Archives For Culture

Multiply. Are We (Re)Discovering Disciplemaking?

April 25, 2013 — 1 Comment

Is the church rediscovering the lost art of disciplemaking?

You be the judge. Several big name pastors are now publishing best-selling Christian books on the topic of spiritual multiplication. One of the largest church planting gatherings in the world, Exponential, dedicated its April 2013 meetings to the topic of DiscipleShift. There is an explosion of no-cost or low-cost ebooks out on the the topic.

No doubt about it; suddenly discipleship is hot.

Jesus gave his followers three big imperatives:

1. Love God.

2. Love people.

3. Make disciples of all nations.

Why is the 2,000 year old Master plan finally returning to center stage?

I think there are several reasons for this shift, and I welcome them all. Perhaps that five years after Willow Creek’s Reveal Study, megachurch pastor/authors are realizing that just getting more bodies into seats on Sunday doesn’t change the world. After a glut of “bigger is better” programs in the evangelical church, we are returning to the basic truth that “your church is only as good as your disciples” (Rick Warren video snippet from the Exponential2013 conference in Orlando this week).

At Exponential’s opening session, all 5,000+ attendees were handed a “Scorecard” on the way in. There were two blanks to fill in: weekly attendance and weekly offering. The speaker encouraged us all to acknowledge that though those numbers may be helpful, they are very incomplete measures of the church’s true mission. He invited us to tear up that scorecard and work on a new one this week, one that would reflect life-on-life disciplemaking, wholistic life-change, and sustainable multiplication through multiple generations.

This was music to my ears. I’ve been doing this for the past 30 years in full-time ministry and can testify that intentionally investing in 3 to 12 people each year bears amazing results. Jesus promised that his way would produce 30, 60 and 100-fold results.

How have you experienced the fruit of intentional discipleship or mentoring?

 

In Culture, Leadership, Movements ,
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Book Bite: Who Is This Man?

December 6, 2012 — 1 Comment

Are you looking for a great Christmas gift for under $15 that is stimulating, lightweight, enduring and captures the true meaning of Christmas? You might consider Who Is This Man?: The Unpredictable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus by John Ortberg.

I am finding it a great slow read. Ortberg has done his homework and uses his humor well. He helps us connect the dots between seemingly unrelated events in history to see God’s amazing love and plan for the nations unfold through the life of Jesus Christ. For instance, in our viral age of “bigger, better, faster, more,” we probably wouldn’t even notice if someone attempted to launch a worldwide movement by spending three years with a few men and women in near obscurity. Ortberg observes:

At the end of their time together, they had not caused much of a stir. If you could have been there on the day after he died, if you could have seen the Roman Empire with its Pax Romana and its 250,000 miles of roads and its extension from Asia to Africa to Europe and its history of dominance and its social status that was envied throughout the Mediterranean…. And then if you could have seen a few dozen failed, frightened, demoralized, defeated, confused former followers of an executed carpenter … If someone had asked you to place a bet on which group would still be around in two thousand years, all the smart money would have been placed on the Roman Empire. Which is as extinct as the dodo bird. Who was this man?

Before you spend good money on a gift for a friend or family member, consider this option. After all, this Man is the reason for the season.

 

In Books & Quotes, Culture, Leadership
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Innovate or Die Trying: 3 Links

June 16, 2012 — Leave a comment

“You win by trying. And failing. Test, try, fail, measure, evolve, repeat, persist, …”
- Seth Godin, American author and Marketing Expert

What does it mean to innovate? My Mac dictionary defines “innovate” this way:

innovate |ˈinəˌvāt| verb

1. make changes in something established, esp. by introducing new methods, ideas, or products: the company’s failure to diversify and innovate competitively.

2. introduce (something new, esp. a product): innovating new products, developing existing ones.

Innovation is making changes or making something new. We hear a lot about innovation today. I am surprised by the number of people, blogs, and leaders urging me to innovate! Innovate!! INNOVATE!!! without giving me some clear sense of why or how to proceed.

Here are three really good links on innovation that came through my RSS feed this week. They address both the whys and hows of innovation.

Why Newspapers Were Doomed All Along - HBR

Big idea: Birmingham and New Orleans will become the first significant U.S. cities (each has a metropolitan-area population of a bit more than a million) without daily newspapers — another landmark in the sickeningly fast and sure-to-continue collapse of the once money-gushing U.S. regional newspaper industry.

Key quote: “The Internet has unbundled the various businesses that made up a metro daily newspaper, and there’s no putting them back together again.”

The Social Network Gospel - Christianity Today

Big idea: How interconnectivity helps us better engage the Bible.

Key quote: “Think big, start small, fail fast; learn rapidly.” To try repeatedly is vital in engaging people with Scripture online. The digital environment welcomes raw attempts and quickly forgives trial-and-error efforts that are promptly corrected and adapted with improvements.”

Start-ups, Skunkworks, and Your Next Big Product  – HBR

Big idea: For large companies to create new growth opportunities they will need to redefine what innovation means within their walls. Over the last ten years, as businesses have tried to understand and pursue innovation, their organizations have been left confused of its purpose and its benefit. Much of this confusion stems from applying one term to too many contexts. Most businesses are actually pursuing two types of innovation; product innovation and process innovation.

Key quote: “Allow small teams to iterate their ideas, to gather data and develop performance metrics, and to quickly discard less promising in favor of stronger ones. These organizations create strong networks, provide guidance, and help fledgling companies succeed where large companies currently fail; their single goal for existing is to bring ideas to the market.” 

Why and how are you innovating?

In Culture, Leadership, Productivity
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