've spent many, many hours listening to a wide variety of people share their thoughts about the church and I'd like to share my summation of these observations.

I approached my meetings with everyone by asking them to consider five questions:

1. What are the basic values of COTA that we should be sure to preserve and why?
2. What are the top three practices we need to change and why?
3. What do you most hope I do?
4. What are the greatest obstacles I will face?
5. What would you do first if you were me?  What advice do you have for me?   

Remarkably, there was an amazing unanimity to the answers to the first question.  Almost everyone said that the values we needed to retain were:

1. Great Bible teaching from Dr. Youssef
2. Solid theological stance
3. A history that affirms God’s work among us
4. Global impact - LTW
5. Tremendous resources, facilities, location

My Impressions

I'd like to share my impressions based on six week's worth of meetings.

1. First, it's obvious that God has blessed us abundantly.  The church I've served most recently is 157 years old and has accomplished much for Christ's kingdom.  What has been accomplished at Apostles in only 25 years is evidence of God's work among you.
2. Second, I believe that all the right puzzle pieces are in place.  In terms of personnel, facilities and resources, we have everything we need to be successful.
3. Third, I am impressed that we have a highly capable and deeply committed staff.  That commitment to the Lord and to Apostles is evident by the way you have "stuck with it" during a very difficult season of decline and frustration.

So as I approach the task of executive ministry pastor to define and diagnose the issues that are limiting our effectiveness, I recognize the danger of erring to one extreme or the other.

 
On one hand, there's the danger illustrated by "the boy who cried 'wolf!'"  He made a lot of noise and got a lot of attention when there was no real danger to be concerned about.

On the other hand I could be like Paul Revere who mounted his steed and went charging through the streets of Boston shouting his alarm.

I hope that I won't come across as unnecessarily alarmist by the content or tone of my observations, but out of respect for your commitment to Christ and the profound eternal significance of the work we are called to do, I'm also not going to soft pedal the issues.

Early in the 20th century, the editors of the London Times became increasingly alarmed about what they saw as a decline in society.  They contacted a number of respected journalists, academicians, philosophers and clergy to get their response to the question, "What's wrong with the world."

The philosopher and writer G. K. Chesterton is said to have offered a simple and profound reply to their question:

Dear Sir,
In regards to your question, “What’s wrong with the world,” I am.

Yours, G.K. Chesterton

I believe that our success in resolving these issues and moving forward into a new season of fulfillment and effectiveness hinges on each of us personally adopting Chesterton's understanding of the problem.

Our Options

So we have several options before us that are worth considering.

First, we can simply do nothing.  We can maintain the status quo.  To be honest, no one I've talked to cares for this option, but it should be mentioned because it is certainly the easiest alternative before us.

Secondly, we could simply try harder.  There's a popular cliche about doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, but I won't mention that here.  Frankly, after spending time with many of you I don't think there's anyone who really could try any harder.  Your commitment is not the issue.

Third, we could reorganize.  I've seen many organizational inefficiencies that need to be addressed, but none of these will actually get to the root issues.

Rather, I suggest that the best course of action requires us to be honest and face the spiritual realities.  The best course of action requires us to claim God’s promise found in 2 Chronicles 7:14,

“If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”  

A Spiritual Clean Slate

Before we move forward to reorganize and cast a vision for the future, I think we need to start with a spiritual clean slate.  As I've said many times already (and you'll soon tire of hearing me say),

"We are a spiritual organization with a spiritual product. To a great degree our effectiveness is determined by our own personal spiritual vitality."

My intention is that by our next meeting on Wednesday, September 24 we will bring a close to all of the issues named below and that we will turn the page to a fresh, new chapter in the history of The Church of The Apostles.  I'm not foolish enough to believe that simply writing a blog and holding an issue will resolve these issues, but there has got to be a point that we can all look back to together and say, "That was the turning point.  That was the day we decided 'enough is enough' and we determined to change the way we are treating each other."

The Elephant in the Room

So let’s put a name to our obstacles and put them behind us.  The issues I'm listing here for us to deal with will not be a surprise to anyone.  They are the issues you have told me about for the last six weeks.  These are the things we need to bring to an end:

1. Frustration over lack of teamwork.  I've learned that many of you are actually pretty good at developing teams.  You coordinate the work of many volunteers in an effective way, but this increases your personal frustration because you have not had the opportunity to serve on a team yourself.  Many of you have previous experience at ministries that did function with teamwork and you know what could be accomplished if we did the same.
2. Disunity between ministry departments.  We are theologically aligned -- that is, we all believe the same things about the scripture -- but we are not philosophically aligned.  There is not a unifying strategy to ministry around which we can all rally.  This lack of strategic unity has developed into a real, discernible disunity between various ministry departments.  This must come to an end.
3. Personal insecurity/fear resulting from staff turnover.  Unfortunately we have lost a significant number of staff due to attrition and dismissal over the last few years.  Out of respect for the employee, it is not always possible for senior leadership to share with the staff all the factors that led to the person's departure, but these changes have caused many people to lose close friendships and become fearful that they might also lose their jobs. 
4. Hurtful words that have been spoken.  There are cases where people on staff have spoken critical and unkind words about someone else on staff.  I'm not aware of any cases where this has happened directly to the other person, rather (and perhaps even more destructively) the critical comments were shared with a third party.  
5. Finger-pointing to explain attendance decline. Let's face it, the church has been in decline for several years.  I've been told that there was a time when we approached 2800 in worship attendance, but we are no where near that number now.  Many families have left; in some cases families who were a part of COTA from the start.  This is obviously very troubling and painful for everyone, but the problem has been exacerbated by finger-pointing between departments as to who is to blame for the decline.  Please review Chesterton's quote above.
6. Lack of mutual support between departments.  I have heard of numerous instances where individuals have given audience to complaints about other people and departments.  Not only does this give legitimacy to the complaint (whether it is valid or not), but it also drives a wedge of disunity between people and departments.  This practice is unbiblical and must cease immediately.  If someone approaches me with a complaint about you, I will immediately do one of two things: either I will stop the person and tell them that they need to talk to you directly about their concerns or (more often) I will offer to come to you with them immediately to discuss their issues.  Rarely will someone agree to speak directly to the person who can really address their concerns.  We must stop disrespecting each other in this way and allowing disunity to grow.  
7. Unreconciled offenses.  There are many cases where offenses have been incurred in the past but have gone for many months or years unreconciled.  It may be that the offender does not even know what they have done to cause hurt.  In some cases, in time hurt has become bitterness and festered into resentment.  It will take a deep level of courage to address these issues, but this must be done.  In 1 John 4, John writes, "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."  We cannot truly say that we love one another as long as fear keeps us from resolving our unreconciled offenses. 
8. Lack of honesty.  Fear of confrontation.  Broken trust.  If I fear you, I cannot trust you.  If I cannot trust you, I cannot be honest with you.  We must work to restore the relationships where honesty and open dialog is impossible by returning to a deep, sincere love for one another. This will require repentance and forgiveness.  
9. Retreat to the safety of personal and organizational silos.  Silos are terrible places.  They are incredibly lonely, but they are also very safe.  We have retreated into our own personal silos because it's the safest place to get our job done.  We pass in the hallway and smile and occasionally have lunch together after the monthly Staff Chapel, but there's not any real koinonia, the spiritual glue that holds us together and makes the Christian life enjoyable. 

We have crossed the tipping point defined by "the benefit of the doubt."  By this I mean when things are going well and we are experiencing healthy relationships with one another, if I do or say something that could be interpreted as either innocent/playful or malicious/hurtful, you will give me the benefit of the doubt and assume that I meant nothing unkind.  However, when a group of people allow offenses to go unresolved and become internalized over a long period of time, they presume malicious intent from anything they hear.  This becomes justification for the resentment they are harboring and the bitterness calcifies within their heart.  This is a sad and dangerous place for any organization to be, particularly a family of believers and follower of Jesus Christ.

How Do We Move On?

Alright, enough of that.  No one wants to stay mired in this pit; everyone wants to move on to a place where we are personally fulfilled and as a group spiritually and organizationally unified.  Imagine working in a place where there is an overabundance of the fruit of the spirit.  You would wake up each morning with an urgency to get to work if you knew you were going to be met by a flood of...

Love          Joy          Peace          Patience          Kindness          Goodness
Faithfulness          Gentleness          Self-control

As with every other area in the Christian life, the gospel provides a template for the way we can approach our need for reconciliation and spiritual renewal.

The left column outlines the shape of the gospel, the story that we all know and love so well.  The gospel is a life-changing story, not only in regards to our eternal salvation but also in every other area of life.  The right column indicates how we can apply the gospel template to our relationships.

Next Steps

There are several important steps we can each take immediately to begin the process of restoring spiritual health to our staff.

1. First, let's each allow the Holy Spirit to examine our hearts.  
2. Secondly, many will realize that they need to seek forgiveness and reconciliation with one another.  Some will need to be courageous enough to offer forgiveness even when it is not yet being sought.  I don't believe there will ever be a case when you will approach someone to resolve your difference and be met with coldness or resistance.  Jesus said, "If you come to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift at the altar, first go and be reconciled to your brother and then return to offer your gift."  The work that we do as believers and church employees is a daily offering.  I would suggest that we take Jesus' words seriously.  We should not return to our work until we have resolved our differences.  
3. Pray for each other throughout this week.  Since joining the staff six weeks ago, I have used the time of the morning and evening commute to pray for each of you.  Mentally, I begin outside Zack's office (I begin with Zack because with a name that begins with "z" this guy has probably always been last in line for everything for his entire life!) and walk through the hallways, pausing at each door to pray for each of you.  Your prayer card follows that pattern.  I have extra copies of the prayer card on my desk.  If you were unable to attend the meeting on Thursday, please stop by and pick one up.  Keep it with you throughout the next week and pray sincerely and earnestly for each other.  Please bring the prayer card to next week’s meetings.  We are going to meet for prayer -- anyone who's available at the time -- from 8:30-8:45 a.m. on Monday and Tuesday, September 22-23.
4. Come and talk to me; let’s pray together.  I want to hear what the Spirit is saying to you.  Regarding the past offenses that have created this disunity, I haven't been here long enough to know who is right and who is wrong; at this point that doesn't matter any more.  If you want me to go with you as you approach another person on staff, I would be happy to do so.

As I said earlier, it is my intention that by the time we get to our next meeting on Wednesday, September 24 at 11:00 a.m., we will have brought this time of decline and disunity to an end. That will only happen if we each do the spiritual work we need to do.  Our gathering next Wednesday will be a time of worship and rededication.  We will share the Lord's Supper together and then gather to share lunch together.

Let’s prayerfully anticipate a joyful harvest.  What might God choose to do if we embrace this opportunity for spiritual renewal?

A Wonderful Day Together

Friday was a great day together at Legion Park in Austell.  Not everyone on staff was able to attend, but those who did enjoyed themselves tremendously.  The weather cleared just in time for the picnic and although it was a bit hot at times, an occasional breeze would pick up at just the right time. Wisely, everyone drank lots of water and when our water supply was running low, Willy made a quick run into Austell to buy us a couple of additional cases of cold water.

I'd love to have you comment on your favorite part of the day.  I think mine was a toss up between Bocce Ball (pardon the pun) and the REAL Treasure Hunt (the combo geocaching/prayer walk after lunch).  Many people played a role in making the day a success.  I won't try to list everyone here for fear of forgetting soImeone, but I am grateful for all those who contributed.

I've included some pictures and videos I took on Friday as well as a copy of my closing devotional for those who were unable to attend.  I'd appreciate your reading it as a prelude to our upcoming meetings on Thursday, September 18 and Wednesday, September 24.  If you have some pix to share with everyone, please email them to me and I'll load them here.

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I Will Build My Church

Matt 16:13-20

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"  They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."  "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."  Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.


Those of us who work in the church instinctively know that we are in a unique place.  The things we do and the way we do them have eternal implications for we work in the arena of the care of human souls.  It doesn’t matter if you preach the sermon, set up tables, wash children’s hands, teach a lesson or serve food; what each one of us does contributes to some degree to drawing people closer to Christ.

Not only do we have tremendous opportunities, but we have tremendous responsibilities.  Over the course of a ministry career literally millions of dollars is entrusted to us.  People listen to us when making critical life decisions and they allow us to care for them when they are in deepest distress. They call us to the hospital when tragedy strikes, they place their infants in our arms for consecration, they call us to stand beside a family member’s casket in their time of grief and they invite us to stand between a bride and groom and lead them through sacred vows.

If this level of sacred opportunity and responsibility doesn’t frighten you from time to time, you should probably find another line of work.  There have been times as a worship leader when I have been filled with a sense of holy fear to recall that God calls his people together into congregation on the Lord’s Day and that he has entrusted to me the design of the sacred conversation he desires to have with them.  They can say to him corporately only the words found in the hymns and prayers that I select and they  hear him speak to them in the scriptures I prepare for the day.  Mt. Sinai is a great place to work if you can handle the earthquakes, fire, lightning and smoke.

Throughout my career there is one word of Jesus that I have gone to time and time again as I wrestle with the sheer enormity of what I’ve been called to do.  Matthew records Jesus saying, “I will build my church.”  I don’t use those words as a cop-out, as if to say, “It doesn’t matter what I do or what decisions I make because ultimately Jesus said, ‘I will build my church.’”  However, I take great comfort in the knowledge that ultimately my weakness of heart, dullness of mind and disobedience of spirit can never thwart the sovereign purposes of the one who said,  “I will build my church.”

These words of Christ were spoken in the region of Caesarea Philippi, a city renamed after Caesar a few years prior to Christ’s birth.  The city sat at the base of Mt Hermon, a sacred place for the Jews and had originally been the site of a pagan temple during Alexander’s day.  This was a city named for a superstar and the people of the region were accustomed to a parade of political and military superstars.  Matthew records that Jesus had engaged in several difficult confrontations with the Pharisees and perhaps it was with a growing sense of frustration that Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say I am?”  Of course, he already knew the answer to the question and the asking of the question was designed to make the disciples contemplate their own personal response.  Not surprisingly, the disciples conveyed the responses of a people accustomed to following superstars: “Some say you are John the Baptist.”  That’s an odd answer given that John and Jesus were contemporaries, but some apparently believed that God had raised John from the dead.  “Elijah,” claimed another; a fascinating answer.  Elijah prayed to God and rain ceased for three years, and then he prayed again and the rains returned.  He saturated an altar with a flood of water and then saw God rain fire from heaven in response to his prayer.  Some believed that Jesus was Jeremiah, the prophet who suffered terrible abuse at the hands of religious and political rulers because he wouldn’t back down from God’s truth.  Jesus and Jeremiah certainly had much in common.  Others were less clear but believed that Jesus must be “One of the prophets;” Perhaps some thought he was Daniel because of the power of his prayers.  Some may have believed him to be Isaiah, because he also shared a soaring view of God.  Some thought of Hosea when they experienced Jesus’ unquenchable love and endless forgiveness.  Any of these answers represents a tremendous personal compliment to Jesus and an understanding that Jesus had received a special anointing from God.

But as good as they were, they were all wrong answers.

If Peter was following the pattern established by nearly every other time he speaks in scripture, he blurted out an answer before really thinking it through.  “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” he said.  Peter probably didn’t know that he knew that until he heard the words coming out of his mouth.  He probably thought to himself, “Did I just say that?  Yeah, I did and I believe it!”  Jesus understood that the sovereign God had put those words in Peter’s mouth and summoned them forth at his command because Jesus immediately said, “Simon…this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.”

Then Christ spoke these words: “I will build my church.”

We are a part of a two thousand year tradition, the church of Jesus, the family of the elect who have called on the name of the Lord for salvation.  You can draw a direct line from us here today back to Jesus’ promise to his first disciples, “I will build my church.”

• Through times of victory and defeat; prosperity and adversity, He was building his church. 
• When the disciples gathered in the upper room to share the last supper…
• When he agonized in the garden and they nailed him to the cross…
• When he rose from the dead and appeared to the Twelve…
• When he fed them breakfast at Galilee Beach and then ascended to the Father…
• When he poured out the Holy Spirit on them and the church grew like wildfire…
• When the apostles were jailed and the believers dispersed to Judea and Samaria…
• When Paul persecuted believers and was later gloriously converted…
• When Peter was crucified upside down and John was exiled to Patmos…
• When our first brothers and sisters were burned alive and fed to lions…
• When the church fathers defined orthodox theology and wrestled against false teachers who led people astray…
• Through seasons of glorious revival and in times of nearly universal apostasy…
• In times of persecution and reformation…
• Through seasons of missionary zeal and church development…
• And when a handful of people had a vision for reaching north Atlanta for Christ…
• When those people dreamed and sacrificed to build…
• When lines of conscience and theological conviction had to be drawn and difficult decisions made…
• When buildings were erected, ministries formed and staff hired…
• When the router gave birth to the internet and satellite technology was born…
• When words spoken from a pulpit in Atlanta are heard instantaneously around the world…
• When you joined this staff…
• When you were playing kickball and eating fried chicken…
• When we honor Jesus by the way we love each other or grieve him by our disunity…
• When we humble ourselves, repent and seek his face…
• Because Jesus rose from the dead and lives among us here today, his words are as true now as when they were first spoken.  He himself has promised, “I will build my church.”  

Brothers and sisters, when the church is growing by leaps and bounds and we are tempted to take some of the credit we must remember Jesus’ promise, “I will build my church.”  When we are hurt, frustrated, confused and ineffective and think there is no hope we must remember Jesus’ promise, “I will build my church.”  We have before us a daunting challenge, a profound responsibility and boundless potential.  The Lord Jesus himself has assembled this team and we are sitting on top of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  It is not solely up to us to build The Church of the Apostles because this is Jesus’ church and Jesus said “I will build my church.”  However, the Lord has entrusted to us the care of his flock and calls us individually to surrender to his lordship and the authority of his Holy Spirit.  Amazingly, he wants to use us to do his work of church-building.

We are a spiritual organization with a spiritual product.  To a great degree our success is determined by our own personal spiritual health.  What we have shared together today has been an important part in restoring our health, but kickball and fried chicken is just a start.  We have spiritual work to do before we address our organizational issues and I pray that each of us will begin a process of spiritual examination so that we can be servants fit for the master’s use.

Pictures from Friday's picnic

Melanie scores in kickball

Amber makes it to first!

S p e e d y   J o h n n y   Y o u s s e f ! !

Strategery from Coach Waites.

A different twist on volleyball.

Okay Bill, So What's The Plan?

I took three weeks off between jobs for two important reasons.  The first was to handle the mountain of details related to selling and buying two houses and relocating to Atlanta.  The second reason was to give me time to prepare for my new job.  That preparation was physical (I was ready for a vacation!), emotional (leaving friendships I had developed over the previous 15 years), spiritual (a great chance to reboot the spiritual disciplines) and mental.  The mental preparation for joining COTA focused on research I did by reading two very helpful books.  The first was called (ominously), "You're In Charge; Now What!?" (Mr. Wages laughed out loud when he saw that title) and the second was called "The New Leader's 100-Day Action Plan."

Everyone has been very gracious to allow me time to get to know the staff.  I've been able to spend time with many people on staff and quite a few church members.  I presented a 100-Day Plan to Dr. Youssef on my first day at work.  The plan is built around four central tasks:

1. listen
2. analyze
3. plan
4. execute

The "listening phase" is certainly not over; in many ways it's only just begun.  There's a lot of overlap to the four phases and I have to be very careful to balance everyone's desire to get things moving against the value of moving deliberately.  The entire process must be bathed in prayer and this forces us to move forward at a wise pace.  I have been praying for you (and for me!) each day and I have a team of people in several states who are praying for all of us.

Okay...nice background.  So what's the plan?

Does anyone remember the very first thing I said the very first time I had a chance to speak to the staff.  Of course I wouldn't expect you to, but my first words to you were chosen very intentionally. The first thing I said was,

"We are a spiritual organization with a spiritual purpose and a spiritual product.  To a great extent our success is linked to our own personal spiritual vitality."

This led to my devotional on the area of personal growth I've been working on during my time between jobs, the value of daily repentance.  So now that we're ready to start talking about how we're organized for ministry, I want to go back to that first statement.

I'm grateful that God has brought me to Apostles.  I'm here because everyone wants our staff to be healthy and effective for God's kingdom.  I have experience leading a church very much like Apostles and serving a senior pastor who is very similar to Dr. Youssef (with the exception that he was British instead of Egyptian).  My time with you this past month leads me to understand where we need to start our journey together.

We don't need to start with job descriptions or restructuring the staff or reviewing policies or setting goals or even discussing our purpose and vision for ministry.  We'll get to all that eventually. We need to start on our knees.

I'll send invitations through Outlook so these events will appear on your calendar, but I want to describe a week of spiritual preparation that we will be sharing together.  Everyone on the "COTA" distribution list in Outlook will be invited and strongly encouraged to attend these meetings.

Thursday, September 18, 4:00-5:00 pm.  We're going to meet to discuss what a spiritually healthy organization looks like.  We're not going to make any organizational progress until we get spiritually healthy, so I'm going to encourage all of us to spend this week considering the status of our personal relationships with the Lord and with one another.  Some may discover that they need to seek or offer forgiveness and experience reconciliation before we can move forward.

Monday & Tuesday morning, Sept 22-23, 8:30-8:45 a.m.  In advance of a meeting on Wednesday, everyone is invited to meet in the sanctuary for prayer. This is an open invitation to anyone who wants to attend with no expectations placed on anyone to be there. There will be no program or presentation; we're simply going to pray for our staff and ask the Lord to restore our spiritual health. I'll make a PA announcement a few minutes beforehand to remind you.

Wednesday, September 24, 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. (includes lunch).  This meeting is a follow up to the September 18 meeting, a chance to gather and discuss the spiritual characteristics of the place where we want to work.  In the spirit of James 5:17, "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed," this family gathering will give us the opportunity to be honest with one another and start with a clean slate.  We will conclude this week of spiritual preparation with worship and prayer and then we’ll share lunch together.

I'm praying for revival.

I believe we'll look back on this week of spiritual preparation as a turning point on our journey together, but only if we're willing to be honest with ourselves and with the Lord about the things that are preventing us from enjoying ministry together and reaching our full potential for Christ's kingdom.  Please pray.

Three Weeks That Feels Like Three Days!

In this post:
1.  How I survived 15 meetings without gaining 15 pounds.
2.  Our upcoming offsite retreat.
3.  My 100 Day plan.
4.  An incredible lunch meeting.
5.  Comments turned on and Facebook available.

I thought I'd give you a quick update on my first three weeks in the office and tell you about one of the most remarkable, amazing lunch meetings I've ever had.  My first day in the office was Monday, August 4.  Since most of my stuff was still in boxes at home (and I really didn't want to spend the first week setting up my office), I decided to go with a very sparse office setup.  I've got a few books on my bookshelf to give people snooping around an idea of what topics interest me and I hung a few photos of some recent vacations hiking on the Appalachian Trail.

My first meeting was lunch with Dr. Youssef (notice that unlike my email from earlier this week, I spelled his name correctly this time...thanks Brenda!).  Agenda item #1 for me was "Thanks for bringing me here!"  It has been a wonderful experience to pray with Dr. Youssef, talk with many of you and dream about the future of COTA.  Reviewing my calendar I have has 15 meal meetings with staff, Vestry members and other church members and 18 other meetings.  I had the privilege of speaking at our August staff chapel and got to share a homily based on Jesus words, "I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly" at Hour of Power.  Everyone has been very gracious and kind to me, and I am grateful.

I'm really excited about the upcoming off-site retreat on Friday, September 12.  We learned that the fields at the Youssef's farm have recently been plowed and that site might not be as conducive for our event as we thought, so the location has been moved to a site west of town.  Here's a link to the location.  

 This will be a convenient location for many people, and I'm going to put tents in my backyard for Connie, Mark and others who make the long commute from the other side of the state so they have a place to spend the night.  It will be a fun day together (pray for good weather!) and I'm taking the "team effort" approach to planning: Amy will get the food together, Boyd's folks will work out logistics, some of the youth team will put together some games, I'll get my new golfing buddies to gather putters and balls for putt-putt (see the "mini-golf" course in the picture, above right) and others of you will soon be asked to help plan the event.  If you have ideas of group games or things you've seen done at family reunions in the past (hey! we're a family!), please send me your thoughts.

My initial meetings with people have been very helpful to me understanding the history and culture of COTA.  God has done amazing things here in a very short time and I believe we are standing at the brink of a season of unparalleled blessing and favor.  We have a lot of work to do to get ready for what God wants to do in us and through us.  In my next round of meetings I'm asking the following questions:

1.  What are the character traits and practices of the church that we should be sure to maintain?
2.  What are the practices that are keeping us from being as effective as we should be?
3.  What do you hope I am able to do?
4.  What are the obstacles I will face?
5.  What would you do first if you were me?

I won't get to have one-on-one conversations with everyone on staff, but I'd be very happy to get anyone's responses to these questions...really!  Drop me an email or stop by my office anytime.  I gave Dr. Youssef my "100 Day Plan" on my first day in the office and the plan starts with lots of listening and learning on my part.  The listening phase will be followed by everyone joining in the process by praying, talking, planning and then executing our plan.  Measurable progress will come, but it will come as the result of a team-based process.

Okay, here's what happened at one of the most remarkable lunch meetings I've ever had.  You know that the church has just hired Aaron Keyes to be our worship leader.  As a former worship leader, I was very impressed with what Aaron had written about worship on his website and intrigued to learn that he had graduated from Furman University in Greenville, SC., my wife Charlene's hometown.

  Aaron and I finally had a chance to meet for lunch on Tuesday.  We were both introduced to the congregation on the same Sunday.  He knows I have a background in worship, so we were eager to meet.

I drove across town and met him at a burger place ("Farm Burger" in Decatur...mmmmm!).  We sat down and started chatting.  At one point, he mentioned the name of the pastor of his home church, Pastor Walter Handford.  When my jaw dropped, Aaron asked, "Do you know him?"

"Know him?" I replied, "He married Charlene and me!!"

Within a few minutes, both of us had pushed away from the table and kept saying, "No way! ... Really?  No way!!!"

Turns out Aaron Keyes was born in the campus hospital at Bob Jones University where Charlene and I met.  His father, Steve Keyes was Charlene's youth pastor at Southside Baptist Church in Greenville.  Charlene's mom, Pearl taught Aaron high school science at Southside Christian School.  As a youth, Aaron spent time at The Wilds, a Christian camp where Charlene and I first met.  Just too many coincidences to be coincidences!

There's about 15 years difference between us, but after hearing Aaron talk about his theology of worship at a meeting last week, I quipped, "Man, you and I are twins separated at birth!!"  Turns out that actually wasn't far from the truth.  I bet God does this kind of stuff all the time in his spare time and only lets us know about it occasionally.  Amazing!

FINALLY, I fixed the comments part of this blog so you can now post comments without going through a CIA background investigation, and I adjusted my Facebook settings so you can view or friend me at www.facebook.com/billp2000.

God bless!

Introductions

I’d love to use the blog as a place for us to interact virtually and track our progress together.  I’m thrilled for the opportunity to work with you at COTA, and I can’t wait to see what God is going to do next.  Let me begin with an introduction. 

I’m grateful for the warm greeting I’ve received since arriving at COTA.  Charlene and I initially arrived on Thursday, July 17.  We met the moving trucks, took two days to get the boxes into the house and the furniture roughly into the right place, then we headed off on vacation.  Our last three weeks in Minnesota were filled with getting the house ready for the movers, saying goodbye to many friends and anticipating the move to Atlanta.  As you know, there are a thousand details involved in moving and a thousand places where things can go wrong. 

So after saying goodbye, taking a few days to drive the 1100 miles from Rochester to Atlanta and unloading into our new home, we were pretty exhausted and ready for a break.  We drove to visit my family in Virginia Beach and had a very restful visit.  For the last 15 years we’ve only been able to visit our family about once a year and have seen Charlene’s family even less.  We’re hoping those visits might be a bit more frequent now that we live closer.  After a few days in Virginia Beach we drove south down the coast to spend time with some close friends who live on Kure Beach near Wilmington, NC.  We drove back across South Carolina and met all of Charlene’s family for breakfast in Greenville, her hometown.  Charlene’s mom passed away a few years ago, but her dad, two younger brothers and their families all live in Greenville.  When Charlene and I married, her brothers were concerned about me taking their sister “up north” to live in Virginia.  I reminded them that the capitol of the Confederacy was in Richmond.  Now that we live in Atlanta, I’m very happy to be able to refer to them as “our northern relatives.”

I thought I’d tell you a little bit about where I’ve been and what I’ve done in my previous ministry.  I became a Christian at the age of 10, and through the influence of the youth/music minister of my home church felt a call to ministry during my high school years.  One of my spiritual gifts is teaching (the other is administration), and I considered becoming an elementary school teacher.  I finally decided that since I had a love for music and many years of study already behind me, I would pursue a degree in music education.  I received my undergraduate degree from a Christian college in Greenville, SC (where Charlene and I met) and taught music, Bible and psychology in a Christian high school in Chesapeake, VA.  I graduated mid-year and didn’t have a job waiting for me until I received a call from a school where I had interviewed.  One of their most beloved teachers had been killed in an automobile accident during the Christmas holidays and I was invited to take her place.  This was my first experience teaching and my first experience stepping into a situation where the emotional pain was very real.  I quickly learned pastoral skills and teaching skills as I built relationships with the students, many of whom are now my closest Facebook friends.  I was able to continue my studies and received a Master of Music Education degree while there. 

After teaching for seven years, I felt a desire to transition to a career in church worship ministry.  I briefly served a church in eastern NC before being hired by a SBC church in metro Washington, D.C.  We had a wonderful experience there for another seven years in a growing church.  While developing a comprehensive worship ministry in the early years of the modern worship renewal movement, I also gained valuable experience serving on the Senior Leadership Team of the church and was deeply involved in several building projects.  Unfortunately, unresolved conflicts in the staff and other systemic problems caused my last two years in DC to be rather traumatic.  Looking back, I learned a lot about myself and about ministry during that difficult time and I am grateful for the experience.  There has since been reconciliation and healing in that church and it was my joy to be invited back to the church a few years ago for their 30^th anniversary.

In 1999, I accepted a position as Worship Pastor at what was then called First Baptist Church of Rochester, MN.  The church was founded in Minnesota Territory in 1857, prior to Minnesota statehood.  This was a wonderful time of healing for me and my family, and “FirstB” became one of the greatest learning opportunities in my life.  The worship ministry eventually grew to a volunteer-based ministry with multiple worship styles guided by a common set of theological core values of worship.  At one point we were at four weekend services, one on Saturday night and three on Sunday morning, in two different styles.  We had clearly outgrown our property and felt led by the Lord to venture into an unknown future that would test our faith.  We sold our 14-acre property, purchased a new 60-acre campus and developed plans for a new church.  We held three back-to-back fundraising campaigns with each raising more funds than had been pledged (the professional fundraisers will tell you that just doesn’t happen!)  I learned a lot about planning, design, project management, publicity, vision, values and staff development during this time.  I also spent three years in post-graduate work during this time and earned a Doctorate of Worship Studies degree in 2003.

Autumn Ridge Church, Rochester Minnesota

Once we made the move to the new campus and changed our name to Autumn Ridge Church (the denominational label “Baptist” having been identified as a cultural barricade that was preventing people from coming to know Christ), we experienced what many growing organizations experience.  We hit the stall speed of the organizational structure that had gotten us this far and recognized the need to reorganize our staff.  A consultant recommended freeing up the senior pastor to leverage his skills of preaching and pastoral care and hiring an executive pastor to lead the stall and manage the day to day operations of the church.  The “silo approach” had taken us as far as it could; we needed to integrate the ministries and create a culture of teamwork to fully realize our potential for Christ’s kingdom.

We conducted a two-year search for an executive pastor and came very close to hiring a successful businessman who felt called to ministry.  At the last minute, we asked a few questions that gave him pause and he asked a few questions that gave us pause, and we unexpectedly parted ways.  Initially, we wondered why God would allow us to go that far into the process only for it to end in “failure” (in our eyes).  We later came to realize that the process of self-examination was essential to our future success.  Because I had been on staff for seven years by that time and had great working relationships with the staff and senior pastor, I had naturally gravitated to a leadership position in anticipation of the hiring of the executive pastor.  When the interview process ended abruptly, the board of elders approached me with an invitation to become the church’s first XP (executive pastor).  I accepted that position in 2006 and hired a new full-time worship pastor.  I continued to lead the “Adoration Service” (what we called our service led by choir and orchestra) while serving as XP. 

Our son, Blair (1992) is a graduate student
at the Mayo Clinic Graduate School

Blaine (1987) has a degree in architecture and
works in web development in VA Beach

Charlene and I have wanted to move closer to family and have been open to the possibility of relocating for a few years.  We’ve been surprised when various other ministry opportunities didn’t materialize in the past, but since we’ve been praying earnestly for God’s will and guidance we had to take even the closed doors as an answer to prayer.  From the time I first learned about the ministry of Apostles, I felt a spiritual connection to the ministry.  I’m very grateful that Dr. Youssef, the search firm and consultants have been very honest about the challenges we face.  It was especially confirming for me to be here in June when Dr. Lawless presented the results of his research to the staff.  I sat there for five hours hearing a description of my church in Rochester in 2006.  While there was clearly frustration in the room that day and a fear to openly and honestly discuss the critical issues, I did not sense hopelessness.  On the contrary, I sensed a deep love for the church and a commitment to the future of this ministry.

Okay, if you’ve endured this long you get rewarded with a link.  I’d love to keep up with you on Facebook:  www.facebook.com/billp2000.

I'd love for this to be an interactive blog that will facilitate conversations, questions and answers.  Please feel free to comment!  Next week I plan to blog my strategic values for moving forward on our leadership journey.  This won't be a statement of what we're going to do in the future but it will outline my values for the way we're going to do things in the future.

The Church of The Apostles is the Body of Christ.  It is God’s church; it belongs to him.  Jesus said, “I will build my church.”  God wants us to be unified, focused, fruitful, Spirit-filled, enthusiastic and personally fulfilled.  I don’t have the answers but I think I do know the right questions and I love the process.  I’m excited about the journey that is before us and I am eager to see God answer our prayer, “May your kingdom come; may your will be done among us as it is in heaven.” 


PS.  By the way, you might have received an incorrect cell number for me.  I'm at 770-688-6164.