What drive me to do this?  Well, several things.  For one…I love my team and care about their development as leaders…or better yet – as humans!  And secondly, I know that if they succeed, so will The Orchard’s mission.  

One practical way I try and help set them up for success is by giving each of my direct reports an opportunity to give me – their leader – direct feedback on how they feel I could do a better job of leading them.  So once a month, right alongside my input and development of their leadership, I ask them to answer a very simple, three-part question:

What can I (as your leader)….START, STOP, & CONTINUE DOING…..that would help set you up for greater success?

This is an important question because it cuts out any assumptions I may have about how well I’m leading my team.

More specifically, here’s what I’m asking:

START – What am I not currently doing that could potentially set you up for greater success?

STOP – What am I currently doing that is frustrating you or that you feel could be hindering your success as a leader?

CONTINUE – What am I currently doing that is helping you to succeed?

I’m convinced that building a strong team isn’t just about the leader developing, growing, and stretching their team…..it’s also about providing that team with regular and consistent opportunities to develop, grow, and stretch their leader.

What are some of your best practices for doing this?  

Total Reset Promo Project hours: 80

• 4 hours – Concept/Research
• 3 hours – Stop-motion photography of the box
• 4 hours – Searching for images (68 images used – some created, some photographed, some purchased, some free)
• 12 hours – Photoshop work
• 58 hours compositing & animating in After Effects

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So excited for our Advent series beginning next weekend (Dec. 3-4).  We’re calling it THE ART OF ADVENT.

Here’s a video that tells more.

Click to see a few other versions of logo we’re using.

A NEW LITURGY - My friend Aaron Niequist’s latest project.  These are 25 minute journeys of music, prayer, scripture, and space. His plan is to release a new one each quarter.  Aaron debuted the first one (God is Love) at The Orchard this past summer.  Our community loved it!

IR-REV-REND – Greg Surratt just released his new book: Ir-rev-rend: Christianity without the pretense, faith without the facade. Greg has a lot of great stuff to say.  He’s honest and full of wisdom.  I love this guy.  Buy it here.

UNTITLED – WAY overdue mention…  It’s Blaine Hogan’s summer release, UNTITLED: Thoughts On The Creative Process.  Blaine Hogan is full of great art and ideas.  He’s the Creative Director at Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington.  He’s a great writer who always inspires me.  Check out his blog too.

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A few years ago I started diving into a few of Brennan’s writings which started me on a journey that continues to challenge and transform my way of thinking and living today.

But my gratitude goes much deeper than that.

As most of you know, my dad was a pastor for more years than I’ve been alive.  Over those years he preached and taught….I don’t know, probably hundreds of sermons on the love and grace of God.  He knew the scriptures and concepts and communicated them well!  But it wasn’t until the last couple years of his life, as he began reading a handful of books by Brennan Manning and a few others…..that my dad came to this life-altering realization: Believing in God’s unconditional love and grace is a far cry from actually trusting it, experiencing it, and allowing it to transform a person’s life.

And so my dad began a journey – a journey into grace, love, and acceptance.  And that journey radically changed his life.  I mean it deeply, deeply changed him.  Everyone saw it!  He was free.  He even looked physically younger and his energy level and passion for God’s work reached a level beyond what any of us had ever seen in him before.

See, for the first time in his life (at the age of 57!) my dad began seeing himself through an entirely new set of lenses.  He was being released from his constant efforts of trying to earn God’s approval and love.  He was learning how to freely receive acceptance from a God who loved him just as he was – not as he should be.  His days of emotional self-flagellation were over.

Brennan Manning played a huge role in the transformation my dad experienced.  And for that….I’m so, so thankful.

Brennan has just released a new book.  It’s likely his last (I hope not).  The book is called All Is Grace.  It’s his memoir.  The story behind the stories.

It’s been quite a read.  So honest and transparent, yet so freeing and beautiful.

You’ll catch the heart and spirit behind the book in this short snippet from Brennan’s introduction:

Over the tar of my life, I have usually been headed toward something along the lines of “professional commitments.” Or at least I thought they were. But those trips are over now. I am liv-ing in a different emotional direction. I am steering toward home, hardly a poster child for anything … anything, that is, but grace. And what exactly is grace? These pages are my final words on the matter. Grace is everything. I am Brennan the witness.

I have 10 free copies of Brennan’s new book (courtesy of David C Cook Publishing) that I will send out to the first 10 people who comment on this post.  Be sure to leave your email so we can email you for your address.

PS – You can read more of my dad’s and The Orchard’s story here.

Copenhagers: Meeting CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN from Copenhagers on Vimeo.

Lots of peeps.  Lots of need.  But only one me.

We all know how easy it is to spread ourselves too thin.  We start giving ourselves to too many people…and the ones who deserve the most end up getting far less than they need or deserve.

It’s not about equal investment, it’s about strategic investment.

My goal is to invest in the right people…for the right reasons…and in the right way.  So here are three questions that I try to ask myself on a regular basis:

WHO am I investing in?

WHY am I investing in them?

HOW am I investing in them?

If I can’t answer all three of those questions well, it’s time to get back up to the 30k ft view and reprioritize.