jayhardwick.com

Compared to What?

If you're a pastor or church leader, you have inevitably attended a conference or meeting with other pastors or church leaders. What is the most popular question overheard at such gatherings? "So, how many people are coming to your church?" Every time I hear it that question, it makes me sick.

Tagged on to the question is a grading scale that is not really taught in a seminary class or a leadership conference, but that we tend to believe and ascribe to intrinsically. If you're under 100, you're losing and if you're over 1000, you're doing great. If you're over 3000, you're off the charts.

What a sad definition of success.

60% of the people who live within a 20 minute drive of our current meeting location do not attend church. That means the total number is roughly around 162,000. If we have 500 people involved in our church, we would be considered a moderately successful church in church circles. But are we really?

It's irrelevant for churches to compare themselves to other churches. I've done it in the past. Churches are different, communities are different, people are different, strengths are different, and strategies are different.

A growing church of 250 in a community of 1200 is doing great! A plateaued church of 3000 in a city of 4 million has some work to do.

Rather than asking, "How are we doing compared to _____________ Church," ask, "How are we doing relative to our mission, our community, and our strengths?"

Cake and Life Change

Yeah...days like these are why I'm in ministry!

We had our first baptism service today. Our band kicked off the festivities with Coldplay's "Fix You" (thanks for finally getting it in there Shannon!). Our worship set was quite the powerful one - "Salvation is Here," "Majesty," and "Jesus Paid It All."

The thing I love the most about baptism is the video story. Like all the other North Point campuses and partners, each person who is baptized does a 2-3 minute video testimony. They talk about who God used in their life, questions they wrestled with, and ultimately how they crossed the line of faith. It's real. Authentic. Powerful.

We baptized one guy today - a 25 year old recent college grad who is in the Air Force. He said something before we got in the pool that made me think. He said, "I know it's going to be the best feeling coming up out of the water. I can't wait to experience that!" He was genuinely PUMPED about being baptized. And, when he came out of the water, he bear-hugged me. It was pure adrenaline!

I have never heard anyone say what he said. Baptism was meaningful to him. It was a spiritual landmark. It was part of his journey, not a dry ritual that he got talked in to or that was pushed on him as part of joining a church. There's probably something to be said for allowing time between conversion and baptism. Going public with your faith is a big deal. Just a rough thought.

Oh, and after we celebrated life change, we ate cake. LOTS of cake! I found out when I got home that Molly, my 2 year old, had two snack bags of Skittles and a piece of cake for lunch! No wonder she loves Catalyst so much.

I think we "tasted a slice" of what was happening in Heaven today. I'm ready for more...cake and life change, baby!

It's GameDay in Carolina

Why are these guys in Columbia today? Because it's the Vols and the Gamecocks tonight at the Willy-B! SEC East up for grabs. Spurrier vs. Fulmer. #1 pass offense (UT) against the #1 pass defense (Carolina). Newton vs. Ainge. Rice vs. Hefney.

I've got a good feeling about this one.

Go Cocks!

Bo Knows Super Tecmo Bowl

One of my college roommates sent me this link. It reminded me of 7th grade and smackin' the Nintendo when the screen started jumping. Ah...Super Tecmo Bowl...

Maybe Cory Boyd can run like Bo tomorrow night against the Vols!

What It's All About

Everytime I hear/read stories of people surrendering their lives to Jesus, I get pumped up! I get a little more pumped when it's a high school or middle school student. Last night, one of our high school students crossed the line of faith and here is her blog post today:

I BROKE ROUTINE!! OH yes I did! I am officially WILD!!

Everymorning I have a set routine.... shower, walk dog, clothes, coffee, computer, etc....--something like that! SO this morning I added something.... GOD! YUP! That's right. I added God to my morning. To be honest, I was nervous! ME-change my schedule. Well it happened! and let me tell you--it was nice! Waking up and praying is a GREAT way to start the day. Don't get me wrong, "there were no fireworks" (as Philip would say). It just felt good. My day has been far from great or perfect, but I haven't felt so alone. Just knowing that God is there with me to help me is neat--It trips me out, really it does! I mean I have someone to talk to now, and he already knows--haha which ,once again, trips me out!!

If that doesn't make it all worth it, I don't know what else would!

Do You Care Enough?

Over the past several months, our leadership team has been talking a lot about helping people care enough about the right things. For many of us, we grew up in church environments where we were subliminally taught to care about the wrong things. The result is church people who care more about where they sit than investing in unchurched people. That's just one example.

Casey hit a home run with this post and this post over on our family ministry blog, familynoise.

Do you care enough about the right things? Your kids are watching. Your staff is watching. Your volunteers are watching. Your assistant is watching. The world is watching.

Yes, We're Closed

Normally, being closed is a bad thing. When it comes to small groups, closed is a good thing.

Almost 10 years ago, Bill Willits and the GroupLife team at North Point made the difficult decision that in order for people to experience authentic community, small groups needed to be closed (defined as 4-6 married couples or 6-8 singles in a group for 12-24 months; once the group forms, it is no longer open for new participants until the group multiplies at the end of the 12-24 months). As a North Point Strategic Partner, we adopt the same philosophy, but not only because we're a Strategic Partner. We believe in it.

We just started our first round of community groups three weeks ago. I honestly cannot imagine doing small groups any other way and it being effective. After only three meetings, I already see several huge advantages of a closed group system, but one that stands out: the predictability leads to intimacy.

If you're in an open group, you never really know who's going to show up for group from one week to the next. You never know if a group member is going to bring a friend for group. If you show up and you see that there are new people, how likely are you to be open about what's really going on in your life, marriage, finances, job, etc.? It's not likely because there are people that you have no relationship with sitting in the room.

In closed groups, it's the same people, on the same night, at the same time for 12-24 months. Intimacy can build in a closed environment because it is predictable. There won't be new people there from one week to the next. You know that the other people in your group are there because they really want to be there and experience community, not just to find friends or wiggle their toe in the water.

Our group last night was awesome and I know it will only get better. After only three meetings, we're already sharing more and more of what's really going on. That is a direct result of intimacy that is a result of predictability.

So, when people ask, "are your groups really closed," I'll gladly answer, "YES, we're closed!"

For more on this important piece of strategy, check out Bill's book Creating Community.

Cow on the Tracks

One of Molly's favorite books drives me crazy. And of course, she wants to read it every night now. I consider the set-up to be a Southern version of the fall of Adam and Eve.

Instead of a garden, the story takes place on a farm. God is the Farmer. Eve is a cow. Adam isn't there...or maybe he's the pig. Satan is a fox. The sly little fox lures the cow over to the train tracks where the farmer told her not to go. And...you guessed it...a train comes. Fox runs off. Cow freaks out and freezes on the tracks. Farmer saves the day and shoves the cow off the tracks before the train smears her. And then comes the bad part.

Walking back to the farm, the farmer takes advantage of the teachable moment with the cow. He says, "Trusting my rules is kind of like trusting God's rules - if you trust Him, He'll always keep you safe."

Everytime I hit that part I want to yell at the farmer, but then I remember he's not real and my two year old is there. Sometimes I just skip it altogether. What God is he talking about?!

It was almost two years ago to the day that our family joined with three other families to officially begin chasing this dream God put in our hearts of starting a new church in Greenville. For 13 months, there was no income from the church. We all worked part-time jobs and raised support all the while doing our best to cast this vision, decide on strategy, and build a core team. We turned down land and a building worth 2 million dollars. We met in 5 different places. Let me assure you...there was very little safety in doing what we knew was God's will for us.

And not much has changed. As I meet pastors and church leaders from across the country, I find this feeling among some that because we're partnered with North Point that life is all "gee whiz and hallelujah." In the words of Lee Corso..."not so fast my friend."

I'm reading Mark's book, In a Pit with Lion on a Snowy Day (or On a Mountain with a Dog in July as Jake calls it). If you're breathing, have a pulse, and want to do anything significant with your life, you need to read this book. The past four weeks, God has given me some big lions to chase. Everyday, I feel like I wake up and see those yellow eyes staring at me. And I hear the question, "Are you going to run away or chase it?" As Mark so perfectly says, God is most glorified in the chase, not the retreat.

What audacious, culture-defying, seemingly irresponsible dream is God asking you to chase? What can you do today to begin the chase? What do you need to do right now to continue the chase? While trusting God won't make you safer, it will get you closer to His heart and closer to His glory.

Safety is for the cows!

It Had to Happen Eventually

There are two "first things with Molly" I have been anticipating with much excitement: taking her to a Carolina football game and taking her to Starbucks.

Today, we ventured to Starbucks for the first time. She ordered coffee and an oatmeal cookie. I was tempted to let her try some of the beverage God created on day 9 (sweet tea was on the 8th day), but I resisted.

So, she ate her oatmeal cookie, drank apple juice and I had my usual Venti Bold with non-fat milk and two Splendas. And, we had some good conversation. It's amazing how simple life is for a 2 year old. I think I need more Starbucks visits with Molly!

It was a good morning after what amounted to the busiest week of the year. Tomorrow...college football...Carolina at Vandy and Georgia Tech at Clemson. Go Cocks and Go Jackets!

Path to Greatness

There have not been many more useful books published in recent memory than Jim Collins' work, Good to Great, and the accompanying monograph, Good to Great and the Social Sectors. Any church leader/planter should read both and take your team through the monograph.

The opening point of the monograph is the rejection of the idea that non-profits should become more like businesses in order to become great. Businesses are just as mediocre as churches, and other social sector organizations. Rather, we must identify and leverage principles of greatness.

This week, our lead team began to dive into one of those principles of greatness that may be the most important one: greatness is achieved when "disciplined people engage in disciplined thought and take disciplined action."

I was challenged last week at Lead Pastor's Retreat. Generally, I consider myself to be a fairly disciplined person. I've trained myself to make lists, keep an organized calendar, get things done, read, etc. That is, until I was asked three questions last week that rocked my world. See how you do:

1. Over the last 90 days, what were your top 5 accomplishments? (big picture stuff, not, "I preached a sermon")
2. What were your top 3 priorities last week?
3. What are your top 3 priorities for this week and are you on track to reach them?

As I somewhat struggled to answer those questions, I realized the need for my level of discipline to go way up. It's more than just checking off the list everyday or every week. It's asking, "What should get on the list?" And, "What's the order of the list?" And, "How am I going to use my discretionary time?" And, "How am I playing to my strengths?"

This is a "man in the mirror" time for me. God's stretching me. I sense that He's stretching our entire team. I may even see a pair of "big boy pants" He's about to put on us. If we're going to advance in the mission God has given us, it starts with me becoming more disciplined and then leading our staff to do the same.

More on this later. Be great!