PROCESS

“Events Are Never Enough” is an e-book about the importance of process that emphasizes that events are needed, but they are never enough. In this e-book I want to take a look at process. What does process look like? What are the steps in a process? Of course each process will look different depending on the vision and mission, but here are five key steps of process that you will need to climb as you take people on the journey. Four of these steps depend on us and therefore are true for all ministries. These four are “must” steps to climb and will help you and others fulfill their God-given assignments. STEP ONE: Connection Process is all about taking people from where they are to where they need to be, adding value to them in an environment that will allow people to be all God created them to be. The first step in any process is one of connection. Everyone steps on this stone because of some connection. The connection might be that their parents, family members, or friends shared memories of a camp they went to, a ministry leader or a church that impacted their lives and now they are coming to see what that was all about. They might have come to Christ under this ministry and thus the connection is there. Even in radio, many get connected to a ministry because a favorite speaker is heard on a station at a time that is convenient for them, or the signal is strong and reception is good or your radio station might be the only one in town carrying the program - so they connect with the program and to you by default, but they do make a connection, a starting place. Why do people feel it is important to connect? As a leader of a ministry you know people need to connect, but how do they hear about your ministry, program, camp, conference center or radio station? I would answer that by saying somehow the ministry had a life changing connection with that person, a WOW moment in their life. Let me explain it from a fact of American history... If I mentioned to you Paul Revere’s ride, the first thought you would have is: “The British are coming”. How many years ago did he say that? Look at the events of that night. If you remember history, a man by the name of William Davis set out on the same urgent errand, at the same time, on a horse. Davis was to take the message west to Lexington. He rode through just as many towns and traveled just as many miles as his riding partner, Paul Revere. But Davis did not set the countryside into action; in fact, so few showed up to fight in Waltham the next day one wondered if he ever said anything as he rode through the town of Waltham. William Davis failed at word–of–mouth and Paul Revere was a success. What was the difference? Word–of–mouth advertising is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a rare set of social gifts. In this case, Paul Five Fundamentals of process Revere was successful and William Davis was not; the two men were totally different. Revere was a connector, Davis was not. Paul Revere understood that it is the leader’s (the messenger’s) role to connect with the people; it is never the people’s responsibility to connect with the leader. William Davis expected the opposite. So today we know who Paul Revere is and still remember his cry, but William Davis, William who? The connection step is the shortest and easiest step, but it is also the most important one. STEP TWO: Relationships It is one thing to have a connection and totally another thing to have a relationship. You build on that connection with relationships. Because of the way God wired us, not all of us are great in the area of relationships, but we have to learn to cultivate them. If you have to, hire a person that is highly relational to work alongside you, it’s worth the cost. It is not that we can’t be relational; the issue is that it is exhausting to those of us who struggle in this area. Relationships are vital to the success of your ministry but it is also a stewardship issue. Everyone is a leader, because no matter where you are, you are influencing someone and/ or someone is influencing you. We are all not Paul Reveres – a man that was gregarious, highly sociable, who knew so many people that when he died, one newspaper account said that “troops of people” attended. He knew everyone. So when he headed out that night, he knew who the people were, where they were, and he had such a relationship with them that they not only took the news to heart but took it to others. When Paul came into a town he did not have to waste time. He knew who the key influencers were, and by all accounts they respected him. In the past he had added value to them in some way. As Dr. John C. Maxwell says, “He walked slowly through the crowd”. Paul had walked slowly through each town building relationships. David Hackett Fisher in his book Paul Revere’s Ride says Paul Revere “had uncanny genius for being in the center of events.” Contrast that with William Davis - he just had normal circles of relationships, never went out of his way much which means that once he left his town, his comfort zone, he had no idea which door to knock on or who to see. You need to develop your own system of relationship building. When I was in the conference ministry, I tried to have a meal or coffee with everyone at least once during their stay. I greeted them everyday at breakfast when I walked slowly around the tables. In radio it was different. I had call-in days when the audience knew I was in the office and my agenda was to talk to them with no question off limits. I would often have to call some back if they couldn’t stay on the line. Answering emails promptly is another way I could add value to relationships. Added to that, I went out on the road when I didn’t have to, and shook hands. When you build relationships with no hidden agenda, all you are really doing is adding value to people. Let me repeat that - when you build relationships with no hidden agenda, all you are really doing is adding value to people. We are not building relationships to get something (like money). People smell that a mile away and the best you will get is a check. It is not Biblical and not ethical either. In building relationships we find out what God has prepared them for, what their purpose is and then help them fulfill it. Even if it means we have to introduce them to another ministry! It is between stepping stones 2 and 3 where momentum kicks in and then things begin to roll faster and faster because of the “WOW” Factor. STEP THREE: Wow! In this step things begin to happen in the lives of those who are connected with us. “Results” is the key word here. We begin to see great results because of relationships and adding value to people. This is a fun level because here we engage our people in the work they were called to do and when they do it, the WOW is in their eyes! Here we give them training if needed, permission, empowerment and a way to add value to others. Leaders love this stepping stone because leaders are all about momentum while managers are about solving problems. Leaders need to understand (and everyone is a leader because everyone has influence) when the momentum kicks in. Momentum: 1. Will carry you further than you ever believed it would. 2. Makes you look better than you are. 3. Solves problems faster and better. 4. Gives your ministry respect 5. Can make others ill, because they try to keep up and can’t; they try to get something done and can’t and therefore they can make you look elitist, when you are not. STEP FOUR: Develop People This step is all about taking people to higher ground, it‘s where we develop people. People are God’s best thing!! It is about developing them to reproduce themselves; it is about moving them off of WOW to becoming a steward of their gifts and talents. It is pouring into their lives time and effort with literature in all forms, trips, assignments, etc. It is about letting them do it; fail at it and teaching them how to bounce back. President J. F. Kennedy said – “Leadership and learning are indispensable.” Principle: You can only take people to a level where you have been yourself. This is one reason many people do not get this far or drop off at this step. We, as leaders in our ministry, are not growing as quickly as the people around us. Dr. John C. Maxwell calls this “The Law of the Lid”. As I teach this law internationally, everyone understands that people will only rise to about 85% of the leader’s growth. The application is obvious! The world is changing very fast. There are more web pages then families in the world and in the next 3-5 years knowledge will double every day. Because I want to be the person God called me to be and do my assignment from Him to the best of my ability, I have to keep growing. It’s not a guilt thing, but a stewardship thing. So I do three things each day. First, outside of my daily Bible reading and work responsibilities, I read something that will add value to my life. Did you realize that: • After high school, the average man in the USA will never read another book or e-book in his life? • 86% of all books purchased in the USA are by women? • 59% of the USA households have no books including a cookbook or Bible? So by reading I have one tool that most men are not using. Second – I take one new thing I learned today and give it to someone else, adding value to others Third – and this is hard to do, I take some time each day just to think. Think! STEP FIVE: Respect Recieved This is the only step that leaders have no responsibility for because we do nothing more. This step is based solely on the response of others. Everything we have done in steps one -four is laying the footing for step five, but the people give us this step. What they ultimately give us in this step is out of respect for what we have done. This step is where the harvest takes place. Your protégé has grown wings and left the nest to do his own ministry. It doesn’t mean you’re not needed anymore, it means you “processed” your pupil far enough so that they take off on their own and start adding value and process to someone in their influence. This is what we have been working hard for, not for the “respect” but because this is where the people who give you respect understand and want to give it to you. They are now adding value to others and realize what it means to help others on their own journey so this is a way they can say thanks for all you have done for them. When people give you “respect” they tend to tell others, who then have a connection back to you and your ministry. And the process begins all over again. People give you respect because: 1. Of your faithful servant’s heart. 2. Of a life lived with integrity. 3. You are a consistent producer of lifting people to higher ground. 4. Of a life that consistently follows Christ. At this level you will leave a legacy for not only this generation but for future generations, which, by the way, is biblical. God has called each of his children to invest in this generation and in the next. Caution: As you work in process not all the people you are leading/influencing will be on the same stepping stone in the process. That’s why process is so hard. We have to know what level our people are on so we can lead them effectively to higher ground.