Dave Travis Now

Links of Interest for July 23rd plus a Prayer Request

What a great story from a Baptist Paper about how a small church in a small town can have a big impact through a “Giving Garden” http://www.christianindex.org/6581.article

I have neglected to mention my friends at NorthCoast Church have moved into a new campus in Vista, California a few weeks back. We did a Multi Site Conference there a few years back. I will blog more about this later but check out their exciting opening weekend here:

http://www.northcoastchurch.com/welcome/service_times/vista_campus_opening_weekend/

Ten Reasons why churches stall - http://ht.ly/257WE

Non profits are better organized than for profits. Well sometimes - http://www.economist.com/node/16588412?story_id=16588412

A nice list of Non Anglo Church Bloggers from DJ Chuang http://djchuang.com/2010/top-church-blogs-by-minority-leaders/

A great story of a pastor’s impact on Donald Miller: http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/07/19/Miller.jazz/?hpt=C1

Sadly, we had a family friend, about my age, die last week. A friend is organizing some meal deliveries and is using this site and it is a really cool idea:

http://www.takethemameal.com/ - I don’t know if folks still do this in other parts of the country, but down here in the south, we do.

House Church Denver Post: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_15547588

And Ed Stetzer pointed me to this news link about house/simple/organic churches that I thought had some good thoughts: http://cbs5.com/wireapnational/Growing.movement.of.2.1817068.html

Eric Swanson sent this and it is first a really cool animation/information video and secondly, some great content.

http://www.wimp.com/secretpowers/

Does more space mean better ministry? Interesting research from my friends at Cornerstone Knowledge Network and Christianity Today: http://www.christianitytoday.com/yc/2010/summer/spacebetterministry.html?start=1

A great set of articles on communicating during a crisis over at Your Church: http://www.churchsafety.com/topics/emergencies/disasters/communicatingcrisis/cs72.html

From Will Mancini’s blog, this quote which is so right on:

“Vision dripping is more important than vision casting: Great churches produce visionary teams, and visionary people that share (drip) the vision in the course of daily leadership and life. Vision ought to be a team sport and engage an army of everyday story-tellers in the community. Vision should never be relegated to special gifting of a the point leader only.”

More here - http://www.willmancini.com/2010/07/new-rules-of-vision.html

I want to give a shout out to my friends at Granger Church and their upcoming “Genious of The AND Conference” coming this November – Check it out here: http://www.wiredchurches.com/andconference

And finally, there was a comment from a Mayor on one of our recent Learnings Blog posts about the image of being a midwife and a hospice worker and how leaders bear the pain. That reminded me that we all need to always pray for all our leaders, not just pastoral ones. So pray today for your city or town’s mayor and if you think about it, pray for Mayor Mary in Michigan.

 

More next week.

 

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

@davetravis on twitter

Why Not Host a Group Party for THE NINES?

Over at http://thenines.leadnet.org you can see how you can host a group to watch THE NINES this year. (That’s 09/09/10)

Almost 1/3 of the attenders last year watched it in a group with other pastors and leaders.

This year we want to encourage others to host “Nines Parties” all over the world. In fact, we have a special FREE Group Kit to help those interested to do so.

We have a short application form on the site to help you get qualified to host a group. We want you to have at least a dozen leaders or so AND we want you to invite leaders from beyond your church, ministry or business. Invite as many people as possible so that you can share together both the learnings from THE NINES but the fellowship of the friends in your town.

Our plan is to post many of these sites beforehand so that others can see where there are gatherings of leaders. Plus we will have a special blog where the sites can share what they are learning and doing that day. In addition, we are trying to put together a special feed just for the group sites that may get a slightly higher quality feed for large screen projection units.

So – what do you need to host a site?

• A list of friends you want to invite. Or potential friends. Why not invite all the church and pastoral teams of your neighborhood or town?

 

• A largish room with food and drinks available. Either you can provide them or encourage people to bring stuff for a pot luck party.

 

• A fast internet connection that will allow you to hook in computer and large screen tv so that people can watch it LARGE.

In addition, it would be nice to have some wireless access so that people can check out the other streams that day.

Some flip chart paper to make notes and a digicamera to take photos of the party that day.

Think you have a heart for this? Check out the details at http://thenines.leadnet.org/2010/host.html

I will tell you that host leaders may get some extra freebies thrown their way all next year as well. But we really want the motivation to be a desire to network leaders in their city to explore conversations and empower collaboration.

Dave Travis

Managing Director

@davetravis on twitter

Three Minute Update for Memorial Day weekend 2010

OK, Although I recorded this on Saturday, I am late getting it up.

 

Note: No update next week due to some vacation time.

In this update: Health updates on team members, a few blog shout outs!

 

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

Reporters have a tough job

Reporters have a tough job.

Most of the ones I talk to genuinely want to learn and be informed. So I spend time trying trying to give them context and background for their stories. Those can go up to an hour sometimes, but generally they last 15-20 minutes.

In addition to talking to me they are generally talking to 6-12 other sources trying to get multiple angles on the story.

Now sometimes they have a story they want to tell and are looking for material to back up their story. In some ways like a preacher who has a great illustration and is looking for a text. (Ok, I have quit preaching and gone to meddling.)

At the end of the day (and reporters always want to finish quickly), the print journalist has 300-700 words and the tv person gets 2 minutes.

So my 20 minute CNN taping gets 5 seconds and a partial quote that I didn't think was relevant to the story I was trying to tell. It didn't reflect the thrust of the interview but that wasn't their story, it was mine.

That's just how it goes. I don't get upset unless they spell my name wrong. Which CNN didn't so I was happy.

Last thing about movements - for now

Ok the last thing I want to say about movements....
for now

this week

or until something gets in my head that won't let go.

I think one of the most overlooked items in movements, especially social movements in the US is the business factor.

What business interests are aligned with the movement?

We still live in a nation where money matters. Not making a value judgment, only a description.

And the truth is, for some so called "movements" there is very little business support or a business case to be made.

When a group of businesses or enterprises get behind a movement and want it to succeed, things are accelerated.

Remember the movie "Wag the Dog" and the character played by Denis Leary? He was the person who aligned songwriters and tennis shoe makers around the idea of using the "war" to advance their own businesses. Hence they invested in the idea and helped bring that fictitious idea to the forefront.

So who are the various businesses that would like to see your movement succeed? How would they profit if it succeeded?

This is a powerful constituency not to be overlooked.

Are you the head fundraiser Part 3

(This is crossposted at www.books.leadnet.org. If you like books, that is the place for lots more reviews)

Last post on this book.

Bottom Line: You are their pastor.

 

As I read Levy’s book I was struck by the similarity between his role as President of Lincoln Center and a good pastor.

 

I was trained as a pastor through my seminary education and my mentors. I didn’t stay in that field long but do work with pastors every day. So I know enough about the work of pastors to understand their points of view.

 

And most great leaders have the same skills as most good pastors.

 

1. They know what is going on in their congregants, or in Levy’s case, prospective donor’s lives. They know when to call to give encouragement and prayer and applause.

 

2. They know the situations where they themselves need help. In the case of a good pastor, they have to be willing to ask for help in specific ways, not just “I need your support.” Ditto the CEO of a nonprofit, they have to define specifically where they need funds, expertise, advice and volunteer effort.

 

3. They know that it has to be face to face. Pastors and Nonprofit directors communicate in many ways. Phone. Email. Blogs. Twitters. But nothing beats face to face. Yes, finding the time to do all that can be draining, but nothing replaces it. Not just in asking for help or support, but just to build the relationship of care and trust.

 

4. They know that the future is just as important as the now. I think this is one of the marks of a great leader. You have to manage the present in order to manage the future. The actions of the present determine the future. And sometimes you make adjustments to the present to get you to your future. But those that are consumed with either the future OR the present don’t get things done. You have to have your eye on both.

 

For a pastor or not for profit leader you are investing in a person now and developing them for the future.

 

Bottom line: If you think of the ideal pastoral skills, you have a pretty good description of what is needed to be a great Nonprofit CEO.

 

 

Dave Travis is Managing Director of Leadership Network.

Way to Go Seacoast Church Dream Center!

know this is not the only church to do this. In fact we had a Leadership Community of Churches that had health clinics and other programs that serve the uninsured American population that needs healthcare. But yesterday

Seacoast Church opened their Dream Center ’s Clinic and the news organizations covered it well.

Follow these links for more of the story, including some good video:

http://www.wciv.com/news/stories/0109/583078_video.html?ref=newsstory

 

http://www.wciv.com/news/stories/0109/583078.html

 

http://www.counton2.com/cbd/news/local/article/volunteer_doctors_staffing_new_clinic_opening_today/18850/

 

http://charleston.net/news/2009/jan/07/one_stop_shop_heart_soul67534/  

Seacoast was inspired by the teams from the LA Dream Center, The Healing Place Dream Center and some folks from Leadership Network (just to brag a little) and some connections with one of our partners The ECHO Foundation (Empowering Christian Healthcare Organizations) to make this a reality.

ECHO, while working on a variety of healthcare access issues, really does want to help churches in this ministry.

http://www.echohealthnetwork.org/contact.html

That organization was birthed by John and Nancy Snyder and we are proud to say that John has been one of our board members at Leadership Network for some time.

But the kudos go to Seacoast’s team of staff and volunteers who have made the whole of the

Dream Center, not just the medical center, a reality for North Charleston

I praise God for what you are doing and hope more churches will follow your lead.

You might want to seek out some of these folks at our upcoming i3 conference. www.innovation3gathering.com

Update at 2:00 p.m. Greg Surratt, Lead Pastor at Seacoast, has just posted a summary from his point of view. If I were him I would feel very proud of my congregation today.

http://www.gregsurratt.org/greg_surratt/2009/01/all-i-can-say-is-wow.html