4 ways to thrive with social media

Most ministries out there are plugged into some form of social media. Most of use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or have some kind of blog but the question you need to ask is are you using it effectively. The answer for most ministry leaders is no. Most churches, kids ministries, and student ministries simply have no strategy for how they use social media. My friend Terrace Crawford just wrote book that I hope you will check out that can really help you develop a social media strategy called #GoingSocial. Terrace helped me figure out how to leverage social media years ago and we have both been leveraging the technology to make a difference for our ministries for years. Finally he put all he has learned in a book to help church leaders navigate the world of social media. Yes it can be confusing but trust me this is a topic you need to process with your ministry team. How are you utilizing social media in your context? Here are 4 quick tips for all of you processing how to get better at leveraging this communication tool for ministry...

1. Learn from others using social media well >> Find some people you respect using social media well and learn from them.
2. Be Consistent >> Using social media well only happens when you use it consistently. Make it a part of your routine.
3. Be Responsive >> Social media is about relationships and that only happens when you are responsive to others. Leave comments, make new friends, communicate with others. Make sure you are having an online conversation.
4. Be Strategic >> Know your target audience for every social media avenue you use and stay focused.

I hope you will take time to check out the book #GoingSocial this week. You can join the conversation on Facebook here and also on Twitter.

Do you really believe in what you are doing?

I have a good friend who NEVER believes the best about his sports teams. Ask him how things are going and he will tell you that his teams are not doing well. It could be the line, the quarterbacks, the defensive backs, or coaching that leads to his doubt. I finally asked him why and he told me that when he did not allow himself to believe in the team it was easier for him to process the outcome. He is probably right because I choose to believe the best about my teams and it sure does hurt when things go bad!

The perspective of my friend might help with our sports teams but rarely will it help with any organization, department, or team you lead. If others are going to follow you they need to know you really do believe in what you are doing. If you don't believe in what you are doing why would anyone else. Belief helps people...

• Move Forward >> when leaderships displays belief in the mission then people are more likely to take a step of faith. Over and over in the Bible God used men and women to call people to action. Those leaders had nothing but belief in their God to lean on and the people responded.
• Never Quit >> when I see a leader believe and lead strong even in hard times I am encouraged to not give up and to keep pushing.
• Trust the Leadership >> when people see you believe then they can trust that you will make the best decision for the organization. Belief drives us to vision and away from selfishness.

If you see people around you not moving forward, quitting, and not trusting leadership maybe it's time to step back and see if you still really believe. When have you seen the power of belief make a difference in your organization or ministry?

the power of a series

In every environment the use of series or themes is a powerful way to communicate big ideas and connect the dots with your teaching. I really feel like the use of the series is a needed asset for every next generation leader when teaching. The other option is to do a regimen of one night talks that struggled to help teens and kids connect where you are going as you teach. It really does not matter if you subscribe to an exegetical or topic approach to teaching, the right series title and graphics help communicate your end goal for the series. Here are 4 reasons why the use of series is important...

1. Grabbing Attention / the use of series help capture the attention of your crowd because you are communicating a big idea with the series theme.
2. Promoting Something New / people love things that are new and the use of series help you always have something new to pump every 3 to 6 weeks. (we try to not go longer than 4 weeks)
3. Planing Better Talks / when we use a series we learn to spread out our content. Using a plan for your talks allows you to break what you teach down into segments and not be tempted to teaching everything at one setting. Less is more.
4. Guiding Creativity / creativity thrives when there is a framework to work from. Boundaries actually help us see true creative potential. When you use a series your whole team has a guide to work with.

Would love to know if you use series in your next generation environments?

3 tips when immersed in a culture of controversy

If you follow the NFL at all you know that all off season the New Orleans Saints have been immersed in a controversy called "bounty gate" that led to the suspension of coaches and players. The result of all that controversy has led to three straight losses by a very talented team. Controversy can wreck any team in any organization.

For several years I served a church that had an extreme culture of controversy. Seriously, there always seemed to be a new controversy and someone was always being blamed for the situation. At every level of the church controversy seemed to always be right around the corner...another situation...a new problem...another big deal...another fight. Many of you leading in churches know exactly what I am talking about. Here are three rips when trying to lead in a culture of controversy.

1. FOCUS // never allow other people to draw you away from your mission and into their controversy. Churches addicted to constant controversy have long abandoned their mission to make disciples and instead turned inward. If you are going to lead this kind of culture you will have to constantly help everyone focus on what matters most.
2. CHANGE THE TARGET // if a culture is going to move away from the addiction of constant controversy then you will have to change the target. You have to define what the real win for the organization is. Trust me you can do this even if you only run your department in a church. Help your ministry move toward a healthy target. Changing the target is the heart of true leadership in any organization.
3. LEAD COURAGEOUSLY // it will take courage to avoid the trap of fueling controversy and not move along with the crowd. You may have to stand alone and a healthy influence in a culture of dysfunction. Trust me, it's worth it and your organization needs you to be a solution instead of ignoring the problem.

4 ways to be a better speaker for teens

Speaking in any environment is challenging. Speaking to a room packed with wild middle school students is a entirely different experience. Every week all of us who lead teens face the same challenge of connecting with a generation that demands effective communication if they are going to pay attention. Seriously, teens tune out poor communicators and it does not matter if you are leading a game, making announcements, or giving the message for the night. Teens demand effective communication so it's on us to get better at this speaking thing. Here are 4 ideas we stress with all our communicators in our student ministry...

1. Set a time limit // seriously, 20-25 minutes is enough in your weekly environment. If you can't communicate your message with effectiveness in 20 minutes to teens they probably will not be able to retain it. Sure you will have weeks when you go over with a closing illustration but seriously set your timer because less is more when speaking to teens.
2. Teach one BIG IDEA // we call this teaching toward a bottom line. Teach every message so teens can walk away with one big idea for the night. Teaching one big idea forces you to focus your talk and limit what you say. Focus leads to better communication.
3. Be real // seriously teens just need you to be you. Nothing turns teens off like someone trying to be something they are not. Just be real, be you, be transparent. They need to hear from you not Andy Stanley or Louis Giglio. Nothing wrong with mentors but God wants to use you to be an effective speaker.
4. Teach truth // I should not have to say this but never shy away from teaching the Bible to teens. They need to hear you teach the Bible in way they can grasp not 4 tips to be happy or have a better attitude in life. Teens need truth...have the courage to teach the Scripture with passion. If you have 20 minutes you better make it full of truth!

Connecting with a generation in a state of constant change

How do you create organizations, environments, and resources for a generation that is in a state of constant change? As a pastor that is what I do. I help lead an organization, create environments, and shape resources that help people discover and grow in Christ. What is tempting for me is to lead and create in a way that impacts the largest mass of people. The goal is to reach people. Seth Godin's book We are all Weird addresses the tension between marketing and creating for the mass verses trying to stand out by being often going against the grain of mass appeal. There is a tention to manage in this idea but Seth offers some great insight into the process of being OK with being a weird. The generation we are striving to reach is changing. Seth proposes that how we connect with them might need to change also because this people now embrace "weird" and many times push it forward. Here are my favorite quotes from the book. I have linked to the Kindle version on Amazon so go check it out!

• From now on, mass market success will be the exception, the black swan. Mass is dead. Here comes weird.
• The epic battle of our generation is between the status quo of mass and the never-ceasing tide of weird.
• We shun the outliers, train students to conform and reward companies that create historically efficient mass market products.
• The key element of being weird is this: you insist on making a choice.
• Standing out takes time, money, and confidence. More of us have all three now.
• Art at the edges is no longer an oddity, it’s the norm.
• When we give people choice, we make them richer.
• When an artist (not just a painter, but anyone creating new ideas and new work) is able to have his work amplified, it changes him and also raises the bar for those that would follow.
• When you don’t feel alone, it’s easier to be weird, which sort of flies in the face of our expectation that the weird individual is also a loner. Social acceptance of weird behavior makes being weird more popular. 
• The reason that people are walking away from mass is not so that they can buy more stuff. Material goods and commerce are not the goal, they are merely a consequence. The goal is connection.
• We’ve been trained since birth to enforce the status quo. Our bias is to the many. To please the many. To sell to the many. To be organized to serve the many.
• If you persist in trying to be all things to all people, you will fail. The only alternative, then, is to be something important to a few people.
• The key lesson: humanity and connection are trumping the desire for corporate scale.

responding to PROBLEMS

Sunday afternoon my oldest daughter and I were hanging out watching a movie when we heard a crash come from the garage. We have our priorities straight so we finished the movie together and then went to see what fell. A huge shelf, holding all kinds of stuff had came unlatched and fell on all our bikes. It was a huge mess that I had to clean up the mess. It took some time to figure out a plan but after cleaning up the disaster I found a way to anchor the shelves in the concrete blocks in our garage. In my frustration I wanted to take the whole thing out and throw it away but instead I made a few adjustments that saved the shelf for a few more years. When we have problems come up with anything we get frustrated and want to get a new car, house, TV, or phone. Problems slow us down and get in our way but rather than constantly try to "start over" we have to get used to making adjustments and moving forward. When leading a ministry the sames things happen. Volunteer problems, parent issues, lack of funding, or out of control small groups seem to pop up at the most inconvenient times. Never allow problems to cloud the goal of your mission and vision. When you face problems this fall confront them, evaluate, make adjustments, and move forward. Never let problems that come up keep you from serving the people God has called you to serve.

5 moves to make when implementing CHANGE

Over the next few weeks student, kids, and college pastors all across the country will be beginning new semesters, reaching new students, and partnering with new volunteers. Many of us will be making changes and change always brings tension. For the new leaders and new students they have no idea anything is changing because of course it is new! For our veteran leaders change can be a little difficult. Change is healthy for every organization but it also brings pain. No matter how big or how small the changes you will be making your team will always want to know why and you need to be prepared to lead them through the change. There are a few things to remember when implementing change this semester...

1. Don't surprise key leaders // Make sure your key leadership know about changes before you hold your first meeting to introduce the changes. You know your key leaders, try not to surprise them. Connect with them and gain wisdom before you implement change.
2. Ask for permission to experiment // Cast vision and explain your idea but when making changes ask your team to give you permission to experiment (admit you might fail!). They give you permission by supporting you as you make changes. Never take that for granted no matter how long you lead in an organization.
3. Call people to a step of faith // "buy in" comes when the changes you make work. As a leader simply call your team to live by faith as you make changes. It's ok if your leadership team does not "buy in" 100% at first, call them to serve with faith!
4. Listen to feedback // make sure your team knows they have a voice and can email you or call you with ideas and feedback about the changes.
5. Lead strong but be flexible // If your changes work, great! If they don't lead strong by being willing to make changes and admit you might not have been correct

When life is too busy for writing...

It's really hit and miss with my writing schedule in the summer. I blog because I love to share ministry ideas and think out loud as I write. Camp and mission trip weeks consume everything. The week before and the event week are just slammed because I am working with our team to pull off the event and carve out time for my family. Busyness can really get in the way of the habit of writing. When you write regularly you feel bad for these seasons but it just has to be OK. I enjoy writing and it's a regular part of my life but there are just times you have to step away. When these seasons hit there are a few things I try to do...

• Give myself permission to take a break. // Because writing is a regular part of my life now taking a break feels like cheating. Truth is taking a break so you can focus on other things is not cheating.
• Read what others are writing. // I may be too busy to write but I try to still keep up with what others are writing.
• Take notes. // When I am on a break I still write down topic ideas in Evernote for writing later. Some great ideas some in seasons of intense ministry.
• Start some posts but leave them as drafts. //  Write it quickly and then leave it. There will be time later to finish the post.

Dealing with chronically negative leaders

We all have them and we always will have them...chronically negative leaders. Ignoring them has serious consequences so we have to learn how to lead negative leaders. Griping about them will not help anything. These people need firm leadership and must not be allowed to wreak havoc in your ministry. Many times these are people who want to serve, want to make a difference, but for some reason always find ways to be negative. Nothing is good enough. There are always "other people" who are complaining to them. This type of leader always seems to be in crisis mode. These people need us to lead them and not give up on them because so many times these are just people who have been scarred in the past and they are serving "with baggage." They may not follow your leadership but here are a few things you need to consistently do when dealing with a chronically negative leader...

• pray for them >> Dealing with negative leaders is draining and when we are tired and operating in our won strength it is easy to just give up on people. Pray for these leaders. pray that God will give you wisdom in dealing with them. Pray that God will soften their hearts. God can do what we can never do in the lives of negative leaders.
  
• stay positive >> No matter what a negative leaders brings to you by email or in a meeting stay positive and never feed into their negativity. Negative people love negative company. Stay positive and keep revealing what good is happening all around the ministry.
  
• define reality for them >> Negative leaders often get stuck on one issue which leads them to not understand the big picture. We have to have courage and define reality for people who are stuck in a negative cycle.
  
• challenge them >> There will always come a time to challenge negative leaders. Challenge them to see the good. Challenge them to choose a better attitude. Challenge them to rethink their position. Challenge them to ask why they seem stuck!
  
• confront them consistently >> If you really want to help a negative leader you have o be consistent in confronting them when they get off track. Make sure you consistently communicate with them, encourage them, and lead them.
  
• be willing to let them walk >> At the end of the day we have to be willing to allow negative leaders to walk away from our church and our ministry. You can handle this with grace but there are times you just have to confront and allow them to walk away.

What are some things you have done to handle chronically negative leaders?

What's the bottom line anyway?

Ever been listening to a speaker, felt like they had good content, and then walked away not being able to really say clearly what they were talking about? It happens every Sunday and Wednesday all over the country in churches and ministries all over the country. Good content, good intentions, tons of passion, with a lack of clarity. The best thing that ever happened to me as a communicator was reading the book Communicating for a Change and discovering the power of a well crafted bottom line. A bottom line is nothing more than the one statement you want people to walk away with after your talk. Sometimes it is a call to action. Sometimes it is a statement of truth. Bottom lines are that one statement that your build your entire talk around. Having a bottom line ready every time you speak means you will have a better shot of...

• Limiting content: bottom lines help you weed out what you don't need to say. You only have so much time your audience it actually going to listen so you better say what is most important when you speak. Saying less for more impact means your audience has a better shot of walking away with your central idea. Having a bottom line just helps you choose what is most important.
• Having an anchor for your creativity: bottom lines provide boundaries for creativity and fun. Great ideas are great unless they do not support your bottom line and end up distracting people from your message. Creativity needs boundaries in order to be most effective.
• Setting up small groups to thrive: small groups in every environment of our church process our messages in small group. Bottom lines help set small group leaders to go further with the central idea...even go deeper! Clarity helps group leaders see clearly what is next!

Next time you speak, not matter what the setting, take time to craft a bottom line statement that you can build everything else around. I promise, it will make you a better communicator.

say less so you can say more

I know it sounds odd...say less when you speak so you actually say more but it's true. When we make our talks shorter and clearer people are able to take away more. Every communicator wants to say more. We all believe that if we just had 10 more minutes we could help a listener take that one extra thing home and it could change their life. That extra 10 minutes might just be what keeps the listener from taking your bottom line home! In our student ministry we embarked on a say less so we could say more experiment. We limited our middle school messages to 20 minutes and our high school messages to 25 minutes. During the first semester we have watched how God has used our shorter talks in big ways. We really believe we are making a bigger impact every week and here is why...

• Limited time forces us to say what is most important // with a time limit we use the best illustrations, best stories, best props, most important verses in Scripture because time is limited.
• Bottom Lines are stronger and more focused // we make sure now and work harder to say our bottom line in different ways and at different times in our talks because we want them going to small group remembering that one big idea
• We get to Scripture faster // with limited time we move to the Bible faster than we used to. The Scripture is the most important part of every talk anyway!
• Attention and retention is much better // teens know we are not going to talk forever so they are more willing to focus. Teens are also getting to group with a better grasp of the topic.

Our students really don't need us to speak longer, they need what we say to be clear and to the point. Yes, you can stretch your students spiritually with shorter talks because they will actually be paying attention. I hope you will give it a try...say less so you make a bigger impact every week!

Becoming a catalyst for change

If you leading anything (a company, your home, a church, or just your 5 year old's soccer team) then you know that leading people to make change is a difficult process. We know our organizations need change. Many times we know what needs to change. We want to see things change. The problem comes when we make a move to begin the change process and really have no understanding of how to make change happen...to make it real...to make it stick. This summer I read Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard. I have never read a book that better explained the change process. This is one of those books that every ministry leaders needs to read and then maybe memorize half of it. As ministry leaders we are called to be change agents not institution builders. Here are some of my favorite thoughts from Chip and Dan Heath. Go get the book and get to reading!

• And that’s the first surprise about change: What looks like a people problem is often a situation problem.
• For anything to change, someone has to start acting differently.
• Decision paralysis can be deadly for change—because the most familiar path is always the status quo.
• Big-picture, hands-off leadership isn’t likely to work in a change situation, because the hardest part of change—the paralyzing part—is precisely in the details.
• Until you can ladder your way down from a change idea to a specific behavior, you’re not ready to lead a switch. To create movement, you’ve got to be specific and be concrete.
• Kotter and Cohen observed that, in almost all successful change efforts, the sequence of change is not ANALYZE-THINK-CHANGE, but rather SEE-FEEL-CHANGE.
• But to create and sustain change, you’ve got to act more like a coach and less like a scorekeeper. You’ve got to embrace a growth mindset and instill it in your team.
• Failing is often the best way to learn, and because of that, early failure is a kind of necessary investment.
• Change isn’t an event; it’s a process.

Is your ministry "social"

At our church we have been on the Facebook journey for several years trying to find ways to connect with people. Several years ago our team just realized that's where people were spending their time online so we went there. We have had a group, a page, been allowed to have a normal account people can add as a friend, and now just launched our new organization page where people can "like us" and you can check that new format out here. Of course our family ministry has also been using social medis for years. You can see our student ministry page here. We are pumped because we are about to reformat our FB presence. We love social media because it allows us to do several things...

• connect with people looking for a church or family ministry for their kids
• connect with people who have bought into what we are doing
• communicate vision and mission
• communicate with our volunteers
• provide info about events
• stay on people's mind (out of sight out of mind!)

Sure, we love our websites but they are not as interactive as Facebook and Twitter. If you want to connect with people get our there and get going. If you have not been using social media well and you want to get going check out this post from my friend Matt Mckee and start by using it to communicate with volunteers.

FREE STUFF // Some videos we used in our Family Experience

This past week we had our first family experience of the fall for parents and K-5 kids called Cross Street Live. We changed up the format to make it more like a "So Random" type of flow this season. I was really proud of Adam Bayne, Van Riggins, and all our CSL team. I wanted to share the three commercials we did just for a laugh...if you want to use them, go ahead they are great. The last one is one you have seen but it is one of our favorites so I added it here also!

responding to lost momentum

If you lead a ministry then you face challenge on a regular basis. There are always problems to work on and things to improve. There are also times when you feel like you are losing momentum and maybe even moving backwards. That's a terrible feeling that we have all experienced at some point in our leadership journey. I had the chance to hear Phil Fulmer (former coach at the University of Tennessee) speak last year and he talked about how he responded to losing. Coach Fulmer said that when the team lost he wanted to be the first person back in the office to map out the plan for the next week, to address what caused the loss, and to mentally work through the loss so he could be ready to lead the team in a new direction. In ministry our losses look different but we can learn from the idea of being the first one "back in the office." Our volunteers know when we are not making progress and they need direction from us when momentum is lagging. When we are losing momentum our team needs...

• Extra time // when your team is losing momentum you need extra time to work, to pray, to process, to plan. Times of struggle are not the time to hide and run from the issues. Make sure your clear your calendar so you can focus on what matters most during this season.
• Forward thinking // lost momentum can drag us into focusing on the past...what you need now are ideas that will shape the future not recreate the past. If momentum is to be gained then we have look ahead...what is next.
• Clear communication // our role as team is leader to help define reality. In times of struggle make sure you are communicating clearly and frequently with your team.
• Change // usually lost momentum indicates changes need to be made. Have the courage to change what needs to be changed for the health of the team and organization. When our "wins" are clearly defined then our methods are flexible. Change inspires growth.

Breaking free from failure

This week I had the chance to speak at Grace Community as we started our series called Free. Sunday we checked out how we can break free from failure and looked at how Jesus helped Peter move forward after failure in John 21:15-19. Jesus stepped into an awkward moment with Peter and helped him understand that his failure couldn't be allowed to define his future. The same is true in our own lives...failure can never be allowed to define our future. Here is the video from Sunday...

Breaking free from failure from Gcomchurch Sermons on Vimeo.

Great ideas, bad communication

A few weeks ago I went with a few of my friends to Atlanta to spend a day at the PGA Championship and play a round of golf together. We went to an older course in the Buckhead area. The course was in great shape and had a fun layout but it was lacking one thing...signs! At least 5 times during the day we were confused about where to go for the next hole, or what direction the upcoming hole was supposed to go because...THERE WERE NO SIGNS! There were times we simply felt lost and it messed with our experience for the day.

In the ministries we lead we can have great ideas, great environments, a great mission, great staff, a great strategy but if we do not communicate effectively with volunteers and attenders we can sabotage our effort. For those of us who lead family ministries we also have the tension of communicating well with parents. Communication and your communication strategy need as much attention as the time you put info shaping your message each week. Announcements, signage, volunteer info emails, social media posts are either helping people know the direction you are heading or confusing them. More than ever people are bombarded by messages that want their attention. When we cut through the clutter and hone our communication process we help advance our mission. I promise, effective communication will pay off in the end. Make sure your great ideas and followed by clear communication.

Say less for more impact...

When it comes to communicating, speaking, preaching in student environments I think we all need to take a step back to work on becoming better. We can all improve. We can all be more clear. All of us can find better ways to connect with the hearts of teens rather than trying to impress them. Last week at Bigstuf camp and our leader training with Reggie Joiner he reminded us that we need to say less so we can say what is most important more often. The words coming our out mouth week to week are shaping the view of God many teens have. The words we say when we speak matter and if you have the chance to communicate on a regular basis then you have a responsibility to get BETTER. I believe that communication is a craft that has to be worked on, honed, and practiced. You can get better. Go read Communicating for Change. Dedicate time for message prep. Talk through your message with another trusted leader. Practice your talk before you give it. Here are some ideas that those of us trying to think ORANGE are trying to implement...

• Be relevant. Our job is to take the timeless truth of God and help it connect to a 15 year old heart.
• What has moved us in the past may or may not move the generation to come.
• How you say what you say is as important as what you say! // change your words, change your world
• Say one thing at a time.
• Create memorable experiences. 
• Don’t resolve tension too fast.
• Allow space and time to process. / this is why we do small group following our talks
• Cultivate better communicators. / find other communicators and give them opportunity in your ministry. Also strive to be better yourself! Keep working at it.

PROCESSING my communication style, just processing!

Love to get to communicate at camps with teens who do not know me. Why? It gives me a chance to once again focus on connecting with a group of people who I have no history with. The people I lead week in and week out get my style, my humor, my delivery. When you go to a camp to speak you have to work hard to connect quick so communication can be effective. People listen and process information better when they trust the communicator. So here I am this week, trying to do this all over again. With every camp it is a challenge but I know it helps me rethink who I am as a communicator. There are several guys that have influenced me directly and from a distance when it comes to speaking. More and more these days I am striving to be comfortable with who I am as a speaker. I have to be Michael Bayne, not a conglomeration or clone of all my influences. Tonight was one of those reminder nights. God worked, God spoke to kids, God helped students express their thoughts in small group. Go God! I am that communicator who is better at setting kids up to deal with truth and process it rather than the come down front "traditional" response guy. I grew up measuring effectiveness by HOW MANY PEOPLE MADE A PUBLIC DECISION with little regard for life change in the majority of people in the crowd already following Christ. Here is what I am finding my communication style is...

connect with the audience / speak truth clearly / apply / allow room for thought / get out of God's way

I think I just need to focus on what God has called me to do and how he has wired me to speak. There you it...my mid week rant as I process communication and what it means to God's people. I just pray at least I can be clear. There is just too much poor communication out there to just go through my "ministry life" adding to the noise.

Oh, by the way, this is all in process, I have the right to disagree with myself at anytime!