A Global Gathering Of Leaders Agreed – Only ONE Thing Will Change Our Cities. What was it?

I was privileged this week to be in Manhattan as the guest of Alan & Deb Hirsch – facilitated by Rich Robinson to form a small collective of global movement leaders through a ‘communitas’ exercise (Alan likes to make up words). We were hosted in Tim Keller’s church offices at Redeemer City to City. Our purpose? To look at how the church can step outside the models, mindsets and habits that have brought us to where we are – because they will no longer move us forward. We have to change our paradigms – and then our practices.  One day was spent looking at NYC as an example city. What would we do to see the gospel saturate this city of more than 8m? I’m going to blog again with some more of my thoughts as a result, but as we rolled paper across the tables and discussed with marker pens in hand, I was fascinated to hear from kingdom change makers as diverse as Danielle Strickland and her husband Steve, leaders like Christine Caine, Dave and Jon Ferguson, Hugh […]

Four Ways You Can Find And Develop Leaders – Oscar Muriu

So much of what I’m learning about finding and developing leaders has been by observation and connection with world class practitioners, and nobody does it better than one of NewThing’s Global leaders, Bishop Oscar Muriu of Nairobi Chapel. He aims to plant 300 churches by 2020; with 210 of them in Kenya; 60 in the rest of Africa; and 30 off the continent of Africa in the gateway cities of the world. Oscar has spoken on a number of occasions at Willow Creek GLS and also at Exponential (he’ll be there in Florida again in 2020). I am thrilled that he will be one of our keynote speakers at LAUNCH this year, particularly as it was a conversation with Oscar that gave me the idea to start LAUNCH in the first place. We have once again assembled an incredible line up but it would be worth the price of admission and travel for you and your team to just hear from him! As a foretaste (and for free!) here are some of his thoughts on how to find and develop […]

Learn to be a Collaborative Leader with Tom McGehee

STOP TRYING TO DO IT ALL YOURSELF 9:30am-4pm BST Saturday 15th June, Ivy Central, Manchester M20 2GP “No one on a cohesive team can say, Well, I did my job. Our failure isn’t my fault.” ― Patrick Lencioni, The Advantage:  I have been rereading Lencioni’s fantastic book recently. He describes so well how what we think of as teams are often really just groups – more like a bunch of golfers who each go off and do their own thing, and then compare results at the end. If like me; You want to know how to move from that toward environments that bring out the best in everyone. You’re wondering how to build and empowering a winning team. You want to create lasting change through a self perpetuating leadership culture You need to join us here in Manchester on the 15th June for our Launch One Day with Tom McGehee and bring those you work with. It has been my great pleasure to get to know as a friend someone who has been a hero to me for some years, Tom McGehee. I […]

Invest For Eternity

Here’s the video talk I put out across Ivy sites last Sunday to encourage people to invest in our Firstfruits offering next week. Feel free to contribute at https://ivychurch.org/giving/ if it speaks to you!

5 Steps Of Leadership Development

SO CHALLENGING! Jon Ferguson who wrote Exponential has been teaching us on this core competency for leaders to multiply their impact as part of our NewThing Catalyst Community. The 5 Steps of Leadership Development Conversation – “I think you could be an outstanding leader of…. would you be up to apprenticing?” YES  Great! Let’s work together  (This has to apply to every area of leadership and ministry.) Qs at every stage – “What worked? What didn’t work? How can we improve?” Step 1. I Do. You Watch. We talk  Just watch me.  2. I Do, you help, we talk  Get in the mix, ask them to help at some level. How could they help?  3. You do. I help. We talk  Transition to taking on responsibilities for the group. You run the sound board… 4. You do. I watch. We talk  They are getting increasingly confident. I’m a safety net.  5. You do. Someone else watches.  The former apprentice is now leading another and apprenticing them.  We always need new leaders. Not just for a new location, but for where […]

BRO UP!

I’ve been reading and listening around issues of why it’s hard to be a man these days. Because the pressure is on, as I wrote about in my book Rough Diamonds. Most of the men I now connect with are not struggling so much with being a tough guy as I worked with (or arrested) in the Police – but rather they’re struggling as they try to be a ‘nice bloke‘. That sounds okay, but it’s not the authentic masculinity Jesus modelled and its pursuit can lead to the creation of passive aggressive, approval seeking, manipulative wimps. This leads to frustration, giving to get, fixing rather than listening, avoiding conflict, constantly seeking approval and hiding mistakes. The ‘nicest bloke you’d ever meet’ can also be dishonest, secretive, controlling, passive-aggressive, isolated, and addictive. I’m convinced that trying to be a Christian nice bloke can compound and collude with this rather than help it. As a man who’s moved from tough guy to recovering nice bloke I want to meet up with other men more, as both scripture and psychology affirm this […]

The Shepherds Were The First Church

In the time of the Roman empire, whenever a VIP family had a baby, they didn’t have Facebook but to get the word out but they’d send out a herald. The emperor would send out heralds to let all the other VIPs know, announcing the ‘good news’ of the birth. If this was a first son, even better because the family name would continue! “A child is born!”  So when we read the God sends a herald angel, to say ‘Hark! Good News!’  Notice – who does God send heaven’s heralds to? LUKE 2: 8There were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, […]

WIN THE DAY! Ten Minute Morning Ritual For Winning At Life

WIN THE DAY! Romans 5:17 NIV ‘For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!’ We don’t have to leave it all to chance and just hope the day goes okay. When I connect to God’s grace first thing in the morning I can #wintheday and #winatlife. Your morning ritual sets you up for success or failure and I’ve learned how to get much more done with much less stress when I start my day this way. Even ten minutes can make a huge difference. I always try to exercise physically in the morning and have a good breakfast too. You can always go longer if you have time, but we all have to start somewhere. If you tell me you can’t make ten minutes in your life, I’d have to wonder whether you really have one. THE 4 STEPS FOR YOUR 10-MINUTE MORNING #WINTHEDAY Pray: Get comfy, shoulders […]

Rod Plummer – Discipleship In Japan

Rod went there from Australia because his wife had a ‘tsunami vision,’ a big wave coming. Tsunami is a Japanese word. Went there for a holiday. Found many had not even heard the name of Jesus. Went with a team of ten fellow Aussies. But their wave – was a wave of love First few months was so hard. They survived, then one came to Christ – and since then they thrived. When converts became leaders it started to multiply. Keys to discipleship. Evangelism to discipleship = motion toward Christ. Meet people on the street – and reach them by starting conversations. If we met 100, 10 might come to church and 1 would get saved. That’s how they worked. They knew they needed a church of JOY. (1 Thess 5:16-18 MSG) The churches there were predominantly solemn and quiet. They wanted to reach the young people. So, funny, happy and clappy! Karaoke started in Japan! This was a culture – funny, celebratory – a life house. Many were growing up lonely. 40 million in Tokyo. Make the church their […]

Dave Smith – 6 Convictions From The Great Commission

We are experiencing a fast drift away from a biblical culture. There’s a lot of shifting going on in terms of morality and even what it means to be a human. What has not changed? The Great Commission! 1)   Discipleship is our primary business. There is ONE imperative in this commission. Disciple making is the number one mandate of what we are here to do. To help make followers of Jesus. We have often thought in terms of numbers and buildings. And it’s good not to think small. But it’s about building big people. Shift focus. So there mission here = ‘Transforming lives from our neighbourhoods to the nations’. Everything else we do must serve this. 2)    Our job is to help people on their discipleship journey. The three participles are GO, BAPTISE and TEACH. Don’t just be strong at one of these (we are good at reaching, or at teaching)! How would someone’s journey look like in your environment. Where are the gaps in your process? How many people who we baptise or do Alpha are still here 6 months on? Are we […]