Learning to Lead Smart!

Yesterday (Tuesday 4.24.07) I had the privilege and opportunity to ride with Bryan Hoover to a workshop led by who I think is one of the top leaders in local church ministry in the country.  Tim Stevens is the Executive Pastor of Granger Community Church and authors a blog called Leading Smart.  We attended a workshop at Westridge Church in Dallas, GA put on by wiredchurches.com.  These are the guys from Granger Community Church in Granger, Indiana.  For a point of reference, they are very close to Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana.

Here is a few things I learned:

• We must focus on reaching the unconvinced!  These are people that have not yet turned to follow Christ.
• We must provided accessible “on-ramps” for people to enter their spiritual journey.  What are the easy steps a church provides people to join others in the journey to follow Christ.  The steps must be simple.  Sundays, Community Groups and inviting friends are easy “on-ramps”. 
• We must be creatively redundant!  Saying and repeating the same biblical principles in fresh ways help lead people to follow Christ.
• Bigger is better!  It’s not the size of the church that matters but a church must be unapologetically committed to grow through reaching people for Jesus!
• We must be cross-cultural missionaries in order to reach people effectively with the message of Jesus.  Basically we must understand the culture we live in and bridge the culture to reach more people.
• Pop culture is the language of the culture in America!
• We must take the greatest message ever given and communicate it to people in GREAT ways!
• It is a sin to make the gospel of Jesus boring!
• We must make sharing the message of Jesus our focus!
• We must share the message in ways and manners that are fun!  People love to laugh and it is ok to have fun in church!
• Changed lives is our measurement for success!

Check out Tim’s blog ‘Leading Smart’.  He offers great insight to business leaders as well as church leaders. 

I am committed to being a learner and growing in my faith and my ability to lead.  Join me on the journey of following Jesus and becoming a more effective leader of people!

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