Top 5 Leadership Lessons I Learned While On-Staff at NewSpring Church

I love Perry Noble.  God has used him in my life as a friend, a coach, a cheerleader, and once as a boss.

You see, a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I was on the Senior Management Team at NewSpring Church. 

I loved that team, I continue to have a strong loyalty toward Perry, and I learned a TON while serving on staff under him.

Recently I was reflecting on my time in Anderson, South Carolina and came up with the Top 5 lessons that stretched and shaped me as a leader:

5.  Work Hard Together, Play Hard Together - Church-work is passionate business - - we're a rescue organization with eternity on the line!  That's why it's important for team members to enjoy each other.  It's not about a job; it's about doing life together.  My fondest memories at NewSpring were the random silly moments in hallways and hanging out together at someone's house watching LOST.  

4.  Loyalty is Everything - Relationships are built on trust which is expressed through loyalty.  One thing I loved about that season at NewSpring was their strong sense of loyalty to one another.  Loyalty means I have your back no matter what - - if I see a truck coming your way, I give you a big heads up.  Loyalty produces staff confidence which in turn fuels bigger steps of faith together.  If loyalty is broken on a staff, I guarantee you that the team will whither and disband.

Case in point: the 1998 Chicago Bulls team.  They were championship-caliber with back-to-back threepeats in the NBA.  Sadly, upper-management (the two Jerry's) said some dumb things in the press and made some amateur moves.  This quickly broke the Bulls' (and public's) trust.  Within a year, their all-star team of players like Jordan, Pippen, Rodman had all disbanded.  Disloyalty hijacked the vision and broke the team apart.  It took Chicago over twelve years to recover from that fiasco.

3.  Boring Inspires No One - Life-change is stunted in a church if everyone's drowsy.  It's OK to be creative in presenting biblical truths (just like Jesus!).  God is creative, we are made in His image, so when we are creative, it's an act of worship!  It's hard to create momentum with boring.  As I've said before, Boring Preachers Can Actually KILL You!

2. Open-Handed with Other Leaders - Perry always encouraged us to be completely open-handed with other church leaders.  I love that!  There is NO competition/jealousy/insecurity between churches (and if there is in your church, its a reflection of your leadership's hearts, not God's heart!).  If we all love Jesus and serve the same King, can't we learn to like each other and share what the Spirit gives?  Whether it's sharing techniques or leadership tips or ideas, I still strive to do ministry transparently and in a posture of humility.

1.  Family First - Most important of all, Perry has always ingrained in me that I can always get another church, but I can never get another wife and kids!  When it comes to my schedule, my family will always win.  If they call my cell, wherever I am, even if it's a big meeting, I answer the phone.  My wife and kids need to know that they always, always come first. 

I love inspiring and pouring into church leaders!

LEADING THROUGH CHANGE - WHEN STAFF MEMBERS AND CHURCH MEMBERS LEAVE

WHEN STAFF MEMBERS AND CHURCH MEMBERS LEAVE

1. STAFFING IS A KEY DECISION

• 1 Timothy 5: “Do not lay hands on a man suddenly.” Any staff hire is a very important, sobering decision. Be slow to hire.

• You want to hire someone who is focused on the TOWEL, not the TITLE. You are here to SERVE.

2. HAVE A PROCESS IN PLACE FOR EVALUATING STAFF AND KEY VOLUNTEERS

You are giving people significant responsibilities; have a system for evaluating:

• Character — Not just about morality. Look at their work ethic, faithfulness, integrity.

• Competency — Are they all hat, no cattle?

• Culture — Do they fit well within your existing culture?

• Chemistry — Likeability Factor. Do you enjoy being around this guy?

• Calling — Look for the fingerprint of God on the hire of that person.

• Capacity for Leadership — Can they grow with the role and the growth of the church? Can they reproduce themself and become a multiplier, not a maintainer?

3. UNDERSTAND + ACCEPT THAT SOME STAFF + CHURCH MEMBERS WILL HAVE TO TRANSITION

• Understanding this will save you a lot of heartache.

• Think of your church like a bus with stops along the way. What happens at a bus stop? Some people get on and some people get off.

• There will be significant transition points as your church grows.

• When this happens, remind yourself that this is just all part of the process of church planting.

• Don’t lose perspective. Your “loss” may actually be a huge win!

• Some folks need to get off the bus.

• Why do people leave your church?

• Sometimes staff will leave you because the responsibilities have grown beyond their capacity to grow with the role.

• They may outgrow the responsibilities. Your job is to always make sure your staff are being challenged.

• They may lack the character / competence / chemistry required to stick with it.

• They may not want to do the spiritual and emotional work in order to grow.

• Unexpected circumstances arise in life. Think seasons. Life happens in seasons.

4. REMEMBER THAT ALL STAFF AND MEMBERS NEED TO BE HELD LOOSELY.
Anything you hold tightly you suffocate.

5. PROMOTIONS TO KEY LEADERSHIP ROLES SHOULD BE CAREFULLY CONSIDERED THROUGH PRAYER.

• Faithful in the little before being faithful with much.

• Make sure they have been tested.

• This doesn’t always work: people fool you. Potential staff will lie to you to get a job.

• Be very careful in giving out titles… You can’t take it back.

• It doesn’t feed your ego, it fits your function.

6. CELEBRATE THE STAYS AND POSITIVELY RELEASE THE GO'S.

• For some churches the only time the Staff has a party is when someone leaves. When is the last time you had a party with the people who STAY?

• Sometimes God calls you to go but often God calls you to STAY!

• Sometimes someone goes and it’s a good thing. Sometimes someone goes and it’s painful. Sometimes people go when they shouldn’t and you can see the truck that’s about to hit them, but they won’t listen to you.

7. BE PREPARED FOR + POSITIVELY PROCESS THE EMOTIONS THAT WILL ACCOMPANY THE EXIT OF PEOPLE.

• Loss leads to Grief, which can confuse people. Be prepared for the grief. You love the person, you’ve invested in them for years.

• When you feel grief, don’t beat yourself up about it. Allow yourself to experience and feel.

8. GIVE CLEAR GUIDELINES TO DEPARTING STAFF ON YOUR EXPECTATIONS REGARDING COMMUNICATION.

• Information Void can crank up a church gossip grapevine: “What’s happening behind the scenes?”

• This happens when there is too much of time that passes between their decision and the communication.

• It is foolish to allow departing staff to announce their departure.

• Provide information to fill any potential void. SOMEBODY is going to tell ‘the story.’ You need to protect the health of your church as it continues moving forward.

9. EXPECT EMOTIONAL RESPONSES TO ANY STAFF MEMBER’S DEPARTURE.

• Help them process, give them assurance.

10. LEARN LESSONS FROM DEPARTURES THAT CAN MAKE YOU AND YOUR ORGANIZATION BETTER.

• How can we improve for next time?

• What can I learn from this?

• How can this make me better?

11. AVOID PROLONGED DEPARTURES.

• When someone says they want to leave, let them.

• Don’t drag it out or they will drag people down with them.

• When they say they want to leave, their heart has already left.

• Be generous in their transition.

12. BE APPROPRIATELY GENEROUS TOWARD DEPARTING PEOPLE WHO LEAVE WELL.

• Err on the side of grace, not pettiness.

• Oftentimes people who leave will talk badly about you behind your back. Be gracious.

13. EXPECT A HONEYMOON PERIOD ON SOCIAL MEDIA AT THE DEPARTING PERSON’S NEW PLACE.

• “This new place is amazing!” Which means your place wasn’t.

• At some point real life will kick in and they’ll stop.

• Weather their honeymoon. You don’t need it in your spirit.

• If it’s getting to you, delete the app.

• Social media can feed a failure mentality.

14. DON’T GET DISCOURAGED.

• Don’t Think You’re the Only Person This Happens To.

• This is the secret: don’t get discouraged. Fight it.

• People WILL leave your church.

• Staff members WILL betray you.

• Don’t give air to fear.

• Pruning leads to better fruit and a better future.

• Get up and keep going by faith.

• Sometimes you have to wait 11 years to see someone who left in a bad way come back in repentance.

WISDOM FOR DEPARTING STAFF

• If you’re leaving a church, get planted somewhere. Don’t wander.

• When you get planted somewhere, be a son or daughter of that House.

• Be an honorable, loyal, ethical, trusting Christian. Integrity matters. Honor your former pastor. Don’t go bush-league.

• If you’re leaving a church, do not play the “God told me” game.

• Don’t run from your issues! Your next church won’t change things. Geography doesn’t fix your problems.

• Remember whose spiritual platform you have been using and you have been benefiting from. You were LOANED a platform. Never take the power and trust.

• Never steal sheep.

• Never steal staff. That is unethical behavior.

• Fulfill your commitments. Don’t cut and run. That only hurts God’s people.

• Leave your assigned area of responsibility stronger, not weaker.

• Encourage commitment and faithfulness to the House that you’re leaving.

• Watch your words, non-verbals and your actions on the way out… …because God is.

Why You Should Never Give Up On Your Dream

In 1962, the Beatles auditioned for Decca Records.  

The label turned them down, saying that “guitar groups are on the way out”
and “the Beatles have no future in show business.” 

 And after that, the Beatles stopped making music forever.

How to avoid church “splanting”

WHAT IT IS: Church splanting is when a pastor plants a new church by splitting the mother church.

While many church plants are born out of a passionate call of God on a person’s life, on occasion a church plant has less noble beginnings.

In spite of Jesus’ Call for unity among His followers, at times the Church struggles to achieve it.

HOW IT HAPPENS: Anger & bitterness grow in the pastor’s heart at the circumstances in their church, and all of the sudden they develop a call to become a Church Planter.

Often motivated by frustration or hurt they declare “God is calling them to start a new church,” not in another town or state, but just down the street.

READ MORE: https://www.glichurchplanting.com/church-splanter/

10 YEARS OF LIFE CHURCH

““I will build my church — and the power of death will not be able to overpower it!”
”

— Jesus in Matthew 16:18 (TPT)

Ten years ago today, my family took a deep breath and cannonballed into the unknown by launching weekly worship experiences... the birth of the church we love!

Just like childbirth it was messy, scary, and even a little bloody... yet what emerged is beautiful and bringing Life to the Great Lakes Bay Region.

We started by renting theater and classroom space at Saginaw Valley State University. 

It was a herculean task setting up and tearing down our portable church environments every week, but we got it done (even in Michigan winter!).

When you start something new completely from scratch, EVERYTHING is HARD... but it's worth it.

For the past ten years, we've lifted up Jesus, inspired our region, and seen lives transformed by God's amazing love.

To date, we've seen three hundred and fifteen people baptized at Life Church -- Holy Wow!

Every number has a name, every name has a story, and every story matters to God.

As I’ve said for years at Life Church, every person matters!

Healthy Things Grow

In November 2014, we opened the doors of a former Golf Mania as our main worship facility and suddenly became kites in God's Hurricane.  

By February 2015, in the middle of Michigan winter, we ran out of space and began adding additional worship times!

New Locations

In March of 2017 we stepped out in crazy faith by becoming One Church in Two Locations: Saginaw and Midland!  

We became the very first multi-site church in the Great Lakes Bay Region.

Our rapid growth continued with young adults and families from across the region discovering new life in Christ at Life Church.  

A Movement of Changed Lives

In 2018 we broke 1,200 in attendance and baptized 60 new Christ Followers.

Outreach Magazine & LifeWay Research recognized Life Church Michigan as one of the Top 15 Fastest-Growing Churches in America (September 2019).

Then 2020 hit, a year that closed our campuses and delivered a near-fatal blow to our labor of love. In late 2020 we reopened our doors in Saginaw and began rebuilding home.

Today we are a thriving, scrappy church for people who don’t always like going to church. Heading into our tenth year of ministry, we are focused on working like it depends on us and praying like it depends on God.

Current Stats on the Post-Pandemic Church

While there is much yet not understood about the effects of the post-pandemic/post-Christian climate we are now experiencing, some data and research is beginning to emerge to paint a picture of today’s spiritual environment.

What follows are three important articles that church leaders should take under serious consideration when planning ahead for the future.

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Losing Their Religion: Why U.S. Churches are in Decline

Churches are closing at rapid numbers in the US, researchers say, as congregations dwindle across the country and a younger generation of Americans abandon Christianity altogether – even as faith continues to dominate American politics.

As the US adjusts to an increasingly non-religious population, thousands of churches are closing each year in the country – a figure that experts believe may have accelerated since the Covid-19 pandemic.

The situation means some hard decisions for pastors, who have to decide when a dwindling congregation is no longer sustainable. But it has also created a boom market for those wanting to buy churches, with former houses of worship now finding new life.

About 4,500 Protestant churches closed in 2019, the last year data is available, with about 3,000 new churches opening, according to Lifeway Research. It was the first time the number of churches in the US hadn’t grown since the evangelical firm started studying the topic. With the pandemic speeding up a broader trend of Americans turning away from Christianity, researchers say the closures will only have accelerated.

READ FULL ARTICLE

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The New Very Large Church

It’s time to rethink church size. For the purpose of this article, I define church size as average weekly worship attendance, including children and youth who may not be in the primary worship service. In other words, we count every person attending a worship weekend (or other days for a few churches).

Let’s look at the breakdown of churches by average worship attendance:

• Under 50 in attendance: 31% of all churches

• 51 – 99: 37%

• 100 – 249: 24%

• 250 and above: 8%

All of the numbers are fascinating, but the largest category should cause us to pause. Only 8 percent of churches have an attendance of 250 or more. These churches now define the category, “very large churches.”

READ FULL ARTICLE

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In Church Planting, More Money Means More People

A church plant’s attendance is directly proportional to the money spent at launch and in the congregation’s first year, the research found. At churches with average attendance over 200 in the first five years, average startup costs were $100,000 and first-year costs $225,000—a total launch cost of $325,000.

Smaller churches tend to spend far less. Church plants more than two years old with less than 100 in attendance averaged $10,000 in startup costs and $60,000 in first-year costs. For churches more than two years old with between 100 and 200 in attendance, average startup costs were $84,500.

The correlation between spending and growth held over time. Growing churches continued to spend more as they continued to grow, while nongrowing spent less.

READ FULL ARTICLE

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CREATE A CULTURE BY DESIGN, NOT DEFAULT

"Create a culture by design, not default"

(Walt Disney)

Since our very first Informational Meeting eleven years ago today (!), Life Church has chosen to be known by what we are for, not what we are against.

Our culture is the secret sauce.  We're all about Jesus: dangerously, obsessively, undeniably Jesus.

Culture determines behavior.  In order to be the church we dream of, we must fight for our culture -- our unique flavor that propels us forward to reach the lost at any cost.

This is why I am committed to raising up a generation of fearless leaders in the Church. 

The Church is worth fighting for.  We must always rally around our shared heartbeat if we are to extend that passion into the world.

Being a Culture-Keeper requires thick skin and calcium in the spine. 

Agendas must always be eclipsed by the Culture Code of your organization.

"For it is Christ’s love that fuels our passion and motivates us, because we are absolutely convinced that He has given His life for all of us.

This means all died with Him, so that those who live should no longer live self-absorbed lives but lives that are poured out for Him—the One who died for us and now lives again."

(2 Corinthians 5:14-15, The Passion Translation)

Heading into 2023, I have been working on codifying our original Culture Code.  The words are nearly exactly the same, the passion is as present in my bones as on Day One, and now it's been distilled into 4 easy-to-remember big ideas.

For what it's worth, here is Life Church's 2023 Code:

1. HONOR: We are a generation of honor and integrity. We do not gossip. No insider politics. We are not competing with any churches. Full of honor and integrity, we will do the right thing even when it hurts. Our heart is to out-love, out-serve, and out-give those who misunderstand us.
   
   

2. HUMBLE:  We will be known for what we are for.  We will speak vision and life over our people. We choose to leverage humor over hammer. We will lift up the life-giving power of Jesus Christ rather than using our platform to condemn.
   
   Movements move. We are not Atari, we are Apple, joining God's audacious movement of changed lives.  We will always maintain a posture of learning new methods.  We will always narrow the focus in all we do.  We think steps, not programs.
   
   
   

3. HUNGRY: We are united under one vision -- to reach the lost at any cost.  To reach the people no one else is reaching, we will do the things no one else is doing.  We will do anything short of sin to reach people far from God.  We will aggressively defend our unity and vision.
   
   The church is a rescue organization, not a social club.  We will not cater to personal preferences in our mission to reach this region.  This is not a Yacht Club.  We are more concerned with the people we are trying to reach than the people we are trying to keep. We are only as "deep" as the last person we served!
   
   
   

4. HUSTLE: Don't just stick your toe into the water -- Cannonball!  We do it right and do it big! Greatness is never on sale.  We believe undistracting excellence honors God and inspires people.  We place a disproportionate value on creating a worship experience that boldly celebrates Jesus and attracts people far from God.
   
   We are all about the numbers.  Every numbers represents a person.  Every person represents a story of life-change through Christ.  Tracking metrics measures effectiveness.  We will unapologetically celebrate life-change!

Whether somebody bounces back or not has to do with one question...

I've often been asked the question: What is the difference between people who thrive and people who decline over a long period of time? It’s not that they don’t get knocked down; it’s that they bounce back up.

Every successful person I can think of has had to come back from discouraging circumstances. That’s true of people I know personally and those I read about in the Bible.

As a matter of fact, every single person in the Bible is a comeback story from something.

Check out this list and see if you can find yourself:

• Joseph endured mistreatment from a dysfunctional family. I bet there isn’t anyone who doesn’t have some relative the others try not to sit next to at Christmas dinner.

• David bounced back from several devastating failures: moral, leadership, career, and even worse. Have any past failures? A great comeback is possible!

• Elijah suffered personal criticism. I speak to hundreds of people every weekend. Usually, people each week write in or come up to say something encouraging. I remember very little of that. But I can tell you every critical comment. Why do we remember the things we ought to forget, and forget the things we ought to remember?

• Nehemiah was discouraged with harsh political, legal, and social circumstances at the highest levels. He had wall-to-wall problems—literally.

• John Mark was rejected by a high-ranking Christian leader. I know people for whom one negative comment from an authority figure—be it a teacher, a pastor, or a coach—has marked them for life.

• Peter was disappointed with his inability to withstand pressure and also disappointed with himself. Sound familiar? My number one source of discouragement is, unfortunately, myself.

• Jesus was let down by people of all types—friends, relatives, religious leaders. At His hour of greatest need, He takes three guys and says, “I need your support.” When He comes back, they are fast asleep.

In almost every case, whether somebody bounces back or not has to do with one question: “Does that person have hope?” Hope looks at what can be instead of what is. Hope looks at the future rather than just the past. Hope believes in future possibility rather than resigning to current reality. People bounce back when they have hope.