Mark Waltz | ...Because People Matter

Mark Beeson on Volunteers

Continuing my thoughts about culture and volunteers a few days ago - I thought I'd just cut and paste from the best of the best. A couple days ago my friend and our senior pastor, Mark Beeson, posted the following about volunteers and their motivation to serve. He says it well, so here it is.

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Let me offer a few reasons why good people volunteer. It’s not an exhaustive list but it summarizes a few key points for team-building and might be worth considering.

Eight Reasons Good People Volunteer to Help You

1. They want to see done the thing you’re trying to get done.  What you're doing is clear to them, and clearly important to them.  Because they value what you value, what you’re doing is clearly worth their sacrificial effort.
   
2. They see the need and want to help meet the need.  Whether they jump in to help for a moment (helping with one step of the process), or stay with you for the entire mission (laying down their life for ultimate mission success), they see how they can assist you and they do.
   
3. They want to be involved. After considering their other options (how they could otherwise be using their time, energy, knowledge and skills), they prioritize your mission above other competing values. The success of your work – for one reason, or another – is important to them.  They believe the work is worthy.
   
4. They’re invited. They feel welcomed and valued. They recognize you’ve made it possible for them to join the effort. There is a place for them on the team. Affirmation and appreciation are hand-in-glove with a mission strategy that organizes all available human resources.
   
5. They understand how their personal involvement improves the work. Once they understand your mission, most people know themselves well enough to realize whether their skills, training, education, strength, possessions and experiences can be leveraged against your need. They see how they can add value and advance the mission.
   
6. They want you to succeed. Your ultimate success in life matters and they believe your mission success in the particulars of the moment will serve as a step toward the ultimate fulfillment of your life. For reasons you may not even understand, they want you to succeed. Since they care about you, and want you to fulfill your destiny, they volunteer to help you all along the way.
   
7. They love working with you. You are inspiring, encouraging, positive, expectant, trustworthy, successful and fun.
   
8. They love working with the other volunteers. They want to be with the other volunteers on your team. They love the way they’re treated and valued. It’s fun, fulfilling and rewarding to do what you’re doing with you and your team.
   

Conversely, good people will quit, and leave your team, if they no longer feel welcomed, don’t feel valued, lose their vision for mission success, can’t make a contribution worthy of their effort, don’t like you or find the rest of the volunteers unkind, unreasonable and impossible. 1 Samuel 26:5-7  -  David slipped over to Saul’s camp one night to look around. Saul and Abner son of Ner, the commander of his army, were sleeping inside a ring formed by the slumbering warriors.  “Who will volunteer to go in there with me?” David asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother. “I’ll go with you,” Abishai replied.  So David and Abishai went right into Saul’s camp

Read more from Mark.

Maintaining and Modeling Culture

I suppose I'm skipping what could be a part 1 to this post: Cultivating & Developing Culture. However, I'll just assume that you are in a church, team, or organization that has intentionally developed your working culture - your ethos. I think the second largest, looming danger after not being intentional to develop culture is assuming that it will simply continue to exist.

Wrong.

There are a number of essential cultural attributes around Granger Community Church. Culture that was established 24+ years ago when the church first began.Things like...

• Mission-focused
• • Laser. Uncompromising. This is who we are. We are intent on "helping people take their next step toward Christ... together."
• Volunteer-based
• • Volunteers own the ministry. They make it happen. They leverage their gifts, personality, time, talent and resources to bring up there down here.
• Leadership and team
• • Leaders lead. Gifted leaders. We do what we do in team. Together.
• Change
• • It happens. In our culture - so we'll respond to it. We'll create change that only happens by initiative, because the mission is that critical and people too important and the Kingdom too urgent.
• Can-do
• • We say "yes," then ask "how?"

Culture like this seems like a pipe dream to many. But it's lived out at Granger because people carry the vision deeply. Even so, culture like this doesn't just happen. It won't live on it's own. It's not true just because the front guy says it's true. It must be maintained and modeled.

So,

• what seems obvious gets said aloud over and over
• redirecting to core values and shared mission happens in casual conversations and formal meetings
• recasting of vision addresses complaints and potential gossip
• culture is modeled by volunteers and staff alike

What defines your culture? What and who is protecting it? Who is empowered to model it?

Ultimate Contentment

I've spent too many hours of my life wishing my life was like someone else's life. "If onlys" drain energy, create inner tension, and rob perspective in the present.

• If only I was a better teacher.
• If only I had managed my money differently.
• If only I looked younger.
• If only I had the mind he has.

If only, if only, if only...

Jesus says - the Kingdom is about meekness. It's about what Paul refers to as "sober judgment" about one's self (Romans 12.3). The kingdom doesn't belong to the proud, the arrogant, the "if onlys."

Of course, meekness (and other Spirit-Kingdom traits) develops into a restful flow in our lives (Matthew 11.28-30) when our focus isn't on other people and all their "haves". This rest doesn't even come because I try harder to not focus on my "have nots." It comes when I focus on Jesus. When I celebrate him. When I see his kingdom traits - of meekness, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, affection, and love... then my focus is facing forward, upward. My focus on him pulls me away from my pitiful comparisons to other people. Then, and only then, do I discover the joy of experiencing the kingdom.

That's ultimate contentment.

(also posted at YouVersion.com - here)

Choose Your Partners Wisely

This is Julie Smies. Today marks her 5th anniversary as my administrative assistant. It's a significant day. For her and for me. And for anyone who's affected by my ministry.

Years ago Mark Beeson coached me on hiring an assistant. Reflecting on his own assistant, Ginny Lawley, he noted that above every other responsibility, my AA should be "for" me. He said she should be my advocate, represent me well, and literally "make you look good." (believe me, I need help with that).

Then he added, "People will oppose you for free. You shouldn't pay anyone to be against you." Good advice.

So, I hired Julie 5 years ago today.

• She is "for" me.
• She believes in me, trusts me, and looks out for me.
• She challenges me because she knows me.
• She carries the vision and mission and values of our church as closely I do.
• She speaks to people on my behalf.
• She protects and focuses my calendar around our agreed objectives and goals.
• She celebrates with me. Prays for me. And builds teams around us.

Besides all that, I count both Julie and her husband, Jim, dear friends to my wife, Laura and me. On top of that, she and my wife are close friends. Together they are strong allies - for each other - and for me.

Partners matter. Julie is a trusted partner. I am grateful for her.

Join me in thanking Julie for her faithfulness to Jesus and her loyal commitment to our partnership.

Happy anniversary, Julie!

The Life of King David: Lego-style.

In our series Unrated: What They Can't Tell You in Sunday School we've been teaching through some pillars of the faith, looking at the underbelly of their story and circumstances. Throughout the series we've discovered the sovereignty, wisdom and grace of God that transcends to our own stories.

This past weekend's focus was the life of David: "Womanizer King Woos and Kills for Lust" (watch it here). To help catch everyone up to speed on his life, our arts team put together this short clip that rides the highs, lows and in-betweens of this "man after God's own heart." The team nailed it. Enjoy.

The Lego Lowdown | King David from Granger Community on Vimeo.

Granger Community Responds to Haiti Crisis

This is not intended to report on the devastation in Haiti. You've read the reports, watched the coverage. We've all felt the overwhelming sense of helplessness.

People have been asking - What are we doing? How can we help?

You want to help. Granger Community Church is in. We're not helpless. Watch this to see how you can help. Then, follow this link to give today.

Granger Community Church Responds to the Emergency in Haiti from Granger Community on Vimeo. 

Read more from Mark Beeson here.

Your Heart is Showing

These are the people who know me best - my wife, Laura and our daughter, Olivia. They see me first thing in the morning before I've showered or brushed my teeth. They know how I act when I'm tired. They see me when I'm annoyed. They experience me when I'm annoying. They can't see my heart... or can they?

I've been on a parallel reading track as I'm ramping up with the Granger team for what promises to be an innovative initiative in life formation. So, I'm reading John Ortberg's new book, The Me I Want to Be along with Willard & Simpson's Revolution of Character and Willard & Jan Johnson's Renovation of the Heart in Daily Practice. All of these works focus on the active role of both human choice and the power of the Holy Spirit in transforming our life.

Transformation isn't about behavior modification. It's about the heart. It's about change from the inside out. Willard and Johnson pose the challenging question: "What sort of heart would you like to have?"

I want a heart that is patient even when I'm tired. A heart that isn't self-seeking. A heart that is less controlling and more about serving. I want a heart that causes me to be fully present with my girls. A heart that agonizes over the brokenness - of my neighbor, the masses in Haiti, and my own life. A heart for Jesus that calls out the best in my girls, that draws them toward Jesus. I want a transformed heart that my girls can see.

My transformation - and yours - will be evidenced and developed as we serve strangers, discipline our lives, and live vulnerably with the people who know us best.

I want my heart to be continually transformed by God's Spirit so He shines through my somber, tired, sad face - as well as my smile. 

I'm grateful for the love of Jesus behind my girls' smiles. I love this journey with them.

May Jesus himself and God our Father, who reached out in love and surprised you with gifts of unending help and confidence, put a fresh heart in you, invigorate your work, enliven your speech. 2 Thessalonians 2.15

WHO Matters.

I'm away this week with our senior management team, praying, thinking, processing, planning and dreaming about our future as a church - as a force in the world. I've never been more excited about the future of Granger Community Church - or the people who are shouldering the mission for our staff and people.

We took a moment to smile for the camera - thanks for your prayers for wisdom, community, and our vision.

From right to left: Mark Beeson, Rob Wegner, Tim Stevens, Jason Miller, DC Curry, Kem Meyer, me. (picture courtesy, Mark Beeson... of course)

Still Worth a View

This hit the YouTube loop long ago, but when a reader was searching for it again recently, I decided to throw it up here again. Enjoy.