Category: Leadership

Brainstorming Meetings Don’t Work

Something that I’ve had to come to grips with in the past few years is that at least in my experience, brainstorming meetings don’t work. At least not in the way that I thought they should.

I’ve been a part of quite a few trainings on leading brainstorming meetings, from people who were Disney Imagineers to others who have led large creative teams. I’ve learned the things to do, like the “yes, and…” technique, but I’ve never felt satisfied at the end of them. I think, mostly, because I expected some big, brilliant idea to come out of them. That we would watch something we never thought of before emerge right before our eyes because we followed the brainstorming rules. And that’s never happened…at least for me.

Instead, I’ve learned to adjust my expectations. The brainstorming meeting becomes a catalyst for ideas to begin to percolate. And it becomes the place to bring those ideas back together and refine them. In my experience, most ideas are thought of by someone alone – maybe something in the brainstorming sparked it, and maybe the brainstorming helped to make it better, but that idea rarely has it’s genesis in the group of people who are using the “yes, and…” technique.

I was reminded of this as we’ve worked on our Christmas Services over the past month  (I know…it’s not even Halloween yet…but it takes a while to put these things together). We didn’t have any brilliant ideas that emerged the first time we got together, but some ideas got out there and we got started. The next time there seemed to be a bit more direction and thought, and now we’re at the refining stage. I’m surprised every year at the great ideas that are generated and get executed – especially since most of us leave the first meeting saying, “we’ve got nothing this year”

It’s easy to leave after the first meeting and feel like we’ve got nothing. But maybe that’s the problem with the brainstorming meeting – our expectations are wrong. Have those meetings, not because something magical happens in them, but because of what can happen after them. Allow for the ideas to percolate outside of there, and don’t be afraid of shutting them down because you don’t have anything…that might be the best thing for you there.

Church Planting Kick Off Event

At Parkcrest United, we announced our involvement in partnership with churches in the Long Beach area to plant 50 new churches over the next 5 years in order to see our city transformed. On Tuesday, we’re holding an official kick-off event for this effort to invite even more churches, potential church planters, business and city leaders to be a part of this.

We have just a few spots left for this lunch event with Rick Warren and Miles McPherson. The details and the link to register are below. If you want to come and hear more about what we’re doing, I’d love to see you there.

V360invite


WHEN:Tuesday, October 25th, from 11:00 AM – 1:30 PM

COST:$25 – Includes lunch

WHERE:The Reef, 880 Harbor Scenic Drive, Long Beach

REGISTER:www.vision360lb.eventbrite.com

QUESTIONS:eric.marsh@vision360.org

GUEST SPEAKERS:Rick Warren, Pastor, Author

Miles McPherson, Pastor, Author

MORE ON VISON360

We are local pastors and business leaders who love Long Beach and the surrounding area. Like others who live and work in Long Beach, we want our city to flourish. We believe that a key part of a flourishing city is healthy churches. Our collaboration will help strengthen local congregations and start new churches that will bless the neighborhoods and people of Long Beach.
Click here to learn more about Vision360.

 

  • Mike Goldsworthy, Parkcrest Christian Church 
  • Larry Walkemeyer, Light and Life Christian Fellowship
  • Wayne Chaney, Antioch Church
  • John Teter, Fountain of Life Covenant Church
  • Darren Rouanzoin, The Garden
  • Josh Chavez, Parkcrest Christian Church, 7th Street
  • Eric Marsh, Grace Long Beach Church, Vision360 Long Beach City Catalyst
  • Blake Christian, Vision360 Business Catalyst, Holthouse Carlin & Van Trigt LLP
  • Chris Lagerlof, Regional Catalyst, Vision360

 

Vision 360 of Long Beach from Ryan Prouty on Vimeo.

Some of My Recent Reads

I’m pretty convinced that all good leaders are also self-motivated learners. In my experience, one of the most common ways leaders learn is through reading. I don’t know why that’s the case, but whenever I sit down with a leader, I can always ask them what they’re reading, and they’ve got several books to tell me about. I always find out about the best books from those kinds of conversations.

So, with that in mind, here’s a few of my more recent reads that are worth passing on:

The King Jesus Gospel by Scot McKnight

I gave a brief review of the book here. I think this may be one of the more important books I’ve read recently. It will challenge your theology of salvation and the gospel, in really good, healthy and biblical ways. Read this if you want to be challenged in how you understand the gospel and want to develop a more robust theology in your own life.

On the Verge by Alan Hirsch and Dave Ferguson

Alan and Dave work through what it looks like for a church to actually empower the people of the church to live life on mission. Our Directional Team recently worked through this book and it provided us with a lot of rich discussion, as well as tangible examples to wrestle with on how to not just talk about these things but to do it in our context. Read this if you find yourself having a lot of conversations about creating missional movement, but the reality is that you’re not seeing much missional movement.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

The true story of Louie Zamperini. I loved this book, and couldn’t put it down. After I read it, we ended up bringing in Louie to speak at Parkcrest on September 11. His story will amaze you (someone described him to me as a real life Forrest Gump – you can’t believe all that he actually did and all that actually happened to him), and Laura Hillenbrand is fantastic at bringing it to life. Read this if you’re looking for an easy to read, inspiring, true story and can’t wait for the movie.

The Pastor by Eugene Peterson

Peterson challenges just about every way that we have understood and defined what it means to be a pastor in the past 30 years or so. This is his personal memoir, but you can’t help but to be challenged by how he pastored and want to develop healthy rhythms and to slow down a bit. These are rich words from a wise sage on what it means to be a pastor. Read this if you’re a young pastor, wanting to glean wisdom from those who have gone before us.

Untitled by Blaine Hogan

I have learned that in leading, as well as the message prep process that I have a lot to learn from people who have learned to lean into the creative process well. Blaine is one of those guys. This is a quick, easy to read book on the hard work of creating something. Its at times inspiring and at times pretty practical. Read this if you need help figuring out how to not just have an idea, but to execute it, or if you need to learn how to not just wait for creativity to strike but to make it a more regular part of what you do.

Quitter by Jon Acuff

This is a book specifically about turning your day job into your dream job. And while I’m not trying to change my day job, and actually really love what I get to be a part of, I found it to be a great read. I’ve found myself recommending it, especially to people in their 20’s and 30’s who are discontent with what they’re currently doing, but trying to figure out how to pursue what they feel like they should be doing. Like “Untitled”, there’s parts of the book that are funny and inspiring, but a lot of great practical nuggets as well. Read this if you’re not fulfilled in what you’re doing and feel like you’re supposed to be doing something else.

 

I’d love to hear from you, what  you’ve read recently that’s worth passing along…

Mission and Maturity

I was spending time with someone recently about some of what we’re doing to help Parkcrest recognize that they are a people who live all of their life on mission. As we were talking, this guy asked me, “do you feel like people need to reach a certain point of maturity before they realize this and live on mission?”

My first reaction and response was to say, “no”. We processed my immediate response some then, but now after having time to process it more since then, I’m still convinced that was the right answer.

Maturity doesn’t precede living on mission. Maturity is developed while living on mission.

Jesus doesn’t send out his disciples when they’re ready, they learn to be ready by being sent out. The 72 know very little about preaching the Kingdom and casting out demons when they’re sent out to do that. Peter takes on launching the movement of the church, not long after he has denied Christ – he matures while he’s leading out on mission. Paul preached for 3 weeks in Thessalonica before leaving and a church getting established there.

It seems that those who spend their time focused on trying to become mature, never end up living out the mission of Jesus, and really by definition never then become mature. But those who pursue the mission of Jesus have to develop maturity in order to carry it out.

Maybe one of the most important things that we can do as leaders is to call people towards mission and then help those who are leaning in towards it to develop maturity along the way.

I think it’s interesting that when David is King of Israel and needs a commander for his army, he doesn’t ask who has the most experience, or who is the best fighter. He simply says this, “Whoever leads the attack on the Jebusites will become commander-in-chief.” The kind of maturity that was needed to lead the army was displayed by the person who would go up in front first – the one who would be on the front lines of the battle.

I’m all for helping people develop in maturity in their relationship with Christ. In fact, in a few weeks, we’re going to be launching an exciting spiritual formation process for Parkcrest. But those processes help people who are living on mission to mature. Without living on mission, without being someone who steps up and gets on the front lines, the process of maturity doesn’t mean much.

So first, live your life focused on living out the mission of Jesus, and then allow your growth and maturity process to follow that.