FredMcKinnon.Com

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.

I’ve got a personal rule:
If you’re going to blast a company in public, you’d better be prepared to praise them.

A few weeks ago my internet speed at home took a drastic nosedive.  My upload speed was non-existent and it was taking forever for sites to load.  Dreading the automated phone tree and “Tier 1″ techs who, with all due respect, make me do everything I’ve already done … I made the call.  As expected, I pushed all the buttons on the phone tree only to hold for 20 minutes and finally get redirected back to the “main menu” for no reason.

Long story short … the Tech says that my modem is so old, it’s not supported anymore … it’s “end of life”.  His suggestion?  Go down to the local Comcast office and swap it out for a new modem.

So I get up bright and early so I can be in Brunswick (about a 30-minute drive, one way) when the local Comcast office opens.  And what do I discover?

“Oh, I’m sorry … we don’t have any modems here, they are all gone”.
“We will call you if we get any in”.  (still haven’t received that phone call)
“And we don’t have a number you can call locally to make sure we have them in stock before driving over here”.

As you can imagine, I’m pretty ticked off.  So I vent … publicly … via Twitter.

My tweet went something like this:
“Comcast, thanks for wasting the first hour of my day” #comcastfail

Let’s face it, folks.  Sometimes, things just go wrong.  I own a company, and I get the blunt of both positive and negative feedback EVERY SINGLE DAY on our Ebay, Amazon, and Buy.Com accounts.  Negative feedback hurts … really.  But … even if we screw up … even if we fall short … what really counts is this:

HOW DO WE RESPOND?  HOW TO WE RESOLVE?

It’s no secret that companies have folks whose job it is to search Twitter and Facebook for references to their names and trademarks. So what happened next is pretty fascinating.

About an hour after my tweet I get this @reply on Comcast:
from @comcastMelissa:  that’s terrible, how can we help?

In a bit of a sarcastic jab, I reply:
“I seriously doubt you can help, unless you want to OVERNIGHT a BRAND NEW MODEM to me since our local office has none”.

About 3o minutes later, I get this:
from @ComcastBill:  hey, please follow me so I can get your account info and dm you.

I followed Bill’s instructions, and within an hour, I have a UPS tracking number for a BRAND NEW MODEM, being sent NEXT DAY AIR to my home.

Comcast may have been lacking in the local office and their phone support was a bit frustrating … but as for the team of Comcast folks who are utilizing social networking platforms to monitor their brand and provide customer service, all I can say is …. HOME RUN.

That’s how you keep a customer for life, Comcast.  Great job.  Thanks a million.
By the way – my internet is FLYING fast!

HEY -

We interrupt your afternoon with a quick announcement (yes, two blog posts in one day!) ….

TONIGHT, I will be joining several others in a live, online discussion, sponsored and hosted by the AllAboutWorship Podcast.

The topic?  Senior Pastor and Worship Leader Relationships!

Check out the details, and join us tonight!

OK, so first … what is this #sundaysetlists thing in my blog post title?

It’s called a “hash tag” … a way to tag or identify a blog or twitter post so that people can know it’s subject, keywords, or you can even search twitter based on them.

“Sunday Setlists” is an event that started right here on FredMcKinnon.Com, but has since transferred over to TheWorshipCommunity.Com – where people post a recap of their worship services each week.  Be sure and check out the other posts.

So, on to my recap of our worship service at SSCC for Sunday, August 15th.

Wow.  I can’t express how incredible it was.  We have never conducted a baptism during our worship services in the building … they have always been special gatherings, outside, at some place with a pool.  We had our first baptism service yesterday, which was a complete surprise to most of those who attend our church.  The bigger surprise; however, was that we were prepared to baptize anyone who wanted to be baptized … spontaneously.

We opened up with a couple of songs:

“I Have Found” (Kim Walker)
“Mighty to Save” (Hillsong)

Then, David (our pastor) taught on salvation and baptism.  It was a shorter, 25-minute sermon.  Then he basically challenged people to respond.  We were ready with the excuses.  We had stacks of brand new shorts and T-shirts of all sizes.  We had undergarments.  Personal Products.  Hair dryers.  Combs.  Photographers.  Videographers.  There was really no reason to NOT respond …

And respond they did.  Between the two services, countless people confessed Jesus Christ as their Lord, and +/- 126 people got baptized.

Young, old.
White, black.
American, Chinese.

I’m still blown away … we played instrumental music, sang a bit, worshiped the whole time, and simply let the music “ebb and flow” with the baptisms.  Makes for some tired feet … a good 1-1/2 hours into the service and still seeing people lined up all the way down the wall of the church, waiting for their turn to publicly demonstrate their faith in Christ.

And that’s a recap for our church.  How about yours?