On July 14 our Church has the amazing opportunity of hosting Tony Morgan on his Killing Cockroaches Summer Tour.  (Other lucky cities are: Atlanta, Dallas, St. Louis, Chicago, Nashville). In order to help our community better understand the purpose behind the tour I asked Tony 5 questions:

1. What’s the Big Idea behind Killing Cockroaches?

Back when I was a city manager, I heard a woman scream from the other side of the building. A few minutes later, she showed up in my office. She found a cockroach. For some reason, she thought this was a job for the “CEO” at city hall. I don’t know what possessed me, but I walked to the other side of the building and proceeded to kill the cockroach, with my my fancy, wingtip shoes.

Since then, there are days that I come home and I have that mopey or frustrated look on my face. My wife started to ask me, “Did you have to kill cockroaches today?” For us, it’s become a description of those days when I find myself responding to the urgent things in life rather than the focusing my time and energy on the responsibilities that have the biggest leadership impact.

2. Why the RV tour?

Well, the tour gives me an excuse to build a three-week vacation with my family around stops to talk with church leaders. I’d love to tell you the trip is more about equipping church leaders. Honestly, though, it’s more about the experience with my family. We have four kids ages 14, 11, 8 and 4. We probably aren’t going to have too many more opportunities like this where we can travel for three weeks and see parts of the country we’ve never visited before.

3. What will attendees walk away with?

We’re going to cover two critical topics. The first will be building teams and empowering leaders. Since churches live and die based on the capacity of their volunteers, this is always a challenging dialogue. The second topic is about helping churches find their focus. I’d love to help leaders understand why it’s so critical that they clarify their outreach, discipleship and communications strategy. Oh, and don’t worry, there is plenty of time built into the tour stops for Q&A.

4. What’s the next step for you “post” NewSpring Church?

Well, my family and I are still engaged at NewSpring Church, so it doesn’t really feel like it’s a “post” situation yet. Though we’re waiting for God to reveal our next assignment, I’m pretty confident it’s going to involve serving leaders and churches across the country and helping to spread great stories. That’s the stuff that energizes me and where I find the most fulfillment.

5. Will any cockroaches be accompanying you on the tour (for the sake of props or snacks)?

Though there aren’t any immediate plans to have cockroaches on the tour, it wouldn’t surprise me if we have a few try to hitchhike in our vehicle. The cockroaches down here in South Carolina are huge. In fact, we may ditch the RV and just saddle up a few cockroaches instead. They’re big…and they’re also fast.

More about Tony, the tour, or the book.

Can someone be too educated? You know, so brilliant that they can no longer relate with “common” folk and therefore they lose their potential to impact others.

If anyone would be a candidate, you’d think it’d be Ed Stetzer. After all he has trained pastors and church planters on five continents, holds two masters degrees and two doctorates, and has written dozens of articles and books.

Funny thing is…Ed isn’t such a candidate. Rather he’s completely relatable and he’s spot on with his message and his medium. So much so that he’s been invited to such conferences like Catalyst and Equip (by the way check out his upcoming seminar in Columbus this summer).

Ed is well educated both in the academy and in life. He’s on the Lifeway Research Team, a Visiting Professor at Trinity, and the Author of Breaking the Missional Code, Comeback Churches, Planting Missional Churches, etc. Check out my 5 questions with Ed:

1. How did you get from there to here? I started my first church at 21 years old in the inner-city of Buffalo, NY and fell in love with being on mission.  I planted there and in Erie, PA and started reading all I could on ministry and mission.  I planted for 10 years, then became a seminary professor, earned a Ph.D., and wrote my first book.  Now, I basically do research, write, and speak to pastors and church leaders.
2. Give us the Big Idea (3-4 sentences) behind Lost and Found. Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them is a book that shows the younger unchurched people are open spiritually (even more so than their older unchurched counterparts), but are closed to church.  However, instead of just telling you that, we looked at churches and ministries that were actually reaching the younger unchurched.
3. Please identify one of your leadership weaknesses that’s been exposed while in ministry.  I fail to take care of myself when I lead others.
4. How have you closed that leadership gap?  God has recently convicted me of that very thing and I have sought to lead myself into better spiritual, emotional, and physical health.
5. Don’t worry about sounding arrogant or bold, but what are some God-sized dreams He’s placed in your heart? I would like to help evangelical churches across the Western world to take their biblically-driven theology and apply it as they live on mission in their contexts.

If you’ve read anything by Ed or heard him speak, give a quick impression or thought below. I’d love to hear your thoughts about this research guru, a.k.a. the “yoda” of church planting. Thanks for the interview Ed!

A blog famous for writing about other people? In our narcissistic culture could a blog like that even cut it?

Todd Rhoades is the genius behind Monday Morning Insight - a blog  which is a compilation of Internet stories and resources that would be of interest to pastors and church leaders across the United States and the world.

Cool concept hey?

I had the rare opportunity to talk to the humble guy who’s always talking to other people. Here’s the story behind the story of Todd and MMI.

1. How did you get from there to here? I started in college on kind of a two track career.  I worked full-time at a radio station selling commercials (my first experience with marketing) and part-time for a church as a ‘minister of music’ (my first music gig).  Over the years, I would start my own advertising agency, and eventually get into web publishing.  My first site was called Minister-of-Music.com; and one thing led to another.  Before I knew it, I was running a growing church employment site (ChurchStaffing.com) and a new blog (MondayMorningInsight.com).  In late 2005, I sold the staffing website.  The next year I began working with Leadership Network.  Believe me, it’s been much more exciting than it sounds in print. 
2. Give us the Big Idea (3-4 sentences) behind Monday Morning Insight. MMI is really a simple concept for me.  I try to find things that I’m interested in, and hope that other people will also be interested enough to read it!  So far, it’s working!  A friend recently described MMI as ‘half Bible, half National Enquirer”.  I have to admit, I kinda like that.  I think it’s important for all of us involved in church work to not only have a good grasp on theological truth, but also keep up on what is happening in the current church world.  At MMI, I try to look at the good, the bad, and the ugly in the church world.  And I never have a shortage of stuff I find everyday that absolutely fascinates me!
3. Don’t worry about sounding arrogant or bold, but what are some God-sized dreams He’s placed in your heart? I don’t know that I have any God-sized dream for me personally; but what I’m seeing that I’m really, really liking these days is that churches and pastors are really starting to use the internet to extend their connection with their people.  Whether its communicating through a blog, Facebook, or Twitter, I see some really sharp leaders ‘exposing themselves’ to their churches in some very good ways.  It allows them to extend their leadership on a very personal level without it having to be one-on-one.  On a personal note… I get a lot of satisfaction out of meeting many of the people who read MMI at many of the conferences and events that I have the privelege of attending.  I love to connect leaders and ideas.
4. Other than Buckeye football, what is your favorite thing about Ohio?  You know, I take a lot of flack for living in Bryan, OH… yes the dum dum capital of the world!  (You know the little dum dum suckers?  They are made in my home town).  Other than OSU football (of course), I like the small town atmosphere to raise my family in.  For the most part, it’s a great place to live!
5. In the circles you run in, what does it mean to be in the world and not of it…to integrate Christ AND culture? Wow… in the circles that I run in, most of the churches are highly innovative.  That means that many of them are pushing the limit sometimes when it comes to merging culture and the church.  I grew up in a very conservative, legalistic brand of Christianity.  I saw many people who literally ran from the church because of the long list of ‘worldly things’ that the church wouldn’t allow.  Many of those people will have nothing to do with the church to this day.  I think in order to reach people, you do have to speak their language to some extent, while keeping the gospel message Biblical.  That means that there are some churches who reach cowboys with cowboy music; some inner city churches who ministry to the hip hop culture in a very different way that the traditional church on the corner.  Sure, there are times when some churches go too far; but I really don’t see that very much at all.  I like what Craig Groeschel says:  “We will do anything short of sin to introduce people to God”.  Unfortunately, there are many people on the internet that think EVERYTHING is a sin. 

I think Todd has an interesting point concerning his view about Christ and Culture.

• Have you ever seen a church cross that Fine Line for the sake of the Gospel?
• Do you agree with Craig’s quote or did he cross the line?

Slicing through taboos…especially in the church.

My friend Brett Ullman, Director of Worlds Apart and internationally acclaimed speaker to youth, isn’t afraid to broach subjects that might not be welcomed by some.  

Brett Ullman speaks with courage and conviction on sensitive, current issues affecting youth including self-injury, suicide, substance abuse, sexuality, music and faith in our modern age.

I wanted you  to get a taste of Brett’s courageous style to be God’s man…no matter what other people think (a lesson that I need to be constantly reminded of).

Keep reading in order to learn more about Brett Ullman and Worlds Apart. Here’s the interview:

1. How did you get from there to here? I was a teacher in Toronto for 10 years while I was beginning my speaking career.  As a teacher, I was moved by the pressures that my students were under and wanted to make a difference in students lives on a broader scale. The requests for me to come speak grew to the point that a full-time commitment from me was needed.  I left teaching 3 years ago and love having the chance to speak to students across North America.
2. Please identify one of your leadership weaknesses that’s been exposed while in ministry? I think one of my many weaknesses has been Vision Bleeding. Andy Stanley wrote an amazing book called Visioning which is the first time I ever read the term vision bleeding and realized that it is something I struggle with. If I begin with 100% of my work day to work on the calling that God has given me I can do a lot of working towards those goal. The problem is that people then ask us to become part of something that is not part of the vision or calling we have. These things are probably good things but things that have to “bleed” or decrease your time you can put into your original vision. I am often asked to write weekly or monthly articles for youth magazines. I appreciate the opportunity but if I have to take 2-3 hours a week out of my work day to write those articles it means that I have less time to work on other things. This balance is one area that I have struggled in but am getting better at.  I have to really pick and choose what things I will do in a given week to make sure I get done the big things in my own ministry.
3. How have you closed that leadership gap? Coming from a background of teaching I had many skills that transferred over to my speaking but many areas did not. When I was younger I did not enjoy reading. I have since learned how important reading is.  I have been reading anything I can get my hands on dealing for leadership for the last few years. I presently just finished a 2 year leadership program called the Arrow Leadership Program (www.arrowleadership.org) which as been a great help to me and I plan on starting my Masters in Evangelism and Leadership from Wheaton in the Fall.
4. I applaud your vision for World’s Apart. What is your “God size” vision for it? Good question. I want to help people connect their ancient faith with their modern world. To break that down, I have created a media.culture.faith talk, a response to self injury talk and a dating talk and I am presently putting together a talk specifically to challenge men. My vision is for World’s Apart to be used as a catalyze to lead people to a deeper faith in Jesus and as a result to impact their world as He would like.
5. Give us the Big Idea (3-4 sentences) behind your breakthrough resource Your Story: The Wounding Embrace and why you made it?  My main talk is called Media.Faith.Culture and is a look at how to connect all of those things. About 5 years ago I added in one slide on Self-Injury (cutting, suicide etc) and the response was overwhelming. I began to receive hundreds of emails from students talking about their struggles. I had been reading Bill Hybels book “Holy Discontent” where he says if you have something you cannot stand then “feed” that discontent. So I did. I went to Amazon and bought every book I could find on Self Injury (about 30 books) From those readings and my conversations with about 500-1000 people who struggle with Self-Injury this talk grew. It is meant to be a practical look at this issue as well as a discussion about what to do if we or someone we love is struggling with Self Injury.

If you self-injure or know someone who struggles with this  I encourage you to click here for more information on how to work through the pain and enter into healing.

Peppermint-Filled Pinatas - Weird book title, hey?

Think that’s strange? Check out the description:

 ”A guide for overcoming the negative Christian stereotype by embracing the people Christians ‘love to hate.’”

But maybe the strangest thing of all is author Eric Bryant’s job title = Navigator at Mosaic Church of California.

What is Mosaic anyhow?

“The name of our community comes from the diversity of our members and from the symbolism of a broken and fragmented humanity which can become a work of beauty under the artful hands of God. We welcome people from all walks of life, regardless of where they are in their spiritual journey. Come to Mosaic, and discover how all the pieces can fit together!”

Keep reading in order to learn more about Eric and Mosaic. Here’s the interview:

1. How did you get from there to here? After college, my new wife and I helped plant a church in Seattle where we had 4 senior pastors the first 4 years.  We learned how not to plant a church.  In 1998, we moved to Los Angeles to volunteer at Mosaic so we could have an experience at a healthy church before going overseas.  Rather than staying 6 months as we planned, we have been here for 11 years.  I started as a volunteer in the parking lot then later worked with students before helping catalyze new venues across Los Angeles.  The last four years I have been serving as an elder, speaker, and navigator overseeing the leadership team at Mosaic.  We realized we can reach the world from Los Angeles.
2. What’s the Big Idea behind Peppermint-Filled Pinatas? The book shares how to interact, serve, love, and influence homosexuals, Hindus, and the hard to reach.  Erwin’s books often deal with “why we do what we do” at Mosaic, but my book is more about “how we do what we do” in terms of developing meaningful relationships with people with whom we differ, disagree, and even dislike.  In many ways, it is my personal journey to discover ministry effectiveness (with some wins and many losses) in a pluralistic and diverse world.
3. Mosaic seems to be out in front of the pack. What is your specific calling as a church? We are simply trying to influence, serve, and reach Los Angeles.  Since Los Angeles continues to grow in diversity, ooze creativity, move quickly, and dabble in all things spiritual, we feel that if we are able to reach our friends, neighbors, and co-workers in this context, we can help others reach anyone.  In many ways, we see ourselves as part of the Research and Development arm of God’s Kingdom.  Some of what we are facing here now will be what the rest of the U.S. will face in the near future. We have the freedom and calling to experiment, fail, and try again for the sake of others. 
4. What are some God-sized dreams He’s placed in your heart that you have yet to see accomplished? We have unusual dreams at Mosaic.  We want to live by faith, be known by love, and be a voice of hope to our city.  We really, truly want to live out this vision.  When someone is in need in Los Angeles or Berkeley or near any of our gatherings, we want them to think that God can meet their needs through our community.  We want to become one of the most effective humanitarian organizations on the planet.  When someone desires to grow as a leader, we want her to connect to our community.  We dream of becoming one of the premier mentoring organizations in the world.  When Paramount needs a good film, we want them to hire our filmmakers or option one of our short films.  We want to become one of the most effective communities sought after for our creativity.  We want to produce the world’s greatest communicators, writers, and teachers.  We are catching a glimpse of these dreams through Awaken Humanity, Serve L.A., and even recently, one of our dancers became the lead dancer in one of Cirque de Soleil’s shows.  Stuff like that.
5. In the circles you run in, what does it mean to be in the world and not of it…to integrate Christ AND culture?  We cannot show the world God’s love if we do not truly love the people in our world. Too many believers see the world as our enemy.  One of the most important changes we can make to overcome this perception would be to create communities in which people are allowed to belong before they have to believe.  Rather than being considered and even treated as outsiders, we need to invite our family, co-workers, and neighbors into our lives and into our communities as friends.  As followers of Jesus, we have been “set apart” and “sent out.”  We are “set apart” in our behavior, and “sent out” in our relationships.  The more religious we become the more these ideas become reversed.  We end up being “set apart” in our relationships, and “sent out” from those we are to love and serve.   We are “set apart” in how we relate to others, not to whom we relate. As we help others transform their lives, we will transform the culture.

Eric has three Peppermint audiobooks he’s offering to the first 3 people who read this post then email him at eric@mosaic.orgwith “PFP Audiobook” in the subheading.  He might also give away some free online resources to those who don’t win.  If I were you, I’d drop him a line and see what’s up.

Ministry-minded.

Servant-heart.

We push these cliches around in the church world without even defining them. Because of this tendency, I vowed to refrain from ever using them. JUNK. I just did though. You see, Gabe Tavino is both of them…minus the cliches. And I’m going to define these words so you understand Gabe a little better.

Ministry minded = His life flows out of his relationship with Christ. He doesn’t compartmentalize his faith. Servant’s heart = He’s not in it for the applause. He puts others first regardless of the perks.

Keep reading in order to learn more about Gabe,  God’s Mac and his famous author wife Marla. Here’s the interview:

1. How did you get from there to here? I was blessed to be the first individual in my father’s family to achieve a college degree. That degree led our family through 11 moves (all in Ohio) and some nice corporate jobs. God showed me that making lots of money doesn’t bring satisfaction to life. I’ve personally come to an understanding that retirement is an American dream, but doesn’t have to be the finishing point for our efforts. Glorifying God should be our primary goal in everything. I’m thrilled to work from home now, assisting ministries with websites and graphic design, and being content with paying the bills and serving the clients God has given me.
2. What’s the Big Idea behind Digital Disciples? I work with lots of ministries around the world, utilizing technology to make the church go round. I sometimes feel like a hamster, spinning web magic as I speed the wheel faster and faster. We’re not called to DO. We’re called to BE. And the first thing we need to BE is a disciple of Christ. With as much excitement and anticipation that I’ve had in years, I have started forming a group of individuals in Columbus, OH. We focus on sharpening our talents with creativity and technology, and are offering that training for free to the public. Each session is concluded with a Bible study and time of prayer, with the goal of reaching our local community for Christ. I’m now eager to help start other groups in locations around the world.
3. What is God’s Mac and how has it connected you to unbelievers? God’s Mac is a podcast that consists of three segments in each episode. Technology review, an interview with a special guest, and concluding with discussing how God wants us to use technology. It started in August of 2006, and there are over 50 episodes now available online. I’ve been blessed with an awesome friend and co-host in Lee Love, and am happy with how it has encouraged the faith community. We’ve interacted with secular listeners and guests, even a few atheists. It’s my prayer that people see God through our discussions, but I’m more focused now on Digital Disciples and taking technology offline with personal interaction.
4. What are some God-sized dreams He’s placed in your heart that you have yet to see accomplished?This year God has started letting some dreams start to come true! I have a big desire to challenge the church to stop focusing on becoming like the world through our media and entertainment pursuits. Sure, we have to be great at what we do, but there is a shift back to service and discipleship that needs to take place. The church needs to once again leave the building, and as much as it hurts to say it, leave the internet and truly be social again. I am now speaking across the country about this, and am working on a book that I pray will hit the nail on the head. God is shaking the introvert out of me, that’s for sure!
5. In the circles you run in, what does it mean to be in the world and not of it…to integrate Christ AND culture?  I was once told by a friend that God couldn’t use the internet to reach people. Partially true, but mostly false. There is a shift going on where the church believes that it can do the work of the Lord virtually. I am sure the Spirit can move online as well as offline (I’ve witnessed it). But I’ve seen myself and so many other Christians get hooked with the online world, even becoming blind to the fact that God also wants them to have a life away from the desk. It’s time to physically wake up and not cop out of being bold for the Lord in our communities!

As I sign off, I wonder one thing about you…how have you integrated technology and evangelism. I’d like to know. Shoot me a comment below.

Aspire. 

According to Webster “Aspire” is all about: seeking to attain or accomplish a particular goal. But if you’re Dawn Nicole Baldwin there’s no seeking about it. She’s already done it!

With an impressive resume working with clients like Willow Creek Church and Big Idea (creators of Veggie Tales) Dawn has a passion for learning, stretching imaginations & making a difference. She’s currently focused on helping churches reach peoplemore effectively as founder & lead strategist of AspireOne

Keep reading in order to learn more about Dawn and AspireOne. Here’s the interview:

1. How did you get from here to there? I started my first business when I was 13, (selling customized locker illustrations to classmates) so I guess you can say I’ve always been an entrepreneur although my path is a bit nontraditional. My career started at a boutique ad agency but the hours required made it really challenging for a young mom with two small children, so I quickly launched out on my own. During this time I also volunteered heavily at Willow Creek Community Church in communications & after a few years I was offered a staff position leading the department. My husband, Keith, left the ad agency he worked with to take over my small roster of clients while I was at Willow. I’ve always been a huge fan of VeggieTales so when I was offered a position at Big Idea Productions, I leapt at the opportunity. Our little company was beginning to grow, so after spending two years with Bob & Larry, I left the vegetables to rejoin Keith at AspireOne in 2001. Over the past eight years I’ve been privileged to work with some incredibly talented people while pursuing my passions of writing and speaking. I absolutely love my team and the clients we partner with. Recently, I joined Jarbyco (a mobile communications startup) as a senior partner in addition to my role at AspireOne.
2. Give us the Big Idea behind AspireOne? The reason why we exist is to help churches reach people more effectively. There are so many that feel they are the community’s best kept secret or are battling misperceptions–not only of their church, but sometimes Christianty in general. Our passion is to help churches understand how to live out their unique purpose and communicate that with clarity.
3. I applaud your vision for AspireOne. What is your “God size” vision for it? Our God-sized vision is to enable churches at a deeper level and on a global scale. Helping churches not only understand marketplace best practices, but the unique purpose God has in mind for their specific church. This is beyond brand strategies, marketing tactics or convincing some not to imitate what other influential churches are doing. But helping each church realize their potential and connecting others to that vision.
4. Please identify one of your leadership weaknesses that’s been exposed while functioning as the Lead Strategist of AspireOne. It’s hard for me to believe that God would use me in the way it appears He might want to. Honestly, I’m humbled by some of the circles I’m invited to play in, and a lack of confidence can become exposed due to the absence of a pedigreed education or experience climbing a traditional corporate ladder. It’s caused me to hold back when I’ve needed to speak up or step forward because I’ve doubted my abilities.
5. How have you closed that leadership gap? It may sound trite, but I’ve been stretching my faith to trust God more & myself less. I’ve also been intentionally looking to surround myself with people who will be honest with me about what I can and can’t do and then balance our teams with talented people who complement those skills.

As I sign off, I wonder one thing about you…what are you aspiring to become. I’d like to know. Shoot me a comment below.

Is “Suck” a bad word?

Brad Abare seems to think so. That’s why he founded Church Marketing Sucks, the blog to frustrate, educate and motivate the church to communicate, with uncompromising clarity, the truth of Jesus Christ.

Offended? Interested?

Keep reading in order to learn more about Brad and the Center for Church Communication. Here’s the interview:

1. How did you get from here to there? I started a magazine when I was 16 which turned into a small publishing company by the time I was 18. By age 19, I would be sued for millions of dollars which eventually forced me to lose everything. Although I won the case, I lost the business and in the rubble of failure emerged the rumblings of three things I’m involved in today: Personality, a consultancy that profiles organizations; Foursquare, communications director since 2002; and Center for Church Communication (CFCC), a nonprofit that helps churches communicate better.
2. You seem to be involved in several initiatives (CFCC, Personality, Foursquare). What are some strategies you employ which keep your from
   spreading yourself too thin? A few things come to mind: 1) I surround myself with super smart people who know more about their game than I do. I hire or recruit people who will take the team in directions I can only imagine. 2) I arrive to the office every morning at about 6 AM which gives a couple silent hours for accomplishing what I need to do. The rest of the day is about my team’s agenda. 3) I leave the office every day at 4 PM and spend an hour or so at night preparing for the following day. The rest of the evening is for life outside of work (family, friends, small group, etc.). 4) I’m not on Facebook.
3. Give us the Big Idea behind Church Marketing Sucks. The church has the greatest story ever told but not enough people are
   listening. That’s in part to a communication problem. Church Marketing Sucks (part of the Center for Church Communication), is the blog to frustrate, educate and motivate the church to communicate, with uncompromising clarity, the truth of Jesus Christ. The first post went live in July 2004 and we haven’t looked back since.
4. Don’t worry about sounding arrogant or bold, but what are some God-sized dreams He’s placed in your heart? This is a loaded question and I honestly don’t know where to begin or how to squeeze my response into this short space. However, for the context of your readers, let me say that I have a dream to see the church re-calibrated over the next ten years to be more reflective of the bride Jesus is coming back for. This means looking a lot less like a sleepy corporate religion with all its departmentalized denominations. I want to be a part of a growing church that measures its significance not by the size of its building, but by the size of its giving. I want to win the attention of people not by clever sermon series but by incarnate living. If the woman at the well had attempted to come to church (temple in her day), she would have been stoned. The closer someone wanted to get to the Holy of Holies, the more death was risked. So Jesus comes to tear down the temple and access to God is now incarnate. So what does God do? He goes TO the woman at the well. I don’t want to be at the temple when my neighbors are at the well.
5.  In the circles you run in, what does it mean to be in the world and not of it…to integrate Christ AND culture? It means meditating on scripture (I’m currently memorizing the book of James) and contextualizing Scripture for today. It means being where I am and living locally. It means intentionally surrounding myself with inputs that don’t always support the way I view the world. It means prodding my religious leader friends (pastors) to get out of the temple and hang out at wells.

 If you’re still unsure if “suck” is a bad word check out this link.

Entrepreneur.

Don’t belittle the word unless you’ve had the courage to try it on for size and walk around a bit. When I think of Ben Arment words like guts, bold, and fearless come to mind – not to mention entrepreneur – (hence his founding of The Whiteboard Sessions).

You gotta be a little crazy when you’re a church planter. It’s one of the toughest jobs and 3 out of 5 church plants fail. My dad’s planted 3 of them and he is as tough as nails.

Listen in to my interview with Ben as I asked him about the Risks he’s taken as a leader and the next ones that have him in right in their sights. (If I were you Risks, I’d walk away, before it’s too late.)

1. How did you get from here to there? I wanted to be a political journalist, but then interned at the White House with Monica Lewinsky and had enough of that. =) I moved into writing for an advertising agency until I realized my soul was shriveling. So I started dabbling with youth outreaches and discovered I had a passion for ministry. I went to seminary at Liberty University, but Lynchburg was saturated with ministry students, so I drove 4 hours each weekend to work at a large church in Virginia Beach. After 3 years of feeling like a social director on a Christian cruise ship, my wife Ainsley and I decided to plant a church in Reston, Virginia, just outside Washington DC. Seven years later, I stepped down from pastoring to create The Whiteboard Sessions and then become a director for Catalyst.
2. Please identify one of your leadership weaknesses that’s been exposed while functioning as the Experience & Innovation Director at Catalyst? I’ve come to realize I’m not a good shepherd of a congregation. I must have been trying to fake it for 10 years because now that I’m not in that role anymore, I have an overwhelming sense of relief. Joy is being restored to my soul. As for my Catalyst job, I’m not good at brainstorming in groups. I’m too decisive.
3. How have you closed that leadership gap? I ask my team to brainstorm without me and then ask for their recommendations. It lets them dream without my interference.
4. What led to your decision to transition you and your family from serving in a local church? After seven years, I felt my shepherding gifts being stretched beyond comfort. I’m rather entrepreneurial in my gift mix, so I kept trying to reinvent the church, but it was lurching the organization. They needed a true pastor to give them stability, and my associate pastor was the perfect guy. God used me to launch the church, but he provided a true shepherd to lead them on. At the end of my tenure, I invited 5 local pastors to assess our church. They confirmed my suspicions and graciously and lovingly helped me move on.
5. I applaud the vision to take the Catalyst brand beyond the Podcast, Filter, Catalyst Atlanta and now into Catalyst One Day and Catalyst West. What steps are you taking to protect the Catalyst brand from diffusing too much and becoming victim to the Starbucks parable we all know so well? For the record, I still love Starbucks, =) but I understand what you’re asking here. Keep in mind there are hundreds of thousands of church leaders who have never even heard of Catalyst. I can’t tell you how many people ask me, “What is Catalyst?” So we’re working hard to reach those people. To our die-hards, this might feel like over-exposure, but our One Day events, for example, attract a whole new audience. Our “community” consists of over 140,000 leaders, but only 19,000 will come to our events this year. And those are only the leaders who know us and love us.

 Which of the Catalyst brand is your favorite and why?

You ever meet someone who’s just a nice guy?

Such was the case for me at the Catalyst conference this past year. Standing in the concession line during one of the breaks, never knowing a stranger, I asked the guy in front of me if he was author extraordinaire Mark Batterson.

Sure enough the guy who held a box of popcorn in his hands was the same dude who uses animal names in the titles of his books like: In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and Wild Goose Chase. More than that, he’s a leader I totally respect. One of those courageous folks – a guy who’s church in the DC area (National Community Church) is comprised of 70% dechurched or unchurched people. Under Mark Batterson’s leadership NCC is 1 church in 5 locations.

What I like best about Batterson isn’t his popcorn or his legacy as a leader, it is his down-to-earth, “can’t buy it” humility. Needless to say, I’m a fan. Listen in to my interview as I asked him about his successes, failures, and challenges as a leader:

1. How did you get from here to there? It all goes back to a cow pasture in Alexandria, Minnesota.  Isn’t that how every story begins?  Seriously, I have a picture of a cow pasture hanging behind my desk because that is where I felt God calling me to ministry. I had no idea what or how or where.  But that was my first burning bush. 
   Over the years I’ve learned that “sometimes it takes a shipwreck to get you where God wants you to go.”  It was a shipwrecked church plant while I was in Cemetery, I mean Seminary, that forced us to consider other options. Long story short, we packed up all of our belongings into a fifteen foot Uhaul and drove from Chicago to DC.  Can’t imagine being any place else.  My wife and three kids live on Capitol Hill and we’ve had the privilege of serving National Community Church for more than a decade now!
2. Please identify one of your leadership weaknesses that’s been exposed while the Pastor at National Community Church? One?  I have a hard time saying “no.”  I have a hard time confronting issues.  I think I’m a people-pleaser by nature. And I’m also a perfectionist.  Oh yeah, I have a hard time answering requests for “one” weakness.  Put that all together and I’m as messed up as the next guy. 
3. How have you closed that leadership gap? I’m still closing the gap, but having boundaries has helped on several of those weaknesses. For example, I only give National Community Church one night per week because I need to coach my kid’s teams and help them with homework.  Obviously, that wasn’t the case during the church plant phase.  But over time you need to find the right balance between family and ministry and that means putting family first.  I have our Stewardship Team limit the number of boards I can serve on and the number of speaking days I can travel.  Those boundaries help me say “no.”  I also take all of my vacation because I owe it myself and my church and my family.  Do I still get out of whack at times? Absolutely!  But then I reestablish boundaries.
4. I applaud your vision for National Community Church. What is your “God size” vision for it? I think it was Bill Gates who said we tend to overestimate what we can accomplish in two years and underestimate what we can accomplish in ten years.  I’m taking the long-view. I want to pastor one church for life and that allows me to dream God-sized dreams.  First and foremost, I envision us giving millions of dollars to missions every year.  That is our driving force.  We want to grow more so we can give more.  We’ll give about half a million to missions this year along with ten missions trips to ten countries, but enough is never enough when it comes to giving.  And we believe God will continue to bless if we continue to give.  Beyond that, I envision us influencing five digits on a weekly basis and having twenty-five locations in the DC area and possibly in other parts of the country or even across the big pond.  Finally, I see a franchise of coffeehouses giving every penny of profit to missions while creating postmodern wells where people can encounter Christ (and get a good cup of coffee).
5. Give us the Big Idea  behind your breakthrough book Wild Goose Chase and why you wrote it? The Celtic Christians called the Holy Spirit An Geadh-Glas or The Wild Goose. I love that characterization.  You cannot track or tame a wild goose.  There is a element of danger and an air of predictability.  In a nutshell, if you take the Holy Spirit out of the equation of my life it spells boring.  If you add him into the equation, all bets are off.  You never know where you’ll go, what you’ll do, or who you’ll meet.  Wild Goose Chase is a book that invites people into the unequaled adventure of living a Spirit-led life.

So as a reader, what’s your take-away from Mark’s interview? Where is the Spirit leading you? On a Wild Goose Chase?