I just wrapped up the newest book from Seth Godin called Linchpin. It was a gift from his publicist, and much appreciated. Great read for those of us who want people to find fulfillment in their life including their careers. If more bosses grasped the value of linchpins, the world would be a much better (and happier) place.

Here are some of the thoughts that grabbed my attention:

• “A genius looks at something that others are stuck on and gets the world unstuck.”
• “The compliant masses don’t help so much when you don’t know what to do next.”
• “The world works too fast for centralized control… It turns out that pushing decision making down the chart is faster and more efficient.”
• “Art is never defect-free. Things that are remarkable never meet spec, because that would make them standardized, not worth talking about.”
• “Every day, successful people race to give away their expertise and to spread their ideas.”
• “It’s impossible to make art for everyone. There are too many conflicting goals and there’s far too much noise. Art for everyone is mediocre, bland, and ineffective.”
• “If you don’t pinpoint your audience, you end up making your art for the loudest, crankiest critics.”
• “Discomfort brings engagement and change. Discomfort means you’re doing something that others were unlikely to do, because they’re busy hiding out in the comfortable zone.”
• “The temptation to sabotage the new things is huge, precisely because the new thing might work.”
• “It’s not an accident that successful people read more books.”
• “E-mailing is fun, but it rarely changes the world.”
• “Great bosses and world-class organizations hire motivated people, set high expectations, and give their people room to become remarkable.”
• “Telling people leadership is important is one thing. Showing them step by step how to be a leader is impossible.”
• “Real change happens when someone who cares steps up and takes what feels like a risk.”
• “A team at rest tends to stay at rest. Forward motion isn’t the default state of any group of people, particularly groups with lots of people. Cynics and politics and coordination kick in and everything grinds to a halt.”

This is just a tease. I think you’ll love the rest of the book. If you’re interested in checking it out, here’s my Amazon link.

ps – Seth, thanks for the kind acknowledgment. That was a fun surprise. You inspire me.

I’m pretty excited about the new “Average Joe” series that starts this Sunday at West Ridge. The series will focus on the common issues and extraordinary life experiences of Joseph, the most famous “Joe” in the Bible. Check out this message trailer:

If you attend West Ridge, invite your friends. If you aren’t in the area, you can check out the series messages on Vimeo.

When I talk with church leaders across the country, one of the most frequent questions I get is about processing change. Though I love change, I know most people don’t. Even when good change happens, it’s sometimes hard to handle.

West Ridge is going through some changes right now. We’ve experienced growth in the last several months that has necessitated changes. We’re planning for more growth, so more changes are coming. With that in mind, Brian shared a message today on “How to Deal with Change.” If you’re a leader, particularly in the church, I’d encourage you to watch it. It provides a great example of vision-casting and change management. If nothing else, it’ll help you understand Brian’s heart for the mission of West Ridge Church. Honestly, I think it’s the best message on “change” I’ve heard at a church.

Pray for us as a ministry. We’re experiencing opportunities and challenges that we’ve never faced before. We want to do what God wants us to do, because we know people’s lives are at stake. Sometimes what God wants, though, doesn’t involve just pushing the “easy” button. I think this is one of those times.

Here are the folks that are making things happen at TonyMorganLive.com this month:

Ron Sylvia shared this quote in one of his Next Coaching Networks. This comes from Bob Russell who was the senior pastor for 35 years at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville. During Bob’s tenure as senior pastor, the church grew from 100 people to more than 17,000 in attendance every weekend. Bob shared:

“My first few years here I was the pastor. I did all the weddings, funerals, hospital visits, etc. Then my role changed to preacher, and I mostly led through my sermons from the platform. It has only been in the last few years that I have become the leader.”

Interesting perspective. I’ve seen lots of pastors in all three categories. This isn’t just a “senior pastor thing” though. We all need to step back and assess whether we’re doing it, saying it or leading it.

This Sunday evening, February 20, West Ridge Church is hosting a gathering before the gathering. There are a lot of church planters attending the Velocity Conference hosted by Mountain Lake Church. We thought it would be a great time to invite the guys that are connected to West Ridge Church through church planting or those that might want to connect with us. You’ll have a meal and a time to connect with Brian and me as we share about the future of church planting at West Ridge.

If you’re interested in attending, dinner starts at 6 p.m. and we will end around 9 p.m. We need to prepare for dinner. If you plan to attend, please register with Jim by the end of tomorrow, February 18.

Hope to see you on Sunday!

Catalyst West Conference is just around the corner on April 21-23, 2010 in Orange County, California. That’s where you’ll find 3,500 young leaders, some great speakers, powerful worship, innovative programming, and a leadership experience unlike any other. I was there last year for Catalyst West and absolutely loved it.

This year you’ll hear from leadership authorities including Andy Stanley, Louie Giglio, Erwin McManus, Kay Warren and Reggie Joiner, along with several innovative thinkers and practitioners like best-selling author Donald Miller, Dallas Willard, Charlene Li, Scott Belsky, Eugene Cho, and Wess Stafford, President of Compassion International.

Arrive early for Catalyst Labs featuring innovative thought leaders including John Ortberg, Dino Rizzo, Michael Hyatt, Jeanne Stevens, Jon Acuff, Anne Jackson, Mike Foster, Jud Wilhite, Susan Isaacs, Dan Kimball, Scot McKnight, David Kinnaman, Margaret Feinberg, and others.

In addition, you will want to be there for the special evening session on Thursday with Louie Giglio and worship led by Chris Tomlin.

There’s a special registration rate of $229 available through February 18. To take advantage of this offer, call 888.334.6569 to speak with the Catalyst Concierge team, or register online and use rate code BLOG.

And, for those of you who love the contests, I’m giving away two tickets to Catalyst West today. Here’s how to win:

1. TWEET THIS: “Giving away 2 tickets to Catalyst West. Comment & RT to enter http://bit.ly/cw0uVu”
2. COMMENT BELOW: with your twitter name (so I can verify you did step 1…because I know you’re sneaky like that)
3. At 5PM EST TODAY: I’ll randomly choose two entrants below to win one ticket each!

Jump on board the Catalyst West bandwagon, and may the best Tweet win!

UPDATE: The winners of the free tickets are @taramiller8 and @God_IsMyJudge. Congratulations!

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Yep, my friends at Catalyst sponsored this post, but I accepted the offer because I believe in their events. I think you’ll be a believer as well.

I recently spent some time in the bush of West Africa. Our team drove down dirt roads from village to village. Okay, the word “roads” is a bit of an exaggeration. In many spots it was just a dirt path.

I’m pretty sure where I was qualified as “the ends of the earth.” People were living in mud houses and grass huts. A well with relatively clean water was a luxury. We saw children surviving on a couple good meals every week. If you are reading this post, you and I are very rich.

It was in the midst of this environment that I may have experienced my biggest frustration on the trip. In these villages in remote West Africa, people are hearing the Gospel for the very first time. When that happens, they want to gather in community with other believers for teaching and worship.

What was frustrating to me is the investment churches are making in buildings. In just about every village we went into, the church building, if there was one, was the biggest and nicest building in the village. It was truly aggravating. Don’t these people realize church isn’t about buildings?

In one village we visited, the indigenous pastor showed us the tree the church first met under. Then he pointed out the first building made out of mud. Then he showed us their spacious, modern, new worship facility.

Get this, some of these churches are filling up their big buildings and they’re building even bigger buildings. Don’t they know that’s not how the early church did it?

The way it’s supposed to work is that you’re supposed to meet in homes. When one home fills up, you start another church in a second home. Or, you rent a building that already exists in the village. Why, though, would a church invest in a building when people desperately need food and water?

Then that’s when the pastors from the villages taught me a lesson about ministry. In these villages, it’s not uncommon for there to be a mosque. Islam is the predominant religion, so they have a significant physical presence. In fact, they are very intentional of building mosques in every village and they try to establish facilities as close to the center of commerce as possible. In a culture that associates “faith” with a place of worship, it’s impossible for the Christian church to grow and for the Gospel to spread if it doesn’t also have a place of worship.

In other words, these indigenous pastors knew their culture better than I knew their culture. Though I had a strategy for growing the church that I thought was more like the early church found in Acts, my approach would have prevented the Gospel from spreading in these villages.

And all of this was a good reminder to me that knowing the Gospel message is obviously very important, but so is knowing the culture that you’re trying to reach. It gave me new understanding for Paul’s words:

“I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings” (1 Corinthians 9:22-23, NIV)

It was also a good reminder that what happens to work here in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia may not necessarily be the best approach to spreading the Gospel in Portland, Oregon or New York City…and vice versa. In fact, last I looked around Atlanta, a lot happens in buildings–some very big buildings.

So, what do you think? Does the church need a building? Or, do the pastors in Africa just need to learn how to properly grow a church?

It’s a lot easier to embrace change when you’re the one initiating it.

When we decide change is needed, it’s a lot easier for us to receive it.

Change without vision is chaos.

Change to fulfill vision is a lot easier to understand when it’s shared through stories.

Many times the most successful or positive changes also produce the most criticism.

Change doesn’t happen unless someone is responsible to deliver it.

It’s easier to embrace change when we see it rather than when we hear about it.

Change, even the best kind of change, will always generate some measure of fear and anger and sadness.

In other words, someone will always despise the change and let you know about it.

It’s almost impossible to change a change that previously worked.

Test-driving a change is a lot easier than fully committing to the unknown.

Change is more likely to take hold when it’s followed by an immediate win.

When you think you’ve communicated enough about the change, you need to communicate more.

Organizations that don’t change die.

When change happens, it always gets personalized–it always ends up being about “me.”

Slow change is rarely positive change.

Change without metrics is foolishness.

If the change is easy, you’re probably not changing enough.

Resistance addressed appropriately makes change better.

If everyone already recognizes the need for change, you’re obviously not the leader.