I’ve been writing about bad websites for several years. That bugs me because people checking out our churches typically visit our websites before they visit our churches. I heard another story just today about someone who visited the NewSpring website before they were convinced they should attend a service at one of our campuses. Our web presence matters.

With that in mind, I’m really excited about this project. I’m partnering with Collision Media to battle ugly church websites. That’s right. I’m tired of churches having bad websites, and I’m doing something about it.

Over the next several weeks, you’ll have the opportunity to submit your ugly church website and tell us about your church. On April 7 we’ll announce the winner with the ugliest website and most compelling story, and Collision Media will begin the design of a custom website.

Are you ready to make a change? If so, submit your ugly church website. (I’ve seen some of your sites. Some of you need to do this.)

Stay tuned for updates. The days of bad church websites end today.

Did you miss the opening message of Where’s My Bailout? yesterday. If so, here are the highlights of Perry’s message in 46 seconds. On your mark. Get set. Go!

The launches in Florence on Sunday and continues all other campuses next week. Check out the NewSpring Church YouTube channel for more excerpts for yesterday’s service.

This is the video that Ken’s team created to lead into the messages for the Where’s My Bailout? series.

Where’s my Bailout series open from Ken Wilson on Vimeo.

Ken will be facilitating a breakout at Unleash 09 on Thursday.

We started a new series at NewSpring today called “Where’s My Bailout?” Here are some highlights from Perry’s message:

• “I think pro wrestling is real.”
• “We’re taking our eyes off of Jesus and putting them on the economy.”
• “God has not lost one ounce of sleep about where the stock market is.”
• “Our 401k has turned into a 201k.”
• “I’m about to mess with your god.”
• “We don’t like discipline. We want it now.”
• “A bailout will occur when our bondage to bling is broken.”
• “Are your lips and your lifestyle matched up?”
• “I hate working abs about as much as I hate cats.”
• “If you need to meet with me to give your gift, you just need to sit on it for a while.”
• “Christians should be the most generous people on the planet.”
• “I’m an idiot. I’m not responsible for this. But God is at work here.”
• “You all are listening way too slow. Stay with me.”
• “God’s B.S. meter works so well.”
• “The two biggest problems in this country are consumer debt and obesity. It’s not because we don’t have enough. It’s because we don’t manage what we have well.”
• “Your heart always follows your money.”
• “This church is going to survive without your money. If you don’t believe me, give to another church.”
• “Your grandma has already spent your inheritance. She bought a Buick.”
• “In Kenya, I watched people who have nothing give.”
• “What do you need to do to put Jesus first in your life?”

This was an incredible (and timely) message from Perry. You can watch it after Tuesday when it’s available on www.NewSpring.cc.

Just wanted to take a second to thank all the sponsors. Here are the folks that are helping to make TonyMorganLive.com happen:

Church Volunteer Central – currently offering a free VBS starter kit to new members

Clover – provides websites for growing churches and ministries

Collision Media – a creative design studio that provides web design and other media related services for churches and businesses

faithHighway – develops cost-effective, cutting-edge websites to reach the unchurched

Fellowship Technologies – offers Fellowship One, the fastest growing, 100% web-based, church management software

Kari Jobe – listen to her new album from Integrity Music

National Outreach Convention – a gathering place and connection point for leaders committed to outreach

And, let me highlight a couple of special partners. The Stick Conference is hosting events in three regions of the country this year including a gathering in Arkansas that will take place next week. Among others, you’ll have the opportunity to hear from Geoff Surratt and my former partner in crime, Tim Stevens. In May, I’ll be joining Perry and Gary Lamb at another regional gathering in Canton, Georgia.

Lightbulb Creative has launched their own stimulus package, believing that real hope and real change takes place in new and growing churches.  Lightbulb’s “creative stimulus” offers custom-sermon series packages for only $199. That includes video elements, print design and everything you need to help make your next series a life-changing experience.  All of this is just in time for Easter 09. Make the most of their limited-time promotion.

If you’re interested, we still have advertising spots available for your organization. Email me for more details.

On Friday night, Jacob had a basketball game. We don’t always make the other kids watch him play basketball, but for this game we decided to take everyone. That included Brooke, my almost-four-year-old daughter.

For those of you who are experienced parents, you know it’s a little much to ask an almost-four-year-old to sit through an hour of anything including watching older brothers play basketball. Brooke is no exception. She’s a smart little girl. I love her. I mean that. But, just to be honest, sometimes her mother’s feisty personality comes through in most inopportune times.

We were about midway through the game when Brooke decided to begin pestering her older sister. Abby, our eight-year-old was sitting to my right. We had Brooke strategically positioned to my left between my feisty wife and me. Brooke, though, was done with basketball. She crawled under my legs and began teasing Abby. She made faces. She poked. She gave Abby the raspberries. Basically she was trying to annoy Abby in any way possible to divert Abby’s attention from the game to her.

Abby has great patience, but she’s also very human and will sometimes react the way “more mature” people react. She let Brooke do her thing for a few minutes, and then she basically kneed Brooke in the chest. I guess as the father I was supposed to reprimand Abby for that reaction, but my initial thought was, “You should have hit her a little harder.”

This, of course, wasn’t the response Brooke was expecting. Immediately she started yelling at her sister and letting the whole gymnasium including the fans from both basketball teams know that she had been wronged. This was one of those moments when I wish all it took was a black-and-white-striped shirt and a whistle to call a foul and turn the ball over to the other team. Unfortunately, they don’t give those shirts out to fathers.

Because I thought I would have reacted the same way Abby did, I didn’t punish Abby. Instead, I decided to remove her pest-of-a-little-sister from her personal space. I picked up the little agitating twirp and positioned her back between my wife and me. I can still do that because Brooke is almost-four-years-old and about as light as the basketball the boys were tossing around the court.

At that point, Brooke folded her arms across her chest. She looked me square in the eyes. And, in the sternest voice a little girl could muster, she expressed: “You’re not in charge of me.”

What do you do in a situation like that? I don’t know if this was the appropriate reaction, but I promptly snickered and then reminded my wife that Brooke was her daughter.

Let me just clarify for you that I am, indeed, Brooke’s father. I’m the leader…at least on paper. Just because I have positional leadership in our family, though, doesn’t necessarily mean I’m always the leader in my kids’ eyes.

The same thing is happening on a different scale in organizations everywhere. People are in positional leadership roles who aren’t necessarily the leaders of their organizations. The days are behind us for those situations when someone gets out of line and the head-honcho just takes their subordinate out to the woodshed for a reminder of who’s the boss. Leadership is no longer a title on a business card. (Do people still carry those things?)

Leadership looks a lot different these days.

• It doesn’t necessarily reside in the corner office.
• It’s something that’s earned rather than bestowed.
• It rarely tells people what to do, but rather asks how can I serve?
• It can’t be bought, because most people ultimately care very little about the money.
• It’s focused more on the mission than the tasks.
• It’s concerned more about fostering influence instead of wielding power.
• It recognizes the next new idea will come from someone else.
• It doesn’t necessarily require words.

I’m hopeful that one of these days Brooke will acknowledge and respect my leadership in her life. Needless to say, we both probably have some maturing to do before that comes to fruition. Until then, I may need to remind her from time to time who’s in charge. As long as she’s a little girl, I think that strategy is going to work. When she becomes a teenager, probably not so much.

While I perfect my parenting skills, this humorous episode from my role as “father knows best” begs this more important question:

Are you really the leader?

You know book sales are going okay when you land on the best sellers list between these two guys.

Hope you’re enjoying the book. Please continue to send me the links to your reviews so that I can share them with others.

And, if you haven’t already, read Seth Godin’s book Tribes. (Just between you and me, it’s the better book of the two.)

Purpose Driven Connection

Look what arrived in the mail the other day. It’s Rick Warren’s autograph. It came with a personal letter with Rick’s signature on it. Likely I’m one of thousands that received it, but, for the sake of my ego, I’m going to assume that it means I’m special.

The autograph is on a premier issue of Purpose Driven Connection magazine. You may have heard about it. The new quarterly magazine is the result of a new partnership Rick has with the Reader’s Digest. (Which begs the question: Why wasn’t Reader’s Digest interested in a magazine on killing cockroaches?)

Each issue of the new magazine includes a DVD of Rick and a small group study guide that accompanies the teaching. This first issue also includes articles from Rick and some of my favorite authors including Mark Batterson, Max Lucado, Lee Strobel and Bill Hybels. On top of that, the content links up with the new PurposeDriven.com website where you can find additional tools to become connected to others pursuing God’s purpose for their lives. That includes Bible tools from my friends at YouVersion.com.

The magazine is well done. Trends in publishing might suggest that launching a new magazine may not be the best strategy right now. However, this one is unique in that it’s attempting to bring people together around a specific purpose that’s linked to a web community. It’ll be interesting to see whether or not Rick’s new initiative gains traction.

In the mean time, I still have his autograph…or at least of facsimile of it.

I’ve been following Dave Gibbons for several years. He leads Newsong based in Irvine, California. The church is literally influencing the world. You may not know his story, but you should.

Over the last several years, I’ve had a chance to meet with him face-to-face, share a platform with him, visit his church, and all I can say is he’s one of the most genuine and kind-hearted individuals I’ve ever met. Because of that, he’s earned my respect for his thoughts on ministry and our future as the body of Christ. With that, I think you’ll enjoy this interview:

TONY: For those that don’t know you, will you share a bit of your story?

DAVE: Bi-cultural background. East and West convergence of cultures. Love working with misfit leaders in the margins of societies. Passionate about developing church without walls where EVERYONE PLAYS. We are one church multiple locations in Bangkok, California, Texas, London, Mexico City, India and soon China and Korea. All different sizes from mega to verge to organic. Also, have a love for the arts and business. Developing several cool and fun innovations that are finance, art and technology related.

TONY: It must really stink having to pastor a church based in SoCal. Are you hanging in there?

DAVE: Yeah, it’s rough especially during the frigid winter.  The 75 degree temperatures and the need for sunblock can drive you crazy! Are you kidding, I love SoCal. It’s a great gateway to the world as well as a cultural playground. Where else could you have the “Terminator” as your governor, immigrants hiding from border patrol agents, the Los Angeles Lakers and Chinese revolutionaries in your backyard?

TONY: What’s the premise behind your new book, The Monkey and the Fish?

DAVE: Simply, in two words: PAINFUL ADAPTATION.

We’re in the middle of a long-term recession and a potential global depression. The reality of economic hardships and powers shifts are now upon us. The rules have changed. Simple solutions and pat answers are not enough to deal with these rapidly changing times. The church has to adapt. But how? There are questions and principles that can allow the Church to shine during one of the greatest opportunities in history.

TONY: How does that impact me?

DAVE: If you don’t adapt, you’re dead. Just like the U.S. auto industry’s failure to adapt “green” cars. Their slowness and unwillingness to change has brought them to the brink of bankruptcy and a loss of followers. The church is in the same place. Unless we develop new mindsets, forms, collaborations and language we’re stuck in a primitive time warp that will lead us further into cultural irrelevancy It’s like everyone is speaking English but we’re still speaking the language of Klingons. The gospel stays the same but how we carry out the communication of it changes. Just the issue of multiple languages supports this. The new mantra: Fuel the fringe. Honor the past.

TONY: You are a futurist. I’m always challenged by thoughts about what’s next? So, what’s next?

DAVE: Tribalism will increase. Uprisings especially among the poor in the world. Potential global economic depression. Further devaluation of the U.S. dollar. Terrorist attack in a major U.S. city. Rise of brilliant theology emerging from the third world, rooted in pain, suffering, collaboration and beauty. More church layoffs and downsizing yet at the same time greater clarity for the church. Scarcity brings clarity. North Korea wall falls. Eastern art, design, film and music will become increasingly a major force in culture. Instead of the church focused on one form or style of church (multi-sites, organic, emergent or whatever), it’s about multiple forms, hybrids, mergers, questions. China, Southeast Asia and India will continue to grow in economic, military, religious and political influence and strength. Greater eastern influence in western culture and conversations. Third-culture leaders will continue to emerge as the next generation of global, movement leaders in the arts, business and religion.

This will give you a sense of what to anticipate in Dave’s writings. It’s challenging. But it’s also filled with hope. If you are ready to see the world through new eyes, you should check out The Monkey and the Fish.

I recently finished my first book on the Kindle. I finally had the opportunity to read Axiom by Bill Hybels. You need to know that I’m a Bill Hybels fan. I’m amazed at how God has used him and Willow Creek Community Church to reshape how we do church. He’s a great leader. And literally tens of thousands of people have been mentored by him in leadership.

Here are some of the quotes that jumped out to me from this book:

• “When handled properly, people are actually quite flattered to be asked to do significant things for God.”
• “The nature of human beings is such that we tend not to drift into better behaviors.”
• “The local church is the hope of the world! It’s the God-ordained redemptive agency that the future of the entire world hangs on.”
• “Leaders, don’t ever apologize for the strength of feeling you have for the vision that God has put into your life.”
• “Wise leaders understand that the single greatest determinant of whether followers will ever own a vision deeply is the extent to which those followers believe the leader will own it.”
• “Train and embolden your staff members to grow their own leadership and then to shoot high when someone needs to be added to the team.”
• “Incremental thinking, incremental planning, incremental prayers—it’s the kiss of death.”
• “We watch for our heavenly Father to move and stir and act and call. And when he does, we humbly thank him with the only two words that could even begin to give credit to the one to whom alone credit is due: ‘Only God.’”
• “What you value in your church must be raised up, taught about, and celebrated on a regular basis.”
• “In almost every case, the ‘very best one’ is a fantastic leader who is already busy doing extraordinary work somewhere else.”
• “Truly, most of the worst managerial calamities I’ve caused—ones in which people got deeply hurt—can be traced back to my being overly optimistic putting people in roles they were ill equipped to play.”
• “I get up every morning with the confidence that if a bunch of smart people who love God, love the church, and love each other will devote adequate time to these problems, there’s no mountain we can’t move.”
• “Part of the wiring pattern of leaders is that they have a huge bias toward action.”
• “Author and consultant Patrick Lencioni says that many organizations are infected with ‘terminal niceness,’ which nets out in the inability to tell the truth to each other.”
• “When things get stale at a church, it is a fair bet that God is not to blame.”
• “The way I [was] doing the work of God [was] destroying God’s work in me.”
• “If you ever find yourself consistently dreading your days, consistently feeling overwhelmed, and consistently dreaming of getting away (perhaps never to return), then your ministry pace and your ministry approach are probably killing what God hopes to accomplish in and through you.”
• “They would rather watch their church close its doors for good than to face the real problems and take responsibility for fixing what is broken.”
• “Leaders fight fear regularly. From time to time it gets the best of them, and leaders who were once willing to do God’s bidding no matter how risky become overly circumspect and start playing things safe.”
• “Leaders have a responsibility before God to constantly get better, and one of the most reliable ways to do so is to read. Great leaders read frequently. They read voraciously.”
• “We must fight for excellence because it is excellence that honors God. It is excellence that inspires people.”
• “I woke up very slowly to the fact that nobody in my organization was going to fight for my family but me.”

The funny thing is I can picture Hybels saying all of these things. It’s as if he was sitting there on the chair next to me with his blue-button-down oxford speaking words of wisdom into me. We’d be crazy not to take advantage of the leadership lessons that Hybels has learned through the years. He’s not perfect. None of us is. But, you have to acknowledge that he’s one of the greatest leaders that’s ever offered his life to the Kingdom of God and the ministry of the local church. I’m certainly indebted to him for the leadership influence he’s had on my life.

“The local church is the hope of the world!”

Those words still stir me.