Leadership

Good Morning Baltimore

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The movie “Hairspray” opens with the song “Good Morning Baltimore”. It’s a happy song about the finer points of the city. But as the movie progresses, the very serious issues of body image discrimination and racial segregation take front stage. In the end, it takes a galvanizing leader and a courageous teenager to open the … Read more

Riverland Church

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This weekend my family and I traveled to Summerville, South Carolina to celebrate the launch of Riverland Church www.riverlandchurch.com . We’ve been a part of this church plant since meeting our good friends Jeff and Lexi Centers two years ago. Throughout the weekend we were blessed to spend time with the Centers, and Rick and Trudy Bonnette as well as meet the incredible launch team they’ve assembled for the church. 

The launch team is talented and diverse. They are also committed to the vision. This team is a loving, inviting group who welcomed us in and made us feel like family. They play well to their strengths and have found ways to lean and depend on each other. 

The launch team’s desire to serve with excellence is off the charts. For example, in the debriefing meeting several team members reported they noticed a small curtain was out of place during the service. They didn’t want anything, especially an out of place curtain, to distract anyone from the message. This team is one of the things that makes Riverland a great church. 

The highlight of the weekend for me was hearing these words at the conclusion of the service. “Thank you. Wow! Thank you!” These were the words Jeff spoke in awe of the move of God when people began to raise their hands and respond to his sermon. Later, we were informed that more than 20 people in the audience raised their hands to indicate they were either re-dedicating their lives to Christ or accepting Christ for the first time. 

This is only the beginning. If you know anyone in Summerville, Mt. Pleasant, or Charleston, South Carolina who needs to know Jesus, send them to Riverland Church. It’s a place of Hope, Acceptance, and Generosity where people can find their purpose in God. They meet on Sundays at 10:00am in the Regal Cinemas in Summerville, South Carolina. Check out their website for details. www.riverlandchurch.com

Start Now

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“Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. (Acts 7:23 NKJV)

“And when forty years had passed, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. (Acts 7:30 NKJV)

I’m blessed to turn 40 today and it’s got me thinking: what can I start now? Moses was 40 when his life took a dramatic turn. After living in Pharaoh’s house as a prince of Egypt, God put it in his heart to visit the people of his heritage and start down the path toward their deliverance. Then at age 80, after another 40 years of tending sheep in the desert, God spoke to him from a burning bush, commissioning him to free the children of Israel from slavery. After that he wandered the desert for 40 years leading a nation of more than a million people to the brink of the promised land. 

This encourages me because it shows God can use us to do great things at any age. We just need to keep our hearts and minds opened to God’s leading like Moses. If Moses could endure a career change at 40 and begin leading a nation at 80, what can we do if we start now? 

It’s not too late for us to go back to school or start our own businesses. It’s not too late to lend our strength, talents, and expertise to help community organizations. It’s not too late to make a meaningful impact in the life of a child. It’s never too late to make our contribution to the world. It’s never too late to decide to make our lives count.  

No matter what age we may be, or how large the task may seem, with God’s help, we can start now. 

The Management Cycle

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“But during all this I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Then after certain days I obtained leave from the king,” (Nehemiah 13:6 NKJV)

“I also realized that the portions for the Levites had not been given them; for each of the Levites and the singers who did the work had gone back to his field. So I contended with the rulers, and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them together and set them in their place.” (Nehemiah 13:10, 11 NKJV)
 
One of my personal goals as a leader for the new year is to delegate more. I want to empower others to do more than I could on my own. I must admit in the past when I delegated responsibilities I made the mistake of believing every person involved was a motivated self starter and I rarely followed up with them. The end result is many of those delegated tasks fell through the cracks. 

Nehemiah had a similar incident occur in his leadership after the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. He delegated responsibilities to various individuals to lead the administration of the temple. He left Jerusalem for a while and when he returned he found the responsibilities had been neglected. Nehemiah was then forced to make hard corrections where he “contended” with the leaders.  

Nehemiah’s situation is a good illustration for the usefulness of the management cycle. The management cycle is a set of steps that can help any manager or leader keep projects moving in the right direction. There are many variations of the cycle but the basic steps are Plan, Do, Check, and Act. Here is an example. 

  • If I delegate the leadership responsibility for managing our church website, I will identify a leader and team and make a detailed PLAN addressing who, when, what, where, how, and why. 
  • Next I will commission the new leader and team to DO the steps derived from our PLAN.
  • As they follow the steps I will need to periodically CHECK their work to evaluate their performance and success of the plan.
  • After each evaluation we will need to ACT by either correcting errors, or making adjustments to take advantage of new opportunities.
  • Then we can modify our PLAN, Do the new steps, CHECK our performance, and ACT appropriately again. The cycle continues.

In Nehemiah’s case, the PLAN and DO steps were implemented but the periodic CHECK was missing. The good thing is once he did check on things, he was able to ACT by making corrections. These steps apply to virtually any project or team management situation. Give them a try in your organization for situations where you need to delegate and empower others.

A Little About Branding

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Last week, I spent some time talking with a few friends about branding identity. When I speak of branding I mean the overall organizational image, The brand communicates the organization’s mission, and promise of performance, to the public, even if in subtle ways, such as the way customer service is delivered or the color of product packaging. Ultimately a company’s brand affects how the public will engage with the organization.

For example, if I mention Disney, Google, Baptist, Catholic, Kraft, or Betty Crocker, each of these brands may bring to mind experiences or feelings one may associate with these brands.; whether good, bad or indifferent.

As a part of the process of defining the brand for our organization, my friends and I engaged in an exercise to find one word to use to describe our organization. Discovering the one word that communicates clearly and easily to all of our stakeholders (staff, investors, customers, etc.) can mean the difference between instant brand recognition and brand obscurity. Eventually we will seek to define every aspect of our brand identity.

Here are some ideas on how to define your brand identity.
  
Look within. What passions and desires motivate you?. That passion will help to clarify your perspectives and the reasons that the brand is important to you.  Ask questions like “what positive feelings do I experience when I think about our organization?” “What are the take-aways I foresee for our clients/customers?”

The answers to these questions and others like them will help us realize the true starting point for brand definition. If you don’t have any passions for your business, church, or organization in it’s current form, then describe what the organization would look like in order to ignite your passion.
  
Look without. Once you’ve done your introspective search to define your passion  then envision how this will be perceived in the minds of stakeholders. You can use tools like surveys, focus groups, or  market demographics to help gather data on target market preferences.  Also, keep in mind that your individual perspective and preference may not be identical to those you are trying to reach.
  
Look across.  Are your values and goals for the organization’s brand shared by major stakeholders? Are you communicating the intended meaning well?
  
Look around. What colors, textures, words, images, shapes, are being used to communicate your message to your intended audiences.  Here’s an example: The car company, Ferrari typically presents their cars in red or black, not softer colors such taupe because those softer colors don’t communicate the intended message of speed, excitement, and power.
  
Look to Communicate. Now that you’ve defined your passion, how the brand is perceived by the intended audiences, and determined specific elements that communicate your brand well, it’s time to communicate. In order to communicate well, you need to know the best mediums to use in order to share this brand message with your intended audience.  This may be print media, broadcast media, digital media, email marketing, social media networks, blogs, etc.

Regardless of the medium, The brand message must be consistent. Having the same look and feel across platforms will help build brand awareness and hopefully, lead to brand loyalty.
  
Keep looking. Always provide a means for  your audience to provide feedback allowing communication with the brand to become a dialog instead of a broadcast. Consumers today want to engage with the brands they follow and brands should listen and make the necessary adjustments.