The Necessary Things

We Can Change What It Looks Like to Clock In

I've experienced four different kinds of time at work:

1. Extremely productive time that does not feel like work

2. Productive time that feels like work

3. Unproductive time that does not feel like work

4. Unproductive time that feels like work

I believe the most opportunity to redeem "work time" lies in number four. It's easy to do training and seminars on number two, but the margin for improvement is small.

Some examples of number four from my time in campus ministry:

• Wandering around the dorms on campus because it was "hot hours," the time when students were most available.

• Laboring for hours over a decision that ultimately gets reversed as soon as the meeting is over.

• Pretending to embrace a strategy that I do not understand and generating half-hearted tactics to appease my conscience.

• Spending most of time on that which is safe, known, and mildly effective instead of that which is unsafe, unknown, and potentially wildly effective. 

I've reoriented the way I think about work time to this:

• Make the hot hotter and cold colder--instead of seeking an even or balanced pace I find that working harder when I'm working hard and resting more intentionally when I'm "clocked out" has made me more productive.

Two YouTube videos speak to the issue of time and work extremely poignantly. At least bookmark them for a rainy day.

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Starting a New Ministry? What's the Minimum Viable Product?

"So, the minimum viable product is that product which has just those features (and no more) that allows you to ship a product that resonates with early adopters; some of whom will pay you money or give you feedback." Eric Ries, start-up guru, from a recent blog post

In two of the ministries I started I found that the minimum viable product consisted of:

• A leadership team of at least three people with an ability to grasp the big picture and the social skills to draw others in.

• A "bar" that every member understood to be the divider between leader and follower (in our case it was participation (active or passive) in ministry-mode evangelism.)

• A commitment to proactively selecting and developing non-leaders for the future.

My favorite phrase from Ries' quote is "resonates with early adopters." The biggest mistake I see in other ministry start-ups is trying to make the ministry robust enough for the masses--the reality is that if you are starting a ministry you do not appeal to the masses.

You probably don't have the size, building, relationships, money, or a host of other things to draw a wide range of people.

Have you started a ministry? What did your minimum viable product consist of?

photo courtesy of alun

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To Fear or Not To Fear the Unknown

...that is the most expensive phone in the world

...it doesn't appeal to business guys

...it (a motorola Q) will do music

i love Steve Ballmer's (Microsoft CEO) response to the iPhone because it represents a common response to change--fear. even though he tried to sound confident that the iPhone did not have a chance because of price and a lack of keyboard, i certainly did not buy it, and neither did the market that he was so sure would not want it. this is a SMART and wealthy guy--43rd richest in the world, a billionaire according to Wikipedia.

the trend that i'm noticing most is that there is a new pace that many organizations are struggling to adjust--one that is quicker, has more micro-changes rather than infrequent macro-changes, and requires multiple iterations to align strategy with tactics.

it's unsettling when it appears someone knows something that you do not. i would love to see more responses of curiousness to these types of things rather than fear and apprehension.

What Person Are You Trying to Change in Ministry?

Have you ever beat your head against a wall trying to help someone change a critical component of strategy or tactics, and then speak with someone else and almost fall over from the lack of resistance?

Charlene Li, author of Groundswell, click here to follow her on Twitter, outlined four archetypes that exist within every group. I found this extremely helpful in speaking with the right people to bring about change.

These are her four archetypes:

The Fearful Skeptic--highly critical of any kind of change, and weary that things will 'get messed up' if any pieces shift.

The Cautious Tester--Willing to adapt or integrate change, but in bite sized amounts and over a significant length of time.

The Realist/Optimist--Understands the realities of the organization, and is upbeat and willing to sponsor change.

Transparent Evangelist--Sees the light but doesn't know the organization well enough to make appropriate changes

Li noted the following:

• Often times we talk to fearful skeptic to no avail but if/when a change agent can connect them to a transparent evangelist or realist/optimist they can dip into the cautious tester role.
  

• Change Agents need to respect the fact that all of these archetypes exist, and that none are "better" than the other (thank you Cloud/Townsend).
  

• Look for and take advantage of times (regional conferences for ccc staff) when various archetypes are in the same room.

Which archetype most closely describes you? Have you seen these work out in your context?

photo courtesy of gogdog

Change Opportunity--Get the CCC Summer Project Videos on YouTube

After receiving an email encouraging me to promote Campus Crusade Summer Projects (which are unbelievable awesome) through videos, I was eager to go to the site and share them.

However I noticed that the videos are only available for download.

I wondered...

If these videos were on YouTube how many more times would they be viewed? Perhaps 16x more as suggested by my previous post?

Rather than sit in wonder I wanted to do something about it.

Here's the question I would love for you to answer in ONE WORD (yes or no) in the comment section of this post:

Do you think that it posting the summer project videos on YouTube would generate a significant amount of exposures?

My hope is that this meager blog could generate enough affirmation in this reality that the powers that be would post them on YouTube.

Please Tweet or Share this post in other places if you're so inclined. There is a Tweet This button right below.

If you're reading this on Facebook, please go to the blog link to comment so that they are all in one place.

How Do You Measure and Foster Innovation in Ministry?

The last post created quite a debate over how well Campus Crusade and college ministries in general innovate.

Apologies to Ryan, Eric, Russ and Benson in advance as I try to summarize. I'm hoping to capture key bits of information that represent you guys well.

Two general observations:

1. Quantifying innovation proves extremely challenging considering the many tangible/intangible & direct/indirect factors that factor into the innovation process,
2. The fragmented nature of CCC also makes understanding how well we do at innovating difficult, as on some levels we are doing REALLY AMAZING stuff, but on other levels not much is happening.

Here were some key quotes in the discussion:

• Innovation passes through Campus Crusade the way a bill passes through congress: coalitions built on shared needs and goals...Believe me, if your innovation (for example) is effective at helping students move toward Jesus, and you can demonstrate this with proven results, you won't need "identifying and empowering" from someone with a title. --Ryan McReynolds

• I meet so many staff at the local level who have great ideas, are innovating and coming up with better ways of doing things and helping students discover Jesus. They are challenging existing models and really engaging the problems and current realities. However, like you've identified, we're not good at seeing those great ideas out to the masses (at least quickly). We are not good at collaborating.--Russ Martin

• We are a top-down organization, but "The Way Forward" is an attempt to move us more away from that. Hopefully it will continue to happen. But for now we're still a permissions-based culture.--Eric
  

• But I would wonder if in a healthy "profession," we should be seeing lots of "medium-level" innovations, too - ones that don't ever become as huge as I Agree with Dave, but still impact a number of campuses. If all college ministry has are local innovations (that nobody hears about) and the occasional innovation that EVERYBODY hears about, I bet we're missing something.--Benson Hines

Since this discussion can go so many ways still, I'll throw out a couple questions that may keep the conversation going:

• If you're on the field in any capacity (full-time ministry or marketplace), what are some key elements to seeing your innovations get noticed by those above you, and/or spread beyond your role for the greater good?

• If you are in an executive role, what sorts of principles or practices work well for seeing that ideas and innovations are not only seeded with resources to help them grow but championed in the greater scope to benefit a larger audience?

Campus Crusade Needs More Pre-Missionaries

I wrote a couple days ago about how one of Campus Crusade's role is to be a  "missionary funnel" that sends students to the world to fulfill the Great Commission.

I filled out the top of the funnel by adding more specific categories:

• Masses: In the campus ministry, it's every student that walks on campus.
• Laborers: Involved in a Campus Crusade movement, serves sporadically, partially aligned to mission, vision, and values.
• Leaders: Exercising authority and influence over other students primarily through spiritual multiplication, and demonstrate to some degree a grasp of eternal perspective and the Great Commission.

So what do you call that space between a leader and a full-time staff member?

I believe if we asked many field staff about this section, many would not even know it exists. I believe that's also why we have a sending crisis on our hands. 

I venture to call that group Pre-Missionaries. I believe the wording is important because:

• It assumes their FIRST choice upon graduation is to join staff. It also assumes inequality between the marketplace and the missionary order.

• It underscores to the movement, both directly and indirectly, that THIS CATEGORY is what we are trying to produce and reproduce. Again, widen the funnel and allow for anyone and everyone to consider themselves SENT by CCC, and we lose the power of this category altogether. 

• It causes those leading these students to develop them as a missionary, not just a student leader. If you've been in campus ministry you know exactly what I'm talking about here. It's the difference between training them how to apostolically lead and training them on how to be the best bible study leader they can be or give the best possible evangelistic presentation.

Would love your thoughts on how your ministry or organization funnel works and what kind of person you would ideally want to see reproduced.

The Expanding Ministry Blogosphere

So I'm excited to welcome and highlight some friends in ministry who have recently started blogging or have renovated their blog.

I can only see more of this coming, and it's really exciting to think about extending the conversation about ministry and spiritual leadership online.

Renovations:

• Brian Virtue: on staff with CCC in Epic; just went the Thesis/Wordpress route
• Ken Cochrum: on staff with CCC; also went the Thesis/Wordpress route

New Blogs:

• Chris Zaugg: on staff with CCC in Keynote; Wordpress self-hosted
• Bob Fuhs: CCC staff in Los Angeles; keeping it real with Typepad
• Matt McComas: CCC staff in Montana; Wordpress.com
• CRUBlogging: a blog I started with Jayson Whelpley to give advice to ministry bloggers
• Barbara Francis: great Wordpress blog highlighting the themes of forgiveness and grace
• Paul Nunez: CCC staff at San Jose State in Northern California

Have you thought about upgrading your blog? If so I suggest Typepad Pro or the Thesis Theme that runs on Wordpress. Here's what I posted on why Typepad Pro.

How Viral is a Facebook Fan Page? Why Switch from a Group?

Many times ministry 'feels' so busy that the thought of adopting something new that MAY make your ministry more effective is too much.

Here's a screencast of why I believe every ministry should change from a Facebook Group page to a Facebook Fan page:

Does Your Structure Scale?

One road. Two different experiences.

I recently drove my car over a gravel road en route to a conference. I then road my bicycle over it the next day.

If your movement/organization suddenly went from bicycle-size to car-size what kind of experience would it be for those involved? Could it handle the road?

I have made some structural changes to the movement I lead at Chico State over the past few years; many of these changes have had a lifespan of one to two years before they required additional tweaking to accommodate the changing size of the group.

It would have been a miss for me to assume that structural changes that produce success must be preserved at all costs.

When you examine your context, what part of your structure facilitates scale? What needs some tweaking?

photo courtesy of intherough