EXCEEDING GRACE

His grace is enough because it is exceeding.

OUR ACTIONS

What goes around not only comes around, but also stays around. Spit up and eventually the spit will end up on our head.

Think of the gold-seeker merchant who finds a pond in the desert. After satiating his thirst and replenishing his jugs with water for the remaining of his journey, he poisons the pond to stop other merchants. Yet a little later, his camels spill all his collected water. Unable to refill his jugs, he dies of thirst two days later.

How would we act today if we knew that we would be the recipients of such actions? Act accordingly because we might very well be.

“Our actions are like boomerangs, no matter what, they’ll always come back to us, in one way or another. Act wisely.”

                                                                – Andres Lara

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5 Must-Have Stages of an Organized Church

Life cycles are a reality for every church. Here’s how to guide your church through the process.

Every organization goes through life cycles. This includes the church. These cycles can be natural or forced, but part of leadership is recognizing them and adapting leadership to them for continued health and growth. Each stage has overlap, but understanding this can help a leader decide how best to lead … which is different in each cycle.

Here are five life cycles of any organization:

1. Birth—This founding period usually involves a few people with a big vision. This is the initial stage where a lot of learning takes place and the organization begins to develop leaders … sometimes by trial and error. Everyone on the team at this point has the potential to become a leader in some area. Having planted a couple of churches, we launched one with one staff member (me), my wife and 20 or so people.
The other was with three staff members, our wives and 11 couples. Each member of both teams was forced to lead areas outside of his or her comfort level, but we gained some of our best leaders that way and several people found a passion they did not know they had. In both church plants, which grew quickly; this stage lasted less than one year.

2. Childhood—A deepening and maturity process begins at this stage, but the organization still has few policies and procedures in place and everything is still “fun,” with the excitement of still being a young vision. New leadership develops and responsibilities spread to new people within the organization. Mistakes are common as the organization figures out its identity.
The DNA of the organization begins to form. The organization begins to recognize its need for more structure. This was a fun stage and time for both church plants. The normal for this stage appears to end in three to five years. (For larger organizations, I assume this could be a longer time frame.)

3. Adolescence—Greater levels of responsibility are handed out to more people and the weight of responsibility spreads within the organization. The organization has had some success at this point and so it begins to take new risks and dream new and bigger dreams. This is a continued growth time and usually full of renewed energy. If the organization is not careful, some of the initial leaders of the organization can begin to experience burnout, and often a loss of power as new leaders emerge.
More developed structure becomes necessary at this point and the organization must begin to think about maintaining growth. Organizations are forced to “grow up” during this stage. It usually happens in the first 10 years, but again, this may depend on the size of the organization.

4. Maturity—At this stage the organization has many experiences of success and some failure and must begin to think through continued growth and health as an organization. The organization needs constant renewal and regeneration to remain current and viable. Leadership has been developed, but the organization begins to plan out succession of leaders.
The structure of the organization is usually well established by this point, but must remain flexible enough to adapt to changes outside the organization. At some point, all organizations enter this phase. All. The goal at this point needs to shift into breathing new life into the organization. (A lot of churches reach this stage and cease to change and grow, often steeped in their own traditions, and this is where plateau begins. Know any who fit this category?)

5. Renewal—This stage almost always has to be forced on an organization. Sad, isn’t it? Either by leadership or for survival purposes, something new must occur or the organization will eventually die or cease to be viable. I am in this stage with a church now. This can be scary for people, but it does not mean the organization must leave its vision, traditions or culture, but it must consider new ways of realizing its potential.
Some will say renewal comes at each stage of the organization’s life cycle and that may be true, but I contend there is a definite stage in a healthy life cycle where an organization improves and almost reinvents itself to continue to experience health and growth.
Another thing to remember is that the speed of an organization’s growth (or the church’s growth) can cause life cycles to complete much quicker. Consider the child who has to face adult decisions early in life and is forced to “grow up fast.” A similar thing happens to organizations.
(These are not my terms. I learned them years ago in a management class. The explanation and application is mine. I realize this is written with secular leadership terms. I have a long background in the business community, but I believe the principles here are directly transferable to the church setting.)

This article was contributed by Ron Edmondson
Ron Edmondson is a pastor and church leader passionate about planting churches, helping established churches thrive, and assisting pastors and those in ministry think through leadership, strategy and life. Ron has over 20 years business experience, mostly as a self-employed business owner, and he's been helping church grow vocationally for over 10 years.

 
If you are a leader of an organization, then you have the awesome responsibility of establishing the parameters by which your organization will be successful.

Now, as I feel the need to say in every post like this, Jesus sets the bar. Period! He is our standard. However, it would be foolish to ignore the fact that God allows people to lead, even in the church. And, as Christian leaders, we set the bar in our church for many of the things that happen in the church.
A mentor of mine always says, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” He didn’t make up the saying, but he’s learned in his 70-plus years of experience how true a statement it is. Are you leading with the idea that you are setting the bar for the people you are trying to lead?

Here are seven ways the leader sets the bar:
1. Vision casting—The God-given vision to the people is primarily communicated by the senior leader. Others will only take it as serious as you do. Keeping it ever before the people is primarily in your hands.

2. Character—The moral value of the church and staff follows closely behind its senior leadership. Our example is Jesus, and none of us fully live out that standard, but the quality of the church’s character—in every major area of life—will mirror closely the depth of the leader’s character.

3. Team spirit—If the leader isn’t a cheerleader for the team, there will seldom be any cheerleaders on the team. Energy and enthusiasm are often directly proportional to the attitude of the leader.

4. Generosity—No church—and no organization for that matter—will be more generous than its most senior leadership. There may be individuals who are generous, but as a whole people, follow the example of leadership in this area as much or more than any other.

5. Completing goals and objectives—The leader doesn’t complete all the tasks—and shouldn’t—but ultimately, the leader sets the bar on whether goals and objectives are met. Complacency prevails where the leader doesn’t set measurable progress as a value and ensure systems are in place to meet them.

6. Creativity—The leader doesn’t have to be the most creative person—and seldom is—but the team will be no more creative than the leader allows. A leader that stifles idea generation puts a lid on creativity and eventually curtails growth and change.

7. Pace—The speed of change and the speed of work on a team is set by the leader. If the leader moves too slow—so moves the team. If the leader moves too fast—the team will do likewise.
Team members will seldom outperform the bar their leader sets for them. Consequently, and why this is so important a discussion, an organization will normally cease to grow beyond the bar of the leader.
Be careful, leader, of the bars you set for your team.

This article was contributed by Ron Edmondson
Ron Edmondson is a pastor and church leader passionate about planting churches, helping established churches thrive, and assisting pastors and those in ministry think through leadership, strategy and life. Ron has over 20 years business experience, mostly as a self-employed business owner.

HOW MUCH SHOULD I CHARGE MY CLIENTS?

Image credit: Shutterstock

For entrepreneurs, pricing is a four-letter word, especially when you are a service-based company.
Since starting my business, figuring out what to charge my customers has been my number-one problem. It is challenging to put a price tag on intangible items such as connections, knowledge and time. Whereas if you are producing a product, setting a price seems a little bit easier because you have very clear numbers to take into consideration, such as cost of manufacturing, packaging, shipping, etc.
Jamie Walker, founder of SweatGuru and Fit Approach, writes: “Determining pricing is one of the toughest things there is to do; its part art and part science.”
When you provide a service, you have to find an intersection between where you feel adequately compensated and what is the highest amount your clients are comfortably willing to pay.

I know, easier said than done. However, here are a few things to think about when it comes to your pricing structure:
Stick to your rate. When I first started fifteen media, I used to accept any rate that new clients were willing to pay me. My mentality was having some work is better than none. I quickly learned that this is no way to grow a business. Working with these lower-paying clients takes away time from higher-paying clients. You should aim for high-quality clients, rather than quantity.
With that being said, Stephanie Abrams and Courtney Spritzer, founders of Socialfly NY, point out situations where you can waiver on your rate: “Stick to your pricing and only make accommodations for strategic business reasons, [which] may include putting a household name on your resume as a client you have worked with, breaking into a new industry/sector and building a new relationship.”

Know what your price is saying about your business. Daniel Lieberman of Cory Vines says it best: “It is important to find the price which sells both value and quality. You don’t want to price something too low and people think it’s poor quality. Find the price which customers know they’re getting value when purchasing your product.”
When providing a service, if you don’t charge enough, you are saying that you aren’t the best at what you do. You don’t want people just to hire you because you are a bargain!
Raise your rates accordingly. Abrams and Spritzer explain, “Don’t be afraid to raise your pricing as your company continues to evolve and build a positive track record.”
As I started to build a more impressive portfolio, I was able to start charging my new clients more. Once I had enough credibility, I also went back to my original clients with a new rate, and most of them agreed to the higher pricing structure because I had been able to prove myself.

Be realistic about costs. We all want to please our clients and show them that we can get the most results in the shortest amount of time. However, the reality is good work takes time and resources.
Alex Weiss, partner at CA Creative, asks herself the following questions when determining the price for new project: “What are CA Creative’s roles and responsibilities each month? How many people from our team will it take to execute this scope? How many assets are we delivering? Do we have to pay for additional resources such as video production or monitoring tools? Clearly defining the answers to each of these questions allows us to determine a fee structure that makes sense, and set clear parameters as to what each service includes.”
If you take the time to really think about what will go into the project, you can give your client a realistic quote. There is no better way to anger a customer than finishing a project and sending an invoice for an higher amount than you initially agreed to
.
Research industry standards. When setting your price, you have to know the ins and outs of your industry. For example, in PR, I pay attention to the amount PR firms are charging their clients, the hourly rates of freelancers and the price of industry tools, such as Cision. You should take all of these into account when deciding on your rate.
Walker, of SweatGuru and Fit Approach, adds, “It’s important to know how your competitors are pricing their product, but even more importantly, why they are pricing their product that way.”
The author is an Entrepreneur contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.

This article was contributed by Rebekah Epstein
Rebekah Epstein is the founder of fifteen media, an agency that works exclusively with PR firms to get more media placements for their clients. She specialized in lifestyle, technology, healthcare and business. She also blogs about the ups and downs of gen-y entrepreneurship at NeonNotebook.

You Can’t Do That in the Pulpit! 7 Nevers

Joe McKeever’s list is pretty clear. And we need to hear it!

You can’t chew gum in the pulpit or bring your coffee in with you. You can’t preach in your pajamas or lead a worship service in your swimsuit.
But you knew that.
However, some pastors do things every bit as silly as this, and as counter-productive, we must say.
Now, in one sense, a pastor can do anything from the pulpit. Once.
But we’re talking about things no right-thinking godly pastor should attempt to do from the Lord’s sacred place of leadership in His church.

1. He cannot recommend a book which has questionable material in it nor condemn a book he has not read.

2. Ditto a movie. Some movies have much to be commended, but by their horrible language and their using Christ’s name blasphemously destroy all the good. The pastor will not want to endorse such a movie even though it has some positive aspects.

3. He cannot bring someone into the pulpit, even for an interview, whose life is a contradiction to the way of Jesus Christ. There may be a forum for the church to host the mayor who has atheistic beliefs or a prominent author of a questionable piece in a way that would not give the impression of endorsing the person’s lifestyle, if that is thought necessary. But a worship service is not the place.

4. He cannot preach that he disbelieves certain Scriptures. Imagine a NASA engineer addressing the astronauts just before their blastoff and informing them that he has no confidence in the integrity of the spaceship, that the onboard computers are untrustworthy or that there are flaws in the design. He ends with, “Nevertheless, you have a good flight.”
If the preacher disbelieves the Bible, let him resign and find an honest way to make a living.
(Note: In the past, when I have said something similar, people have written to argue that they appreciate the transparency of such a minister who would admit to having the same struggles as they. Far from agreeing with them, I find their point of view amazing. I wonder if they would be willing to undergo surgery when the physician doubts his abilities and questions the procedures.)

5. He cannot share with the congregation the personal doubts he struggles with concerning the Lord, or important doctrines such as salvation, the Incarnation, the Trinity, the Virgin Birth and the Atonement. If he has such issues, let him read Psalm 73 a dozen times and take its message to heart, then work out his doubts in private.

6. He cannot tell the congregation that he struggles with porn or lust. Some things are better dealt with privately—or at least between himself, his spouse and a faithful counselor—but never in public.
The pastor who tells his people that he has a lust problem is creating more problems for himself than he can imagine. Every woman in the church will think he’s undressing her when he shakes her hand. When that happens, his ministry has come to an end.

7. A minister cannot rebuke anyone publicly from the pulpit. He cannot call names and slander someone, no matter how strongly he feels.*
Again, he may do it, but not and retain the respect of Christians who know the word and reverence His name. Mean-spirited preachers will always have their defenders, but this does not make it wise or right.
Let the preacher honor His Lord, reverence His calling and bless His people.
Let the preacher never forget he has not been called to “share his heart” with his people but to “preach the Word” (II Timothy 4:2).
Let the preacher not fall prey to the temptation to be transparent to the point that he lays stumblingblocks in the paths of his people.
Let the preacher say to himself a hundred times a day, “This is not about me; this is about Jesus Christ” (see 2 Corinthians 4:5).
Let the preacher with overwhelming doubts have enough integrity to a) get help, b) stay on his knees, c) not preach his doubts, and d) get out of the ministry if the doubts and questions remain unresolved.
We will all stand before the Lord and give account.
Let none of us have to account for having caused God’s people to stumble.

*Postscript: When ChurchLeaders.com published this article, several readers were quick to take issue with #7, not calling names from the pulpit. They said I am contradicting I Timothy 5:20 which reads “Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all….”
My response: a) The previous verse says Paul is referring to elders in the body, not to the world at large, which was what I had in mind (although I wasn’t clear on that). b) My concern is irresponsible preachers who attack celebrities, politicians, etc., by name, committing slander (a word I did use). There is no place for that in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are sent as bearers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, not as Old Testament prophets off to Samaria to confront wicked Jezebel and good-for-nothing Ahab. c) Might there not be exceptions to #7? Of course. We can probably think of a possible exception to every one of these. As the saying goes, “Every rule has its exceptions, including this one.”

This article was contributed by Dr. Joe McKeever
Dr. Joe McKeever is a preacher, cartoonist and the retired Director of Missions for the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans. Currently he loves to serve as a speaker/pulpit fill for revivals, prayer conferences, deacon trainings, leadership banquets and other church events. Visit him and enjoy his insights on nearly 50 years of ministry at JoeMcKeever.com.