I want to share a few things that was absolutely amazing when it comes to our leadership team. I could never have imagined having such an incredible team at Netcast, especially this soon. Beyond that, I never imagined that within 2 years of moving here to plant Netcast, that we would have the responsibility / opportunity of managing so much of God's Kingdom Resources.
I am humbly, a very proud pastor today. Here's why...
1. Unity.
Every budget conversation I have ever been a part of, prior to Netcast, was a catalyst in exposing a lack of unity. People are funny when it comes to money. Jealously and Envy creep in. People start getting bitter about how one person has a larger budget line than another. Salaries create anxiety and chaos, as well as revealing a lack of trust in God's provision. The list can go on….
But, not with our team!! If anything, working through the new budget exposed a unity, that I thought "probably" existed, but was absolutely confirmed through this process. The entire team was on board with trying to decide what seemed best for Netcast, rather than how we can benefit personally as individuals. There was never a feeling that someone was trying to take care of their personal needs or departments needs over the needs of Netcast as a whole. For that I am so grateful.
2. Vision.
Often times when dealing with budgets; vision is not clear. Therefore, to allocate money somewhere where there is a difference in opinion with vision, can cause a stir. Our vision as a church is continuing to be more clear as we move forward. In addition to that, I was so proud how through our budget conversations, the leaders at Netcast stayed focused on things that matter rather than fighting over things that don't matter. Everyone kept the vision of Netcast at the forefront of conversation. We are about worship, the gospel, community, authenticity, advancing the kingdom, making disciples, outward focus and generosity. All of that is reflected in our budget.
3. Long Term Thinking.
The temptation with a budget is to think to short and too small. So, people make decisions on what will effect tomorrow, yet forget about next year. People think about where they are now, not where God is leading them for the future. As a Leadership team, it amazed me how everyone was able to grasp long term thinking. The team was able to make decisions based upon where we are going and not where we are now. They chose to make decisions now that will benefit everyone in 5 years. Because of that, much of the team put our pride to the side and chose to sacrifice personal preference for the benefit of the Kingdom of God. God desires sacrifice and promises to bless this one single act of faithfulness. I pray this continues to define us as a church and am so proud of our team.
4. Generosity.
Netcast is becoming an extremely generous ministry. We are making decisions now that are freeing us to be generous in the future. Not many churches our size with our budget will give away as much money as Netcast will. Our generosity is becoming ingrained into the DNA of who we are. The Netcast Leadership team is determined to continue to be defined by that. The team has modeled this in their personal lives and now it is continuing on within the direction of the church. May Netcast always continue to be a generous church.
5. Risk
Part of the reason that Netcast has been so blessed by the Lord is because our leaders have been willing to risk what other churches are often not willing to risk. The leaders at Netcast are ready and willing to do things better and more effective at the risk of anything, for the glory of Jesus and seeing disciples made.
Budget conversations, often times become the sole reason why churches don't do this. Churches tend to be too safe. They use too much worldly wisdom and not enough faith. They are content with being content and feel like they are doing something because they are sustaining themselves and meeting budget.
I am so proud at how the leaders at Netcast will never allow us to be like that. Had Netcast been started with that mentality we would still be in the YMCA asking questions about; "why we are not reaching people, why are we not growing, why are we just like all the other churches." But we're not asking those questions. Rather we are asking questions like, "why do we have $40k in the bank after 18 months; yet gave away over $30k in the past year? Why do we have over 400 people in our services? Why is 1/2 of our church in community groups? Why are people experiencing God like never before? Why do we have over 20 people in the queue, ready to be baptized?"
Here's our answer…..Because all throughout the bible Jesus rewards risk and faith. Without faith we cannot please God. - Hebrews 11. What makes Netcast, Netcast; is our determination to not be safe (not stupid; but not safe.) Safe people don't defeat Goliath like David. Safe people don't break down Jericho's walls like Joshua. Safe people don't walk on water like Peter. Safe people don't make good missionaries like Paul. Safe people don't lead the most influential churches in America. And Netcast cannot be in New England, what we all dream we will become, if it is lead by safe leaders who are constantly making safe decisions.
Right now, Hell is being destroyed on the North Shore and we are playing a large part in fighting the battle. I don't mean that in an arrogant way, but for some reason Jesus has put his hand on us with power. He has blessed us with money, people, bands, leaders, gifts, wisdom, an anointing etc….because we are willing to risk it all for His name and Glory. At Netcast we preach boldly, we sing loudly, we live authentically, we lead faithfully, we risk everything, we pursue excellence in all we do, we worship passionately, we spend money to advance the Kingdom in any way possible, and we are generous with our finances. We will not stop, we cannot be stopped and may we not ever become content in our pursuit of these things.
I am so proud of our leaders at Netcast. They've shown themselves to be diligent, faithful, prayerful and lovers of the gospel. May God grant us another awesome year of kicking some Satan tail!!
Showing posts with label vision. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vision. Show all posts
Netcast Mission and Vision
Series: Netcast Identity
Title: Netcast Mission and Vision
Text: 1 Corinthians 3:5-11; John 4:21-24; Romans 15:1-7
It is clear in scripture that God is about making his name great on the earth. Isaiah 42 says, "we have been created for God's glory." In the New Testament, Christians are commissioned to glorify God by making disciples of Jesus Christ. So, the obvious mission of every local church is to glorify God by making disciples.
But how? How does a local church go about making disciples of Jesus Christ? There are thousands of ways that the church historically has gone about making disciples. Whether it be through classes, programs, special ministries or services; the strategies are endless. However, each church has it's own identity and unique strategy in seeing disciples made.
Our mission at Netcast is to bring glory to God through cultivating gospel-centered, worshipful communities. We believe that if a person continues to grow in their knowledge and understanding of the gospel, grow in their worship of Jesus Christ and live out their faith in biblical authentic community; that person is a devout disciple of Jesus. Therefore, at Netcast we will continue to cultivate these types of atmospheres where people can thrive in their walk with Christ and love of their neighbor.
Title: Netcast Mission and Vision
Text: 1 Corinthians 3:5-11; John 4:21-24; Romans 15:1-7
It is clear in scripture that God is about making his name great on the earth. Isaiah 42 says, "we have been created for God's glory." In the New Testament, Christians are commissioned to glorify God by making disciples of Jesus Christ. So, the obvious mission of every local church is to glorify God by making disciples.
But how? How does a local church go about making disciples of Jesus Christ? There are thousands of ways that the church historically has gone about making disciples. Whether it be through classes, programs, special ministries or services; the strategies are endless. However, each church has it's own identity and unique strategy in seeing disciples made.
Our mission at Netcast is to bring glory to God through cultivating gospel-centered, worshipful communities. We believe that if a person continues to grow in their knowledge and understanding of the gospel, grow in their worship of Jesus Christ and live out their faith in biblical authentic community; that person is a devout disciple of Jesus. Therefore, at Netcast we will continue to cultivate these types of atmospheres where people can thrive in their walk with Christ and love of their neighbor.
Netcast Identity: The Mission of God and His Church
The mission of God is the demonstration of His own glory. God creates, calls, rescues, redeems, saves, and restores so that that He might be glorified in those things. His desire, which He will surely fulfill, is that the understanding and knowledge of His glory would be known throughout the world. In other words, God’s underlying mission on the earth is to make known His magnificence. Therefore, the church is called to be the means of making his glory known. But how? If God can be glorified in an infinite amount of ways, than what is the primary mission of the church? How are we, as the church, to pursue the glorification of God?
After Jesus fulfills the gospel by living the perfect life that we are called to live, dying the horrific death that we deserve and then raises from the grave; He proves that he is the Messiah, the glorious one. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the exact imprint of God's nature and He is to be exalted high above all things. In Matthew 28; the glorious Jesus, give us the commission on how we (His church) will glorify Him. We are told to go and make disciples throughout all the nations. God is most glorified by His church as the church preaches and lives out the gospel, while making disciples within the earth.
After Jesus fulfills the gospel by living the perfect life that we are called to live, dying the horrific death that we deserve and then raises from the grave; He proves that he is the Messiah, the glorious one. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the exact imprint of God's nature and He is to be exalted high above all things. In Matthew 28; the glorious Jesus, give us the commission on how we (His church) will glorify Him. We are told to go and make disciples throughout all the nations. God is most glorified by His church as the church preaches and lives out the gospel, while making disciples within the earth.
6 Leadership Lessons I have learned in Church Planting
I was recently asked to share some of the leadership lessons that I have learned in my 14 months as the church planter of Netcast Church. I thought I would share them with you guys.
1. Authority is easy to give away and very hard to take back. Take your time giving away authority to others because once you give it away, it could cause major disunity and problems if you have to take it back.
2. Building teams are vital. Most leaders neglect the importance of team building. Without other strong teams within an organization, the organization will never thrive.
3. Allow other leaders to lead. We want Netcast to be a place where God sends leaders to lead and not leaders to always be led. For the health and benefit of Netcast, it is important that I free people to lead out in their gifts. If there are people who are more gifted than I am in certain areas, than I have to encourage and free them to lead out in their giftedness.
4. Competence, Character, and Chemistry. For me as a leader, it is vital that the people on my team, have these three characteristics. I learned this from a leadership book I read about 5 years ago and it is so true. You can never allow someone with great abilities but little character to be a part of the leadership of a church. In the same way, if someone has great character but can't keep a commitment, than they are unqualified to lead. Lastly, if they have great character and are competent individuals, but lack chemistry with the other people within the organization, than we cannot allow that type of dis-unity. In order for a person to be a leader at Netcast, they have to have personal character, they must be competent and they myst have chemistry with other people in the organization.
5. Encourage diversity in giftedness. Anytime you have all of the same type of people on a team, than you will struggle to get better. Without diversity, you will rarely be able to see an organization with a critical eye. It is important that you have enough diversity among a team that we are continually getting different perspectives on any given issue. The only thing that you need to be careful about with this type of approach, is keeping unity. When people come to the table with different perspectives, it is vital that they all do so with great humility and honor towards others.
6. Wins go out, losses stay in. At Netcast, whenever we get a "win" (encouraging email, someone becomes a christian, etc…) we make sure that we spread that news throughout the entire church. Those are great ways for us to encourage the church. However, when we see a "loss" (discouraging email, harsh critic, etc…) we make sure that stays within the leadership of the church and we deal with it there. This is vital to keeping positive momentum within an organization.
1. Authority is easy to give away and very hard to take back. Take your time giving away authority to others because once you give it away, it could cause major disunity and problems if you have to take it back.
2. Building teams are vital. Most leaders neglect the importance of team building. Without other strong teams within an organization, the organization will never thrive.
3. Allow other leaders to lead. We want Netcast to be a place where God sends leaders to lead and not leaders to always be led. For the health and benefit of Netcast, it is important that I free people to lead out in their gifts. If there are people who are more gifted than I am in certain areas, than I have to encourage and free them to lead out in their giftedness.
4. Competence, Character, and Chemistry. For me as a leader, it is vital that the people on my team, have these three characteristics. I learned this from a leadership book I read about 5 years ago and it is so true. You can never allow someone with great abilities but little character to be a part of the leadership of a church. In the same way, if someone has great character but can't keep a commitment, than they are unqualified to lead. Lastly, if they have great character and are competent individuals, but lack chemistry with the other people within the organization, than we cannot allow that type of dis-unity. In order for a person to be a leader at Netcast, they have to have personal character, they must be competent and they myst have chemistry with other people in the organization.
5. Encourage diversity in giftedness. Anytime you have all of the same type of people on a team, than you will struggle to get better. Without diversity, you will rarely be able to see an organization with a critical eye. It is important that you have enough diversity among a team that we are continually getting different perspectives on any given issue. The only thing that you need to be careful about with this type of approach, is keeping unity. When people come to the table with different perspectives, it is vital that they all do so with great humility and honor towards others.
6. Wins go out, losses stay in. At Netcast, whenever we get a "win" (encouraging email, someone becomes a christian, etc…) we make sure that we spread that news throughout the entire church. Those are great ways for us to encourage the church. However, when we see a "loss" (discouraging email, harsh critic, etc…) we make sure that stays within the leadership of the church and we deal with it there. This is vital to keeping positive momentum within an organization.
Extravagant Worship
One thing that I am pretty passionate about is that, as a church, we are on the cutting edge of modern day worship music. Lately, I have fallen in love with some older hymns and I don't mind playing older style music, as long as it has flavor that is conducive to the people at our church. I envision Netcast Music to be Christ saturated and focused on the Gospel. With me as the senior pastor, we will be mostly reaching people between the ages of 17-37 years old. The rule of thumb is about 10 years older and younger than the lead guy. Unless God does something very unusual, statistics show that will be the case. Because of that, we will want our music to be engaging to that demographic. Some may disagree and that is OK.
Honestly, in my sin, I am pretty critical of worship sets. I hate bad transitions, a worship leader who feels the need to crack jokes or preach, and the worse is when a leader is more interested in doing a concert than he is of leading God's people. The worship leader is a key player during the corporate gathering. He's responsible for leading the group into an engaging experience with the Lord. That takes preparation and a gifted team. I honestly long for the day at Netcast, where unbelievers come into a worship set and God saves them without a preacher ever saying anything. Where people are healed and set free during a worship set. I long for the day where the presence of God in worship is so thick and real that even the unbelievers wont want to stop. Things like this are happening overseas everyday; why not now?
This is just my opinion and what God has placed on my heart pertaining to corporate worship. I am not saying that it is right, I am only saying that this is my heart. I thank Christ for the churches who are different than what I described above and in no way am I trying to put my preference above anyone else's. You're open to disagree.
Honestly, in my sin, I am pretty critical of worship sets. I hate bad transitions, a worship leader who feels the need to crack jokes or preach, and the worse is when a leader is more interested in doing a concert than he is of leading God's people. The worship leader is a key player during the corporate gathering. He's responsible for leading the group into an engaging experience with the Lord. That takes preparation and a gifted team. I honestly long for the day at Netcast, where unbelievers come into a worship set and God saves them without a preacher ever saying anything. Where people are healed and set free during a worship set. I long for the day where the presence of God in worship is so thick and real that even the unbelievers wont want to stop. Things like this are happening overseas everyday; why not now?
This is just my opinion and what God has placed on my heart pertaining to corporate worship. I am not saying that it is right, I am only saying that this is my heart. I thank Christ for the churches who are different than what I described above and in no way am I trying to put my preference above anyone else's. You're open to disagree.
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