Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to talk with a denominational leader in a different part of the country. Over the last few years, he’s personally been involved in consulting engagements with about 60 declining churches within his denomination. That grabbed my attention. Honestly, I don’t have a lot of experience working with churches that are in decline. With that in mind, I was curious to learn if there were any common themes. Within moments, he rattled off these five attributes of churches he’s worked with that are in decline:

When I work with churches for the first time, I think sometimes they’re frustrated with me because I’m not willing to help them fix something specific. Sometimes they want me to tweak their internal systems. Other times they want me to speak into improvements in their Sunday service environments. Other times they want me to provide feedback on their website or their music or their facility. I’ve found that churches can become convinced that they know why their church isn’t growing.

There comes a point when it’s healthy and appropriate to address specific environments, systems or tactics; however, these five foundational aspects of a healthy ministry have to come first. If we’re unwilling to address these critical elements, then we’re not going to shift the declining trends.

The crazy thing about this is that there are many churches that would rather close their doors (hundreds every year) than make the necessary changes it would take to have an impact. Why is it that we put our personal preferences ahead of our ministry impact?

I’m glad at least one denominational leader in one part of the country is willing to try to change that pattern.

If you’re the “complete the right task”-type of leader, you better be real smart. You’ll need to know how to do everything. Then you’ll have to make sure your subordinates know how to do it too. You’ll be the one that has to come up with all the ideas. You’ll be the person that is responsible for policing the troops to make sure they’re staying in line. Ironically, if something goes wrong, you’ll probably blame it on people.

If you’re the “find the right people”-type, you are constantly trying to build the right team and then get out of the way. When you have talented people around you, you don’t need to know all the answers. The team generates the ideas, so it’s not all on your shoulders. The right people are as concerned about the mission as you are, so you don’t have to spend time keeping them in line. If something goes wrong and you have a great team, you see it as a systems or communications problem rather than a people problem.

Not getting the results you desire? Maybe it’s time for a little self-assessment. What path are you on? You may want to change your leadership focus.

Change is difficult. Change when we think it’s a permanent change is even more difficult. Fortunately, thanks primarily to the companies that develop software and web solutions, we’ve all come to know and embrace the role of the beta version. The beta version allows us to test drive a solution and make sure it does what we intended it to do. In addition to that, there’s an understanding and expectation that there’s going to be a revised version that will be even better.

The church, of course, has a rich tradition of avoiding change. In fact, we’re rather religious about it. One way we can combat that nature of our organizations is to embrace the freedom to deliver a beta version and test drive new ideas.

Here are some advantages of “test driving” new ideas:

1. You deliver solutions faster. Rather than waiting for the solution to be perfect, you can move forward more quickly knowing the solution will ultimately be improved over time.
2. You can take advantage of feedback from your users. People who engage the solution will let you know what worked and what didn’t work. That will help you make better improvements because you won’t be guessing about what the end-user needs.
3. It keeps solutions simple. When we think it needs to be perfect, our tendency is to overwork a solution and load it up with features. That usually leads to more complicated solutions that generally are less effective and more difficult to maintain.
4. It encourages the freedom to fail. You don’t have to make any permanent changes. It’s just a test drive. If it doesn’t work, you can unplug it.
5. It makes it easier to undo a change. Because everyone goes into the beta version knowing it’s only a test period, it’s easier to undo a change and revert back to the old solution or try something different.

How might this play out in church world:

• Wondering if different service times might be beneficial? Test drive it.
• Curious to know if a new outreach effort will impact your community? Test drive it.
• Deciding whether or not your new discipleship strategy will help people grow spiritually? Test drive it.
• Think you may need to shift the style of your service to reach a different demographic? Launch a new service and test drive it.

In the church, we have a tendency to overcook solutions. We study. We pray. We talk about it. We have meetings. We pull together committees. We pray some more. We check to see if another church has done it. We take votes. We do a lot of things to avoid the solutions that might actually help us fulfill God’s vision for our ministries. Rather than do all of that, let’s get a little bit more action-oriented. If you sense that God’s leading you in a new direction, test it out before making a permanent change.

When was the last time you rolled out the “beta version” of something at your church? What did you learn? If given the freedom, what would you consider test-driving in the future?

A couple of weeks ago, I opened applications for two new coaching networks. Here are several updates:

• Half the spots in the Atlanta coaching network have already been claimed.
• I’ve decided to move forward with the Dallas coaching network. My friends at Fellowship Technologies have agreed to host.
• Both networks start in August. We meet six times over six months.
• These networks are for senior pastors, executive pastors and other staff leaders ready to engage ministry strategies with like-minded leaders.
• The deadline for applications is Friday, July 9…and that’s less than two weeks away.

Ready to take a next step?

Here are all the details.

Here is the online application.

If you have additional questions, email me. Please pass this opportunity along to your friends and encourage them to apply before the spots fill up.

Hope to see you in Atlanta or Dallas in August.

On one of my recent trips, I wrapped up the book Derailed by Tim Irwin. Tim is an author, speaker and leading authority on leadership development, organizational effectiveness and executive selection. The book profiles the derailments of Bob Nardelli (Home Depot), Carly Fiorina (Hewlett-Packard), Durk Jager (Procter & Gamble), Steven Heyer (Starwood), Frank Raines (Fannie Mae) and Dick Fuld (Lehman Brothers).

Here are some of the highlights of my reading:

• “No matter how brilliant, charming, strategic, or commanding in presence a leader is, the consequences of a failed character are extraordinarily disabling and will bring down even the strongest among us.”
• “Employees ought to be held accountable — especially executives — but not to the degree that they display a crippling fear of not only the failure but the leader to whom they are obligated to follow.”
• “Because its brands have been so dominant for so long, the company’s culture acquired a pervasive, slavish adherence to precedent.”
• “It is said that adverse circumstances do not make or break you; they reveal you.”
• “We always become who we are. It may take time or stress or illness, but what’s inside us tends to come out. Our character serves as the wellspring from which our behavior emerges.”
• Some leaders “…don’t handle pressure well. They are overly sensitive and take criticism deeply and personally. They’re often critical of others. These individuals are more fragile under stress. They are more emotionally volatile and tend to be suspicious of others’ motives.”
• “Convictions reflect what we are convinced is true and noble. The problem is that some convictions address topics that do not rise to the level of meaningful importance.
• “Courage to do the right thing results from clarity about what we believe.”
• “Lack of courage shows up in many organizations as micromanagement, failure to empower others, risk aversion, overcontrol, and perfectionism.”
• “While we want to know that we are being paid fairly, we will almost always work harder for meaning than we will for money.”

If you’re interested, you can assess your risk to becoming derailed as a leader. Tim offers a free online test on his website to help you determine your risk.

Finally, if these highlights have grabbed your attention and your interested in picking up the book, feel free to follow my Amazon link to add Derailed to your reading list.

Joshua and the Israelites are camped along the Jordan river. The river is at flood stage. As if that’s not enough of a challenge, Joshua reminds this large group of people, “you have never been this way before.”

Talking about a change management challenge. Here we have a leader trying to move a large group of people to a place that they’ve never been before. To top it all off, there’s a rather substantial barrier in the way.

At this point, Joshua hears from God. God tells Joshua to send the priests out ahead with the ark of the covenant. He also explains that as soon as the priests take their first step into the river, the water will part. Everyone will be able to cross on dry land.

So let me summarize where we are at this point:

• We have a leader.
• The leader is trying to take a large group of people to a place they’ve never seen before.
• There are what appears to be insurmountable barriers in the way.
• Then you have God telling the leader to do something that’s going to require a miracle.

If you ask me, this is not only a leadership crisis – this is a crisis of faith. Or maybe I’m just interpreting it that way because I know me too well. Here’s what I don’t like about who I am – I always want to know where I’m going to end up. The problem is that God typically doesn’t operate that way. Many times God just tells me my next step.

God: “Put your foot into the water.”

Tony: “I’ve never put my foot into the water before.”

God: “You need to put your foot into the water.”

Tony: “If I do that, what’s my next step?”

God: “I’ll reveal that after you put your foot into the water.”

Tony: “I want to know where I’m going to end up?”

God: “Don’t you trust me?”

The ugly side of who I am is that sometimes my faith is very small. I want to be in control. When I don’t know the final outcome, I’m not in control. Where God is stretching me is in these moments where he’s just asking me to take the next step even though I don’t know where I’m going to end up.

Of course, you’re probably familiar with the story. As soon as the priests reach the Jordan and their feet touch the water, the river stops flowing. The whole nation of Israel is able to cross the Jordan on dry ground.

Typically leaders are control freaks. They want the whole picture. They want to know the end game. The problem is, of course, most times that’s not how God operates. God wants us to hear from him and trust him enough to be willing to just take the very next step.

So, leader, what’s your next step?

I’ve respected Craig Groeschel for several years. His ministry is having a big impact throughout the U.S. and across the globe. When I think of LifeChurch.tv, the first words that pop to mind are “innovation” and “generosity”. Among other things, they’ve completely flipped the model for resourcing other churches. With all that in mind, this story from Craig doesn’t really surprise me:

“It happened again the other day. We had a group of pastors visiting. When they started asking me questions, I deferred often to several trusted staff members.

“After about 30 minutes of looking to my team to answer questions, one pastor said, ‘Craig, there are a lot of things about your church that you don’t know!’

“When I told him ‘thanks,’ he seemed surprised.”

One of the ways I measure great leaders is by what they don’t know. If they know too much about what’s happening in their organization, I know they’re micromanagers. I don’t like working for micromanagers. Not many people do.

If you’re a leader, how much do you know?

A friend of mine asked about the posts I did last year on my theology of leadership. If he was interested, some of you may be interested as well. With that in mind, here are the links to the four posts in that series:

• Part 1 – Overview
• Part 2 – Servant Leadership
• Part 3 – Empowerment
• Part 4 – Character

I’m going to have to go back and read these myself to see if I still agree with what I wrote. In the mean time, what are your thoughts on the theology of leadership?

While I was up in the cabin in the mountains last week, I finished reading Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson. It’s a quick read packed full of nuggets of wisdom for today’s organizations. Here are some of the highlights from my reading:

Have you read the book yet? If so, what were your favorite takeaways?

If you’re interested in picking up a copy for yourself, here’s my Amazon link.