daveferguson.org

I Need A New Title...

One of my favorite movie lines - "Enough about me, what do you think about me".  So, indulge me for a second while I try to figure out something that is totally inconsequential.

When we started Community Christian Church the first title I had was Teaching Pastor...I'm not exactly sure why, but it was.  Then I went to Senior Pastor, even though I was still in my 20's and not very "senior".  Then I started using the title Lead Pastor.  I think this fits a little better - since leading is what I do most.  But I would like something that describes what I really do - which is start new things and provide leadership for CCC and NewThing. 

Ok, I've thought about Spiritual Entrepreneur but I've been getting some grief over that one and the latest Economist article Jesus CEO is kind of scaring me off!  I think Erwin McManus title of Cultural Architect is kind of cool.  And I think I heard Wayne Cordeiro refer to himself as Dream Releaser.  Ken Blanchard calls himself the Chief Spiritual Officer...but that is another blog. 

So, I'd like a title that reflects what I really do. AND I'd like to use a title so that when people read it or hear it it sparks some interest and intrigue rather than the reaction I get to "pastor", which is "oh, that's nice".  To resolve this dilemma recently I have been changing the title in my autograph on my e-mail every few days depending on what I'm doing or feeling.  Recently my title has been Lead Pastor/Christmas Enthusiast.  Like it?

So what do you think?  Ultimately, I know it doesn't really matter.  But any ideas?

Multiple Choice Church

Interesting article in the NY Times, Teenagers Mix Churches For Faith That Fits.  This article describes how students will tolerate one church which they attend with their parents and then attend another that is their preference.  Is this good news or bad news?

The Third Secret of Great Leadership Teams

THE SECRET CHARACTERISTICS – “We may look crazy or chaotic to you, but there is a method to our madness.”

When other churches visit and see the open office concept we use, where almost all of our 40+ staff are in the same room with one another, they will often say, “How do you get anything done in the middle of this chaos?”  When other teaching pastors find out that we write all our messages as a team of people from not only multiple campuses, but multiple churches using online and teleconferencing they say, “Oh, my style would never work in that environment.” I used to be concerned that outsiders may think we are crazy, chaotic or even out of control, but now I understand that as one of our secrets.

One of the secrets of a great leadership team is that in their relentless pursuit of the cause they become a community with characteristics that are exactly how God made them.  This may appear crazy or chaotic to the outsider, but there is a unique method to their madness.  These characteristics are often paradoxical.   Here are some of the paradoxes you would see in our lead team…

Highly Collaborative AND Very Competitive

Every person in our lead team is very competitive.  We want to win in basketball, we want to win the argument, and we just want to win.  But, at the same time we know if we are going to win our part of the world for Christ (back to the cause that creates community) we know it will take collaboration.  So, we collaborate on everything.  I started to make a list of things that we collaborate on, then it hit me that the much shorter list would be those things on which we don’t collaborate.

Very Compassionate AND Comfortable with Conflict

Lencioni, in his book, Five Dysfunctions Of A Team tells us that healthy teams are comfortable with conflict.  We are definitely comfortable with conflict – confronting, challenging, debating and sometimes yelling (and later apologizing).  We are totally comfortable with conflict.  But, I also know that when I need a group to rally around me, they will be there for me.  There is not doubt about it – my team loves me!

Loves Spontaneity AND Wants Accountability

“Lead with a ‘yes’ is a saying you hear a lot from our leadership team.  We love being flexible and spontaneous enough that we lead with a ‘yes’ to new ideas.  The new idea could be anything from going to Steak-N-Shake for shakes during our lead team meeting to starting a new service in a few weeks…we love leading with the ‘yes’ and spontaneity.  That spontaneity however is balanced by our desire (that might be a stretch...I think we just know we need it) for accountability.  We want accountability for how we are doing versus the goals we set for ourselves a year ago.  We want and expect accountability for the ministries we oversee.  We want accountability for our budget areas.

To the outsider we may look like an overly competitive team who is constantly fighting about our goals, but come back next week and we may look like this highly collaborative group in love with one another.  To the outsider it may look crazy but, it’s just how God made us and it works!

If you missed the first secret - The Secret About The Cause

If you missed the second secret - The Secret About Community

Who Are You Apprenticing?

"You have heard me teach many things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Teach these great truths to trustworthy people who are able to pass them on to others."            - II Timothy 2:2

Responding To A Church Crisis

I got a a voice mail Monday morning from Troy, our Naperville Campus Pastor saying that I needed to give him a call asap.  That is never good news.  So I called him.  It turns out that sometime Christmas night or early the next morning our Naperville location (Yellow Box) had been broken into.  There was no real damage done, but a limited amount of money was taken including some cash in our Ground Level Cafe.  So, I spent a couple hours with Troy and the Naperville police trying to figure out how to respond.  In reviewing our procedures with the police, we were not negligent (good news!) But we still needed to put together a plan to communicate this to staff and people who wrote checks that were taken.  Ugh!?!  How do you effectively communicate and not lose the trust of people?

This is not a big crisis in the life of CCC.  We have faced tougher situations - key staff resigning, key staff going through divorces, doctrinal positions on polarizing theological issues, decisions with big financial implications.  The best advice I ever got came from a phone conversation with Lyle Schaller during one of these church crisis.  Here is what I remember from that conversation:

1. "This is a bigger deal to you than the rest of the world."  What Lyle was saying was, "Dave, I know you love CCC and are passionate about the vision - but just remember that you are more consumed with this than the average church attender.  They are concerned, but they have a lot of other problems that they are more concerned about - marriage, kids, personal finances, vocation, etc."  Whaty Lyle was telling me was to communicate in a way that allows people to not have to think about the church crisis as one of their problems.  Don't overcommunicate, but clearly communicate the problem and what you have done or are doing to resolve it.

2." Keep the main thing the main thing."  It is easy to let the crisis become the focal point of the church.  But never let that happen.  The focal point of the church should always be the mission and in our case at CCC it is "helping people find their way back to God".  So, make sure that the crisis never has more "air time"  or "press time" than the mission of the church.

3. "Make sure your leaders can resond to any question they are asked."  This was the best piece of advice Lyle gave me.  He told me to make sure that we communicated what had happened to all our small group leaders (via staff and lay coaches) so that our small group leaders could answer any of the basic questions concerning the issue at hand.  What you do not want is for your leaders to be caught off guard and surprised by a question.  You do not want your leaders to resond, "oh, I didn't know that..."  That allows leaders and others to think the worst.  So the bigger the crisis the more important it is for them to be in the know.  You want leaders who are able to say, "oh, yeah, here is what you need to know about the situation..."

The Second Secret Of Great Leadership Teams

THE SECRET ABOUT COMMUNITY – “We don’t know when we are working and when we are playing.”

I love the way Eric Bramlett describes working at CCC; “working here feels like recess”.  I feel the same way.  Sure, there are times we fight about who gets to go down the slide first; sure there are times when fights break out;  but, it’s still a playground and it feels a lot more like recess than school.  In my years as a part of the leadership team at CCC I don’t remember one day (literally) that I looked at my watch thinking, “when is it going to be 5 o’clock so I can leave work.  It sounds trivial, but being a part of the leadership team at CCC is just plain fun!  Consequently, I can’t tell the difference between working and playing; they feel the same!

When we are looking for new staff, my team mates have been coached to consider the three C’s of character, competency and chemistry.  For us, chemistry is always the first priority. I’m not saying chemistry should be the first priority, but it is because that’s what draws someone into our church culture and draws us to them.  Since we hire so many of our staff from within the church we have a chemistry test that someone must pass called the “parking lot test”.  The “parking lot test” is comprised of one question we ask ourselves before we put someone on our staff team.  The question is, “When we drive up are we glad when we see their car in the parking lot?”  If we are excited about seeing their car and knowing we will see them inside, they pass the parking lot test – there is chemistry!  If we feel our stomach sink, knowing they are inside, they fail – no chemistry!  All this is to say that there is a great chemistry with each of the people on our leadership team.  I love playing basketball, traveling, going to Starbucks, and working with every person on our team.

What contributes to the chemistry of a great lead team?  First, complimentary gifts help create the chemistry.  When I look at the gift mix of our lead team I see people with creative gifts, administrative gifts, leadership gifts and apostolic gifts.  Secondly, a common strategy that we all buy into creates chemistry.  And thirdly all four of us can’t imagine doing anything else.  We have all had offers to do other things in other places for more money, but we just can’t imagine doing anything else.

Bottom line:  working as a part of our lead team is a lot like recess!

If you missed the first secret - The Secret About The Cause

Merry Christmas.

Just When I Thought Blogging Was Cool...

Just when I thought blogging was really cool my daughter informs me  "Dad, myspace.com is what is happening."  And it turns out she is right!  Maybe you already got the scoop on this, but I was surprised to learn this only two year old venture has four times as many hits everyday as google!  What?  More than google?  Yep! The two guys who founded myspace were named entrepreneurs of the year by Business Week Magazine. 

This December 12th Business Week article titled The MySpace Generation gives you a little more of the scoop on what is happening.  It seems like every student I talk with is connecting with other students via myspace.com.  So, now I have a myspace too.  I'm still figuring out all that it does (looks like some good and I'm pretty sure some of it is not good...?), but I also know that in less than a week I have 18 friends!

BIG IDEA Short Film: Life Interrupted - Shepherds

The BIG IDEA Short Film:  Life Interrupted -The Shepherds is now online and ready for your viewing.  This short film has me teaching and was taped at a farm about an hour west of Chicago.  The setting really reinforces the image of angels appearing to shepherds out in a field.  The closing scene is kinda cool because it is in a manger.  Take 20 minutes, check it out and maybe it will help you get focused for Christmas.

Helping People Find Their Way Back To God

I love getting to do what I do!  And I love being a part of a church that is helping people find their way back to God.  Last night we had a great commitment celebration! We commissioned Caleb & Julie Luper with our blessing as they took off to do work in the Dominican Republic with GO Ministries.  We also had a bunch of people get baptized.  Here is one persons story about finding their way back to God: 

“…Growing up it has been instilled in me to follow my religion and to love and honor God.  I did so up until I lost my son.  It was after that I had lost my faith in Him and all that existed.  I was angry and quite hurt for some time.  As time was passing I started heading in the wrong direction and making poor choices in my life.  One night I decided to fix everything I couldn’t make right by swallowing some pills.  After being hospitalized for a week and going to therapy sessions I found my way back to God.  It was Him who had saved me from the worst decision of my life.  It was Him who gave me a second chance at life.  I value that and thank Him everyday of my life for the things I didn’t realize I had back then and now.  I love Him and I’m ready to make a public commitment of faith through baptism.” - Anne

I better not ever take this for granted.  Everyday I get to be a part of a church that is changing lives here and now and forever!  Way cool.

Four Secrets of Great Leadership Teams

There are some things you would never say out loud; even though you know they are true.  The reason you don’t say them out loud is (despite the fact they are true) they just don’t sound right.  If you uttered these secrets people will probably misunderstand you.  In addition to the risk of being misunderstood, you start to think that perhaps they aren’t right.  So we keep our mouth shut and they remain secrets.

When Jon, my brother and three college friends set out on this adventure called Community Christian Church we were a team.  We started as a team partly because of shared dream and partly because it sounded like a lot more fun doing it together than doing it on our own.  And from the beginning when it was just the five of us until today where there are more than 4000 of us at seven locations (soon to be eight!), Community Christian Church has always been led by teams.  The leadership team I’m a part of today is the finest team of which I’ve ever been a part. And over the years there have been some things about these teams that I knew were true (I have a hunch we all knew they were true), but we never said them out loud.  We might be misunderstood.  We might be wrong.  So we kept these as secrets.

However, now I’ve either gained enough confidence that they are true or I’m willing to risk being misunderstood so I’ve decided to tell all!  Here are four secrets of great team based leadership:

THE SECRET ABOUT THE CAUSE – “We are committed to the cause first and each other second.”

Great leadership teams are always clear about the cause.  There is no great team that is not clear about the cause.  There is no good team that is not clear about the cause. A lot of other stuff may get fuzzy, but the cause is always very clear.  At Community Christian Church (CCC) you are hard pressed to find a job description for any staff position.  Most people don’t really know how much vacation time they are allotted.  Most people don’t know how many hours their job requires.  No one is told how they should dress.  (This one is kind of embarrassing) I don’t even know the dollar amount on my twice-a-month paycheck. 

At CCC there may be a lack of structure and policy, but the one thing that is clear is the cause.  We are clear that our cause is to “help people find their way back to God”.  Last week my assistant, Pat got an e-mail requesting a staff policy manual from another pastor.  I love her answer:  “our policy is not to make policy”.  I love that! Why?  Because policy is what happens when we can’t get people to do what we want them to do or when people are not championing a clear cause.  Policy occurs when the ethos of a church culture is weak and the cause is not compelling.

Why all this talk about cause?  Because I believe our leadership team is committed to die for the cause of “helping people find their way back to God”.  And when I say “die” I’m not using hyperbole.  I mean willing to let our hearts stop beating before we let them stop beating for the cause.  The five of us who lead Community Christian Church are willing to die for the cause of “helping people find their way back to God” whether it is one day at a time or all at once.

This is one of the secrets of great lead teams – we are committed to the cause first and each other second.  Doesn’t it sound disloyal to put the cause first?  That’s why it’s scary to say out loud.  That’s why it is a secret.  But, the truth is that it’s the cause that brings us together and keeps us together.  It is when we put other things or other people before the cause that we compromise what God dreamed of in the church and in the great commission. I believe that this is at least 50% of what it takes to create great team based leadership - an uncompromising loyalty to a clear cause.  There is never a great lead team when the cause is not clear!

  In Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith’s great book, Wisdom of Teams, they make it very clear, “the primary objective of the team must be performance results (cause), not becoming a team”.  One of the great mistakes is forgetting that the cause is what creates community or team. Ask yourself this, “Why do men always remember athletic teams or army platoons as the place where they experienced the most genuine community? Answer, because there was a clear cause that created community.  The cause of winning a game or a tournament created a team.  The cause of defeating a common enemy created a team. Why it is so hard for athletes to retire?  Listen to their stories and it’s not the money they miss as much as the team. 

The Acts 2 church was also brought together by a clear cause. It was the cause called the Great Commission that brought about koinonia or community.  That first great leadership team of apostles had a clear cause and a clear cause for which they were willing to die.

I'll post the other three secrets in the upcoming days...

More Evidence Of A Good God

Packers Suffer Worst Loss in 25 Years, that was the AP headline today!  The 48-3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens was the low point of an awful season for the Packers (3-11), who absorbed their most lopsided loss since (a drumroll please!)a 61-7 defeat at Chicago in 1980.

Bears in first place, Packers in last place...don't tell me there is no God!

Online Coaching Seminar on The Reproducing Church

One of the great resources that I don't hear much talk about is the Easum-Bandy Online Coaching Seminars.  If you read my post from December 5th, Wayne Cordiero On Creating a Culture that Attracts Leaders I got this while interacting with Wayne during one of their online coaching seminars.  Read it, it's good stuff!  I can't remember exactly what the annual fee is, but I remember thinking it was worth it. On January 23-26 Jon Ferguson, Troy McMahon, Eric Bramlett and myself will be leading one of these online coaching seminars on The Reproducing Church. 

Thanks for the plug!

Over the last couple weeks the number of hits on this blog has more than quadrupled. When I check my referral page here are my top referrals:  Scott Hodge, Tony Morgan, Todd Rhoades, David Rudd and Mark Howell.  Thanks for the plugs!

If you haven't checked out these guys blogs...there is some great stuff.  Check it out!

Leadership Lessons From Michael Jordan

One of the more interesting conversatations I had at our All-Staff Christmas Party was with one of the spouses of a CCC staff member who works for Michael Jordan.  He is the general manager for a project that Michael is very involved in and consequently talks with MJ weekly and often takes trips with him and hangs out with him.  So I asked him, "what are the some leadership lessons that you have learned from your interactions with MJ"?  Here are the highlights of that conversation:

Earn Your Leadership Everyday - Just because you are the MVP or a World Champion that was yesterday.  You have to re-earn your leadership everyday.  There are 20,000 fans showing up that expect  to see the best today; they don't want to rely on memories.  MJ says: "Nothing of value comes without being earned.  That is why great leaders are those who lead by example first.  You can't demand respect because of a title or a position and expect people to follow.  That might work for a little while, but in the long run people respond to what they see."

Push Yourself, Cause No One Else Can - MJ still gets up everday at 5am to workout and play hoops with former and current NBA players.  He pushes himself in every area. In MJ's words, "Success is not about celebrating the results as much as it is about understanding the process that produced those results.  You can never underestimate the results of hard work and dedication."

Expect From Others What You Expect From Yourself - And MJ expects others to live up to his standard of "earning your leadership everday" and to "push yourself to be your best."  My friend said Michael will not hesitate to let someone go if they do not perform

Be Loyal To Those On Your Team - He told me that the first person that MJ met when he arrived in Chicago was a guy who gave him a ride from the airport.  That guy is still his body guard til this day.

What A Great Staff!

Last week we had our All-Staff Christmas Party at the Bolingbrook Country Club.  It was a great venue, teriffic service, good food and a ton of fun.  But what was really amazing was the group of people gathered in that room!  I can genuinely say that I like ALL of them!  I'd love to hangout with any of them.  We had over 100 people there (staff and spouse/friend) including 17 staff people who are new to CCC in '05. 

I told our staff:  "We are the few who never look at our watches while at work and say, 'can I go home now?'  We are the the fortunate who get to go to work with people we would vacation with.  And we are the people whose work changes lives and alters eternities!"

Did you miss it? I did.

For the last 24 hours or so www.typepad.com was down.  If you tried to check my blog that is what happened.  They are still restoring some of the pics...but it should be good as new by Sunday. I don't know if you missed anything...but I did.  I wasn't sure if this blogging thing was something that I really enjoyed.  And now I think I do!  In the words of Michael Jordan (which will be the subject of my next blog!) "I'm back!"

Why Churches Should Collaborate In Your City

I spent a couple hours meeting with Scott Fields of Wheatland-Salem United Methodist Church, Greg Wenhold of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Ed Doepel of Crossroads Community Church, John Bell of GracePointe Church and CCC's Naperville Campus Pastor Troy McMahon. (And my assistant Pat - who really ran the meeting!) These guys are all Lead/Senior Pastors doing great stuff at their churches in Naperville and really terrific people!  So, what would bring together a group of leaders from Lutheran, Methodist, Bible and independent churches?  Doing something together that we could not accomplish on our own - that is increasing the percentage of the churched in the city of Naperville!  We are calling ourselves P.U.L.S.E (People United to Love, Serve & Equip) and our goals are more grandiose than that, but that is how we have chosen to keep score.

Our next collaborative effort is on February 17th at GracePointe Church, when we are putting on an all-day seminar for the churches of Naperville called, "Doing Church in the Burbs".  It is our goal to invite every church staff person in Naperville and offer them some tools and our willingness to be a resource so that we can better reach out to our community.

Maybe you are thinking, "that seems like a lot of work...so tell me why churches should work together."

1. Healthy Competition

I recently heard Ted Haggard and Jim Tomberlin speaking at a conference on city reaching and Ted explained why the his children's ministry is as good as it is today.  He said it is because he learned how to do it from the church that Jim pastored in the same city (Colorado Springs, Colorado). The partnership created a healthy competition that made them both better. I know for us at CCC, we were in a in a Leadership Community through Leadership Network for two years with ten other leading churches in the multi-site movement. That Leadership Community created a healthy competition that made us all better. I know that if churches in close proximity would work together it would make all of them better.

2. Creative Colloaboration

Every time I get together with Scott, Greg, Ed, John and Troy we talke about new and creative stuff.  It was out of those conversations that came this idea for a city-wide seminar for church leaders.  I know if I stay connected with these guys very soon we will be working on other creative projects together - that's what leaders do! And the end result is creative collaboration.

3.Better Score Keeping

According to one church growth expert there was not one county in the United States (with the exception of Hawaii) that saw an increase in the percentage of churched people from 1990-2000. Well, we want to change that starting in our county! And for us to change that we need to know the number of people that are in church on a given weekend at all churches in the town. This percentage would then become the way we keep score of success - what percentage of people are churched! It won't tell all, but it will tell alot. And it is a better way of keeping score than just saying, "CCC has increased by 20% in the last year and has 670 more people attending this year than last year.  We need to know how the Kingdom is doing and not just one church.

BIG IDEA Short Film: Life Interrupted - Joseph

The new  BIG IDEA Short Film:  Life Interrupted - Joseph is now online and ready for your viewing!  Every week we take the content of the BIG IDEA teaching and film it in a setting that will reinforce the BIG IDEA.  Then we do post-production by adding music for underscoring, graphics and transitions.  If you have ever listened to our podcast, you are actually listening to the audio of the "short film".  This week, Jon Ferguson is doing the teaching and he is at the mall.  There is one scene that cracks me up!  If you watch it, I think you will know which scene I'm talking about.

I'm convinced that more and more churches will be using a "short film".  It does take more work, but we have already seen it effectively used in celebration services and small groups. We are currently talking to some church planters about using the "short film" to provide teaching for these new churches! I think that has huge possibilities.

The "short film" (are those quotations getting annoying?) is not the same as our videocast.  The videocast is when we video the Saturday night teaching and then show it for teaching on Sundays at a CCC location.  We are currently using the videocast in 5 celebration services at 3 CCC locations successfully.  We are also piloting (since September) the "short film" in 3 celebration services at 3 CCC locations.  So far, so good!

Do you know any other churches that are producing a "short film" (not videocast - I have lots of examples of that!) on a weekly or regular basis?  If you haven't seen it yet - check it out and let me know what you think!

How To Get A Community To Want a Church/Campus in Their Neighborhood...

Imagine community leaders who don't go to your church coming to you and asking for you to start a new church/campus in thier neighborhood?  It's happening!  Read and find out how...

The whole Ferguson family had a great time this past weekend serving along with CCC's Community 4:12 ministry at the Brady Elementary Gift Mart.  It was a wild success!  CCC people gave away over 2500 gifts to make sure that at least 600 families had Christmas in this east Aurora neighborhood.  There was a terrific article all about the Brady Elementary Christmas Gift Mart in the Beacon-News.

The mission of Community 4:12 is "Uniting Christians to Transform Communities".  C412 is our advance servants into communities that are different than much of CCC.  In the Brady Elementary neighborhood it is about 95% Mexican immigrants.  The Christmas Gift Mart is just one of many ways that we are trying to serve the community.  This idea we got from Lawndale Community Church.  We collect gifts from all eight of our Community Christian Church locations (and by the way - our Carillon location which targets 55's+ gave the most gifts per capita...good job!).  Then we sell the gifts to the people in the Brady neighborhood for a tenth of what we bought it for.  The ability to buy the gifts for their kids gives these parents dignity that a handout might take away.  And the money we do get for the gifts we donate to Brady Elementary School to be used however they most need it.  Love it!

This partnership with the Brady Elementary school has gone so well that the principal is now encouraging us to open a new CCC location in East Aurora!!  Isn't that what you want - to serve in such a way that people are asking for a new church/campus in thier community!

Here is one cool e-mail story that was sent to Kirsten Strand our C412 Director:

Kirsten, I had to share something with your from the Brady party. A young father was waiting while I wrapped his gifts for his three young sons. His English wasn't good, but we managed to converse, and he was very friendly. He asked how we got the money to buy all of the wonderful gifts. . . did we sell cookies and cakes? I told him that the families from our church all went out and bought them. He asked again. . . where did the money come from. I told him we used our own money. He was amazed, and asked "why you do this?" I had to take a moment to come up with the right response, and finally told him it was because, for us, Christmas is a time of giving, and we were doing this to show the love of Jesus to the families at Brady school. I also told him that giving made us feel happy. He said, "Is good. Is nice." I noticed when he wrote the tags out for his gifts, he didn't write "from Santa", or "from mom and dad" on them, but he wrote "from CCC". I explained that he could write it from himself, but he very seriously said that he wanted his children to know that the gifts came from our church. Many other parents, I noticed, did the same thing.  I think I got more out of Saturday than any of the Brady families! Thanks for the opportunity.