{Alex, our church Administrator, and me at a pastor’s gathering in Cypress. We actually went to see their amazing General Manager, John Kim of Cottonwood Church, who will be our featured guest speaker at March 2012 department leaders’ powwow.}
I believe in a good message. But I also believe in good methods (org behavior & practices).
The message of the church is important but so is the behavior and how our church operates.
How you behave (operations) brings out the colors of your thoughts (theology). How your church (organization) is structured speaks loudly about how your church views its people. Are they tools to be used, are they people to be empowered, are they students to be activated, are they workers to be trained? Whatever your view, your church expresses it weekly in the way it shapes its meetings, flow of operations, communication channels, relational networks, budgets, etc.
At Ekko, we seek to develop healthy methods along with the message (gospel) by taking time for reflection and meditation on “how” we are executing and implementing our vision.
By reflection I mean - taking time to invest in the people who help shape healthy methods and godly messages. (these folks we call - Cultural Architects).
We love to invest in people. People who love God and the house of God. We take time out to reflect together and invest together.
“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.” - Peter Drucker / The Yoda of Business Management
Think about this with me for a moment. Many of us grew up in a loving environment, at least towards us as children. However, we find that as we get older, we’ve often held grudges or unforgiveness towards our parents. But why? They were so loving to us, spoke kind words towards us, and sacrificed so much for us. However, the entry for the hurt we carry are not in what they said but how they behaved towards each other. How they handled their finances. Their inability to communicate effectively with each other.
Basically, people are hurt by behavior just as much as if not more than words.
Therefore, for the church to effectively administer the gospel and the love of Christ, it must endeavor to constantly mature in this area, i.e. operational behaviors and methods. Although we are far from maturity, we at Ekko with all our Cultural Architects, seek to serve God with much effectiveness and efficiency.
“Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.”
- Peter Drucker
Some Great Articles on Leadership and the Church /
"Great leaders don’t just talk, they do. They realize the hard work is in the implementation of their vision and courage. They don’t make excuses nor choose to sit on their ideas. They simply move forward and figure things out along the way. Great leaders are focused on implementing better. There’s not satisfied with a 30,000 feet view. They also want to see what’s right in front of them. The focus is not just greater vision, but greater action."
- Charles Lee
"So, in order to be a servant leader, I will purposefully manage my physical presence in social groups by paying attention to such things as how I enter a room, how I talk, how I introduce myself to others, how I contribute, where I sit, etc. When I have more influence, I can empower others. If I have little influence, I cannot do much."
- MaryKate Morse
"The church is the most brilliant organization in the world."
- Rick Mckinley
"Leaders can’t comprehend indifference. Indifference breeds failure. Leaders have no place for indifference in their teams or lives."
- Stephen Brewster