Heinsight 2020

Real Time Connections

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 20:21:00 +0000

I just finished Real Time Connections, by Bob Roberts Jr. One of the things I really like about my Amazon Kindle is that I can download my highlights and notes from the book to my computer once I'm done. This makes finding quotes and significant information a breeze.

If you'd like to see my highlights from the book, and download them yourself, here's a link. It will give you a good idea of what the book's about.

Lessons From the World Cup

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 20:34:00 +0000

Bryan Mowrey sent me a youtube link last week by a guy named Simon Sinek. I would encourage you to view it for yourself as it's very good. Since that time I've familiarized myself with Simon's blog and have found his information to be a helpful leadership resource. Take for example this post titled "The Final Score Doesn't Matter". It's a long post, but stay with it as the final paragraph is the payoff.

The Value of Conflict

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:13:00 +0000

In a recent blog post, pastor and author Donald Miller makes the point that, "Most of our addictions bring us extreme pleasure without the cost of conflict. Porn brings us pleasure without the conflict of relationship. Alcoholism brings us a release of stress without having to deal with our issues. Overeating reduces stress and robes us of our dreams, dreams that MUST cost us conflict."

Most of us would agree that our most substantial growth takes place as a result of conflict. But while we know this to be true experientially, it doesn't transfer over into life as evidenced by the fact that many people spend their lives running from conflict of all kinds.

What are the constricting habits you face? What conflict are you avoiding? I encourage you to stop running from conflict and instead embrace it, recognizing that God can use it for a greater purpose (James 1:2-4).

P J Smyth Acts 29 Message

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:05:00 +0000

Resurgence has recently posted P J Smyth's message from last year's Seattle Acts 29 Bootcamp on their website. You can watch it or scroll down the page and download it as an mp3. Link

Valuable Leadership Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:37:00 +0000

If you don't already subscribe to these two newsletters you are missing out. Don't take my word for it, check them out and see for yourself.

Keller on Big Issues Facing the Church

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:32:00 +0000

Tim Keller recently posted about five big issues that are facing the Church and how we should be preparing for them. The first problem he tackles sounds a lot like the things Bob Roberts was talking with us about at last week's Equipped For Mission conference (audio link). Here's the link to Keller's post.

Is Group Texting For Your Church?

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:00:00 +0000

According to many, email is out with anyone under 30 (omg, it is so 2000!) and texting is in. Here are three texting services that could possibly serve your youth group, small group, or church as you continue to seek the best means of communication for your church.

1. Simply TXT

2. Group SMS

3. Duffled

Search Engine Evangelism

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:46:00 +0000

With technology changing at the speed of light (or so it seems) the means by which we connect people to Jesus are greatly multiplied. As an example I recently read an article about a "new" idea for making contacts with those who might be ripe to hear the good news of Jesus. It all takes place through internet search engines.

Imagine someone in Chicago searching for "Chicago divorce attorney" because she is tired of trying to make her marriage work. What if a Chicago church has SEO (search engine optimization) content in the first results offering free marriage counseling or advice on how to make a marriage work.

Imagine a teen wo is fed up with being the school outcast and begins searching for how to properly slit his wrists. What if a ministry had SEO content offering real time help (a live suicide preventive counselor) or guidance on alternatives to suicide.

I know SEO has been around for awhile. I also know that to a non-geek, like me it sounds like a foreign language. Not to worry, the article has a number of helpful links to help you dive into this remarkable venture. You can find the article here.

Responding to Rumblings

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:00:00 +0000

We should be greatly encouraged that the Bible does not try to hide all the blemishes that appeared in the first-century Church in Acts. For example in Acts 6:1 we read, "But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent."

THERE WILL ALWAYS BE PROBLEMS
If you're a leader who is under the impression that once you achieve some specific goal or level, most of your current problems will fade into the sunset, then I've got three words for you: GIVE IT UP! Do you really believe that? Though we would never admit to holding to such a mindset, it is often reflected in our attitude and motivation.

In the early chapters of Acts the Jerusalem Church was experiencing phenomenal growth and yet "there were rumblings of discontent." In chapter 2 we read that 3,000 were saved and added to the church. Then in chapter 4 another 5,000 (at least) were additionally added in. I don't care whether you cringe every time you hear the words "church growth" or not, that is down right impressive. And yet people were not happy. What's the matter with these people?

The dirty secret about church growth, (that you'll most likely never hear at any conference) is that each new level of growth brings its own set of problems. The larger the growth, the larger the problems. Which means it doesn't get easier, but harder.

The goal is never the absence of problems. The goal is connecting people to Jesus, resulting in God-honoring life change. With this comes problems, lots of them so get over it and keep going.

DON'T DISMISS PEOPLE'S RUMBLINGS

I know it's tempting at times to casually dismiss the rumblings of those we lead. If you do this however, you could be missing out on a fabulous opportunity for your church.

The basis behind the rumblings of Acts 6 ("The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food."), led to a major philosophical change in how leadership in the Jerusalem Church operated. ("We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God-and in prayer, in the ESV-not running a food program.")

As a result of this one change, the church exploded in growth. "God's message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased (even more so than previously), in Jerusalem."

What are the current "rumblings" in your church? Ask God for wisdom and grace to see these issues from His perspective. As you do, your response to these rumblings might be just the thing that catapults your church into greater fruitfulness.

Book Recommendation

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Just finished reading Growing Your Faith by Giving it Away by R. York Moore. I have a decided reason for every book I read. My motivation for reading this book was that I wanted to be challenged to share my faith more consistently: I was not disappointed.

Reasons I Enjoyed this Book

It was full of stories: Nothing communicates better than stories, especially stories of sharing the gospel with others. In the midst of each story Moore shares his thoughts, challenges and fears. In so doing I felt that I was learning anew how to share the gospel with others.
It was Holy-Spirit saturated: According to Moore " The adventure (evangelism) requires us to listen patiently for the voice of the Holy Spirit." This is not a book of methods, but of God's mission to save the lost, and how we can successfully join Him in that mission

How I Benefitted From this Book

I was greatly encouraged by the response of those with whom Moore shared the gospel. Though not every one placed their faith in Jesus, each one responded in a way that clearly indicated God had been working in their life prior to Moore's interaction with them. "Everyone we speak with is either responding positively to God's work in their life and moving toward him or responding negatively to God’s work in their life and moving away from him. But God is always at work. He is never silent."
I have been stirred to share the gospel with others and have therefore committed to listen for the Holy Spirit's direction more clearly in this endeavor.
Because many of the chapters were specifically targeted in regard to evangelism (Reaching People Close to Us; Reaching People We Don't Like; Reaching People Who Have It All Together; Reaching People Under Satan's Power; Etc.) I gained a wider understanding of the power of the gospel.

Notable Quotes

"The adventure of evangelism is something we do with Jesus, not merely for Jesus."

"I believe the adventure of evangelism is the best way to grow in faith and maturity in Christ."

"Here is the great mystery and profound blessing of evangelism: God is the evangelist who invites us into his work. As we join him in the adventure, we are always changed, always transformed, always challenged."

"It's nearly impossible to experience constant comfort and safety if we are serious about sharing our faith."

How Leaders Build Team Loyalty

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:15:00 +0000

Every leader desires their team to be characterized by a deep sense of loyalty. Loyalty however can never be demanded or simply required. There are specific things we can do as leaders that will motivate our team to a greater measure of loyalty to the vision, mission and the team.

Mac Lake recently offered these ideas as to what leaders can do to motivate a greater sense of team loyalty.

Be grateful. Show gratitude for the value everyone brings to the organization. Appreciation is a glue that makes good workers stick around.
Be inspiring. Cast a vision showing how your organization will change the world or make life better for those in need. People want to know they’re giving their lives to something that’s genuinely significant.
Be vulnerable. Admit your mistakes and be honest about your weaknesses.
Be encouraging. Find ways to add value to everyone in the organization. Catch people doing something right and let them know about it. People want to feel valued by and valuable to their leader.
Be fair. Ken Blanchard says, “There is nothing as unequal as the equal treatment of unequals.”
Be trustworthy. Demonstrate high integrity in all you say and do.

Theology On Display

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:25:00 +0000

The folks over at Acts 29 have come up with a creative means for teaching your church theology. This poster and others just like it can be downloaded and put on display throughout your building. Now that's a creative idea. Here's the link.

The Missional Church Made Simple

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 02:36:00 +0000

This is a great video of what it means to be a missional church. (If you are receiving this in your email inbox you will need to click on the title to see the video.)

Reasons Churches Stall-Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:56:00 +0000

Here are the remaining five reasons Marcus Honeysett gives for churches stalling.

No life application from the Bible. When preaching, teaching and Bible study become ends in themselves rather than means to an end, something is badly wrong. The aim of Scripture is not that we should simply know what it says without the knowledge translating into discipleship and worship.
A church becomes afraid to ask radical questions. Churches begin new activities much more easily than we stop redundant ones and gradually stall under the weight of them. Few churches regularly evaluate every aspect of church life against their core vision.
Confusing Christian activities with disicpleship. The myriad of opportunities within and without the local church to spend time doing "churchy" things makes it very easy to believe that doing those activities automatically means we are growing as disciples. All these things can be valuable, but the danger arises when we assume that these things are the same thing as living out the gospel.
Not understanding how to release and encourage everyone in the church to use their spiritual gifts for the building up of the church. There are two types of DNA in churches. One type of church says "we exist to have our personal spiritual needs met", the other "we exist to impact our locality and the world with the gospel of the grace of God in Christ". The first type is a stalled church.
Moving into maintenance mode. At some point all churches take decisions that tend towards stalling. No church was stalled at the point that it was founded. At the beginning all churches were adventurous in faith and daring to risk for God. No one actively decided for comfort over risk, but at some point the mindset shifted from uncomfortable faith and daring passion for the Lord to comfortable mediocrity. We need to plan for structures, buildings, teams and leaders to grow at the point where the building is full. Any other decision is by definition a decision to stall sooner or later.

Reasons Churches Stall

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:30:00 +0000

I recently came across an article by Marcus Honeysett in which he gave ten reasons why churches stall. I found the article to be quite gospel-centered and mission focused. I'll post five of his reasons today and five more in my next post.

The church forgets who we are and what we are for. 1 Peter says that we are a royal priesthood (who we are) for declaring God's greatness to the world (what we are for). When we forget that we are the community of disciples for declaring God's greatness and making disciples, mission quickly becomes just one among many activities rather than the defining vision of who we are as a community.
The majority of believers are no longer thrilled with the Lord and what he is doing in their lives. When a large percentage of believers are spiritually stalled, the church stalls too. The commonly happens when people attach themselves to a fellowship because they like the activities and the warm company, but never commit themselves to gospel vision, either beceause it isn't explained to them or they have no commitment to it.
The people get happy with not going anywhere because of the comfort and refreshments that are offered. Worse still is when people get happy with activities, events, service and even good teaching and preaching but are resistant to challenges to radical living and sacrifice for the gospel.
When filler-Christians who have no real commitment to gospel vision outnumber the core committed believers who do. A filler-Christian adds up everything else they need and want to do for the rest of the week, sees how many hours are left and allocates a certain number of them to church things. They see church as one among many leisure activities, usually low down the priority list. They are unlikely to see the Christian community as God's great hope for the world and unlikely to put commitment above self-interest.
When a large percentage of the church are used to being passive receivers of ministry from other people rather than being active self-feeders on the Word of God. It is easy to persuade ourselves that we have done the spiritual bit for the week because we have listened to a sermon but with no thought about acting on it. Where people take no personal responsibility for their own spiritual growth a stalled church becomes more likely.

How Do You Celebrate a Win?

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:33:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago the University of Alabama defeated the University of Texas for the College Football National Championship. Once the game was over and the team returned to Alabama coach Nick Saban did something rather unique as a means of including Alabama's die-hard fans in its victory; they displayed the trophy at area Wal-Marts around town.

Fans were not only allowed to see the trophy, but they could be photographed next to it as well. In one brilliant move, coach Saban extended his team's championship to a larger community who played a small part in his team's victory.

How do you celebrate victories in your church, or area of ministry? Do you look for creative ways to extend the celebration to those who played minor roles, though nonetheless significant? With a little time and thought I believe we can do better in helping people take ownership in the victories God brings our way.

Making an Impression vs Being Impressive

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:13:00 +0000

When it comes to the topic of people, few people are better at understanding people from a leadership perspective than John Maxwell. In his recent newsletter he makes a great point about the difference between making an impression vs being impressive. It's a good read, so I'm passing along the link.

Leaders & Money

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Money and the Church are two things that society regards as a very dangerous combination. When someone comes along who demonstrates otherwise, it's noteworthy.

Recently Rick Warren was interviewed by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. I thought what he shared about how he handles his own personal finances was outstanding. It's important for us to get this area right in our lives. Here's what Rick had to say in the interview.

WARREN: I actually retired when the book came out. Most of you know that I tithe 90 percent. When you write the best-selling book in English history, second to the Bible - The Purpose Driven Life is the most translated book in the world except for the Bible. It's in over a hundred languages. Friends, it's tens of millions of dollars. The income is tens of millions of dollars.
It actually scared me and I thought, wait a minute: I'm a pastor; I'm pretty simple. If I've got a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, I don't need anything else - good T-shirt. And when you write a book and the first sentence of the book is, "It's not about you," then you figure the money is not for you. So I knew that all this money coming in was not to be used by me. So Kay and I made five decisions - this was seven years ago - what to do with these tens of millions of dollars. One -

CROMARTIE: Get rid of the Hawaiian shirts.

WARREN: Yeah. One, we said we're not going to spend it on ourselves. We're not going to change our lifestyle one bit. I still live in the same house I've lived in for 17 years. I drive a 10-year-old Ford truck. I bought my watch at Wal-Mart. I don't own a boat, I don't own a plane, I don't own a vacation home. I didn't want to be a televangelist. That's why I've never gone on television. Of the largest churches in America, I think I'm the only one not on TV because I don't like that lifestyle.

The second thing is seven years ago I stopped taking a salary from Saddleback Church, so I effectively retired.

Third is I added up all that the church had paid me in 25 years and I gave it all back. I knew I was being put under the spotlight, and I never wanted anybody to think that I do what I do for money. I don't. I do it because I love Jesus Christ. That's why I do it. And I love people. It's why I do what I do.

It's really funny because the very next week I was interviewed - it was either Time or Newsweek sent somebody over for an article, and the first question was, what's your salary? I thought, this is going to be good. Here is some fat cat megachurch pastor ripping off the flock. I just looked at her and I said, well, actually, I've served my church for free for 25 years. Got her. Oh, that felt good. Now I had to repent of my pride later but it felt good for about five minutes. (Laughter.)

Then we set up three foundations, our three charities. One is Acts of Mercy, which works with people infected and affected by AIDS. One is called Equipping Leaders, which - as I travel around the world, like these trips I'm doing, I pay for it all myself. I haven't taken an honorarium in 10 years. I pay for it all myself, and I take my team with me and I pay for them. And then the P.E.A.C.E. Plan. Then the last thing we did is we became reverse tithers.

CROMARTIE: What's the third foundation?

WARREN: The P.E.A.C.E. Plan. It's not a foundation; it's a 501(c)(3) charity, the P.E.A.C.E. Plan. And lots of churches are involved in that.

But the fifth thing I did is I became a reverse tither. When Kay and I got married 35 years ago, we started giving 10 percent of our income away. The Bible calls that tithing, charity. At the end of our first year, we raised our tithe to 11 percent. At the end of our second year, we raised our tithe to 12 percent. At the end of our third year of marriage, we raised our tithe to 13 percent.

Now the Bible doesn't teach us - in fact, we didn't tell anybody about it for 30 years because we weren't doing it to impress anybody. We did it because every time I give, it breaks the grip of materialism in my life. Every time I give, I become more generous. Every time I give, my heart grows bigger. Every time I give, I become more like Jesus Christ, who is my model.

Over the years, every time we would have a tough financial year, we would raise our giving maybe a quarter of a percent. When I'd get a raise, I would raise it 4 or 5 percent. And now, after 35 years of marriage, Kay and I give away 90 percent of our income and live on 10. I take no salary; I just live on the royalties of the best-selling book of all time, but I live on 10 percent - 10 percent of it - and I give away 90.
That has been so much fun, and I've played this game with God for 35 years. God says, you give to me and I'll give to you and we'll see who wins, and I've lost every year. I'm not talking about material gain. I don't even believe in the, quote, "prosperity" gospel. It's a heresy. It's a heresy. Don't ever put an adjective in front of "gospel." There is no social gospel. There is no prosperity gospel. There is no political gospel. There is just the Gospel, and so don't pervert it. But that has been so much fun.

Learning From Business

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:11:00 +0000

There is great debate about what and how much the Church can (and should) learn from business. We all know that the Church is not a business, and yet there are business principles that we need to be aware of within the Church, especially as a local congregation grows beyond 200.

Today I was reading about a visionary leader named Terry Mathews who is ahead of the game in regard to helping others develop their own businesses. As I read the article I couldn't help but notice the crossover between some of his strategies and the Leadership within the Church.

Give it a read and let me know what you think. Link

Being Driven

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:06:00 +0000

I recently read in Fast Company magazine about an interview with communication mogul Ted Turner. In the interview Turner mentioned that his IQ was 128 (genius is 140), and that he was in the top 97% academically. The next thing he said caught me by surprise. He said,

"That means 3 percent of people were smarter than me. I knew I was going to have to work hard if I wanted to accomplish something in life. So I read a lot -- classics, warfare, Alexander the Great -- I used my brain all the time. Everything I did was education. Others just shot the breeze, wasted time -- nothing wrong with that, but you can't get to the top doing that."

It's evident that Ted Turner never reached the top of the communications industry by wasting his time or sitting around being idle. The guy was driven to always be growing and learning.

Sometimes within Christian circles being "driven" is seen as a negative. The truth of the matter is that most of us are driven by something. As leaders it's important that we possess a clear sense of godly drive. The Apostle Paul certainly had it as evidenced when he said,

"I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it,but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us." (Philippians 3:12-14)

So what about you? Are you driven or are you simply doing your job, coasting in neutral?

Maintaining Vision

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:15:00 +0000

When it comes to leadership vision is an absolute necessity. Knowing this is one thing, maintaining a strong focus on vision is another. Mike Silliman has a good blog post about maintaining vision.

Getting Beyond the "Everyone Knows the Pastor" Stage

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:38:00 +0000

J. D. Greear was asked, "What is the most important thing for a pastor of a church that's out-growing the "everyone knows the pastor" phase to do?" J. D.'s offers some great advice in his answer. Here's what he had to say.

I think the most important thing is to, before you get to that phase, develop a culture in the church that leadership is multi-leveled. That comes from teaching on the egalitarian nature of ministry gifts--that each believer is empowered by the Holy Spirit with gifts to minister to the body. I often tell our congregation that according to Ephesians 4:11, when I became a pastor I left "the ministry." I became an empowerer.
There are small but significant things like referring to yourself as only "one of the pastors" and sharing significant stage time with other leaders. You can strategically not show up at certain events so that other leaders can develop. People will whine and moan about that as first, because everybody knows if you (the lead pastor) are not there it doesn't really count in God's eyes... but overall, that's good pain for them to go through and they'll get used to it.
I found it very important to set a precedent, from the very first week I was pastor, to emphasize to the congregation that the greatest thing I could do for the people was teach the word of God faithfully and creatively each week, and so we would guard viciously my preparation time. From the beginning I've never taken calls or emails before 11am, because that is my time in prayer and the word. I could be a wonderful counselor, administrator, phone call answerer, problem solver, etc but if I am not teaching the Word of God with power each Sunday then the church suffers. Flipping that around, if I teach the Word well each Sunday, other things may struggle for a while, but the church will be healthy and other leaders will arise to do those things... or, through faithful preaching, you can grow the size of your congregation to where you can hire someone to do them. Either way, guarding my time in the Word has been a key to developing multiple leaders.
I have also found that developing a culture of sending people out is important in raising up leaders--whether that be out into the community for ministry or somewhere to plant a church or new campus. Real leaders love a challenge and compelling vision. Leaders like to lead, not just follow. They will not be content to be cogs in "your machine"; they will thrive when you are empowering them to see the things that they can lead in the church and community. We at the Summit often emphasize that the best ideas for ministry are in the congregation, not in our offices. Our role as pastors is to inspire and release. I would rather our church be like a group of wild steeds and our staff be like the reins trying to keep all the horses running the same direction than I would our staff be more like the engine driving a car.
Surprisingly to me, considering the size of our church, I feel relatively unbothered, and I think that is because of we have a large leadership culture. People in our church really do see a host of pastors, small group leaders, and coaches as every bit as able to minister the Word in the power of the Holy Spirit as I am. I have the freedom now to talk to people comfortably after service, and am able to return most of the phone calls and emails that come to me. That's in part because people from the church don't email me as much anymore--because there are multiple leaders they can talk to. That wasn't always the case. I used to get asked about every question you could think of--from theology to complaints about the church to math word problems (that's not a joke!).

Holiday Serving Ideas

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:18:00 +0000

When it comes to breaking the ice and opening conversational doors few things are as effective as unexpectedly serving others. With the holidays upon us the calendar makes it all that much easier to serve with no strings attached. Here are some ideas for how you can get involved with serving others this holiday season. Link

Sports and Spirituality

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:01:00 +0000

As many of you know I am a big sports fan. Like many of you, I have my favorite sport (College Football) and my favorite team (the Cornhuskers). Tune in to a college football game on TV some Saturday and you can quickly draw some parallels between sport and worship.

This morning I read a blog post by a Brazillian church planter named Felipe Assis who wrote about this connection. I enjoyed the post and agree with his conclusion that sport points to a greater reality that satisfies the internal longings for which we often times turn to sports.

Here's the link.

Thinking Outside the Box

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Hein) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:07:00 +0000

As leaders we have to be open to new ways of communicating things that may seem commonplace. While vision needs to continually be repeated, we must make sure that we're repeating it in different ways. An idea Bryan Mowrey had for our current God Series was to have tee shirts designed that contained a graphic germane to that morning's message.

Here's a business example of what I'm talking about. It's a company that came up with a new way of displaying something very commonplace, bar codes. Take a look.

What are you doing to communicate your church's vision in a way that makes people take notice?