There are some people who think the church is too influenced by "business principles," but I believe that truth is truth no matter where it comes from. Jim Collins, author of Good to Great and Built to Last shared some truths that have me thinking. We read the book as a staff, but hearing stuff again was good.I liked this best: "Greatness isn't because of circumstances - it's a function of choice and discipline"
Discipline is what separate ordinary people from exceptional people. I thought about that and realized I'm not exceptional and Discovery Church isn't exceptional because I'm not (and we're not) disciplined enough. It starts with me though, and that was a hard pill to swallow because I know it's true. I'm not disciplined. I'm an easily distracted, fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants, let's do it kinda guy. That will get me this far, but no further so I really need to up my game in this area (again, this applies to my family life too)
Another thing that I was reminded of was the most important question isn't "What should we do?" The question that needs to be answered first is "Who needs to be part of this team?" It's the principle of having the right people in the right seat on "the bus." Get the right people first. Honestly, this one's tough for me. When you just move to a town and start a church where you don't know anyone, it's a little harder (in my experience) to even identify the "right people." I think we're doing that more now though and I'm seeing people step up, and step out. We're about to assign some seats on the bus and that will be a good thing that I think will take us to another level.
One last thing that I struggle with is not, having a To-do list, but having a Stop-doing list. Everything seems important, but reality says it can't be equally as important. I think this is an overlooked truth. When something new gets added to my list of things to do, something should also be added to the stop-doing list. That's why individuals are overwhelmed and churches, organizations and even families are ineffective - we're all trying to do it all and that's too much!
So let me ask you a couple questions...
1) what do you need to discipline yourself to do
2) are the right people with you
3) what do you need to stop doing
1 comment:
Jas, I recently read "Good to Great" too. I liked the book, especially the Hedgehog Principle and wonder about where I am in relation to that principle. I also wonder what he has to say about Fannie Mae now, since it was on his "great" list. So, I contacted him. His staff returned an email to me and said that they are basically researching now and closely examining the situation and would have more information in an upcoming book.
Kevin
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