the last two days…

the last two days were very strange… I started writing about it half way through, but couldn’t finish… I’m glad I didn’t…

I visited three churches, their cities: Lompoc, Santa Maria, and Solvang. I met some really great people, and I came face to face with some _crazy_ church politics. I’ll write more about it later.

Oh yea, I’m writing this blog on my new computer. It’s a Dell XPS (desktop). My friend at integrity computer concepts gave me some great advice and ordered the machine for me. If you need some computer help, ask him first! http://www.integritycomputerconcepts.com

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a day of football

today max has his physical for flag football, and then we’re getting together at the coach’s house to get on the same page.

this afternoon, I’m going to my old coach’s house for a THS football reunion deal.

I’m looking forward to both events…strange they are happening on the same day.

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excitement and expectations

It’s been a few days since the structure changes happened at saddleback, and the excitement hasn’t faded for me yet. after talking some with one of my friends, i was coming to the conclusion that I don’t think I’ve been this excited for ministry for years…

someone else asked, what do you think are the biggest challenges you’ll (as a leadership team) will face? I didn’t have a very coherent answer at the time, and I probably still don’t…but, for starters:

We face a new ministry context. we’re all in way over our heads…we’re new to this game and thinking about ministry on this level of influence and complexity…now, saying this isn’t particularly insightful: this is what Rick was going for when he chose to make this shift: he wanted to switch from the experienced, founding pastors to a new group. duh, of course this is different for us!

We face biblical standards for relating to one another. It’s a difficult thing to live in community the way Christ demonstrated and commanded. Rick said we would be evaluated on our love for one another, ability to maintain integrity in confidentiality, and our humility. These things don’t just happen, even for mature believers who have been walking with Jesus for a long time.

We face huge and challenging projects. The current top priorities are mind-blowing: budget (short term), 10×10 vision (long term)…

We face the unknown. Being new to the table means there’s a lot we don’t know about. "Expect the unexpected" comes to mind… (and then I wonder if it was a speech writer who created that and didn’t remember the law of non contradiction). I’d rather say "expect the possibility of the unexpected," but that’s not clever or memorable (just accurate).

We face the dangerous temptation that follows blessing. We’ve been entrusted with a huge responsibility, and honestly, it’s humbling…now. However, every human alive has the ability to forget the works and wonders of God, and move toward self-reliance. Pride is a universal problem among people. This is all over scripture (see nearly any part of the history of Israel). Rick has said that few people handle power well… you only have to look as far as your homeowners association to see this truth.

Anyhow, I’m sure there’s a ton of challenges we face…and all of this is simply my perspective, I’m sure I’m missing a lot.

In the essential things, absolutely nothing whatsoever is changing. God calls us to be faithful with what he has entrusted to us. We walk by faith and live in obedience (living up to what we have already attained). We leave behind worry because we’re not the Creator and the Author of life. My ministry tomorrow is nothing more than preparation for eternity, just like the ministry of my yesterday.

mattmcgill

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big changes today

WOW. big changes today. I definitely need some time to think things through, but here’s the big picture:

Rick Warren and the elders of the church have made some significant structure changes.

First off, the elder team has been redefined to include Pastors who have been at Saddleback for more than 15 years: Glen Kruen, Tom Holladay, Rick Muchow, John Baker, Steve Rutenbar, and Doug Fields. There primary role is twofold: (a) to mentor other leaders on staff, and (b) make sure the pastors management team stays true to the biblical purposes, beliefs, vision, values, and culture. The elders aren’t supervisors, they are mentors and keepers of what it means to follow scripture and be Saddleback.

Second, the pastors management team includes the base pastors and a few others:

001 Erik Reese (Community and Crowd)
101 Tommy Hilliker (Congregation)
201 Buddy Owens (Committed)
301 Pat Giraldin (Core)
401 Brian Harper (Commissioned)
Church Operations Bill Crane
Small Groups Steve Gladen
Chief of Staff David Chrzan
Regional Campuses Matt McGill

What motivated RW to make these changes? One of Saddleback’s values is that the implementers are the decision makers. (he said he learned that from someone years ago, but I don’t remember who that was.)

In short, what’s our role? To manage the affairs of the church. To trouble shoot problems. To ensure that the biblical purposes are fulfilled locally with the people God has entrusted to us.

Rick called today historical, for he turned over the management of the church from the founding pastors to the next group of leaders.

HERE’S WHAT WE WILL BE EVALUATED ON

#1. Our LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER. Our leadership isn’t about promoting ourselves and our ministries, it’s about thinking about the whole. Our responsibility is to model love for one another to the rest of the staff.

#2. Our CONFIDENTIALITY. All kinds of leadership has confidentiality, another way to say this is discernment. Still another way to say this is not to gossip. Real life is really messy, let’s not make it worse by talking about things we ought not to.

#3 Our HUMILITY. All leaders are learners, and it takes humility to learn from others. It takes humility to accept advice. Each of us are expected to select a mentor, and we ought to talk to them regularly.

#4 10×10 Goals. This is a while other post…

OUR CURRENT PROJECTS

#1 Allocate the church budget for the 2008-2009 FY.

#2 Streamline HR.

#3 10×10 Projects.

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