Values serve as guide rails for leaders and organizations
Values provide guidelines for appropriate behavior
Values accelerate personal development
I like to say that values are the things leaders argue for when the values are challenged. Vision, as others suggest is…
Vision is a picture of the preferred future from God’s perspective.
A leader without a clear set of values is like a ship without a rudder. The ship is afloat, but not going anywhere in particular.
Do you know your values?
Take a moment to reflect on those things that are important to you.
Perhaps it is taking a walk or hike, getting to know your neighbors or spending a day at the beach with your immediate family. Maybe it is reading a good book, making stuff with your hands or cooking. Whatever those things are – you will find a way to do those activities you value.
During challenging seasons, it is natural to examine and discover what is important to us, often as a function of those things no longer being available or accessible because of extenuating circumstances. Travel, time with friends, sporting events, concerts, creating, connecting and establishing relationships – the list goes on and our priorities are distilled down to the essentials when life twists and turns. If we allow it, our human resilience rises up and we find ways to create opportunities to fulfill our deepest desires and highest priorities.
What are the values of a disciple coach?
Let me suggest that disciple coaches value certain behaviors. Disciple coaches understand the importance of connecting with pre-Christians, helping new disciples grow in their faith, challenge disciples to move from “consumer” to “contributor” to serve members of their community and reproduce themselves into the lives of other new followers of Christ.
I was talking with a young, emerging leader recently who stated his desire to identify his values. Those things that are near to his heart, as a part of his maturing process moving into adulthood. This is what we did.
I asked him to take a look back and find the consistent themes that emerged from positive and negative experiences throughout his life:
Influential people
Circumstances that shaped him
Events that encouraged new ways of think and behaving
From that list I asked him to identify lessons he learned. One lesson was – “be true to myself”.
From those lessons, he identified values. For instance – from “be true to myself”, he arrived at Authenticity.
Personal Timeline Exercise
In my final year of seminary I came encountered a class on leadership development and was intrigued by topic. The paradigm was developed by Dr. Robert Clinton in his dissertation entitled “Leadership Emergence Patterns” and identified 6 stages of a leader’s development based on case studies of over 300 biblical and historical leaders from his research. That course was transformational for me as I learned about the challenges leader’s face as they encounter boundaries that either stifle development or challenge leader’s to move forward.
We were instructed to go through an exhaustive and lengthy recollection of our leadership journey to-date. As I journaled my story the professor, Dr. Gordon Klenck, instructed us to lay-out our life in a timeline, identify the various “process items” Clinton describes in his material and roughly construct the phases of development. To give you an idea how long ago this was, I still have my final paper which was typed on a word processor.
Since then, Clinton has written a more concise explanation of his work in “The Making of a Leader”. I have taken many individuals and groups through this exercise using a resource that popularized the process in a weekend retreat setting called “Focused Living” by Terry Walling. A wonderful companion book entitled “STUCK! Navigating the Transition of Life and Leadership” is also available, by Terry Walling, and introduces the timeline in a user-friendly style.
For those that want to explore your values but want a simplified version of the Personal Timeline process, I would suggest a “Symbol Timeline”. We initially used this exercise as a primer for the more expanded version of the Personal Timeline -see above. It will serve the purpose of identifying your values. Follow the steps below; but instead of listing the people, events and circumstances – draw them out like in the image at the top of this blog.
Remember, the goal of the Symbol Timeline is to use symbols to illustrate the major milestones in your life and distill the lessons you learned, so that you can identify your values.
5 STEPS TO CREATE YOUR SYMBOL TIMELINE
STEP 1
Take a look back and find the consistent themes that emerge from positive and negative: influential people in your life, circumstances that shaped you, events that encouraged new ways of think and behaving. That lightening bolt in my timeline above represents a health issue that altered the trajectory of my life.
STEP 2
Draw symbols to represent the most important items in your development as a leader. See that soccer ball in the image above – guess what my favorite sport was growing up?
STEP 3
Identify lessons learned. One lesson I learned was based on a statemnt my mom made every morning when I left the house with my brothers and sister – “remember who you are and who you represent”.
STEP 4
Identify values. For instance – from “remember who you are and who you represent”, I arrived at Integrity.
STEP 5
To take this to a more pragmatic context, let’s compare and contrast your values to that of a disciple coach. Here is a brief list of those values taken from the Making Disciples Storyboard;
CONNECT
GROW
SERVE
REPRODUCE
If you would like to participate in a cohort that will be going through this process together please join the Leadership Collective for Missional Discipleship online learning community – CLICK HERE. This will be the first time me and Micah Dodson of Thrive Church Planting have offered this FREE cohort to help you synthesize your values. The process officially begins October 1 and runs for 4 weeks. We will be limiting the group to 15 participants; sign-ups are on a first come, first serve basis.
By joining the Leadership Collective for Missional Discipleship online learning community you are NOT obligated to participate in the year-long process we outlined in last week’s blog – CLICK HERE. However, this serves as a clarifying, stand-alone exercise and can be a tremendous pre-cursor to the Leadership Collective for Missional Discipleship.
If you are interested in participating in the FREELeadership Collective for Missional Discipleship online learning community – CLICK HERE.
Have you been listening to the topic of conversations among leaders in the local church lately? Some have to do with what is going on in society (pandemic, moving online, racial justice). Other conversations get granular as tensions rise within our government. Many leaders in pastoral and church planting ministries that I speak to express the stress, challenges and difficult times we are all facing. These are very real – see Six Reasons Your Pastor Is About to Quit by Tom Rainer.
Most encouraging though are the interactions I have with leaders about the unprecedented opportunity they see, as difficult as it is at this pivotal moment in time, to move the mission of Jesus forward. I would venture to say that if we could capture this moment and raise the bar on discipleship, apprentices of Jesus will have the capacity to overcome many of the social injustices we face in our society. How can we take advantage of this unique situation and re-introduce the commission Jesus entrusted us with His disciples: to make disciples, who make disciples and who in turn, make disciples.
The conversation today, revolves around discipleship – how can we make more and better disciples in our current cultural moment, given the opportunities certain restrictions have imposed on our ministries?
I was speaking to a regional leader just this week and he mentioned that the 30-40 churches he overseas are asking this very question. Because of the restrictions placed on large and mid-size group gatherings, congregations that do not have small group ministries have been forced to create smaller, more manageable, disciplemaking groups. Those that are unable to pivot quickly and do so will cease to exist. This is the harsh reality of the season we find ourselves. However, those that are able to see the wisdom and leverage this opportunity are innovating new ways to make disciples.
Here are two practical insights that he shared:
The strongest churches are focused on small home groups.
The younger families are participating at a higher level via Zoom groups.
For you, disciplemaking may have been the primary driver for your ministry. For other leaders, this pivotal moment in time has afforded you the opportunity to reflect. You are are discovering for the first time or rediscovering the essence of ministry and the absolute necessity of disciplemaking. This gives me hope, motivation and energy for the future!
Last week I did a quick fly-by on the Leadership Collective for Missional Discipleship that is designed to help you:
Discover ways to incorporate disciple coach values in your life and ministry.
Connect with like-minded leaders on this same journey.in meaningful ways.
Create a comprehensive discipleship pathway that suits your context.
Equip other disciples coaches on your team to Connect, Grow, Serve and Reproduce.
One of the reasons Micah Dodson and I are compelled to offer this now is because of the conversations we are having with leaders about this very issue. Below is more information with a call to action at the very bottom of the page.
We have established a by-invitation-only, private network for you to LEARN about the Missional Discipleship Collective, CONNECT with like-minded leaders on a similar journey and INTERACT on relevant issues. We pray that you will consider this important issue. Will you take the next step and join the network?
2-day Retreat – La Jolla, CA: November 15-17, 2020
Bring your spouse to the 2-day, kick-off event in La Jolla, CA – at no additional cost, except for travel.
Three ZOOM sessions as a full group for 2-hours each.
Session #1: February 8, 2021
Session #2: May 3, 2021
Session #3: July 26, 2021
All times are: Mondays @ 9am PST (10am MST/11am CST/noon EST)
SMALL GROUP
Seven, 60-minute Triad Sessions
LEARN MORE BY JOINING OUR
“BY-INVITATION-ONLY” COMMUNITY BY CLICKING THIS LINK.
Covid-19 UPDATE
InFocus will do everything within our ability to meet and exceed regulations so people are safe, remain healthy and have a peace of mind. If we are unable to secure the meeting facilities needed by no later than February 1 we will move the live, face-to-face event in La Jolla to a virtual Zoom event. We will communicate the adjusted cost and the modified agenda with all interested participants.
One of the realizations of this season we find ourselves in is discovering what is important to each of us.
For example, certain things we just are not able to do now like going to sporting events, the movie theater and even hanging out with friends and family that are not under the same roof. There are some things we are still able to do.
Reflect on those things that are important to you
Perhaps it is taking a walk or hike, getting to know your neighbors or spending a day at the beach with your immediate family. Maybe it is reading a good book, making stuff with your hands or cooking. Whatever those things are – many of us have found a way to do those activities we truly value, despite the threat of a pandemic.
One activity I love doing is riding my mountain-bike. You will find me and my wife on the trails in back of our home, three mornings a week from 6-8:30am. This is the time when we feel safe to ride given the low numbers of people on the trails and cooler weather. If you are interested – I’ve uploaded two, 25-second videos for your viewing entertainment below:
Gary climbing a gnarly hill, 65′ change in elevation – CLICK HERE
Gary dropping down a technical gully, 73′ change in elevation – CLICK HERE. The photo at the top of this blog is the cut I sustained when I misjudged the final drop earlier this season. It was not pretty…
BTW – in case you are wondering, my wife, Gina was the videographer. To give you an idea of her riding capacity – she was so far ahead of me that she was able to unload her bike, get positioned on the trail with her iPhone and record me riding. I want to be like her some day:>)
Let me suggest that disciple coaches value certain behaviors. Even during a pandemic, disciple coaches understand the importance of the intentional effort required to connect with pre-Christian, helping new disciples growin their faith, coaching disciples to move from being a consumer to serve others and reproduce into the lives of other yet-to-be disciples of Christ. Here are those values again, taken from the Making Disciples Storyboard:
CONNECT
GROW
SERVE
REPRODUCE
Interested in learning more about the values of a disciple coach?
Would you like to explore being part of a cohort with like-minded leaders?
Written by church consultant Will Mancini expert on a new kind of visioning process to help churches develop a stunningly unique model of ministry that leads to redemptive movement. He guides churches away from an internal focus to emphasize participation in their community and surrounding culture. In this important book, Mancini offers an approach for rethinking what it means to lead with clarity as a visionary. Mancini explains that each church has a culture that reflects its particular values, thoughts, attitudes, and actions and shows how church leaders can unlock their church’s individual DNA and unleash their congregation’s one-of-a-kind potential.
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Have you ever felt the fire of faith ignite within you, but struggled to ignite it in others? You’re not alone. Many passionate believers yearn to create disciple-making movements, but lack the essential tools.
The truth is, disciples are made, not born. It’s a journey, and equipping yourself is crucial. But where do you even begin? How do you grow as a disciplemaker?
This is exactly what I wrestled with. The journey began a few years ago and continues. Currently, I am leading a group with my wife in a new church plant. We discovered a powerful framework called 3-Thirds (Looking Back, Looking Up, Looking Forward) used worldwide to ignite disciple-making movements. What makes the group powerful is that this approach is simple, coach-driven, and replicable, making it perfect for multiplying passionate disciplemakers like yourself. We did not create it. And, if you are interested in learning more about 3-Thirds Groups: CLICK HERE.
But what about the disciplemaker themselves? What support do they need to thrive?
Here’s the exciting part: I identified 5 key habits that form the foundation of a sustainable disciple-making movement:
Missional Values: Live a life that reflects your purpose as a Jesus follower.
Active Prayer: Fuel your journey with constant communication with God.
Relational Connections: Build deep, meaningful relationships with people far from God.
Disciple-making Cycle: Master the process of equipping others to follow Christ.
Strategic Partnership: Find allies who share your vision and multiply your impact.
Ready to take action?
Find your starting point: Take the FREE Discipleship Quiz and discover your strengths and weaknesses as a disciplemaker.
Fuel your growth: Join the Discipleship Collective and receive ongoing support while mastering the 5 habits.
Bonus Revelation: Our 3-Thirds Group experience highlighted a crucial element – listening to the Holy Spirit. New believers crave this guidance, and incorporating it accelerates the newest disciple’s growth.
Want to learn more?
Get details on the 5 habits and the Discipleship Quiz (it’s FREE!)
Explore the 3-Thirds framework
Reach out and share your own experiences (greinecke@infocusnet.org)
Don’t wait any longer. Unleash the disciplemaker within and start your journey today!
Become an InFocus Partner
Invest in leaders who are transforming lives and join the InFocus community. Together, let’s create a ripple effect of faith and love.
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