Josh Griffin

As part of the current series addressing shifts leaders should consider making this year, I connected with Josh Griffin.  Josh is the High School Pastor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA.  He is a father of 4 and has been in full-time youth ministry for over 15 years.  Here’s our interview:

TONY:  What’s one thing that leaders and/or organizations (businesses, churches, non-profits, etc.) should consider stopping in 2012?

JOSH:  Stop walking around with such urgency.  When it is time for the service to start and the church staff is briskly running around the worship center then you are basically telling everyone, “I don’t have time for you.”  If someone dares to stop you, you fidget nervously and struggle to maintain eye contact due to fear of dropping the ball on the last lingering details on the program task list.  You peer over this more mortal’s shoulder and silently freak out as the countdown timer signifying the service start is now nearing zero.

You pacify the person who caused the momentary diversion with a shallow promise to connect later in the week.  You know in your heart that you won’t make the connection, but it satisfies the moment and you quickly return to the task at hand.  Just to make sure you’re not stopped again, you take out your phone and participate in a ghost phone call.

TONY:  What’s one thing that leaders and/or organizations (businesses, churches, non-profits, etc.) should consider starting in 2012?

JOSH:  Start caring about people AND the program.  I’m a program person all the way.  There’s nothing more exciting to me than sharing the timeless message of Christ in a creative way.  There always will be a tension between the program and spending time with people.  The last minute details of a service and adjustments to the program sheet cannot crowd out our love for and time with people.  Care about the program, care about the creative elements, be proud of your latest spoken word or creative mini-movie that you sacrificed and sweat over multiple late nights earlier in the week.  But be keenly aware of the people who might need you before the service.  Stop the cycle of outdoing last week’s amazing program and overflow with love for the people who are sitting in the audience.

You can follow more of Josh’s thoughts and updates from his ministry on Twitter.

Leaders can participate by:

• visiting the stories of sifting web-site each day via http://storiesofsifting.com
• subscribing to the sifted RSS feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/sifting
• subscribing to the Exponential RSS feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/exponential

I will also be teaching a couple of workshops at this year’s Exponential Conference on April 23-26 in Orlando, FL.  Hope to see you there.

1. 6 New Year’s Resolutions for Church Leaders (1/2/2012)
2. 7 Questions to Identify Who Should be on the Team (10/24/2011)
3. The “Culture of Honor” is Hurting Churches (3/31/2011)
4. 12 Questions on Job Satisfaction (10/14/2008)
5. 10 Reasons I Don’t Like Most Christians (12/4/2008)
6. Friday Five: My 5 Favorite Kindle Fire Apps (1/6/2012)
7. 10 Easy Ways to Keep Me from Visiting Your Church Because I Visited Your Website (May 14, 2005)
8. 12 Trends for Healthy Churches in 2012 (1/19/2012)
9. Stop & Start in 2012: Mark Batterson (1/3/2012)
10. 5 Attributes of a Church in Decline (7/15/2010)

Only four of the top 10 posts were written last month. Several of these posts are from the list of “popular articles” I recently added to the sidebar which seems to be generating new interest in archived content.

Stay tuned in the coming days. We’ll wrap up the “Stop & Start” series and share several announcements related to new resources including a new FREE eBook.

The picture was her idea. She drew it. I think she’s a pretty perceptive young lady. It captures my personality very well. I’m all about business. I want to develop the strategy and work the strategy. But, I have a creative bent. I like life when it’s filled with new ideas and new opportunities.

What does the picture on your office wall say about you?

HOW TO ENTER:  All you have to do is leave a comment below with the name of your favorite television show from when you were a kid. My favorite show was The Six Million Dollar Man. I’ll pick the winner this Thursday, January 12 at 12:00 pm. (That’s exactly 24 hours before the sale starts.) I’ll post the winner on my blog and send on the ONLY144 package for free! Good luck!

If your church needs children’s and preteen resources, don’t miss this deal. It only lasts 144 hours and it’s a great way to make your ministry budget go much further in 2012. The first 200 people who order will win some cool prizes. Here they are:

• The first person who orders will get a brand new Amazon Kindle.
• The first 10 people who order will win the new PRAISE VBS Curriculum from GOFISH ($199).
• The first 20 people who order will win the book Stretch by Jim Wideman ($15).
• The first 50 people who order will win the MissionSix Superhero CD.
• The first 100 people who order will win the iShine Live DVD.
• The first 200 people who order will win a YANCY CD.

Visit Only144.com for all the details.

UPDATE: We have a winner! Ryan Guard has just won over $1,600 in resources from Only144.com. Congratulations!

1. Free Video Download for Christmas Services (12/15/2011)
2. Christmas Party Message Opener (12/14/2008)
3. 12 Questions on Job Satisfaction (10/14/2008)
4. Friday Five: 5 Books that Shaped My Thinking in 2011 (12/16/2011)
5. Amazon Kindle Fire: My First Impressions (12/12/2011)
6. #1 in 2011: Are events killing the church? (12/29/2011)
7. The “Culture of Honor” is Hurting Churches (3/31/2011)
8. Hiring Senior Pastor at Church of 3,500 Near Phoenix (12/5/2011)
9. 8 Reasons Your Church is Stuck (6/29/2011)
10. Senior Leadership Teams: 7 Questions to Identify Who Should be on the Team (10/24/2011)

With the inspiration from Michael Hyatt, I’ve included posts that weren’t actually written in December along with the dates they were published. You’ll notice that only 5 of the top 10 posts were written last month. Several of the top 10 were referred to when I highlighted the top posts from 2011 in the last couple weeks of the month.

I’ve also added a list of “popular articles” to the sidebar which seems to be generating new interest in archived content. I’ll continue listing the older articles to see if we can identify any trends.

Thanks for being a part of the conversation in 2011. We have big things planned for the coming year including a brand new series of articles featuring input from key thought leaders that will launch tomorrow.

This White Church Doesn’t Want Black Members

Those who know me, know that I’m a fairly steady person. I rarely get emotional about anything. This story, though, absolutely ticks me off. I can’t believe as we sit here in 2011…in the United States…in the Church that stuff like this still happens.

A friend of a friend contacted me this weekend. Here’s an excerpt of what he shared:

“I spent the last four months as lead pastor of [a church in the Southeast] and was let go last week for baptizing six black teens into an all-white church. Even though the church leadership assured me that racial integration wouldn’t be a problem during the interview process, a handful of the high-dollar folks revolted and had me removed without the church’s knowledge…”

I rarely get angry, but these actions are so outside God’s design for the church that I’m left repulsed.

[Read the entire article.]

from left to right: Kayla, Abby, Emily, Brooke, Tony and Jacob

Unconventional Wisdom

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to share a short message with the volunteers at the Oak Leaf campus (now the West Ridge Cartersville location). Among other things, I talked about how God’s wisdom is different from conventional wisdom. I’ve always found this verse to be both challenging and encouraging in my spiritual journey:

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)

It’s with that foundation that I have practiced what, to the rest of the world, must seem like a backwards approach to life in many ways. For example…

• I’ve made it a practice to not work one day out of every week. My “business” continues to grow even though I’m not doing anything work-related one day each week. (Exodus 20:11)
• Emily and I routinely leave our kids at home to go spend time by ourselves. We love our kids, but they aren’t the priority–our marriage is. By making the kids take a back seat to our marriage, our marriage is healthier…and so are our kids. (Ephesians 5:25)
• Last year, Emily and I gave away more than one dollar of every five dollars we received before taxes. I can’t explain it, but the more generous we try to be with our church, other ministries and people in need, the more “rich” we feel. (2 Corinthians 9:6-8)