by Gary Reinecke | Apr 30, 2020 | Leader Development |
Apollo 8 was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and the first to reach the Moon, orbit it, and return. Its three-astronaut crew—Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders—were the first humans to fly to the Moon, to witness and photograph an Earthrise, and to escape the gravity of a celestial body. Re-entry is the final phase for the Apollo spacecraft and re-entry can be fraught with extra-ordinary challenges, like in Apollo 13. I highly recommend the film “Apollo 13” if you haven’t seen it!
The internet is bursting with ideas to help businesses, schools and churches re-enter following the Shelter at Home phase we face with Covid-19.
As I’ve been interacting with church planters, pastors, denominational and mission executives – I’ve listened to real concerns, thoughts about the challenges of social distancing and future steps to reopening. One leader I coach (who has given me permission to cite his letters to his constituents) has offered wise counsel on several Reopening related topics. Neil Lebhar has served as the Bishop of the Gulf Atlantic Diocese of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) since his consecration in 2010. We have been in a coaching relationship since July 2014.
Recently Neil led a devotion with his Executive Committee and one of the leaders shared this insight from Devi Sridhar, a public-health expert at the University of Edinburgh.
“Everyone wants to know when this will end. That’s not the right question. The right question is:
How do we continue?”
Neil used the motif of Apollo 13 and showed the clip of the control room when things didn’t go according to plan. One of the first things the NASA team did was assess the situation. They asked, “What do we have on the spacecraft that’s good?” From that initial understanding of the materials on board, the crew worked with the engineers and essentially “duct-taped” a safe re-entry. Referencing Philippians 3:8-16 Neil assessed the losses, gains and future aspirations for followers of Jesus.
We know Jesus – the most valuable treasure in the world, regardless of losses
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith
Knowing Jesus includes both experiencing his resurrection power and suffering
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus
12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
Neil closed with this excerpt from the book “Victorious: Corrie Ten Boom and the Hiding Place”
Point people to Jesus - Betsie Ten Boom to her sister Corrie
“Corrie, never tell people that it was your faith, for people will say, ‘I haven’t got Corrie ten Boom’s faith.’ But when you tell people that it was Jesus, then they will know that the same Jesus who carried us through is willing to carry them through also. For Jesus died at the cross for the sins of the whole world, not only for us, but for all the Jews and the Gentiles of the world, and He says, ‘Come unto Me, all who are heavy laden.’ So we have a message for the whole world.”
5 Reflection Questions as you Consider Re-entry
- What indicators are you assessing for your congregation to re-open?
- How are you maintaining an unanxious presence in this VUCA (Volatile-Uncertain-Complex-Ambiguous) moment?
- What is your longer-term plan for online services?
- If you re-open and later forced to shelter at home again; what does that look like for your congregation?
- How would you describe the “win” for your congregation through Covid-19?
Please share any ideas you are discovering as you navigate this season with other leaders who are going through this time along with you, so that we can learn from each other – see below.
If you are interested to read well-informed SAMPLE PLANS FOR RE-ENTRY, Canon Jessica Jones (a member of Neil’s team) compiled 4 strategies congregations are contemplating based on CDC Guidelines – CLICK HERE.
Blessings to you and your ministry during this time!
Gary Reinecke
Executive Director
InFocus
MULTIPLY-FOCUS-EMPOWER-PLANT
991.473.4481
www.infocusnet.org
greinecke@infocusnet.org
by Gary Reinecke | Apr 27, 2020 | Leader Development |
Last week I interviewed Brian Wilson of Access Church. I asked Brian how he is helping his congregation navigate this VUCA moment – to watch, CLICK HERE. In case you don’t recognize that acrostic, VUCA stands for:
- Volatile
- Uncertain
- Complex
- Ambiguous
As I’ve interacted with pastors and church planters over the last month they tend to fall into one of two camps as it relates to this VUCA moment.
- Camp Survival (hunker down to weather the storm)
- Camp Shine (leverage this season for the Kingdom)
Both camps are triggered by VUCA characteristics, or combinations of…
For instance, if a leader is triggered by a shift in power, then this season is extremely stressful. This leader may be struggling to keep things within their control that are really out of her/his control. The key question for this leader is: “How can we survive?”
In the other camp, the leader sees this season filled with opportunity to try new things. To attempt things they had hoped to do someday; but are now challenged to do now! The key question for this leader is: “How can we leverage this for the Kingdom to bless our community?”
A good example of this is taking ministry online. Delivering worship services in living rooms on devices vs. engaging the BIG room, is one significant step. This has expanded the reach of many of these congregations AND is something most congregations have done for the very first time in the last 30 days.
Releasing people to care for each other in small groups, using a variety of online platforms, is another significant step many leaders have navigated. The fruit has been impressive. What pastors and church planters are discovering across the country is that leaders:
- can be trusted
- can provide care
- can lead effectively
Back to the two camps analogy.
Here are three questions for you to reflect on to “seize the day” during this VUCA moment!
3 Questions to “Seize the Day”
- What camp do you find yourself in today, right now?
- Are you content “camping” there?
- Based on your response to the previous question:
-
- If “no”, what can you do to switch camps?
- If “yes”, what can you do to maximize this season to help your church shine?
I’ve written two blogs in the past that you might find helpful, related to the topic of VUCA:
- Leading Through VUCA
- Coaching VUCA
None of us have been down this path before. If you are confident that you know the way forward – then good on ‘ya. For the rest of us, my prayer is that His light would illuminate the path so that you can take the next significant step to lead yourself and your congregation forward.
by Gary Reinecke | Apr 20, 2020 | Leader Development, Uncategorized |
Several years ago I met with Brian Wilson and one statement he made back then stuck in my mind. It was in response to the notion of church planting. Brian’s response went something like this: “that is so hard, I don’t think I would ever want to plant unless the Lord made it super clear”.
Three years later, through the leading of the Holy Spirit, Brian has partnered with Him to plant Access Church – a vibrant community of Jesus followers in Menefee, CA.
Brian is a member of our Leadership Collective. Last week I interviewed him to ask how he is helping Access Church navigate this VUCA moment. In case you don’t recognize that acrostic, VUCA stands for:
- Volatile
- Uncertain
- Complex
- Ambiguous
As I’ve interacted with pastors and church planters the last month they tend to fall into one of two camps. Survival (hunkering down to weather the storm) or Shine (leveraging this season for the Kingdom). Brian shared his observations as he leads Access Church through this VUCA season to Shine in the midst of adversity.
Chance for the church to shine:
- Opportunity to shine brighter
- Create momentum & connection
- Be opportunists
Encouragement to Pastors:
- Leaders shine brightest in adversity
- Attend to yourself
- Come out of this stronger
Watch the entire interview – CLICK HERE.
by Gary Reinecke | Apr 7, 2020 | Disciplemaking |
I had the privilege to interview Colin Noyes and Micah Dodson in response to the question: Why does disciplemaking begin in the Harvest?
Watch the video – CLICK HERE!
Colin lives in Brisbane, Australia and is an authority on disciplemaking movements. For the last twenty years he has served in denominations, ministries and leaders as a coach/consultant/trainer. Colin has authored three books on the topic.
Here are key points Colin shares:
- Jesus started in the harvest
- Disciples worked in the harvest because they were a very small group in a pagan world
- Disciplemaking was a normal part of life for every believer
- People today are interested in Jesus and what He has to say
- The post-Constantine church has to be obedient to Jesus and look back
Read more about Colin – CLICK HERE.
Here are the key points Micah shares:
- Orienting our lives around people who don’t know Jesus
- Jesus intends that we make the most of every opportunity
- Live in proximity to people who don’t know Christ
- Empower people to go out
Micah is an experienced church planter. He serves in the Pacific Northwest coaching, training, and assessing church planting leaders. Micah brings a compassion for the church planting couple and family in partnership with his wife, Kristen. Read more about Micah – CLICK HERE.
Please interact with the points from above, in the conversation below.
by Gary Reinecke | Apr 6, 2020 | Leader Development |
Pastors, church planters and staff members have been forced to work from home in virtual offices due to the warnings, limitations and restrictions imposed on local church ministry due to Covid-19. For many this is the first time working in a virtual environment. Adding to the angst of the situation is the inability to meet with people in regulay, face-to-face meetings.
Here are some of the questions this raises for lead pastors, church planters and staff members:
- How can I help my staff stay on mission?
- How can I coach my staff to brainstorm solutions?
- How can I support my staff when conflict surfaces in their team?
Leaning into this new reality is begging leaders to lead differently. More so now than ever it is critical to raise your effectiveness as a team leader for your church staff. A number of pastors, church planters and staff members that I have worked with over the years have benefited from assessments to reveal their strengths and weaknesses.
Discover the skills you need to develop when leading a virtual team.
Below is a FREE, 5 minute quiz that will help you reflect on 8 critical skills of an empowering leader. So if you are looking for a way to effectively lead a virtual church staff team the, “How to lead your church staff effectively during uncertain times” quiz is an excellent first step. Once you submit your responses to the quiz, a report will be generated and e-mailed to you immediately with suggestions to help you grow in the respective areas.
Take the “How to lead your church staff effectively during uncertain times” by clicking on the button below.
START HERE FOR FREE QUIZ
by Gary Reinecke | Mar 24, 2020 | Disciplemaking |
Micah Dodson and I talk about the primary shift a leader must wrestle through in order to establish a culture of disciplemaking in your church. This is perhaps the key philosophical decision a leader must make to create an intentional community of disciples, making disciples. After we discuss the shift then I ask Micah to present a challenge to take the next step to strengthen your disciplemaking culture.
You will need 6 minutes to view this video; I promise it will be worth your time – CLICK HERE!
To get the conversation started – share your take away from the video below.
Making Disciples Coaching Guide
by Gary Reinecke | Mar 20, 2020 | Disciplemaking, Leader Development |
History will tell the story how the Church decided to act in faith and be the Church in crisis.
Last Tuesday Gina (my wife) and I made an executive decision for our small group. We have a wonderful host couple that open their home so that our group of 5-17 members (depending on the week) can meet on Tuesday evenings for about 28 weeks throughout the year. A number of our participants have compromised immune systems or loved ones who are at greater risk than the general population. Last weekend our church, like about many other congregations across the country, launched their first-ever online worship service.
Back to our small group. I discussed the situation with Gina and we came up with a solution. Due to the the various reasons above – we moved our small group gathering to a virtual format, using Zoom. This is not an original idea with us. In fact, this might seem old school for many. But, it was an innovative solution to a real and pressing issue.
This allowed our group to meet without concerns for the health of our people who deal with compromised immune systems. More importantly, this removed the excuse not to meet. Check-out the list of questions below to consider creative solutions to complex problems.
7 Questions to Innovate Creative Solutions in Ministry during Uncertain Times
- What is influencing our decisions as we navigate this crisis?
- How can we leverage the circumstances the crisis is presenting, to move the mission of Jesus forward?
- Brainstorm a list of ideas that come to mind.
- Narrow the list to the best 3-5 ideas.
- What are the pros and cons of each idea?
- Choose the best idea that you can execute within a certain timeframe.
- What are the necessary steps to implement this idea.
Going to an online platform to keep your church connected might be the direction you need to move right now. This forced migration might be the best thing for your congregation. Perhaps, online isn’t something you need to do and there are other considerations that will allow you to capitalize on the opportunity?
Three COMPLIMENTARY Coaching Sessions to Innovate Creative Solutions During Uncertain Times
With the warnings, limitations and restrictions imposed on your ministry; would you like help navigating this season? With that in mind, InFocus is offering three complimentary coaching appointments, 30 minutes each. Going online with worship services, small groups or your entire ministry is innovative.
With the current restrictions the government has enforced due to the Coronavirus there was an uptick in webinars just last week to assist leaders that need to introduce online solutions for their church, facilitated by experts in the field. If you would like assistance on sorting through all the options I would be happy to coach you around the best way to address your need. Simply click on the button below to schedule a time that works for you. You determine the agenda:
- Taking your worship services online
- Taking your disciplemaking online
- Taking your church online
…..or some other topic of your choosing!
CLICK HERE to schedule your first appointment
by Gary Reinecke | Mar 13, 2020 | Disciplemaking |
Four findings recently surfaced from a national study of Disciple Making in USA churches:
- Fewer than 5% of churches in the US have a reproducing disciple making culture
- An absence of churches reflecting viral-like disciple making movements
- Lack of commonly understood definitions
- Overestimating Impact
*National Study on Disciple Making in USA Churches: High Aspirations Amidst Disappointing Results
The report cited above elaborates on each of the key points. If you lead one of the churches within that 5%, then your ministry is exceptional – well done! You can read the report in it’s entirety – CLICK HERE.
7 Questions to Sharpen your Disciple Making Process
Reflection Questions:
- What was your discipleship journey like?
- What “steps” of your journey have been repeated by others, through your ministry?
- When you consider the essential steps a disciple takes, what steps are missing from the list you created above?
- What steps does your church do well?
Planning Questions:
- Which steps could your church improve on?
- Select one step you need to focus on now?
- Identify one action you can take to enhance that step.
Of course, these questions are just a first step. But when taken seriously, consistently monitoring progress, you can create a “reproducing disciple making culture”. It is within reach. You can move the needle in the right direction. Review the Making Disciples Storyboard and assess where your ministry is strong and where there are gaps. Then take action.
It is mind-boggling to think that the primary mission of the church is to make disciples; yet, less than 5% of our churches “have a reproducing disciple making culture”. Through the hard work of capable disciplemakers under the guidance of the Holy Spirit – we can do better than that! Wouldn’t you agree?
by Gary Reinecke | Mar 6, 2020 | Uncategorized |
We met in La Jolla, CA and had a rich time of connecting and learning.
Four values define the Leadership Collective:
- Continual Learning
- Meaningful Relationships
- Challenge Assumptions
- Action & Reflection
The Kick-off Retreat focused on disciplemaking. We asked participants to process four key questions so that they could:
- DEFINE a disciple
- ASSESS their discipleship process
- IDENTIFY a Person of Peace
- ENVISION their discipleship process
Morning “toast” with Collective participants.
What I enjoyed most was the way God worked during our time together to build trust, provide unique insights and forge new pathways to make more and better disciples.
by Gary Reinecke | Feb 20, 2020 | Uncategorized |
Greetings,
As you know, I strive to keep you informed about excellent coach training opportunities. My vision is to help YOU take an empowering approach to develop the leaders around you! The bonus is that this is a complimentary webinar.
Starting tomorrow, you can learn live from 2 of the industry’s greatest thought leaders, Professors Peter Hawkins and David Clutterbuck! They are coming from a corporate and academic orientation to coaching but I believe their experience can flow over into a ministry coaching context. Wherever you are using a coach approach to make & multiply:
- Disciples
- Leaders
- Plant Churches.
Secure your spot for this complimentary Team Coaching Accelerator: Advance to the Leading Edge of Team Coaching and Team Leadership
In this first Live GTCI event Peter & David will show you how to leverage the incredible power of team coaching. Learn what makes team coaching stand apart from other interventions like team facilitation or team building. Shift your perspective of teams and leaders – take a complex, adaptive systems approach. It’s everything you need in order to start building team coaching into your personal development plan as a coach!
By the end of this session, you’ll understand how to work with competence and confidence in a team coaching environment.
If you’re ready to help organizations optimize team effectiveness and succeed in a VUCA world, this accelerator is for you. You’ll unlock a new paradigm of leadership and teamwork that most successful team coaches are implementing.
Register for the Team Coaching Accelerator here
If you’re interested, I highly recommend you sign up right away. The first 5 sessions have now reached full capacity.
This training has the power to profoundly impact your coaching practice. Excited to see you there!
I trust this FREE accelerator will profoundly impact the way you coach!
REGISTER TODAY FOR THE LEADERSHIP COLLECTIVE
