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Do you get it?

“I GET IT!”

Those words are like music to my ears. I love the moments when it clicks and I finally get what God is showing me. It is awesome seeing it in our staff. When our volunteer teams experience that “AHA!” moment about why we do what we do, excitement builds.

You can tell, preach or instruct until you are blue in the face about ______________ but if the “I GET IT!” moment never happens, forward motion will allude your organization. I believe where God is leading us requires a whole new level of organization, planning, strategy, volunteer empowerment, focus and leadership skills. We don’t know what it takes to lead our church when it is twice as large. So, I’ve been telling our staff to find their counterpart in ministries two or three steps ahead of us. I was encouraged when I read Dave Ferguson’s notes from Craig Groeschel’s talk “Busting Barriers with Mind Shift Changes” at Catalyst One Day this week. If we do not do this at every level, we will quickly reach our limit, overload, hold ROCK Church back and burnout. I don’t want any of these to happen. God’s plan for us is too big!

Recently, I have seen and experienced quite a few “I GET IT!” moments. Here are just a few:

• This last week, Mike Paschal from PC3 came out and showed Carolyn some new tricks for our lighting. But, we gained more than just tech tips. Mike shared some great leadership insights.
• Today, Michael Frusha (who runs sound for PC3 Overflow service) was in the booth and taught our sound guys a few things. Our tech teams are learning, growing and the changes are making a difference.
• Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to have lunch with Perry Noble and ask some difficult (for me) questions that I was grappling with. I learned so much from our time hanging out. He poured more into me than he could ever know.
• As we were moving towards our leadership transition, I had the opportunity to talk with Jason Boucher who was about a year ahead of me with the same leadership change. His insights and experiences were a huge help.
• This year, Dr. Myles Munroe sat down with our whole staff and shared invaluable leadership insights about team and vision. I believe our staff gets it more now than they ever have.
• Dad, Jen and I had the opportunity to attend a senior pastors roundtable at C3 Church with Matt Fry and Joe Champion. I am still applying what I learned in that meeting.
• Just a few weeks ago, Pastor Syvelle Phillips ministered at our church and simply shared a need for Evangel Bible Translators. We received an offering and ROCKERS gave over $11,000 to train pastors and leaders in India!
• This past Sunday, we received our first monthly offering to support the local and international ministries we partner with and, again, you gave over $3000!

ROCK Church, thank you for “getting it”! To our staff, thank you for being proactive to seek wisdom, grow as leaders, allowing yourself to be stretched more than you thought possible and making the dream come alive!

The music is growing louder. The lyrics are simple. So, sing them at the top of your lungs. “I GET IT!”

What is your most recent “I GET IT!” moment?

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Guest Post: Lori Capace

Today’s post is brought to you by Lori Capace. One year ago today, Lori joined our team as my assistant. She is doing an incredible job of keeping me straight and representing me to the various volunteer leaders in our ministry. Every pastor should have a Lori on their staff.

Without further ado, everybody welcome Lori {insert applause here}.

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Pastor Bryan recently asked me if I would write on his blog about leadership. I laughed, then he narrowed it down and said write about the part most don’t know. As I pondered that for about a split second I grinned and thought to myself, hmmm this can be fun.

For a few years I’ve wanted to write a book titled Inside Ministry Exposed. It would be a manual for those who have no idea what it’s like to be a pastor or work in ministry. I’d hope it would give insight to help them relate to their leaders.  Too often I think Pastors and church leaders are lumped into assumptions made by people who have no idea what it’s like to hold the responsibility of leading people where GOD wants to take them. Ministry leaders constantly live under a microscope. They could choose not to, but then who would lead? Ah, I hear someone saying, I could do it. Ok, let me conduct an interview and see if you’re qualified. How many years have you been preparing for this position? Do you have the support of your spouse? If so, how do you plan on balancing this responsibility and your relationship with your family? Do you have what it takes to lead a multi-faceted and multi-generational congregation? Are you willing to continually be shaped and molded by God even when it’s not convenient? Are you willing to say yes when everyone else is saying no or no when everyone else is saying yes? Do you have the ability and stamina it takes to be pulled in several different directions at once yet not be influenced by what others are thinking of you and what you should do?  How are you doing so far? Is there more, you ask? Yes, much more.

On Sunday morning most can see a passionate group of leaders, especially the pastor, deliver an incredible service with a heart provoking message. This is only a small part and glimpse of their lives. A leader can face a number of scenarios during a week that could make most people want to quit halfway through Monday. For true leaders quitting is not an option. They carry the heart of God and desire to be a part of what God is doing to build and advance His Kingdom. This is no easy task!

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Unauthorized Guest Post: Jeff Kapusta

My good friend, Jeff Kapusta, is the lead pastor at Lifepoint Church. He is a part of Perry Noble’s Coaching Network (I will not be jealous, I will not be jealous). This morning, he posted some of his notes from their last coaching day. This is some amazing stuff. So, I am openly plagiarizing Jeff. Enjoy!

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During the coaching network Perry drew this picture on the whiteboard.

The picture breaks down into 3 levels.

The Dream Zone/Ministry:  10-6

• God calls us to live here.
• This is where you are hitting on all cylinders.
• We love what we are doing.
• We are always asking, “What’s next?”
• You still have bad days but they don’t ruin your day.

The Drained Zone/Tired:  5-2

• You are always tired.
• You are always stressed.
• You can’t enjoy the big days because you believe it’s just going to drop next week.
• You are Pessimistic.
• You goal is to just keep the plates spinning.
• You tell yourself that things are gonna slow down soon.
• When in this zone you face 4 dangers:

Pride-You think, “I’ve got to do more.  Be first.  Nobody can do it as good as me.”

Fear-You think, “Everything’s gonna fall apart.”

Insecurity-You think, “Maybe I can’t do this.”

Burn Out-This is where you quit or disqualify yourself from ministry.

• NOTE:  It takes a life altering decisions to get out of the drained zone.

Danger Zone:  2-0

• At this point a person usually falls Financially or Sexually.
• When you get here, only repentance will save you.
• At this stage you think, “I hope nobody catches me.”

Where are you? I believe Gods plan is for all of us to function in the Dream Zone.  However, most of us are living in the Drained Zone.  What life altering decision do you need to make to get out of the Drained Zone and into the Dream Zone?

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Tomorrow Jeff will post Perry’s thoughts about getting out of the Drained Zone. You should go subscribe to Jeff’s blog so you don’t miss it.

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Posted by Bryan | 2 Comments

In four days…

This Sunday, I will step into a role I have never experienced before. I will become the senior pastor at The ROCK. I have a few qualifications for this role.

• I grew up in our senior pastor’s home
• I have a strong relationship with Christ
• I know how to hear Him speaking to me
• I burn with a desire to see our city changed
• I was here the first Sunday in 1988
• I have faithfully served the vision of our senior pastor for 20 years
• Over 17 of those in a staff role
• More than 14 of them as a pastor
• I have directly overseen or served in a key role of quite a few ministries during this time
  • Youth
  • Children
  • Men
  • Prayer
  • Small Groups
  • Ushers
  • Greeters
  • Tech
  • Advertising
  • Inner City Outreach
  • Marketing
  • Worship
• I have been a key part of casting vision for The ROCK for the last 3 years
• I have shared a substantial part of the teaching role for the last few years
• I have helped raise up leaders and train them for their roles in ministry

Here is what I do not have.

I HAVE NEVER BEEN A SENIOR PASTOR!

The closer I get to Sunday, the more I realize the weight my father has carried for this ministry for over 20 years. You can be very close to the leader and still not understand the load they carry. I know I am ready to step into this role, even though I know it carries a whole new level of weight and responsibility.

How can I trust that I am ready? The man who has carried the mantle of leadership for the last 20 years is the same man who taught, guided, corrected, disciplined and cheered me on. He is the only one at The ROCK who understands what it takes to lead and he believes in me.

Thank you, Dad. I’m going to lead by the example you have already set. You are great man and I am honored to follow in your footsteps.

So, dear readers, what will you be doing in four days?

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Butt whoopin’

Saturday was the first official practice for Coastal Pop Warner football and Noah got his butt kicked on the field. He had already spent the last few weeks in boot camp. But, he was not prepared for what happened that morning.

He had not hydrated like his coach told him. He did not eat properly the night before or the morning of and he paid dearly for it.

Noah’s coaches look to him as a leader on the field. On Saturday, he did not lead well. His best on the field was not good enough because he did not prepare adequately.

But, today is a new day and Noah will be ready. Today, he will bring it on the field. It’s payback time and tonight the field will receive the butt whoopin’. Today Noah will lead because that is who he is and he will be prepared.

What will you do today? Are you prepared?

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