I was in Jackson Mississippi recently where I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Tim Smith, Senior Associate Pastor, at Pinelake Church.  Pinelake is a three Campus Multi-site church lead by senior pastor Chip Henderson.  In this five minute video Tim shares some great insights on nurturing a healthy staff environment. Makes sure you check out Tim’s Blog and follow him on Twitter.

Last week I had the opportunity to spend two days with John Brunette and the staff of Faith Lutheran Church in St. Louis, Missouri.    While many Lutheran Churches are experiencing decline, Faith is experiencing steady growth.  And once there it is easy for me to see why.  Here are just a couple of take aways from my time with John:

1. Never stop learning.  I was so impressed with the hunger of this staff, they were attentive,  inquisitive, and asked challenging questions.  This is obviously a reflection of their leader. John makes a habit of bringing in people from the outside to challenge, teach and stir their thinking.  This is a great discipline and benefits all the leaders on his team.  QUESTION: Who are you inviting in to challenge and stretch your thinking?
2. Continual Growth requires Continual Risk.  The Lutheran Church is steeped in wonderful tradition.  They have a rich heritiage that they value and honor.  John has not abandoned the valued traditions of his faith but has challenged ones that need to be challenged.  John has taken multiple risks in his 20 years of leadership that has helped the church remain progressive in their outreach.  It was this innovative spirit that drove the leadership of Faith Church to  move to a multi-site strategy. They have taken some heat for it, but it has allowed them to reach more people for Christ and expand Faith’s reach into the community.  QUESTION: What risk is God prompting you to take?

In the following video Lead Pastor John Brunette shares about Faith’s Multi-site journey.  You can learn more about Faith Lutheran at their website www.faithstl.org

This week Chuck and Lea Jackson, Seacoast House Church leaders were in town visiting the original campus.  I had the opportunity to spend some time with Chuck and Lea and catch up on the latest news from their House Church.  Check out the video to hear their exciting news.

In yesterdays post I shared about my recent experience at Crossroads Church in Freeport, IL.  On Sunday night I spoke at their Leadership Rally which was followed by a night of worship.  At the worship service they showed the following video.  The crowd errupted in cheers and applause…they were witnessing what God was doing through their church. 

Freeport from Maclake on Vimeo.

What is God doing that you need to celebrate?  Are you sharing the wins with your congregation?

This past week I had the privilege to go to Freeport Illinois to share the Seacoast Leadership Development Strategy with the leadership team of Crossroads Church.  Crossroads is a multi-site church with 5 locations in…get this… Illinois, Wisconsin and Colorado.  Yes, you heard me right – Colorado. 

Lead Pastor, Keith Boyer, had pastored at Crossroads for 19 years when he felt God calling he and his wife Julie to plant a church in Colorado.  When Keith shared this calling with his elders they told him they wanted to pray about the decision as well.  After two weeks they told him they supported his decision to plant in Colorado but they wanted him to consider staying on as their lead pastor.  They reasoned that since they were a multi-site church anyway, why not let Keith lead from Colorado?  Besides, where is there a rule that the main site always has to be the main site?  That was three years ago and Keith will tell you it wasn’t easy but the church has continued to thrive.  In fact they will be starting their 6th location in just a few months.

After spending three days with Keith and his leaders I walked away thinking these guys are model leaders.  Here is what I learned…

1. Love those you Lead.  When a leader truly loves people they desire to be a part of what God is doing in that leaders life.  Keith obviously loves people and when he was called to leave they wanted to continue being a part of his vision.  QUESTION: Do those I lead know I love them?
2. Allow Others to Speak into Your Vision.  Keith, didn’t want to impose the calling on his life upon his church.  He was going to willingly surrender to God’s call and walk away from Crossroads.  But as he shared his calling and sought counsel a unique idea emerged from his leaders that has ended up being a blessing in the lives of all those involved.  QUESTION: Am I allowing others to speak into my vision?
3. Be Willing to take Ridiculous Risk.  I’ve learned after 38 years of being a Christ follower that God sometimes asks us to do things that do not make sense.  Transitioning a site that has a live speaker to a site that has video teaching is risky.   The audience at the original site would no longer have a live teacher.  The live teacher would no longer have an audience. (He knew no one in Denver so he was starting all over).  But this risk has paid off, Crossroads has grown and they are reaching more people today than three years ago.  QUESTION: What ridiculous risk is God asking me to take?

Who is a model leader you have seen lately?  What can you learn from them?