The Next Christians

My great friend Gabe Lyons has a new book coming out next week, and I want to make sure everyone knows about it.

The Next Christians: The Good News About the End of Christian America exposes a whole movement of Christians whom he calls “Restorers”- Evangelicals, mainline Protestants, Orthodox, Pentecostals, Catholics, and others- who desire to be a force for restoration even as they proclaim the Christian Gospel. This group of Next Christians wants the label “Christian” to mean something good, intelligent, authentic, and beautiful.

You need to buy this book. Gabe has a perspective that is fresh and authentic. As another good friend Scot McKnight said “If I had to pick one leader for the next generation for Christians, it would be Gabe Lyons. If I had to pick one chapter from the book, it would be “Relearning Restoration.” If I had to pick one sentence it would be this: Christ didn’t come only to save us “from something. He wanted to save Christians to something.” Gabe Lyons gets it. Restoration is the vision for the Next Christians and I’m cheering them on.”

Agreed. I’m excited about this book. I’m excited because I know how much time, energy, sweat and tears Gabe has put into this book. But also because I believe this is a book about hope, and talks specifically of my peers who are living out the Gospel as Christ followers in ways that are truly restoring our place in culture. In a way that is inspiring, engaging, restorative, and Christ-like.

The Next Christians combines current-day models and relevant research with stories of a new generation of Christian leaders. If you are worried by what you see transpiring around you, this book will take you on a surprising social exploration that will restore confidence in your faith and the faith of our generation.

I highly recommend you buy this book, and then buy it for your entire team.

You can hear Gabe next week at Catalyst talking about The Next Christians. I can’t wait!

What's Your Standard?

We all have standards. Standards for the way we work, the way we dress, the way we communicate, the way we interact, the way we get things done, the way we lead, etc.

So here’s a few thoughts on setting your standards:

1. A higher Standard. As leaders, we are called to a higher standard. And as followers of Christ, an even higher standard. Set your standards so high that it may seem impossible to reach them.

2. God demands and expects excellence from us. It drives me crazy when I see something done without excellence but with the excuse of “well its okay because our intentions are good.” Nope. Not good enough. Our God deserves our very best. Always. We should never use our faith as an excuse for being average. Our faith should drive us to be excellent in all things.

3. Average is not good enough. Average is easy. But it’s a constant battle to be great. It’s hard, or otherwise everyone would be great.

4. Learn from the best. Comparing yourself to others just like you won’t challenge you or make you improve. Compare yourself to the best. Both inside and outside your industry. Learn from others who are better.

5. Expect to be excellent. Can you say that you or your team are “the best in the world at what you do?” If the answer is no, then why not?

6. Set the tone. If you want your team to reach for the highest level and strive for excellence, you first have to set the example. I hear this from leaders all the time…. “well, my team is just not committed to making things great.” The question is are YOU committed to making things great and setting the tone and standard for your team. It has to begin with you.

7. Reality is real. If you can’t achieve greatness and the standard you have set, then figure out why. Maybe you just don’t have the team to pull it off. Or operationally it’s just not possible. Understand your reality, make adjustments, and then execute. Don’t get stuck in the blame game. Make adjustments and keep striving.

When You Were 10

When you were 10 years old, what were you dreaming about? What did you want to be? What consumed your thoughts?

For me, a few things:

1. I wanted to be able to do a cherry picker on a bmx bike.

2. I wanted to beat Seminole in elementary football.

3. I wanted to marry Robyn Repass when we both turned 18.

4. I wanted to fly in an airplane for the first time.

5. I wanted to get over 100K points on Pitfall on Atari. Remember you had to send a picture in of the TV screen showing your point total to become part of the Pitfall Club.

6. I wanted to go on long vacation road trips with my family in our brown pimped out customized Scooby Doo like Van. Complete with the paneling on the walls and a refrigerator. I’m not kidding! BAM!

7. I wanted our high school football team to win the State Championship because my dad coached and I knew all the players. We made it to the state finals that year.

8. I wanted to someday be as cool as Ricky Shroder on Silver Spoons. In the meantime I would just dress like him and have my hair cut like him.

9. I wanted to not be scared of storms. I was petrified of storms- if there were storm clouds in the sky, I would freak. It was horrible. True story.

10. I wanted to be a weatherman. So I could know exactly what was going on with storms and tornadoes. Just like Don Woods. The most famous weatherman ever in Tulsa, OK.

11. I wanted the Cold War between the US and Russia to end. There always seemed to be the threat of Russia invading, just like they did in the movie Red Dawn.

12. I wanted to win the 4th grade free throw shooting contest and the 4th grade spelling bee. Which I did. Proving my well-roundedness…..

The simplicity of being 10…..How about you?

Interview with Randall Wallace on New Secretariat Movie

I recently had the chance to sit down with Randall Wallace, director of the new film Secretariat. Randall is a highly respected writer, producer and director, having worked on notable films such as Braveheart, We Were Soldiers, and Pearl Harbor. Secretariat is his latest directing role, and we talk at length about the film as well as some of the leadership principles he sees as imperative.

In conjunction with Disney and Different Drummer, you can screen the film anytime in the next 10 days before it releases on October 7 through exclusive advance tickets. Here’s how:

1. Go Here and click on “register.”

2. Register your information.

3. Use CODE “BRADLOMENICK”

4. Once you’ve filled out the information, then Select at top of page: “Find a Screening” and then select Secretariat

5. Choose one of the screening options and number of tickets requested.

Not all metro areas are included, so sorry if your city or regional area is not on the screening list. Regardless, this is a great film for the entire family, and I highly recommend it!

Running the Shelves at Saddleback

I was recently out at Saddleback Church for The Nines Leadership event. While there, I had the privilege of “Running the Library Shelves” in the Office at Saddleback. This is a long time tradition for guests to Saddleback, started by David Chrzan, Chief of Staff at Saddleback and longtime lieutenant to Rick. David is one of the few in the world who have ever made it down and back three times. What is considered “the Triple” among longtime shelf runners…..As you will see, I didn’t even come close to that…..

It’s an amazing experience. Not quite like running with the bulls in Spain, but close!

Thanks to LV Hanson for filming and providing some high quality commentating.

enjoy.

A Few things on Friday

- Guitar Players needed for Catalyst Conference on October 7. Check out the post here with details. Contact Michelle.Hoeft@CatalystSpace.com if you are interested.

- I was interviewed recently along with Ken Coleman for one of Focus on the Family’s radio podcasts. You can listen here. Or here. It’s Episode 137.

- New Catalyst Podcast features Anne Jackson and Scot McKnight. You can listen here or better yet, download from itunes.

- New book out by Steven Furtick: Sun Stand Still. Worth a purchase for sure!

- Amazing Video about iPad light painting.

- Stark County Treasurer. Awkward video clip. This is worth a watch. This guy is really passionate about the Stark County Treasurer position.

It's Not About You

I am always bothered by the person who continually just talks about themselves. The person who thinks that the world literally revolves around them. The person who constantly is worried about how things will affect them personally. They pretend to be interested in others, but really are only concerned with furthering their career or pushing their agenda.

It’s Not about You. Really. It’s Not.

So here are a few thoughts on combating the “You” paradigm:

1. Be Selfless. Being Selfless is Biblical. It’s Jesus focused, and Jesus centered. And it’s a lifestyle. You can’t just turn the selfless button on and off. You have to embrace it fully.

2. Fight against pride constantly. Pride is a Killer. It’s a collaboration killer. It will corrupt a team. And it will corrupt your own leadership growth. It is deadly when given the chance to flourish. Many times, pride is induced not by leaders, but more by those around them who feel a burden to make their leader so elevated that they end up furthering the problem instead of helping squelch it.

3. Be generous. This is a great way to combat your tendency to think that you own it, and everything is about you. Especially with money or possessions. When you sense in your life a strong pull towards hoarding, just intentionally be more generous than normal.

4. Honest friends. A crucial component in fighting the “You” paradigm. Surround yourself with friends who will be brutally honest, and will tell you when you are being selfish and too “you” focused. Us is way better than me or you.

4 Traits every leader must have

Reading a new book from James Kouzes and Barry Posner entitled The Truth about Leadership. I recommend you read it. Kouzes and Posner have been studying and doing research on the topic of leadership for the past 30 years. One of their books, The Leadership Challenge, is a classic and must read.

They explain in The Truth about Leadership that, based on their research over the last 30 years, there are 4 key traits that every leader must have. These 4 traits continually show up at the top of the list in terms of what people on a team expect and desire from their leaders. Every year these are the top four in their research projects, regardless of economy, recessions, growth of the internet, political landscape, etc.

1. HONESTY- telling the truth. Your team needs to believe you are worthy of their trust. Knowing in your heart that you truly believe what you are saying, and they can believe it too.

2. FORWARD-LOOKING- having a sense of direction and concern for the future of the organization. You must know where you are going if you expect others to willingly join you on the journey. People won’t willingly follow you until they can see how they share in the future you envision.

3. INSPIRING- people on your team expect you to be positive, upbeat, and optimistic. Your energy signals your personal level of commitment. Sharing enthusiasm, excitement, and energy. You have to give your team reason to believe that tomorrow will be even better than today.

4. COMPETENT- your ability to get things done. People have to believe you know what you’re talking about and you know what you’re doing. Competence inspires confidence in the team that you’ll be able to guide the enterprise in the direction it needs to go.

Honest, forward-looking, inspiring, and competent. Traits/qualities that your team is looking for in you.

Ultimately, these four are evidence of the fact that people want to follow leaders who are CREDIBLE. Who do what they say they will do. People want to follow a leader who is believable. Your team wants to believe that your word can be trusted, you are passionate about the work you are doing, you know where you are headed, and you have the necessary knowledge and skill to lead.