Craig Whitney

People and Performance

CraigWhitney — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:30:30 +0000

I’ve been thinking about team building – getting the right people doing the right things in order to accomplish a shared vision. This isn’t a new idea. Jim Collins wrote about this in Good to Great, describing “disciplined people” and “disciplined action” as core components of breakthrough momentum. In the Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, Verne Harnish describes this as “the right people doing the right things right.” The apostle Paul described it metaphorically when he wrote, “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.” This simple grid helps me evaluate the effectiveness of a team.

Right People is primarily a question of being: character, competence and chemistry. If you have the wrong person on your team, you have some tough choices ahead. Wrong people don’t very often become the right people and even when they do it typically happens over a long period of time. As a leader, it’s doubtful your personality or your strategic plan have the patience for that.

Right things is primarily a question of doing: strategy, tactics and execution. If your team is spending their time, talent and energy doing the wrong things it is probably more a reflection on you than them. In this case, clarifying what and how can bring big changes in performance in a short period of time.

A binary grid can oversimplify the real world challenge of building a team, so can getting the simple evaluation of people and performance wrong. Trying to fix a people problem with new tasks and processes, or worse a new strategy – will only send your team off into the weeds. Worse, trying to fix a performance problem by changing people may cost your team it’s biggest asset – great people. The grid can help you assess carefully and act correctly to build an effective team.

Core Team or Launch Team?

CraigWhitney — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:18:59 +0000

Jesus sent the disciples out two by two. The pattern he set was that His followers go on His mission together. As a church planter, inspiring others to join you is essential for the birthing of a new church.

What is their role? Are they a core team – people who start with you and stay with you on mission? Are they a launch team – people who start with you, but may not stay with you or ever become leaders in the new church? Let me suggest you need both.

Create a Core Team

A core team is 12-25 people whom you invited to do life and mission with you.

Church is a “who” not a “what.” The core team is a church from the beginning.
Culture is how “we” behave. The core team are the people who live out the mission, vision and values. Their lives create the culture of the new church.
The first activities in the life of a church plant are people intensive. Who will build relationships? Who will create community? Who will serve their neighbors? Who will lead people to faith? Who will help them grow? Who will equip the next leaders? Creating a core team means other people, not just you, are giving their lives to these activities.

In my experience, a team of less than 12 is just too small to engage in all the activities of forming a new church in a way that creates momentum. I have also observed that a core that is too big doesn’t really function as core. A group of 50 or more can’t exist for long without significant energy focused internally – which ultimately detracts from the mission.

Gather a Launch Team

A launch team is a group of 50-100 who are committed to starting a regular gathering that will catalyze both the numerical and spiritual growth of a new church.

Starting weekly services is task intensive. It takes many willing volunteers to create an environment that welcomes people of all ages and engages them in a meaningful way.
Anyone can serve. You don’t need to be a follower of Jesus to set up chairs or make coffee.
Everyone can belong. When the launch team is those committed to serve, not those who carry the missional DNA, you can include everyone who is willing – even if they need a cup of coffee to take the edge off their hangover before they setup the chairs.

In my experience, trying to pull together a weekly service with less than 50 people only leads to burnout and will most likely bring a halt to any and all other outward focused activities. On the other hand, when a launch team grows to be a 100 people its time to go. Waiting to start a service will only dissipate the energy and momentum that has already been created.

Are you in the birthing season of a new church? Wondering who will do this with you? Consider creating a core team and gathering a launch team.

My Story of Sifting

CraigWhitney — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 19:00:32 +0000

I am in Orlando this week for Exponential. The theme this year is Sifted and they have been publishing some great stories leading up to the conference.

Here is mine:

I said yes to the invitation to plant a church in 1991; I was 26 years old. I was more enthusiastic than experience and was more passionate than prepared. I have had many years to reflect on my experience and I believe two things shaped my sifting.

The first issue was spiritual. I thought I was planting a church for God, instead of understanding that God was building his church through me. Without question I had a pride problem, but mostly I had an identity problem. My self esteem was tied to my performance as a planter and thus rose and fell with every win and every loss. If you’ve planted a church you know there are lots of losses, so I spent a lot of time trying drag myself out of the “woe is me” pit of despair.

The second issue was cultural. I thought if we built it they would come – by the hundreds! My pride probably contributed to that idea, but so did the stories I heard. You don’t read a lot about the church plant that grows to 100 people, but that is normal. You do read all the time about new churches that start with hundreds and grow to thousands. That’s exciting, but it is also exceptional – or maybe it would be better to say abnormal.

God did grow his church, but people came one by one, most with hurts and struggles, and many finding faith and following Jesus for the very first time. I smile every time I think of any one of them. However, at the time, my unrealistic expectations for growth combined with my misplaced identity led me to an unhealthy drive to constantly do more.

After 6 years I was burnt out mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. I resigned my role as pastor and took a job managing a retail store. God used that short season to show me who I was and how I could best use my gifts on mission with Him.

Gratefully, he is a God of second chances (and third and fourth and …) It’s now been over 20 years since I took that leap of faith into church planting. I’ve never regretted it, or the sifting God led me through. It is a great privilege today to develop, encourage and train church planters around the world. If that’s where you find yourself, be faithful. He who began a good work in you (and through you) will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Leading Change

CraigWhitney — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 17:00:15 +0000

I got an email from a friend in the Netherlands with some great insights into change. He is a very compassionate man, and a great leader who pastors a local church. He described how his leadership has been transformed over the last several years this way:

He heard a new idea – a new way of thinking about his church - at a conference.
A year later he had a dream about this new kind of church.
A year later he heard the same new idea about church again, but this time he bought a book and read it.
Through the book the idea for a new kind of church came together in a way that moved from idea to a vision he wanted to make real.
A year later he traveled from the Netherlands to the US to see a model of this idea, a church like he envisioned, in action.
He returned home and began doing what he saw and new people began coming and finding faith in the church he leads.
His email was about how he now wants to share the idea for a new kind of church with all the church leaders and pastors in the Netherlands.

As I read his email, I was excited because many people are now finding faith because of the change that he has made personally and then in turn led his church to make. I also observed a pattern, or process of change:

Change is sparked by innovation. He heard an innovative idea – an idea that represented a reality different from his own. He didn’t do anything. He could have bought and read the book then, but that would be difficult for him since the book was in English and he’s Dutch. He did make a mental note to watch for a translation. I’m not demeaning him – we all do this, everyday. The idea was interesting enough to stick in his memory, but not powerful enough to motivate action.
Change becomes active with motivation. He had a dream. He believes the dream was from God and I have no reason to doubt that. What is important is the dream empowered change. The idea was no longer someone else’s idea. It was now a dream that God had given him. It was now personal and powerful and required action.
Change begins with exploration. He started by exploring this new idea. He read the book. He got on a plane to go see the idea in action. He was learning, but he wasn’t just acquiring knowledge. He was exploring new ways to be and act.
Change is mastered through experimentation. He tried it. This is the moment of truth – putting the new idea into action in one’s own life. I know it hasn’t been easy. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has helped him answer a few question along the way. Though the change wasn’t easy it was effective. The vision became reality. His church is now a place where people come to faith in Jesus and learn to follow Him.
Change leads to evangelism. The idea he heard is now the idea he shares. The receiver has become the giver because he wants other people to experience the good thing he has discovered.

I found this process insightful. If you have been sparked toward change by an idea, are you trying to shortcut your way there? Maybe more important, if you are wanting to lead change, are you engaging people in this process – one that took my friend 4 years. Leading change is not impossible, but it does require the patience to lead people through innovation, motivation, exploration and experimentation.

Culture Code

CraigWhitney — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 17:00:30 +0000

Clotaire Rapaille is a French born and educated psychologist/anthropologist turned marketer. He has created what he calls “archetypes” to explain culture. He says the culture code is “the unconscious meaning we apply to any given thing—a car, a type of food, a relationship, even a country—via the culture in which we are raised.” In The Culture Code
he describes 11 of these archetypes in American culture. Each culture concept has a code, like this:

The American Culture Code for work is WHO YOU ARE.
The American Culture Code for shopping is RECONNECTING WITH LIFE.
The American Culture Code for food is FUEL.

The one I found most fascinating was this:

The Code for health and wellness in America is MOVEMENT.

I think he is on to something. Ask people about their lives – almost everyone will tell you their busy. Why? According to Rapaille, our culture has taught us that being active, doing something – anything, is what it means to be healthy. Guilty as charged.
What about you – can you stop moving or doing without feeling something is wrong?

You can see all my highlights and notes on my Kindle Profile.

The Triumph of Christianity

CraigWhitney — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:00:31 +0000

Rodney Stark is a professor of sociology at Baylor. He has written numerous books, many about the history of Christianity. I had never read any of his previous work, so when his most recent and comprehensive volume, The Triumph of Christianity, came out last fall I added it to my reading list. If you like history, it’s an interesting book. His ideas about a number of historical events – Constantine, the Crusades, the Inquisition – depart from the accepted opinions you heard in your history classes. If nothing else the book will remind you that history is not just the reporting of facts but also the interpretation of them.

The book is primarily about how Christianity became the most prominent faith in our time. I found two of his observations about the early spread of faith fascinating. He writes:
“social networks are the basic mechanism through which conversion takes place.”
and
“the spread of religious movements is not accomplished by dramatic events and persuasive preachers, but by ordinary followers who convert their equally anonymous friends, relatives, and neighbors.”
I believe what was true then is still true now. I observe, however, that we put a lot of energy into church programs, a lot of faith in highly skilled pastors and preachers, a lot of money into buildings when the secret sauce is the ordinary person whose life has been changed by faith in Christ and their willingness to tell a family, friend, neighbor or coworker that simple story. Maybe we should put more of our energy there.

Jaxton’s Story

CraigWhitney — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:47:38 +0000

Exponential is running a really helpful series of stories on sifting.
A recent post featured ELI Cultivate planters Josh and Lisa Husmann. God
has used them to plant a great church, Mercy Road, in the
Indianapolis area.

In the process God also gave them Jaxton, whose very
short life was used in very unexpected ways. Josh and Lisa’s faithfulness is
a great testimony. You can read the story here and watch the video
below.

People Raising

CraigWhitney — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 20:07:39 +0000

A few months back Bill Dillon called an asked if I would write an endorsement for the new edition of his book People Raising. Since the first version of People Raising has been my most often recommended resource for church planters and other leaders raising support, I was glad to.

Somewhere in the introductory pages you will find the following:
People Raising has been my go to resource for church planters needing to raise support. This new edition provides a whole new generation of church planters with a wealth of wisdom, practical ideas and doable action plans. This isn’t just a book you read, this is a book you do.

If the current gap between you and the church God is calling you to start is raising support – reading and implementing this book is will help you close that gap.

Apolitical

CraigWhitney — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 17:00:02 +0000

Sky Jethani wrote an interesting post last week that pointed to a recent article in Foreign Affairs by David E. Campbell and Robert D. Putnam titled God and Ceasar in America. I have felt out of sync with many of my peers for years, because I just can’t get excited about politics. Increasingly political discourse is simply divisive and unproductive. Maybe I’m just being cynical – which I’m prone to do – but the system looks to me like it’s broken. I’m not talking about Washington. I’m talking about a system in which people with differing ideas stand on the opposite side of the street and yell at each other. When the group on one side of the street is the “church” – it goes from unproductive to harmful. Campbell and Putnam’s article is worth reading, but I was most encouraged by Jethani’s conclusion:
“The younger generations, and our culture as a whole, needs evidence of a third way to be Christian. It will require more than individual voices, but an organized and identifiable community of believers that reject Christianism and stands for Christ’s Good News, manifested in good lives, and evident in good works.”

That I can get excited about.

Almost Half Way Around the World

CraigWhitney — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 21:25:04 +0000

I am writing from a flat in St. Petersburg, Russia. I landed about 2 hours ago and got a brief driving tour of the city at night. Late on a Friday night as spring is warming up the city was full of people and energy. It is 1 am here and 2 pm at home in California – almost half way around the world. I can only describe the privilege of making friends in cities around the world as a great blessing.