action

You are currently browsing the archive for the action category.

South Africa Journal 8: Remembering to Close the Loop

September 3, 2010 in Canadian, Community, Disciplinie, Leadership, action, joy by Scott Cochrane | 1 comment

Think about the last time you led a ministry initiative in which you had to call in favours.

Perhaps you’re a youth leader who needed to round up extra drivers for that youth ministry outing, and you phoned all those parents to bring their mini-vans to run these kids across town.

Maybe you’re a senior pastor who needed to clear the church calendar for an important church-wide event, and you met with several key staff to get them to move or cancel their previously scheduled functions.

My question for you, and the one I’ve been challenged with today, is “How consistently do you remember to close the loop?”

South Africa Township

My journey through South Africa continued today with a stop at World Vision’s Umvoti Area Development Project office. Here our group of Canadian pastors met with the Umvoti World Vision staff, along with a group of local pastors.

As part of the meeting’s agenda we showed a video which we had shot in this region in April of 2009, and which we had shown at Canada’s Leadership Summit sites later that year. In filming the piece we had visited many area homes and interviewed many families and community leaders. In showing the video to some 7000 leaders at the Canadian Summit it had raised a great awareness of the needs in this region, along with an opportunity to respond through World Vision.

After showing this seven minute clip to these Umvoti leaders, one of the pastors rose from his chair and spoke words which I immediately processed as an important leadership principle.

“Thank you for showing us this video,” he said in his native Zulu through an interpreter. “Many times people visit us, and many times they take videos of us. Then they show their videos in other countries, but we don’t know what they have said about us. We don’t know what people are being made to think about us through their videos. But you have come back to us. You have shown us the video. This honours us. And we thank you.”

The eruption of applause confirmed that he was speaking on behalf of their entire community.

His comments reminded me that these people were not merely subjects in our video. They had given of themselves to make our project a success, and to show them the finished product was just the right thing to do.

Because when you call in favours, it’s incumbent upon the leader to close the loop. It’s just a part of leadership to go back to those you asked for help, and let them know how things turned out.

Tell the parents who drove the kids what happened as a result of getting all those kids to the event.

Tell the staff how in moving their ministry function to a different night your church-wide event had impacted the entire church.

I had to come half-way around the world to be reminded of this leadership principle. But it’s one I’ll be emphasizing with greater vigour upon my return to Canada.

How consistently do you remember to “close the loop”

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

South Africa Journal 4: How Loudly Should The Church Be Heard?

August 30, 2010 in Canadian, Leadership, Tension, action by Scott Cochrane | 1 comment

“The voice of the Church was neutralized by its lack of a shared vision.”

That statement, issued by a black South African leader, served as a defining moment on my first full day in Johannesburg. It’s a statement which I’m sure I will be thinking about long after I return to Canada.

On this day, my friends at World Vision had brought me and a group of Canadian pastors to the world famous Apartheid Museum. In gallery after gallery grainy black and white images filled the walls, each Apartheid Museumdepicting heart-breaking scenes of racially motivated injustice.

Later our group would meet to debrief our experience in the museum. And it was in this setting that I asked the question that had dominated my thinking that day.

“Where was the Church when all this was going on?”

It was then that one of our hosts provided a unique perspective on the role of the Church in his country’s history. “There were some churches who supported apartheid, even citing so-called ‘biblical evidence’,” he explained. “These churches, however, were in the minority. Most bible-believing churches spoke out strongly against apartheid. They were not, however, very effective in their opposition.”

I then asked the question that puzzled each of us.

“Why were the churches so ineffective?”

My friend answered with straight-forward clarity. “The voice of the Church was neutralized by its lack of a shared vision.”

He explained that South Africa’s churches had tended to work in isolation. He went on to say that, as such, rather than the Church speaking as one with power, conviction and authority, its voice was weak and marginalized.

As I thought about this insight, it prompted me to consider four questions we may do well to process in terms of the Canadian church:

  • Should the voice of the Canadian Church play a more vocal role in the spiritual life of our country?
  • What might future generations say about the voice of the Canadian Church?
  • Are there issues on which God might be calling the Canadian Church to speak with greater authority?
  • What would it take for this to happen?

Most leaders I talk with don’t believe that the Church in Canada should veer off-course and become a political influence. On this I would strongly agree. But when it comes to influencing our country’s spiritual direction perhaps there are things we can learn from South Africa’s history.

What do you think?

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

South Africa Journal 2: Never Mind My Luggage; Has Anyone Seen My Character?

August 26, 2010 in Disciplinie, Leadership, Tension, action, joy, missional by Scott Cochrane | 2 comments

There’s an expression that says, “Character is what you reveal when you think nobody is watching.”

Scott’s corollary to this is that “Character is particularly revealed when you are traveling.”

I have seen airport security lines, Customs and Immigration queues, and waits at baggage carousels reveal some of the most self-centred, boorish and obnoxious behavior known to human-kind.

And I’m not above finding the worst aspects of my own character bubble to the surface when I travel.

Today I’m en route from my home in Kelowna, BC, via London, England, to Johannesburg, South Africa. There I’ll be joined by four Canadian pastors and our hosts from World Vision. My friends at World Vision will be guiding us through the work they are doing in some of the most desperately needy regions of this beautiful country.

Total travel time will be over 30 hours, 21 hours in the air. That’s plenty of time for the basest parts of my character to emerge. I know myself well enough to envision my own impatience spilling out in the form of sarcasm, glaring looks, even an audible “This is ridiculous!” as an interminably slow line crawl along. I can even imagine myself muttering, “Don’t these people understand that I’m trying to get to a part of the world where I can be the hands and feet of Jesus?! Let’s MOVE IT people!”

May God grant me the grace to realize that perhaps those for whom He wants me to be his hands and feet are right here in this slow moving airport line. Perhaps the blessing I am to be is to the scowling agent at the counter; the one who has received nothing but abuse from unruly passengers all day.

Less than a century ago this journey would have taken 6 months to a year to complete. Now, I’ll be at my destination in mere hours. May I be less concerned that my luggage has survived intact, and more focused on seeing my character survive the journey.

In what circumstances do you find your character is put to the test?

How do you ensure your character passes these tests?

Tags: , , , , , ,

South Africa Journal 1: The Difference Between Looking and Seeing

August 25, 2010 in Leadership, action, joy, missional by Scott Cochrane | No comments

There’s a big difference between what you look at, and what you actually see. And as I prepare to leave for a two week journey through South Africa, I’m determined to embrace this important difference.

Never was this principle more beautifully captured than in this classic exchange between Charlie Brown, Lucy and Linus:

Lucy: If you use your imagination, you can see lots of things in the cloud’s formations. What do you think you see, Linus?
Linus: Well, those clouds up there look to me look like the map of the British Honduras in the Caribbean. That cloud up there looks a little like the profile of Thomas Eakins, the famous painter and sculptor. And that group of clouds over there gives me the impression of the Stoning of Stephen. I can see the Apostle Paul standing there to one side.
Lucy: Uh huh. That’s very good. What do you see in the clouds, Charlie Brown?
Charlie Brown: Well… I was going to say I saw a duckie and a horsie, but I changed my mind.

Yes, Charlie Brown, there’s a big difference between what you look at, and what you actually see.

When my friends at World Vision Canada graciously invited me back to South Africa again this year, I believe God began to impress this principle on my heart. And my prayer has therefore been to not only look at what is happening in that beautiful country, but to really see what God is up to.

We’ll be traveling with four pastors from churches in BC, Alberta and Ontario, and together we’ll be given a first-hand look at the needs in some of South Africa’s most impoverished regions, and also at what God has been doing in and through World Vision to meet these needs. Based on my travels there with World Vision last year, I know we will also see powerful examples of the gospel changing lives beyond the physical needs of these people too.

But as I prepare to leave I’m very specifically asking God to grant me the grace to experience all of this with His eyes; to see beyond the surface and to perceive what God would have me to understand.

In other words, when I get home and you ask me what I saw in South Africa, I trust I can say more than, “I saw a duckie and a horsie.”

I hope I’ll be able to say, “I saw the hand of our gracious Heavenly Father moving in and through a people He dearly loves.”

May that be true of how each of us perceive our world, wherever we are.

How have you been able to move beyond “looking” and to actually “seeing”?

Tags: , , , , , ,

How Do You Get the Most Out of The Leadership Summit?

July 9, 2010 in Leadership, Leadership Summit, action by Scott Cochrane | 1 comment

I’ve taken teams to The Leadership Summit for years, and one thing I’ve learned is that what you and your team get out of the Summit is proportional to what you put in to the Summit.

Some years, I’ve found myself doing little more than determining how many would be on our Summit team, making sure we were registered, and having someone coordinate transportation. In those years the Summit experience, while worthwhile, didn’t seem to gain optimal traction with our team.

But in the others years where we intentionally invested time, energy and creativity on the front end, the impact of the Summit experience was entirely different.

One year we loaded our team on a bus and headed to a Summit site in Vancouver, BC. In addition to the Summit itself we had planned a series of team-building activities, including renting tandem bikes to cycle Vancouver’s famous Stanley Park seawall, and even wrapped up the week with a catered gourmet dinner on a beach.

That was 10 years ago, and those who were there still talk about those experiences to this day.

Today, as I talk to church leaders from coast to coast, I continue to be inspired to hear the creative ways teams are maximizing the Summit experience.

I’d love to hear what you are doing/planning to do, and then I’d like to share your ideas with leaders across Canada.

Tell me what you’re planning in terms of:

  • Team building
  • Advanced reading assignments
  • Ways you’re tying the Summit into your church’s strategy
  • Prayer initiatives

I’ll feature your ideas in a future post.

Just remember; what you get out of the Summit is proportional to what you put in to the Summit!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Why My Best Day is the Day I Plan Nothing

July 6, 2010 in Development, Disciplinie, Leadership, action by Scott Cochrane | No comments

If you were to look at my Outlook Calendar, two things would stand out.

First of all, from Monday to Thursday you’d find that I schedule everything. Everything! I work ruthlessly to align my daily calendar with my highest priorities, and I’ve learned that for me, if I don’t pro-actively drop my ‘big rocks’ into my calendar well in advance, then a whole bunch of lesser priorities will simply work their way into my day.

But then you’d notice that Fridays are very different. This has been an experiment I’ve been working on for about a year, and so far I really like the results.

My Fridays are basically wide open. I book nothing and accept no appointments, meetings, phone calls, etc.

My goal is to spend no less than 20% of my work week on long-term vision and strategy. And I’ve found that if I don’t carve out this time on Friday my attention will naturally gravitate towards operational issues. Without my Friday strategy I might start the week hoping that I’ll find time to focus on the long term, but inevitably the weekend will roll around and I’ll look back and find that the tyranny of the urgent had overtaken me yet again.

So now I come into the office on Friday fired up about a full day devoted to a time window of about 18 to 36 months out. This can include:

  • Relationship building
  • Research
  • Strategy work
  • Personal development

What it excludes is any activity whose results would be found within the current year. Such work is operational, and I’ve given myself four days a week to play in that sandbox.

In your leadership world, and with your particular wiring, you may find a different way to accomplish this. But the discipline of long term thinking is very important, however you make it work.

How do you maintain a balance between operational priorities and long-term thinking?

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Re-setting the Expectation Bar for the Canadian Church

July 2, 2010 in Canadian, Community, Leadership, action, joy by Scott Cochrane | 1 comment

This week I found myself getting caught up in the celebrations of Canada Day, and in particular, engaging in the annual discussion on the topic of “What does it mean to be Canadian?”

I listened to an open line radio talk show on the subject, and one caller was calling all Canadians to a higher sense of self-worth because after all, (and I’m not making this up), a Canadian invented the paint roller.

And I was reminded again that in many areas of life, expectations in Canada are set pretty low sometimes.

The question I want you to consider today is “Have these low expectations in any way affected the way we do church ministry?”

Somewhere along the line did we resign ourselves to the fact that God would do ground-breaking work through the local church only in the United States (Willow Creek, Saddleback, NorthPoint, take your pick), or maybe Hillsong in Australia or Holy Trinity Brompton in England?

Well, if that idea causes the leadership muscles in you to tense up a bit, there’s a talk you need to hear.

At our recent Bill Hybels coaching day in Toronto, Jeff Lockyer of SouthRidge Church in St.Catharines, Ontario (that’s in Canada) challenged and encouraged Canadian leaders that the time has come for us to break free of this kind of thinking.

Click the link below to listen to Jeff’s talk, and let me know what you think.

I believe a new day is dawning for the church in Canada. And Jeff’s challenging talk may be a catalyst for something profound God wants to do in the Great White North.

http://www.growingleadership.com/hybels/jeff/jeff_mp3.asp

How do you respond to Jeff’s challenge?

Tags: , , , , , ,

Leading Through Meetings

June 29, 2010 in Community, Development, Leadership, action by Scott Cochrane | 1 comment

As a leader do you find meetings to be an interruption in your day, or as an opportunity to exercise your leadership?

In a recent coaching session with a group of pastors near Victoria, BC, Bill Hybels said, “You’d be amazed how much of my leadership I do in meetings.”

Well, this week I found myself in a leadership laboratory, where I put Hybels’ principle to the test.

It fell on me to chair our church’s semi-annual members meeting. As chairman of the meeting it wasn’t my place to overtly direct the congregation one way or the other. In our context the chair’s job is to facilitate the members’ decision-making process.

Having watched masterful leaders handle this job with excellence, there were 3 “Leading through Meetings” principles I attempted to exercise:

1. Setting a congenial tone of openness.

The leader must establish from the outset that this is a safe place to contribute opinions and ideas.

2. Keeping the main thing the main thing.

The leader must communicate the critical items to be accomplished and ensure that “lesser” items do not hijack the proceedings.

3. Getting the ball over the goal line.

A leader’s intuition must tell him when to wrap up discussion and to move to a decision; too soon and it can appear manipulative; too late and the discussion runs the danger of losing focus and momentum.

In the end, the meeting was a success, great decisions were reached on key items, and there was a positive sense of accomplishment among the members.

Bottom line? I think Hybels is right. Meetings should not be viewed as obstacles in our way, but as critical opportunities to exercise our leadership.

How do you leverage your leadership in meetings?

Tags: , , , , , , ,

If You Could Ask One Question To Executive Pastors

April 14, 2010 in Canadian, Community, Leadership, action by Scott Cochrane | No comments

I love meeting with church leaders and finding out what they’re learning. Even more, I love exchanging these learnings  with as many Canadian church leaders as possible.

Recently, I had another opportunity to do just that. In beautiful Victoria, BC, I met with a group of executive pastors from some of Canada’s largest, most influential churches. Several of you submitted questions for me to ask these pastors, and in the coming days I’ll post some of these questions, and their responses.

Question 1:

“Did you feel adequately prepared for your work when you took this job as an executive pastor?”

The answers here were evenly split, depending on the background of the pastor. Those who came from another ministry position generally felt better prepared for the role, having already been exposed to a ministry environment.

These EPs, who had previously worked as a small groups pastor, youth pastor, or even senior pastor, spoke of the advantages of having a familiarity with the workings of a church, and of their ability to more readily establish a rapport with pastoral staff. I asked if the administrative parts of the role were a particular challenge, and most felt that they adapted quickly to these responsibilities, often leveraging the gifts of others to help.

Those who transitioned into the role from the marketplace reported having a more challenging time adapting to the role. While most instantly excelled in the administrative parts of the role, several expressed frustrations in the early days learning to lead pastors.

Application for churches: Recognize that this critical role is one of the least trained roles of any staff position, yet it carries enormous responsibilities. If you’re hiring out of the marketplace, know that the staff leadership portion of the role may be the most challenging, and be prepared to offer specific training to help transition the EP into this aspect of the position.

In what ways have you ensured the successful transition of your executive pastor?

In my next post I look at a question which was contributed regarding church staff structures.

Tags: , , , , , ,

« Older entries