Do you ever wonder if what you’re doing is really have an impact? I think it’s healthy to consider that from time to time. Fortunately, as Christ-followers and church leaders we have some wisdom to use as a barometer. Jesus has planned for us to do great things. In Christ, we should be making a big impact. (See John 14:12.) Jesus gave both the church and his followers this measure to determine whether or not we’re really having an impact:

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).

I really do believe that a sign of health in churches and individually as Christ-followers is that we will “bear much fruit”. To me, that’s the bottom line distinction between a healthy church and a church that is just…”doing church”.

That’s my fear. I don’t want churches (or people) to so fall in love with their practices and traditions that they begin to see what they do as the measure of success rather than the fruit that’s produced. Individually, we are susceptible to the same trap. We can begin to get so focused on our religious activities (going to church, reading a book, taking a class, listening to sermon podcasts, attending the event, etc.) that we begin to think that’s the win. That may be part of the preparation, but the win is bearing fruit. God gave his one and only Son to save the world. Jesus didn’t die for his followers to attain more biblical knowledge — that sacrifice freed us to do great things and bear much fruit.

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Anytime I walk into a new environment, whether it’s a job or a consulting engagement, one of my main objectives is to figure out “how can I help this organization to move from ‘here’ to ‘there’?” Ultimately, of course, that question typically leads to some sort of change. If change isn’t an option, ministries don’t need me. They’re more focused on “how do we stay here.”

Here’s how I typically approach the “here to there” question. I look at five buckets:

• Strategy – How do we accomplish the mission?
• Systems – How do we streamline what we do to improve our effectiveness?
• People – Who’s on the team and what’s their role?
• Buildings – Where do we do what we do?
• Vision – Where are we heading?

One of the things I’ve learned along the way is that, in addition to addressing these five buckets, it’s just as important to hit them in the right order.

This may surprise you, but I’d rather have the right people before clarifying the vision. With gifted people who are a good fit with me (or the pastor I’m helping), you can accomplish just about anything. Of course, to get the right people, often times you need a clear, focused vision. Some people will follow you because of who you are, but other people, especially other leaders, need to be comfortable with both the person they will follow and the vision that you intend to pursue.

The ironic thing, though, is that often times organizations know me as the “strategic guy”, so they’re contacting me to fix their systems or strategy. I could try to help them tweak systems and strategy all day long, but it’s not going to have any impact going forward if the right people aren’t in place to execute.

If you forced me to rank the five buckets, I’d put them in this priority order:

1. People
2. Vision
3. Strategy
4. Systems
5. Buildings

It’s easy to look at a the lack of growth in ministry and blame it on the facility. Yes, I really do believe facilities and locations can impede ministry impact. However, the greatest facility or location in the world can’t fix an unhealthy church.

Healthy churches are built around people God calls pursuing a vision he delivers. Churches are shaped by the strategies and systems, or lack thereof, that they embrace. (By the way, some churches choose not to worry about strategy, but that is also a strategy.)

Now you have a general understanding of how I do what I do. With that in mind, what’s in your buckets? How would you prioritize them?

I shared this with Brian yesterday, and it has absolutely nothing to do with my connection at West Ridge. It’s just a general observation from the conversation that I’ve witnessed online in recent years. Here’s the gist of it…

People with spiritual gifts like mine aren’t welcomed in your church.

My spiritual gifts include leadership and administration and discernment. That’s how God has wired me. As a result of that mix of gifts, I think in terms of systems and strategies. I have the ability to walk into a chaotic situation and offer clarity and encourage simplicity. I can’t explain it, but God allows me to see the future in some situations and develop plans and next steps that help bring a vision to fruition.

Here’s the rub, though. Since my spiritual gifts don’t include teaching or prayer or shepherding, I don’t look or smell like the typical “Spirit-filled” pastor. When I start talking strategy and planning, people automatically assume that my counsel is being driven by my own strength and not God’s power.

I admit there are days when, like every Christ-follower, I try to take control of my life rather than embracing God’s control. I’m far from perfect. But I also know that the strengths that make me unique are God’s design for my life. I assume God wants me to use those gifts in the church. You’d be amazed, though, at how much my gifts are disdained within “Spirit-filled” churches.

Engaging the counsel of others won’t limit the Holy Spirit. Planning for the future shouldn’t constrict the power of the Holy Spirit. Learning from the experiences of other leaders and ministries doesn’t constrain the Holy Spirit. Bringing order and systems and strategic approaches certainly don’t stop the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit empowers people like me to do all those things.

It’s crazy. In the business world, people like me are rewarded handsomely for helping to expand the business. When people use those same gifts to help expand the impact of the church, though, they’re doing something wrong.

Are people who have these gifts supposed to get jobs in the marketplace where their strengths are welcomed? Is there room for them in your church?

The Killing Cockroaches Summer Tour visited The Orchard near Chicago on Wedensday. I had a great time with the church leaders gathered there. Then we made a pit stop in Granger, Indiana to visit our previous neighborhood friends before heading to my hometown of Piqua, Ohio. We’ll be hanging out here for a couple of days with family before moving on to Columbus for the next stop of the tour.

All of this travel over the last couple of weeks reminded me of a previous road trip. This one was out west. And, among other places, I had the opportunity to visit Nothing, Arizona. That visit inspired this post:

Nothing, Arizona

So I’m reading Robert Scoble’s blog the other day (doesn’t everybody?), and I read his post about Google’s lack of strategy being a strategy. It reminded me of my visit to Nothing, Arizona earlier this year. You’ve probably not heard of Nothing, Arizona because it’s essentially…nothing. Here’s the sign that hangs in the center of the town:

As you can see, the people of Nothing had a vision for Nothing that involved nothing. There’s really not much to the town of Nothing. There’s a gas station, called the “All Mart” and a couple of trailers. Nothing was their vision, and it resulted in nothing.

Well, these thoughts about lack of vision, or a vision of nothing, got me in a particularly fiesty mood and I began to list some of the advantages of doing ministry without a ministry strategy. Since my last Top 10 list was so well-received, let’s see how this one does. Here are:

10 Advantages of Doing Ministry Without a Ministry Strategy

1. You give the loudest person the opportunity to decide what happens at your church.
2. Sharp leaders who are accustomed to serving in organizations with clearly defined plans for future growth won’t stick around your church. That means more ministry for you!
3. You’ll get to hone your debating skills as people argue about what to do next. [continue reading>>]

What would you add to the list of advantages of doing ministry without a ministry strategy?

My next coaching network meets for the first time a week from Friday. Before we gather, I asked the guys involved to rank the strategic topics we might discuss. Here’s how they ranked the proposed topics:

1. Personal Development
2. Leading Up/Laterally
3. Discipleship strategy
4. Growth Strategies
5. Volunteer strategy
6. Communications
7. Structure
8. Staffing
9. Multi-site
10. Financial stewardship
11. Series planning

Want to know something funny? With the exception of possibly financial stewardship, I probably would have ranked those topics completely the opposite way. Isn’t God funny? He pulled together a group of guys that are going to stretch me. Needless to say, I’m probably the one who’s going to do the most learning over these next six months.

By the way, what topic do you think is missing from the list? If you were going to talk with a group of your peers about general ministry strategy, what would you want to discuss?

Earlier today, I had two Q&A sessions with church leaders gathered at our NewSpring Greenville campus. We also had about 160 leaders watching via the web. I took questions from those in the room and those who were watching online. Here are the two sessions.

If you don’t have anything important on your schedule tomorrow afternoon (Thursday, December 11), you may want to join us for a free webcast. I’ll be at our Greenville campus meeting with a handful of ministry leaders who are joining us for our all-staff meeting. They’ll be asking questions. I’ll try to provide answers or ask more questions. I’ll also be taking questions from webcast viewers. It’ll be live. And, because I know you’re cheap, it’ll be free.

Here are the details:

• First session starts at 1:15-ish (Eastern time)
• Second session starts at 2:30-ish (Eastern time)
• Live video webcast will be on my Mogulus channel.
• Watch my Twitter updates for exact start times.

Feel free to start asking questions by leaving comments on this post. By the way, I happen to believe there are stupid questions. I can’t make any promises that I’ll answer all the questions I receive. Just because I don’t answer your question, though, doesn’t necessarily mean I think it’s one of the stupid ones…though it could be.

You’ll see me tomorrow. Hope to see you in the chat room.

Kate Sweetman, author of Leadership Code: 5 Rules to Lead By, as quoted on FastCompany.com (November 14, 2008)

“Strategy is often delegated upward to the CEO or senior management team, which have a legitimate responsibility to shape the direction of the entire company. But strategic traction comes when employees at all levels of the company not only understand where the company is going, but they are excited by it, remember it, and know what to do to make it happen in their day-to-day decisions. They will have valid points of view about how the strategy will be operationalized internally, including which difficulties need to be overcome and how.”