MediaOutreach.com recently interviewed me about web strategy. One of the questions they asked me was what’s the most vital part of a church’s website? Here’s my response:

“A clear vision and a clear ministry strategy reflected in a focused landing page with simple, intuitive navigation. We don’t need to tell the entire story with our websites. We just need to help people take their next steps. Of course, since most churches don’t have clarity when it comes to vision and strategy, it’s probably a little unrealistic for me to expect to see that reflected in their web strategy…but that’s probably a blog post for another day.”

You can catch the rest of the interview here.

You can catch all the action LIVE here tomorrow. Check out this preview…

It’s all free. And, you’ll find a crowd participating in the entire event right here. Check out the details.

I’ve always found it fascinating that Solomon,  the wisest king to ever rule Israel, understood the value of getting advice from other people. If God had already gifted him with wisdom, why did he pursue advice from others? It seems like it would have been appropriate for Solomon to say, “My wisdom and understanding comes directly from God. I will make decisions about my next steps based on that wisdom alone.”

Yet, in the wisdom that God granted, Solomon understood the value of advice from others. For example, Solomon offered:

• “Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser. Teach the righteous, and they will learn even more” (Proverbs 9:9).
• “Without wise leadership, a nation falls; there is safety in having many advisers” (Proverbs 11:14).
• “Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to others” (Proverbs 12:15).
• “Plans go wrong for the lack of advice; many advisers bring success” (Proverbs 15:22).
• “Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life” (Proverbs 19:20).
• “Plans succeed through good counsel; don’t go to war without wise advice” (Proverbs 20:18).

God granted Solomon wisdom, and part of that wisdom from God was that we need to seek wise advice from others. That’s not how I would have handled that if I was God. If I was God, I would say, “Wisdom comes from me alone. Don’t listen to the advice of others.”

Recently, I was reading the account of King Rehoboam in I Kings 12 and II Chronicles 10. The irony of Rehoboam’s story is that he was the son of Solomon. As he transitioned into power, he needed to determine how he was going to rule his people. Initially, Rehoboam sought the advice of his elders. The older, more-experienced advisers told the king to be kind to the people. If so, the people would remain faithful and would always be the king’s servants.

Then Rehoboam sought the counsel of a different group of advisers. They were younger men. They had grown up with the king. One could argue that since they were so close to Rehoboam, they told the king what he wanted to hear. Their advice was different. They encouraged the king to treat the people harsher. They encouraged the king to make the burden even heavier.

Rehoboam made a poor decision. He followed the direction of the younger, less-experienced advisers. As a result of that decision, the people of Israel rebelled against his leadership. What’s fascinating is it says in this passage that this poor choice was “from God.” Isn’t it interesting? Since Rehoboam distanced himself from the heart of God, God allowed Rehoboam to make a poor decision and face the consequences.

As Christ-followers we have the wisdom of the Holy Spirit in us. John 14:26 says the Holy Spirit “will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.” It’s as if we’re receiving wisdom directly from God. Again, if I was God, I’d say, “The Holy Spirit is sufficient. There’s no need for seeking the advice of others.”

Yet that’s not God’s design. He designed us to teach others. He designed us to be in relationship with others. He designed us to mentor others. He designed us to learn from others. We see examples of this throughout Scripture. Wisdom comes from God, but it oftentimes comes through the counsel of other people.

If I was God, I’d just tell people what to do and expect them to do it. In my world, it would be very easy to determine right from wrong, but we’d miss out on the joy of learning from the experience and wisdom of those around us. We’d miss out on the reward and the sense of accomplishment of the learning process. We wouldn’t experience the relational benefits from leaning on others. We wouldn’t reflect the nature of God, because we wouldn’t be creative. We’d be rule-followers. Following rules is easy, but that’s not the way God designed us.

Does wisdom come from God? Yes, but God uses other people to impart his wisdom. And, for reasons we may never understand, he gives us the choice of deciding who we will listen to and who we will ignore.

Because of that, it elevates the importance of discerning who is in our circle of influence. It forces me to ask these questions…

• What does the Bible say?
• What does my wife say?
• What does my team say?
• What do the experienced experts say?

If Solomon was so wise, maybe we ought to learn from him. Rather than determining, “What should I do?” Maybe we should focusing on, “Who should I ask?” In other words, we need to look around us and determine…

Who’s the wise guy?

In addition to starting my new role at West Ridge Church, I’m going to be traveling quite a bit during September and early-October. Here’s where you’ll find me in the coming weeks:

• Speaking at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA and meeting with Johnathan Falwell and the TRBC leadership team
• Facilitating the Next Team Coaching Network in Florida
• Consulting at Church @ the Springs in Ocala, Florida
• Consulting at Shore Fellowship Church in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey
• Participating in a Leadership Network learning community on church multiplication in Dallas
• Consulting at LifePoint Church in Reisterstown, Maryland
• Speaking and consulting at HighTide Church in Dagsboro, Delaware (register here)
• Hanging out at the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta

My calendar is full through the end of the year, but I’m beginning to work on my 2010 schedule. Let me know if you’d like to talk.

Life got a little hectic in the last several days, and I didn’t get the chance to conclude the series on multi-site strategy. Links to the previous posts in the series are listed below.

Before we move on, I wanted to offer a handful of mistakes I see churches making when they jump into multi-site. Some of these come from researching the topic. Some of these come from the experience of various churches. Some of them come from my own personal experiences. Here are…

5 Factors to Avoid Multi-site Mistakes

1. Leader. The most critical factor to the success or failure of a new campus is having the right leader. They don’t necessarily need to be charismatic, but they do need to be team builders, good communicators, champions of the vision, driven and highly relational. There needs to be a specific person who has the gift of leadership leading the campus.
2. Location. There isn’t a black and white formula here, but location matters. That includes proximity to your existing campuses and proximity to the people you’re trying to reach. Where do people shop, eat and experience entertainment? That area is where they’re most likely to also invite friends to attend a service.
3. Music. Churches think message first when it comes to multi-site, but the quality of the music is just as important. If the worship arts programming (music, video, etc.) isn’t on the same level as what people experience at the existing campuses, they won’t stay at the new campus.
4. Time. To launch with the most chance for success, you need time to identify leaders, build teams, select locations, equip facilities, develop new systems and mobilize people. We’re talking months not weeks. With the right systems and leadership development strategy; however, this time frame can be shortened dramatically. (See Proverbs 21:5)
5. Money. The amount of money will differ from church to church, but multi-site will require a financial investment. You’ll need money to purchase technology, signage and children’s ministry equipment. You’ll need money to purchase or lease space and then modify it to meet your needs. You’ll need money to pay staff as the campus grows. And, don’t forget, new people will typically take 18 to 24 months before they start giving. (See Luke 14:28)

That’s my top five. If you’ve been a part of a multi-site campus launch, do you agree with this list? What would you add or subtract?

________

Previous posts in this series:

• What questions do you have about multi-site?
• If it’s an Internet campus, is it still church?
• What are the new multi-site trends?
• Can any church go multi-site?

Just wanted to remind you that I’m heading up to Thomas Road Baptist Church (TRBC) next week 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.