Connections
Connecting Connect Group Leaders to God, Growth and Ministry
September 14, 2011 Terryl Delaney
John Maxwell, the well-known leadership guru, declared long ago that everything rises and falls on leadership. He’s right. If a church is blessed with competent and spiritually healthy leaders it will do well. If it is blessed with a team of spiritually healthy, great leaders, chances are that it will grow into a truly great church. The same is true of our Connect Classes. As Maxwell declared long ago, everything rises and falls on leadership.
We don’t have to go far in Scripture to watch this simple principle working out. A quick study of the kings of Judah and Israel demonstrates this simple truth. When Judah had good kings they prospered. When they had bad kings they suffered. Actually, take a step backward into the book of Judges and we see the same principle unfolding. Good leaders lead people to go places filled with God’s blessings.
Unfortunately, many churches and church organizations act as though they believe that it’s only a matter of luck when churches and church organizations grow and are blessed of God. Satan wants God’s people to keep thinking this way because it offers him a tremendous advantage to keep lost souls—lost. If the rescuers are confused, disorganized, and misdirected as well as having a misguided philosophy regarding leadership the church and church organizations can’t advance against his kingdom. So Satan’s strategy is to keep Christians confused, misinformed and misdirected in regard to what it means to be an effective leader and how to form effective leadership team.
So it’s not surprising to find Satan smiling when he sees Christians sitting beneath the shade of a big oak tree, sipping sweet tea and talking about how much they would like to reach the lost. He laughs to himself and hopes that we’ll just keep talking.
What’s the answer? Learn what it means to be a good to great leader. Form a leadership team of good and great leaders. Get on our knees to get marching orders from our Commander in Chief, and march into Satan’s kingdom the way Joshua led the Israelites into the Promise Land. Now, when this happens, Satan stops laughing and runs for cover. Not because we’re so strong and mighty; But because we’re well-organized, well-led and marching behind the banner of Jesus.
This is the reason I’ve made it a habit of studying effective leadership. John Maxwell, the well known leadership guru confronts us with a simple truth every time he declares, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” If we want to have good to great Connect Groups, we need to have good to great leadership teams in our classes. It’s that simple. But getting there takes an unbending commitment and a huge amount of effort. Good to great leadership doesn’t just happen.
One of the best ways to learn how to lead is to study other leaders—especially successful leaders. Actually, one can learn quite a bit by watching poor leaders, too. They offer micro-wave quick lessons on what not to do. But I must confess. I love learning from successful, good to great leaders best.
This is the reason I became aware of Dr. Mark Rutland long before Pauline and I moved to Lakeland. He was the highly successful president of Southeastern University. A recent article in Ministry Today Magazine captures the impact that he has had for Christ.
Prior to becoming the President of Southeastern University, Dr. Rutland saved Calvary Assembly of God in Winter Park from bankruptcy by rebuilding a congregation that had plummeted from 5,00 people to 1,880 back to 3,600. Then, he was called by God to move on to become the president of Southeastern College.
Dr. Rutland transformed the slowly dying college by tripling its enrollment and turning it into a university with a beautiful campus in only ten years. Along the way, he captured the attention of leaders across America by developing a major leadership forum at Southeastern.
We see Dr. Rutland’s spirit emerge in the article he wrote from the magazine, titled, Principles for Leading a Turnaround. He shared the story of how a giant oak tree was ripped from the ground by Hurricane Charlie, filling their pool and yard with huge branches stacked seven to eight feet deep. Thankfully, the tree had not destroyed their home or taken the life of anyone which it could have easily done.
Dr. Rutland writes, “Discouragement swept over us like a tsunami as we gazed out at the shattered remains of our dream. The hurricane past, the sun came out in fury, cooking the mountains of wreckage. The stench was serious, the heat was blistering and there seemed no hope of ever seeing it all right again.”
What should they do? What could they do? Quit? No one would blame them. But there was another option. They could roll up their sleeves and go to work. They could get a new vision. They could rebuild what was lost and damaged. They could make it better than ever. And that’s exactly what they did.
This successful university president who has moved on to become the president of Oral Roberts University uses his hurricane experience to lay out several key leadership principles that will help breathe new life into any struggling church—or, Connect Group, for that matter.
His first and what he terms his most important turn around principle is to—Take the long term view. He notes, “When first presented with the sight of carnage, two equal and opposite temptations will present themselves. The first is to believe it is hopeless, that the turnaround cannot happen. The other is to think it will happen quickly and easily.” Dr. Rutland offers an important hint regarding this first principle: “When the struggle to rebuild seems impossible, remind yourself that a turnaround is a process, not an event.”
Most turnaround situations require time and patience. The unwanted or dire situation didn’t happen overnight and it isn’t going to be solved overnight. So it’s not surprising that Dr. Rutland warns,“Discouragement will be the constant and unrelenting enemy in the process of any turnaround.” Thus, he counsels, “Surround yourself with voices of encouragement.”
The truth is—it doesn’t take a genius to tell us all the reasons why what we’re trying won’t work. Anyone can do that. The key is to find ways to make it work and surround oneself with positive cheerleaders. If the first idea doesn’t succeed—that’s okay. Go to the second, then, the third. If they fail, go to the fourth and fifth. Something will work. All we need to do is find it while keeping all the naysayers at bay. It’s only a matter of more thought and time until we’ll see successful looming on the horizon.
By the end of the article, Dr. Rutland gives seven principles to guide us to successful turnarounds: 1. Take a long-term view, 2. Make a realistic appraisal of what the real problem is, 3. Just start, 4. While you work, look for added resources to help, 5. Assigning blame is an emotional waste, 6. Be prepared for vast expenditures of time and energy, 7. (Remember) in the shipwreck you have inherited (or, are part of) it is confidence that has been damaged the worse.
We shouldn’t overlook the fact that these simple and effective principles can be used in rebuilding a struggling marriage as well as a struggling business. They’re the basic building blocks of successful leadership that are remembered and used by successful leaders and often neglected or forgotten by not so successful leaders.
They can be used to rebuild a struggling Connect Group, or ministries within a Connect Group, such as Group socials or Care Groups. They can be used to re-launch a failed Connect Group. As John Maxwell reminds us, everything rises or falls on leadership. Let’s strive to be good to great leaders. The members of our Connect Groups deserve it.
Thanks for the prayers…
Some of our Connect Group leaders knew about and were praying for my trip to New York to deliver the Memorial Message for 9-11. It was our first trip back, since leaving two years ago, to the church God privileged Pauline and me to birth along with 21 other men, women and children. We were greatly blessed to see 24 people pray to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
A BIG Congratulations to all the classes who have contacted 100% of their visitors/prospects this past month…
Adult 3
Beautiful Mess
Common Ground
Community Bible Study
Contenders
Daily Bread
H20
His Place
Home & Family
Life’s Journey
Living Word
Real Spirit & Truth
Salt and Light
Son Seekers
Victory Lane
It’s important to remember that one of the key ingredients in Connect Group growth is based on contacts. People don’t know if we love or care about them unless we consistently contact them when they visit. Let’s make it our goal to have 100% of our Connect Groups contacting 100% of their visitors and prospects every month. This matters more than most people realize and it has an eternal value. People need to know that they are loved and wanted.
Terryl
