Since I’ve been involved in several book projects, I’m frequently approached by aspiring writers who are interested in the process. I’m certainly not the expert on getting a book published, but I have learned some things over the last number of years that might be helpful for you.

With that in mind, here are a few thoughts for you to consider…

Don’t write a book. Begin by writing in your journal. Write blog posts. Get your article published in a magazine or on someone else’s website. If your idea and your writing aren’t strong enough to be published in a magazine or on a website, it’s not strong enough to be published in a book.

Don’t assume if you have a book, someone will publish it. People who get published rarely go looking for a publisher. Typically, the publishers go looking for the authors. Or, the authors have literary agents who handle those conversations. If a publisher isn’t approaching you about writing a book, that’s a pretty good sign that you probably don’t have a book to publish.

Don’t start out to write a book. Start out with something to say. For lots of people, the goal is to get a book published. That shouldn’t be your goal. Your goal should be to spread good stories or ideas. If you don’t have a good story or idea to spread, you need to start there.

Don’t write a book if you’re not a writer. At the end of the day, if you can’t write you can’t get published. And, just because you can get up in front of people and talk, doesn’t necessarily mean you can get behind a keyboard and write. There’s an art to writing. Some people have it. Most people don’t. (If you have a strong idea or a good story, you may need to find a writer to help you get it published.)

Don’t try to write a book if you’re not willing to get disciplined with your time. Manuscripts just don’t drop out of the sky. You have to outline. You have to draft. You have to rewrite. You have to edit. You have to promote. You have to sell. It takes time. If you’re unwilling to prioritize your time, you shouldn’t write a book.

Don’t plan on making money. Unless your name is Rick Warren or Joel Osteen, you’re not going to make money writing a book. At best, you may get a platform from writing a book. Of course, the challenge there is that you have to have a platform before a publisher will even consider your book.

I know. You’re skeptical. So, for those of you who write books or publish books, I’ll let you chime in and tell me where I’m wrong.

Until then, don’t write a book.

One of the most frequently asked questions in recent weeks has been what have you learned from the churches you’ve visited in recent months? Here are a couple of quick observations.

There isn’t a magic formula. There’s more than one way to “do church.” You’d be amazed at all the variations of leadership styles, structures and strategies that God is using to reach people.

It makes me laugh at people who get very opinionated on blogs or Twitter about the right way to do church. It may be their preference. And, it may be working in their community for the way God has gifted them as a leader. However, it’s very obvious to me that God uses different leaders to build different ministries that reach different people.

There isn’t a magic bullet. Most churches don’t explode with growth overnight. One of the key differences between healthy, larger churches and those that aren’t is that the leader remained faithful. That includes years of commitment to the church. And, frankly, it also involves years of commitment to maintaining a healthy marriage. Lack of faithfulness in either area will certainly negatively impact the health of the ministry in the long run.

In other words, if you want to grow your ministry and your influence in people’s lives, you have to stick with it. You can’t give up. You have to battle. You have to bring others around you that support you in that mission. And, honestly, it takes time.

Now you know the secret to success.

It’s about to get crazy. Here’s what’s on the calendar for August and September:

• Consulting at The River in Semmes, Alabama
• Attending the Leadership Summit at Willow Creek
• Consulting at Avalon Church in McDonough, Georgia
• Facilitating the Next Team Coaching Network in Florida
• Consulting at Church @ the Springs in Ocala, Florida
• Consulting at New Vintage Church in Santa Rosa, California
• Meeting with John Ortberg to talk spiritual formation, blogging and Monvee
• Providing a workshop for leaders at Thomas Road Baptist Church (stay tuned.)
• Speaking at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia
• Consulting at Shore Fellowship Church in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey

And, yes, the October schedule is starting to fill up as well. That includes an opportunity for church leaders on the east coast. I’ll have more details about that in the coming weeks.

My fall calendar is nearly full, but I’m beginning to work on my winter schedule. Let me know if you’d like to talk.

Last year I started doing something I’ve never done before. I’ve been gathering with 12 guys once a month to talk ministry strategy. I gave up a day off to hang out with them. They made the time and financial investment to hang out with me. I tried to create a mentoring-type arrangement that allowed me to provide a more focused level of coaching than these guys could receive through my blog and other outlets.

My current network will conclude soon, so I’m gearing up for a new one that will launch in October. The network will will include 6 one-day gatherings over 6 months and meet in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston or possibly online. (Still deciding.) Specific dates are yet to be determined. It’ll be limited to 12 participants.

If you are interested in receiving more information, please complete this online form. I’ll reply with more details in the coming weeks.

This opportunity isn’t for everyone. You will have to work. You will have to give up time in your schedule. You will most likely have to make arrangements to travel. It will cost you a few dollars. You will have to brace yourself to be challenged and pushed to think in new ways.

Are you up for that challenge? Then let me know of your interest before next Friday, August 7.

Three things I can do on my Blackberry that you can’t do on your iPhone:

1. Tether to my laptop for Internet access

2. Use Google Voice

3. Make phone calls

You have a fancy phone, but you’re stuck with the AT&T network.

Fortunately, I’m not cool enough to own an iPhone…

Heard people talk about Hillsong for years…but was leery of the hype.

Heard Brian Houston speak in Dallas…and recognized he’s a gifted leader with a humble heart.

Heard Joel Houston lead worship live at a conference in SoCal…and realized the whole stinkin’ family is gifted.

Heard my wife say she still loves me…even though I can’t play guitar or sing or speak with an Australian accent.

And, with that brief introduction, let me present the world premiere video of Joel Houston singing “No Reason to Hide” from their soon to be released album FAITH + HOPE + LOVE.

If that makes your ears happy, you won’t have to wait for long to own the entire album. It releases on August 4. You can use my Amazon link to pre-order this bad boy today.

Speaking of bad boys, check out Ben’s blog tomorrow for more new music from Hillsong.

Leadership is less about the words or actions of the leader and more about the character of the leader.

That’s the conclusion I’ve reached after revisiting what the Bible has to say about leadership within the Church. For example, we can look at a handful of passages and come to this “job description” for leaders:

• Encourage others. (Romans 14:19)
• Set an example with your speech, life and faith. (I Timothy 4:12)
• Remain pure. (I Timothy 4:12)
• Embrace humility and gentleness. (Ephesians 4:2)
• Promote peace and unity. (Ephesians 4:3)
• Avoid arguments and quarreling. (I Timothy 2:24)
• Gently instruct others. (I Timothy 2:25)
• Maintain emotional control. (Titus 2:6)
• Demonstrate integrity in your actions and speech. (Titus 2:7-8)
• Live your life above reproach. (I Timothy 3:2)

It’s not the job description you would expect to see for a leadership position is it? When you think about today’s “leaders” in politics and business and even the church, these aren’t typically the attributes that first come to mind.

I guess it’s possible that leadership outside the church looks different than God intended it to look inside the church. That may explain some of the differences between the “job description” above and what we routinely see in the marketplace. Ironically, though, Jim Collins offered some research in his book Good to Great that seems to suggest business leaders would do well to model this biblical approach to leadership. Every good-to-great company Collins studied was led by what he described as a Level 5 leader. Collins wrote:

“Those who worked with or wrote about the good-to-great leaders continually used words like quiet, humble, modest, reserved, shy, gracious, mild-mannered, self-effacing, understated, did not believe his own clippings; and so forth.”

It’s interesting how similar that list is to the list above. Neither list reflects the larger-than-life leadership that we tend to expect from people in these positions.

And that, of course, challenges me to think about my own leadership. I may be gifted to lead, but my character will determine the ongoing impact of my leadership. That’s something that can’t be measured in an interview or through a personality profile or on a resume. Character is proven over a lifetime.

Do you have have the character of a leader?

__________________

Other Posts in This Series:

• Part 1 – Overview
• Part 2 – Servant Leadership
• Part 3 – Empowerment

For those of you following me on Twitter, here are the top 10 links that received the most clicks last week:

1. These 6 Churches Rock! (283)
2. Ed Young Plagiarizes Craig Groeschel (255)
3. Elevation Church Goes Cow Tipping (253)
4. LifeChurch.tv Launches VideoTeaching.com (211)
5. Twitter Introduces “Twitter 101″ for Businesses (208)
6. People Share More on Facebook Than Email (174)
7. A Great Message Isn’t Enough (166)
8. Check Out the WordPress for Blackberry App (138)
9. Average American Home has 3 TVs (99)
10. Organizations Using Social Media Find Financial Success (95)

Don’t miss the action. Follow me on Twitter.

Earlier this week, I got a box of goodness from Ben promoting Story Chicago. I’m going to be there. Hard to believe it’s only 3 months away. Hope you’ll join me. Check out the details in the promo poster below.

Just out of curiosity, who is your favorite “storyteller” right now? Vote for one of the Story Chicago speakers below, or add your favorite writer or speaker to the list.

Don’t delay! Register for Story Chicago today.

On my trip to Florida this week, I had the chance to read the newest book from Jim Collins. How the Mighty Fall is a quick read with some pretty insightful thoughts that have application not only for business leaders, but also for leaders in the church. Here are some of the key thoughts that grabbed my attention:

• “When you are at the top of the world,…the best player in your game, your very power and success might cover up the fact that you’re already on the path to decline.”
• “When an organization grows beyond its ability to fill its key seats with the right people, it has set itself up for a fall.”
• “Organizational decline is largely self-inflicted.”
• “A core business that meets a fundamental human need – and one at which you’ve become the best in the world – rarely becomes obsolete.”
• “When institutions fail to distinguish between current practices and the enduring principles of their success, and mistakenly fossilize around their practices, they’ve set themselves up for decline.”
• “Innovation can fuel growth, but frenetic innovation – growth that erodes consistent tactical excellence – can just as easily send a company cascading through the stages of decline.”
• “If a great company consistently grows revenues faster than its ability to get enough of the right people to implement that growth, it will not simply stagnate; it will fall.”
• “When bureaucratic rules erode an ethic of freedom and responsibility within a framework of core values and demanding standards, you’ve become infected with the disease of mediocrity.”
• “Every person in a key seat should be able to respond to the question “What do you do?” not with a job title, but with a statement of personal responsibility.
• “The best leaders we’ve studied had a peculiar genius for seeing themselves as not all that important, recognizing the need to build an executive team and to craft a culture based on core values that do not depend upon a single heroic leader.”
• “Those in power blame other people or external factors – or otherwise explain away the data – rather than confront the frightening reality that the enterprise may be in serious trouble.”
• “Whenever people begin to confuse the nobility of their cause with the goodness and wisdom of their actions, …they can perhaps more easily lead themselves astray. Bad decisions made with good intentions are still bad decisions.”

Is it just me, or is it pretty easy to see a correlation between these thoughts from Jim Collins and the decline of once-great churches and denominations? Without mentioning names, have you seen “the mighty fall” in your experiences? Were some of these factors part of the decline?

If you’re interested in reading more, you can pick up How the Mighty Fall using my Amazon link.