Rich Kao

Tom Peters wrote a wonderful & substantive piece by the said title, blending history, biography, and an interpersonal relations story about General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower to make one great point:

"Why must we constantly pursue “breakthrough thinking,” why must we leap “out of the box,” when the secrets to success and, conversely, the causes of failure—in the sense of persuading or failing to persuade groups of all sizes to pursue and achieve excellence in any and all endeavors—are almost wholly dependent upon character traits and personal characteristics that are in fact more or less eternal and which unequivocally transcend cultures of every flavor?"

Point:  Sometimes the same thing of the same thing is exactly is what is called for because there are eternal values and convictions and traits when acted upon always beget the same results - favor, influence, following, respect and yes, success.

This is exactly why God gave us His word.  No need to reinvent the wheel (yes, fresh application in every generation is good, but no need to rediscover the essence of things).  Just follow how God invented the wheel.  Imitate him.  Be like him.  Discern his patterns and ways.  And above all, strive to be like Jesus.   It'll get you killed, but you'll save the world in the process.  And isn't that what we all want?  To change the world.

So here's to "And now for something completely the same.  (Tom's complete article here.)

I don't know T. Boone  Pickens, but I know he is doing what billionaires should do.  Use their incredible wealth and influence to help others benefit greatly.  Here in Vancouver, my kids are benefitting from billionaire Jim Pattison who has set up a K-12 school that is capitalized like a college campus, educating thousands of kids (ranks top 10% in quality in BC) and incalculating missions and service to God in a charismatic environment to boot!  Bill Gates is tackling malaria, AIDS and more.  One of the wealthiest billionaire families in Taiwan is building hundreds of elementary schools in China for the underprivileged.  This is what billionaires should do.  And now T. Boone Pickens has the audacity to propose, plan and promote an entire energy plan for the United States of America so she can be unshackled from her dependance on foreign oil.  Brilliant.  And here's what cool...he wants to use WIND to generate a new energy source for America.  Say Pickens:  "US is the Saudi Arabia of wind power." That's a grabber.  Jon Stewart got so exited whilte interviewing Mr. Pickens he volunteered to walk off the set with the audience to help the cause.  Watch this four minute clip that explains the big picture of his plan, and then go to PickensPlan.com to do your part!

John Piper sits down with Mark Driscoll to talks about his life: Growing up as the son of an evangelist, the godly relationship of his parents, a very real look at his marriage, and the adoption of his daughter.  A wonderfully candid and honest interview that brings out the human side of Pastor John Piper and encourages us that behind every giant of a man, is a man.  Very helpful, instructive and encouraging for all us aspiring leaders that the glory comes in human, clay vessels.

I've noticed in the book of Acts three numerical milestones in the growth of the church.

1. 12 people milestone.  Core Group Phase.  Time line:  3 years.

This is the time Jesus took to raise up the 12 apostles.  Signals to us the importance of leadership development.  Build a strong core team at the beginning, and the weight they will be able to carry in future days will be significant and glorious.

2. 120 people milestone.  Upper Room Phase.   Time Frame:  10 days

Between Jesus'  ascension (day 40) and Pentecost (day 50), the 12 apostles gathered a growing core of 120 people into the upper room.  This is where they grew together in unity and cemented their core values as a group.  This was the intimacy, closeness phase.  Then the power came -- as in the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

3. 3000 people milestone.  Breakout Phase.    Time frame: 1 hour

In one hour, 3000 people came to Christ.  Amazing stuff.  But look at what went into that one hour:  an equally amazing amount of work, strategy, development and patience on the part of God.    It's like the tall oak tree that has an even deeper root system.  If we want to build for the long haul, then we need to follow this pattern and the general principles that these three milestones teach us.

Phase 1 & 2 are the "hidden and growing in the soil phases."  Phase 3 is the season of bursting out of the privacy and nourishing darkness of the soil into the light.  The time frames of 3 yrs, 10 days, 1 hour give us a prophetic sense of the labor that goes into each phase, and the quickening progression as one moves toward the Phase 3.

Take away:  Start slow, build well, gain momemtum and then bust out.    Which phase is your church plant in?

For all you preachers and communicators, I did a little experiment this summer with our church and asked them to evaluate my messages that used powerpoint and didn't use powerpoint.

A while back, I was preaching at a different church in which I didn't use a powerpoint, and I was approached by a media expert after the service who expressed how much they appreciated that I DIDN'T use powerpoint.  This got my attention, as I've been a student of communication skills and heard arguments for both sides of using and not using slides (plus there are highly successful preachers on both sides of the fence). 

So for the summer, I preached half my sermons with powerpoint, and half without powerpoint, and then polled the people as to which they liked better.  Results?  3/4's liked my messages better WITH powerpoint and 1/4 liked it better without the slides.

This was fun for me to find out.   

So my general default will be to stick with using powerpoint, especially when my messages are more teaching based.  When I preach extemporaneously or prophetically, I will not use powerpoint.