Mike Walker

Leadership - Brady Boyd notes from Gateway Conference

As a leader you will have crisis

*side note - one of the largest challenges todays church faces is the belief by the world that getting saved will begin a disneyesque experience in your life and you will live happily ever after

1-crisis will test your leadership
Acts chapter 9 - saul - verse 26 - barnabus was the one who saw the potential in saul
Saul got saved and didn't have a disneyesque experience - as a church we have to fight the notion that once you get saved your life will be a disneyesque experience.....its a lie the world believes

Leadership that is not tested can not be trusted

Your first election comes from your church (they may choose you as their preacher), but until you pass the test they won't choose u as leader
*positions are man given while leadership is God given

Brady referenced the scandal that had happened with the predecessor at his church. He mentions that the younger generation wasn't too phased by it. The students and younger generation expects leaders to fail which is why they weren't affected by the haggard scandal

Crisis will confirm your faith-in a crisis you will quickly determine what your values are

You need to write down what your non negotiables are-you don't get to decide what ur core is during a crisis

Whatever you are willing to negotiate with the enemy you will lose

In james it reminds us that when we go through trials of any kind to pray for wisdom

Our opinions have never changed anyones life-truth changes peoples lives

Crisis will reveal God to the world by how we respond

There are 2 times the eyes of the world will be on you...1-when you are successful and 2-when you are in crisis

God trains you for the assignment he gives you

Acts 8:1-this is when God placed growth in the church

Persecution makes us better-the lessons you can learn are priceless

Every plan the enemy has against Gods children has backfired and will backfire

Jimmy Evans from Octane Conference

Here are my notes from one of the sessions with Jimmy Evans at Gateways Leadership Conference:

-Excellence deals in all 5 senses
-Materialism deals only in visual
-Society concentrates on outward appearances as opposed to inward
-Excellence is not legalism
-God is a good steward and He does not waste – what do we need to do so that God knows we will be good stewards with what he gives us?
-Its not what you can make happen....can you keep it happening?
-Excellence is an excellent billboard and witnessing tool
-Excellence is a teachable spirit – be teachable – excellence is always learning – its never enough until God has called me to do all I am called to do
-Excellence is the spirit of the servant
-Some people think excellence is too difficult – it’s actually easier to do it right – it’s easier to work at your marriage as opposed to not work at it
-If God brings more people to a mediocre church he is endorsing mediocrity
-In the process of establishing excellence you will lose some people....you will gain more and better people
-People want to know the secret to Hillsong success...one word....Work
-People will measure their view of God by us

Day 2 at Gateways Connect Conference

I was getting ready to post my notes from yesterday and realized I had forgotten to transfer them from my blackberry to my computer so those are coming later.

Today was highlighted by talks from Robert Morris and Brady Boyd.

Robert gave a great talk on what a healthy, long term effective church looks like.

Brady, who is the pastor at New Life in Colorado Springs gave a killer talk on what leadership during crisis looks like. For those of you who don't know Brady took over New Life after Ted Haggard left and after 3 months of being on the job had a shooting occur on December 9, 2007. I will post my notes later....great stuff.

Time for a quick lunch then off the worship sessions.

Update

I have been a little awol lately. I have been in talks about redesigning my website and blog.

Currently I am sitting at the Connect Conference at Gateway Church. After being on staff and hosting a large conference for the past several years, it's nice to sit and be on the receiving end for a change.

Gateway has THE BEST worship in the country. This morning Jimmy Evans gave 2 talks on Excellence and Leadership. I will post my notes later this afternoon.

I am sitting in a worship track right now with Thomas Miller. It's been refreshing to sit and listen to someone who is a worshipper first and a leader of worship second. He is a guy who gets it as a worship leader. Hillsong is an organization that gets it. While several people may not know about Gateway (yet)..you will. They are one of the leading organizations in worship and technology.

I WISH my first satellite campus sounded and looked as good as the first one Gateway did. The upside for them is also huge! If you havent checked them out yet...you should.

Apple is changing the game

Apple announced yesterday that there is an update to Apple TV coming in the next few weeks and months. You will soon be able to rent movies directly from your Apple TV device. I hate going in Blockbuster stores so this is huge for me.

This news started my brain going. I have been doing some extensive research and reading on the topic of broadcast culture versus digital culture. Here's how it relates in this instance. Broadcast tv, radio, etc...decides what's going to be the show you will watch or the program you will listen to at a certain time. In a digital culture the options are more wide open. Imagine you being able to tune in whatever you wanted when you wanted. I could elaborate more on this, but I'll leave that for later.

So what does that have to do with church?

Most churches have audio, video, teaching materials, etc...that the public can go online and access. In some cases there is a cost involved and in some it's free information. What if...WHAT IF....the public could access all your material at any given time, watch it when they want or read it when they want? What if we were able to basically set up our own networks so people could access it and build their own playlist?

Think about it, not only would this allow public to listen to or watch what they want from your organization when they want to, but think about what you could learn about your audience. Your audience will automatically tell you what THEY think you are great at communicating about. The information that would be collected could drastically tell you how well you are doing with branding...if you are branding at all.

Again, I could go on and on about this....and I will be.....but I think the possibilities of thinking in a digital world open whole new spaces for us in the church world to start considering.

Satellite Church

In my last 2 years at Fellowship Church one of the things added to my list was to help launch 4 satellite (distributed) campuses (3 of which opened within 3 months of each other).

I come across a lot of churches who want to expand their reach by opening satellite campuses. Whether or not it's for you really depends on your situation, but there are some definite perks to doing satellite church:
1 - If you are already a megachurch and looking to expand, you are talking about $15-20 million easy for a new building to seat 3500-4000 people. You can build a well outfitted (depending on your technology model) building for between $3-10 million. Beyond the costs of building there is also the cost of ownership after you build. Maintaining a building that seats 1500 is a lot easier than 4000 (and less expensive).
2 - It makes you more accessible to other communities that might not know about you, but also might not be inclined to make a drive to your main location. Think about this...a youth department that has a local set up near 8 high schools has more influence than if they just had direct impact on 3.
3 - It gives you opportunity to expand the leadership within your organization. The more you grow the more capable leaders you will need. Having a bunch of great leaders around is never a bad thing...as long as they are led well. A bunch of great leaders without good leadership above them ends up being groups of renegades.

I could keep going, but you get the point.

Over the next few weeks and months we will talking about what things you need to have on your checklist if you are thinking about launching satellite campuses.

Be back soon.

Still around

Life has been crazy since the beginning of December 2007. I am still trying to get my head above water....I will be posting more soon on updates...

Please stay tuned....lots of changes coming!

Senator Grassley Investigation Update

The deadline for the 6 ministries publicly named in the Grassley investigation was this week.

I had a conversation recently with a friend who I used to work with who is fairly worried about the investigation and how it will affect churches long term and whether or not it affected the whole seperation of church and state.

The issue has nothing to do with religion. It has everything to do with privelege. By signing up as a 501c3 tax exempt organization it carries a lot of benefit. It also carries a large responsibility. The investigation is merely wanting to ensure that money people give to organizations are going to worth while ministry and not lavish lifestyles.

For those of you who dabble in stocks, when you choose to invest in a company you most likely want to know how they spend their money so as to know where your money is going. Would you invest in a company that spends frivolously? Of course not...

As a giver you should have that same desire....how is the money being spent? You can agree or disagree with it, but I think it's ok to ask. Everytime you say yes to one organization you say no to another. Knowing where your money is going is a big deal. There are organizations out there doing a GREAT job of making sure the money you give goes to what you think you are giving to.....I know others who do not.

The issue here is not religion or theology, it's merely tax laws and benefits and whether or not some of them are being abused. Our government set up laws for us to live by. They also set up some benefits for those involved in ministry. I personally don't have a problem with them checking to make sure that organizations are staying above board. We live in this society and we should honor the laws and governing folks above us.

If ministries want the privelege of maintaining 501c3 tax exempt status then don't be upset about disclosing the information. If you want to exist in a commercial society and have all the benefits of a lavish lifestyle, then don't worry about your tax exempt status. It was set up to aid organizations that are trying to do charitable work.....not make it a tax shelter for those who want to make a ton of money under a religious umbrella.

Here is a link for an article I came across that might shed some light on the investigation.

Catching up

I thought I would get a chance to catch my breath a little during November and December....not so much.

Last week I was in Freeport Bahamas for a site survey for 4 events I am working on next year. The trip was a whirlwind. I had an oceanview room I didn't get to enjoy much.

From there I flew home long enough to change the clothes out in my suitcase and catch a flight to Las Vegas.

I was the producer for an event called Elevation Sunday at The National Finals Rodeo (NFR). The NFR brings in the best of the best in the rodeo world for a year end competition. Elevation Sunday is one of the largest attended worship services on the first Sunday of the NFR. We had around 1000 attendees this year. Former Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin was the keynote speaker.....WOW! The guy has completely turned his life around and gives an incredible testimony....and he is the NICEST guy as well.

I just got back in to Dallas on Monday and I am trying to play catch up on paperwork before I fly back out of town later in the week for a projector demo in Mississippi.

It's been a GREAT 2007 and I am looking forward to an exciting 2008. There are lot's of things in the works which I will catch you all up on later.

Great thoughts on email

I read the following post from Phil Cooke who had some great thoughts on email.

I recieve on average 55-70 emails a day (not including junkmail) and it is so easy for me to get caught up in quickly responding that I could eat up my entire day doing nothing but emailing. I forget sometimes, that while email is nice and handy you also need to completely think through what you type.

Take a minute and read this. It will help you both personally and professionally. If you don't have policies regarding email I would encourage you to put some in place. It can bite you real quick...