Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2016

Jossy Chacko on “Unquestionable Ways to Expand Your Leadership Reach” from the Leadership Summit 2016

by Joshua Reich

I’m at the leadership summit with the team from Revolution Church. This is by far the best leadership conference of the year. This is my 13th summit and every year, God stretches me and challenges me. So much wisdom and inspiration wrapped up into two days. I always blog my notes, so if you can’t attend or missed something, I’ve got you covered.

Jossy Chacko talked about Unquestionable Ways to Expand Your Leadership Reach and really made me want to read his book Madness!: One man’s crazy Idea to transform ASIA and beyond. He used Matthew 25 and the parable of the talents and how that applies to leaders and churches.

He talked about how to expand your leadership reach through enlarging your vision, empowering your people and embracing risk.

Here are some takeaways:

All of us have been trusted with something, how are we proving ourselves to be trusted with more?
Faithfulness is not sitting with what you have been given. Maintaining things is not God’s plan and God’s mission. Faithfulness is expanding.
Multiply the small things God has entrusted with you, He will give you more.

How to Expand your Leadership Reach

Enlarge your vision.

Don’t play it safe.
Do you talk more about maintenance or multiplication of your vision?
When people hear your vision, they should know the size and scale of your God.

When people hear your vision, they should know the size and scale of your God. -Jossy Chacko

Trust what God has put in you, don’t listen to people who are against your vision or say it isn’t possible.
Enlarging your vision is about staying focused and allowing your horizon to get bigger.
If your vision is to keep what you have, you will miss the opportunities around you.

Empower Your People

Focus on building the character before you empower them.
People don’t fail because of lack of information but lack of character.
Empowerment has to be through relationship.
Agree on the right outcomes and systems.

Embrace risk

Risk and faith are the same thing.
Without risk (faith) it is impossible to please God.
Without risk, we move from pioneering to preserving.
See risk as your friend to love, not your enemy to be feared.
Fear is not from God, that’s from the devil.
Your vision needs to be hinged on the doors of risk.
See comfort and safety as your enemies.
Comfort, safety and risk cannot coexist.
If you don’t take that step of risk/faith, who will miss out?

Who is missing out because you aren’t taking that step of faith that God has called you to? -Jossy Chacko

To lead, you must increase your pain threshold.
Your leadership capacity is in direct relation to your pain threshold.

Your leadership capacity is in direct relation to your pain threshold. -Jossy Chacko

Next steps

Make a list of all the dreams and visions God has given to you.
Put a date you will complete them.
Put a name next to those dreams who will hold you accountable.

Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2016

Alan Mulally on “The Art of Working Together” from the Leadership Summit 2016

by Joshua Reich

I’m at the leadership summit with the team from Revolution Church. This is by far the best leadership conference of the year. This is my 13th summit and every year, God stretches me and challenges me. So much wisdom and inspiration wrapped up into two days. I always blog my notes, so if you can’t attend or missed something, I’ve got you covered.

Session 2 was with Alan Mullaly where he talked about The Art of Working Together.

Here are some takeaways:

Working together principles and practices

People first.
Everyone is included.
Compelling vision, comprehensive strategy and relentless implementation.
Clear performance goals.
One plan.
Facts and data are important.
Everyone knows the plan, the status, and areas that need special attention.
Propose a plan, positive, “find-a-way” attitude.
Respect, listen, help and appreciate each other.
Emotional resilience – trust the process.
Have fun – enjoy the journey and each other.

Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2016

Bill Hybels on “The Lenses of Leadership” from Leadership Summit 2016

by Joshua Reich

I’m at the leadership summit with the team from Revolution Church. This is by far the best leadership conference of the year. So much wisdom and inspiration wrapped up into two days. I always blog my notes, so if you can’t attend or missed something, I’ve got you covered.

In session 1 Bill Hybels talked about The Lenses of Leadership. He had 4 different lenses on stage, that represented how leaders look at the world around them and the organization/team they lead: the passionate leader, shattered lenses (which shows a leader who doesn’t know what could exist), performance lenses, and lenses with a review mirror to see what is behind you (legacy lens of leadership).

Here are some takeaways:

Armed with enough humility can learn from anyone and that is an enormous key to leadership.
Leadership is leading people from here to there.

Leadership is leading people from ‘here’ to ‘there.’ @BillHybels

Leadership is moving people, energizing people.
Leadership is moving people to a preferred future.
For team members to pay the price to go from here to there, they will have to feed off the passion of their leader.
The highest inspiration for team members is to work for and around a passion filled leader. This is more important than money, benefits and everything else.

How does a leader get passionate?

Passion is derived from mountains of a beautiful dream or the depths of frustration that is going terribly wrong.
Have you encountered something that frustrates you? That you can’t stand anymore? That’s your dream.
Question to consider: How full is your passion bucket?
Question to consider: Whose job is it to keep your passion bucket full?

Shattered people lenses

Many leaders have shattered lenses who don’t know how to be emotionally healthy and creating a healthy team.
An organization will only be as healthy as the top leader wants it to be.

An organization will only be as healthy as the top leaders wants it to be. @BillHybels

The leader can choose if the culture will be high functioning and caring.
Religion is all the things you do to appease a God you know you’ve disappointed.
What this world needs is not more pastors of churches but pastors who lead their businesses, schools and the military well.
The job of the leader is to destroy transactional noise. The talk that keeps people from performing well and kills morale. Transactional noise is when someone who is a jerk and gets promoted and people are mad (water cooler talk).
Leaders need to develop the skill of talent observation.

The Performance Lens

Speed of the leader, speed of the team.
The leader must help the team maximize team performance.

The leader must help the team maximize team performance. @BillHybels

A leader must lay out challenges and goals.
Team members always want to know what the leader thinks of how they are doing.
Don’t have too many goals because it will lead you to work in ways you aren’t proud.
You also can’t simply be faithful to your calling and have no goals. That’s laziness.
Are you thriving, healthy or underperforming as a team or organization?

Are you thriving, healthy or underperforming as a team or organization? @BillHybels

It is cruel and unusual punishment for a leader not telling his team how they are doing.

It is cruel and unusual punishment for a leader not telling his team how they are doing. @BillHybels

The Legacy Lens

What people remember about you when you are gone. Everyone will leave a leadership legacy.
Leadership is not about time, it is about energy. It is about where you spend your energy (what you think about, focus, decision making).

Leadership is not about time, it is about energy. @BillHybels

Leadership can become a legal drug that other things will have a hard time competing against.
God never intended for our vocations to crowd out other parts of our lives.
When you look into the rearview mirror, do you like the legacy you are leaving behind?

When you look into the rearview mirror, do you like the legacy you are leaving behind? @BillHybels

Legacies can change in an instant with a simple choice.
Leadership matters and it matters disproportionately.
Question to consider: How do you need to get better? How do you need to grow as a leader?
Question to consider: What is your passion? What is your dream? Are you feeding your passion? Are you keeping your vision bucket full?
Question to consider: How many of you have shattered people lenses? Do you know what a healthy team culture looks like? Feels like?
Question to consider: Do you need to slow your organization or team down? Do you let your team and organization flounder? Do people know what hill to climb? Does your team know if they’re winning?
Question to consider: Is your legacy one you are proud of? One your kids and spouse will be proud of?

Posted on Monday, August 8, 2016

How to be Thankful as a Leader

by Joshua Reich

Most of the time on blogs like mine or other leadership and ministry blogs you read about how tough ministry is, how difficult people can be and how hard it is to be a leader. All those things are true.

At the same time, if you are a leader, especially if you are a pastor, you have a lot to be thankful for. At the same time, as a follower of Jesus, growing in your thankfulness is a sign of your faith but also of your maturity. I know for me, when I am pessimistic, only seeing what isn’t working or how things aren’t what I want them to be, it makes me a poor leader, a poor husband and father, and honestly, a poor human.

So I sat down in the middle of a pity party, when things didn’t go how I wanted them to go at church and someone was mad at me, and wrote out things I should be thankful for. For you this list might be different, but here’s what came to mind for me:

How to be thankful as a pastor.

1. My church still exists. This might seem like a weird one, but on a weekly basis I hear about another church that closed their doors. When we moved to Tucson and started Revolution church, there was a window of three years where over 20 churches were planted in Tucson (of which we were one), and only three of those are still going (of which we are one). Why? That’s God’s grace towards us.

The fact that your church exists is a sign of God’s grace towards you.

2. I get to use my gifts. Most pastors overlook this gift. If you ask most people what their gifts, talents and passions are, they don’t know. They don’t know how God has wired them, the talents they have, how their family of origin and story have gone into making them who they are and the passions they have, but many pastors do. They get out of bed with a burning passion to see something happen for God. That isn’t a small thing.

If you know why you are on this earth, you are in the minority.

3. My marriage. If you’re a pastor, your wife deserves more credit than you do. She endures more than you do. I know, I know. Your life is so hard as a leader, the stress, the pain, the emotional side of ministry. I get it. Yet it is nowhere near as difficult as the role your wife plays. While you can bury yourself in work and ministry as a way of letting off steam, she doesn’t have that opportunity. She endures more than you do, and you should tell her thanks. She takes the brunt of your emotional roller coaster, she walks on egg shells around you sometimes, she hears people talk behind your back, she sees the glares you don’t see, she hears what things are said about your kids that you don’t hear, she worries about you in ways you don’t understand. And yet she has stuck with you. She is your biggest cheerleader, your biggest prayer warrior.

A pastor’s wife often endures more than a pastor does.

Protect your wife to your church. Speak highly of her always, on stage and off. I talk about Katie in such a way that I want to communicate, if you speak badly about my wife, stab her in the back, you get papa bear, and you don’t want that. Too many pastors are weak when it comes to their wives and how they defend them in their church. Sadly, you have to do this because people can be mean.

4. My kids. The same goes for your kids. It is hard being a pastor’s kid. Way harder than being a pastor, so don’t put it in the same category. Don’t put more pressure on them than is already on them. When someone says in disbelief, “I can’t believe your kid jumped off the stage and over the communion table” (true story in the Reich family), shake your head, laugh and say, “What did you expect a five year old boy to do? Did he clear the table?” He did and didn’t get hurt.

I am my biggest protector of my kids. I want them to enjoy being kids. I want them to enjoy being a pastor’s kid as much as they can. When people try to put something on them that I think is unfair, I fight to take that expectation away.

5. My team. I’m thankful for my team. Most leaders are visionary, hard driving, goal setting people, which makes us difficult to be around and be friends with. The fact that people endure you as a leader is something to be thankful for. They help you, mold you and make things better. Sadly, most leaders don’t like their teams, which is the fault of the leader. You get what you allow or create.

6. I’m not 300 pounds anymore. I’m thankful for my health. When we started our church I weighed almost 300 pounds, and in the first 18 months I lost 130 pounds and have kept it off. I know it sounds silly to be thankful for your health and very cliche, but if you’re healthy, that’s a gift from God. Not everyone is.

7. God loves me. Lastly, if you are a follower of Jesus, God loves you, and because of His love for you He sent his Son Jesus to die in your place so that you could have a relationship with Him. Never get far from this truth and reality as a pastor.

7 things I’m thankful for as a pastor. What are you thankful for?

But what do you do when it is hard to be thankful and ministry is hard? That happens.

One thing that was helpful was something I came across in Leadership Pain: The Classroom for Growth, where the author said to give yourself 24 hours to mope, throw a pity party and then get back on the horse and lead.

Posted on Monday, August 1, 2016

6 Ideas to Help You Discipline Your Child

by Joshua Reich

There are a lot of ideas out there about how to best discipline your child. Some are good, some are not so good. I’ve shared before that one of the most important questions a parent needs to ask when they discipline their child is if they are accurately reflecting the heart of God in that moment.

6 things to remember when you discipline your child.

Parents will often parent to something or for something. This could be getting your child to behave a certain way or do certain actions. Many Christian parents will feel like they are winning at parenting if their child goes to church, does certain things or doesn’t do certain things. The reality is, that doesn’t say anything in and of itself, only that your church does or doesn’t do things.

Some parents, especially pastors, will parent for their reputation. They’ll put pressure on their kids to act a certain way because of how it makes them look to those around them. This isn’t a win at all, but it is easy to fall into. If my child does ____, how will that make me look? If my child gets bad grades, a tattoo, parties, hangs out with the wrong crowd, how will that make me look? I understand the fear, but parenting for your reputation isn’t a healthy long term parenting strategy.

Instead, I would say to parent with the relationship in mind. Andy Stanley says, “I want to parent so when my kids leave the house one day, they want to come back.” There’s a lot of wisdom in that.

Parent for the relationship, not your reputation.

One of the areas that many parents struggle in and has an enormous effect on what their children become is discipline. Remember, the goal of parenting is incredibly crucial not only to how you parent right now, but also to how your kids ultimately end up.

William Farley in his book Gospel-Powered Parenting: How the Gospel Shapes and Transforms Parenting lists how the gospel affects disciplining children:

1. The gospel convinces parents that indwelling sin is our children’s problem.

2. The gospel convinces parents that authority is a crucial parental issue.

3. The gospel instructs us to pursue our children’s hearts rather than their behavior.

4. The gospel motivates parents to discipline to preach the gospel to our children.

5. The gospel motivates parents to fear God.

6. The gospel helps parents to grow in humility and sincerity.

6 things to remember the next time you discipline your child.

Posted on Thursday, July 28, 2016

5 Ways to Get the Most out of Reading Your Bible

by Joshua Reich

One of the ways we battle condemnation, guilt, regret, shame, and hurt is through our mind. Our minds are incredibly powerful things. They determine our steps, our feelings, what bothers us, what we think, and the decisions we make that have an enormous impact on the people we become. We often think our minds aren’t that important, that we are feelers, or emotional people making emotional choices.

But we aren’t.

Our minds drive much of what we do. In fact, the New Testament often talks about the battle of our mind, and in numerous places the apostle Paul encourages us about what to think. In Philippians 4:8 he writes, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Why? Because what we think about determines so much.

So, how do you change your thinking? How do you battle your sin in your mind? This is important because much of our sin comes from thinking. We often think we sin and “it just happened.” But it didn’t. We chose to be there, chose to open that website, chose to say those words, chose that person as a friend.

In the same way, through the power of Christ, we can choose to not be there, to say no and not hang out with that person.

To do that, though, requires intentionality and putting on the mind of the Spirit. (Romans 8:5) The best way to do this is through reading the Bible, words inspired by God, authoritative, true and sufficient for our lives. One of the things I love about our church is that we produce daily devotional questions to go along with the sermon that you can subscribe to by emailing here.

5 questions to ask if your bible reading has grown stale.

As you read through your Bible, it can be daunting. Here are some questions I use to put on the mind of the Spirit:

What does this passage say (not to me, but actually say on its own)?
What words or phrases stood out to me in this passage?
Why do I think those words or phrases stood out?
What is God trying to show me through that?
Are there any sins I need to confess, changes I need to make or steps I need to take because of what I’ve read?

How to get the most out of reading your Bible.

Posted on Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Tuesday Mind Dump…

by Joshua Reich

So much happening in my world and the world of Revolution Church.
My summer break ended a little earlier than planned, but it’s been amazing to see what God has done in that time.
Some of it sad (think not how I’d plan it), and some of it exciting.
Which, if your life is like mine, how God works tends to be like that.
The sad was this past Sunday was our worship pastor Jerad’s last day. They moved back to Florida to be closer to their families.
What’s exciting about that is the possibilities about what is next and the roles people at our church are stepping into.
I had a mentor tell me in college, “If God moves you to another place, God is already preparing someone to take your place.”
It doesn’t always make transitions easier, but it is a comforting reminder that God works all things together for His glory and our good.
We kicked off What is God Like? on Sunday and I am so excited about this series.
I’m also excited that we are back in 2 services. Here’s why we went to 2 services.
If you missed week 1, you can watch or listen here.
Part of my break was going to the Acts 29 pastors retreat.
Always a good time with our network.
I was challenged and encouraged in a way I haven’t been at previous retreats.
Still chewing on some of it.
This line in particular: You should pray so much in your church services that nominal Christians hate it, while mature Christians love it and unchurched people are curious.
Over the weekend I started reading 2 books: The Black Widow by Daniel Silva (one of my favorite novel series) and The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues by Patrick Lencioni.
Lencioni’s book is incredible and one every pastor should read.
Can’t wait to walk through some of the ideas with the leaders of Revolution.
I’m starting to zero in on my 2017 preaching calendar.
Really excited about some of the topics we might cover after spending almost all of 2016 in Romans.
It’ll be a good change of pace for me as a preacher and for our church.
Romans has been good and challenging.
My kids have been having me create their own personal playlists on Spotify, which has been fun because of my love for music.
Sadly, they will never know the joy and the pain of making a mix tape. Especially recording a song off the radio.
Oh the memories!
I have my in-laws coming to visit this week, which will be a good time.
I guess they wanted to suffer with us in the heat, but I keep telling them it’s dry.
So, back to it…

Posted on Monday, July 18, 2016

When You’re Stuck in Sermon Prep

by Joshua Reich

At some point in writing a sermon you will get stuck. This also happens when it comes to writing a book. Every pastor and author knows this feeling. We dread it. We pray against it. We do whatever we can to avoid it, and yet on a regular basis, it comes.

We sit in front of a computer watching a blank screen and a cursor that doesn’t move. We look at our Bible and commentaries, read blogs and listen to podcasts in hopes of any inspiration.

Ever feel stuck during sermon prep?

And…

Nothing.

So what do you do when you’re stuck?

6 things to do when you’re stuck in sermon prep.

1. Pray. While you would think every pastor is doing this all throughout their sermon prep, I can say from personal experience we don’t pray as much as we should. There are times when you work from your own ability and ingenuity. So stop and pray. Ask God, plead with God for what He wants to say through the passage. What is He saying to you personally? Not just to your church. A sermon is for the pastor first, then the church.

A sermon is for the pastor first, then the church.

2. Confess sin. You may have some sin in your heart that is preventing God from speaking to you clearly. Confess that. Think through your heart, your motivations, your desires, your innermost thoughts. Bring those before your Savior. He already knows. Often when I can’t see things clearly in the Bible, whether for sermon prep or my daily devotions, it is because of unconfessed sin.

After working through the heart issues, you can try something else, but don’t skip to #3.

3. Read the passage in different versions. Most pastors preach from a certain version. I preach from the ESV and love it. Reading the passage through in the NIV or The Message always brings out something I didn’t see before or triggers an idea that I couldn’t think of. Simply changing it up brings a new perspective.

4. Do something active. While doing sermon prep, I get up and walk around every 52 minutes. That simple break gets my blood moving, helps me feel better, and the fresh air brings new energy and ideas. I also have some of my best blog and sermon ideas while doing Crossfit. When I run I’ll have great sermon ideas as well. Doing something active helps reinvigorate an idea. This is also a great time to go back to #1 and pray.

5. Talk to someone else about it. Another thing that is helpful is to talk through the passage with someone else. Katie will often read what I am preaching through and give me her ideas on it. I’m also thinking through how to better include younger communicators and other pastors in what I’m preaching and working through the passage as a team. I have a friend that meets every Wednesday with four other men in his church to talk through the passage he’s preaching on. This brings all kinds of perspectives and ideas you didn’t have before.

6. Just preach what you have. Finally, you might be done with your sermon prep. Yes, I know, a sermon is never done. You could spend 80 hours on a sermon. You could also have all that you need, and reading one more commentary, looking for one more thing might not be what you need. You might just need to preach what you have and say, “God, I did the best that I could; You do the rest.”

6 things that will help with this week’s sermon.

Posted on Thursday, June 16, 2016

5 Books Every Pastor & Church Staff Should Read

by Joshua Reich

The old adage “leaders are readers” is true. The same goes for a leadership team or staff team at a church. Yet with so many books on the market, it is hard to know which ones to read as a team and which ones will be helpful. When I’m asked about books we have read at Revolution or ones I think are particularly helpful for pastors and church planters, I find myself going back to the same ones.

The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business by Patrick Lencioni

The Advantage is all of Lencioni’s books wrapped up into one. I think it is one of the most thorough and helpful books for a leader to read. The discussions around clarity and organizational health are something most churches struggle with, and if they got it right it would not only help take their churches to new levels, but it would also help them reach more people.

5 books every pastor should read.

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t by Jim Collins

If you run in leadership circles, you have probably read Good to Great, but the wisdom in it seems incredibly timeless. I have read through this book multiple times, and the images that he uses to get his point across are incredibly helpful.

5 books every church leadership team should read.

Chess Not Checkers: Elevate Your Leadership Game by Mark Miller

This book was a game changer for me. This is a book that explains what happens in a church at each growth barrier without the church or its leaders knowing. If you are facing a growth barrier or can’t figure out why something isn’t working, start with this book.

Lasting Impact: 7 Powerful Conversations That Will Help Your Church Grow by Carey Nieuwhof

Carey’s book helps you as a leader and a team have conversations you need to have about why your church isn’t growing, why people don’t want to serve, why the next generation isn’t that interested in the gospel and what to do about it.

Teams That Thrive: Five Disciplines of Collaborative Church Leadership by Warren Bird & Ryan Hartwig

This is the best book on teams in a church. The authors lay out what a healthy team looks like, what they do, how they operate and how to move your team to becoming a team that thrives.

Posted on Wednesday, June 15, 2016

How we Distort the Gospel & God’s Love for Us

by Joshua Reich

I shared this on Sunday in my sermon on Romans 5:3 – 11 from The Whole Christ: Legalism, Antinomianism, and Gospel Assurance—Why the Marrow Controversy Still Matters by Sinclair Ferguson:

Why did Jesus die?

This comes to expression when the gospel is preached in these terms: God loves you because Christ died for you!

How do those words distort the gospel? They imply that the death of Christ is the reason for the love of God for me.

By contrast the Scriptures affirm that the love of God for us is the reason for the death of Christ. That is the emphasis of John 3:16. God (i.e. the Father, since here “God” is the antecedent of “his…Son”) so loved the world that he gave his Son for us. The Son does not need to do anything to persuade the Father to love us; he already does!

The subtle danger here should be obvious: if we speak of the cross of Christ as the cause of the love of the Father, we imply that behind the cross and apart from it he may not actually love us at all. He needs to be “paid” a ransom price in order to love us. But if it has required the death of Christ to persuade him to love us (“Father, if I die, will you begin to love them?”), how can we ever be sure the Father himself loves us – “deep down” with an everlasting love? True, the Father does not love us because we are sinners; but he does love us even though we are sinners. He loved us before Christ died for us. It is because he loves us that Christ died for us!

How do I know God loves me?