danmastrapa.com » Leadership

Choose Your Words Carefully!

Dan — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:22:56 +0000

I just started to read Bill Hybel’s book Axiom — Powerful Leadership Proverbs. It’s a compendium of leadership nuggets from one of the most well known pastors in America and lead pastor of Willow Creek. It will take me a while to go through this book as I am finding each proverb extremely applicable to my current experience. I’ll be going through it like a devotional and share my thoughts periodically.

In the proverb, Language Matters, Hybels shares how the best leaders wrestle with words in order to communicate their big ideas in a way that captures the imagination, catalyzes action and lifts spirits. This is something I have been wrestling with myself in articulating the vision of SentChurch. I know deep in my heart what I desire to see but I am finding it challenging to draw out the words that convey what can call people to action. Much prayer is being focused in this direction.

It’s not just about creating catchy slogans or meaningless jargon to be hip, trendy and cool. Too many churches do that in an endless stream of cheap copycats and cheesy campaigns that don’t rally anyone around the cause. A quick viewing of Christian television, if you can stomach it, reflects how little effort is put in to choosing the right words. They all sound as if they hired the same dated, campy marketing agency. Consequently, they sound the same and fewer people are listening to them.

Choosing the right words is about crafting a story that excites the heart, appeals to the mind and causes the spirit to soar to new heights of possibility. Carefully and prayerfully chosen words that are inspired by the Spirit, elevate a group of common people to do uncommon things, make the ordinary extraordinary and move people from the mundane to the realm of the miraculous. That’s how powerful words are.

What words excite you and catalyze you to take action? I would love to hear some of those. Have you given careful thought to how you communicate your dream and vision?

Exponential Conference Reflections: Part 4

Dan — Mon, 04 May 2009 21:20:48 +0000

It’s hard to put in to words the closing session of Exponential. I felt like I was part of UCF smackdown. Francis Chan brought the sledgehammer to this session. He pastors Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California. He is the author of Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

I first heard Francis at Catalyst ‘07 and his message there rocked my world. Francis has a unique way to call you back to the simplicity of the Gospel and following Christ passionately, radically and intensely.

Some notable points:

“When was the last time you were astonished by someone’s boldness?” – Acts 4:13 “God wants to astonish people”

“If I could start all over I would start with more boldness and start with the scriptures.”

The problem today is that most people do eisegesis instead of exegesis. If we just read the text and interpreted it without our bias, would we really come up with most of the expressions and ways that we do church today? Probably not!

Francis closed the session ministering to those that were called to church planting. His sincerity and passion is most definitely contagious.

Exponential Conference Reflections: Part 3

Dan — Mon, 04 May 2009 18:00:24 +0000

What can I say, Craig Groeschel, lead pastor of LifeChurch.tv, has got to be one of my favorite speakers. LifeChurch.tv has been on my radar for about 6 years now and I have been following their multi-site strategy for some time now. We had two back to back sessions with Craig and it was like drinking from a fire hydrant. I’ll outline both messages here:

Reflections on Movements

What I believe about church will determine how I do church.

Remix of Romans 12:2 – “Do not be conformed to the pattern of the American church”

A movement will never be safe, predictable and clean. We must become dangerous again. Our churches today are too safe. We are asking people to come to Jesus for a better life. Preach a dangerous message, preach Christ. Lukewarm pastors build lukewarm churches.
A movement will never be about your ministry, it will be about His kingdom. Build your church on what your church is about, not on what it’s not about.
You will not lead a movement based on the old measurements of success. The scorecard has changed. The old measurements of “nickels and noses” are not valid. Your identity cannot be wrapped up in the numbers or you will be tempted to do things to bring people in rather than bring glory to God.

“What if” questions on Leading a Movement

Dare to ask the questions no one else is asking. What if…?

To lead a movement you will have to SEE what no one else is seeing. Ask God, “what’s coming?”
To lead a movement you will have to DO what others won’t do. Revolutionaries break the rules.
To lead a movement you will have to HURT like others don’t hurt. You will be misunderstood, criticized and maligned. The difference between where we are and where God wants us to be, is the pain we are willing to endure. You will be broken.

Exponential Conference Reflections: Part 2

Dan — Mon, 04 May 2009 13:15:18 +0000

Erwin McManus has been a big influence in my life. His writings and teachings have expanded my understanding of God, life, culture and what it means to be a Christ follower. His church, Mosaic, is largely considered one of the most innovative churches in America. Erwin is a futurist, I would dare say, a modern day prophet. He is articulate and has a unique gift of communication.

His message at Exponential was taken from his Wide Awake series at Mosaic and is based on Acts 17:16-34. I had heard the podcast of that message and this seemed to be a slight variation of it. It is still very powerful.

Some notable points:

What exactly are we trying to move when we talk about a movement.

There are three spaces we need to be aware of: 1st space, 2nd space and the 3rd space.

The 1st space is our place of comfort, it is the space that we try to invite others into to — the church. Paul went immediately to the synagogue to reason with the Christians.

We need a church planting movement motivated by love, not self interest.

The 2nd space is the marketplace. Paul engaged those outside of the church also. We need to engage this space because people are looking for those with the undeniable presence of Jesus.

If we don’t relate to the world we will not be effective in reaching it.

The 3rd space is the space you cannot go to unless you are invited. Paul was invited to speak at the Areopagus.

In this space we must earn the right and respect to be invited.

Erwin shared a lot of his personal story about the criticism he receives for engaging culture and he remarked that in order to enter that 3rd space we must be willing to suffer the disdain of the “Mary’s and Martha’s in order to reach Dionysius and Damaris.”

Exponential Conference Reflections: Part 1

Dan — Sun, 03 May 2009 20:46:56 +0000

This was my fourth year attending the Exponential Conference here in Orlando. I spent the last two weeks reflecting on what was unpacked during those three days so I thought I would get some of the main highlights down. Each year I get a renewed reconfirmation on my calling as a minister and further clarity as to my future. This year was no exception. Almost three thousand attended this year’s event and it is the premier conference for church planters around. It is wonderful to see all of these kingdom builders gather under one roof with no agenda other than to equip and build the church.

This year’s theme was The Art of Movements. I believe as ministers we are called to work “on” the church as much as we are called to work “in” the church. We should should structure our churches for reproduction and movement. Our founder Jesus, founded a movement, not an institution. Churches that forget that resemble a museum more than they do the vibrant, dynamic and subversive church that Jesus initiated. I’ll post the outlines of my favorite communicators in my subsequent posts.

Cutting the lines…

Dan — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 12:55:04 +0000

Mark Batterson shared a brilliant post here, about the need at times to “cut the lines to the lifeboat” instead of playing it safe. Sharing from the story of Paul’s crash landing in the Island of Malta, the decision to throw everything overboard, cut the lines to the lifeboat and stay on the ship, saved their lives. That story rivals anything on this season of Lost.

Mark observes wisely, “we like backup plans. We all want a lifeboat. But there are moments in life when you have to cut the lines to the lifeboat. And the very thing that seems the riskiest is actually the safest and what seems the safest is actually the riskiest. The thing that could cost your life ends up saving your life and the thing that could save your life ends up costing your life.

I have been struggling, wrestling with and resisting, a decision that would require enormous personal risk for me and my family. Our human tendency is always to play it safe. Something about our fallen nature seems to revert back to the path of least resistance. Recently, as I have been reading through the life of Christ, I am convicted about how little Jesus played it safe. Unfortunately, sanitized, Sunday school Jesus is never presented this way. Following Jesus means we follow him wherever he leads. And sometimes, where He leads, will mean a shipwreck and a snake bite — and if we dare to follow — an island-wide revival. Acts 27:1-28:10

Exploring God’s Mission – Missio Dei

Dan — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 04:50:05 +0000

Excited about the direction of our young adults ministry for the new year. It was great sitting with our core leaders and in a matter of 30 minutes of conversation, some of the haze I was encountering about the future of that ministry cleared up. This is the power of collaboration. No one person has all of the answers. In fact, the Bible is clear that we “know in part”. 1 Corinthians 13:9 This past year I learned a lot about harnessing the brainpower of those on my team and not feeling the pressure of having to come up with all of the answers. In fact, many times when I humbled myself and allowed the expression of the gifts of others on my team, the end result was far greater than what I could have come up with.

This Sunday night we’ll kick off a new series “Missio Dei — Exploring God’s Mission” that will lay the framework for the missional community we are seeking to build with our young adults. Excited about the name change also, more on that at a later time.

The Cisco Revolution – could the church be next

Dan — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 16:25:21 +0000

Great article in the current issue of FastCompany on how Cisco is thriving even in today’s time of corporate upheaval. 26 billion in cash in the coffers and they are poised to enter new markets and gobble up rivals. CEO John Chambers has led a revolution of sorts through a massive reorganization effort over the last few years.

This portion from the article sums some of this up:

And Chambers has greater ambitions, even now, in the midst of turmoil. Or, perhaps, especially now. He has been taking Cisco through a massive, radical, often bumpy reorganization. The goal is to spread the company’s leadership and decision making far wider than any big company has attempted before, to working groups that currently involve 500 executives. This move, Chambers says, reflects a new philosophy about how business can best work in a networked world. “In 2001, we were like most high-tech companies, with one or two primary products that were really important to us,” he explains. “All decisions came to the top 10 people in the company, and we drove things back down from there.” Today, a network of councils and boards empowered to launch new businesses, plus an evolving set of Web 2.0 gizmos — not to mention a new financial incentive system — encourage executives to work together like never before. Pull back the tent flaps and Cisco citizens are blogging, vlogging, and virtualizing, using social-networking tools that they’ve made themselves and that, in many cases, far exceed the capabilities of the commercially available wikis, YouTubes, and Facebooks created by the kids up the road in Palo Alto.
The bumpy part — and the eye-opener — is that the leaders of business units formerly competing for power and resources now share responsibility for one another’s success. What used to be “me” is now “we.” The goal is to get more products to market faster, and Chambers crows at the results. “The boards and councils have been able to innovate with tremendous speed. Fifteen minutes and one week to get a [business] plan that used to take six months!”

This is a CEO and a company who clearly gets it. Cisco is definitely one to watch.

Some very keen insights that I thought were applicable to leadership in the church. No doubt the climate has changed dramatically in our nation and the church needs to adapt to what is taking place and in reality, lead the way.

–The one-man-at-the-top model of ministry leadership has been over for some time but most of these guys don’t get it. Chambers is still the CEO, but to spread decision making ability and real empowerment to some 500 executives shows real leadership, confidence and a man who realizes it is not all about him.

– Networking and collaboration are more than just buzz words for the new era, these are powerful Biblical principles that allowed the church to multiply at exponential rates. Kudos to the movements that understand this and are leveraging its power.

– Everyone at Cisco blogs! No secrets, no hidden knowledge! True knowledge sharing takes place that enables information to be ubiquitous. This is exactly what the imagery of the body used by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 is about. No one person owns all of the knowledge, that is God’s domain. We all know in part! We must harness technology to share knowledge and information that is beneficial to all, not just for the sacred elect who hoarde revelation and dispense it in crumb-like morsels to the masses.

– Responsibility for the win is shared by all. This puts in end to competition. We need desperately to learn this in the church. There is a world to reach, a message to be spread, a King and His kingdom to be proclaimed. Church, let’s get it together!

Off to Catalyst

Dan — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 14:47:49 +0000

Heading off to Atlanta today to Catalyst – one of the best leadership conferences. I am excited to be able to take some of our young leaders on this trip. This is one of those events that you cannot go to alone because it is hard to explain to others. Can’t wait to unplug and be refreshed. Anticipating this to be one of the highlights of this year – and best of all, my wife is going with me.