Reinventing American Protestantism

I just finished reading Donald Miller's Reinventing American Protestantism. Miller, a sociology professor from the Unversity of Southern California, applies his discipline to understanding three growing movements: Calvary Chapel, Vineyard Association, and Hope Chapel. All three of these movements are of the charismatic persuasion and have experienced tremendous growth in the past couple of decades while many mainline Protestant churches have been in decline.

Miller espouses the religious markets theory that compares churches to businesses. Some rise, others fall - much depends on a church's "polity, clergy, religious doctrines, and evangelization techniques.'

A quick summary: "New paradigm churches eliminated many of the inefficiencies of bureaucratized religion by an appeal to the first century model of Christianity; this 'purged' form of religion corresponded to the countercultural worldview of baby boomers, who rejected institutionalized religion; with their bureaucratically lean, lay-oriented organizational structure, new paradigm churches developed programs sensitive to the needs of their constituency; new paradigm churches offered a style of worshp that was attractive to people alienated from establishedment religion because it was in their own idiom; this worship and the corresponding message provided direct acces to an experience of the sacred, which had the potential of transforming people's lives by addressing their deepenst personal needs."

Miller's book is a scholarly look at the growth of these movements in a positive light. He also has some reccomendations for the revitalization of the mainline denominations -- some of these keys are worth looking at for our own church, too.

What Should Denominations Do?

Bill Isaacs, Administrative Bishop for the Churches of God in Northern Ohio, has a blog in which he asks the honest question, "What can/should denominations do?" Considering the mandated reallocation of funds (decision of our general assembly), this is the first question that must be addressed before deciding where to set the knife.

Bill has opened his blog to user comments, and there has been quite a number of responses to his question -- with many various opinions. Below is my response to question as I posted on his blog.

Bill, thanks for opening the dialog on this topic. Let me address the matter from a more historical perspective by asking the question, what were the core values of our denomination in its earliest years. Finding out what contributed to any organization’s early successes will normally be tied to its DNA. So. here’s my take on our core values.

1. Church planting From the onset, A.J. Tomlinson had the desire to evangelize by planting new churches. In 1902, there was the single church in Camp Creek, NC. By 1905, there were churches in NC, TN, and GA. At the first Assembly in 1905, there were five congregations. By 1910, we had 31 churches; by 1911 there were 51. By …, well you get the picture.

2. The Power of Holy Spirit I place this second on purpose due to its historical timing. Although there were charismatic demonstrations with the Christian Union in 1886, there was no teaching about it. And it appears that the charismata didn’t stick with the group. It was in 1908, after the third General Assembly that A.J. Tomlinson was filled with the spirit at a revival in Alabama. Subsequently, he invited G.B. Cashwell to Cleveland and the Pentecostal revival came to stay in the denomination.

3. World Missions By 1909, Edmund Barr and R.M Evans experienced Pentecost. The next year, they went to the Bahamas to plant the COG. Other missionaries and countries would quickly be a part of the denomination’s outreach. Today, the COG is in 170 countries.

4. Social Ministry From 1900-1910, the leaders frequently collected clothes for needy children. There were several attempts to establish an orphanage. 1910, Lillian Thrasher started an orphanage in Egypt. Finally, the first COG home for children was established in 1920 in Cleveland.

5. Youth Ministry 1906, already the need for family ministry, family devotions was expressed. Later initiatives, youth camps and the YPE movement.

6. Ministerial Training/Education Most of us know about Lee University having its roots at the Bible Training Institute. It began in 1919. Since then we can look at all the different educational initiatives and programs, including the MIP and CIMS.

After writing this, I am still of the conviction that the local church is the hope of the world. The denomination exists because of the local church. However, the denomination has the power to be greater than the sums of its local congregations. The purpose of the denomination is simply to help us all achieve things that local churches by themselves cannot accomplish alone.

I think these core values listed above can really be our north star / our true north as we navigate the waters of decentralization (how else are we to interpret the decision of the last General Assembly) and budget reductions.

Three Questions for a Frantic Family

I've written many times before, the best time for me to read is while in transit. During my flight to/from Bulgaria, I was able to read the latest from one of my favorite authors - Patrick Lencioni, a consultant par excellence. This time, he has applied his analytic questions for businesses for everyday family life. Below is a summary of his book, taken from his own website.

The Three Big Questions: Family Scoreboard Explanations

1. What makes your family unique?
The answer to this question should be two or three sentences that describe how your family is different from any other family in the world. If you don’t know what differentiates your family from others, you won’t have a basis for making decisions, and you’ll try to be all things to all people.

2. What is your top priority—rallying cry—right now?
Rallying Cry: The rallying cry is a single, agreed-upon top priority for your family over the next two to six months. Without a top priority, everything becomes important and you end up reacting to whatever issues seem urgent that day.

Defining Objectives: Defining objectives are the basic categories of things you’ll have to do to achieve your rallying cry. Without identifying those categories, you’ll be left with nothing but a general statement—and no context for getting it done.

Standard Objectives: Standard objectives are simply those regular, perennial responsibilities that a family must pay attention to in order to keep its head above water. By acknowledging these ongoing responsibilities, families will avoid being distracted from what really matters.

3. How do you talk about and use the answers to these questions?
The most important thing a family has to do to keep its context alive is discuss it in regular meetings. If you answer the first two questions but don’t use those answers in daily, weekly and monthly decision-making, it will yield limited benefits. It can also be helpful to “score” your progress as demonstrated with the green, yellow, and red color key.

German National Assembly

During the last week of October, our family attended the German national assembly in Kirchheim. As is always the case with such meetings, there are good services and seminars. But the really interesting stuff takes place in the hallways and at the dinner tables. This year was no different.

The main guest speaker this year was Dr. Fred Garmon from People for Care and Learning. Fred and I go back many years. He was youth pastor at North Cleveland while I was at Lee. Years later we reconnected at Regent University where both of us did our doctoral work. In fact, we did several projects together or in connection with his church. We even graduated together in 2003.

Fred did a great job teaching/preaching on different aspects of leadership. And it looks like he'll be back with us Europe a couple of time next year. It was really great to spend time with Fred and learn how the Lord has used him in his new ministry. (Go check out there site, some really cool stuff going on!

The Simple Church

One of the great things about being on the road is the opportunity to do some reading while in transit. During our recent trip to Cleveland (TN), I saw a book at Pathway Bookstore that caught my attention. The Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger.

To be honest, most of the writing was done by Geiger and Rainer was his mentor in a research project. Although they do a well grounded statistical study, Simple Church is an extremely readable and sensible book about church growth.

Geiger and Rainer found a statistical relationship between growing churches and the simplicity of a church's process of discipleship. Below is a brief outline of the book. In the second half of the book, one chapter is dedicated to each of the four points.

---

A simple church is designed around a straightforward and strategic process that moves people through the stages of spiritual growth. The leadership and the church are clear about the process (clarity) and are committed to executing it. The process flows logically (movement) and is implemented in each area of the church (alignment). The church abandons everything that is not in the process (focus).

• Clarity – the ability of the process to be communicated and understood by the people.
• Movement – the sequential steps in the process that cause people to move to greater areas of commitment. (It is how someone is handed off from one level of commitment to a greater level of commitment.
• Alignment – the arrangement of all ministries and staff around the same simple process. Without alignment, the church can be a multitude of sub ministries. In this case, each ministry has its own leaders who are only passionate about their specific ministry. They rarely identify with the entire church but are deeply committed to their own philosophy of ministry. As a result, everyone is competing for the same space, resources, volunteers, and time on the calendar.
• Focus – commitment to abandon everything that falls outside of the simple ministry process. That often means saying “no.” Focus does not make church leaders popular.

• 
  

Leadership is Everyone's Business - Leadership is Staying in Love

One of the good things about vacation is the chance to finally read a good book. In my case, it gave me a chance to finish off what I started reading several months ago. Below is my summary notes of the final chapter of Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner.

Leadership is about relationships, about credibility, and about what you do.

You are the most important leader in your organization.
If you’re a manager in an organization, to your direct to reports you are the most important leader in your organization. You are more likely than any other leader to influence their desire to stay or leave, the trajectory of their careers, their ethical behavior, their ability to perform at their best, their drive to wow customers, their satisfaction with their jobs, and their motivation to share the organization’s vision and values.

If you’re a parent, teacher, coach or community leader, you are the person that’s setting the leadership example for young people. Not hip-hop artists, movie stars, or professional athletes.

The leaders who have the most influence on the people are those who are the closest to them. You have to challenge the myth that leadership is about position and power.

There is no escape: Leadership is everyone’s business. No matter what your position is, you have to take responsibility for the quality of leadership your constituents get. And because you are the most important leader to those closest to you, the only choice you really have is whether or not to be the best leader you can be.

Leadership is learned
The age old question: “Are leaders born or made?” Our answer: “Yes, of course!” All leaders are born – who wasn’t. What we do with what we have before we die is up to us.

It’s just pure myth that only a lucky few can ever understand the intricacies of leadership. Leadership is not a gene, and it’s not a secret code that can’t be deciphered by ordinary people. The truth is that leadership is an observable set of skills and ability that are useful whether one is in the executive suite or on the front line.

It’s not the absence of leadership potential that inhibits the development of more leaders, its’ the persistence of the myth that leadership can’t be learned. This haunting myuth is a far more powerful deterrent to leadership development than is the nature of the person or the basics of the leadership process.

Leaders make a difference
Leadership is applicable to all facets of life. If you are to become a better leader, you must first believe that leadership applies to you and that you can be a positive force in the world.

People working with leaders who demonstrate the Five Practices (KP) are significantly more satisfied with the actions and strategies of their leaders; they feel more committed, excited, and energized, influential, and powerful; and they are more productive. In other words, the more you engage in the practices of exemplary leaders, the more likely it is that you’ll have a positive influence on others in the organization.

First lead yourself
Leadership development is self-development. The instrument of leadership is the self, and mastery of the art of leadership comes from mastery of the self.

The quest for leadership is first an inner quest to discover who you are. Through self-development comes the confidence needed to lead. Self-confidence is really awareness of and faith in your own power.

Learning to lead is about discovering what you care about and value. As you begin this quest toward leadership, you must wrestle with some difficult questions:

• How certain am I of my own conviction about the vision and values?
• What gives me the courage to continue in the face of uncertainty and adversity?
• How will I handle disappointments, mistakes, and setbacks?
• What are my strengths and weaknesses?
• What do I need to do to improve my abilities to move the organization forward?
• How solid is my relationship with my constituents?
• How can I keep myself motivated and encouraged?
• What keeps me from giving up?
• Am I the right one to be leading at this very moment? Why?
• How much do I understand about what is going on in the organization and the world in which it operates?
• How prepared am I to handle the complex problems that now confront my organization?
• What are my beliefs about how people ought to conduct the affairs of our organization?
• Where do I think the organization ought to be headed over the next ten years?

Open yourself to a more global view. The leader is usually the first to encounter the world outside the boundaries of the organization. The more you know about the world, the easier it is to approach it with assurance. Thus, you need to learn as much as possible about the forces – political, economic, social, moral, or artistic – that affect the organization.

To be a leader, you must be interpersonally competent, and you must be able to develop the trust and respect of others.

Moral leadership calls us to higher purposes
Leadership practices per se are amoral. But leaders are moral or immoral. There’s an ethical dimension to leadership that neither leaders nor constituents should take lightly.

All exemplary leaders have wrestle with their souls. Such personal searching is essential in the development of leaders. You must resolve those dissonant internal chords. Extensive knowledge of the history and the outside world increases your awareness of competing value systems, of the many principles by which individuals, organizations, and states can choose to function. You can’t lead others until you’ve first led yourself through a struggle with opposing values.

When you clarify the principle that will govern your life and the ends that you will seek, you give purpose to your daily decisions. A leader with integrity has one self, at home and at work, with family and with colleagues. Leaders without integrity are putting on an act.

Leaders take people to places they’ve never been before. But there are not freeways to the future, no paved highways to unknown, unexplored destinations. One begins with the inner territory. We continue to discover that the most critical knowledge for all of us – and for leaders especially – turns out to be self-knowledge.

Humility is the antidote to hubris
Remember: You can do all of these leadership practices perfectly and still get fired. Moreover, any leadership practice can become destructive. Virtures can become vices.

The biggest problem, however, is hubris. In many all too subtle ways, it’s easy to be seduced by power and importance. All evil leaders have been infected with the disease of hubris, becoming bloated with an exaggerated sense of self and pursuing their own sinister ends.

Humility is the only way to resolve the conflicts and contradictions of leadership. You can avoid excess pride only if you recognize that you’re human and need the help of others. “Listen to what your colleagues have to say. They know more than you do.” Humility. It comes up time and again. Exemplary leaders know that “you can’t do it alone.” and they act accordingly. With self-effacing humor and generous and sincere credit to others, humble leaders get higher and higher levels of performance.

Leadership is in the moment
Leadership opportunities are presented to everyone. What makes the difference between being a leader or not is how you respond in the moment. Approach every interaction and every situation as an opportunity to lead.

Each day provides countless chances to make a difference. There are many moments each day when you can choose to lead, and many moments each day when you can choose to make a difference.

The secret to success in life
Followers look for leaders who demonstrate an enthusiastic and genuine belief in the capacity of others, who strengthen people’s will, who supply the means to achieve, and who express optimism for the future.

• remain passionate despite obstacles and setbacks
• with a positive, confident, can-do approach to life and business

Leaders must keep hope alive, even in the most difficult of times. Without hope there can be no courage. This is the time and place for optimism, imagination, and enthusiasm. Leaders must summon their will if they are to mobilize the personal and organization resources to triumph against the odds.

• Hope is essential to achieving the highest levels of performance.
• Hope enables people to transcend the difficulties of today and envision the potentialities of tomorrow.
• Hope enable people to bounce back even after being stressed, stretched, and depressed. Hope enables people to find the will and the way to unleash greatness.

And yet, hope is not all. There’s still one more less to be learned and it is the secret of success in life.

The secret of success is to stay in love. Of all the things that sustain a leader over time, love is the most lasting. It’s hard to imagine leaders getting up day after day, putting in the long hours and hard work it takes to get extraordinary things done, without having their hearts in it. The best kept secret of successful leaders is love: staying in love with leading, with the people who do the work, with what their organizations produce, and with those who honor the organization by using its products and services.

Leadership is not an affair of the head. Leadership is an affair of the heart.

Reflections on San Antonio

Most of my blogging colleagues have already written their reflections on the recent General
Assembly held last week in San Antonio. Unfortunately for me, I've been on the road and have had only limited internet access. (But Claudia and the kids are happy that I'm more accessible.) In a quick round up, here are my thoughts

• As usual, San Antonio was a great place to visit. This year, our kids enjoyed SeaWorld while I was voting forever for the Council of Eighteen.
• Speaking of the Executive Council, I (Tom) had 14 votes in the first round. (Somebody had to be desperate in finding names/numbers at the end of the list. )
• Although all five members of the Executive Committee were eligible for reelection, three new faces were elected (Mark Williams, David Griffis, and Wallace Sibly) and three members were bumped off (Dennis McGuire, Orville Hagan, Paul L. Walker). Such a rotation without the occasion of term limits was unheard of in our history (at least as far back as I can remember). The new Presiding Bishop is Raymond Culpepper; the first assistant is Tim Hill.
  
• The agenda item regarding the restructuring and realignment of the budgets (including that of World Missions) was sent back to a committee. A new proposal is yet to be developed, but budget cuts will be more spread out throughout all departments, not just World Missions.
• An item to allow women to participate in the Pastor and Church's Council (in local churches) was defeated. Thus we are maintaining the position that a woman can pastor a church, but she cannot participate in its church council meetings. I suspect that many churches will simply ignore the minutes, or simply go around them by creating an alternative elders and/or deacons board.
• The ministers decided, however, not to defrock fellow clergy who teach, preach, or publish anything contrary to the denomination's declaration of faith. However, the church reaffirmed its pentecostal heritage and doctrine.

Later this week, we'll try to keep you informed of some additional developments arising from the Assembly in Texas.

The Plight of Denominations

George Bullard has posted an entry on his blog about the demise of many denominations. Have a read and think about what it might mean for our church, or even your local congregation.

Here is an illustration of why I believe we are in a denominational transformation era rather than a post-denominational era. What makes it seem like a post-denominational era is that denominational organizations, much like Old Age stage congregations, are in deep denial that they must transform or die, may refuse to believe how deep the changes and transitions must be, and keep making accommodations in policies and structure to give buy a little more life.

The March of Dimes organization was started to combat polio. Once polio was substantially eliminated from North America, it might seem the purpose and focus of the March of Dimes had been eliminated. Perhaps the Mother’s March was no longer needed. Not so. What happened to the March of Dimes is that they realized they had misunderstood their mission. Their mission was not to fight polio. Their mission was to fight birth defects. Polio was simply their first major cause or project.

Denominations must realize their real mission is to expand and extend the kingdom of God through the basic building block of various congregational forms and movements. It is no longer to do for congregations what congregations cannot do for themselves. It is to increase the capacity of congregations to reach their full kingdom potential. It is no longer to represent the cosmic Church to congregations because networked movements allow this to be a direct connection. World denominational forms are connecting directly with congregations now. As such this calls for a major rethinking of institutional expression of denominations, and what is in the box versus what is outside the box in the overall congregational movement that needs networking.

In a certain sense it fits the motif of a continual spiritual strategic journey. Denominational organizations are on a journey. They can now see beyond their original horizon. In fact, they have been discovering new horizons every generation or two. However, their response has not been nimble or agile. So, they have fallen several horizons behind. Now the gap between the expectations and capacities of leading edge congregations and their denomination is painfully big. Therefore, incremental transition and change in no longer enough. Transformation is essential. What are your thoughts?

Leadership - discipline with love

We just completed our last week of exams at ETSM and final exams will begin next week. In one week, we will have our graduation exercises with hopefully 15 people walking across the stage. This is our highest amount since the initial cohort that began in 1998 (and graduated in 2002). The faculty has already begun to read the "senior papers" written by interns who are about to graduate. Their defense will be next week.

However, the anticipation of next week's joy has been dampened by a couple of students who we had to discipline. Three third year students (who normally would begin their 1-year practicum after the exams next week) were caught in blatant plagiarism. It was more than quoting from a commentary and not giving credit. Instead they had actually taken old term papers from previous students and simply put their name at the top of the paper. And a couple students had done for three different term papers.

So we held an emergency faculty meeting. Actually, I was in Germany and we held a video conference concerning the matter. Of course, the normal discipline measure for this offense would be dismissal from the school - that's true in just about any college. Sadly, we have to discipline these three promising young men.

However, it was interesting how things went in the final chapel service. In a small school, the interpersonal dynamics are very much like that of a family. The students in question offered an apology (although one of them still smiled the whole time) to their classmates. This prompted a compassionate response among the students who in turn questioned our decision to dismiss two of the students. (There were special considerations in the case of the third student.) "Can't you change your mind? That is too strict!"

Actually, we were lenient. We are allowing the students to complete their final exams. They must "rewrite" their papers. They are "suspended" for one year after which they can re-apply and be admitted into their internship. If they are diligent, they could still graduate by 2010.

Of course, the faculty and administration were also aware that any decision we made is in itself an act of teaching. And the lesson is: leadership is doing the right things.

Five Dysfunctions of a (Leadership) Team

Patrick Lencioni is one of my favorite authors. My favorite book of his to date is Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Although Lencioni writes for a secular audience - primarily for executive leadership teams, his insights are just as valid for teams within a church or ministry context. I have used his model to diagnose problems in both local churches as well educational institutions. I would go so far to say, it could be applied to every level of a denomination (international, national, state, and local).

Below is a brief summary of the model (as listed on his website).

Dysfunction #1: Absence of Trust
This occurs when team members are reluctant to be vulnerable with one another and are unwilling to admit their mistakes, weaknesses or needs for help. Without a certain comfort level among team members, a foundation of trust is impossible.

Dysfunction #2: Fear of Conflict
Teams that are lacking on trust are incapable of engaging in unfiltered, passionate debate about key issues, causing situations where team conflict can easily turn into veiled discussions and back channel comments. In a work setting where team members do not openly air their opinions, inferior decisions are the result.

Dysfunction #3: Lack of Commitment
Without conflict, it is difficult for team members to commit to decisions, creating an environment where ambiguity prevails. Lack of direction and commitment can make employees, particularly star employees, disgruntled

Dysfunction #4: Avoidance of Accountability
When teams don't commit to a clear plan of action, even the most focused and driven individuals hesitate to call their peers on actions and behaviors that may seem counterproductive to the overall good of the team.

Dysfunction #5: Inattention to Results
Team members naturally tend to put their own needs (ego, career development, recognition, etc.) ahead of the collective goals of the team when individuals aren't held accountable. If a team has lost sight of the need for achievement, the business ultimately suffers.

So...just how dysfunctional is your ministry team?

Actually, you can begin from the bottom up (i.e., invert the sequence). The lack of trust is often the root of all team dysfunction. Not surprisingly, we tend to highly esteem leaders we can trust and, conversely, hold in low regard those whom we don't trust.

How to choose a leader?

Earlier this week, Tom Sterbens mused over the upcoming elections of our denominational leadership. Our current presiding bishop is facing term-limits and must step down. Tom suggested that questions be asked to potential candidates and their answers be posted on the internet.

Our denomination has an informal tradition of frowning upon open election campaigns with stump speeches, etc. Instead, the delegates of the General Assembly rely upon their impressions of various leaders and their past experience (e.g., as state overseer, pastor, public speaker, etc.) and hopefully lots of prayer before traveling to the assembly. In fact, a large percentage of our delegates may perceive such "politicking" as unspiritual.

But Tom's idea is an interesting one. I’m just listing some questions here not because I have a beef with anyone in particular. Nor do I really expect any open campaigning before the upcoming Assembly. But I have adapted a list of questions to fit Tom's request But the essence of the questions are issues that I have been working my way through for my own context of ministry in Europe.

1. What is his vision for the denomination?

• What will the COG look like in the year, let’s just say, 2015?
• What kind of church will become?
• What steps will we take to get there?

2. What are his personal core values? And how have these been demonstrated in his ministry?

• What do you stand for? Why?
• What brings you suffering? Why?
• What makes you weep and wail? Why?
• What are you discontented about? Why?
• What keeps you awake at night? Why?
• Just what is it that you really care about? Why?

3. What is your assessment of the denomination?

• What opportunities do we have as a denomination?
• What are our strengths, weaknesses?
• What threatens us as a denomination?

4. I believe that the local church is the hope of the Church of God? How will you enable the pastors/members of the denomination to fulfill its mission and reach a shared vision for the future?

• How will you foster collaboration that gives a broad sense of “ownership”?
• How do we strengthen the local churches and its leaders?

5. How will you motivate the church in such a way that we it can overcome resistance (from both within and without)? How do we promote a healthy team spirit within the denomination? Some may call this ‘reinforcing corporate identity. On purpose, I’m not giving any leading questions on approaches or methods.

Credibility is the Foundation of Leadership

It seems nowadays that there is an increasing amount of distrust in leaders. The cause for the distrust various from venue to venue. Sometimes perceived intentional deceitfulness (e.g., political candidates/leaders). Or sometimes it is simply the perceived "disconnect" between the leaders and the rank and file followers.

What do people look for most in a leader? Ask any group, and you'll probably find these four qualities at the top of the list. The quotes from Leadership Challenge, 4th ed. A good leader must be...

Honest

When we follow someone we believe to be dishonest, we come to realize that we've compromised our own integrity. Over time, we not only lose respect for the leader, we lose respect for ourselves.

Forward-looking

Leaders must know where they're going if they expect others to willingly join them on the journey. We're talking about the ability to imagine or discover a desirable destination toward which the congregation or ministry should head.

Inspiring

If a leader displays no passion for a cause, why should anyone else? Leaders appeal to the followers' need to find meaning and purpose in their lives.

Competent

People must believe that the leader is competent to guide them where they're headed. They must see the leader as having relevant experience and sound judgment. If they doubt the person's abilities, they're unlikely to join the crusade. Followers constantly ask the question, "Do they 'get' it?"

It alls boils down to this. If you don't believe the messenger, you won't believe the message. (Cf. 2 Cor 3). Furthermore - You gotta do what you said you will do.

Leadership is a Behavior, Not a Personaltiy

Here in St. Petersburg, all of the participants were given a copy of The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner. This was one of the first books I read on leadership when I began my Ph.D. studies at Regent -- and the book is truly a classic.

I was pleasantly surprised that my Russian colleagues received a Russian translation of the text (probably from the 3rd edition). And I even received the brand new 4th edition which has been updated to make it more compact with international in scope.

We began this week by taking an adapted version of the LPI (Leadership Practices Inventory, also by K&P) which helped each of to assess his own leadership strengths and weaknesses. Kouzes and Posner posit that good leaders are recognized universally by their practices -- their behaviors. And because leadership is not based on a certain personality, everyone can learn to become good leaders.

What makes The Leadership Challenge so good is that it is based on 25 years of data. Kouzes and Posner have used very large samples of people, in-depth questionnaires tested for reliability, and have made the summary statistics from their 2004 data set (8,500 cases for much of the analysis) available on their website. They frequently describe their findings as "evidence-based".

Noting that credibility is the absolute foundation for the rest of the model, Kouzes and Posner describe five key practices for leadership. Good leaders...

1. Model the Way - Leaders spend time clarifying and communicating core values and set the example for all to follow.
2. Inspire a shared vision of the future that invites others to join the cause.
3. Challenge the process - Leaders are constantly searching for new opportunitites for growth while willing to experiment and take risks.
4. Enable others to act by encouraging collaboration and empowering followers for their jobs.
5. Encourage the heart by recognizing the contributions of everyone. Leaders will celebrate the values and victories of their organization and the people in them.

In the future, I intend to follow up on these points from a Christian leadership perspective.

Improving Relationships - Gottman Continued

Given that having a strong marriage is such an important key to staying healthy and happy, it makes sense to direct energy into making your relationship the best that it can be. The investment will truly be worth it. Below are some tips for making your relationship a much healthier one. (These are Gottman's tips as summarized by Poonam Sharma, Ph.D

1. Nurture your friendship. Do you know your spouse’s likes and dislikes Poonam Sharma, Ph.D, dreams, worries, fears and hopes? Do you know in detail what your spouse did all day yesterday? Do you know what types of pressures he or she faces at work? The basis of a good marriage is a solid friendship. If a marriage is not built on a strong friendship, it may be difficult to stay connected over time. Make sure you take some time each day to confide in one another. During these times, make it a priority to listen and learn about your partner’s thoughts, feelings, and ideas.
2. Actively take steps to foster your liking and admiration for your partner. Gottman says this is the antidote to contempt. Remember your partner's good qualities. Why were you attracted to your spouse in the first place? What did you originally love or admire about your partner? By nurturing your fondness for your spouse, you can foster a much more positive attitude toward him or her.
3. Always behave respectfully toward your spouse. In relationships that deteriorate over time, respect becomes increasingly absent. Sadly, sometimes people end up treating their spouses worse than they would ever treat a complete stranger. By tolerating or engaging in disrespectful behavior, you actively contribute to the demise of your relationship. Do you ever call your spouse names? Do you ever berate your partner in front of your friends or family? Do you consider how your spouse will be affected by your cruel comments or actions? Take stock of ways you or your spouse may cross the line of respect. Remember that without respect, love cannot survive.
4. Accept and validate your partner. Recognize how much power you have to build up your spouse up or tear him or her down. You can help make your relationship a safe haven or hell on earth. Remember, everyone needs to feel accepted for who they are as a human being. Instead of attacking your spouse, try to understand his or her point of view. Also, compliment your spouse for ways he or she supports you and your relationship. It’s easy to get so focused on what is wrong in a relationship that you miss what is actually working.
5. Forgive one another. When your partner genuinely reaches out to ask for forgiveness, do not turn away. Hurt feelings and conflict are inevitable at times. When attempts to repair this hurt are repeatedly rejected, the relationship takes a hit. You may need time to let go of a grudge, bitterness, or feelings of hurt, but don’t close the door completely on your partner’s attempts to make things better. Reach deep inside and work on healing together.
6. Calm down. When conflict escalates, people can become “flooded” by strong emotions, leading to physical distress, stonewalling and defensiveness. Take a few deep breaths or call a time out. Most people need about 20 minutes to actually calm their bodies down. Take the time and come back to the issues at hand when you can actually listen to what the other person is saying without being overwhelmed.
7. Let your partner influence you. In general, men are less likely to look for common ground with their wives. Gottman notes "When a man is not willing to share power with his partner, there is an 81% chance that his marriage will self-destruct.” Remember that good marriages involve give and take. You are on the same team and need to work together for the sake of your relationship.
8. Warm up your relationship. Keep your relationship healthy by ensuring that there are at least five positive interactions for every negative one. Gottman’s research has identified that a 5:1 ratio of positive interactions to negative ones is linked to the stability of a marriage, no matter what your typical style of resolving conflict. If there is too much negativity, the relationship suffers.
9. Learn to let some things go. Although your spouse may do things that drive you crazy, remember you can cope. It is not worth it to struggle over every little thing. Solve the problems that are solvable and let the others go. You must learn to pick your battles carefully.
10. Don’t forget to work on yourself. A relationship is just like a dance. You move in unison to create something that is truly unique. What type of partner are you? Do you work with your partner or pull hard in another direction? Do you step on her toes? Do you gaze in his eyes or focus only on your next steps? Remember you control 50% of what happens in your relationship. Be sure you are a good partner.

Making Relationships Work

This week, I read an interview in Harvard Business Review with John Gottman, Professor Emeritus from the University of Washington. Although the aim of the article was to focus on interpersonal relationships at work, he drew greatly upon his area of specialty – marital relationship.

Gottman notes that it is not conflict itself that is the problem, but how we handle it. Venting anger constructively can actually help clear the air and get a relationship back in balance. However, conflict becomes a problem when it is characterized by the presence of what Gottman calls the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse:” criticism, defensiveness, stonewalling, and contempt – the most destructive of which is contempt.

1. Criticism. Criticism involves attacking your partner’s personality or character, rather than focusing on the specific behavior that bothers you. It is healthy to air disagreements, but not to attack your spouse’s personality or character in the process. This is the difference between saying, “I’m upset that you didn’t take out the trash” and saying, “I can’t believe you didn’t take out the trash. You’re just so irresponsible.” In general, women are more likely to pull this horseman into conflict.

2. Defensiveness. Adopting a defensive stance in the middle of conflict may be a natural response, but does not help the relationship. When a person is defensive, he or she often experiences a great deal of tension and has difficulty tuning into what is being said. Denying responsibility, making excuses, or meeting one complaint with another are all examples of defensiveness.

3. Stonewalling. People who stonewall simply refuse to respond. Occasional stonewalling can be healthy, but as a typical way of interacting, stonewalling during conflict can be destructive to the marriage. When you stonewall on a regular basis, you are pulling yourself out of the marriage, rather than working out your problems. Men tend to engage in stonewalling much more often than women do.

4. Contempt. Contempt is involves tearing down or being insulting toward your partner. Contempt is an open sign of disrespect and disgust. And it is very difficult to resolve a conflict with someone when you’re communicating the message that you’re disgusted with him/her. Examples of contempt include: putting down your spouse, rolling your eyes or sneering, or tearing down the other person with so-called “humor.”

Research shows that people in contemptuous relationships are more likely to suffer from infectious illnesses, flu, colds, and so on – than other people. Contempt attaches the immune system; fondness and admiration are the antidotes.

All couples will engage in these types of behaviors at some point in their marriage, but when the four horsemen take permanent residence, the relationship has a high likelihood of failing. In fact, Gottman’s research reveals that the chronic presence of these four factors in a relationship can be used to predict, with over 80% accuracy, which couples will eventually divorce. When attempts to repair the damage done by these horsemen are met with repeated rejection, Gottman says there is over a 90% chance the relationship will end in divorce.

What is Spiritual Health?

Paul Pruyser argues that a healthy spiritual life consist of seven components. All seven dimensions combined provide us with a snapshot of a leader’s spiritual life.

1. Calling. Calling has to do with the sense of purpose. Calling, also known as vocation, has to do with the sense of purpose. In a spiritual context, vocation is not just a person’s career choice or occupation. There is a sense of calling that prompts leaders to make sure that all of their work aligns with their values, no matter how lowly the task may seem. A sense of vocation helps effective leaders put their talents to work as participants in the process that moves the universe toward increasing integrity.
   
   
2. Communion. Communion is has to do with one’s sense of belonging to a greater community. If there is any one bottom line found in all leaders, it is in changing lives. By being involved in social projects and building relationships with one’s neighbors, leaders begin to understand the real needs facing their communities. By virtue of their skills and connections, leaders can partner with civic and social groups to bring about change in their community.
   
   
3. Awareness of the Holy. The definition of holy is something that is “completely other.” What, if anything, is sacred to you? Can you love something / someone outside of yourself? Is there anything you consider as untouchable or unfathomable? Do you perceive yourself as a dependent creature, or are you preoccupied with yourself? If pushed by calamity, for what would you be willing to make any sacrifice? Ultimately the question is, “Is there anything or anyone whom you revere more than yourself?”
   
   
4. Providence. Do you believe that your life fits within a greater scheme of life? A sense of providence may be expressed by your desire for God's guidance. Providence is critically related to the ability to trust (and hope). Without trust, there is no sense of supernatural guidance. Instead, everything in life is happenstance, without rhyme or reason. In times of crisis, do you as a leader possess a calmness in knowing that your life and work fits in a larger scheme of things?
   
   
5. Faith. Faith relates to the leader’s stance in life. Do you embrace the ideals and general pattern of reality? Or do you tend to be a cautious pessimist, full of ifs, buts, and howevers? The question is not only to what a leader commits himself or herself, but whether the leader can commit at all. Faith impacts a leader’s perspective by opening the horizons to new opportunities. In other words, the leader's faith determines his/her view of the future, which in turn is an important factor in planning and vision casting.
   
   
6. Grace or gratefulness. Effective leaders have a sense of grace that finds expression in their kindness and generosity. Graceful leaders appreciate the beauty of giving and receiving, and “getting something for nothing.” People who acknowledge that their talents and abilities, including their physical health, are truly a gift of life – not something to be taken for granted – express their gratefulness by being good stewards of their endowments. They develop and build upon their “giftedness.”
   
   Related to the concept of grace and gratefulness is forgiveness. Effective leaders know when and how to forgive people who have disappointed them. Sometimes leaders focus on their own faults and consider themselves unworthy of forgiveness. As a result, they may work under a full load of guilt feelings. Subsequently, these leaders try to compensate by over performing in hopes of negating their past “sins.” Other leaders who insist on their own self-rejection may wallow in self-pity – almost to the point of narcissism.
   
   The result of this form of narcissism is the lack of feeling any need for grace or having any gratefulness whatsoever. “Who me? I don’t need anyone’s forgiveness.” Or “Well, yes, I have had much success, but I worked hard for every bit of it.” Not surprisingly, these people find it difficult to forgive others. Arrogance then drives the leader into a purely transactional understanding of relationships. Everything is a matter of rights or exchanging wares.
   
   
7. Repentance. Repentence refers to a process of changing one’s behavior. It is more than just feeling sorry and having feelings of regret. Rather, it is what Robert Quinn refers to as "deep change" – a turning away from an ineffective attitude, a shift of mind. Effective leaders know how to turn away from actions and attitudes that treat others unfairly and cause them harm. As a result, we change our ways and commit to a new actions and attitudes that builds and develops others, and ultimately our organizations/ministries. There is a direct relationship between repentance and the ability to learn something new.
   

Three Signs of a Miserable Job

I finished reading Patrick Lencioni's latest, Three Signs of a miserable job. As the title suggests, Lencioni presents a model for developing worker satisfaction, which in turn leads to lower worker turnover and improved organizational performance. Although written for the business environment, Lencioni's principles are just as valid in church ministry. What follows below is a summary of Lencioni's model (pp. 221-222). He also gives a visual summary that can been seen here (and scroll down to the video).

Anonymity
People cannot be fulfilled in their work if they are not known. All humans need to be understood and appreciated for their unique qualities by someone in a position of authority. People who see themselves as invisible, generic or anonymous cannot love their jobs, no matter what they are doing.

Irrelevance
Everyone needs to know that their job matters to someone. Anyone. Without seeing a connection between the work and the satisfaction of another person or group of people, an employee simply will not find lasting fulfillment. Even the most cynical employees need to know that their work matters to someone, even if it's just the boss.

Immeasurement
Employees need to be able to gauge their progress and level of contribution for themselves. They cannot be fulled in their work if their success depends on the opinions or whims of another person, no matter how benevolent that person may be. Without tangibe means of assessing success or failure, motivation eventually deteriorates as people see themselves as unable to control their own fate.

Do I have a miserable job? No.... Mine's fine. But what about those who serve under my leadership? Well, it's time to do some reflecting.

Lencioni - Temptations of a CEO

I've mentioned in earlier entries that I'm a fan of Patrick Lencioni. His first book is called "The Five Temptations of a CEO". The title of the book pretty much sums up the Lencioni's thesis: The difference between mediocre and excellent leaders depends on whether or not a leader falls for one (or more) of five temptations.

Temptation 1: Choosing status over results

• Do you personally consider it a professional failure when your organization fails to meet its objectives?
• Would it bother you greatly if your company exceeded its objectives but you remained somewhat anonymous relative to your peers in the industry?

Temptation 2: Choosing popularity over accountability

• Does it bother you to the point of distraction if they are unhappy with you?
• Do you often find yourself reluctant to give negative feedback to your direct reports? Do you water down negative feedback to make it more palatable?

Temptation 3: Choosing certainty over clarity

• Do you pride yourself on being intellectually precise?
• Do you enjoy debating details with your direct reports during meetings?

Temptation 4: Choosing harmony over productive conflict

• Do you prefer your meetings to be pleasant and enjoyable?
• Are your meetings often boring?
• Do you get uncomfortable at meetings if your direct reports argue?

Temptation 5: Choosing invulnerability over trust

• Do you have a hard time admitting when you're wrong?
• Do you fear that your direct reports want your job?
• Do you try to keep your greatest weaknesses secret from your direct reports?
  

Temptations for Leaders

Seven Personal Fronts of Attack (notes from Carson Pue's, Mentoring Leaders)

1. The inclination to pride
1. Leaders can hide the inclination toward pride quite well. The most obvious manifestation appears among those who hold themselves in too high esteem. Others often know what they are doing, but their presumption is so powerful that it is seldom challenged -- no one is close enough to do so.
2. Another sign of pride is when leaders talk about the things of the spiritual life rather than actually training and mentoring others in how to put into practice these lessons themselves. The shadow side of this leaning is to condemn those who challenge or question their approach to spirituality.
3. Leaders who have slipped to the inclination of pride cannot stand rivalry. Once pride has entered into their lives and leadership, if a rival or challenger appears, they will find ways to condemn and belittle that person until the threat is reduced or removed.
4. A distracting strategy is to have prideful leaders season their talk and lifestyle with expressions of their own contributions. They tell the same stories repeatedly about their good works and their success. when you listen to them, you are not sure if they are trying to convince themselves and seeking your approval to boost their sense of security, or if they are so full of themselves that this is all that can flow from their mouths.
5. From pride springs envy, which betrays itself by the amount of displeasure they take in learning of the spiritual good others are doing -- especially in ministry areas closely related to the ones they are called to.
   
2. Sensuality
1. The demands of ministry may offer fertile ground for compensatory "feel good" behaviors that meet emotional needs. These may include misusing food for comfort, altering mood by alcohol or other drugs, sexual escapism in pornography, or seeking satisfaction through inappropriate relationships.
2. An "emotional buzz" from a relationship may be experienced positively, but is nonetheless seductive by meeting non-conscious emotional needs without being considered "sexual" in the same way that overt sexual contact is judged negatively. This is often the start of a slide down the slippery slope toward serious relational and ministry betrayals.
   
3. Leaders disguise this sensual lust by cloaking it in spiritual overtones and words.
4. One outward appearance is a leader seeking either sentimental or sensual friendship with another person (most frequently of the opposite gender) under the pretext of ministry - either ministering together or the leader ministering to the one from whom the relationship is sought. These leaders speak of the relationship as something that is intended to evoke the respect and admiration of others. Often they talk about it as publicly as they can to diffuse their own sense of concern or worry about being caught - or of someone being able to look through them or "read their mail".
   
3. Spiritual excess
1. Spiritual excess is usually exemplified in one of two ways: (1) an excessive craving for consolation, or (2) the constant need to confess something.
   
2. Leaders never confess the sin that is at the core of their problem but rather they confess something that is an attempt to draw themselves close to you without revealing the innermost thoughts of their sinful behavior.
3. Leaders in this state make extra efforts to appear spiritual and do so by sharing something they say they are learning currently.
4. Their souls are more attached to the attention they get from the consolations and the support of others than from God himself.
   
4. Spiritualized lust
1. This is craving after spiritual things because of the feelings attached to it. This spiritualized lust is nurtured while doing "good things" like attending prayer meetings and while ministering with someone at church or in the ministry organization.
2. At times of prayer, sensual feelings can be produced. Prayer is an intimate experience and the feeling of intimacy is akin to the feelings of sexual intimacy.
   
5. Tiredness and sloth
1. Symptoms of these are weariness in performing even the most elementary of the spiritual disciplines. Reading God's Word, prayer, devotional meditation, and even public worship are not relished.
   
6. Surrounding with abundance (of resources and opportunities)
1. This includes an abundance of spiritual books, readings, and research that consume all of the leader's time and energy and leave nothing for personal interior work.
   
2. This is particularly appealing distraction to the more scholarly leaders who have been trained in and are drawn toward academic study rather than introspection of their own soul life.
3. Another abundance - taking on too many duties and responsibilities.
4. Another variation - when talented leaders are surrounded by opportunities and end up quitting one thing for another, changing, exchanging, arranging, and rearranging until finally settling on something that is usually expensive financially and in terms of human resource costs -- and often not as effective in the long run.
5. Technology - time on computers, Internet, etc
   
7. Lukewarmness - Anemia - The Symptoms
1. Gradual weakening of your ministry energy and spiritual desire
2. A blinding of your conscience - judgment becomes warped.
3. Gradual weakening of the will - making concessions that were once unheard of.
4. No desire to work hard at repairing - dodging and avoiding restorations attempts
5. Letting yourself slide in every respect - often this appears with changes in physical appearance

Spiritual Danger Zones in Leadership

• reliance on own gifts
• fear of humankind (people pleasing)
• perfectionism
• lack of conflict resolution skills or avoidance of conflict
• lack of accountability
• ignoring evil or lack of understanding how evil works
• unawareness of how to guard against sexual misconduct
• empire building
• need for recognition
• need to control
• lack of trust / intimacy with God (solitude, etc.)
• inability to set boundaries (to say no)
• inability to delegate
• lack of discernment
  

Mentoring Leaders

I just finished Carson Pue's Mentoring leaders: Wisdom for developing character, calling and competency. Pue presides over Arrow Leadership Ministries, an international ministry founded by Leighton Ford based in Canada.

Pue's emphasis has been on mentoring individual leaders through their consulting ministry. But his insights can be helpful for any local church, or for that matter, any seminary whose sole purpose is to train church leaders.

Here are some of my notes from the book.

Five Phases of the Mentoring Matrix

1. Self-awareness - deep-seated understanding of who we are as children of God though Jesus Christ
2. Freeing Up - disentangling ourselves from those things that hold us back and having our needs fully met by Jesus
3. Visioneering - discovering God's purpose for our lives
4. Implementing - beginning purposeful in how we live and lead
5. Sustaining - learning how to realize our purpose and maintain zeal for ministry

Starting with Self-Awareness
"The most significant thing in navigation - the very most important piece of information - is knowing exactly where you are."

Daniel Goleman places a great deal of emphasis on the importance of being able to recognize feelings and sees this as central to his measurement of what he calls emotional intelligence. "Self-awareness - recognizing a feeling as it happens - is the keystone of emotional intelligence ... the ability to monitor feelings from moment to moment is crucial to psychological insight and self-understanding. An inability to notice our true feelings leaves us at their mercy. People with greater certainty about their feelings are better pilots of their lives, having a surer sense of how they really feel about personal decisions from whom they marry to what job they to take."

What keeps leaders from Self-Awareness?

• Lack of feedback. It seems that the higher one rises up the ladder of leadership, the less feedback one receives. The battles of being a leader cause us to become isolated.
• Seminaries have not historically been strong in the feedback area themselves. They are caught between their deep desire to provide foundational content and doing anything that might cause a student to withdraw from school.
• Insecurity. Insecurity breeds misleadership. It erodes confidence within leaders and makes it very difficult for them to leader others. It can also surface during times of great success, not just in negative times.
  
• Busyness. Most leaders function at high rpm. Problem: We can actually get addicted to the adrenaline rush of our leadership. When this happens, we do whatever we can, unconsciously, to feed our need for adrenaline. It actually feels good! Problem: no time for reflection.

How at peace are you?
Once leaders have a clear understanding of their place as a child of God, there is a new peace or shalom that embodies their life and their leadership. Anxiety and drivenness decrease as we mature in our spiritual walk, while at the same time, there is an increase of that inner sense of peace. When leaders lead out of peace rather than frenetic activity, fewer people are hurt and the work of the Lord is multiplied in ways unimaginable.