Leadership qualities 1

I am going to start a series of posts on Leadership qualities that are totally transfreable to any type of leadership. I hope to touch on some of the not so obvious ones that sometimes get overlooked.
Today I want to talk about ENDURANCE. Endurance is the ability to hang on and press forward in spite of challenges.
When I think of leaders with endurance, I think of guys (and gals) who have stood the test of time and remained faithful. Leaders like Billy Graham, Bill Hybels, Rick Warren and others that endured through criticism, and being misunderstood to achieve the goal that God had called them to.
Endurance is sometimes overlooked because it's not flashy or sexy. Leaders with endurance just show up everyday and suit up and get the job done.
Like the story of the tortoise and the hare, the one with endurance won the race.
When I look for potential staff I have learned to look beyond the shiny exterior of a potential candidate and try to see if this person is the real deal. I have found that the "Superstars" are rarely people with endurance. They hop from church to church and job to job. They carry a copy of their resume with them everywhere they go and are always trying to position themselves for something a little grander. If you don't believe me look at the sports world. Team owners that shell out the big bucks for a big name usually regret it. The players that take a job because the money is a little better, will probably become a free agent in a year or two and offer themselves up to the highest bidder again.
Give me a bunch of above average leaders who are loyal to the team and have endurance, and we will win a championship! I'm tired of flash-in-the-pan, one hit wonders.
A great Biblical example of endurance is Caleb. He kept on rocking for God well into his golden years with the same passion that he had when he was young---that's endurance!

video shoot today

We're getting ready to head up to Greenville to do an on-location video shoot. It will be done outdoors and it's going to be really chilly. It was 28 degrees this morning so needless to say I'm hoping we can get it done on the first take.
We saw the concept of this video online from another church, so we're going to tweak it slightly. It will be shown during a series we're doing in May called "15 Minutes"
I am thankful for all of the creative things that other churches are doing nationwide. I view this as just our expanded creative team. We get so many ideas from other churches. Our view is that we're all on the same team, and we're all striving for the same goal of reaching people for Christ. This is exactly why we have always made any resources that we have created available to any church that wants them.
At Foothills we are blessed with some extremely creative people that meet weekly to discuss every element of every service. Our prayer is that there is a common theme throughout the entire service that communicates the love of Christ clearly.

Back to work

I just got back from a quick trip down to Florida. When we left out of Greenville on Friday afternoon it was 40 degrees and raining---when I arrived in Florida it was 84 degrees and partly cloudy. Yeah baby!
We had purchased tickets a couple of months ago to fly down there for my daughter's graduation from Youth With A Mission's DTS school. Last month she decided that she was going to stay in South Africa and continue her training there. Which means we had airline tickets, but no graduation to go to. Oh well, we just headed down to Stuart, FL to visit my parents and do a little fishing and laying on the beach.
So now it's Wednesday and I've got a ton of things to do before Sunday. Fortunately I finished this weekend's message before I left last week.
By the way, I heard that the Celebrate Your marriage Conference was amazing. We had about 100 couples participate. Then on Sunday I understand that we had fantastic services at Foothills Community Church. It's always nice to know that you have a great team in place so that you don't have to worry when you're out of town!

Big weekend at Foothills

This weekend is huge here at Foothills Community Church.
Starting Friday evening we are hosting a Celebrate Your Marriage Conference. We had a few couples go to one of these conferences at the Grove park Inn in Asheville, NC last year and rave about what a great conference it was, so this year we decided to bring it here to Seneca, SC. It will be Friday evening and most of the day Saturday. If you haven't signed up, do it today! $99 per couple for everything---you can't beat that!

On Sunday we will be wrapping up our Forecast series, and during our 8:30am service we will have our Parent/Child dedication. That's always meaningful. Make sure you are here Sunday. I am told that there will be a very funny video that you won't want to miss.

We are also getting really excited about a new series will be starting on March 2nd called "Caveman"

I have been reflecting a lot lately about celebrating our 10th birthday as a church. I will be posting some thoughts on that in March.

Counting down til September

In case you haven't heard Foothills Community Church will be adding a 2nd location in Toccoa, GA. Our plan is to hold our first service sometime in September of 2008, which means between now and then there are a WHOLE LOT of things to do.
Here's what's going on right now. We have 2 new LIFE groups that are starting up in Toccoa. Paul Carr, our Connections Pastor will be working directly with these groups in hopes of multiplying them in the near future.
We are just beginning the process of interviewing for the Campus Pastor position. This person will be responsible for overseeing operations at the Toccoa location. In addition to the Campus Pastor we will be interviewing for a worship leader and children's director in the next few months.
In the next couple of months you will be hearing a lot more about the next location on Sundays. I want to keep this in the forefront of everyone's minds.
I will also be asking for people who have a pioneering spirit to make a commitment to helping us get started over there. We will need tons of leaders and volunteers to help pull this thing off.
Here is how this will work. On Sunday mornings everything in Toccoa will be live (music, children's ministries, refreshments, etc.)with the exception of the message. The message will be captured at our Seneca location and then played on high quality video projection. I know that sounds weird, but believe it or not, it works! I went to a church that was using this technology recently and within a couple of minutes I forgot that the Pastor was not there in the room. It was amazing. If you think about it, most of the time you probably watch the screens during the service anyway. The Campus pastor's responsibility would be to welcome the people, make any announcements, and to connect the people. Basically he is the "face" of Foothills in Toccoa
I have many Pastor friends that are doing this and the results are amazing.
Would you begin to pray about how you might get involved with this new initiative?
Together we can accomplish our mission to reach those people who are far from God!

Sunday Recap

* Had another great Sunday. Pretty strong attendance, especially considering it being a long weekend and the flu going around here.

* We got to play musical chairs during the service. That's always fun!

* We talked about singleness. That's pretty tough for someone that's been married for 24 years, but overall I think it went pretty good.

** Lost the power in the 6:00pm service. It's rough to communicate in the dark without your mic working.

** I'm glad Dr. Melvin T. Snerd III is finished (at least for a while)---You had to be there(or you could watch the message from Feb. 3 or Feb 17)

** Don't forget the Parent/Child dedication service this Sunday (8:30am service only)The deadline to register is TODAY!

Sometimes plans change

My wife and I took our son and a few of his friends to the Winter Jam with Skillet and some other bands at the Bi-Lo Center last night. When we got there we met up with some other people from Foothills. By the time we got there it was packed. I had to park like a mile away. The lines were like huge swarms of people. It was crazy! The fact that they didn't sell advance tickets added to the craziness. We waited and waited and waited, crammed in like sardines, but before we could make it to the doors---they closed them and said that the fire marshall said that no more people would be allowed in. Bummer!
So we went to plan "B" -- we stopped at Chik-fil-a, and grabbed a bite to eat, and the kids played in the playscape (imagine a bunch of teenagers climbing, sliding and running through the kiddie playground) They actually had fun.
I thought it was really cool how those teenagers responded to the change of plans. Their hearts were set on going to the concert, but things didn't work according to plans so they just rolled with it. That's what I call a great response to unexpected change.

Wouldn't it be great to respond to the unexpected like those kids did? Unfortunately many people when faced with change go kicking and screaming. They either refuse to change altogether or change with a bad attitude and great reluctance.

Someone once said that the only thing constant is change. I think the key word to change is FLEXIBILTY.

I really believe that God uses change as a way of growing us. It is impossible to rise above where we are and on to greatness without CHANGE. I know many people who have tremendous potential, but will never live up to it because of their inability to adapt to change.

Here are a couple of things you can do to force yourself to change. 1) Read books, magazines and blogs. It's amazing how much the discipline of reading will challenge the status quo. When you read the thoughts of others you will be challenged by their differing point of view. 2)Try new things. This is a tough one for me, especially when it comes to trying new foods. Especially vegetables.(I have eaten some strange things--rattlesnake, turtle, armadillo, moose, elk, buffalo and other stuff like that, I just don't like vegetables) But not only foods, try listening to different styles of music, visiting new places,and meeting new people.
The bottom line is that in life things change; embrace it!

Happy Valentine's Day

Since this is Valentine's Day I thought I would list some of the things in life that I really love.

1. Jesus. Yes I am not ashamed to say that my first love in life is Jesus Christ. The fact that He would love me and forgive me and use my life is so amazing to me.
As many of you know, I grew up basically without much of a clue who He was. When I was 23 years old I opened a Bible for the first time in my life. It was then that I began to realize just how passionate He was to have a relationship with me. And let me tell you, I was no prize, to say the least. I was about as far from God as a person could possibly be---and yet He reached out to me.

2. My wife, Liz. She is without a doubt the most amazing, beautiful godly woman I have ever met. Did I mention patient? Well she puts up with me, so let's add patience to the list. I have talked to many Pastors whose wives never really supported them in ministry, but Liz is not only supportive, but she is right smack-dab in the middle of ministry. When we planted the church, it was truly "WE" planted the church. She is my biggest cheerleader and my best friend.

3. My children. I am a blessed man. God has given me three wonderful children. We have walked through many difficult times together, and yet right now I believe that this may spiritually be the best shape my family has ever been in. My oldest son Rick is walking closer to God than ever before in his life. He called me this week to let me know that God had allowed him to share his testimony with a group of 30 men struggling with addiction. My daughter, Kristen. I just got off the phone with my daughter who is in South Africa doing mission training work with Youth With A Mission. She is so passionate about reaching the South Africans with the love of Jesus that she has re-enrolled and will be staying for another 9 months. My youngest son Cole. He is an incredible young man. It is scary how much like me he is. He is at the age (15) where it's hard to be a Christ-follower, yet he lives out his life for Christ. He has chosen good friends and he will serve anywhere there is a need.

4. My Grandchildren. It is still hard for me to comprehend that I have grandkids, but what a blessing they are to me. Savannah and Mia I truly love you!

5. My extended family, and all my friends. I am so fortunate to have a network of family and friends around me that love me. Thank you all for being a part of my life.

6. Foothills Community Church. The church that God allows me the privilege to lead. You all are incredible. Your passion for God and your desire to see this whole community come to Christ is inspiring. Thanks for making time out of your busy schedules, to serve God and others, not because you "have to", or even because I ask you to, but because you want to. That is awesome!

Well I guess I could go on and on about this topic., but I am going to stop because one thing that I DON'T love is typing! My finger is going numb!

Idol 2008

This season's American Idol is in full swing. Last night they were in Hollywood. All in all some pretty good talent. I am already about tired of the homeless teenager who is living in his car, with the fake British accent. I think he cried about 6 times last night. Actually he sings pretty well, but he is annoying. For his sake I hope he wins something just so he can get an apartment, or some counseling. The only bad thing this season is that Simon is being way too nice!

taking a quick breather

I just came up for air for a couple of minutes. I have been in the zone with my message prep for some upcoming messages. I have pretty much finished the next 4 weeks of complete outlines. I'm usually pretty happy with being out 2 weeks.
If you are someone who has the responsibility of preparing and then teaching a weekly talk you will understand what I'm about to say. Sometimes it seems like you are in a funk and can sit there for hours and have nothing to show for it. And then there are days like today when you can barely write fast enough to keep up with what God is showing you. These days are much better, I can assure you!

I have a big meeting tonight with a group of people who will be helping us pull off the biggest thing we have ever done as a church. It's coming up in May, but I can't talk about it quite yet. It would spoil the surprise. It is so big, that if God doesn't show up we will mess it up. That's a good place to be!

Busy Day

Busy day today with lots of meetings.
We decided to make a major programming change regarding our next message series. Originally we had planned on starting a new series called "15 Minutes", but instead we will be doing that on in mid April. Our next series beginning March 2nd will be called "Caveman". It should be really good.

We're excited about having a whole team of about 20 people from a church in NC coming this weekend to sit in on our children's ministry. (As a side note we have a phenomenal children's ministry. In fact, we have had more churches come to see what we are doing in our Children's area than in our adult Worship services!)

We have had so much momentum since the New Year it's incredible. You can feel the buzz in the lobby, big time. Tons of new people!

I have been told that drywall has been delivered for our new building! We need the space.

A couple pet peeves

Here are a couple of my personal pet peeves:

I always use pay-at-the-pump when I fill up my tank. One of the reasons I choose to pay at the pump is because normally when you go inside the store you either come back out reeking of cigarette smoke or greasy fried chicken. It never fails that when I'm done pumping my gas, it always says "clerk has receipt"---Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose?? This is definitely a pet peeve.


Here's another:

People who insist on driving at least 10mph UNDER the speed limit. I think there is somewhat of a Murphy's Law related to this. The more of a hurry you are in, the greater chance you have of getting behind someone driving slow (and why is it always in a no passing zone?)


I'm really not bitter...!
Have a great weekend

God told me to tell you..

Whenever someone approaches me and says this, my natural inclination is to run!
Now please understand that I'm not saying that God doesn't use other people in our lives to send us a message, but I am saying that it has been my experience that when someone says to me that God told me to tell you, it usually means, "here's what I think you should do, but I doubt you're going to listen to me so I'll make it sound more official."

Let me give you one such example. When we were doing a capital campaign to raise funds to build our first building and I had a woman approach me and say, "Pastor Greg, I was praying last night about the building campaign and the Lord told me to tell you that you need to sell your house and give all the money to the building fund." I responded by saying, "well that's interesting because I have been praying about how much I should give and that's not what God told me!" Then I said, "what did God tell you that you should give?" She said that God told her that since she didn't have too much, she didn't need to give anything!

Here are my parameters when it comes to whether I listen to someone when they say this type thing. Do I know them and do I respect their Christian walk? Are they a nut? Could they have ulterior motives? Is this something that I have been seeking an answer about?

Monday Staff meetings

Mondays are meeting days around here.
We have an all-staff meeting on the first Monday of every month.
Yesterday I unveiled our new structure model to our team. No doubt everyone (including me) is going to be challenged to make some significant changes.
My general leadership style is relational with a high level of grace. That style works pretty good when your staff is small and you are able to actually have relationships with all of the staff. As the church grows, and the staff grows this style becomes ineffective. We don't have a huge staff (12 full-time and several part-time), but it is growing.

I told our staff that I have to change my role from being their buddy to being their leader. Obviously that doesn't mean that I don't care about them. Or that I won't hang out with them at times. It just means that I need to move to a more important role in their lives---being their Leader!

I have created a management team that will be responsible for staff underneath them in the organizational chart. They will give me weekly briefings of how things are going in their various departments.

Bottom line is that these changes are going to allow us to continue to move forward in reaching our community for Christ!

sunday debrief

** Another great day at Foothills today. It was very strange to not be doing our 6:00pm sevice. We made the decision after looking at attendance last Superbowl Sunday evening. Let's just put it this way, a whole lot of people like to stay home and watch the Superbowl!

** 11:15 sevice was even more packed today than last week. We had about 40 people sitting in metal chairs (not good!)

** I had alot of feedback on the pre-message video. It was pretty funny. All I can tell you is that it is hard to talk with Bubba teeth in your mouth!

** Our new series, FORECAST is going to help alot of families.

** If you haven't signed up for our Celebrate Marriage conference at Foothills later this month, you need to. The cost for the whole weekend is only $99 per Couple!

** Looking forward to meeting with a bunch of Pastor friends next month over in Myrtle Beach. That's always a blast.