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Top Mistakes Part 14

#14 - I thought every idea could work in my environment

I would listen to a CD or mp3 and hear an idea that another Pastor, church planter, or leader would have and I'd think, "That's a great idea, I should do that." Only to find that it wouldn't work here. What works at another church in a different city may or may not work in your town, but you have to figure that out. Frustration happens when you just adopt an idea or ministry paradigm without taking into consideration the uniqueness of the people in your area. There are a million ideas floating around and many of them can help you, but you have to figure out which ones will help based on your location, style, and culture.

Rock you like a hurricane

It's amazing, because it was such a beautiful day today in Miami. Barely a cloud in the sky. It was the perfect beach day. It made me think that only 3 day ago everyone was going crazy because a hurricane was coming. Even today we are still seeing the affects of Katrina. While we never lost power, many of those I know, including some of our staff did. One staff member still doesn't have any power. There's a a lot of trees down, intersection lights out, and power is out so some stores still haven't reopened. Publix (our local supermarket) had no milk because they lost power and had to throw all of their dairy aisle products away. So it took us a while today to find a store that had milk (what would I do without cereal?). A friend of mine had to cancel his weekend church services because they had no power and they had trees down in their parking lot. But all in all, life is going back to normal. Having said all that, I love Miami. I love the culture, the people, and the opportunity to reach a city that is 84% unchurched!

MTV Video Music Awards Review

I have to tell you, since I was watching the Video Music Awards, this year was one of the weakest lineups I've seen. I remember the year Metallica opened the show (that was a great year) or the year Blink 182 closed things out. But this year was kind of lame. I was wondering, where were the Foo Fighters who have a new album that's selling well; where was Jason Mraz; where was Dave Matthews; where was Switchfoot who have a new album coming out next month? I'm a hip hop fan, but this was a bit too much for me. I mean "Drop it like it's hot" came out almost a year ago and still Snoop Dogg performed. It doesn't make sense. Green Day was great. I would have played "American Idiot" because it's a better opening song, but it was still good.

The host: Diddy was lame. Chris Rock was a great host. Diddy was trying to be to cool. I think no one had the heart to tell him that it's over. "Anything can happen" - was anybody moved by this? He gave out a watch.

My favorite moments were when Beavis and Butthead came on the screen. So here's my idea: Have Beavis and Butthead host the show next year! Then get some good rock bands to play the show.

Am I missing anything?

Top Victories Part 14

#14 - I got ahead in my studying

The early days for me were waking up early on Saturday only to find a blank sheet of paper. Then I would spend the next 15 hours putting a message together for Sunday. That is not a smart decision. Then I heard Andy Stanley talk a couple of years ago about how he is 3 weeks ahead in his preparation. I thought, "That can't be too hard to do." Let me tell you, this has made all the difference. It will take a little extra work the first couple of weeks, but you can't begin to know the freedom of being prepared in advance. It was allow you to memorize the message, and it will give you time to let the message simmer. Most Pastors preach longer when they've had a little time to prepare. Begin ready in advance allows me to trim the fat and get to the point faster.

Top 33 Mistakes Part 13

#13 - I gave too much weight to what insiders would think

While my heart in the beginning was to reach outsiders, I found that soon after we started I was giving in to insiders for all the wrong reasons. This hurt us, because there was a moment when I drew a line in the sand and said, "This is not going to be an insider church. It's going to be a place where outsiders can learn and grow." Had I laid that out from the beginning, these people would have left because there's a million churches that are insider driven. However, I placated them and sure enough it all blew up. These people accused me of watering down the Gospel and all the rest (I didn't know putting the Gospel into understandable language was watering it down, but whatever). What this did was create major problems later on. Who's fault was that? Mine. Sure, they didn't handle themselves in a mature manner (even though, that's what they claimed to be). But the responsibility to stay tenacious to the vision was me. And it took us about 18 months to truly get over it. So word to the wise, don't be apologetic about what God has called you to do. Do what God has asked of you and if they leave let them. What's worse is they could stay and cause problems, which is inevitable if you are placating them.

Top 33 Victories Part 13

#13 - I found someone who was a step ahead of me

When we started our church, I had never read a book on church planting (Big mistake, by the way). But one thing I did do was learn from a friend that had planted a church 2 1/2 years earlier. I would call (i.e. pester) him with endless questions about every subject under the sun. And he was gracious enough to always take my calls and give me great guidance and direction. If you don't have someone like this, you've got to get one. Big conferences are great to stretch our minds and expand our vision, but it's the guy down the street that can keep us from making a really bad decision.

Top 33 Victories Part 12

#12 - We took chances on people

This must be balanced with proven character, but you can't wait forever before you let a person step up to a ministry role. I saw that with Mark our worship leader. While he was an extremely talented singer, he barely knew how to play guitar when we gave him the worship leader job. I would spend time teaching him chords and song transitions, and he would practice to get it right by Sunday. It was a calculated risk because while we wasn't a virtuoso on the guitar, he was a godly man that believed in the church's vision. So 4 years later, Mark can certainly hold his own on the guitar, but more importantly he is a vital player in our church's leadership team. I thank God for people like him...

Top 33 Mistakes Part 12

#12 - Didn't do a great job of assimilation

We weren't horrible at assimilating new people into church, but we didn't make it really easy. We saw many excited people fall through the cracks unnecessarily. I wish I could say we've fixed this problem 100%. We have not. But we are hoping to roll something out soon that works better than what we have done.

Top 33 Victories Review: Part 1-11

In case you missed an installment of my top 33 victories parts 1-11, here they are...

#1 - We haven't been afraid to experiment
#2 - I have made some great hiring decisions
#3 - Unchurched people love us
#4 - We made training a priority
#5 - We've tried to do everything with excellence
#6 - Our resources have always reflected our priorities
#7 - I let my wife be herself
#8 - We tried to do too much too soon
#9 - We Chose Staff over a building
#10 - We made creativity a priority
#11 - I carved out time to study

Top 33 Mistakes Review Parts 1-11

In case you missed an installment, here are the first 11 posts to my top 33 mistakes in the first 5 years of church planting...

#1 - I placed people in positions based on their potential, not on proven character.
#2 - I gave too much of my time away to complainers
#3 - I tried to be someone else
#4 - I was afraid to teach on stewardship
#5 - I didn't take enough time off
#6 - I didn't realize the importance of Sunday morning
#7 - I did not have a clearly defined vision before we started the church
#8 - We tried to do too much too soon
#9 - Everyone's life doesn't revolve around church
#10 - I didn't wait for people to catch up
#11 - I didn't deal with problematic people quickly enough