3 Words Update...

Last week I decided to try something a little different, I wanted some feedback about how people perceive me. I email approx 100 people and asked them a simple question, "describe Larry in 3 words". I wanted opinions from a wide array of people that I've had connections with so I sent the email to friends, coworkers, people that I've helped and people that are no longer attending Elevation.

There were two words that were fairly consistent between all the groups of people; encouragement and intensity. I guess I wasn't surprised by those two words because I know that's in large part who God has made me to be. I truly look at glass as half full and believe that God will provide a way even when we can't see it. The intensity side is me has always been there and now that I have a 2 1/2 year old son I see first hand what i look like because he's a mirror image of his daddy...sorry Corbin.

The third word was the wild card and varied depending upon the relationship. If the feedback came from a volunteer that I've poured into I heard things like mentor or leader. When the feedback came from people that I have in one way or another helped they said things like compassionate, loving and generous. The feedback from people I'd had difficult conversations with and are people that probably won't send me a Christmas card I found the most interesting. To be honest I didn't really want to see what they would say, but it was extremely helpful. There were a few that were pretty harsh, but the majority were things such as straight-forward, loyal, and honoring of my pastor.

For me the value in this exercise is to see how am I representing myself, my church and Jesus Christ. I'm not going to take this information and try to change who I am, but I am using it to help me continue to discover who God made me to be. Through this little experiment I believe most people are consistent in two words, but the third word is the wild card. For instance I score a zero on every spiritual gifts test I've ever taken. But when I'm dealing with someone in crisis I need to operate with compassion. I don't like confrontation, but if I need to be straight forward I'll lean into the conversation.

I would encourage you to consider such an experiment. Stop and wrestle with the question, "how am I representing myself, my church and Jesus Christ?" Combine that question with "who do I want to be and what do I want to be know for" and you have a serious personal development tool in your hands. If you listen long enough you may be surprised by what you hear?

2 Chances at Childhood...

As I sit and hold my 8 week old daughter I'm reminded of a great piece of advice a friend once share with me. He told me that you get two chances childhood. Unfortunately, the first one you have very little say so in because you're the kid and someone else is making all the choices for you. But the second childhood is the one you provide for your kids because now you're in a place to make the decisions.

What's horrible is if you started out 0 for 1. If you grew up in an environment that didn't set you up for success I'm sorry, I wish it would not have turned out that way. What's tragic is if you end up 0 for 2. To go through a difficult childhood only to repeat the cycle in your kids is truly tragic.

Stop and ask yourself the question how you want to finish. Let that answer guide your heart and mind as you make choices consistent with that truth, because you do get a second chance at childhood....what will you do with it?

Turning Subjective into Objective....

One of my hobbies is to officiate wrestling. Really it's my only hobby, but that's for another day. It's hard to get it out of my blood because I've been around the sport since first grade. This past weekend I went to "Mat Clinic" with one of the best officials in the country, Dave Hickson. He's the guy who officiates the NCAA finals...he's the one who gets the call when Minnesota is wrestling Iowa. He's that good. During the clinic he talked through how he officiates and the systematic approach he applies to the calls he makes.

In wrestling, one of the toughest and most subjective things to call is stalling. It's when the is no action and the wrestlers are being passive. Ten different officials will call it ten different ways, it's that subjective. Dave made a profound statement "my job is to make the subject objective and call it consistently every time no matter what." He's developed a system to interpret stalling and he's going to call it the same regardless of who's winning or how much time is left in the match. Dave developed his system based upon his definition of stalling, "it's when one wrestler is the aggressor and his opponent is passive and it happens repeatedly...repeatedly is three times." In his system there's a clear definition with an objective criteria. So in a match if one wrestler makes a legitimate maneuver and his opponent does not counter, that counts as one point and Dave keeps score. If the score gets to 3-0 its stalling. It doesn't matter when, where or to who it happens...because he's developed a system.

In your world, what are the subjective areas? Where are the grey spots? With the people you are leading, what are the areas that you've allowed to remain ill defined? This principle is revolutionizing my approach to certain situations. How about you? If you are leading leaders that utilize volunteers and you ask them the question "how are your volunteers doing", what is the typical response you get...."good, alright, we need more, they don't show up on time." What can you do with the information, it's totally subjective.

When they say "I don't have enough", push back and make it objective. Ask "how many do you need to create a level of excellence and how many do you have?" Now instead of saying "I don't have enough", they can say "I am at 64% capacity".

If you're a leader, you have an obligation to remove the subjective and give clear specific objectives for success. It's the thing that will turn ordinary into extraordinary....it's the systems that create reproducible results...it's a great way to coach those you lead....and it's an opportunity to call people to higher standard because they have greater leadership capacity.

Monkey See...Monkey Do

At Elevation we are constantly re-doing, re-tooling, re-engineering our systems. As rapidly as we've grown, so has the need for changing how we do ministry. But with any growing organization that are areas that develop bad habits and unhealthy practices. As I've been thinking through this process I stumbled across the story of "8 Monkeys in a Room"

Eight monkeys are placed in a room. There is a ladder in the room and at the top of the ladder is a big bunch of bananas. The monkeys are fed adequate but unappetizing food. For the first week anytime a monkey climbs the ladder, a nozzle drenches all the monkeys with ice cold water. Soon, anytime a monkey starts to climb the ladder, all the other monkeys gang up on him and beat him senseless to avoid being punished.

One monkey is removed, and another new takes his place. Not knowing about the ice water punishment, he approaches the ladder. All the other monkeys proceed to beat him to a pulp. Every time he gets near the ladder, he’s pummeled.

A second monkey is replaced and the same thing happens to him. But now, even the first replacement monkey joins in the beating. A third is replaced…a fourth. Eventually all the original monkeys have been replaced. The new 8 monkeys have never experienced the ice water punishment, yet anytime one of them approaches the ladder, the rest of them gang up on him.

As you train and develop your people, what systems and practices are going on that have trained or taught the wrong things....and the people doing it don't even know it? What unhealthy practices need to be re-train? What priorities need to be re-arranged? What systems need to re-constructed?

What do you want to be when you grow up....

Remember when you were a kid, people would ask you "what do you want to be when you grow up?" You'd hear all kinds of amazing answers, "fireman, school teacher, doctor...." Generally you heard things about what the position represented (a fireman was some we all respected) or how they positively affected others (school teachers change lives). They expressed a desire to "be" something....to make a difference in this world.

But as you get older, the question changes. Ever seen two grown men meet for the first time and ask "What do you want to be when you grow up?"... no the question they ask is "What do you do?" There is a foundational shift as we get older, the shift from "be" to "do".

Not sure when it takes places, but someone along the line it all changes. It's definitely not because we've arrived and have achieved the epitome of "being". I think the changes are subtle, but they are there. Overtime our mind shifts from what could "be" to what "is". With age most people migrate from making a difference to paying the mortgage.

So, here's my question to you: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Why did your dreams die? Why are you settling for "doing"? God has called you to greatness and it has everything to do with who He has called you to "be" and very little with what you "do".

Hero of the Week...

I know you have enjoyed the inspirational stories with our "Hero of the Week". Today's will not disappoint. You're about to see Nick Vujicic, a truly incredible story about perspective despite being dealt a difficult hand in life. I hope his perspective encourages you to face your challenges a little differently today....

3 words....

When you think of the DMV, what word comes to mind......SLOW. How about when you think of the library...quiet. What about Clemson football...too easy I couldn't resist. Every organization has a unique identity, a brand. It's at the intersection of the organizations unique culture and the personal experience of those who use their resources.

Every entity has a culture. It's the way you operate, relate and connect with the people that walk through your doors. Over the summer we had our annual Staff Advance...other churches call it their Retreat, but we feel that the church should always move forward. Going into the advance Pastor Steven gave each staff an assignment, interview 3 people who have been associated in some way with Elevation and ask each to describe the church in 3 words. The exercise helped the staff understand that we have a unique culture, but is it the one we want. We walked away from the assignment with a clear understanding of our 3 words: Audacity, Honor and Generosity. Moving froward all decisions, structures, conversations need to reflect those 3 words.

If you are at a church I recommend that your staff go through this exercise. It will help you clarify your culture and your identity. I've decided to take this to a personal level. I'm going to email a random sample of my people in my contact list and ask them to respond with 3 words that describe me. I may not like everything I read, but it will help me understand how I'm being perceived. The goal is to leverage to feedback for personal development. I'll keep you posted on the results!!

My Broken Wrist...

I found out yesterday that my wrist is broken. Over the past month it's been sore, but Monday night it became excruciating. I stopped in the middle of my workout and went home, took a few Tylenol and strapped on an ice bag. Tuesday morning I called one of our Elevators George. He's a PA at an orthclinic in town so he had me come by for an x-ray and to my surprise I have a broken wrist.

The crazy thing about the break is that it's old, not ever sure when it happen. It may have been over 20 years ago when I broke a different bone in my wrist and they didn't see this fracture. It may have happened at some other point that I don't remember, but it's definitely been there awhile. The official term is a non-union ulnar styloid fracture....non-union meaning the bones never healed back together like the should have.

It got me thinking about when old injuries, spiritual emotional or physical go untreated. There not a problem until the stress level increases to the point it exposes the fracture. In my case it hadn't bothered my until this point because I'm in the middle of work out routine where I'm increased the weight. It was the new weight, "stress level", that exposed the fracture.

If you want to become the person that God created you to be will require that you be catapulted into greater levels of carrying the load, the weight of the organization. Fractures of personality and spiritual maturity are not exposed at low stress levels. It's not until weight is added that the problems become apparent.

If you have old fractures you know about, you have to do the hard work of healing those breaks so they don't become a liability in the future. If you're like this case and you never new it was there, how will you respond? Will you aggressively pursue whatever means to fix the problem or will you put it in a cast and play that wait and see game? The calling is too significant and the stakes are too high for you to play it safe! Your calling demands that you take aggressive measures to heal the broken parts!

Catalyst 08....

Last week Elevation took a load of people to Catalyst, well over 100 in all. Half were staff and spouses and the other half were volunteers that took time away from their families to be a part of the experience. If I were to write out everything that happened this would be the longest blog entry ever, so I'll bullet the highlights of the experience:

• Elevation is the most generous church. We paid for all of the staff and spouses along with a bunch of volunteers to attend. In addition Pastor Steven made sure that the entire core team, the 8 families that sold their homes and moved to Charlotte to start Elevation were there.
• Pastor Steven tore it up. He preached one of the most inspired messages I have ever heard. The anointing of God was all over him...seriously he could have read "The Reader's Digest" and God would have ministered to people through it.
• Before Pastor Steven got up to preach I about passed out because of the excitement...I think I threw up in my mouth...disgusting I know.
• During Pastor's sermon he had the original core team stand up and he recognized us in front of the 12,000 people in attendance. A memory that will last a life time...thank you Pastor Steven!
• My wife continues to amaze me. We took our 5 week old daughter and my wife didn't miss a beat, she was engaged through everything because she wanted to be there and she knew how important it was to me.
• God has given extreme favor to our church...may we never take it for grated!!!
• I am humbled that God would allow me to be of this amazing movement.
• We have an amazing staff, they truly would do anything to advance the gospel...

Thank you Elevators for believing in the vision of "seeing people far from God filled with life in Christ." Our first 2 1/2 years have been amazing...I can't wait to see what's going to happen next!!!

Ready to go on a Date....

We are in the middle of a sermon series called Visionary Love, Dream Sex. It deals head on with issues of marriage, relationships and sex. If you haven't listened to many of Pastor Steven's sermons, he almost always has a "so-what" to his sermon. "So-what's" are the "what you going to do with the message." It's the call to action, the rubber meeting the road, theology of scripture transforming your methodology of life.

One of the driving themes is for marriages to move from the dry land of survive and cross over into the abundant land of thrive. Our desire for this series is for marriages to be restored and strengthened. A way for that to start to happen is for a husband and wife to go out on a date. A date by itself won't fix a thing. But through giving couples uninterrupted time to discuss the things they are hearing on Sunday can provide a great opportunity for God's truth to shine through.

It's one thing to tell everyone on Sunday morning to take their wife on a date. Some will follow-through, but many will not. It's another thing to say "we want your marriages to be strong so we're going to pay for your date". And than to take it one step further and say "and we're going to pay for your childcare as well."

That's exactly what we did on Sunday. In a bold move Pastor Since told the church "you're going on a date and the church is paying for the meal and your childcare." Obviously it's expensive, but the return is beyond measure. I get jazzed thinking about how this will bless so many couples. Because of the economic times a lot of people can't afford to go on a date, so for many this will be the only they will go on. The speed of life can consume couples, they look up and years have passed, that's why they have to make this date happen in two weeks.

One of the most important elements of Pastor Steven's sermons are the call to action. But it starts with the leadership. If we're not smoking it, we shouldn't be selling it!

I love our church...

Elevation gets criticised in certain circles because of our stance on numbers (even right here on this blog in the past few days) Some claim we're all about the numbers and you know what, we are all about the numbers. What matters to us more than anything is the number of people who profess faith in Jesus Christ, the number of marriages that are put back together and the number of people who were far from God that were filled with life in Christ....you better believe we're all about the numbers.

We are so aggressive about it because we realize that behind ever number is a story of life transformation. It's the women who had an abortion years ago and has been walking in guilt and shame ever since. It's the Bank of America exec who has been climbing the corporate ladder but is empty and broken inside. And it's the couple on the verge of divorce that's been restored. Everyone of those stories is evidence of God's grace and mercy....that's why we're all about the numbers.

This past week I had the privilege meeting Ashley and Justin. They have been coming to Elevation for the past few months and God has really been working in their lives. We're in the middle of "Visionary Love, Dream Sex" and they've been hearing sermon after sermon about God's standard for dating, marriage and sex. You see, Justin and Ashley have been living together for the past year and a half. Something amazing happened as they've been sitting under Pastor Steven's preaching...the Holy Spirit has been bringing a Godly conviction. They came to the place where they realized the choices they had made and the lifestyle they are living weren't glorifying God and they wanted desperately for that to change.

Ashley and Justin came by to see me one day last week to begin the process of planning their wedding. Through the course of the conversation it was evident they love Jesus and love each other, so I threw out a wild idea...something I though they would laugh at. I said "the best time to make it right is as soon as possible, so how about you guys get married right here, right now.” Their response blew me away-"why wouldn't we get married right now". They wanted nothing more than to make it right with God and be restored to him. We grabbed a dozen or so staff at the office and walked down the block to the park and on October 2nd 2008 Justin and Ashely became husband and wife.....

I LOVE OUR CHURCH!!! I love that Pastor Steven preaches a message full of grace and truth that allows the Holy Spirit to do what only He can do...bring about conviction, repentance and restoration!! In many other churches Ashley and Justin would have walked our feeling condemned because they couldn't get past the fact they had the same address...not with Pastor Steven. These people walked out knowing that God loves them and has plans for their lives. They heard that Jesus died on the cross for their sins and there's a better way so be restored to God. I love our guest services people, they go out of their way to create a welcoming experience where people genuinely feel someone is glad they came to church. I love Wade Joye, Chris Brown and Mac Brock our worship leaders. They tirelessly labor each work to create a worship experience where the presence of God is felt, connecting with the deepest part of the heart. I love our community groups pastor Jay Rabon who immediately after the marriage ceremony put his arms around the couple and will personally oversee them getting plugged into the perfect small group to begin to build community and grow in their faith.... I LOVE OUR CHURCH!!!

This is one of those moments where I am so proud of Elevation. We didn't start this church to hold theological discussion where everyone walks away feeling smarter but does nothing with what they heard. We started it for people like Ashley and Justin who desperately needed a touch from God! We started it for the people who are broken and hurting...those far from God so they could be filled with life in Christ!!!!! I LOVE OUR CHURCH

LB's Hero of the Week...

I'd like to introduce you to Adam Bender. My brother in-law Roger Idstrom sent me this story because he knew you'd like to see it as this week's hero. As you'll see, Adam is an 8 year old boy with one leg. He was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer which led to an amputation. But you'll see it didn't keep this little boy down...enjoy this amazing story!!!

Follow the Leader.....

If you're leading in any capacity, have you ever wondered what those following you have been seeing?

Addicted to being the hero...

Sounds strange doesn't it....but it's something that I've come to realize about myself. I have the predisposition to wanting to be the guy that swoops in and saves the day. That can be a great thing and a huge blessing to others. But when your heart wants that opportunity for it's own promotion there's a problem. There's a fundamental flaw, it's called Pride. It's where you become addicted to the "thank you's". It's the place where you pride yourself on being "that guy"- the go-to guy. It's where your identity becomes wrapped in what you do, not who you are...

Don't get me wrong, being the go-to guy is not a bad thing. But when the heart is doing it for the wrong motives God's not glorified. I don't know about you, but the closer I get to God to more flaws I find in myself and realize an ever greater dependence upon Him. It's a whole new layer of learning what it means "deny myself".........

Can anyone relate?