T.D. Jakes Is Big In Kenya

I have been reading a fascinating book by Fritz Kling titled, The Meeting of the Waters: 7 Global Currents That Will Propel the Future Church. He has spent the last decade, as a foundation executive, traveling through villages and cities in every corner of the world. He as worked alongside both high-level leaders and grassroots workers, getting an insider's perspective on the changes occurring in the global church.

Kling's experiences have shown him that the same cultural shifts that are making church ministry in the United States so challenging, are changing the way that the Gospel must be presented in the global church. The globalization of the world, primarily through technology, has made for some interesting scenarios. This globalization was made very real to Fritz at a leadership conference in East Africa. A Kenyan pastor complained that "the expectations on him were unreasonable! I am but one small pastor in a tiny church in Africa, but the challenges are getting greater and greater!" His frustration was coming from the fact that a number of his parishioners told him that they prefer the sermons of T.D. Jakes. That Kenyan pastor, who lacked formal training, a library, an assistant, or compensation, had pushed himself to work harder and harder to deliver sermons that were biblically truthful and culturally relevant. Suddenly, he found himself in a classic twenty-first -century bind. He was a Kenyan ministering to Kenyans in Kenya, but he had been unwittingly thrust into a global, cross-cultural dilemma. He had not gone to another country as a missionary. Rather, another country (America, in this case) had come into his church-and his church would never be the same. America was not the problem: His parishioners could just as easily tune in to televised preachers from South Korea, Australia, or Germany.

In the US, pollsters tell us that approximately 40% of the population attend church regularly. Other pollsters tell us that those numbers are exaggerated. Regardless, since 80% of Americans say they are Christians, we have a big gap, that is getting bigger. While most of us understand that our culture is changing rapidly, we have been slow to accept the fact that the way we "do church" must change. Just like the world has been affected by globalization, we in America, with all the technology that we have, have been greatly affected. Hanging on to our traditional ways of trying to reach people are resulting in frustrated pastors and lay leaders. Dave Olson, director of church planting for the Evangelical Covenant Church has collected exhaustive reporting on church attendance in America and his findings show that churches with attendance of 50-299 are generally declining, as are churches that are 40-180 years old. This comprises most of the churches in America today.

Kling's response is that global cultural change is unavoidable, and staying the course without responding to change will steer the global church straight into a turbulent future. The greatest danger is that the valuable treasure carried by the church-the best news the world can ever hear-will be risked because leaders lack the stomach, mind, or heart to engage the changing times. I would add that seeking the wisdom of the Holy Spirit and depending on Him for creative engagement of our culture is absolutely essential! Imitating other's success will only result in frustration. Isaiah 43:16-19 Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

An Amazing Three Days

I never imagined that a blog that I wrote two days ago would create the number of page views that it has. Multipliers and Diminishers has had 566 page views since Monday. Since it has been posted and re-posted on Facebook multiple times, who knows how many times this blog has been read. This is a new record for me in the three and a half years I have been writing this blog.

From the beginning, the purpose for this blog was clearly labeled on the masthead, I have never consistently written down or recorded some of the key encounters and events in my life. This blog is attempting to do that in a way that is meaningful to anyone who reads my writing. That is exactly what I did as I wrote about one of the highlight times in my career on the staff of a large church in Oregon, with a wonderful senior pastor. It is also what I did as I wrote about the worst church leadership experience I have ever had. My experiences, no more, no less. While I initially allowed all comments to stay on this blog page, the quality of some of the comments, coupled with emotional outbursts that were clearly off the point, helped me make the decision to not allow any comments, even though most of the comments were positive.

If you are interested in knowing more about the idea of Multipliers and Diminishers, please read the book Multipliers by Liz Wiseman. It will help you make your own decisions about leaders that you are giving your allegiance to.

Multipliers and Diminishers

Last Thursday and Friday I attended the Willow Creek Association's Global Leadership Summit. It was two days of very stimulating leadership training and inspiration. Presenters came from the business, church, science, and other fields. Liz Wiseman's presentation on Multipliers and Diminishers drew sharp contrasts between leadership styles that elevate and create success among staff members, and those who suppress creativity and initiative.

I worked for an incredible Multiplier in Oregon. He encouraged each staff member's creativity both for church projects, as well as outside the church. He understood that when a member of his staff received recognition for their accomplishments, the senior pastor shared in that success. When one of the leading church music publishers published one of my choral songs, I brought one of the first copies to the pastor. He had already heard the song because we had performed it from my handwritten scores. Now it was in polished, printed form, ready for sale. He looked at each page, smiling and nodding, and then told me how proud he was of this accomplishment. Then he asked me if he could have the copy. When I told him I had brought the copy for him, he opened a large file drawer with multiple files in it. He explained that he kept physical copies of all the accomplishments of his staff members, both past and present. He already had created a file for me, (that says a lot about his confidence in the people he chose to work with him) and put the copy of my music in it. Liz Wiseman says multipliers are Talent Magnets, Liberators, Challengers, Debate Makers, and Investors. An investor is defined as one who gives other people the ownership for results and invests in their success. Pastor Allen Groff was certainly an investor.

At another point in my pastoral career I worked for a Diminisher. Wiseman's definition of a Diminisher is an Empire Builder (hoards resources and under-utilizes talent), Tyrant (creates a tense environment that suppresses people's thinking and capability), Know-It-All (gives directives that showcase how much they know), Decision Maker (makes centralized, abrupt decisions that confuse the organization), and Micro Manager (drives results through their personal involvement). Within a few weeks of joining this church staff, I became painfully aware that the staff was terrified of this pastor. There was no sense of teamwork, or working together. In 7 months, we had 3 very short staff meetings. We had no staff social gatherings, any kind of gatherings that included our spouses or children, or any hint of a desire for personal relationships. I finally realized, too late, that this pastor, and his wife, were incredibly insecure. The only way to deal with that was for them to be oppressively controlling and micro managing every aspect of the church. Basically, the pastoral staff were credentialed go-fors. Kathy and my years of experience and maturity as pastors were completely ignored. Sadly, this church congregation suffered being fractured and split apart by this destructive behavior.

Are you a Multiplier? A Diminisher? I believe Christ has called leaders to be Multipliers. I know from personal experience that I must be a Multiplier, at home, and work.

Church Heroes

Last week I had the opportunity to spend a couple of days with the pastor and finance volunteers as I trained them in the use of Shelby Arena software and Shelby Financial software. Since June of this year, I have spent time at several churches training staff members and lay leaders, and giving them state-of-the-art tools to help them accomplish the work of the ministry. It is always a pleasure to walk into a large church, with a large conference room, white boards and video screens, a beverage bar well stocked with coffee, soft drinks and snacks. Last week, however, the first clue that I had that this was not going to be the case was the population sign on the way into this town that showed a population of 600.

Since June 1, I have have been working for the Illinois District of the Assemblies of God. I am the coordinator of a new division called Midwest Church Administration Resources. Our mission is to help the 300+ Illinois Assembly of God churches become more effective at how they do ministry. In addition to software, we also offer bookkeeping and accounting services, health insurance, annual audits/reviews, help with church loans and financing, incorporation issues, bulk mailing and printing services, and other administrative services. I have really enjoyed talking with many pastors and helping them figure out how we can help them as they minister to their congregations and communities. I'm starting to know my way around Illinois, particularly Highway 55, north and south.

We trained in the sanctuary of this small town church, because that was the only place we had a screen to project on. The only paid staff member was the part time pastor. (part time pay, full time work) We had a good time training. Since I've been a career associate pastor, its been fun making practical applications of how software can help a church take care of people. Closing the back door by good follow up, and opening wide the front door by taking care of new people who visit more than once. After our second day of training, the pastor took me on a tour of the church. As you might imagine, it didn't take very long. The thing that impressed me the most was when we walked into the small gym. Tables filled most of the gym. On one end were tables with new and used shoes, and backpacks. On other tables were new and gently used clothes, household items, school supplies, and many other useful items. The pastor told me that on the next day, a Saturday, they would open the doors to their community and nearly everything on the tables would disappear. This Saturday would be special because every child would get a backpack filled with school supplies and would get a new pair of shoes to start the school year with. He told me the history of the program, the struggles he and his wife had with helping their church members see the potential of this kind of ministry. He told me about a young mother who came to one of these monthly free rummage sales, high on drugs and desperate for help, who in the process of working with her, sobered up and received Christ into her life. He also told me about the struggles to bring technology into the church. People objected to a computer because it was introducing the "world" into the "church." As I listened, and observed, it was obvious that this young pastor and his family had endured a lot of difficulty to get this church to where they are today. I thanked him for his dedication to this congregation, and to their community. He told me about their desire to stay in this small town for a long time and see God do marvelous things.

As I drove out of town, I prayed for this pastor and his wife, for their congregation, and for their town. I believe God will do some great things there. They have a hero among them. Last week, I had the privilege of working with that hero.