But no matter how much I read or how much I study, I still make mistakes. Sometimes I just look stupid like when I repeatedly said Ruth had 6 chapters. Sometimes I’ll say something that may be completely inaccurate like when I implied Jesus met Peter for the first time the day he told him to cast the net back in the water.

Almost every week when I go back and watch the video of the message, I’ll notice how much weight I need to lose, my ridiculous habit of constantly adjusting the podium angle, and sure enough, there will be at least one jaw-dropping mistake that is just embarrassing. Here’s an example from this past Sunday:

The map above shows modern day Middle East. In my message, I used this map to show where the Jews scattered or were exiled during the diaspora of 586 BC. Problem is…

this is the map I wanted to refer to. And even after I messed it up in the first service, I forgot to fix and made the same mistake in the second service. You might be thinking, “it’s not that big of a deal you had the wrong image up, it’s of the same region.” Yeah, well, that’s not the mistake.

I got these maps from my ESV study bible where I also read the note on the regions represented in the synagogue Stephen had been preaching in Acts 6:8. When I pointed to the wrong map, my geographically inept brain pointed to Iraq, Syria, and Jordan as NORTH AFRICA! See…I NEEDED the ancient map to remind me where Africa actually was. It even shows the cities I was referred to in the verse.

Ugh…It is a wonder I ever got out of high school.

In light of all of that, I have a challenge for you. Go back and watch my past sermons and see if you can find my mistakes. Who ever finds the most wins a $25 gift card. Some are obvious and I’m sure with all the dangerously educated people out there even more will be unearthed.

RULES:

1. “mistakes” are not stuttering, talking to fast, or bad jokes…there is way to much of that to count. Find factual errors that can be verified.
2. I’m sure there will be differences of opinions and you’re welcome to throws those in the ring too, but if I can defend my position (which I should not have a problem doing), it won’t count towards your total.
3. You’ll have to leave explanations and markers (i.e. “at 4:32 you said…”) in the comment section on this post.
4. Contests ends August 31.
5. Happy hunting!

Here mistakes most people make during this step:

1. No Standard. The learner has to know the minimum expectations or they’ll never do it the way you think it should be it done.
2. Closed Minded. Thinking your way is the only way will never allow innovation within culture or technology.
3. Poor Example. Demonstrate the exact outcome needed to be produced. “Do as I say not as I do” will only create problems.
4. Big Ego. If someone does it better than you, let them. If you don’t, you both lose. If you do, you can focus on what only you can do.
5. Skip It. If they never see you do it, they may begin to think you don’t do anything. Lead by example and then give it away.

This video fascinates me. I’ve watched it several times. I want to know how do utilize these ideas to impact the Church.

The Jesus Juke is to throw in the line about “making the world a better place only comes by knowing Jesus.”

But I want to know how to connect with people who have jobs, crazy busy schedules, sports practices for the kids, multiple hobbies, seemingly no free-time and inspire them to see the “transcendent purpose” in everything they’ve got going on.

How do we do that?

At the end of my senior year of high school, I remember having a conversation with the theater teacher who told me, “it doesn’t matter if I want to be a leader or not, you are one and people are going to follow you regardless.” What she meant didn’t really sink in until 6 years latter when I was the one having a similar conversation with a senior at the school where I was now teaching theater. Oh, the irony.

Seeing as how I was passing on the same poor advice given to me during my peak know-it-all years, I obviously knew very little about real leadership. When I started working in a church and was given the title “pastor,” I learned very quickly I didn’t really know how to lead people well.

Someone during some meeting trying something to get me to do some things better, passed along a nugget of wisdom that I connected with. You’ve probably heard the leadershp model that goes something like this:

• I do, you watch.
• I do, you help.
• You do, I help.
• You do, I watch.
• You do, someone else watches.

Nice. Clean. Easy to remember. I was like, “oh yeah, I’ve got this.” Simple.  So simple, in fact, I thought I would just skip steps 2 & 3 to save time. No problem. So why are people still not doing it right? Why am I still getting frustrated and finding myself saying, “just let me do it” more often than I should…like 99% of the time? How come everyone can’t just figure it out or see it the way I see it or do it like I would do it? They obviously must not be capable so I’ll just see if they want to do something else like…ush.

Yeah, yeah. I hear the snickering.

Since becoming a church planter and pastor, I’ve had to step up my game and really analyze my ability to lead. During the last year and especially the last 6 months, that simple mnemonic device has helped surface more solutions to otherwise dangerous problems than anything else I’ve studied. I know there are a ton of books out there that touch on and paint the same basic formula in all kinds of unique ways, but I want to share with you how it breaks down for me.

Over the next several days/weeks, I’m going to talk about the pitfalls and pains of not following this 5-step process completely through. That’s right, no matter how qualified someone may be, skipping or hanging on to any one of the steps will not only hinder the individual but also could cripple the long-term desired outcome.

Trust me, I’ve screwed up in every category and can easily point out all my mistakes and how mush easier the problems would have been to resolve if had I just stuck with the plan.

Then, as the cherry on top, I’ll spin this all back around to how we can and should develop disciples of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, since, in my opinion, those are the kind of leaders we need to spending time developing.

In My Place Condemned He Stood: Celebrating the Glory of the Atonement by J.I. Packer and Mark Dever

Here’s the plan:

1. You’re on your own to get the book.
2. On first day of each month at 8pm, we will meet together (via video or telephone conference for those who can’t meet in person).
3. Everyone is to bring at least 15 comments and one book suggestions for the next month (books can be any genre & diversity is preferred).
4. All book suggestions will be put into a hat/bucket/some kind of container with one drawn at random.
5. Members chronically absent from the monthly meetings will not be invited back.

If you’d like to join, leave a comment on the blog and I’ll get in touch with you or message me on twitter. The official twitter hashtag is #thebookclub (it’s been abandoned so we’re going to snatch it up). If you’re not on twitter, now is a good time to start.

Strong leaders are always looking for ways to improve their strengths and their areas of influence. Less capable leaders settle or remain satisfied with what they can handle with very little effort or work.

I liken it to juggling tennis balls.

It’s easy to juggle one tennis ball. Just about anyone can do it. It takes very little energy or effort. If you’re confident in your one ball skills, you can pull off unimpressive tricks like…switching hands…or spinning in a circle.

Throw in another tennis ball and all of a sudden the concentration level has to increase a little bit. It’s still fairly easy until you get inspired to up your game and move to two balls with one hand.

Once you’ve got that down, why not move to three? Suddenly, skill becomes a necessary component. You can only fake it so long before you fail.  To keep from dropping the balls,  you’ve got to move away from tricks and start developing technique.

At this point, with three mastered, adding more to the cascade is only a matter of hard work, time, and discipline. Of course, there are a few more techniques to practice but nothing a few books, private lessons, or youtube training videos won’t help you figure out.

So why is it most people never try to juggle more than three? Because in the same amount of time it would take to learn how to juggle 4 or 5, you could learn all kinds of tricks that really impressing the crowd but don’t improve your skill set.

When people step-up and accept opportunities to serve at church, it’s always better for us and them to know what the expectations are up front. In other words, 1-ball juggliers should never be given 5-ball juggling responsibilities for fear of burning them out and 5-ballers would be wasting their skills with only one ball.

Don’t misread what I’m saying. We need people who are willing to serve at all levels. Family life, work, sports, etc will always keep people from thinking they can do anymore than they already are. Part of the joy of making disciples is digging in and finding out who is ready to the best whatever they can be and then helping them move in towards those goals.

Now, for those that never and try at all or give up after they drop the ball, well…that’s another post entirely.