One of the advantages of serving with Perry is that I get to sit under powerful teaching, but I also get to watch him model what it is to be a leader in a growing ministry/organization. Yesterday, as we were meeting in our weekly leadership team gathering, he offered this insight. One of the things that Perry is doing is he’s empowering leaders around him to make decisions. He offered these seven questions as filters for us to consider whether or not we’re making wise decisions.
- Does this decision compromise the Gospel?
- Will this negatively impact our vision?
- Is this something everyone will be genuinely excited about?
- Is this just a temporary solution?
- Will this decision add more to our plate?
- Are we attempting excellence or extravagance?
- Am I making this decision for the good of the church or just my area?
From those seven questions, you get a real sense of the values Perry holds high for NewSpring. Those questions will look different for your church or organization, but do you know what your questions are? If not, it’s highly likely that the leaders around you either aren’t empowered to make decisions or they don’t know what a wise decision looks like.
Wow! Great stuff T-mo! :)
thanks!
pudge
great topic, tony – good starting list
this criteria – excellence or extravagance – just does not resonate with my experience with communities of faith & practice
for the last 20-30 years, my sense is that a ton of communities have used excellence as a benchmark, which can tend towards a very performance mindset – a stark contrast to a transformational mindset
it’s funny that the business world, that spawned the excellence craze, has long since abandoned it.
so much of the beloved community of Jesus followers has been extravagant, foolish, messy, half-baked
as a pastor i am motivated by what you and New Spring do. I pray that as I minister to the people of the church I will apply what you provide for me. thanks
[...] Tony Morgan learning delegation from Perry [...]
Great questions. Thanks for the insight T. Been reading your blog for about 3 months and have appreciated your diversity but really like it when you share these types of lessons. As a pastor I really like #7 and would put it: Am I doing this for me and my ego or for the church?
good stuff Tony, thanks.
Interesting.