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Lane Hunter Story...

We Need To Hear From God Everyday

I just finished the new book, Follow Me by Hawkins and Parkinson from Willow Creek giving the latest research and thoughts on the Reveal study.  The Reveal study is based on four years of research with 80,000 people in 200 churches.  It is fascinating material that is well documented and discussed in other places and other blogs.   I'm not going to give a review of the book; instead I want to highlight a finding that is documented in chapter 5:  Two Breakthrough Discoveries.  One of the breakthrough discoveries is this:  "The Bible is the most powerful catalyst for spiritual growth". 

Now, some of you are thinking, "Breakthrough discovery?  C'mon is that really a breakthrough?"  But now ask yourself, do I spend time on a regular basis reflecting on scripture?  Do you?  According to their research the most influential spiritual practice at every stage of spiritual growth is "reflection on scripture".  I know for me that the most impacting spiritual discipline in my life has been using my 3C Journal while reading the Bible.  I'm currently finishing up the gospel of John and starting James in tandem with my small group apprentice leader.  I can also confess that my times of greatest spiritual struggle or dryness are most often when I'm not consistent about my Bible reading and journaling. How about  you?

Last year, I told all the people of COMMUNITY that if I had one wish for them it would be this:  "that every person would hear from God everyday!"  That is still my wish.  How do you hear from God everyday?  Read your Bible and reflect on it by using your 3C Journal. 

Do You Want To Be A Generous Person?

Do you want to be a remembered as a generous person?  I doubt you answered, "no".    If you did, quit reading now.  But if you answered yes, ask yourself if are you willing to do what it takes to become an even more generous person?  Julie just finished a 6-month shopping fast which empowered her to be remarkably generous to the Jesus mission.  I am extraordinarily proud of her leadership and commitment. So, if you want to want to be generous, read this post.  If not, click elsewhere.

Amy's First Day at Cornerstone University

Amy's First Day at Cornerstone University

I know it sounds cliche, but I really can't believe that 18 years have gone this fast!  On Friday we drove up to Grand Rapids and on Saturday we said good-bye to our oldest as she started college at Cornerstone University.  We got her moved into her room, ate dinner in the cafeteria and then went with her to a dedication service.  Dr. Joseph Stowell, the new President told students the most important person they will meet in their four years of college is not new friends or even a potential mate, but Jesus.  After his message he had all the students come forward while the parents prayed over them.  Then he asked all the students to kneel during a prayer of dedication.  The service was moving and gave both Sue and I confidence about Amy's choice for school.

Was it hard to say good-bye?  Yes.  Back when Amy was a preschooler, at bedtime I would snuggle her and  tell her stories and then hold her little face and say, "you know I'm crazy about you."  I still am!  So, yes it was hard.

Was it hard to say good-bye?  On the other hand, no.  I feel a tremendous amount of confidence in her ability and in her willingness to relentlessly follow Jesus.  She is ready for this next adventure and she is in a good place.

The goal of every parent should be to raise and release responsible adults who love and follow Jesus.  Amy's first day at Cornerstone University was a big day for Amy and for us.

Efrem Smith - Leading In New Cultural Realities

Efrem Smith planted The Sanctuary in Minneapolis and four years later it is a dynamic multi-cultural, multi-racial church that is making huge impact in an urban context.

I got to spend some time with Efrem at Exponential '08 last April in Orlando and he is a funny, inspiring guy - not just on the stage, but off the stage too!  We had him and Eric Bramlett hosting the event and they did a phenomenal job.  It is clear that Efrem is a leader who is very passionate about church planting and understands the priority of being a reproducing church. Here are a few take-aways from Efrem's inspirational talk:

• "Race is still an issue, class is still an issue, tribalism is still an issue - all around the world."
• "The church of the future should be multi-racial and multi-cultural."
• "We should try to plant as many multi-racial, multi-cultural new churches in the cities as we possibly can."

Wendy Kopp - Step Up And Lead

Wendy Kopp, the founder of TeachforAmerica was absolutely brilliant in her interview with Bill Hybels.  In the past, at the Summit they have put some of the speakers who they weren't as confident about their communication skills into this format.  But her story, vision and passion was tremendously compelling.  Personally, the way she talked about the cause of TeachforAmerica and recruiting young leaders had direct application for NewThing.  NewThing is looking for the top emerging young leaders to plant 120 churches in the major markets of the United States in the next three years.  So many things she said are along the same lines of our thinking.  Here are a few things that she said that stood out to me:

• "13 million kids live below poverty line in US and half won't graduate high school. This education gap doesn't have to exist."
• "I had no idea that my idea was crazy."
  
• "I knew that graduating students would make the sacrifice to teach two years in at risk schools because I was just a student."
• "I don't believe that I am asking them to make a sacrifice...I'm giving them an opportunity.  If you want to live a life of significance and meaning this is a way to do it."
• "We went after a large scale organization from the start.  We wanted to immediately become the thing to do.   It had to be that we are building a movement.   We based it on the start of the launch of the Peace Corp who was started with 500 people.  The 500 people gave it a national significance form the beginning.  After we built Teach for America we spent the next few years putting the structures into place."
• "Talent and leadership are everything."
• "I know that this is one of the most powerful groups (church leaders) that I could speak to...it is a moral imperative that we solve the problem of education."

Favorite Quote So Far...

My favorite quote from the Leadership Summit so far comes from Harvard Professor and author of True North, Bill George:  "Every senior leader that I have seen fail did not fail to lead others, they failed to lead themselves."

Bill Hybels - The High Drama of Decision Making

In the last couple years I have had the privilege of being in a small group that meets every couple months that includes significant leaders from across Chicago including Bill Hybels.  I have for a long time been someone who admires Bill and learned many leadership lessons from him.  What has been fascinating and encouraging to me since getting to know Bill is that he is the same person in private as he is in person.  He thinks about leadership.  He talks about leadership. He is a leader.  And he passionately loves leading a church and movement of churches.  As I heard him talk in this first session about decision-making and axioms, this is not just content for a talk at the Summit, this is stuff he says and thinks about in private.  Here are some of my take-aways from Bill's session on decision-making:

The biggest part of leadership is making decisions.  Many of us get to participate in life-saving decisions on a regular basis.  How a leader makes decisions is critical.  There is a clear path for making decisions by asking these questions:

• QUESTION #1: "What does the Bible say about this decision?" The authority of God's word has the first say about any decision we make big or small.
• QUESTION #2: "What would smart advisers tell me about this decision?"  There are people that God has intentionally put around you to help you make critical decisions.  There are things they know that you do not know...rely on them!
• QUESTION #3: "What have you learned from the pain of past decisions?"  Leaders should be adding to their learnings year after year.  Journaling is a discipline that allows you to chronicle the positive and painful decisions of the past and empowers you to repeat them or not repeat them.
• QUESTION #4:  "Is the Spirit of God prompting me?" Romans 8:6 says, "The mind of sinful man^'s death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace."  When you are in step with the Spirit it will bring life and peace.

Successful leaders will take theses decisions and condense them and into axioms that they repeat and live by...

• Axiom from Abraham Lincoln:  "The best way to deal with someone who has wronged me is to turn them into a friend."
• Axiom  from Bob Galvin: "Create motion for motion sake."
• Axiom from Coin Powell:  "Check your ego at the door" or "Promote a clash of ideas" (Colin Powell has 12 of these principles)

Axioms from Bill Hybels: 

• "vision leaks"
• "get the right people around the table and we will be fine."
• "facts are your friends"
• "when something feels funky - engage!"
• "take a flier"
• "this is church"

What are your own leadership axioms?  I'd love to hear them.  Leave a comment.

You Are Reading An Alltop Blog

Alltop just added a church section which listed the top blogs on the web and I found out that this blog is on it!  Since Alltop claims it lists only the "cool kids (and me)" I guess that is a good thing!?!  Actually, I was pretty pumped about that!  Alltop was started by Guy Kawasaki, Apple/Mac Guru, best-selling author and one of the top bloggers on the planet.  Guy is also a believer and I heard him speak at the Innovate Conference last year where he did a great job.  But back to Alltop which he founded.  It was explained to me that if Google is a pile of all the information on a topic, Alltop is a magazine rack of the best on that topic.  Another way to explain it is by looking at these two pics. There are about thirty some blogs on this list including some of my favorites!  So check it out!

5 Leadership Lessons It Took A Long Time To Learn

I was recently asked by Christianity Today's Building Church Leaders to compile a short list of leadership lessons that I've learned and then briefly explain them in a sentence or two.  I spent quite awhile thinking about the leadership lessons that it took me a several years to learn.  Here are five lessons that took me a long time to learn and now you can learn them in less than five minutes.

1. The “God-Thing” Comes Before  The Vision
Most leaders make the mistake of thinking that change starts with their vision; change starts with a “God-thing”.  It is the leaders’ job to identify where God is at work and to communicate the vision of what God is doing and how we must get involved in His work.

2. Money Always Follows Vision
People give money to a compelling cause with a clear vision.  When economic times are hard leaders are tempted to reduce the budget and the vision. NO!  Increase the vision and money will follow.  Never forget - God is always at work and vision is free!

3. Make It Fit On A Napkin.
If it can’t be explained on a napkin it is too complicated.  Make sure everything from your slogan, to your process for disciple-making to how you will create a movement can be explained on a napkin.  If is simple and reproducible you can mobilize the masses. 

4. Lead With A “Yes” And Ask “How” Later
If you want to lead in bringing about innovation learn to lead with a “yes” and not “how”.  People are born with dreams from God and they want to make a difference.  What they need most is a leader who will say “yes” when they ask for permission to give it a try.

5. Take Risks On Emerging Leaders & Artists
Resist the urge of telling young leaders to wait a few years; they need and deserve opportunities to lead, so take a risk on them now!  Good art always involves risk; so if you want good art in your church you must take risks on your artists!

OK, now I've told you five lessons of leadership that took me a long time to learn...leave me a comment and give me one or two of yours!

Top Tweeters?

Catalyst just posted a list of the Top Tweeters and Church Leaders and it was nice to see my name on the list of 25 (thanks Brad!).  If you are interested how church leaders across the country answer the question, "What are you doing?" in less than 140 characters, then check out the Catalyst post.  While we are talking about Twitter, Anne Jackson also posted 6 Twitter Tips.  And if you are interested in following me on Twitter, click HERE.

The Secret To A Good Family Vacation

We just got back from our family vacation to Wisconsin.  It was nothing extravagant, but it did include a couple days at the Wilderness Lodge, which is an awesome water park in the Dells and then a few days up in beautiful Door County.   I had a good time and I think all five Ferguson's would say they had a good time.  Why?  One of the secrets to good family vacation is something my wife Sue starting doing several years ago before each trip.  We would gather the whole family together and go over all the possible activities and events that fit within our budget for the upcoming vacation.  Then we would ask each member of our family (parents and kids) "what is your #1?"  And each of us got to say what would be our #1 activity or event while on vacation.  Then we made sure that every person in our family got to do their #1.  I think it has been one of the secrets for us having terrific family vacations.