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Tough Times = Breeding Ground for Innovation

No one enjoys having a lack of resources.  Yet, it's often times that lack that ends up pushing us into greater avenues of creativity and innovation.  If we allow it to.

I remember when we had absolutely NO discretionary money or resources to do anything other than pay our bills (barely) and sometimes our staff. The bottom line was that if we wanted to do something, we pretty much had to pay for it out of our own pockets (we still do sometimes) or figure out some other creative way to get it done.  (Side note, it's amazing how differently we think about spending when it comes out of our own pockets isn't it?) 

In many regards, that was a very tough and draining season.  Yet at the same time....it was also a season where I watched the innovative muscles of our team stretch and grow in some amazing ways.  And to a large degree, I would credit those days as being a huge factor in what's helped us sustain a culture of innovation at The Orchard today.

So here's a question/comment that's been on my mind a lot lately...

Leaders, how are we taking advantage of not having "enough" right now? 

Which direction is your "lack" pushing you these days?  Deeper into MENTAL LACK?  Or.....deeper into the world of creativity & innovation?  

Let's make sure we aren't allowing our current situation to move us into a "poverty" or "lacking" mentality.  Instead, let's keep the bar raised and expectations high.  Let's continue casting vision and articulating what could be - even if the resources don't yet exist.  And instead of saying "NO" - what if we said things like, "If you can figure out a way to make it happen, go for it!"  Or BETTER YET....what if we actually challenged and empowered our teams to find ways to make it happen!  Seriously, you'll be surprised at the innovation that will surface. 

I suck at math, but I'm in the mood to create a formula, so I leave you with this:

LACK OF RESOURCES + HIGH EXPECTATIONS + EMPOWERED TEAM = CRAZY BREEDING GROUND FOR INNOVATION  (i.e. figuring out ways to get things done in a completely different way than before)

Leaders, I'd love to hear how you're intentionally fostering an innovative environment in your organization.

Exciting Announcement!

Exciting Announcement! from scotthodge on Vimeo.

I'm calling it SHOCKTOBER.

Ok, so there are around 2.4 billion things that I'm excited about right now.  And I seriously feel like I need to pinch myself just to make sure this is all real.  Here's a taste.

STORY - It happens next week!  Can't wait.  Around 1,700 pastors, communicators, church leaders, writers, speakers, etc will converge for two days to learn and be inspired by an amazing line up of storytellers -   people like Dave Gibbons, Ed Young, Donald Miller, Nancy Beach, Mike Foster, Stacy Spencer, Chris Seay, and others.  The first day happens on Wednesday, October 28th at the beautiful Paramount Theater in downtown Aurora.  The next day will be workshops (sold out!) happening at The Orchard.  Honored to host and be a part of STORY!

CULTIVATE - Seriously, Chicagoland is the place to be in October.  Cultivate is a highly interactive, conversational, collaborative un-conference that's all about church communication.  It's happening the day before STORY.  And the lineup of facilitators is just sick.  Wow.

DAVE GIBBONS - We are honored to have Dave speak at The Orchard's gatherings the weekend following STORY.  Not only is Dave a good friend, but he's someone God has used to impact my life in some pretty significant ways.  I'm thrilled that our church community gets to hear and learn from him!

THE NEW & IMPROVED....ORCHARD - The Orchard has had an extreme makeover!  Through the amazing "pro bono" generosity of fellow Orchard tribal members, Dawn & Keith Baldwin (Aspire One), we have a new logo and amazzzing new website that will go live later THIS WEEK.  I'll talk more about this in a later post...  STAY TUNED!

LOVE.SERVE.GIVE. - It's The Orchard's GLOCAL outreach opportunities this winter.  More about this later as well... But just know that we are going to have some amazing opportunities to bring beauty and hope to people locally in our city and globally in places like Uganda, Thailand, and El Salvador.  

ORCHARD ART INITIATIVE - Too much to type, but The Orchard is turning into an art gallery starting this month.  Our campus will be filled with art from local artists.  Huge dream come true, but only the beginning...

Ok, there's more, but I my fingers hurt and I need to study.  OUT.

August!

What the heck happened to summer!?  Holy smokes...  It's August.  But that's ok because this is going to be a great month!  Here's a few things coming up that I'm very, very excited about!

First....there's the Echo Conference.  It's this week in Dallas.  Mike Jones and I are headed there tomorrow.  And not only am I excited to be a part of the media/church/tech panel with my friends Bobby Gruenewald, Carlos Whittaker, and Cynthia Ware but I'm also look forward to hearing & learning from people like Phil Visher, Mark Steele, Phil Cooke, and Ben Arment! 

 

Then next week, I'll be heading to Orlando where I'll be helping host the Influence Conference!  Speakers will include: Mark Batterson, Reggie Joiner, Beth Moore, Keith Craft, and Ed Young.  We are also going to be having post-session Q&A's that you can be a part of.  More on that later...

After Influence, a couple days with the family at Disney World....and then........the thing that I'm MOST EXCITED ABOUT.........

The Orchard's annual BBQ & BAPTISM happening on Sunday, August 9th!

And here's a taste of what that's all about in case you missed it a couple weeks ago...

2008 Orchard Baptism Video from The Orchard on Vimeo.

Want to sign up to be baptized?  Go here!

It's going to be a great August! 

Three Questions to Ask When Making RISKY Decisions

Really been enjoying Jim Collin's book How The Mighty Fall.  In one of his chapters, Collins gives three important questions to ask when "making risky bets and decisions in the face of ambiguous or conflicting data."  Here they are:

1. What's the upside, if events turn out well?
   
2. What's the downside, if events go very badly?
   
3. Can you live with the downside?  Truly?
   

Interesting Observation...and an invite to RESPOND.

Seems like 2 or 3 years ago, most conversation about church change/transition was happening among SMALLER (100-300) to MEDIUM sized (300-500) churches who were seeking to move from a “traditional” format to a more “contemporary” style/approach.

Now.....in many of my conversations with pastors and church leaders, it seems like there are whole lot more LARGER sized (1,000-3,000+) “contemporary” churches who are now seeking to transition to something new & different.

Your turn.  And I’m serious when I say this.  I would LOVE to hear from you - ESPECIALLY if you are in the midst of a change/transition initiative. 

(And since it’s likely that smaller sized and “less known” church leaders will feel more “freedom” to reply, please...BIG DOGS...feel free to comment anonymously because I know many of you read my blog.  Or at least USED TO - before being referred to as a “big dog”.  LOL.)

Also, I would love for you to include three pieces of info in your response:

1. Church Size

2. Type of Transition (Philosophical or Stylistic?  From WHAT to WHAT?)

3. What is the SINGLE GREATEST CHALLENGE you are facing in leading your church through this change?

Bring it!  And thanks.

Orlando...Austin...Atlanta.....and next, Uganda.

Ok, I'm diving back in to the blog.  It's been way too long.  My lame excuse: I've been running 200MPH since a few weeks before Easter with writing, travel, etc... and blogging just hasn't been that high on my priority list.  Sorry faithful folks.

So anyway...  Rather than try to knock out a bunch of amazing blog posts, I thought I'd throw out a few random thoughts of what's been happening over these past few weeks.  Here we go:

• Easter.  This year's Easter weekend The Orchard was a record-breaking weekend!  Our teams did an amazing job and I think my head is still spinning after a HUGELY successful Helicopter Easter Egg Drop.  All I can say is WOW.  If you missed the video review, click here.
  
  
• Orlando.  Had a great time at Exponential in Orlando.  Exponential is sort of a like a big family reunion (but without the weird uncle and the funky potato salad).  This is actually the largest church planting conference in North America and one that I would definitely encourage all church planters to attend in 2010.  Had fun teaching a session with Gary Lamb (did he really say "wanker"??) and then participating in some great conversations in the Exponential Lounge with guys like Erwin McManus, Francis Chan, Dave Ferguson, Craig Groeschel, Matt Chandler, and others. 
  
  
• Austin. After a couple of days home I found myself in the amazing city of Austin, TX to be a part of Q.  Q is one of my favorite gatherings of the year.  It's small and all about influencing and changing culture.  Think TED format.  Loved connecting with a bunch of friends - both new and old.  People like Kem Meyer, Mike Foster, Jeff Shinabarger, Tim Stevens, Alan Hirsch, Kyle Zimmerman, John Burke, Rick McKinley, Chris Seay, Gabe Lyons, Mel McGowan, Charles Lee, and a bunch of other amazing people. Next year, Q will be here - in Chicago!
  
  
• Austin II.  All I can say is - what a cool city.  And with a slogan that's all about keeping it "weird" what do you expect??  Check out a few photos I posted in Facebook.
  
  
• Jackie Huba.  Writer, Author, Speaker, Blogger, Marketing Guru-ess, co-founder of the Society for Word of Mouth.  Forbes calls her work "the word of mouth gospel."  Anyway....  Had a chance to grab lunch with Jackie while in Austin.  That was worth the trip alone.  If you don't follow her twitter you need to. 
  
  
• Atlanta.  Orange.  It's THE premier and the BEST family ministry conference in the flippin' universe.  Loved being a part of this and having the opportunity to share The Orchard's story and some thoughts/ideas on the topic of navigating change with a room full of Lead Pastors and Senior Leaders.  Just wish I could have stuck around for more than a few hours, but was glad to be able to hang with a few of our staff who were attending and introduce them to some killer Korean BBQ. 
  
  
• Uganda.  In a couple of weeks.  More on this later, but looking forward to getting my heart messed up by this trip. 
  
  
• Study.  It's what I should be doing right now.  So I'm done.  Hopefully back in the groove of blogging.  We'll see.  Thanks for the encouragement folks.

Meet Dave Gibbons!

I’ve gotta be honest... I am blown away at the caliber of people God has surrounded my life with.  I'm serious.  The leaders, pastors, entrepreneurs, creatives, artists, etc... who I've had the opportunity to get to know and become friends with over the years is something that I am so grateful for!

One of those people is a very new friend of mine by the name of Dave Gibbons.  Dave is....umm...let's  see.  Well let me just paste in what Zondervan says about him:

Last weekend I had the opportunity to meet and spend some time with Dave while at The Idea Camp in  Irvine, CA.  In fact, not only did I have the privilege of spending some time learning from Dave, but  SOMEHOW......I also found myself sitting between him and Eugene Cho during a Leadership Q&A  session at Idea Camp!  That was quite an honor... (even though he made me eat this.)

SO ANYWAY....with all that said, there’s two things I want to tell you about:

First...

DAVE'S BOOK.  The Monkey and the Fish.  I read a lot of books, but seldom do I read one twice.  I'm already half way through my second reading...

It’s hard to describe how much I have found myself resonating with Dave’s heart through his book.  Plus, watching how God is using him, not just in SoCal, but also in places like Bangkok, India, London, Mexico City, and multiple other cities, is stretching and challenging me in some unbelievable ways.  (You can read about my visit to NewSong Bangkok here.)

Second...

THE VIDEO.  The other thing I want you to know about is this video interview recorded last weekend by Eugune Cho (who you also need to get to know...).

On a side note, Dave will be speaking at this year’s Leadership Summit at Willowcreek. 

Lastly, here’s some linkage.

Dave’s Blog

Dave’s Twitter
NewSong Church
Buy the Book

Get to know Dave Gibbons folks.

Leading in Times of Uncertainty

Last weekend I taught on leading in times of uncertainty and the need for leaders to embrace CLARITY, CREATIVITY, & CHANGE.

Tons of great feedback - from CEO's all the way to stay-at-home mom's. 

Leadership is INFLUENCE.  And if your life intersects with others, you have influence!  Which means that to one degree or another.....you are a leader. 

You can download it here. (direct .mp3 link)

Or....you can subscribe to our weekly podcast here. (iTunes)

My Friend Anne!

This is my friend Anne Jackson.  (And next to her is another friend, Jon Acuff - a.k.a. Stuff Christians Like)

Anne just wrote a new book.  It’s called Mad Church Disease.  And it’s one that I seriously predict is going to be one of the most influential books for church leaders this year and beyond.

I’ve gotten to know Anne personally over the past couple of years and here’s the bottom line:

Anne is willing to step out on a limb and talk about the **** that very few have the guts to talk about.

It’s that way when you hang out with her.  It’s that way on her blog.  It’s the same way when she speaks. 

And NOW...it’s most definitely the same with her new book as she writes very openly about a topic that most of us are familiar with (even if you don’t know it yet):

BURNOUT

Folks....burnout is a serious issue.  Especially in church work, where the lines between “work” and “personal  life” are constantly blurred. 

In chapter 5, Anne shares one of the most helpful tools I’ve seen on how to distinguish between “stress” and “burnout”.  She has also included some interviews on this topic with some great church leaders like Bill Hybels, Perry Noble, Mike Foster, Wayne Cordeiro, and others. 

But the best part of the book is where Anne offers hope for health - spiritual, physical, emotional, and relational health. 

Check it out here.

Pre-order it now.  In fact, do what I’m going to do and buy multiple copies for your staff.

Thank you Anne for pouring your heart and passion into this book!  You are a gift!