A question popped up on Twitter earlier today about an audio version of Killing Cockroaches. Made me curious to know how you consume books. With that in mind, here’s a quick poll. I’d love your feedback on your reading/listening habits.

Thanks for participating. Come on back to check out the results.

This week I’m going to offer a series of posts on multi-site strategy. I couldn’t think of a better place to begin than to interview Jim Tomberlin. Jim helps churches across the country define and implement their multi-site strategy. Because he’s worked with churches of all different shapes and sizes, he brings a unique perspective to this topic.

TONY: How did you become so smart about multi-site?

JIM: I paid a lot of “stupid tax” as an early pioneer practitioner. I began my multi-site church journey in the mid-1990′s when I was the senior pastor of Woodmen Valley Chapel in Colorado Springs. In 2000 I went on to pioneer the multi-site model at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago. Since 2005 I have been consulting and coaching churches in developing and implementing multi-campus strategies. Every multi-site church is unique and different. I eat, sleep, and drink multi-site church. I am still learning.

TONY: What are some current trends you’re seeing?

JIM: The rise of the importance and strategic value of the campus pastor, video-streaming sermon content over the internet, internet campuses, international campuses, multi-site campuses in theaters, multi-site “missional” church mergers, and rural multi-site churches “in the sticks.”

TONY: What’s the most common mistake you see churches making with multi-site?

JIM: Under-estimating how going multi-site will change how you think and do church. The paradigm shift from a “mono-site” to “multi-site” is profound. Continuing on as a church with multiple campuses rather than becoming a church of multiple campuses.

TONY: Do you ever counsel churches not to pursue launching a new campus?

JIM: Yes. Going multi-site is for churches that are growing, have a good reputation in the community, and are healthy. Most churches are not ready to go multi-site until they are maximizing their current location with multiple services, image-magnification (IMAG) side-screens, and a video venue.

TONY: What’s a new learning for you?

JIM: How any church that is healthy can go multi-site. What started as a mega-church band-aid for space or zoning issues has become a strategy for any healthy church regardless of size.

Though I’ve been studying and researching multi-site for several years, I’m certainly not the expert. I helped one church launch a few new locations, but Jim has helped dozens. Because of that, Jim is one of my new strategic partners. Let me know if I can help you make a connection with him as you consider your next steps in launching multi-site campuses.

I’ve had the opportunity to lead a number of creative people over the last 15 years both in ministry and in the marketplace. And, from time to time, I’ve been known to be a “creative” myself. Creatives are different. They deliver new ideas and approaches, but they come with their quirks. You can’t lead creatives like you lead “normal” people.

Within the church, don’t assume creative people only work in your worship arts area. They’re likely to hangout there, but it’s also very possible they’re on just about every ministry team at your church. They may not sing songs or draw pictures, but they’re still creative. And, if you don’t learn how to lead them, they’ll find someplace else to take their creativity.

Here are some reminders for leading creative people:

1. Tell them what to do, but not how to do it. You can hold them accountable for the results, but don’t force them to embrace a certain process.
2. If you want their input, you’ll need to ask. If you stop asking, they’ll stop contributing.
3. If you ask, you better consider their input. If you’re not really going to use their input, it’s better not to even ask.
4. Know that they’ll be emotionally attached to what they create. So, if you decide not to use their creation, you’ll have to process that appropriately and not abruptly.
5. You need to give them a deadline, but it better be reasonable. Creative people need room to dream and let their ideas percolate.
6. Don’t try to motivate them with money, but they do want your praise. They’ll react when the extrinsic rewards are taken away, but they’re really intrinsically motivated.
7. They’ll get easily bored if they find themselves stuck in the routine. They need the freedom to take on new challenges and opportunities and hate to get stuck in maintenance mode.
8. They deliver new ideas, but they dread the details. To bring the best out of them, you need to protect them from the bureaucratic structure and administrative tasks.
9. They need a creative and participative environment. Creative people need the fuel that other creative people generate.
10. You need to provide boundaries, but they need to experience freedom. Boundaries force people to get creative. That’s when the best ideas are generated. But if creative people ever feel restrained, at best they’ll start to sulk and at worst they’ll join another team.

Do you consider yourself to be a creative person? If so, think about the best leader you’ve worked for. What did they do that brought the best out in you?

Do you lead creative people? If so, think about your most creative person on the team. How do you lead them differently to get the biggest impact from their contribution?

Let’s get creative about leading creative people.

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

1. Blackberry’s 26 Advantages Over the iPhone (706)
2. Job openings at Willow and Revolution Church (698)
3. Unfortunate picture of Andy Stanley (506)
4. Elevation Church volunteers don’t show up for services. (394)
5. Aussie worship all the time? (380)
6. Why exercise won’t make you thin (293)
7. 64% of adults attend churches of 200 or less. (243)
8. I love my Kindle 2. (226)
9. Facebook reinforces relationship jealousy. (217)
10. Churches have a management problem. (214)

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

Earlier this week, I noticed an unfortunate picture of Andy Stanley on the Amazon page for his new book, The Principle of the Path. I invited  folks to submit pictures of themselves imitating Andy’s facial expression. The finalists are included in the collage below:

In the comments, vote for your favorite “Andy Look-alike.” The person with the most votes will win a copy of The Principle of the Path.

Vote early and vote often.

I’m looking forward to heading up to Thomas Road Baptist Church (TRBC) in a few weeks to hangout with Jonathan Falwell and his team. While I’m there, TRBC is hosting a FREE “Killing Cockroaches” event. Here are the details:

Who? – Designed for both church staff and volunteers.
Since it’s free, bring your entire team.

What? - Two interactive sessions. The first will be on leadership development, particularly as it relates to building volunteer teams. The second is on finding focus in teaching, discipleship strategy and communications to reach people for Jesus and help them  take steps in their faith.
Both sessions will include plenty of time for questions.

When? - Thursday, September 10, 9:00 am to Noon

Where? – Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia

Want to join us? You can plan to attend for free, but you must register so we can prepare for your participation.

See you in a few weeks.

Met with my real estate agent this morning to list our house for sale. We’re taking steps to move closer to West Ridge near Atlanta. My agent was talking about the marketing plan for our house. Primarily, that includes a sign in the front yard and listings on a variety of websites including realtor.com.

And then he made an interesting statement. He said, “I still use some print advertising just to make the sellers happy, but almost all of my leads come from web marketing.” In other words, he places newspaper and magazine ads to placate his customers, but the ads don’t really work.

Remember… I live in Anderson, South Carolina. We’re two hours from metro Atlanta. We’re 30 minutes from “metro” Greenville. (if there is such a thing.) We’re in the boonies. I’m pretty sure this is one of the last locations that Al Gore installed the Internet. Whatever you imagine high-tech, web savvy communities to look like, I’m pretty sure Anderson would be on the opposite end of that spectrum. Yet web advertising is still the primary way to reach this market.

That, of course, prompted me to think about how churches invest their communications dollars. Think of the money you invest in bulletins, brochures, flyers and other handouts. Now think about how much money you invest in your web strategy. How do those numbers compare? Here’s my guess. I’ll bet you’re spending quite a bit more on print communications even though the web is where you’re more likely to find “your leads.”

Feel free to keep investing in print communications if your highest priority is keeping your “internal customers” happy. Just thought you should know that other organizations are using the web to reach the same people you’re probably trying to reach in your community.

I just realized that my recent blog post of Andy Stanley’s newest book may actually be detrimental to his image. I just visited the Amazon link to The Principle of the Path again, and I noticed this interesting picture of Andy:

I’m pretty sure this is the first time Andy has attempted this particular facial gesture. I’ve not seen him use it before. I’m not at all sure what emotional response the facial expression is supposed to provoke; however, as an amateur image consultant, I’d have to say this is not exactly a becoming look for Andy.

This, of course, raises several questions:

• Is Andy aware that this picture exists?
• Does Michael Hyatt cover inappropriate facial expressions when he signs authors to Thomas Nelson book contracts?
• Will next generation leaders be trying to emulate this facial expression to better communicate their messages?

Speaking of emulating this facial expression, I have a free copy of The Principle of the Path that I’ll give to the person who best mimics Andy’s facial expression in this picture. Take a picture of yourself. Email it to me. Include your name and website (if you’d like me to share it). I’ll select the winner later this week.

In the mean time, I’m praying Andy still appreciates sarcasm.

I’m really excited about my new strategic partnership with FaithSearch. We’re working to fill several leadership openings at some great churches across the country. Some of those positions are still top secret, but here are a couple of openings that may grab your attention.

• Campus Pastor for Willow Creek Community Church – We’re looking for the leader of the campus that’s meeting in the Auditorium Theatre in downtown Chicago. (Yes, you would report directly to Bill Hybels.)
• Senior Pastor of Revolution Church – We’re helping the Revolution team find their next senior pastor. The church is running 1,200 people and meets in a brand new conference center in Canton, Georgia just north of Atlanta. (You and I could be neighbors!)

If you’re interested in learning about one or both of these opportunities, email William for more information. More details about both positions will be available in the next couple of weeks.

Stay tuned for updates about the other “secret” positions. And, you know how to reach me if you’d like our help filling your key leadership roles.

I finished Andy Stanley’s most recent book, The Principle of the Path, last week. Andy is one of those guys that seems to have figured out how to get from here to there, so I figured I’d read his book about how to get from where I am to where I want to be.

Here are some of the highlights from my reading:

• “To get from where we don’t want to be to where we do want to be requires two things: time and a change of direction.”
• “Direction–not intentions, hopes, dreams, prayers, beliefs, intellect, or education–determines destination.”
• “We should break the habit of drawing a circle around individual decisions and events and dismissing them as isolated occurrences. These are steps. Steps that lead somewhere.”
• “Prudent people look as far down the road as possible when making decisions.”
• “Christians start talking about forgiveness as if somehow forgiveness serves as an escape hatch from the outcome of bad decisions.”
• “When happiness points in one direction while wisdom, truth, integrity, and common sense point in another, that’s when really smart people start doing really stupid things.”
• “Your heart can’t be trusted… The truth is, if you let it, your heart will direct you down a path that leads to the very spot you most want to avoid.”
• “The choices are now. The outcomes are later. The decisions you make today have ramifications down the road.”
• “One never accomplishes the will of God by breaking the law of God, violating the principles of God, or ignoring the wisdom of God.”
• “I am constantly amazed at how resistant folks are to take their cues from people who are where they want to be.”
• “We don’t drift in good directions. We discipline and prioritize ourselves there.”

Simple principles in this book, but their implications have an enormous impact on the outcomes of our lives.

I encourage you to pick up the book. I’m leaving lots of great quotes and stories out of this post. Among other things, I cracked up when I read Andy’s version of “The Italian Job”…and it made me want to visit Italy that much more.

Here’s my Amazon link if you’d like to order the book online.