Leadership can cast a vision, motivate, even inspire, but management must put the action, materials, and manpower into motion to produce the desired result. Leadership and management are not the same thing, and I think we have yet to understand that in ministry. Therefore, small ministries with big dreams seem to be the best that many can produce. In ministry today we often have truckloads of vision and spoonfuls of management skills. As a result, our impact is negligible at best and destructive at worst, leaving us with our leadership numbers in decline. Why? Because when a visionary leader fails to partner with people who possess management abilities, he quickly overheats and burns out as a result of the flaming passion for his vision and no mechanism by which to bring it to pass.

Leadership and Management…

While both leadership and management are executive functions, leadership is about where you are going, management is about how you get there; leadership is about progress, and management is about performance. We must have them both to achieve, and they must work together and not against each other. How? I’m glad you asked.

The process of leadership in an organization normally involves several steps, including:

• A foundational set of guiding and defining values.

• A clear vision that answers the “why do you exist?” question.

• A mission that answers the “what are you going to do?” question.

• A strategic plan that answers the “how and when are you going to do it?” questions.

The first three are essentially leadership responsibilities. But the fourth, the strategic plan, is the step where management becomes urgent to the process. It is the strategic plan step where people must now engage in purposeful action if success is to be achieved. Here the process ceases to be visionary and abstract, and now becomes measurable. Here the subjective becomes objective and it is time for management to step in and execute. This is the pivotal place where leadership must shift to management, and management must put the nuts and bolts together to make the vision vehicle run down the road to achievement.  Often it is in this step that ministry vision comes apart at the seams because visionary leaders are often poor managers. If you are a visionary leader you must recruit managers who can assist you in implementation.

The challenge of ministry management…

In business the vision of a company is a type of vehicle. It is a vehicle made up of supply and demand, leverage, margins, and materials combined to produce results, and ultimately upward movement in the bottom line. This nuts and bolts metaphor is a good analogy in most arenas, but not in ministry. There is a difference between getting the job done in the secular and getting the job done in the sacred. While I’m preaching, we must have management type people. We must train them with a ministry mindset and keep them filled with the Spirit. I don’t want to paint with too broad a brush here, but often management types bring with them their own set of challenges. Management people tend to be more analyst than leadership types. Therefore they tend to be fairly detail oriented, can be possessive, territorial, and lack the people skills needed to motivate the troops. That may be OK in manufacturing, but not in ministry. Let me explain.

For example, in businesses like manufacturing, if there is a problem with the leadership or with production, the assembly line or in sales, you can take the system apart, isolate the defective component and fix it. Then you can put it back together and get going again. But you can’t always do that in ministry. Why? Because when we talk about ministry we are really talking about the Body of Christ. In other words, it is a living thing. Everything relates to something else. I tell pastors all the time, ministry is more like medicine than business. We must always remember that when a doctor treats a patient he is well aware that everything he does affects something else. Treat one area and the other areas experience the pain, or even the side effects of the medication. And often while treating one illness we can create another.

In all, the relationship between visionary leadership and executive level management can be a challenging one because we see things through different lens. The first, progress  (forward movement through change); the second, performance (systematic operations and maintenance of the status quo). It can be very difficult to be constantly moving into new territory while performing at a high level. But if both are committed to the vision and understand the real value that each brings to the team, balance can be achieved. When it happens it is a beautiful thing.

Four Coaching Tips For Leaders & Managers:

1. Communicate the vision and the passion for the goal! Focusing on the same goal helps, even if you see it from different perspectives.
2. Collaborate: consistent communication is the first priority in every effective and productive relationship.
3. Celebrate wins together, carefully highlighting the part each role played in the success.
4. Cooperate: Practice looking at goals and systems through the lens of the other team member’s perspectives. Understanding is critical to cooperation.

Well not long ago I had just such a dream. And in my dream I received a word of wisdom regarding the Kingdom and the power of the seed.  In my dream a Pastor friend had called and asked for my thoughts regarding the Kingdom of God and the power of the seed, specifically. The story in my dream was that he was working on an upcoming series and needed some ideas. As we began to talk I realized that I was saying things that I had never taught and had never heard anyone else teach. God was bringing revelation to me through the medium of a dream. In my dream, I spoke about the Kingdom of God in the context of the Lord’s Prayer recorded in Matthew chapter 6. Several things came to light in our conversation.

Jesus said, “Your (God’s) Kingdom come Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.” In my dream I told my friend, “God wants to introduce His Kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven. If this were not the case, Jesus would not have told us to pray for it.” It is God’s plan. Therefore, God’s plan must become our petition. I told him that the Kingdom of Heaven is not just a place  (and I do believe in a literal Heaven and Hell for that matter), but it is a principle to be practiced. What is Heaven? Is it defined by pearly gates and golden streets ? Or is it simply stated, a place where the will of God rules without resistance?

Jesus seems to equate the coming of the Kingdom with the will of God. In my dream I told him that the Kingdom of heaven was defined by the will of God. The expression of the coming of the Kingdom is when the sons and daughters of God begin to practice heaven, or the will of God, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Jesus said that we should make that our passion and prayer.

Jesus seemed to be almost obsessed (if I can say that about Jesus) with the will of God. He says in Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in Heaven.” In Matthew 12:50, He says, “For whoever does the will of My Father is My brother, and sister and mother.”  In John 4:34, Jesus says, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.” In Hebrews 10:7 the writer speaks of Jesus and says, “Behold, I have come in the volume of a book it is written of me – To do your will, oh God.”

I stressed in my dream to my pastor friend that to Jesus the Kingdom of Heaven equated to the will of God, and that our prayer should be for that will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

Two things that I learned from my dream:

1. Heaven is more than a place, it is also a principle to be practiced. And as I am practicing the will of God, I am becoming a conduit for and ushering into the earth the Kingdom of Heaven.
2. That the principle of heaven is the will of God. Heaven is defined by a place where God’s will rules without resistance.

Since that night, my almost constant prayer is, “Oh Lord, I have come to do your will and finish the work you sent me to do.” This is the greatest and highest purpose for man; to do His will and finish His work.

This dream has caused an adjustment in my thinking because I often, without meaning to do it, downplayed the will of God and our responsibility to seek it. “Well,” I would sometimes say,  “God will bless you in any effort if your heart is right and you desire to please Him.” And I generally believe this is true. But after my dream I found it difficult to totally contrast that position with the example of Jesus.

He made it abundantly clear that He only did what the Father instructed Him to do, would only say what the Father instructed Him to say. He himself spent great amounts of time in private seeking and personal surrender to remain in the will of God.  Case in point, in perhaps the most dramatic moment in the New Testament, during His agony in the Garden, He won the victory over the devil and hell when He said, “Not My will but Thine be done”! The will of God is not a take it or leave it kind of thing. It is the principle of heaven. When my will is in control, it produces hell on earth; when His will is, it produces Heaven on earth.

How do I find the will of God? Where is it and how do I practice it? This was a really interesting part of the dream.

Now the seed part…
The seed is the carrier of the will of God and the Vehicle of the Kingdom.

Jesus also used constant metaphors of the seed as it related to the Kingdom of God and Heaven. But why the seed? The concept of the seed is a Biblical picture of the coming of the Kingdom. In my dream I explained that the will of God was downloaded into the seed and then must be sown in the earth. And this was the God chosen method through which to introduce His Kingdom on earth. Everything that God wants to do on earth He puts in a seed, fills it with His will (the Principle of Heaven), and then places it in the hand of a man or woman to be planted, in the time and location where He wants it to grow. Man’s role is to be a steward of God’s will in the form of a seed. From our finance to our family and ministry objectives, they are all seeds filled with God’s will. We don’t own the seeds, we only steward them. It’s not our will that fills them and makes them grow. It is God’s. God is the owner and giver, and as such He alone has rights to their purpose. We as stewards have only responsibilities.

Jesus is a great example of this. Jesus was the seed carrier of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Paul calls Jesus the “seed to whom the promise was made” (Gal 3:16). Jesus was filled with the will of God, and He even called Himself a seed. In John 12:24 He says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much fruit,” speaking of Himself and His death on the cross.

God embeds His Kingdom will in a seed but it must be sown, practiced. When it is sown in faith it will produce a multiplied harvest in time. But the seed must die. Why? Because it is the corruptible container of the incorruptible. When it dies it releases the incorruptible will of God inside. What kills the seed? It dies as it is sown. The sowing of the seed produces the death of the seed and allows the outer shell to be broken. And how do we sow the seed? Faith. In the Scripture the Bible talks about the process of sowing the seed in three phases. It speaks of (1) seed, (2)time and then (3)harvest.

The seed phase is where the seed is sown. It is the act of obedience when I take what God has given me and as a responsible steward I sow it in the field that God has assigned me to. It is writing the check, making the call, making the decision. The emphasis here is not just on doing something, but doing the right thing, the thing for which you are called. The key word is Obedience!

The time part is where the seed dies. It is in this phase the corruptible part of the seed surrenders to the will of God (the incorruptible part) that is inside. The Apostle Paul teaches this principle in 1st Corinthians chapter 15. In context He is speaking of the human body and what it will be like in the resurrection, but we see the sowing and reaping principle explained as well. He says in verse 36, “…what you sow is not made alive unless it dies.” In Verses 42-44 he goes on to say, “…the body is sown in corruption but raised in incorruption”, v43 “it is sown in dishonor but raised in glory. It is sown in weakness but it is raised in power.” In verse 44 he tells us that it is sown in one form, but raised in another:  the first, natural; the second, spiritual.

The time part is where faith takes over and begins to work on the seed. In my dream I called it the “death of faith”. I explained, “Faith feels like death to the flesh. I have never done anything by faith that felt good to my flesh!” “Faith kills the corruptible part of the seed so that the incorruptible part can be released.  Sowing the seed as an act of obedience, but in the time phase faith is in control. Faith breaks down the hardness of the outer shell, neutralizes the corruptible nature with its strong controlling desires, and allows water (The Holy Spirit) to get to the inner incorruptible will of God to bring life to it and release it to grow. This was so encouraging to me. Even in the context of giving and tithing. When you tithe, even though you know it’s right and proper, yet the feeling of loss that you have when you write the check tells you that it is working. Faith is doing what it is designed to do; breaking the outer shell of your me-o-centric carnal nature that wants to be in control, and is killing your flesh so that the will of God can come into your finances!

And then the Harvest… In the seed is the principle of Heaven, the will of God. When it is sown and it endures the “death of faith”, the corruptible part of the seed, the outer shell, is broken and discarded so that the incorruptible part, the will of God that is in the seed, can germinate. With the limitations of the flesh out of the way, now the spiritual side of the equation kicks in and the life in the seed begins to grow. But with one exception, now instead of being one unit solely existent in the form of the flesh, it is transformed into a multiplying, fruit-producing engine of the Spirit. Natural limitations are lifted, and exponential potential is released. Formerly impossible situations become not only possible, but expected. God’s will is now being released into the life of the situation, Heaven is coming to earth. Jesus‘ prayer and ours is now coming to pass. God’s will is being done on earth as it is in Heaven. With the flesh dealt with, God’s will is released without resistance and a Kingdom Harvest begins to multiply more and more, moving through the process of production into a state called fruitfulness by God. And it looks something like this: first, simple reproduction, then multiplication, and then abundance. God’s will is expressed in an abundance of that which pleases Him. In fruitfulness, potential is maximized and experienced. Jesus said in John chapter 15 that “in this is the Father glorified, that you bear much fruit.”

All of these factors tell us where the culture is moving, where it is located. Location, location, location! We hear this all the time as it relates to marketing. But location when it comes to reaching and connecting with the culture is not always a geographical term. People move in their thinking long before they move physically.

While from a Christian Ministry perspective, we all know the message of the Gospel doesn’t change, it hasn’t for 2,000 years, yet we must move that message with the culture or we won’t be close enough to be heard.
With that said, let me tell you the important trends that I believe are going to impact the church in the coming days:

1. Mobile technology is changing everything. My office is now wherever I am. Receiving, processing and assimilating information is more personal and requires less effort on my part than it ever has. This is producing a decentralization of the culture. Medical, educational and banking institutions now know that they must go with me to where I live, move at the pace that I move, and be content with the time I allot for them or they will get left behind. The church should take note!  Innovate…

2. We are emerging through the consumer era into what futurists call the prosumer era. Here people want to both consume and produce. They want to make a difference. Social justice and making a contribution to society are common values in the emerging culture. Seize the opportunity and leverage it to expand your volunteer base. The web has made us all authors, commentators and film producers. Bend that trend in the direction of inspiring Christians to become influencers, the Salt and Light of the World.

3. Build your structures and programs for change. The old “built to last” value has been replaced with a “built to change/adapt” model. This is the language the culture speaks. People want to see it in the organizations they serve.  This requires a leadership philosophy change. The way we cast vision and assign roles must become more flexible and less permanent. Departments and programs must be evaluated based on functionality with an expectation for change.

4. Relevance is King! Think, what is its purpose and how does it function? Quickly define experiences and contextualize them on the fly. Make your theology interactive through testimonies, multi-media and hands-on opportunities. Connect people to the message ASAP.

5. Think networks. Networks are all over your church. Networks are the next generation of cells. Where the cell group was the vehicle of the past, networks are the vehicle of the future. Teach people to use their existing networks to share information and opportunities to connect the church with others.  Small groups often fail because we ask people to create new groups instead of utilizing their existing network to accomplish the same objective.

6. The Christian world has changed from push to pull. Before we pushed people to embrace our views often through religious control mechanisms. But now we must pull them in with influence and a values system that engages and inspires them.

We don’t have to pray about what God’s will is for the culture. It is not His will that any should perish, but that all should come to eternal life. But we have to be where they are, speaking a language they understand through a medium they can relate to. If we do that, we can lead the way into the future!

Project Samuel, founded and managed by Relationships For Christ Ministries in The Woodlands, is a youth revitalization project and a working farm situated about an hours drive down a main road out of the Capitol City of Lusaka and a half hour off the “tarmak” (highway) on premium farmland.  I must say that I was truly amazed and impressed with the tremendous progress Project Samuel has made in the relatively brief two years or so from its ground breaking (three more years in the planning and preparation). Five buildings are coming up out of the ground, two all but completed, three are in the blocks awaiting the funds to continue construction. And there is nothing in the area that even comes close to the quality and excellence of the buildings. Project Samuel also is providing employment opportunities for a number of locals from the area. And there is a lot of work to do. Of course, there is the construction of the buildings, but there is also the agriculture. There are almost 60 orange trees already planted in the orchard, a host of other fruits and vegetables that have been planted or will be, and the Zambian staple food, corn.

It has its own water supply; which is a necessity in Southern Africa. It’s a well that had to be drilled before construction could even begin. It serves the project needs as well as many villagers who walk to the well for the daily rations of water they need to survive. Electrical poles have been installed with lines pulled for power. They stand as silent sentries while awaiting an expensive transformer to be purchased that will allow them to go into action.  In the mean time the project mission house uses a generator for power.

Water, power, clearing undeveloped land, plowing and planting the corn fields, the fruit trees and gardens, each of these essentials have price tags associated. Some are large, some are not so large, but they all add up to one big undertaking. Those who have been involved with building programs in the states know the challenges associated with them. Imagine building, raising money and managing the project from six thousand miles away. Hats off and congratulations to Timothy, Brenden and the entire Project Samuel Team

While there, we held the very first service at the Destiny Training Center on the property. With only the block walls around us, no windows, no doors, no roof, we hosted nearly 80 area residents for the first service.  Sitting on concrete blocks with wooden planks for benches, they came to hear Pastor Tim Kugler preach an awesome message. The altar area filled with hungry people and God’s Spirit was ushered into the place in moving majesty. As we listened to his message I imagined the countless leaders, pastors and students who will be trained there and eventually lead African churches. It was a moving experience for us all.

Our visit also included a training session for area Christian Leaders hosted at the local public school. It was held at about the time that school dismissed so there were children everywhere. The classroom we used for our seminar had no windows in their frames, so children’s faces were pressed in every opening listening to the “muzungu” (white man) speak of leadership. The school choir had welcomed us with several lively African songs sung in beautiful harmony before we began. Our topic was Servant Leadership and the group paid close attention as we looked to the Gospels and Jesus as our guide into the subject.  At the end, some very interesting questions were asked and we began our task of training leaders.  “What about water baptism, should one be immersed or is it ok to only pour water?” “As a leader, how do you handle another leader’s lack of commitment to the vision?” “Did James and John really drink the cup of Jesus and were they baptized with the baptism of Jesus? What does this mean?” People are the same all over the World. Needless to say, this was not the first time for me to hear and attempt to answer these questions. I’ve answered them on four continents.

Travel in Zambia is difficult. The roads are challenging and almost impossible without a sturdy SUV 4×4. We traveled one road that was eighty-five kilometers (about 60 miles) and it took us over three hours. Most people in the area of Project Samuel don’t have vehicles, so they walk. Hours they walk; they walk to market, to the fields, to church, everywhere they go. For long distances they take public transportation and that is a subject all its own. The buses look like something from the dark ages. Years of abuse on dirt and gravel roads have left them with the appearance of being driven out of a junkyard and put into use.

The life of a typical rural Zambian is difficult to say the least. The many challenges include earning a living in a country where there is eighty percent unemployment, trying to farm enough food to feed a family, as well as dealing with the lack of adequate health care and education. There is a clearly identifiable cycle of suffering and poverty. Yet the people are warm, positive and friendly, seeming to accept their lot in life without much complaining.

Jesus said that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. I don’t think He just meant that we were to preach the gospel. I think He meant that and much more. We are to be the influencers of the world. And to fulfill this assignment, He has given us the provision to make a difference. We must arise to the occasion and become involved by sharing our prosperity with those all over the world who suffer under the burden of lack. Seems like I remember that in the Scripture there is a passage that says something like, “to whom much is given, much will be required”. Abundance and blessing from God comes with a price tag attached. We are blessed to be a blessing. That’s what God told Abraham. And I believe that is what He is telling us today.

Every time I visit a third world country or developing nation, I leave with this sense of thankfulness for my having been born in the US. But greater than the gratefulness is the sense of responsibility to do something to help. The problem is enormous and, of course, we can’t do everything, but that’s not the point. We can do something and together we can do more. This is what the “Let’s Do Something Great Together” program is all about. Our promotional tag line for Destiny since the beginning has been the words, “Vision / Identity / Accountability / Opportunity”. These are the words that define our value system and our members. At Destiny Ministries we are absolutely committed to translating these words from mere ideas into a movement, a vehicle of action! Yes we are a fellowship of ministers, and yes we license and ordain leaders with various callings, but we must be more than just a membership. We must also appeal to our members to do something, not just be something. My challenge to all of our Destiny Partners today is to get involved. Your involvement is the fuel that gives life to the vehicle. Your willingness to give, go and send is the secret. When you give your three percent tithe and your generous offerings to Destiny, you are really giving through Destiny to others around the World. When you join a missions team and visit a nation that we are working in, you go to the people who need you most. And if you can’t go, but you help to send those who can, you are living the Destiny Dream!

For so many years now I have been talking with leaders about change. Change is hard! While it is one of the common denominators of life, it is one of the most difficult parts.

We can talk about it, teach about its necessity, prepare for it, even be its cause, but it is still one tough part of leadership. Change is interpreted by 70% of people as loss followed by pain and anguish. And this is for a reason.

There are changes that are a one step process, sudden and abrupt. Things like the sudden death of a spouse, or the termination of a job, and these can be extremely traumatic, producing shock to the normal systems of life. And then there are those that are not as sudden. They can be seen from a distance, often felt before they are seen.

These changes travel through a channel called transition. They begin where you are and then lead you through a process toward a totally new and different reality. There are usually milestones of change along the way that help reduce the surprise, shock and trauma as your new future is defined. These transitions are the process of change. They occupy the ground between two realities, your past and your future. Transition is the gap between your now and your next. It is the space that you must cross. And while we tend to hate it, the truth is, it is the connector. Transition is the hallway between two rooms of your life, between where you are and where you want to be or sometimes are forced to be.

Transition has several qualities that can be examined. Because transition occupies space, when properly defined, it can be measured. Two such measurements are time and distance.

There is a season of transition and a distance to be traveled that is defined by the change. The greater the change from one reality to another, the greater the distance of transition. And if you fail to move you can stay in transition forever. Transition was never meant to be forever, but just for a season which will be determined by your rate of movement. The quicker you can embrace change, the faster you will move through transition.

If you are a leader you must remember, though, you are not traveling alone. There are others trying to make the change with you. What rate of change can they tolerate? This is where the real test of leadership in transition will be measured. It is not just how fast you can make the move, but how about those you lead? Can they keep up?

Now we all know that some will and some won’t, but it is important that we keep as many as we can. So we must find the balance in transition between getting bogged down in the quagmire of nothingness forced upon us by people who will never embrace a new reality, and running the people who will into fatigue, frustration and ultimately failure.Transition, while not much fun, can be celebrated because it signals the beginning of your future and the end of your past. Make it carefully but courageously.

But all of this difficulty does not alter the fact that change is a must for living things. It is the basic vital sign of life. So then as long as we live, as long as our vision is alive, change is inescapable. And because this is a fact, we at Destiny must go on training, coaching, and helping leaders to navigate through the arduous process of change.

Ideas are words on steroids. When we combine words into sentences that communicate ideas, we can teach concepts that can be embraced by others.  As we do, we begin to see a community emerge with certain values, norms and tendencies; a society. Here we see words become more than just a message, they become a people. They become who we are over time as we embrace the ideas that they produce.

A Word About Values…

Jesus said that we are to be the “salt of the earth, and the light of the World”; to be game changers and global influencers. To do this we must build a community of influence. I believe that it is accurate to say, “Its not that God has a mission for His church in the World, but rather that He has a church for His mission in the World”. Christian Leaders then must become social engineers. Our goal is to build a community with missional purpose and the power of influence.  Therefore we must introduce words that produce ideas and concepts that move the society we are building in a deliberate purposeful direction. These words become the channel for communicating what is important to us as leaders, our values.

Our values are the purposeful part of our ministries. They are what make our particular ministry unique.  While as Christians we all value similar things, we each have unique emphasis and intensities. I have always taught that values answer “the why do we exist?” question, while our vision statements should be a simple summary statement of these values. Our mission statement answers the “what are we going to do?” and our strategic plan answers the “who, where, when and how?” questions. So the message we must constantly communicate with our members is “what are our values?” and “why do we exists?” Our values define our culture, establish the spiritual mores that govern our community, and give purpose to our activities.

Three Words:

Well, today I have three words for you that will help you understand how to effectively communicate your values and create a culture of power and purpose, a culture where your values are more than wall decorations and your mission statement is more than a filler page in the church brochure. They are ancient words from the arena of Philosophic rhetoric (don’t run yet, give me a moment).

In rhetoric there are three ideas that Aristotle used as tools of persuasion to effectively communicate an argument on a particular subject. They are Pathos (Emotional), Logos (logical) and Ethos (Character). I have found them helpful not only in the area of speech (art of persuasion) but also in understanding the process of community (church) development and transformation. Yes, the pattern Aristotle identified works for speech, but it also can be used to sustain an idea within the society until the people become the message themselves. Utilizing this pattern in a ministry setting can create a powerful ministry brand that is built around the central message of our values.
A Word About Brand…
Advertising experts define “brand” as “all the response generated by your presence in the marketplace.”  It’s more than a logo and a color scheme. It is the feelings, ideas and reputation your presence has created and sustained within a group or culture.  And this can be positive or negative. From a church/ministry perspective when your brand is positive, it becomes purposeful and powerful.  When you add a strong “persuasion factor” that is clearly communicated, understood, easily experienced, repeatable and sustainable, your influence can create great gravity, giving it the power to draw and hold on to those who come.

So let’s look at each of these words and let me coach you on how to use the concept to create the community that you want.

Pathos in the Greek originally meant “suffering”. It came to mean “experience” that touched the emotions. In rhetoric it is the appeal of a message that connects to the emotions of the hearer and produces influence or persuasion.  It is the portion of the message to which the hearer can relate. It ignites their passions because they have shared the experience described by the speaker or can relate to it through their  imagination.

From a church growth perspective I define it as the common experience and passion shared by those who come to your church and are exposed to your value system. It is one to which they can easily relate, and that also connects to their emotions in a positive way.  Hillsong, the famous church in Australia, places a high value on worship. And has, to a large degree, built their global influence on a consistent worship experience that attendees have when in a Hillsong service. They have also exported that around the world through various media outlets, through students they have trained and ministers they have produced.  It is an astounding global ministry brand with tremendous gravity.

Our second word is Logos. In the Greek it means “word or reason.” It is the root word for logic or logical. In rhetoric it is the explanation of an idea through a rational, systematic form of logic that produces a persuasive argument for the speaker. It is the expression of the rational logic behind the idea.

As we offer our Bible based values in a relevant, clearly communicated way, our own set of word ideals and values begin to develop in the hearts of people who are members of our community. Over time our members begin to share a common language and lexicon. “Value Words” and phrases emerge that are frequently used and immediately understood by members. They start to become the message themselves. They begin to speak to others what they have heard us speak to them. At this point our ministry is multiplied as well as our impact and influence. Now instead of one voice communicating the message, we have many. And a movement is born with salt and light potential.

It takes both a strong Pathos and a strong Logos to build a ministry brand that will endure and create gravity over the long haul. And both our experience and our words should express our value system in a consistent manner. It is about balance here. Too much emotion and your ministry will lack credibility and substance; too much word (reason) and it will become cerebral and overly analytical.

Ministries who have a strong word connected to an emotional experience tend to grow rapidly and effectively. They effectively communicate a clear message delivered at the heart level.  It will leave a lasting impression and one that people will share with others.

This seems to be the key to growth. The members of your church and ministry must be adequately stimulated emotionally to be motivated to share with someone the great spiritual things they are experiencing at your church.

This brings us to our last word, Ethos. Ethos defined in the Greek simply means “accustomed place”. It has come to be defined as the guiding beliefs, ideals or principles that characterize a community or ideology. It is what a particular community is known for, its reputation. For a company, it is the brand. In rhetoric it is the credentials and reputation of the speaker that provides persuasive power to his message.

For our purposes here I define Ethos as the sum of both Pathos and Logos. Ethos is the result. When we create a common experience that is tied to the emotions and build it upon systematic truth that is compelling, people are moved to act decisively and with conviction. They begin to share our system of values at the heart level. They become a society, a community. The general reputation, attitude and the atmosphere it creates becomes our ethos. Ethos becomes the credibility that gives us persuasive power to influence others.

Many churches today lack an authentic ethos because they have allowed themselves to be defined by someone else’s values, or have simply looked for something that will work, because it works, without it being born out of who they really are and what they are passionate about.

These three words represent concepts that when properly managed can serve as a simple road map to creating a ministry brand that is exciting, contagious and sustainable.
Now Let Me Coach You:
Focus On Your Experience…
The Pathos (experience) of your church / ministry starts with the values that drive your vision and identity. These values must be communicated and then experienced in service settings. The experience of these values must be strategically planned and emotionally charged.  Getting the chemistry right is critical. I’m not talking about emotionalism for the sake of emotionalism, but rather connecting a message to the emotions of those present in a way that the experience leaves them inspired and ready to act. You should not only manage the message but also the environment. This includes the people who lead the service on stage as well as the atmosphere created by the lighting, sound, and music. This common experience (your pathos) should be one that reinforces your values; is consistent, inspiring and exciting. As it is experienced over and over again, your members begin to become synchronized with the experience. It becomes more and more a part of them. They take ownership of it. It becomes your ministry Pathos.

If you’re not strategizing and then managing the emotional stimulation of your ministry settings you should.  Ask yourself these questions:

Do our services inspire and excite the emotions of those present in an appropriate and strategic way?
Is there a place in the service that allows for a clear emotional connection?
Is there a passionate “values” theme that is consistent in our ministry settings?
Do each of our ministry activities re-enforce our values and beliefs on an emotional level?
Do we have an effective team of communicators who can interpret the experience for the audience in a way that inspires them to act in a decisive manner?

Your Logos… From a church growth and development perspective, your Logos are the ideas, values and vision  expressed in words that stimulate the mind to draw a conclusion. While your ministry experience (Pathos) stirs the emotions of your members, your Logos stimulates the mind with a reasonable logic that persuades them to believe, want to be a part and to act. Emotional experiences without reason will loose their impact over time. But when we connect an idea to the hearer in such a way that it becomes a shared value, the motivation becomes internalized.

Your values, vision and strategic plan should make sense. They should be clearly communicated consistently and creatively. Look for opportunities to reenforce them during services through testimonies and media. And remember only about 15% of communication is verbal. The rest is through the other four senses. Stimulate them all if you can. Your values should be seen, touched, etc.

When trying to define your ministry Logos, listen to yourself. Listen to your words and ideas… and ask:

What are the ideas that keep coming up again and again in our services?
What themes and messages am I so passionate about that I frequently preach, and could be considered as a life message?
What ideas or concepts would best define what is most important to us?
Finish this statement: “People who know me know that when it comes to church I ________________________…”

Now Your Ethos… Managing your (ethos) reputation and credibility has never been more important than it is today.  You already have a reputation and are continuing to build it whether you know it or not.  The part you control is the experience that people have when they attend your services, and the tools and manner you use to communicate a clear message of your values and vision. Make sure that what you control is excellent, honest, consistent and current with your values and identity. Tell people what they are going to experience and why. Don’t over sell, but don’t under sell either.

Your media, advertising and marketing efforts should be constantly examined against the template of your values as well. Make sure that what you advertise is what the people are going to experience when they arrive.

The introduction of the Gospel into the Roman culture would play a leading role in the demise of the morally bankrupt society the Roman Empire had become, and with its arrival a new world order would emerge. Within three generations Christianity would become the leading influencer in every sector of society globally. And even today it is still the most recognized brand in the world, and the cross the most recognized icon in all of history. There are more franchises (local congregations) in more local communities, and more ethically diverse environments than any other entity in all of history. The Bible is the best selling book of all time and has been since it was first introduced into the mainstream marketplace. Can you imagine that kind of mega-dominance; the number one best selling book every year for over 500 years? Sounds like God knows how to market!

The story of Jesus is unquestionably the most dominate force in marketing for the last two thousand years, and all this during times of tremendous change. This kind of marketing effectiveness is mind-boggling and would be the envy of marketing professionals through the ages. Professional strategists would have predicted its demise long ago, and it has not succeeded without opposition. It has been attacked by politics through ideologies that demanded it surrender its place of public policy and leadership. Economics realities have threatened its financing, social upheaval and cultural trends have suggested its message is obsolete and irrelevant, and educational systems have questioned its accuracy and legitimacy. But it still remains undeterred in its purpose and progress as well as effectiveness. How’s that for staying power and market share?

Ministry Is Marketing…

Now we do have a trade secret for all this marketing success, it is the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew that His followers would have to have help to fulfill His purpose on earth, so he sent them to Jerusalem to be endued with power from on high. That power and direction is the secret of the success of the church throughout the ages. The power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit is our silent partner in every outreach endeavor. His working in advance to prepare the market before we arrive is the greatest advantage the church can have. He creates the demand for the product even before the product is introduced.

This can be witnessed in the story of Cornelius, the Italian centurion in Cearesa, found in Acts chapter 10. In the story it is abundantly clear that the Holy Spirit had prepared the way and even orchestrated the initial encounter for Peter to preach the Gospel to Cornelius. Cornelius, moved by the Holy Spirit through a vision complete with Angelic instructions (God’s multi-media), had invited his family and friends that he knew would be open to this opportunity to come and hear the presentation. As a result, all present came to Christ authenticated by the fact that the Holy Spirit was given to them in the same way He had been given to the Jews on the Day of Pentecost.

It was a divinely initiated sales meeting of tremendous importance in that it introduced Christianity to a completely new and previously untapped market. Cornelius was a gentile, and to this point Christianity was considered a sect of Judaism, and therefore available exclusively to Jews. And among Jews there was really no desire nor inclination that the gentiles could be included in the plan of redemption without converting first to the Jewish faith. But God made an executive decision to introduce change into the growth process of the new movement and free it from the limitations of religious bondage of Judaism. He did this by including the gentiles in the program by grace, without demanding that they convert to Judaism and to keeping the Law of Moses.  It was an acceleration point in God’s strategy to reach the world (market redemption) and one that would increase the potential of growth in Christianity in a virtually unlimited way. Today it would have been considered a “Viral” moment, a “tipping point”!

What can we learn from this story and the steps God used to increase the potential for the growth of Christianity in an unbelievable way?

1. We must be Spiritually led. Trends, stats, and public opinion are important, but not as important as God’s leadership. In this story we see that one of the great secrets to the marketing success of Christianity is that its strategy is developed, and managed by God Himself. While man must execute it through obedience, man certainly did not plan it. Had it been attempted by man without the endorsement of God, it would have been rejected as a result of the religious barriers that existed between Jews and gentiles. But when God clearly put it together and orchestrated it, none could argue with its validity. This teaches us an important secret in Kingdom marketing success. Stay with the plan that God has endorsed and embrace the changes that God initiates. Go with what God is doing. When you need God’s wisdom, and you will, ask. James 1: 5.
2. God seized a “now” opportunity. It had risk, but huge potential. The Roman world was one perfectly suited for the Gospel to spread exponentially. “Pax Romana”, Roman Peace, produced a civilization suitable for great diversity of spiritual beliefs, broad and diverse cultural exposure and relatively easy travel.  In other words, it was an excellent time to sow the Gospel all over the World through the vehicle of Roman culture. But the time was now. Two hundred years before, the communication portal was there (Greek Language) but the roads were not. In a few more years the security of travel would not be. The time was now! But to seize the moment, God had to break Christianity out of its Jewish box. This required the greatest change in church history. There is a Now time for every venture.
3. Be strategic and deliberate when you introduce change. Critical change is necessary if we are to remain relevant in cultures, particularly ones in transition. God Himself was the one to initiate change in this story, in spite of the resistance of the Jews. And it did create a crisis in the movement. Crisis always exists on the curve of change. But it was introduced at a time and in a way that was carefully planned by God. He carefully chose the people, the time and the location for this major shift to begin. He never introduces changes for change sake, or because He is bored. If you look at history, it seems to me that God initiates change as a way of staying relevant to the culture He is trying to reach. In an evolving society the Church must adapt to remain effective. We must not compromise the truth, but we must constantly examine and adjust the way we share it, how we contextualize its realities, and the methods we employ to deliver it to those who need it so desperately.

Summary :

A great man of God once told me, “Phil, if you will do His (God’s) will, He will do your work.” Good advise. If we want to reach our greatest levels of effectiveness in the Kingdom, we must be totally surrendered to His will. Being Spiritually led is not natural for us. But we must. And when we hear from God, we must trust that His timing is the best possible timing. And His changes are always to lift our limitations and free us to really soar toward success!

John 18:28-40

A Spirit Of Control

I’m a big fan of courtroom drama. I suppose it comes from all those episodes of Perry Mason I watched as a kid. It was a regular family event when Mr. Mason would get to the truth and with the truth reveal mysterious and often fascinating pieces of a criminal puzzle. And it was always a surprise. Stumped through the entire show, we waited anxiously for the moment of truth. I would sit captivated, even wanted to be a lawyer for a while.

And who could help but be intrigued in more recent history, dare I mention, by the O.J. Simpson trial? That trial really reconnected this nation to the drama involved in a public trial of a high profile defendant. But perhaps the most gripping trial of all of history was not O.J.’s, nor was it played out before us on the silver screen. No, this was a trial held long ago in a Roman courtroom, and truth – absolute truth and love – was  the defendant. It wasn’t a real trial through. I mean not a legitimate trial where you have the accused, proper legal representation, the presentation of evidence, a jury of the defendant’s peers and so on. No, this was a courtroom and a trial in the purest form. It was right verses wrong, good verses evil, hope verses despair. It was religion and power verses truth and love. But make no mistake about it, it was a trial filled with all the drama, suspense and emotion that even Hollywood with its immense creativity and technology could never have imagined or portrayed. This was not the trial of the century. It was the trial of history, one with universal and cosmic implications. It had been anticipated and expected since the beginning. It would be the trial when the Creator of the universe would stand in judgment by the creation and then be sentenced to die for committing the most unthinkable of crimes against society. He loved them enough to tell the truth.

Oh yes, truth can be a crime when a lie is the norm. It can be absolutely criminal when it represents the anti-thesis of society’s values. And love is as equally reprehensible when only love for one’s self is the law of the land. Yes, Jesus must have appeared quite the villain and revolutionary in contrast with the two streams of reality that flowed into the courtroom that day. These two great influences were there to stand in judgment as they have always been when truth and love are on trial. These two spiritual allies are always around seeking to maintain order, one motivated from one perspective and one from another – one religious, the other political. But their purpose is the same, control.

The figurehead of the proceeding was the newly appointed military governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate. He had only been in power since around the time that John the Baptist had made his initial appearance. He was not such a bad man by contemporary standards. Cruelty and violence were simply tools to maintain order and control. And he used them like a master.  He had a job to do, and his performance was being evaluated by the Jews, as well as the political power brokers in Rome. He was a professional man, a career fellow, a man climbing the military ladder toward greatness. He was not religious, he was political. His idea of religion was that of a tool to pacify the people, not to be taken seriously except to the extent that it could be manipulated to suit his ends.

When he examined Jesus he found no fault in Him, no grounds to be concerned or even threatened by this King of a kingdom of love and truth. Pilate realized that Christ’s kingdom and philosophy was so far removed from the natural order of life and society as to be no threat at all, and consequently sought to dismiss the charges against Him. But he needed his partner in control – religion. He must pacify the religious establishment of Jerusalem if he was to maintain his political influence and power, so he looked for common ground, a place for compromise. Perhaps they could release a killer and then kill love and truth in his place, and by doing so have peace in the kingdom.

Compromise has a strange logic. It is always part of the lexicon of betrayal. It robes itself in nobility and the disguise of the greater good, and parades itself as right given the situation and circumstance. It is a favorite tool of politicians and diplomats.

If compromise does not work, religion will be ready and steps in demanding submission and satisfaction. They are familiar spirits, seeking the same end from different perspectives and are really simply disguises for the same spirit.

When Jesus stood before Pilate…

If you are a leader, you have or will find yourself in this courtroom. If you love Christ and others and follow truth, you will be indicted by one or both of these spirits. You might be charged with crimes against a perverse society, maybe branded a rebel, a seducer of the people, a conspirator against the existing kingdom. Be careful when you color outside the lines, when you march to the beat of a different drummer because if a spirit of control has its way, that drummer will be playing your death march. But as you march, look down, I’ll bet you can’t count the footprints in the sand. Many loving truth seekers have walked this road ahead of you as they turned their backs on what was politically correct and abandoned the confines of religion that is absent of relationship in an attempt to follow their leader, the King of love and truth, Jesus Christ.

“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

Jesus Christ

King Of Love And Truth

Matthew 16:24-25

The Accusation of the Religious

Have you ever been to the house of Caiaphas? I have. I’ll bet you have too. If you have ever known the suspicion, or worse, maybe even the rejection of the very ones who should have been on your side, you have – you’ve been there.  I guess there is no way to get around it, not if you’re committed to doing something great for God.

I’ve been there a few times, twice for real. At least that is what the guide said during one of our trips to the Holy Land. We were in Jerusalem and stopped to visit a site that our guide identified as the probable ruins of the palace of Caiaphas, the High Priest who interrogated and convened a Kangaroo court to try Jesus the night He was betrayed. We saw the dungeon that had no entrance or exit, except a hole that had been hewn through the rock for a prisoner to be let down into the dungeon by a rope. It was a dreadful place even then after all that time.

As I wondered around and explored the area, I got lost for a moment in my own thoughts about that place and the events that had occurred there so many years before. I guess the emotion that I felt the most was sadness. Sadness, because of the way they treated Jesus, sadness for the misunderstandings of the Jews that caused them to miss the greatest opportunity of their lifetimes. Sadness for the ones through history who, like Caiaphas, came face to face with their destiny and took the wrong side, held the wrong position, made the wrong decision. For everyone who has known the pain of rejection, the discouragement of being dismissed as nothing by those who should be celebrating your presence, this story is for you. Jesus knew exactly how that felt.

The night He was arrested and taken to the house of Caiaphas must have been one of the great disappointments of His life. While it certainly did not catch Him by surprise, for Israel was notorious for rejecting those who were sent to them by God, it was still, no doubt, a somber moment of sad confirmation. This moment had been anticipated prophetically and Jesus was all too aware of its approach. As He was led there, I wonder if His proclamation of just a few days prior was on His mind. I could not help but think of His weeping over Jerusalem and longing for a different response from the people. He clearly knows what to expect as He says in

Matt. 23:37, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!” Vs. 38, “See your house is left to you desolate.”

When you think of the prophets who predicted His coming and the sincere believers who longed for the consolation of Israel, one would think that His coming and their day of visitation would not have been missed. The Jews for generations had anticipated the coming of the Messiah. They sang songs about it, taught about it, and told stories about what it would be like. They longed for His coming. So why did they miss it when it was right before their eyes?

Ideas of how and when He would arrive were many and equally diverse. Jewish families were so anxious for Him to come that they would normally set an extra place setting at their tables in case the Messiah would unexpectedly show up at mealtime. A seat was also reserved at every synagogue for the Messiah for the same reason, and no one was allowed to sit there except the Messiah. That is what almost got Jesus stoned in Nazareth when after reading the passage from the prophet Isaiah; He sat down in that special seat and said in

Luke 4:21, … “today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Old Testament prophecies were replete with hope of His coming. These texts were prominent in the minds of the Jews. How could they not see and realize He was among them? Religious blindness, plain simple religious blindness.

The sad truth is that often the disease that plagues our vision of God’s purposes and our ability to interpret His truth is the blindness of religion.  Religion that is not built upon relationship will impair your ability to see and hear the Lord in your day of visitation. Religion alone leaves us with toxic ideas about God and the things of God. It causes us to presuppose certain things about God that may not be accurate, and to assume an inflexible posture that is very limiting to our vision and potential. Often self-righteousness and bitterness are the final outcome of religion without relationship with God.

To most Jews in the first century, the Messiah represented something more political rather than spiritual. Most anticipated a Messiah who would be a great warrior, or would liberate them from the hand of Roman oppression as Moses had rescued them from Egypt. They expected a Messiah who would set up an earthly kingdom in Palestine with Jerusalem as its capitol, and drive out the western invaders, namely the Greeks and Romans. The tragedies of their own experiences had blurred their religious insight and had produced a religious mentality with a singular focus on survival and continuation. It was one that is built upon a “me, myself, and I” attitude which is anti-God and certainly anti-Christ.

This condition was not exclusive to the first century. Many religious institutions are in this same condition today. If you’re not like them – if you don’t hold the same values and views that they do, then you represent something to be resisted, or at least isolated.  I’m not speaking of the necessity of sharing a common core of beliefs. We all know that is needed. What I am speaking of is a lack of open-mindedness to the fact that God not only works in our little boxes, and He will do that, but also outside of them as well. Since so much of this kind of religion is about control, the idea of God doing something that we never would believe He would do, and maybe through someone that we never thought He would use, can frighten us. It can cause us to react in ways that we would not normally react.

Israel missed the identity of the Messiah because of their religious preconceived ideas of who He would be, what He would do and where He would come from. Basically they could not see the truth because they were blinded by their expectations that were based on misunderstanding and misinterpretation of Scripture. Below are several coaching suggestions for learning to think outside the box and protect yourself from this kind of limited thinking:

• Practice using your imagination to think creatively. It is a gift from God and one of the greatest demonstrations of divinity deposited in man. Using your imagination allows you to change your prospective without making a commitment to change your situation. It allows you the opportunity to contemplate other ideas, perspectives, possibilities in a safe non-threatening environment.
• Guard your hope. Hope – This is an attitude of optimism, as well as possibility, and is the garden of potential. Faith will not work if hope is absent. (Heb. 11:1)

• Educate Yourself – This requires you to process new information from sources that are outside your frame of reference. Many solutions to your limitations and problematic situations await your discovery in the world of information that education will introduce to you. Albert Einstein said, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.”

• Make Right Relationships a Priority. First seek a proper relationship with God. This will give you the Spiritual intuitiveness to hear the voice of the Lord and respond accordingly. Spiritual insensitivity was one primary cause to Israel’s lack of awareness of the coming of Christ.  Then develop right relationships with others. Relationship is the key to accomplishing anything requiring more than one to achieve.

If you are going to realize your destiny, you will no doubt experience the hostility of religious people whose efforts to maintain their own security and identity will hold you out of your destiny if you allow it. They, without even knowing it, can lock you into the same prisons of non-progressiveness that imprison them. Refuse to allow it to happen.

A Place Of Testing:

The house of Caiphias? Yes, I have been there. This place is a place where you can get messed up. It is a place of testing. Like the garden in many ways it is a moment of definition. The devil will try and tell you that you have arrived and that this place of rejection is all that God has planned for you, but he is a liar. If you’ve not been there yet, chances are you will. But it is just another stop on the road to your destiny. Visit but don’t stay. Take the test and pass on your way, for there remains a Pentecost for you if you won’t quit. When you are met with a word of accusation instead of a word of encouragement, don’t panic. It is a part of the process. When you visit the house of Caiaphas you join in good company with almost every great Christian Leader of history, the greatest of which was a carpenter from an obscure place called Nazareth, named Jesus Christ.

The fear factor…

When Adam and Eve rebelled and sinned against God the natural thinking process based on faith that they were created with, was lost and a fear paradigm (mentality) replaced it as the motivation (germination) of our thoughts and dreams. As a result of sin our imagination has been infected with fear causing much of our creative ability to have been neutralized. A Fear mindset will destroy your dreams through the intimidation that comes through the fear of possible failure. Fear destroys, faith creates and develops; it is as simple as that. Faith allows you to look into the shadows of possible failure with an expectation that all is going to work out right. But a fear mentality causes what we often refer to as Murphy’s Law to dictate our decisions. This pessimistic law says; “What ever can go wrong will at the worst possible time.” Faith on the other hand, introduces you to a completely different Law, an optimistic law that says, “What can go right will and at the best possible time”. These two laws are at constant odds with each other. But from a Kingdom point of view fear also puts us at odds with God. Fear doubts God’s ability to produce His will in our lives.

Our ability to succeed will to a large degree be determined by our ability to overcome our fears by releasing upon them their greatest nemesis and sworn enemy, faith. Both faith and fear will work in our lives. There is no denying this truth. They exist in varying intensities and strengths based on the experiences of life that have made us who we are and what we have decided to do with those experiences. And while they are opposites, they continually compete for control. We must, through a decision of our will, choose to silence one and release the other. You must decide and do it quickly! God has made you to be the master of your own will. But it is where faith exists that you can and will enjoy success. Where fear takes over you will begin to experience failure. A life of faith will position you to live out your dreams free from the self-imposed limitations of issues from the past, and allow you to live an abundant life in the process. A life controlled by fear will sabotage your potential and possibilities, and produce a life of frustration and disappointment. Faith will make your life a leadership example; fear will make it a warning.