Our Faculty Commons team recently spent a fascinating hour with JD Greear, pastor of Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham. We all wished it had been several hours. Rick Hove posed this question to JD:
“We’re interested in building something great. How do you build something great?”
After warning us of the temptation to build our own kingdom and not God’s Kingdom, JD suggested the following ways to join our great God in His great mission to make Himself known in every heart and in every place (in this regard, JD suggested C. Wright’s, The Mission of God).
1. Cast a Compelling Vision. Vision has the power to overcome all sorts of obstacles; vision pulls people along.
It cannot be said too strongly or too often. When it comes to change, vision is everything. If you give people the why, they’ll put up with just about any what. Vision creates a sense of shared energy. Vision unites people, and causes them to put up with significant levels of discomfort.
The best I’ve ever heard this said was by an old French mystic, Antoine de Saint-Exupery: “If you want to build a ship, don’t command men to gather wood, don’t divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” Vision creates its own, internal, unstoppable movement.
JD shared the story of one key senior leader, who had opposed most of his efforts to revitalize and rejuvenate Summit Church while launching 1000 churches in the next 40 years. But after watching the vision lived out as several African American families came to Christ, were baptized and joined the church, the key leader said, “I’ve been against most of what you’ve been doing. But now, I’m all in.”
2. Create Momentum or Catch the Wave of Momentum
JD mentioned that often what’s necessary to change is to get some early wins. To do so, we need to watch for some momentum and capitalize on it. Summit Church had already begun to change and JD was able to keep the change process going. One of the best things he did was do a “relaunch” as Summit Church, using the momentum of the relaunch to initiate even greater change.
JD learned from Andy Stanley that momentum comes when 1. we create something new, 2. when we improve on something new and keep it going and 3. when we continually improve it.
JD also mentioned the importance of timing:
By this word, I mean you have to fight the Right Battles at the Right Time: Sun Tzu said that good generals are generals who know when the right time to fight a battle is. Most battles, he said, are not won by strength or by the “rightness” of your cause, but by knowing when to fight them. You fight some battles and win them, but they were extraordinarily costly, and had you waited, you could have won them without a drop of blood! Fighting the right battles at the right time creates momentum, the one, intangible but absolutely necessary component for real, effective change. Thus, the right battle, fought at the wrong time, is the wrong battle.
I believe this is very true when you are engineering change for the church. Some battles don’t need to be fought yet. Practically, you need to fight about ONLY those things that will help the church grow. When you are growing, a lot of the objections to your changes will be muted or disregarded. Success creates its own justification
On his blog, JD refers to the Flywheel Concept (also borrowed from Jim Collin’s Good to Great)
Jim Collins, who wrote Good to Great, makes basically the same point in his chapter on “the flywheel” concept… bringing real change, inculcating DNA works like spinning a flywheel (i.e., a big, heavy metal wheel mounted horizontally on a vertical pole). In your first “spin,” you exert an extraordinary amount of effort for very little result. However, your next “effort,” building on the slow momentum of the movement, takes less energy but results in faster spin. On and on it goes until the momentum of the wheel is turning itself, requiring only the slightest taps of your fingertips from you. Organizations are like that, Collins says.Few leaders can come in and give it a mighty spin and be done. Most of us push, then a little more, then a little more, and over time the movement we desire is created, with each year momentum building on the momentum of the year before. Like Sun Tzu said in Art of War, creating and capitalizing on momentum is everything.
(more on the flywheel and movements here)
3. Be Courageous–Take a Dare
Referring to God’s command to Joshua in Joshua 1:6-7, JD argued that the Hebrew word for “courageous” in the phrase, Be Strong and Courageous, means “Take a Dare.” Often, we know already what God wants to do. We don’t need to be told. We just need to be courageous and “take a dare.”
He referred to The Blue Ocean Strategy, but didn’t comment too much on it. His blog refers to it and I’ve written on it at onmovements.com here.
4. Be a Gospel-Centered Leader
JD prays the following four prayers every morning–in an attempt to center himself on the gospel truths. He suggests on his blog: “Pray the light of the Gospel into your life, every day for a month, and I can almost guarantee that through the Spirit it will change your life.”
- Father, you could not love me any more than you do right now and nothing I failed to do yesterday made you love me less. (This works against our works-righteousness)
- Father, there is nothing I need besides you and your approval today to have everlasting joy. (This works against our idolatry.)
- Father, as you have been gracious and a servant to me, so I will be to others. (This works against our selfishness)
- Father, everything the gospel tells me about your intentions for my life (my family, my world) is TRUE. (This works against our unbelief.)
JD also mentioned the orienting power of keeping both the cross and the resurrection in mind. Here’s an example from one of his blog posts: “Was it not You, the God of the cross and resurrection, that in these events declared Your intent to save the people of my city?”
5. Create a Team in which Everyone is in the Right Spot. Work to have everyone operating in the center of their calling.
JD uses Jim Collin’s hedgehog concept to help each of his team members discover their abilities, passions and unique place in the life of the church/movement.
JD explains this on his blog:
Let me draw another analogy from Jim Collins’ Good to Great… Collins says that great companies live by the “the Hedgehog principle,” whereby they find the confluence of 3 spheres that combine to make them a success… (1) what they’re good at, (2) what they’re passionate about, and (3) what there’s a market for.
I think this model works for knowing how to know what you’re called to spiritually as well: (1) identify where you are gifted, (2) what you’re passionate about, and (3) where there’s a need in the church (or the world) for that gift. Without any one of the three spheres, you probably aren’t called… for example, if I think I’m good at singing and I’m passionate about it, but it seems to benefit no one as evidenced by the fact that no one seeks me out to sing, then I’m probably not called.
I say this because it seems there are a lot of people who love to teach and preach, but no one seems to be as blessed by their handling of the Word as they themselves are. If the church doesn’t affirm your supposed gift, then you should probably pursue something else.
6. Fill the Mind of Everyone (all leaders) with what God is Doing. Work to continually expose your team to what God has done (Scriptures, history) and is doing (conferences, books, experiences.)
JD argues that you can’t envision what you’ve not seen. Leaders must learn to see and help others see.
JD’s Reading List here.
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