Rich Kao

Defined: The study of how churches multiply.  (adding to church planting lexicon).

Coming soon: seed thoughts from the field in Vancouver and our incubator church concept.

In August, I posted an entry about our 20 year plan for our church plant.  It basically breaks down the 20 years into 4 five year segments and describes what each five year segment is about.  Recently while preparing for our upcoming staff retreat, God impressed on me a sport metaphor; "Your 20 year plan is like four quarters of a football game and you've just finished the first quarter.  You now have a proof of concept regarding your incubator church model."  Wow, what a neat picture, and what an encouragement from the Lord to know we've prototyped something that's of some value.  Can't wait for the second, third and fourth quarters.  With Coach Jesus on the sidelines, we can't lose.

I love both Amazon (books, Jeff Bezos is a genius) & Zappos (CEO Tony's tweets are the best; my wife loves their shoes).  When I heard Amazon bought Zappos, I was anxious to hear Jeff's (CEO of Amazon) take on the purchase, and he did not disappoint.  Listen to what Jeff has learned in building Amazon; he's reduced it to just 4 things, and how Zappos fits into the picture.  Each of his lessons can be used for the gospel, church planting and Kingdom expansion.  See my applications below the video.   Great stuff.

Application:

Lesson #1 - Obsess over customers = Obsess over Jesus (i.e. what's the one thing your org is about?) Jn 12:32.

Lesson #2 - Invent = Creativity is the lifeblood of the re-articulating the gospel in each generation. 1 Cor 9:22.

Lesson #3 - Think long term = Have a 20 year plan!  See here.  Don't be afraid to take your time.  Our culture is obsessed with instant success.  Gal. 6:9.

Lesson #4 - It's always Day 1 = There's always something new to learn.  There's never a dull moment.  Be a life long learner.  Prov. 4:18.

Great book by Pastor Craig Croeschel of LifeChurch.TV.  What is "it?"  You know it when you see it and experience it.  It's intangible, but it's real.  Great organizations have it, and aspiring organization want it.  Is there a way to grow it, nurture it, bottle it?  Not really.  And that's the fun.  IT is about moving with God and staying fresh.  Pastor Craig makes no claim to trying to define it definitively or turn it into a method, but he does point us in 7 directions that can help us get "it."  

1. Vision - you can see IT clearly.

2. Focus - you know where IT is not.

3. Camaraderie -  you enjoy IT with others.

4. Innovation - you'll do anything for IT.

5. Risk taking - you'll fail towards IT.

6. Outward focus - you want others to have IT.

7. Kingdom generosity - you share IT.

Full of good stories, good advice and hewn from real life experiences.  Great leadership book; great church organizational book.  Worth the read. 

This entry was first posted under the title "Making Discples the Peter Way."

Recently, I've come to another application of this passage: "Self-leadership - How to Lead Yourself Well." What follows are the edits from this perspective.

The apostle Peter makes this amazing promise: "If these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless or unfruitful..for as long as you practice thes things you will never stumble." 2 Peter 1:8,10.

You can't state it much stronger than that. It's as close to a divine guarantee as you can get. What are the "qualities" Peter refers to? They are 8 of them listed in v. 5-7 -- diligence, moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love.

These qualities are the basis of what I call Peter's Path to Self-Leadership. Here's a visual of how I look at it.  "Your Faith" in the middle of the grid = Your Self-leadership."          

There are a couple important points to note: 1) These 8 qualities are organized in the sequence just as Peter states them showing how they build upon each other. 2) These 8 qualities are also organized in a grid to indicate that our self-leadership process may focus on one or more of these at different times, in differing intensities, but it still fits within an overall framework. They key thing is that we commit this grid to memory and keep them constantly before us as the 8 areas by which, if we nurture them constantly, we will experience self-leadership that leads to maturity, growth and fruitfulness.

"By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples."  Jn 15:8