Creative Bites

We aren’t in charge of the mission 

• That is the burden of leadership. That is directed by scripture. 
• If you can’t accept that, you either need to do the work to be in leadership, or move on to a place where you are on board with the mission.

You are stalling the mission if you are:

• Spending your time defending your trade over the mission
• Verbalizing disagreement with the mission 
• Arguing against on mission decisions that require more work or aren’t exciting 

You are supporting the mission if you are:

• Spending your time figuring out how your trade can support the mission 
• Asking questions about clarifying the mission
• Defending the mission even when it means more work for you or unexciting projects 

You can the power to spread the mission by:

• Helping others make these pivots 

Bottom line:

Each of us has been hired to move the mission of the church forward, not turn the church into a playground for our industries. 

In this episode, I want to talk about the dissonance that happens between what we ask our people to do, and what we do our selves.

Topics:

• We tell people they need to get out of debt while we encumber debt
• We encourage families to budget strategically while we spend flippantly
• We tell parents we want to partner with them while communicating with their kids using social media services their parent's don't support
• We say “God will provide” while we panic because we don’t have enough volunteers
• We tell our people to be available for the people in their life while we are unavailable because of busy schedules
• We tell people to be willing to do anything to spread the gospel while we aren’t willing to entertain any new ideas

Bottom line:
Every decision we make in these situations affirms or denies your church’s mission. Before you make a decision, ask yourself what it does to your organization’s mission.

If you work at a church (or other organization) that has a clear mission, it can be difficult to lead change in your area of influence. I encountered this early in my ministry career as a graphic designer. I tried to influence change with arguments focused on trends and typography. Needless to say, I wasn't having much success.

Over the years, I've been able to make two key pivots in the way that I initiate change, and they have made a huge difference in my ability to move the mission of the church forward. 

This podcast exists to be a weekly reminder of what these changes look like applied in real life situations. We will approach this idea of moving our mission forward from a four different perspectives:

Case studies: I've seen a lot work, and a lot not work over the years. I'd love to share what I've learned so you don't have to learn the hard way.

Tools: I've run into a lot of problems that I think I know how to solve, but I don't have the right tool at hand. I'd love to hand you some tools.

Philosophy: Thinking properly about tools is critical to your ability to move the mission of your organization forward. I'd love to frame your approach to the implementation of new tools. 

Conversations: Outside perspectives are extremely helpful in showing us another point of view. I'd love to introduce you to some of the people I respect most in ministry.