Archives For goals

New Orange Conference Track for 2013

April 1, 2013 — 1 Comment

This is a guest post from Kenny Conley, the one organizing this special new Family Ministry track at the Orange Conference. Kenny is the NextGen Pastor at Gateway Church in Austin, Texas; and also a great friend to my family. // He is also very tall, and extremely easy to find in a crowd.

Spring is here. The trees are starting to bud and the scent of new life is in the air. Spring is one of my favorite times of the year. One thing that comes with every spring for me is the little conference I attend every year in Atlanta called Orange Conference. Ha! There’s nothing little about Orange Conference!

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This year makes my fifth year to attend this great conference. From time to time, people ask me why I keep going back. “Once you get this whole ‘Orange’ thing, can’t you move on to something new?” For me, Orange Conference has become a part of my annual routine because each year, it’s a totally different experience. I come home with different ideas, have different conversations and each event inspires me in a fresh new way. It’s less about the “event” and more about the people and conversations that accompany the conference (but I must say, the “event” is spectacular). There are very few places where so many people are gathered in the same place for a few days that challenge and inspire me so much within the context of the ministry I’m currently in. Why wouldn’t I make my way to participate each year?

Now, I must say that this year is very unique for me. Something is happening at OC13 that is not happening anywhere else, and I think it is incredible. This year, Orange Conference is hosting a specialized breakout track for NextGen/Family Ministry leaders. Not just people who are responsible for family elements of ministry, but those in the unique staff role of both student and children’s ministry oversight. It’s a very new, but rapidly growing role within the church and there’s so much to learn. Orange has put together some amazing communicators to talk about the things NextGen/Family Ministry leaders are dealing with. These breakouts attempt to define the role and the family ministry team. This track aims to process through the biggest hurdles leaders in this role will face. What I’m even more excited about is gathering and rubbing shoulders with others in this role as we all learn together.

Breakouts include:

  • Leading a NextGen Meeting with Kenny Conley
  • NextGen/Family Ministry Leadership: Leading 360 Degrees with Michael Bayne
  • The Art of Delegation with Powell Grisham
  • Family Ministry 101: Defining the NextGen/Family Ministry Team with Darren Kizer
  • Leading Through Conflict Resolution with Kenny Conley and Jim Wideman
  • Clarify the Win: Narrowing Down What is Most Important in Your Ministry with Jonathan Cliff

So, if you are in this role, or you work with someone in this role, OC13 is the place to be this April.

If you’d like more info about the various tracks at OC13, we’ve added for 2013 are Track Champions and a greater explanation of our tracks. You can read more about the goals of the each track here (http://www.whatisorange.org/orangeconference/2013/new) and watch the videos here (http://vimeo.com/whatisorange) to offer further explanation.

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Thoughts on Transition: Setting New Goals in a New Place

September 18, 2012 — Leave a comment

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Set goals, meet those goals, celebrate the meeting of those goals, and repeat, and repeat, and repeat. I’ve served and led in enough places to know the formula, but the formula is turned on its head when you’re new. There is another step after listening really well, and that step is to help take those you’re listening to to a new place. Now here’s the inherent problem with taking the people you lead into new levels of leadership.

How do you take someone to new place, when you’re not yet certain of your own place?

I’m still working on my answer to that question, but I’m going to say that the word “slow” is in that answer somewhere. In my quest to answer that question, here’s my current gameplan for setting new goals in a new place, and helping others find their place while also wrestling to find my own place. I’m tracking with three areas of tasks, and I’ve included three tasks with each to illustrate the differences between all three areas:

First, I’m tracking with easy, small and attainable things that maybe I’m seeing with fresh eyes as the new guy. There is not much potential for conflict here, as it’s easy as easy can get.

  • Could we fix that door?
  • Is there a misspelling on a popular send home material?
  • Are new volunteers background checked?

Second, I’m tracking things I’d like to talk about 6-8 months from now. These things carry a potential for conflict, but I’m not waiting so long to avoid the conflict. I’m waiting, because over time those things could change as I learn more and more about my own place in the organization.

  • Why do we have that door there? Could the door be moved?
  • The send home package needs a new marketing strategy. What does that look like?
  • Are new volunteers serving in the right place? How do we help them find that place?

Third, I’m tracking things related to myself, and nobody else. These are the things that help make my own job description come alive. These things are helping me determine why this new place would bring me here. It’s my effort to think Big-Picture.

  • What are the most important issues I’ve been brought in to fix? (If any…)
  • What are the areas I need to champion and celebrate better?
  • Who are the leaders I need to invest the most one-on-one time with?

It’s been my hope and prayer that this ever-growing list of “things” that I’m creating will prove fruitful at keeping myself busy, but more importantly; I’m demanding that this list help me with setting new goals for my new team and myself. I consider this my foundation to setting goals in a new place, it is my cornerstone for leading tomorrows tomorrow.

“The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time.” Abraham Lincoln

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Not Getting What I Deserve

February 23, 2012 — Leave a comment

It’s honesty time and I’m talking about getting what I deserve.  Every time that I feel like I’ve met one of my own personal goals, I expect everyone to notice and give me what I deserve.  I’m sure I’m the only one that ever feels this way, right?

It works like this: I give something to somebody, and I want people to give me the credit for the gift given.  I want the accolades that come along with it, and I want the invitations that accompany the attention of my recent greatness.  I want my friends to notice, I want my acquantainces to notice, I want my wife to notice!  I want attention and I want the rewards I deserve.  But, I also want what I don’t deserve.  I’m happy to get the invitations that come along from the things people “think” I’ve done, that maybe I haven’t actually done.  I’ve got no problem accepting the reward for the assumed.

It’s a bitter battle I’m fighting.

How to reconcile my emotions and ego with my spirit man?  It’s a daily battle of submission, humility, and perspective.  There are times that I have to look beyond what I believe I deserve, and instead give others what they deserve.  In fact, sometimes I have to give others what they don’t deserve.  I force myself to do it at times, but it’s time well spent.

What’s the difference between walking on the treadmill for 30 minutes with a good attitude or walking on the treadmill for 30 minutes with a bad attitude?  Nothing. Your still on the treadmill for 30 minutes, so just do it.  Same goes for letting others get the attention, rewards, respect, and accolades that I feel should be leaning my own way.

I do it until it hurts, and if it doesn’t hurt…then I keep doing it until it does.

Philippians 2:3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Colossians 3:1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.4 When Christ who is yourt life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

 

 

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Trinity Leads with Integrity

December 14, 2011 — Leave a comment

I love my church.  I love how Trinity does everything with the highest levels of Integrity.

Let me list for you the ways:

  • We are one of the only churches in Lubbock that submits to extensive financial auditing by an outside financial agency.  I’m not kidding.  Every year we open the books, provide office space, and let the auditors share our work space to make sure that we are continuing to operate in a responsible and legal way.
  •  We are fully accredited by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), and publicly make all relevant financial data available for members and the Lubbock community.
  •  We hold every individual ministry responsible to a stringent set of values, and yearly goals.  I’ve never heard of a church that spends such massive amounts of time making sure that we are continuing to stay relevant to our community and church members.  We critique, praise, change, and evaluate all areas of ministries yearly.  We are committed to make the best use of our time, and make sure that we are doing all things to fit the Vision, Mission, and Values of our church.
  • We give pastors and senior leaders in our church sabbatical at specific intervals of their employment time.  It’s built into the employee handbook!

Probably the most important part of our church culture maintaining a high level of Integrity is attributed to our Senior Pastor, Carl Toti.  Pastor Toti has a unbelievably high level of integrity, and provides my family with a great shelter of protection from all that would seek to destroy the work of the Lord that we are doing here in Lubbock.  In his 10 years at Trinity, he as guided this church to new levels and is continuing to push us to new and exciting places for the future.  There are few men in this world more worthy of being followed than my Pastor.  Most of our integrity as a church begins and ends with this man and his family; and he has proven to be a steady hand to lead us forward.

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Making Goals Stick

October 27, 2011 — Leave a comment

So I’ve earlier talked about our goals process and how we organized all the goals we set; but now it comes to the hard part.  How do I move these goals from paper to reality?  I’m not certain there is a fool-proof way to do anything like this; but here is what I’m trying.

I included everyone in on the creation of the goal.  There is no need to get “buy-in” because through the process they helped me create the goals.  When we met to finalize our goals as a group, I reminded them of this repeatedly.  They are not “MY” goals, they are “OUR” goals.

I clearly stated the goals and laid them out in a way that visually allowed everyone to understand the entire scope of our work.  We enjoyed a breakfast together where I shared all of them, and answered questions about them as those questions came up.  Here’s what I did NOT do: I didn’t email them, I didn’t reference them in passing, I didn’t quickly scan over them.  I actually gave them all in detail.

I tied the goals into the overall Mission, Vision, and Values of our church.  I made sure everyone understood from my own lips that these goals we had worked on from a NextGen level actually supported and helped to fulfill the main goals of our entire church.  I explained that it’s not an us against them mentality when it comes to the other ministries at our church.

I told them to expect accountability. I reminded them that goals are not set to look pretty on a piece of paper, but instead they become path for us as we lead to transform the family ministries of our church.  I promised to hold myself accountable, but also promised that I would also hold their specific areas of responsibility accountable.

We left excited about the prospect of attained goals.  There is every reason to be excited about what the future holds for our team, if we can live up to the expectations we’ve set for ourselves.  That is something I’m dedicated to living out as I continue to work that we have an atmosphere of success!

So those are some of what I did, but I’d love to hear what you do to make sure goals set are kept.  Let’s have it! 

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