Social Media Leadership

One question today.

How are you using social media to lead?

Don’t think it’s important? Watch the short video below.

Again. How are you using social media to lead?

5 Leadership Principles

I was led to an article last week by Benjamin Lichtenwalner on the website CIO.com. The title said “5 Examples of Leadership Success in Troubled Times.” As I began reading the article, I began to see that not only were these examples of leadership but they were also examples of leadership principles. Through each example I began to see a defining principle come into focus.

You can read the post here and see if you came to the same conclusions I did.

I saw these 5 principles for leadership and began to figure out how I could implement them in my role at Teen Challenge of the Midlands. I would encourage you to do the same in your leadership positions. Here’s how it translates for me.

Respect / Listen / Focus / Transparency / Value

Respect
1. I believe that laying the groundwork for success at Teen Challenge begins with respecting everyone and realizing that some of the guys are just in different stops on their journey. Let people know upfront that respect is something given automatically. Everyone will respect each other and have consequences in place if that doesn’t happen.

Listen
2. It looks like the biggest principle here begins with the leader and that is to listen. I like having the policy of listening first, thinking, and then responding. Having a policy of “Listen First” I think is extremely important especially when dealing with issues around Teen Challenge, whether organizational or student related.

Focus
3. Focus is always important in the life of a leader. With Teen Challenge, the organization, it’s important to focus on the long-term and realize that what’s going on short-term isn’t how the organization is going to end up. With Teen Challenge student related issues, it’s important to realize that just because a student messes up doesn’t mean he can’t make it or overcome whatever the issue is.

Transparency
4. Transparency is one of the most overlooked areas of leadership. In order to get people to jump on board with your vision, you have to let them see everything and decide for themselves if they are going to give some or all of their life to it. This is being real with people. Authentic.

Value
5. You have to see the value in everyone. Many times I can remember seeing someone and not putting a lot of value in their use to the organization I was involved with only to find out they surpassed my expectations of value to the company. Everyone has value.

Let me know what you think!

Adam
10thStreetCoffee Director

This post was originally published on the LeadersHeart Network. Find out more about LeadersHeart here.

To find out more about 10thStreetCoffee go to the .com / .net / .org

God’s Purpose…for My Life?

I just read a good post by Steven Furtick from Elevation Church in North Carolina about purpose. What’s your purpose in life? Rick Warren did a fantastic job a few years ago helping people discover their purpose and why God has someone on this floating rock.

Steven’s take is that we don’t have a choice of what God’s purpose is for our life and makes good points to back it up. Here’s the link.

What do you think?

Until next time…

Motivate

There are many things that can motivate someone to do something. I think what makes the someone do the something is the intriguing part. Why does one man achieve great heights of his success ladder while another man wallows in his pit of despair? I think many things can temporarily motivate us. Money, love, self-interest, people, feelings are all things that can motivate someone.

Napoleon said, “There are two levers to set a man in motion, fear and self-interest.” Obviously he had a way of motivating men into action. My disagreement with Napoleon comes because I think there are more than two things that has and will motivate someone. My question today is what motivates you? More importantly, what should be motivating you that isn’t?

Do you have a sense that what you’re doing matters to God and to others? We will only find satisfaction and deeper motivation in what we’re doing when we feel that we are giving our lives to a cause that counts.

Until next time…

Finally, the new design!

Well, here it is. I promised a new design and I think it’s done! Let me know what you think!

New Design

I just want you to know that I’m thinking about changing the blog design. Kind of working it through. Trying to get the header just the way I like it. Photoshopping around a little. So don’t be surprised if you come here one day and nothing except the content looks the same, because it’s going to happen. I’m just not sure when. I’m going for a more professional look.

Until next time.

Twitter Updates

Hey everybody,

Have you enjoyed the Twitter updates over on the left side? Just wondering. It’s a lot easier than writing a post. But I haven’t given up on churchfuse.

Twitter is just quicker and easier on my blackberry.

Until next time.

What does it have to take?

Let me start off by saying that Springfield was good. The trip had to be cut short because of the impending ice that was coming, making me leave about 2 hours earlier than planned. Any visionary can tell you that 2 hours can be alot of great ideas that were never thought up or came to fruition. Oh well, there’s always next time, right?

What does it take? Be prepared, this might get thick! I will try to keep the rantings to a minimum. Here’s the setup. I had a follow-up call of sorts on Tuesday. The planter from Saturday, we’ll call him Jack, had a meeting with other planters from his area and it turned into a gripe contest. These two planters told Jack how they were trying to be innovative and change the method without changing the message mind you. They keep getting turned down from doing amazing stuff by their district leadership because they haven’t done it that way before. Really, I’m not kidding, I know it sounds cliche, but that was the reason given. Honestly, no surprise there, the denomination is not known for thinking outside the box. My friend, Jack, was calling me about an idea he had posed at the meeting earlier that day to his 2 fellow planters. Let me say, it was a great idea! But it won’t happen in our denomination. I told Jack that best case scenario is his district takes the idea and puts someone else in charge, but what will probably happen is that they won’t be able to take the lid off the box of his idea and say no. I told him not to waste his time with the district and pursue area business leaders. Business leaders, especially business leaders who have started their own business, have the entrepreneurial spirit needed for this kind of idea, and aren’t afraid to throw some faith at it.

My question to you: When does not being innovative or creative with the method become a sin? Is it when we realize that we’re not changing to be current with the culture and really not reaching anyone, but refuse to change anyway? Even with our hymns of glorious praise and flanograph? Is that when it is? What has happened when I need to have a visionary pastor go to a business man, instead of his district leadership with a great idea? Anyone else see anything wrong with that? But that’s what it’s come to.

Here’s my rant for the day. You see, alot of young pentecostals are leaving my movement (ahem, sorry, fellowship) because they are not able to minister in the way they feel God has lead them. All four planters mentioned so far in this post (including myself) were once part of denomination and now are leaving or about to. I got an email from an old college roommate who’s in the beginning stages of planting a church in the south, who’s struggled with this issue. The denomination could have kept most, if not all the planters, who will have strong churches, just by trying something different. Why not at least try it. I have chosen to leave peacefully and not stay in a denomination and try to get them to think like me.

Here’s my issue. I’m starting a new organism called a church. I believe it to be the most effective tool to reach people who do not follow Jesus. During the beginning stages of church, there are alot of things that I have to think about, pray about, and decide on. Who am I going to reach? What kind of staff will I hire in the future? What kind of church government do I want to have? I don’t want to also have to wonder if I will get the support I need from my district leadership. I would rather know from the beginning that I won’t have any and then that’s one less thing I have to worry about. See my point? I have a million other things to worry about, whether or not my district or national leadership agrees with my methods is not something I want to think about.

And all this? This is just the tip of the iceberg for young pentecostals like me who no longer have a denominational home. What do you think?

Until next time.

Springfield

Well. So I told you that I’m starting a church. Things are moving rapidly. I was in Cedar Rapids Thursday for LG and now I’m in Springfield, MO for the new church. Not much has changed in Springfield, except I’m not used to seeing snow on the ground. I thought for sure that would be gone by the time I got south of Kansas City. Nope, no luck. It is warmer than Des Moines though, as far as I can tell. I got in about 10:30 last night and went straight to the hotel to finish up some work for our big leadership meeting at CBC on Sunday. So going to bed at about 3:00am and getting woke up by housekeeping early was not my idea of a good night’s sleep. But the breakfast was awesome, it’s the reason that I stay at a Drury Inn any time I can during my travels. Well that and free wireless access.

Anyway, I’m here to meet with another church planter. This should be great day of brainstorming and idea making. The thing I like about the guy is that nothing is impossible. We constantly ask the question why are things done the way they are, can they be changed, and how effective is it, really. Is it reaching people. To all you church planters out there, this is the kind of guy you need to have around you, someone that will challenge you and make you rethink the ways things are done. I relish these kinds of meetings.

Well, he’s here. I’ll let you know how it goes!

My Plans? Looking up!

Wow, I just looked at how long it has been since I last wrote. Six months, that’s a while. Anyway, I’m back. I plan to be a little more faithful to the blog this year. So let’s have a look at what’s happened in the last six months.

1. I’m getting out of the real estate business to focus more on what God has really called me to do. (Let’s face it, this isn’t the ideal time anyway!)

2. I’m still working for LG Electronics, with an expanded territory this year. (Woo Hoo! Positive note: the job will take me to Vegas at least twice this year. Good thing? Yes, but that’s for another blog.)

3. And the drumroll………I’m planting a church in Des Moines. What does this mean for the blog you ask? Well, ChurchFuse will also serve as a journal for the progress of the church plant, not just the fun little project it has been for exploring with and helping pastors find new ways to use technology to help the church.

4. With this new endeavor, that means I also am shutting down ChurchForward and the Thrive Web Group to fully focus on the plant, whose name is known to a select few but will stay mostly quiet until we actually launch and really won’t be a big surprise to anyone who knows me.

That leaves the last questions to be about the new church itself. What kind of church will it be, what will it believe, will it be an Assembly of God church? Great questions you’re asking. To answer, 1. a great church with a very specific focus, 2. It will believe most of the A/G doctrine, but not all, and 3. Since not all A/G doctrine (you know, the 16 Fundys that every A/G church has on it’s website, I’m in the web industry, I’ve seen them) will be observed, it will not be an A/G church. Non-denom, one of my favorites. Sorry to all my A/G faithfuls out there.

I’m really excited about this, God’s been dealing with me about it for a while and I’ve been struggling with how He wants it all to come together, but it’s been falling into place. How awesome is that? Anyway, time to pick up the beautiful wife, talk to you later.