We could get by with some excellent management of existing resources. We could keep producing what we produced last year. We could point people to last week’s message (or book, or meeting, or event) and talk about how well things went. All of these are necessary, but none of them will help you and your tribe grow and continue bearing fruit through the next seasons of challenge and opportunity.

One of the lessons I have learned during my seven year stint as a vice president for a 60-year old global nonprofit is this: to lead change, first change the paradigms. A paradigm is simply a mindset, a model, a template or an assumed way to look at things. In our case, I realized that in leadership gatherings, the ministry leaders I interacted with tended to emphasize two primary measures of success: (a) how many staff members they had working in their countries and (b) how many students were regularly attending their meetings. Both of those numbers indicate a degree of health and momentum. The paradigms were based on staff numbers and attendance.

But our calling as an organization is to help fulfill the Great Commission which we do by making disciples among all tribes, tongues, peoples and nations. When we are at our best we raise and release leaders. So first we had to change the paradigms from staff-focused efforts to student-led efforts. Also, rather than allowing leaders to spend 90% of their time and emotional energy dealing with a handful of staff members on a few campuses, we asked them to dream about how they might reach out to students on the next 5, or 10, or 100 top tier campuses in their nation.

This type of thinking took a few years to drive into the culture. It can’t be done in one leadership meeting or a single email blast. It required sustained focus through multiple conversations. We had to answer objections such as “we don’t have enough money, or staff, or time or whatever to think about adding more work to our schedule.” We helped people prune programs and events that were no longer necessary. We quit publishing and warehousing outdated materials. We highlighted early adopters who had voiced similar objections but had made the switch and were now experiencing the benefits of the change. We tried, in a friendly way, to starve ineffectiveness. In short, we changed the scorecard for effectiveness.

The results? We’re praising God for a 39% increase in one year in the number of campuses we touch around the world, as well as a corresponding 33% increase in the student leaders involved with us. Most of the growth has not come from an increase in staff members, or from gathering more people into our meetings. It’s come from inspiring and releasing students to lead.

If things didn’t need to change we wouldn’t need you to lead. What paradigm(s) do you need to change?

Dawn is here again, but without your light within me

no outward light can benefit me;

Give me the saving lamp of your Spirit that I may see you,

the God of my salvation, the delight of my soul,

rejoicing over me in love.

I give my heart to your watchful care, for I know its treachery and power;

Guard its every opening from the wily enemy,

Give me quick awareness of his deadly arts,

Help me to recognize his bold disguise as an angel of light,

and command him to depart.

May my words and works allure others to the highest walks of faith and love!

May sluggish saints be inspired to greater diligence by my example!

May those of this world be won to delight in knowing you!

May the timid and wavering be warned of coming doom by my zeal for Jesus!

Cause me to be a mirror of your grace,

to show others the joy of being your servant,

May my lips be well-tuned instruments

sounding your praise,

Let a halo of heavenly-mindedness

sparkle around me

And a lamp of kindness be a sunbeam on my path.

Teach me the happy art of

attending to temporary things

with a mind intent on what is eternal.

Send me forth to have compassion

on the ignorant and miserable.

Help me to walk as Jesus walked,

my only Savior and perfect model,

his mind my inward guest

his meekness my clothing

Let my place of happiness be amongst the poor in spirit,

my delight the gentle ranks of the meek.

Let me always put others before myself,

and find in true humility

my inheritance of both earthly and heavenly worlds.

Source: The Valley of Vision, Puritan Prayers and Devotions, Banner of Truth Trust, p. 248-249.

Strategy days allow us to devote longer sessions of up to two to three hours on a single issue or cluster of problems. We seek to dive deep and pray for wisdom to make one or two decisive calls that ensure we stay on track. We mine for conflict: opposing points of view, subsurface issues that tend to fester, places where someone hasn’t truly bought in at the heart level.

Yesterday while mining we struck gold.

How did I know? Emotions began to rise along with a few people’s tone of voice. While this could have derailed a typical meeting, two team members noticed the escalation and invited us to pause, pray, and take a few moments to dig even deeper. Once we ensured that relationships were ok and forgiveness was asked for where needed, we moved on the even more fruitful discovery and decision-making.

It took courage and Spirit-filled self-awareness for my two teammates to lead in the moment. I’m thankful they did. Their actions saved a meeting and allowed us to commit to a game-changing decision that will radically affect the way we operate in the next 12-36 months.

Where have you led (or failed to lead) in the moment?

You be the judge. Several big name pastors are now publishing best-selling Christian books on the topic of spiritual multiplication. One of the largest church planting gatherings in the world, Exponential, dedicated its April 2013 meetings to the topic of DiscipleShift. There is an explosion of no-cost or low-cost ebooks out on the the topic.

No doubt about it; suddenly discipleship is hot.

Jesus gave his followers three big imperatives:

1. Love God.

2. Love people.

3. Make disciples of all nations.

Why is the 2,000 year old Master plan finally returning to center stage?

I think there are several reasons for this shift, and I welcome them all. Perhaps that five years after Willow Creek’s Reveal Study, megachurch pastor/authors are realizing that just getting more bodies into seats on Sunday doesn’t change the world. After a glut of “bigger is better” programs in the evangelical church, we are returning to the basic truth that “your church is only as good as your disciples” (Rick Warren video snippet from the Exponential2013 conference in Orlando this week).

At Exponential’s opening session, all 5,000+ attendees were handed a “Scorecard” on the way in. There were two blanks to fill in: weekly attendance and weekly offering. The speaker encouraged us all to acknowledge that though those numbers may be helpful, they are very incomplete measures of the church’s true mission. He invited us to tear up that scorecard and work on a new one this week, one that would reflect life-on-life disciplemaking, wholistic life-change, and sustainable multiplication through multiple generations.

This was music to my ears. I’ve been doing this for the past 30 years in full-time ministry and can testify that intentionally investing in 3 to 12 people each year bears amazing results. Jesus promised that his way would produce 30, 60 and 100-fold results.

How have you experienced the fruit of intentional discipleship or mentoring?

“Done is better than perfect”
- Facebook head office

“You don’t need more time in your day.
You need to decide.”  - Seth Godin

You might be surprised.

It’s one thing to have everyone repeat a vision statement. It’s another when an outsider drops in and asks some clarity questions: What exactly is your team trying to accomplish? For whom? How will you know if you’re successful?

This week the digital strategies team I lead had two different experts drop in for one-hour chat sessions; Mike on Tuesday, Steve on Wednesday. Both are friends of the ministry and leaders of their own companies. Without prompting from me, both of them asked the clarity questions. Both days generated some great discussion. Our team is less than a year old. We do have two primary audiences that we seek to serve, which creates some tension and confusion when allocating scarce time and resources. We’re also in startup phase in the digital environment, so our work involves many new projects, rapid failure/learning cycles, and a lot of iteration. Our larger organization is over 60 years old, continues to maintain a lot of aging initiatives and projects, and has a much longer iteration/change cycle. So, as Steve put it, we’re like a startup company with a tiny office on one deck of the Queen Elizabeth II.

As team leader, I felt tempted to brush off Mike’s and Steve’s penetrating questions with some trite, canned responses. But that wouldn’t help us fulfill our purpose. I needed to share leadership for the session with outsiders and allow them to exert influence (= leadership) on us. Lesson for me: Don’t fear being humbled and helped by friends who come with fresh perspective on our team processes and products. More clarity helps everyone be more fruitful.

How clear is your team on its purpose, audience(s) and outcomes? Are you sure about that?

Have you ever winced as you’ve listened to respected and successful leaders reminisce about past events … over and over again? There’s nothing wrong with the stories; context guides us. It’s probably more about the proportion of recalling the past compared to living in the present and leaning into the future.

Two recent experiences have prompted me to reflect on why I shouldn’t long for the past. First, Ann and I are reading through the Bible this year. God gives several negative examples of people who longed for what used to be. The primary example was the nation of Israel, whom God had freed from slavery under harsh Egyptian rule. Even though God miraculously guided them and provided for them, some leaders continually longed for the certainty of Egypt rather than the promising – but uncertain – future God had freed them to seize. The desire to choose slavery over freedom seems ridiculous, which is precisely the Biblical author’s intent.

Second, our organization shifted email systems from Exchange to Google Apps two weeks ago. Like you, I’m constantly under the email pile and had developed my own systems and shortcuts to speed up my daily workflow. Google’s approach to labeling and archiving email is very different than Outlook’s. I’ve been frustrated as I’ve attempted to use my decade-old habits to process email quickly. I’ve gotten lost in the new menus. My fingers don’t naturally land on the correct keys for shortcuts.  I’ve accidentally deleted a few messages I meant to archive. It’s taking much more effort on the front end to learn the new system.

To get around this awkwardness, I kept my old Outlook client open for a few days. Even though it felt more comfortable, in the end it just doubled my time and tempted me to yearn for an inferior system. Yesterday I decided to “burn the ships.” I disconnected all old pathways to email, calendar and contacts. I’m all in now. Still learning, all in, and not looking back.

Where do you find your heart longing to return to the false safety of the past?