“Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John’s witness and followed Jesus. The first thing he did after finding where Jesus lived was find his own brother, Simon, telling him, ‘We’ve found the Messiah.’”  (John 1:40-41 THE MESSAGE)

I like that:  ”the first thing he did” was to invite somebody.  Usually, the last thing that WE do is invite somebody.  We might offend them.  They might say “no!” and create a really awkward moment.  We might get laughed at.

Yeah, but let’s be real.  That person may die and go to hell, too.  That person may say “yes!”  That person may show up at the church that has been so instrumental in changing your life and say “yes!” to knowing Jesus Christ.  

On a risk benefits analysis, this compares to you deciding not to get out of bed for the day because you might bang your toe when your feet hit the floor.  

“The first thing he did” was to tell somebody.  Why?  Because of the benefit.  Because of the potential reward.  If the God inside of you means anything to you, if he has changed you, then the benefit of just telling somebody has to scream out from inside of you.  It has to bother you.  It must …

So, what are you waiting on?  Don’t you be intimidated.  Don’t psych yourself out.  Tell them!  Invite them!

(In No Particular Order)

1.  The spontaneous baptism.  We were nervous.  What if nobody responded?  21 people did.  And it was a defining moment for our church.

2.  Pastor Nick, in a most serious God-moment, holding up a big sign about how God has transformed him into a “succeful” (pronounced suck-ful) business owner.  I nearly peed my pants.

3.  Pastor Nick calling me after Relevate one Thursday night to tell me that 30 kids had just given their life to God.

4.  Jason Watsell standing in front of the toilet in our first real bathroom and getting sprayed in the eyes by wall-mounted bathroom cleaner.  Priceless.

5.  Baptizing my son.  Sniff, sniff.

6.  A helicopter dropping 20,000 Easter eggs on 2,500 people.

7.  Somebody forgetting to close the door to our box truck, driving off, and our ENTIRE portable church falling out of said truck.  Yeah, we can laugh about that NOW.

8.  The first half of 2011.  God moved.  Over 100 people made a decision for Jesus.  The flood surged.

9.  Finally tearing down that dividing wall to build our auditorium.

10.  A STUCK TRUCK!  (check the link)

You can’t repeat yourself enough.

You can’t repeat the VISION of the job or the project enough.

You can’t repeat the WORK goals enough.

You can’t repeat the CONDUCT requirements enough.

You can’t repeat WHAT YOU EXPECT enough.

*When you’re at the lunch table building equity, don’t forget that you’ve still got an enterprise to run.  Be clear and tell them what you need over and over and over and over and … you get the picture.

She came to Relevate to be with a bunch of teenagers after surgery!  That’s how dedicated this girl is.  She’s constantly talking about how much she loves her kids.  Each and every week she helps Pastor Nick get together design elements for his Thursday night sermon, and then she shows up to play an ACTIVE role with her kids.

She’s constantly counseling her kids, whether online, on the phone, or in person.  And when one of them is going through something, she goes through it with them.  Don’t get me wrong; she’s not just a soft shoulder to lean on.  When one of them does something stupid, she’s there to tell them about it.  That’s why so many of them call her “mama.”

Here’s to you JenJo.  Keep working … keep loving!

“Take your shoes off, Moses, for you stand on holy ground.”

What made that ground holy?  It wasn’t Moses.  It wasn’t the ground itself.  It was the God on the ground.  So often in successful churches, businesses, and organizations, the temptation is to call the place holy because of … the place.  It’s all about the place.  

The place has its own brand, its own logo, its own T-shirts.  And make no mistake about it, those things can be good.  But when the stature of the place is elevated over the holiness of God, we’ve got problems.  When we care more about whether people are part of our organization instead of being a part of the Kingdom, we’ve got problems.

When I say that Renaissance Road Church is “great,” let me be clear.  Our greatness comes from the things that a great God is doing here.  GOD IS DOING GREAT THINGS AT RENAISSANCE ROAD CHURCH.  Over 120 decisions for the Lord, 35 baptisms, the start of a food bank, the start of a college ministry … all just this year.  

Our ground is holy ground because of the God on our ground, not because of the name on our sign.  Because I know this for sure.  RENAISSANCE ROAD CHURCH WILL DIE SOMEDAY.  It may be next week, next year, or 100 years from now.  This holy place will die.

But our holy God will live on, just as holy as ever.  For now, I’m over-the-top pumped that he is here doing great things, and I treasure each and every moment.

This one is difficult, especially in light of Rule No. 3 (Build Friendship Equity).  Leaders naturally like being liked.  They like being a friend.

But the best leaders are more than just a friend.  They are the disciplinarian.  They are the delegator.  They are the accountability.  They are often the pest who has to follow up with the slack worker.

The best leaders, because they’ve built friendship equity, have the leeway to be more than a friend.

It has been said that “leadership is lonely at the top.”  And it’s true.  Because “at the top” before you’re their friend, you’re their leader, and that sets you apart.  Only when you embrace that will the thing that you’re leading have the potential to become something really special.

So be their friend, yes.  But lead them first.

Tammy is R2’s Growth Groups Coordinator, and she’s ON FIRE.  En fuego!  So hot that you may get burned if you’re in the same room with her.

Seriously, Tammy took over our Growth Groups Coordinator job about four months ago from one of our Pastors.  Honestly, it’s always difficult for a pastor to give a ministry up.  But for this lady, she’s taken us to the next level.  She is constantly talking with her growth group facilitators.  She is constantly messaging them with helpful hints.  This morning, she blew my mind and put up a huge tent (camp meeting style) at the entrance of our church and filled it with our growth group facilitators so that people would HAVE to talk to them as they walked out.

And it’s not like Tammy is just like this when she’s the one in charge.  Before she became the Coordinator, she was a Facilitator along with her husband.  I was in their group.  Honestly, it was probably the best run group I’ve ever been in.  

See what I mean:  en fuego! 

Here’s to you, Tammy.  Keep burning it up!

“Renaissance Road is called to bring people far from God back to God so that they can know life change!”

That’s who we are.  That’s what we do.  Every little thing we do is designed to reach them.  Growth groups, cool lighting, fog machines, super-excited greeters, music that thumps, messages that hit hard, a student ministry that kids actually look forward to coming to, college outreach, a food bank, out of this world graphics,  … all to reach people.

Unapologetically.  In your face.  We will reach them.  Screw what religion thinks of us.

And when we reach them, that stuff I just listed, the tools of our trade, we drop from our hands so that we can give them JESUS.  Jesus, our Savior, the man who exploded onto the scene of our lives and infected us with his grace.  Yeah that Jesus, he’s in us like a virus.  He’s in us like fire that won’t go out.  Like  the deep ocean without a bottom.  

That’s the Jesus we give them.

So tell us that we have an ulterior motive in doing what we do.  Guilty.

Tell us that we’re way too edgy.  Guilty.  Jesus was, too.

Tell us that we’re a one dimensional church.  Guilty again.  Jesus is life, and I guess that’s pretty myopic of us.

Guilty, guilty, guilty.  Because nothing, NO-THING, makes us happier than reaching them, your children, your family, your co-workers.  Guilty. 

Guilty of pursuing kingdom-greatness.

It is impossible to lead people without equity, without you having created and fostered a relationship.  Without them trusting and believing in you, you have no prayer of TRULY leading them.

Many great leadership failures happen because the leader tried to discipline, fire, promote, or make a risky decision without any equity.  That leader assumes that barking an order will get a result.  And when that happens, the leader becomes a boss (an earthly title) and forfeits his mantle of leadership (a spiritual position).  Guess which of those positions is more easy to quit on?

If you are finding it difficult to lead or manage or direct, one of the first questions that you should ask is how much equity you’ve built up in the people that you are attempting to lead.  When was the last time you had lunch with them or talked to them on the phone or had them over to your house or visited them at their house or … you get the idea.  And if you can’t remember the last time, you’re probably in trouble because those things are not one time deals.  They have to be done over and over and over.

Equity.  It’s the gasoline of leadership.

She’s a teenager.  She’s got a lot going on … including church.  Weekly, Miranda sits in on a Wednesday night Creative Team meeting, goes to our Thursday night student ministry (Relevate - where she has become a real leader), and then serves on our WoW Team (R2’s greeters on steroids) on Sunday morning.

Miranda always smiles even though she’s got teenage stuff to deal with.  She’ll always come up to you and talk to you even though you’re not as cool as she is.  She’s awesome.  And our church owes its thanks to her for making it a better place.

Here’s to you Miranda.  Keep bringing it!