Calvary Church Is:
COMMUNITIES CONNECTING TO GOD AND OTHERS
We Measure:
PEOPLE NOT PROGRAMS
Team Focus vs. Institutional Plans
Spiritual Formation vs. Regular Attendance
Loving Care vs. Pastoral Visits
Missional Life vs. Missions Program
Affirmation vs. Negation
What We Love Drives What We Do:
GOD
OUR NEIGHBOR
EACH OTHER
We Love God By—
We Love Our Neighbor By—
We Love Each Other
BY —
Our Strategy Is:
GROW FORMATIVE, CARING, AND MISSIONAL COMMUNITIES
1. Our primary institutional strategy is to equip people for kingdom impact.
2. Our secondary institutional strategy is to create an environment which will support the growth of formative, caring, and missional communities.
Communities—
Grow—
Formative—
Caring—
Missional—
Our Vehicle is:
TEAM BUILDING
A Vision for Team Ministry.
Calvary is
Enabled by our Partners
Equipped by our Pastors
Empowered by our Elders
You don’t create a culture. Culture happens. It’s the bi-product of consistent behavior.
Stop focusing on plans and programs and start focusing on people.
Change a leadership culture from “give as much as required, but as little as necessary” to “worry not about what is required, give us much as possible.” (particularly in the area of communication and contribution)
A. Short Version
—What it means to be “Communities Connecting to God and Others.”
—What leadership looks like in “Communities Connecting to God and Others.”
—What are the steps to becoming “Communities Connecting to God and Others.”
B. Long Version
—3relationships
—Communities Connecting to God and Others
—Teams
God functions as a TEAM
John 16:13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he h ears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it know to you.
As believers, we do not function ALONE
John 17:20-26 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that yo u have sent me. I have made you know to them, and will continue to make you know in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
Ephesians 4:12-13 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
Romans 14:7 For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone.
Our relationship to God is tied to our relationship with ONE ANOTHER
1 John 3:10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
I John 4:20-21 If anyone says, “I love God, “ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, who he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
I Thessalonians 4:6 and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you.
1 Corinthians 12:13-14 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free – and we were all given one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.
Matthew 5:23-24 “Therefore, is you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
Our relationship with each other provides a platform to REACH the WORLD
Mark 6:7 “Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits.”
Matthew 28:19 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
John 13:35 “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
The body of believers (as a group) is the new TEMPLE of GOD on EARTH
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is
sacred, and you are that temple.
2 Corinthians 6:16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are
the temple of the living God. As God has said, “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
Ephesians 2:19-22 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
1 Peter 2:4-5 As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by men but chosen by God and
precious to him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Relationship to GOD 1. Understanding God and His expectations of men 2. Committing to obedience through faith 3. Desiring to pursue a deeper relationship
Relationship to EACH OTHER 1. Sharing needs and struggles 2. Praying together 3. Developing “Christian friendships”
Relationship to THE WORLD 1. An alien lifestyle 2. Impacting and Expanding Circles of Influence
INVEST AND INVITE… Invite them to experience something, not to attend something.
STAFF VALUES
Community
We are a team, modeling community for our church. We’ll celebrate each other’s victories, pray for each other, and treat each other with respect. We’ll do life together.
Professionalism and Excellence
We value each other’s privacy and schedules in the office and in the home. People will know where we are during the day, what time we’ll be in and what time we will leave. We will do the things that matter most first, and not overlook the important for the urgent. We will do what we say we will do and be on time and prepared for meetings.
Team Ministry
We can accomplish more together than we can individually. We are not a federation of sub-ministries and realize that we all have a part in the overall vision of the church. We will communicate with each other and collaborate with each other. We will respect each other’s roles and positions.
Right Priorities
We will meet with God every day. We will cheat the ministry and the church before we cheat God and our families. We will work hard so we can honor our days off. We never take our staff hat off and realize that people are always watching.
Retreat and Relax
We will retreat once a year as a staff. We will retreat once a year by ourselves. We will use our vacation time and attend conferences.
People Matter
People matter more than programs, buildings and budgets, but not more than principles and purpose. We will get back with people within 24 hours when they call or e-mail us. We will close the loop on communication.
Connections Pastor:
1. Assimilation – Do our guests get followed up with? Do we know what happens to them? Do we know what their experience was like and why or why not they would come back?
2. Volunteers – Does our structure and system allow for us to find and funnel volunteers into Kid’s Check-In, Greeters, Ushers, and the Parking Team? In so, how are we improving it? If not, what immediate steps are we making to fix the problem?
3. Partnership/Membership – How many people can we call Partners of Oak Leaf Church? Do we consistently add people to that number and how does it happen? What steps do these people need to take once they become “Partners?”
Small Groups Pastor:
1. Journey Groups – Does our church have regular connection points where OLC attenders can join a group? How do we know if a group is successful? What is the regular attendance in our small groups? How do we train our next group of leaders? How does we measure spiritual growth?
2. Community Outreach – What is our strategy for being in the community? Are we doing accomplishing our mission by the events we attend and/or put on in the community? How does the church connect the dots, in other words how does the church see the point in helping at these events and/or volunteer at them?
3. Benevolence/Care – Outside of the Journey Group structure, how will a person get cared for? How will make sure that people don’t fall through the cracks in the event of a personal or community wide tragedy? What is our plan to help those outside/inside of our church? Does it work like it should or do we have to turn many people away?
Worship Pastor:
1. Worship – Does the service we put on for people on Sunday morning cause them to engage God or to be entertained? How are we working to make it more worshipful (engaging)? What are you doing to become a better worship leader? In other words, who are you watching, how have you changed your style, and what in the service will truly create momentum where people meet God? How can we engage people better to connect to God through multiple mediums (video, music, etc.)?
2. Creative Arts – Does the improvements we make and the creativity we exhibit cause people to impressed or for them to think that we gave God our best? How are we improving the ministry for the benefit of volunteers who serve, for staff to have longevity, and for the church to see it as important?
What does it mean to be on the Lead Team?
1. Preparation. If I send you something (or any of us send each other something) for a meeting, then you need to read it and come with some thoughts. If I send you a message to discuss, print it out, read it and make some notes. This will keep our meeting productive. As the Lead Team, we set the tone for the rest of our staff in this area.
a. Send discussion items to Anthony – this is advance planning on your part.
b. Bring information to the meeting. If we’re talking about small group leadership development, bring the rough draft of the training document. That’s being prepared.
c. Think about what people will ask in advance before they ask it. Especially me! If you think about it, you can probably provide information that will answer the questions in advance. There’s too much waiting around for people to ask or inspect, and not enough proactive.
2. Active participation. I’ve noticed something troubling in our meetings. All of us, myself included, tune out a little bit when the discussion moves away from our core area. We don’t need to clam up when talking about something that isn’t our deal. In our Tuesday program meeting, I need everyone actively engaged in making the message better, not sending e-mails or acting like we’ve taken you away from something important. The reason that I asked you into that meeting is because Sunday’s service is VITALLY important to everything we do. We need to actively participate and focus on what’s before us. As a Lead Team, we are responsible for spotting potential problems down the road, evaluating from 30,000 feet, and leading this church. This is not only hard work, it’s mentally tough work. I need you to dial in. We have two meetings each week, both of which are vitally important to our success as a church: The Lead Team Meeting and The Production Meeting. We don’t have a staff of 50, so most of you guys are also counted on for opinions for the Production Meeting too. You should be honored to be a part of that process, by the way. I don’t know a lot of pastors that regularly ask their staff what should be cut or added from messages. It’s time to tune in and dial it up.
3. Follow Thru. You’ve all been in situations where things are talked about but never done, right? I don’t want our meetings to be that way. If we decide something and make someone responsible for something, then it’s your responsibility to follow thru with it. If it’s hard, time consuming, or isn’t your favorite task in the world, that’s irrelevant to me. I will not sit around and discuss something for 30 minutes, only to have the ball dropped later. Dropping the ball is really retroactively wasting time – four people spending 30 minutes talking about something that never actually happens is a collective waste of 2 hours. You should be taking notes during meetings and then reporting on the progress you’ve made on your action list.
4. Debating. I don’t think we’re having enough healthy debate, and I’m going to do a better job to try and foster that. I want you guys to speak up and have an opinion. I want you to feel strongly about things, not have a whatever attitude about topics. If you don’t agree with a policy or a decision, then it’s okay to debate it (with the appropriate attitude and in the appropriate time). Arguing and discussing is not bad for a team…it’s actually good. Nobody is going to get fired for expressing their opinion.
5. Hard Work. I expect more from you guys than I do the rest of our staff. That’s just the bottom line. I expect you guys to abide by the financial procedures, the procedures for putting dates on the calendar. I don’t like filling out purchase orders, but I do it anyway. And out of all of us, I’m probably one that could get the free pass. But I’m trying to set an example and play by the same rules. Ministry isn’t a 9-5 job, and stuff just has to get done. Choose to cheat all you want, but that is no excuse not to be excellent. You have to figure out how to be a good dad, good husband and good employee. That’s why you’re on the Lead Team and not a part time youth pastor or worship at a 100-person church. The bar is higher for you, and it’s probably going to keep going higher. And by the way, there will never come a day when the schedule isn’t hectic or things slow down.
If it sounds like I’m being a little tough on you, it’s because I am. I don’t think we’re clicking on all cylinders when it comes to leadership. I’m hearing too much whining about the things to do and not enough vision.
We talk about connecting the dots for our people…making sure they know why they are doing what they are doing…making sure they understand the purpose and the vision and the importance of their task. The same goes for us. On Tuesday, nothing is more important that day than our production meeting – the time when we plan out services, that will be experienced by 600+ people. That’s the time when we want God to speak to people. That’s a big dot that needs to be connected. On Monday, nothing, and I mean nothing, is more important than preparing for and participating in our lead team meeting. That’s the time when the men who are called by God get together to discuss the operation of God’s church. That’s an important task that we all need to take seriously.
This church is not a youth group. It’s not a hobby. It’s part of the Kingdom of God, and as the Lead Team, I’m trusting you to carry that torch.
MONTHLY STAFF REPORT FORMS (Evaluation)
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.