Author: Alex Tran

This is Part 2 from Christine Caine’s talk to the staff at Celebration Church. You can read Part 1 here.

Submission Isn’t Negative

• Sub simply means under the mission of the church. Similar to how a submarine goes under water.

• There is always a bigger picture.

Realizing the bigger picture is a critical point to the idea of submission. Not just realizing your leader/authority has a different perspective than you, but the idea that God is doing something in whatever ministry you’re involved with.

Are you on board with that bigger, God picture? If you are on board, then the peripheral issues of submission and “my leader is doing it all wrong” are pointless.

If you believe your leader is about moving God’s bigger picture forward, then the expression (i.e. how he/she does it) shouldn’t matter. It’s not about submitting to the leader, but to what God is doing within a ministry.

• Your value to the team has little to do with talent.
  • Has everything to do with heart and spirit of submission.

• God runs a theocracy not a democracy (i.e. everyone doesn’t get a vote or opinion).

• You always look better than you are when you are on a champion team.
  • God has blessed it (i.e. the house) and anointing flows from the top, down. Psalm 133:2.
  • When this is understood, you don’t want to get out. You want to stay where the flow is.

• If it’s not heretical, illegal, immoral or unethical then shut up (i.e. don’t give your opinion).
  • Only give opinion when asked.
  • People voicing opinions without discretion kill churches more than anything else.

• You don’t sit in leaders shoes or carry the weight of it, so you don’t have the same perspective.

• Submission is not “we” will do what “they” want.
  • At this level, “we” are “them.”
  • Heart attitude says I’m aligned and I trust and we are advancing this together.

Negative People Suck

• Negativity killed an entire generation (Numbers 14:1-2 cf. Numbers 14:20-23).
  • Can keep an entire generation out of its destiny with negative reports.
  • Doubt dies unborn if never spoken.
  • Don’t speak into being and feed into people’s minds.

I’ve been exposed to way too much negativity lately. It sucks. I’m over it. I can see why an entire generation was kept out of the promised land because of negativity towards their situation and leaders.

It’s just a vicious cycle. One person shares one thing, then another person decides to share another. Yada, yada, yada until you just want to throw your head through your monitor.

When you’re focused on the negative, you miss God. Period.

The One Testing is God

• Where is your heart?
• How much more weight can God put on you?
• How much of the bigger picture can you carry?

• Before entering promised land, you must have your own circumcision (cutting away/testing). Joshua 5:1-12.

• According to ability, not gift (Matthew 25:15).
  • Learning to pay own price. God is building in me.
  • Maybe primary gift isn’t needed at moment but serving somewhere else is.
  • Let God work in and through you.
    • Hard for a lot of people. That’s why they don’t survive in ministry.

About the last bullet point. I wonder how many people have left a ministry because they felt like their primary gifts/skills were not being used? It is true that it is easier to leave a ministry than to persevere through God humbling, molding and growing you.

Again, it all comes down to the bigger picture. Do you get it? It’s not about you.

This past weekend at Celebration Church we had the privilege of having Christine Caine (Twitter, Facebook) guest speak. Not only did she speak at our weekend services, but she took some time out to speak to the staff.

What she had to share to the staff was an extremely timely word to anyone involved in ministry. Whether you are full-time on staff at a church, a volunteer or somewhere in between, you’ll have tidbits of wisdom to take away.

I guarantee.

If not, you can have your money back. ;)

Christine’s talk was split into three main points that have been proven in her 21 years of being involved at Hillsong Church.

Each will get its own blog post.

1. Having an attitude of gratitude (you’re reading it)
2. Submission
3. Being passionate

Don’t worry if none of those points seem applicable to you. Christine was all over the board, so you should still read. Otherwise my guarantee is null and void. Consider this the fine print. ;)

Having an Attitude of Gratitude

Her point was partly on the attitude of gratitude but also on not having an attitude of entitlement.

• Sometimes you can live in the midst of a move of God and not see it.
  • Don’t take for granted when your church is expanding (e.g. launching new campuses, new ministries, the weekly salvations, etc.).

• The thing you are a part of is much bigger than any part you play.
  • Fight for this perspective to resist an attitude of entitlement.

• If you can remain a small fish in a big pond, you will more than likely be a part of something that changes the world.

• It takes big people (big people on the inside) to be part of a big church.

I’m going to interject here.

I’ve seen a lot of people leave Celebration Church. I don’t always know the reason, but for some I do. I believe the insight shared above addresses the heart attitude of a lot of people who leave Celebration.

They feel entitled to something or they want to be their own dog. They want to be a big fish in a little pond and have control, say so, etc. They don’t see the move of God, they see what they’re not getting out of the church, what authority they’re not getting in their position, what the church isn’t doing to meet their needs, etc.

Check your heart people. (I say this from my own personal experience.)

The Myth of Needing Sustainability/Balance

• “I need balance in my life.” “This is not sustainable.”

Haha. Things I’ve echoed and expressed before. Christine isn’t a fan of this mindset and brings up some good points.

• Nothing is sutainable about the Christian life. It is God that sustains you.
  • The minute you can sustain yourself you are not in God and not in the supernatural realm (Isaiah 40:31).

• All or nothing mentality birthed the church. Not an attitude of minimums, balance or sustainability.

The Wholeness of Leaders

• The degree to which the church is effective is the degree to which the leaders are whole.
  • Only out of wholeness can we bring health and healing to others

• It takes a strong/whole person to work at an ever expanding church with a huge call of God.

“When God, When?”

• Take whatever “toilet brush” is in your hand and say “this is it” and be grateful.

• If you have the touch/annointing of God, it will come through.

• If you despise what you have now and are waiting for one day when, you’re never going to do faithfully what God has in your hand to do now.

That’s a wrap for her “first point.” I told you she was all over the board. Her first point was really four different points. ;)

Anyway, if you’re involved in ministry at any level, I’d be curious to know which points you take away from this post. Or if you’d have any to add based on your experience.

Fire away in the comments! Or hit me up on Twitter.

Last night I listened to the latest episode of Andy Stanley’s Leadership Podcast (iTunes, RSS) titled Stating Vision Simply. It fit well with another article I read from Joel on Software called Figuring out what your company is all about.

I’ve decided I like Andy Stanley. ;) And I always knew I liked what Joel had to say on software. ;)

Here are some of the notes I typed out. Some are quotes, some are paraphrases.

Notes from Stating Vision Simply

• Andy’s working definition of vision is “a mental picture of what could be . . . fueled by a passion that it should be.”

• In order to accomplish at home what I wanted to accomplish at home that meant there were some things I might not be able to accomplish at work.
  • Vision pre-decides for us.
  • The clearer our vision gets, the fewer things we do and the easier it is to say no.

• It’s gotta be simple, it’s gotta be portable, it’s gotta be repeatable.

• It has to be transferable. Memorable is portable.

• To make your vision simple, it can’t be complete. Complete is not memorable or transferable.

As reinforcement to crafting a simple vision statement, Andy asked what Barack Obama’s vision for his presidential campaign was? What was Hillary Clinton’s? John McCain’s?

Point taken. I knew Obama’s was “Change.” Couldn’t tell you what anybody else’s was. ;)

• The larger the audience, the simpler it has to be. Every time you add a layer,  you have to add another layer of simplicity.

• If you’re beginning with a fog, the best you’re going to communicate is a mist.
  • Before you can make vision stick, you have to have a clear vision yourself.

If it’s a mist in the pulpit, it’s a fog in the pew.
~Howard Hendricks

• If you say everything, you say nothing. It’s not portable.

Portable and Memorable Vision Statements

To make poverty history (Bono’s ONE campaign).

Invest and invite (North Point’s evangelism strategy).

To create a church unchurched people love to attend (One of North Point’s early vision statements).

Help your users be awesome (the mantra of Kathy Sierra).

We help the world’s best developers make better software (the new tagline for Fog Creek Software).

My Personal Takeaway

From the podcast, I take away “Make it memorable. Make it portable.”

Also to take the time to get a clear vision. The quote from Howard Hendricks resonates with me.

It is worth the initial effort to determine a clear vision for yourself. Otherwise, you will inevitably waste time in the future doing things that are not getting you where you want to go.

Listen to the Podcast

Duration: 24:34 (download)

Who has been approached by a homeless guy asking for money?

And in the course of the few seconds you’re asking or thinking to yourself:

• Does he really need the money for bus fare?
• Am I safe? Is he going to club me over the head?
• Is he going to use this money to buy drugs or alcohol?
• Do I have money on me? Please don’t let me have money.

What I’ve been thinking about lately is our tendency as Christians to hesitate before taking action.

It reminded me of something a pastor once shared in Masuko, Peru on the mission field.

Matthew 28:18-19 (NIV)
¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go . . .

“Therefore go . . . ”

Jesus’ command to us, his disciples, is go. Our default action as Christians should be to go.

But too often we over think and over analyze the next step or action. Paralysis through analysis. And before you know it the opportunity has passed.

If we would be less hesitant and more inclined to just jump out of the boat we would see God do more in our lives!

• More lives getting touched with the love of Christ

The list of thoughts/hesitations I gave earlier about the homeless guy. Who cares!? Jesus makes it blatantly clear that we are supposed to help people in need and not judge them. Give the guy some money; buy him a cheeseburger. Pray with him at the very least!

That one simple act will go a lot further than you walking away rationalizing to yourself that the homeless guy was going to buy alcohol with your money.

• More personal growth, Spiritual maturity and progress

We’ve got dreams. We’ve got God’s calling we’d all love to fulfill. We’ve got big decisions. What’s the next step? How am I going to make it happen? Where’s the money or the time going to come from?

The answer to that question can be “I don’t know.”

A 50%-good solution that people actually have solves more problems and survives longer than a 99% solution that nobody has because it’s in your lab where you’re endlessly polishing the damn thing.
~ from Joel on Software

As Christians we need to be okay moving forward and taking a step without all the answers or even direct confirmation from God. The bottom line is that if you are moving forward, you are making progress.

You, walking towards your calling and dreams, will have a greater impact on people than you standing there waiting to see how God is going to align the stars to make it happen.

Therefore go.

I don’t know why, but I’m afraid.

I’m afraid of responsibility.

I’m afraid of leading people.

I’m afraid of being outwardly passionate.

I’m afraid of accepting the authority given to me.

I’m afraid of stepping up my game.

I’m afraid of my life being out of balance.

I’m afraid.

I’m paralyzed.

2 Corinthians 11:30 (NIV)
³⁰ If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

2 Corinthians 12:10 (NIV)
¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV)
⁴ For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him to serve you.

But I will learn to walk again by God’s power . . .