Team,
I'm really excited about our upcoming Training Day after church on August 23rd. A little over a year ago when I joined the staff at Crossroads, I knew we would need to develop an annual "get together" as part of our strategy to build community and equipping into the fabric of our team, but with staff transitions I knew it wasn't going to happen right away. Thankfully, the right time is now!
Some of you might remember our first gathering- not a training day, but we did get together last November and I shared some of my heart with the team. I talked for 40 minutes! Ha! I have a video if you missed it ;).
I promise- no 40 minute speeches this time around. We are working hard as a staff to make sure our gathering is fun, informative, and useful for preparing us for our next Season of ministry.
But there was a reason I spoke for so long...
Let me ask you a question- given that our facility would support a congregation 3 times the size of our current Sunday attendance, do you think it's OK to continue to do ministry the same way we've been doing it with a congregation of our current size? My answer to that question is NO...and here's why: there are 1000s of people within 20 miles of our church who do not know Jesus and have no church community to call home. Friends, our job is not done. We cannot be content with business as usual when there are so many people who need to understand the love of Christ.
That's why it's important to improve our game. What can we do better? What changes can we make that will help Sundays be the best, most interesting and impactful moment of the week for those who come?
Sometimes we can have a chip on our shoulder when it comes to learning new things, or improving our performance. We think we're doing just fine. We have a certain groove and don't want it disrupted. We are suspicious or adverse to change. We simply don't want somebody else telling us what to do.
I want to humbly ask us all to set those kinds of attitudes aside, and come to our training day with open hearts and minds, ready to learn and grow.
I will not, and cannot believe that God's plan for Crossroads is to minister to 1/3 of the people we are capable of ministering to. So let's role up our sleeves, improve our game, and trust God for a new adventure. JIM
PS- It's not all about numbers, but numbers can be useful as a gauge of our effectiveness. Be encouraged- It's hard to see this in the summer, but our Sunday morning attendance is consistently up by around 10 percent over last year...so we are already on the move at Crossroads!
@CreativeArts Crossroads Community Church Ottawa Lake, MI www.crossroadson23.com
Monday, August 17, 2015
Monday, May 4, 2015
Summer Prep
As we head into the summer months, I can see that our team is strong. We continue to provide excellent services to the Crossroads community each week. From many of you I can sense an excitement and fulfillment when you are serving. The scheduling is pushed out 3-4 weeks in advance, giving us time to replace volunteers that cannot serve, and giving you time to prepare. We continue to search for a worship and programming director- there is no doubt that this key position is vital if we wish to move forward in many areas. Please pray for me and the interview team as we consider potential candidates.
There are some honest comments and some challenges you might not have considered below. I hope no one is offended. But it's my role to look at the team, look at the future, and make sure we are ready. In many areas we are. In some we need to step up.
I dream of a day when people have to get to Crossroads early to find a seat, and every week people are coming to Christ. We only have one lifetime in which to make a difference, to touch other lives and influence them for good. I take that opportunity very seriously when it comes to what we do as a team.
Believe me, I know we're all more busy than ever. Family is so important. Work and other responsibilities take up our time. The last thing I want to do for any of us is put us under a guilt trip or make unreasonable demands. On the other hand, I know you believe in the mission and vision of Crossroads and our team, otherwise you wouldn't give up some of your precious time to serve. So my goal is to make the best of that time! I promise to work hard for you, to give you the tools you need to maximize your volunteer opportunities. That said, here is what I think we need to work on as a team if we want to do our job well going forward:
Preparedness: For music, I'd ask that everyone looks at the songs in advance and learns their parts ahead of the Thursday rehearsal. I'm being honest here- some are and some aren't so much, or enough. We will honor God and the team if we take the time in advance to prepare. Scheduling and charting in advance gives you a wonderful advantage in this area. If you know you have busy weeks ahead, learn your parts early so you don't get caught later. For tech this means coming on time (7:45AM) on Sunday, checking through the service and your equipment, and remaining focused and on point during the dress rehearsal and services. Those of us that serve on the consoles (media, video switcher, lighting) should be checking out the service order in advance of Sunday to make sure we know what's going on and familiarize ourselves with the order of elements and our parts.
Tech volunteers: Tech is in need of more volunteers. I'm looking for people and following up every lead, but I'm just one person. This is our team, it's up to all of us to make it better! Do you have a friend or family member that might enjoy tech? Let me know, I'll do the legwork!
Summer schedule: I've already heard from a few of you that summer is spotty in terms of scheduling because of vacations, traveling, etc. Guess what- it is for me too! I've got summer plans, vacation, etc...But...our responsibility as a team to provide excellent and inspiring services continues through the summer. It's possible you haven't thought of your scheduling this way before, but I want to challenge you to intentionally carve out weekends to serve in the summer. Put it on your priority list. It doesn't have to be at the top! But it should be on the list. Why? Our mission to restore God's design in all people is too vital for the people of the Toledo Metro Area to put aside for 3 months. Shelly and I will flex with your availability..we'll mix and match and make it work!
Did you know that according to the Barna Research Group, summer is one of the key times people decide to visit a church? They will typically come once or twice in the summer to check it out. Then they start attending regularly in the fall. So I'm committed to making sure we have great services June-August.
Thanks so much for being on the team. Thanks for your generosity and willingness to serve. I'm honored to work with you and humbled by what God wants to do through us on Sundays. JIM
Monday, March 16, 2015
Volunteer Empowerment
I want to write today about a team dynamic that is very important for volunteer organizations like ours.
When I was just starting out in church ministry, I used to plead with people to serve on the team, or serve on a particular Sunday. I would appeal to our relationship, or to duty. I would often use this ploy to get people to serve. But fairly soon I realized that while leaning on friendship or obligation does work, it's not healthy for the team.
The truth is that volunteers and team leaders have different motivations and responsibilities. To be a healthy team, each person needs to be serving and leading from particular motives.
As a leader, I realized it's not my job to "fill spots." My job is to empower people to serve. I release people to give back to God the gifts and talent He gave them, and to use them for His purposes.
Empowering people to serve has two main aspects.
First, it's my responsibility to make sure our serving opportunities are accessible, reasonable, fun, and organized. Volunteering is hard enough with busy schedules, work, family, and other responsibilities. When someone volunteers to serve on the Creative Team, I want them to have a great and successful experience. I want their information and resources to be easily accessible in a reasonable time frame. I want rehearsals and performances to be well organized and efficient so nobody is wasting time.
Second, my job is to inspire. I need to remind the team often that their sacrifice of time and talent is making a difference in the lives of people. I need to remind them that the mission of Crossroads is vital and important, that it makes a dent in the world and it's worth being a part of it. Sometimes it's important to challenge team members to step up, to serve at their highest capacity, or to accept a new or deeper role.
But what about those who volunteer? Most of you reading this are volunteers...what is your motivation and responsibility?
I believe volunteers should serve out of a desire to give back to God the gifts and talents He gave them. Volunteers get pumped about the time they can spend being an active player in the mission and vision of the church. Toward that end, I feel volunteers have the following responsibilities:
1. Make time to serve. If serving is enjoyable, fun, challenging, and makes a difference in the world, it's worth carving out some time for it.
2. Be on time and prepared. These qualities are directly from the Creative Team core values and you can read more about them on the blog.
3. Create reasonable boundaries. Don't overserve...don't underserve. Serve regularly and consistently but not so much that you burn out. There are seasons- sometimes more serving is called for, sometimes less.
4. Protect the team. Build others up and encourage them to be their best. Don't deride or tear down other team members. Help the team by accepting or declining serving opportunities quickly, so all the roles are successfully filled in advance.
So, let me empower you right now- every time you serve at Crossroads, it's much more than just pushing a button, turning on a light, singing a note, or playing a chord. It's setting the stage for hundreds of people to encounter God in a fresh way each Sunday. My challenge to you is to serve out of the motivations and responsibilities listed above.
Together we'll keep the team strong, have a bunch of fun, and advance the mission of God through Crossroads! JIM
When I was just starting out in church ministry, I used to plead with people to serve on the team, or serve on a particular Sunday. I would appeal to our relationship, or to duty. I would often use this ploy to get people to serve. But fairly soon I realized that while leaning on friendship or obligation does work, it's not healthy for the team.
The truth is that volunteers and team leaders have different motivations and responsibilities. To be a healthy team, each person needs to be serving and leading from particular motives.
As a leader, I realized it's not my job to "fill spots." My job is to empower people to serve. I release people to give back to God the gifts and talent He gave them, and to use them for His purposes.
Empowering people to serve has two main aspects.
First, it's my responsibility to make sure our serving opportunities are accessible, reasonable, fun, and organized. Volunteering is hard enough with busy schedules, work, family, and other responsibilities. When someone volunteers to serve on the Creative Team, I want them to have a great and successful experience. I want their information and resources to be easily accessible in a reasonable time frame. I want rehearsals and performances to be well organized and efficient so nobody is wasting time.
Second, my job is to inspire. I need to remind the team often that their sacrifice of time and talent is making a difference in the lives of people. I need to remind them that the mission of Crossroads is vital and important, that it makes a dent in the world and it's worth being a part of it. Sometimes it's important to challenge team members to step up, to serve at their highest capacity, or to accept a new or deeper role.
But what about those who volunteer? Most of you reading this are volunteers...what is your motivation and responsibility?
I believe volunteers should serve out of a desire to give back to God the gifts and talents He gave them. Volunteers get pumped about the time they can spend being an active player in the mission and vision of the church. Toward that end, I feel volunteers have the following responsibilities:
1. Make time to serve. If serving is enjoyable, fun, challenging, and makes a difference in the world, it's worth carving out some time for it.
2. Be on time and prepared. These qualities are directly from the Creative Team core values and you can read more about them on the blog.
3. Create reasonable boundaries. Don't overserve...don't underserve. Serve regularly and consistently but not so much that you burn out. There are seasons- sometimes more serving is called for, sometimes less.
4. Protect the team. Build others up and encourage them to be their best. Don't deride or tear down other team members. Help the team by accepting or declining serving opportunities quickly, so all the roles are successfully filled in advance.
So, let me empower you right now- every time you serve at Crossroads, it's much more than just pushing a button, turning on a light, singing a note, or playing a chord. It's setting the stage for hundreds of people to encounter God in a fresh way each Sunday. My challenge to you is to serve out of the motivations and responsibilities listed above.
Together we'll keep the team strong, have a bunch of fun, and advance the mission of God through Crossroads! JIM
Monday, February 16, 2015
Excellence
Team,
So far I've written to you about Love, Timeliness, Preparedness, and Fun. Today I'd like to share a little bit about the final Creative Team core value: Excellence.
You know, some churches get hung up too much on excellence. They spend way too much time, money and energy with little to show for it in return. Sometimes the final product is polished and professional, but lacks authenticity and heart. Frankly, excellence can be a spiritual idol that takes God's place in our hearts and minds.
That doesn't mean, however, that anything goes. Some ministries fly by the seat of their pants and rely on the Holy Spirit to "bless this mess." People think to themselves, "it's just church...if I have time I'll prepare, if not I'll just wing it. If I miss a few notes, or cues, who really cares?"
Neither of these approaches works in the long term if we want to be a prevailing church. The key is to understand and buy in to the vision and mission of Crossroads, and allow that passion to fuel the best quality possible given our team's ability, time, money, and size. We won't obsess about what we can't yet change or do. We'll move forward on what we can improve and go from there. That's why we are asking tech to come in 15 minutes earlier than before. That's why we are putting out the schedule earlier, along with the MP3s and charts. That's why we are converting the lighting to a computer driven console, and developing a video recording studio.
The larger a church grows, the greater it's capacity for excellence. But a well run Creative Arts Team can be on the leading edge of that capacity, creating a welcoming and attractive environment, setting the tone for the whole church.
I know Crossroads has been through a bit of hardship and stagnation in the last few years. So what. I sense a growing excitement about what God can do through our church. The past is the past, but the future is what we make it, with God's help. I am excited about our church and the Creative Arts Team- you are a great group of people! I want to fire you up about our vision: to restore God's design in all people. Life is short and we only get one shot to make a dent in this world, to make a difference. So let's do it together. JIM
So far I've written to you about Love, Timeliness, Preparedness, and Fun. Today I'd like to share a little bit about the final Creative Team core value: Excellence.
You know, some churches get hung up too much on excellence. They spend way too much time, money and energy with little to show for it in return. Sometimes the final product is polished and professional, but lacks authenticity and heart. Frankly, excellence can be a spiritual idol that takes God's place in our hearts and minds.
That doesn't mean, however, that anything goes. Some ministries fly by the seat of their pants and rely on the Holy Spirit to "bless this mess." People think to themselves, "it's just church...if I have time I'll prepare, if not I'll just wing it. If I miss a few notes, or cues, who really cares?"
Neither of these approaches works in the long term if we want to be a prevailing church. The key is to understand and buy in to the vision and mission of Crossroads, and allow that passion to fuel the best quality possible given our team's ability, time, money, and size. We won't obsess about what we can't yet change or do. We'll move forward on what we can improve and go from there. That's why we are asking tech to come in 15 minutes earlier than before. That's why we are putting out the schedule earlier, along with the MP3s and charts. That's why we are converting the lighting to a computer driven console, and developing a video recording studio.
The larger a church grows, the greater it's capacity for excellence. But a well run Creative Arts Team can be on the leading edge of that capacity, creating a welcoming and attractive environment, setting the tone for the whole church.
I know Crossroads has been through a bit of hardship and stagnation in the last few years. So what. I sense a growing excitement about what God can do through our church. The past is the past, but the future is what we make it, with God's help. I am excited about our church and the Creative Arts Team- you are a great group of people! I want to fire you up about our vision: to restore God's design in all people. Life is short and we only get one shot to make a dent in this world, to make a difference. So let's do it together. JIM
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Sense of Fun
I feel like this is gonna be the easiest core value blog entry to write. We should have a sense of fun in everything we do, and everything works better when everyone is having fun together.
I'm always excited to get together with a creative arts team, whether it's a Thursday rehearsal, hanging in the video production room on Sunday, or helping put a set together. It's fun for me- I like to be with other people on the team, working for a common goal, and doing really neat activities.
I hope everybody reading this feels the same way!
Here's the thing- the key to having a great time in Creative Arts at Crossroads is to internalize the first three core values. If we have love for one another, if we are on time and doing things at the right time, and if we are always prepared when we serve, fun will follow.
I've seen what happens when one or more of those values is missing. People are snarky. Rehearsals bog down because someone didn't prepare and we have to repeat the songs over and over, or stop all the time to correct errors. Time gets short because people showed up late, and the resulting rush to get it all done kills the joy. Life is short...who wants to waste their valuable free time that way? Nobody!
So let's encourage one another toward fun- Yeehaa!
JIM
I'm always excited to get together with a creative arts team, whether it's a Thursday rehearsal, hanging in the video production room on Sunday, or helping put a set together. It's fun for me- I like to be with other people on the team, working for a common goal, and doing really neat activities.
I hope everybody reading this feels the same way!
Here's the thing- the key to having a great time in Creative Arts at Crossroads is to internalize the first three core values. If we have love for one another, if we are on time and doing things at the right time, and if we are always prepared when we serve, fun will follow.
I've seen what happens when one or more of those values is missing. People are snarky. Rehearsals bog down because someone didn't prepare and we have to repeat the songs over and over, or stop all the time to correct errors. Time gets short because people showed up late, and the resulting rush to get it all done kills the joy. Life is short...who wants to waste their valuable free time that way? Nobody!
So let's encourage one another toward fun- Yeehaa!
JIM
Monday, January 5, 2015
Preparedness
Happy New Year! I'm so pumped to be serving with you at Crossroads in 2015...I think it's going to be a great year for our church, and a year where we see numerical and spiritual growth in our church and on our team.
We've been talking about the core values of our team. We started with Love- without love for God and each other, we won't be able to move forward together and we won't be able to speak truth to each other. Then we talked about the value of timeliness, and how being on time honors God and each other- it's actually an extension of love when you really think about it. We also mentioned how communication is an important part of timeliness: accepting/declining serving in a timely manner, connecting with the team leader in advance if you will be late to a rehearsal or need to cancel, etc. Having integrity with each other in these simple but important areas will build trust and quality into our team!
Now let's think about preparedness. Preparedness is a mindset that results from taking our volunteer opportunities seriously and believing that what we do is important for us, for our church and for our guests. When we truly believe something or someone is important, we will always be prepared.
Being prepared for a musician or singer means completely knowing your music and parts ahead of rehearsal. When I come to a rehearsal without full preparation, I can tell right away. I miss entrances. I don't know how long the transitions are between sections of the music. I miss riffs and lyrics because I'm not sure of them. I know that means the team suffers because everyone will have to work around my problem, the whole rehearsal takes longer, and the quality of the music suffers.
So over the years I've made a commitment to myself that when I accept a position on the team, I know I'm committing not only to the actual serving, but to taking the time in advance to be prepared. Even though I'm a professional musician....someone who could "fake" my way through a rehearsal and still be ok...I know that wouldn't be fair to the rest of the team.
Being prepared as a tech person means knowing my equipment, checking it in advance to make sure it's working, looking over my content to make sure it's accurate, and looking over the service order to make sure I know what I'm doing and when I'm doing it.
This is why I'm asking tech volunteers to start coming in at 7:45 on Sundays- so we can be prepared. Unlike the band, we don't really need to spend advance time preparing at home. But we do need to spend some time on Sundays, before the rehearsal, looking/checking/reviewing to make sure we are totally prepared for the dress rehearsal. That 30 minutes of preparation will result in improved quality throughout the day!
One more quick thought- sometimes I'm at a Broadway show or watching a live production on screen and I think, "wow, that is so polished and excellent. How do they get to that level?" Well, millions of dollars probably helps! But since I have a few friends in professional level production, I happen to know that this value of preparedness, taken to it's maximum level, is one of the ways they achieve such high levels of quality. The neat thing about that is that anyone can be prepared. It's not something only the pros can do. Anyone can be consistently prepared. So we have within our reach one of the secrets of success, whether we consider ourselves pros or not.
So thanks for being prepared. Thanks for taking our work seriously. It's making a difference to 100s of people each week! And it will strength our team as we honor each other by consistently being prepared.
We've been talking about the core values of our team. We started with Love- without love for God and each other, we won't be able to move forward together and we won't be able to speak truth to each other. Then we talked about the value of timeliness, and how being on time honors God and each other- it's actually an extension of love when you really think about it. We also mentioned how communication is an important part of timeliness: accepting/declining serving in a timely manner, connecting with the team leader in advance if you will be late to a rehearsal or need to cancel, etc. Having integrity with each other in these simple but important areas will build trust and quality into our team!
Now let's think about preparedness. Preparedness is a mindset that results from taking our volunteer opportunities seriously and believing that what we do is important for us, for our church and for our guests. When we truly believe something or someone is important, we will always be prepared.
Being prepared for a musician or singer means completely knowing your music and parts ahead of rehearsal. When I come to a rehearsal without full preparation, I can tell right away. I miss entrances. I don't know how long the transitions are between sections of the music. I miss riffs and lyrics because I'm not sure of them. I know that means the team suffers because everyone will have to work around my problem, the whole rehearsal takes longer, and the quality of the music suffers.
So over the years I've made a commitment to myself that when I accept a position on the team, I know I'm committing not only to the actual serving, but to taking the time in advance to be prepared. Even though I'm a professional musician....someone who could "fake" my way through a rehearsal and still be ok...I know that wouldn't be fair to the rest of the team.
Being prepared as a tech person means knowing my equipment, checking it in advance to make sure it's working, looking over my content to make sure it's accurate, and looking over the service order to make sure I know what I'm doing and when I'm doing it.
This is why I'm asking tech volunteers to start coming in at 7:45 on Sundays- so we can be prepared. Unlike the band, we don't really need to spend advance time preparing at home. But we do need to spend some time on Sundays, before the rehearsal, looking/checking/reviewing to make sure we are totally prepared for the dress rehearsal. That 30 minutes of preparation will result in improved quality throughout the day!
One more quick thought- sometimes I'm at a Broadway show or watching a live production on screen and I think, "wow, that is so polished and excellent. How do they get to that level?" Well, millions of dollars probably helps! But since I have a few friends in professional level production, I happen to know that this value of preparedness, taken to it's maximum level, is one of the ways they achieve such high levels of quality. The neat thing about that is that anyone can be prepared. It's not something only the pros can do. Anyone can be consistently prepared. So we have within our reach one of the secrets of success, whether we consider ourselves pros or not.
So thanks for being prepared. Thanks for taking our work seriously. It's making a difference to 100s of people each week! And it will strength our team as we honor each other by consistently being prepared.
Monday, December 1, 2014
Timeliness
When I visited the Ivory Coast in West Africa during my college years, I had what I guess is a fairly typical lesson in cultural norms regarding time. I stayed with a missionary family and they took me all around the city of Abidjan. First we went to the bank to exchange some of my travelers checks. The official time for the bank to open was 9AM, but we didn't arrive until 10. There was a long line, and the bank wasn't yet open. I recall it opened about 10:30, but we didn't get up to the front of the line until 11:30. We walked out with my Ivorian Francs around noon.
It went pretty much like that the whole trip. Scheduled times and actual start times were different...usually off by 1-2 hours. At first, it made me really nervous. I kept feeling like I was late to everything. But I was in the country for 6 weeks...by the third week I had absorbed the Ivorian culture norm of lateness. Frankly, it was a big relief to just relax and not worry about being right on time to everything, especially since nobody around me cared about it.
But when I returned to the US, I was able to compare and contrast the two views of timeliness. I saw that timeliness represents more than being somewhere on time. And so ever since that trip, I've included timeliness as one of my personal core values, and I'd like to make it a Crossroads Creative Team value as well.
In our culture, being on time is important. Kids have to get to school on time. Adults have to get to work on time. We make dentist appointments and dinner reservations. Being late for a movie means missing the beginning of it (or at least the trailers!).
So why should we be a team that values being on time? First, when we show up to a rehearsal or performance on time, we are making a value statement. We are demonstrating with our actions that the rehearsal or the performance is of value to us. Since we are engaged in the process of "restoring God's design in all people" (Crossroad's vision statement) I think we can agree that what we are doing is important. Secondly, being on time honors everyone else on the team. It's like saying to everyone, "I know your time is just a valuable as mine, so I won't waste it." Actually, I think starting and ending on time builds trust and faithfulness, and strengthens a team.
I can hear the questions popping into my head as I write this- are you saying we have a problem with time? Are you going to somehow punish latecomers? What about when I have to work late, or my alarm doesn't go off?
Just relax- we need to have enough Ivorian sensibility to give grace to each other. Life happens. Schedules are full.
In these first postings I'm not trying to address problems, I'm trying to establish a team culture. I think we should have a culture of timeliness. Let's honor each other by being on time to rehearsals and performances. It will only increase our excellence and our fun! If we are going to be more than 5 minutes late for whatever reason, let your team leader know with a quick text or phone call. And when we forget...when the boss makes us work late...when the alarm fails...lets not freak out. I know I won't be.
So glad to be on this journey with you all. Your friend in time, JIM
(wish I had one of these, don't you?!)
Questions for discussion:
-specifically how will being on time increase our overall excellence and fun?
-have you ever been to another country and experienced a different cultural norm regarding time?
BTW- if you want to know who to text if you are running late, I added a handy note in planning center online for each service plan. It's below the schedule on the left column in the web version, or tap "notes" under "times" in the mobile app version. Just make sure you check to see which one of us is your team leader that particular week! (thanks Greg Lane for bringing this to my attention!).
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