Reaching the next gen without leaving the last gen behind …

Last week, I spent a full day with 12 leaders from TX, IL, PA, IA, LA, SC, NY, GA, MO and VA. We devoted an entire day to the topic of why transformation efforts fail—it all boils down to people. And, as you know, people are a strange bunch. So, it’s tricky. We wrestled with this truth:

Is your goal to get the most out of people or the best out of people? You typically can’t get both.

Jonathan Falwell joined us via Skype for about an hour to share about his change experiences at Thomas Road Baptist Church. It was the highlight of the day. He challenged, encouraged and enlightened us with a humble spirit and bold responsibility. Here’s a summary of a portion of his response to this question:

What does that look like when you have the authority to make change and when you don’t—when you’re under-powered and high-powered ?

• Great ideas don’t generate automatic adoption. Don’t try to force change without managing it.
• Cast vision over and over (and over) to give people the opportunity to warm up to change before implementing it.
• Ask yourself, do I have a willingness to start anew, or do I just want to stick with what I know or makes me most comfortable? I can’t ask people to change unless I’m open to change in my own life as well.
• Communicate the WORTH of the chaos you are about to create with any change. Don’t miss this step. It’s crucial.
• I can’t bring people into the story on my own, with clever marketing or additional programming. That’s a ridiculous objective. I can, however, create the environments that make it easy for people to reach people in their need—even if it’s not my need.
• There is just as much value in the past as there is in the future. We have to stand in the gap and reach both ways.
• Don’t chart a course without taking into consideration the gift set God has put around your table. Your methodology should take the unique DNA of your team into account.
• Keep it simple—look outside yourself and focus your heart and efforts on the people on the other side of any change—the rest will fall into place.

Comments

[Bryan Nelson]

"There is just as much value in the past as there is in the future. We have to stand in the gap and reach both ways."

That's a great statement. There's a book I've read that has helped me personally learn what I didn't know about the four different generations in any church at a given time.

By the way, I have no connections with the author or book.

One Church, Four Generations (Gary McIntosh)

[Mark Howell]

Very nice! Thanks for sharing this with us, Kem. Any one of these points could be the basis for a really good discussion.

mark

[Nicole]

Thanks for posting this, Kem!

[Colleen Foshee]

"Communicate the WORTH of the chaos you are about to create with any change"
My take away! Thanks.