June 27, 2005 Newsletter from Bob Buford

From the Mind of Bob…Musings for Friends

For a change of pace, I want to talk about Leadership Network. I started Leadership Network twenty years ago and its work has been the focus of my Halftime shift from success to significance. The primary reason I sold Buford Television, Inc. in 1999 was to fund the work of Leadership Network. I also wanted the time to invest myself in its mission, which is connecting the innovative leaders in American Christianity in order to multiply their ideas and practices. That has happened! When we began, there were about 200 megachurches (typically defined as 2,000 attending on a typical weekend). Now, there are ten times that many.

In 1988, Forbes magazine quoted Peter Drucker (my chief cheerleader and the central wisdom figure in my life) as saying, “Pastoral megachurches (are) surely the most important social phenomena in American society in the last 30 years.” As usual, Peter was way ahead of the crowd, but the crowd has caught up. A Google search yields the following header: “Results 1-100 of about 1,940,000 English pages over the past six months for Rick Warren.” Wow!

I recently contributed as a source to a new book by a prominent East Coast journalist on the intersection between trends in American culture and religion. It prompted me to consider: What are the characteristics of the people who lead booming megachurches? And I compiled the list below. If you are mildly interested, you can buzz through the list by just reading the bold headings. For those who want more, I’ve developed each characteristic with a few phrases.

Whether you are on a church staff or not, many of the twelve characteristics have application for every leader.

Leadership Practices of Fast Growing Megachurches

1. An entrepreneurial approach to leadership.

An entrepreneur transforms resources (time, money, talent) from a state of lower to higher yield and productivity.
These leaders are not in a maintenance mode. They shift resources to achieve more productive combinations.
Entrepreneurs build an organization to the scale of the need, not to the limitations of the leader.

2. Strong leadership, strong management.

“The soldier has a right to competent command.” – Winston Churchill
“The purpose of management is not to make the church more business like, but to make the church more church like.” – Peter Drucker
The long pastorate – megachurch leaders stay a long time (unlike mainline “replaceable-parts” approach of three year rotations.)
Encourage, empower, and engage – provide roles for – lay people.

3. Preserve the essence. Change the form.

Peter Drucker advised that, when thinking about religious organizations, you have to think of three factors:

The Eternal – these things don’t change
The Culture – these things change with place (Manhattan vs. Mississippi) and time (1950s vs. 1990s)
The Tools – invented in the secular world, but useable in the church world.

4. They inhabit the Intersection:

Respond to the culture.
Use the tools.
But don’t “eternalize the tools.” They’re just tools. Embrace change.
Ride the demographic wave.

5. User-friendly – Easy access for unchurched people.

The church is run for the benefit of the customers, not for the benefit of the insiders.
“The day an organization begins to be run for the benefit of the insiders is the day that organization begins to die.” – Peter Drucker
Not a closed club.
Eliminate entry barriers.
Speak in the vernacular.
Don’t let it get dull.

6. Purpose Driven – God’s Purposes.

Help people to find out what God is doing, then help people to join God in His work.
Self-transcendence is more important than self-actualization (“It’s not about you.”)

7. Biblically based.

Jesus is who He said He was.
The scripture is the ultimate authority.
It’s God-centered, not man-centered.

8. It’s about relationships.

The Golden Triangle.

In the Bible, the word for “love” and the word for “charity” are the same word (agape).

9. It’s about the heart, the head, and the Holy Spirit -- Go with reason as far as it will take you, but it’s not enough!

It’s post-enlightenment. It is reason and faith. Not either/or.
Where do you go when life is not reasonable? They have answers.

10. Understands market segmentation.

One size does not fit all.
Just in time delivery – you give people:
- What they need,
- When they need it – keyed to their stage of faith,
- In a form that makes sense to them,
- In community with like-minded people.
Then you give them something to do about it.
The first reformation – putting the word of God into the hands of the people (a publishing and preaching task).
The second reformation – putting the work of God into the hands of the people (a leading and equipping task).

Market segmentation drawn from The Purpose Driven Church by Rick Warren.

WillowCreek provides distinctive programming for each of Seven Faith Stages to move people from irreligious people to fully devoted followers.

11. The Network is the University of the Future

You learn the theory of religion from seminaries. You learn the practice of religion from effective churches.
Find and learn from the islands of health and strength.
In a fast-change world, experience is a better teacher than education.
“There isn’t a problem that isn’t being solved by someone somewhere” … if you can just find them.
Ideas travel like a virus, by sneezing.

“Yesterday an idea is mine,

Today it is yours, and

Tomorrow it belongs to

The whole world.” -- Konstantin Stanislavsky

12. Think globally – Act locally.

“All politics is local.” – Tip Oneill
You learn from everywhere, but the application is local in unique cultural circumstances.
Most communities encompass a unique culture. These churches tailor the gospel (without compromising its essence) by using language and practice that fits the lives of those they serve.

So What About You?

Using Rick Warren’s baseball diamond, what’s the state of your faith? Do these practices define a church that would appeal to you?

Recommended Resources

Leadnet.org – Our Leadership Network Web site, leadnet.org, has a variety of resources for two groups: leadership teams of innovative churches all across the United States and Canada; and people in Halftime seeking to transition from success to significance. Our mission is to identify, connect, and help high-capacity Christian leaders multiply their impact.

Pastors.com – A division of Purpose Driven Ministries, offers tools for healthy growing churches (Purpose Driven Ministries)

willowcreek.com – Willow Creek Association links like-minded, action-oriented churches with strategic vision, training, and resources. Serves local church leaders in building biblically functioning churches that reach increasing numbers of lost people.

Feedback

A month ago, George and Janie Hamm, friends from Tyler, lost their son, Bobby, age 40, to a heart attack in his Houston law office. Utterly shocking and unexpected. Still quite fresh. George is President Emeritus of the University of Texas at Tyler. Here is his response to my musings about my son, Ross, and eternity in the last newsletter:

Dear Bob,

That’s a beautiful story. Janie and I are still consumed by such thoughts as; “what are you doing right now Bobby”? Have you seen …”? “Tell…”.

You can see the difficulty we are having trying to cross that bridge intellectually, it’s much easier to do it spiritually. He’s There, because we know he’s There. The paradox is that we can count all his yesterdays -- his tomorrows are unfathomable.

Thanks for your beautiful message. George

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