Hey Gang,

In the vein of “Follow Friday” … I’d like to introduce you to a couple of new sites that I’d recommend:

www.churchleaders.com – a new site for, well, you guessed it … Church Leaders!  This site is already packed with incredible content and has a slick look and feel.  You never know, you just might find some worship articles from me in there soon!

www.patrickeades.com – This is a local guy .. the Executive Director of our local Care Net (aka Crisis Pregnancy Center).  But Patrick is new to blogging, but not new to ministry, leadership, and vision.  He’s a great friend, an incredible leader, and visionary.  His blog will be in your top blogs for leadership and family insights.  He and his family are very close to our hearts … Patrick will stir you with insights into leadership, the pro-life movement, family matters, and more.  Plus, the guy is hilarious.  I mean, really … who else has “The Sex Man” as his nickname?

Yesterday I blogged about two incredible football quarterbacks and how the strengths of their entire TEAM impact their performance.  No matter how talented the leader may be, the need for a solid team is obvious.

The same rings true in worship ministry, business development, and visioneering.

Today, a group of us from SSCC met at my favorite off-campus-office, WakeUp Coffee Company.  This is a group comprised of our main worship leaders and one of our church elders (who also participates and leads with our team).  I’ve dubbed this group of people the “Worship Synergy” team.

Synergy, in general, may be defined as two or more agents working together to produce a result not obtainable by any of the agents independently.
The term synergy comes from the ancient Greek word syn-ergos, συνεργός, meaning ‘working together’. [1] .
In the context of organizational behaviour is the view that a cohesive group is more than sum of its parts. Synergy is the ability of group to outperform even its best individual member.

Our purpose is to discuss:

• our philosophy of worship
• how we practically “walk out” our philosophy
• conflict resolution and prevention
• creative input, ideas, and feedback on crafting encounters where we worship in spirit and truth

It’s important to bring some diversity to this table.  You’ll get some perspective from a female that won’t even be considered by a male (and vice versa).  You’ll miss some great insights when you try to do this by yourself.  By creating a space where people have the liberty to express their ideas, creative input, and their concerns or grievances, you head off potential conflicts.

One thing that is often overlooked in a situation like this is the protection that comes from a unified team.  As the Worship Pastor, I no longer have to fear that people will hold me accountable for every situation.  If you have some conflict about song choice … you can say, “well, I appreciate your input, but I don’t make those decisions on my own – we have a group that prayerfully discusses and considers this”.  Maybe there is an element missing in your worship services that is recognized by every person of the team … you have a lot more leverage when you approach your leadership with a request.

Do you have anything like this in place?  Ideas?  Thoughts?
Let me hear back from you!

We’ve all heard it … time after time …

“There is no ‘I’ in the word T-E-A-M”.  This applies to life .. in church ministry, business, family, and yes … sports.  The story of these two quarterbacks says it all.  I caught a story in Monday’s USAToday about the Detroit Lions’ QB, Matthew Stafford.  Since he hails from the Promised Land, good ole’ UGA (University of Georgia – GO DAWGS) … I took interest in the article.

The article talked about both Matthew Stafford, and former USC Quarterback, Mark Sanchez, who was drafted to the Jets. Both of these QB’s had their rookie season in 2009 – Stafford with the Detroit Lions, and Sanchez with the New York Jets.

Now I’m not one to pick on a losing team … but the Detroit Lions have had a tough time lately.  Stafford goes to a team that is seriously struggling.  Sanchez goes to a team that is working well together and has exceptional talent.

Stafford’s Team – 2 wins all year … which is better than NO WINS the year before.
Sanchez’s Team – a trip to the AFC playoffs.

Can these guys take the credit?  See below:

Although their final numbers were similar, with Stafford throwing for 2,267 yards and 13 touchdowns with 20 interceptions, and Sanchez throwing for 2,444 yards and 12 touchdowns with 20 interceptions, the latter player received considerably more buzz.  (source:  USAToday)

Stafford:  2267 yards thrown
Sanchez:  2444 yards thrown

Stafford:  13 touchdowns
Sanchez:  12 touchdowns

Stafford:  20 interceptions
Sanchez:  20 interceptions

Do you see it?  There is no “i” in TEAM.  It wasn’t all about a star QB.  It was about a TEAM.

Whether you are a worship leader, a pastor, a business owner, or a star athlete …. in most situations, it’s not all about you.  It’s about the team you are surrounded with.  It’s about putting the “right people in the right seats on the bus”.

If you have all the talent in the world, but don’t have yourself aligned with the right team, your overall wins may be marginal.  Granted, everybody’s definition of a “win” is different, based on your situation.

But think about this … when was the last time you checked on your team.  When was the last time things were re-aligned.  When was the last time you took inventory of your gifts and where they are best “at play”.

Comments/Thoughts?  Let’em rip.

mar • gin

… an amount allowed or available beyond what is actually necessary: to allow a margin for error.

Hey Gang,

So the blog has been quiet lately.  There’s a reason for that … several, actually.

In April I published this post asking what God was speaking to you in 3 words or less.  Some of the responses were very insightful.  One of my 3 words was:

“margin”

I’ve always been the guy who stacks too much on his plate.  I leave with just enough time to get to my destination, I procrastinate, and I tend to cram more activity, work, ideas, and tasks into my life than I have room to accomplish.

Over the last year, I’ve found myself dealing with anger … a lot.  I will lose my temper quickly, the smallest things get under my skin and frustrate me.  I began to pray … a lot … and I kept hearing God asking me this rhetorical question … “Fred, why are you so angry”.

It feels kinda ridiculous for God to ask you a question, ya know.  Like, doesn’t He know the answer?  And to make matters worse, I’m desperately searching for the answer, so why not just tell me!?

The more I sought the answer to this question, the more I realized that “lack of margin” in my life was contributing to this.

So, as the definition above states, margin is “an amount allowed or available beyond what is actually necessary” ….

So here’s the questions for discussion:

1.  Do you feel that you have margin in your life?
2.  Yes?  How did you accomplish it?
3.  No?  Why – do you see a way out?

What’s your plan of action.  Time to bring this blog back to life folks, I look forward to your ongoing discussion.

For the Kingdom,

Fred

I hear it several times a week from friends, co-workers, and others …

“You must be on Facebook all day – how do you get any work done”?

So this blog post has been “brewing” in my toolbox for a couple of months now.
(my toolbox, and what’s in it – coming soon)

Here’s the deal.  If I were on Facebook all day, I would NEVER get my work done. If I didn’t get my work done, you’d notice.

So here’s how I seemingly stay connected throughout the day (and even throughout the night, or midair during flight!) to Facebook.  (go to my Facebook Profile)

1.  Twitter
Plain and simple.  I have “Tweetdeck” on my Mac, and incredible application that allows me to view multiple twitter accounts simultaneously, including my Facebook feed.  (which I have turned off, by the way).  When I take 30 seconds to post Read more »