MikeZook.com

Leadership That Makes You.....

My good friend, Mike Brantley, was out-on-his-limb again and posted some pretty direct and insightful comments about leadership. Although I don't think he is that far out there on this one.

I read a lot of wanna-be-leaders out there (I won't mention any names) talking about how to be an effective leader; "here are the six things you need to do in order to ____________." or "Here are the 10 things to avoid leadership ____________." or "This is how I do this and this is how I do that." etc., etc. Some stuff is good some stuff is....eh!?!

I'm also not very clear if they are actually leading people, and if they are, how effective their leadership really is, or are they simply just writing about it because they want to be seen as simply strategic. I imagine some of them do it (write about) from the comfort of their office chair. But I wonder how many actually talk to the people they are leading (or think they are leading) to find out if all their speculating on "how-to-lead" is real or is it all theory based that just sounds good on paper, or on a blog?

One thing I know about Mike is that he doesn't do it from the comfort of his office, because he doesn't have one! He is a missionary that spends his time in conversation with emerging leaders in and out of the church (and I'm not talking about the institution here). I DO KNOW Mike well enough to say that his leadership insights, and style, are not based on theory but are on real life. Period.

So to all you self appointed leaders out there, and the wanna-be leaders (I fall somewhere in between these), read this post and chew on it for a while. And please, don't discredit Mike because he hasn't written a book on effective leadership. Just because a publishing company hasn't made a few bucks off him doesn't make these insights any less valuable.

Warning....for those of you that think you have all levels of leadership figured out, you may not get where Mike's coming from. Oh and he slams Donald Rumsfeld in the process, but don't worry it is nothing compared to the way the Generals under his leadership have slammed him by quiting or speaking out against him. Arrogance in leadership seems to only get you so far......

CLICK HERE and enjoy the read.

Dan Kimball

These are some of the notes I took when Dan Kimball spoke on the first day of the Conference. Great stuff!

My thoughts: I was not sure what I was going to hear. I don't know Dan and I haven't read any of his books yet, but after listening to him I believe Dan's heart is in the right place. He seems focused on the great commission more than most (i.e. - getting of out and modeling after Jesus the Pathological Wanderer). It is interesting that when missionaries go to other parts of the world and sub-merge themselves in a foreign culture - it is expected that they go and listen, learn and embrace the culture they are walking into before they preach the message of Jesus Christ. Why? Because they HAVE TO EARN THE TRUST of those they are trying to reach. Yet as Christians in America we don't hold ourselves to the same standard in our own country. Again why? I think it's because of our Judeo-Christian background. We think we know the culture and the truth is most don't. As a protestant evangelical it is easy to have a great deal of arrogance about "how" we reach non-Christians in our own backyard. We think they should come to us and that we don't need to sub-merge ourselves in the sub-cultures of our world around us. Instead we take the field of dreams approach (build it and they will come) when it comes to ministering to Non-Christians. The reality is the generations that are emerging are not being raised in the same world that we were raised in. If you don't believe me, then compare todays mainstream t.v., movies, magazines, tabloids, newspapers, towns, neighborhoods and schools to the ones 30 years ago.....case closed!

So Here are Dan's thoughts:

• John 10:10 and John 17:15
• There is a merging interest in Jesus in our culture. Evident by Things like THIS and THIS  and THIS or THIS website where you can Select a Jesus.
• There is a growing disinterest by non-Christian's in church and Christianity
• The historical Judeo-Christian culture is shrinking and an the emerging generations are being raised in a culture void of Christian values and truth.
• A lot of Christians have escaped to a Christian sub-culture bubble where they want to live their lives.
• For church leaders the majority of their week is spent preparing for the weekend services each week instead of spending time with people in their community.
• Non-Christians in there 20's and 30's think this about Christian churches (also in Dan's book: They like Jesus but not the church):

1. The church is an organized religion with a political agenda
2. The church is judgmental and negative
3. The church is dominated by males and oppresses females
4. The church is homophobic
5. The church arrogantly claims all other religions are wrong
6. The church is full of fundamentalists who take the whole Bible literally

WOW! Once I got past my initial defensiveness, this made a lot of sense. Again this is the opinions of non-Christians and as a Christian I can either live in denial about this or I can accept it and work to change their opinion.

• Non-Christians in there 20's and 30's wish church were like (also in Dan's book: They like Jesus but not the church):

1. I wish the church were not just a sermon or a lecture but a discussion.
2. I wish the church would respect my intelligence.
3. I wish the church weren't about the church building.
4. I wish church were less programmed and allowed time to think and pray.
5. I wish the church were a loving place.
6. I wish the church cared for the poor and for the environment
7. I wish the church taught more about Jesus

This is great insight to the mind of the non-believer. It is also humbling for any Christian who "thinks" they are viewed any differently. The people we are suppose to be caring for and teaching the good new of Jesus - actually want to hear more about Him!! "Market research" doesn't get much better than this!!  I am looking forward to reading Dan's books that I picked up at the conference. Great talk Dan! Thank you!

Maybe it's the WAY success is being defined.

In my recent post, “Are protestant evangelical churches confusing Success with Faithfulness?” I drew an association regarding the way churches are connecting success with their faithfulness to the calling they feel God has put on them as leaders.  After some comments and additional conversations with others, here is what I have learned about these church leaders:

• They believe that they are being faithful to what God wants them to do individually as a leader.
• They’re counting people because they do matter to God.
• They believe that God has called them to grow the local church and make disciples.
• They regularly use scripture to back up their “number evangelism” strategy.
• They count people because it is a practical and easy way to measure success.
• They still are developing processes  to measure success by changed lives and people development.
• They count people because they have a budget that they need supply income for, and counting people allows them to set a budget, trim a program, hire a staff member, etc.

Are protestant evangelical churches confusing Success with Faithfulness?

As I have spent the last eight years working in sales for some of America’s largest fortune 500 companies, I have learned a great deal that I would not have, if I had stayed in full-time ministry. Most lessons have been good.  Not all, but most.

Of all the things that I have learned, the most primary point that has been spoken, habitually out of sheer conviction or mere survival, from all the leaders that I have worked for and all the teams that I have worked with, is, in order to be considered successful you need to “grow your business profitably!” In sales, there is no other principle objective. Here’s how it goes….in order to grow your business profitably you have to perform, and in order to know if you are performing you have to be measured on your performance, and you are measured on your performance through your profitable growth. And what is this measurement that is used?