More than anything on my trip to Haiti, I learned leadership lessons I will never forget.  When the Sister, who for almost 30 years,  has lead the Coty Project we were a part of last week, spoke, people listened.  And the things they are accomplishing there in Haiti amidst the darkness speak volumes of what happens when a life is focused and devoted to God.

My first leadership lesson:  Pick it and stick with it

The airport in Port Au Prince is not exactly JFK, the airport from which we departed.  There were multiple buildings, but a few of them looked more like advanced barns than they did steel structures.  A band did play loudly in one of the hallways however, and that was nice. We went through customs and headed for the madhouse that was the baggage claim.  Actually it was more like a free for all.  Our bags just happened to be as heavy as they would make them as we were hauling medical supplies, so no one would be able to grab them quickly.

The team of 5 I flew in with finally rounded up our gear and made our way to the exit.  Shortly before we found our way to the end of the tunnel though, we were introduced to Sister Eunice, the head of the Haiti Plunge, and one of the best leaders I’ve ever met.

My first lesson was here, in this place when we met.  She told us, “when you go outside, you pick someone to help you with your baggage, and stick with that one person.  You say, ‘You are my person’ and deny everyone else.  Focus, because it’s crazy out there.”  I had no clue what she was talking about until we walked outside where there was a huge red fence at the exit, and hundreds of people wearing red hats, and apparently wanting to help me with my baggage.  I then realized that what works in America would not work here in the Port Au Prince airport, and now was not the time for tactfulness.

I picked a person out of the throngs that vied for my attention, and looking him straight in the eye, I said “You, please take these.”  He did, and we began walking to the truck where our bags would end up.  But another man also helped him with my bag.  The bag did not need two guys carrying it, but as we walked to the truck, I wavered and thought that this man was doing such a nice thing, I should give him some money too.

Sister Eunice disagreed.  In my first experience with tough love for the week (and as you’ll find out there was plenty more), she asked me, “Did you hire this man?” pointing at the man I hired.  “Yes, I did,” I responded.  “Did you hire this man?” She asked again, except this time referring to the other man.  “No, I didn’t, but I can…”

“NO!  You didn’t hire him, and so he needs to learn that.  Do not give him any more money!”

In retrospect, I understand what she was saying, but at the time, I thought it was a bit harsh.  But the overall lesson I learned this week, she had begun to teach me, and would continue to teach me throughout the week:

This is not about a one week excursion to make you feel better Marty, this is about developing people and developing their culture.  So start here.  Pick one, and stick with that one.  This will teach a work ethic and not endorse or create begging.

I think now about all the things that I waiver on, and realize the dangers and roadblocks this creates to the vision God has given me to accomplish here in New England.   When it comes to decisions that need to be made and plans that need to be executed, there is very little room for indecision.  Sure there is a time at the beginning where you craft and plan for what will happen, but then you carry it out and make it happen.

You pick it and stick with it.

The more I do what I do, the more I begin to realize the difference between someone I  may like and someone I want to be around.

I may like you if you can talk about sports and music and how your day is going.  But I want to be around you if you can tell me the way something should be in real life.  I may listen to you if you come to me and complain or you’re having a rough day and need to get it out, but I’ll want to stay there and keep listening if you then go into how things can and will be better eventually.

When someone paints a picture of how things could be and should be in the world, people follow.  I follow.

So today if you talk to your friends and share how things are going and maybe you get the urge to complain a bit about all the bad things going on, follow it up with how things will eventually turn around, and maybe even share with them a vivid picture of what that looks like.

If we were only as descriptive about the good things that are happening as we are about the bad things…

I have a question.  How do you know you’re getting things done?  I mean valuable things accomplished, not mind-numbing work that you make up to make it look like you’re doing something.  When I was a young kid in ministry, I remember feeling bad if I envisioned and planned, so I just did countless hours of menial tasks intended to show people what I could do, not what I was actually doing.  I think most of us get caught in this struggle – the tension between getting something accomplished now and looking toward the future.

Here’s what I did to relieve some of that tension.  I wrote down the 5 most important things that I do.  They are general enough to umbrella a full work week and specific enough to focus on my goals.  Then I attempt to only do things that directly relate to those 5 things.  Obviously this isn’t always possible, but you’d be surprised at how many time it is.

Since that time, I’ve worked much smarter, and accomplished much more.

One of the hardest things about being a leader (that I’ve found anyway) is the balance between contentment and the desire to get to the next level in that which you are leading.  As a pastor, my heart’s desire is to connect and lead people to Jesus.  Fellowship Church is a catalyst for doing that, and I love being able to serve God this way.
I love being a part of a group of people who have the same heart and purpose too.  I would certainly call myself content.  There literally is no other place I’d rather be in the world (outside of Aruba this week when it has rained for more than a week straight).
Then there is the other side of me.  The side that wants to go to the next level – spiritually, numerically, and even physically (says my bones after a big workout at the gym).
Currently as a church, we’ve grown to the place that I’ve seen us grow 2 other times since I’ve been here (though I led as an assistant during those times), and are now looking toward the future of growth.  Both of the other times, at the peak of that growth, we’ve lost the point leadership, causing us to take a step back in one case and light years back in the other.
I know God has protected this place through all that for a reason – for His glory and for His praise.  And now that we’re back where we were, facing the same hurdles we faced before, we’re praying…

God, bring us another step forward.

Yesterday I talked about time and how saying “no” is not the enemy of “yes”, but it can be the very close companion.  I also mentioned that I would be sharing a new policy I’ve given to the fine folks on our lead team at Fellowship Church.

I should start off by saying that we’re not a very big church, so this policy change is not easy because we have tons of people “licking their chops” to volunteer at Fellowship.  In fact, it’s not a very easy change to make at all, but I’ve decided to follow through with it because I believe God gives people certain gifts to help His church thrive, and because so many time we don’t use our gifts to their fullest potential because we’re too busy trying to say “yes” to everyone and be good at everything.

The change that we’ll be making is that everyone in our church will be in one Sunday morning ministry and one Sunday morning ministry only.  So if Sally is doing Family ministry (for kids) on one Sunday and greeting our guests another Sunday, our leaders will have to work together to decide, based on her desires and her talents and growth which ministry she will be volunteering in during 2009.

My hope is that this will do three things:

The change will help us coordinate and communicate more effectively between ministries within Sunday Mornings @ Fellowship.
The change will give our volunteers motivation to excel at the ministry God has placed them in for this season in their life.
The change will help streamline volunteerism in our church and allow individuals to make wise decisions concerning their time.

I don’t think this change will be easy for us.  Effective change never is.  But the alternative is several people with the gifts of mercy, helps, or who just like to say “yes” too much will hinder the spiritual growth of other partners at Fellowship by taking over the need for those individuals to say “yes” to a ministry in which they are gifted to participate.  And at the same time, because of an immediate need, I will let that hindrance occur.

So we need our Fellowshippers, new and old, to either:
Pray about getting out of the way of one of the gazillion ministries in which they might be involved.  or
Pray about jumping into their first ministry volunteer position.

So your thoughts on this change being effective, por favor?

There’s no doubt that what gets me going is ideas.  As I mentioned here, it’s my number one strength.
For some reason, because of my job or whatever, it would appear that the fall tends to be the time when I get the best ideas.  And they buzz around and pan out in my head at all times of the day,and at all times in the night.  It’s really nothing to find me going to bed at 12 or so and get up at 3:30 am trying to figure out how to work out an idea I have.

Only recently though have I not looked at it as a curse, but rather to use the time God has alotted me to really process all sides of the idea and begin to flush out the more negative, bonehead parts of the idea.  It was funny when my cousin Jake visited last week, that he mentioned to me sometimes he gets up at super early hours and writes music.  Maybe it’s a Holman thing.  I have another cousin who actually has 4 of my top 5 strengths on the Strength Finder test.

So here’s a few ideas I’m accomplishing right now:
*The consistent growth of those who attend FC.
*The finishing of the web site to which I previously linked.
*Make Sunday Mornings @ Fellowship an experience that burns in the minds of those that have attended.
*Redecoration of the stage.
*Preparing the trailer in the back of the church to be torn down.  It was home to me, now its home to skunks.
*Measuring the numerical effectiveness of our small groups based on the number of people regularly attending Sunday Morning @ Fellowship.  Then making the appropriate decisions concerning those small groups.  (This may not make sense, but it would if I felt like explaining more in this post)

Here are future ideas I’m mulling over now:
*The sale of land.
*The consistent growth of those who attend FC.
*Continuing to build a community and grow at the same time.
*The Construction of a new building.

So there you have it – the things that are in my mind these days.  I’m sure there are more, but that is a base list.

Feel free to share your ideas with me.

By the way, Jake released a new song on the web you should check out.

The first pic you find of me if you google/image my name

The Following are ways that people found my blog in recent days:

Fergie and Jesus quote – hmmm
martyholman.com – probably should have just typed it in to the browser.
Pastor Tim Holman – My cousin who is starting a church in Ohio this year.
Brandon Whittall, Fellowship Church – A friend of mine who works at FC in Plano, TX
Fergie, Jesus – I don’t know why they alway type Fergie’s name first.
Pensacola Christian College – My alma mater
U2 - This post is overwhelmingly the most visited.
Leadership – I’ve written a little bit about it.
Ruben Cimbron – an old friend
I became a Christian and all I got was T – No doubt from this book.

How did you find my site?

Looking for some advice on todays post please. Been thinking about this a lot lately, so please don’t just sit back, but participate…Please!

For those of you who in any kind of leadership positions, in the family, in a small group, a church, or a business, I’d like to know what you think the proper balance is between leadership and friendship.  Can a person be a friend with someone they lead?  How does this affect the leadership role?  In what ways do the leadership roles affect the friendship?

Your thoughts please.

This week, Fellowship Church continued the church (small c) wide series “One Prayer” with 1493 other churches and 849, 036 people (at last count).  We represent a small portion of that numerically, but I feel like our church is coming together to pray and to fellowship in ways that I could have never imagined.  I’m so excited about the direction of “the FC” and how our people are stepping to become part of the “One church” God wants us to be.

This week’s service is one I won’t forget for a long time, from beginning to end, as there just seemed to be a spirit of humility and unity in the entire room.  I can’t of course speak for everyone, but I’m just sharing my perception of the morning.  I spoke on my “one prayer” for the church-at-large – “God, make us lead.”  I thought I would share my outline with you in this post, in case you missed it or were interested.  Later I’ll share the podcast.

“Make us lead”

“Leadership is not reserved for those in position power. The leader is the one who cares most about the mission or endeavor.”- by someone.

Our mission – “To lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

How do I make other people want to lead?  Dont teach them bullet points, or that it’s cool to lead, teach them to care with all their hearts about “Leading people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.”

As a church, what I want for us is to be successful at our mission, “to LEAD”

To lead is to care.  This is not about personality!

If you don’t “care” about your (Family, job, time, finances) someone will “care” (lead) for you.

My testimony – Good kid.  Went to Christian school, Christian college, bought Christian t-shirts, and I didn’t care.

The story of Samson, the judge who God had a purpose for, but didn’t care.

Hebrews 12:1a - 

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith,

Sexual sin
Pride
greed,
gossip

And then there are the things that probably aren’t sin, but just hold us up.  What are those things in your life?

“sin takes you farther than you want to go, keeps you longer than you want to stay, and costs more than you want to pay.”

 “And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”

 Hupomones – “the characteristic of a person who is not swerved from his or her deliberate purpose and his or her loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings.”

I’m afraid for some the hardships are too hard and the discipline it takes to follow Christ is too great, and so we’re not willing.

Hebrews 12:5-11
“No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening!”
We have to be willing to overcome. Willing to go through adversity. (email 1)

Usually what we do is complain, gossip, and worry. 

“People become our heroes because they fight through things and overcome circumstances, not because they’re glorious.”

Become somebodys hero!

and here’s how we do that (run with endurance), the writer of Hebrews says,
“by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish.”

 So this is how the author finishes the thought in Hebrews 12:12,13

 12 So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. 13 Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those follow you, the weak and lame, will not fall but become strong.

Because what you do will be effects those people who follow you – your kids, your friends, your loved ones.

1.  Heroes seem to be in the right place at the right time.
2.  Heroes fight through adversity.
3.  Heroes don’t have to tell everyone what they did.
4.   Heroes work on it, or they stop becoming heroes

 Become somebodys hero!

 Here’s what this looks like for the church - creating environments for people that are relevant and focused for people to connect and grow in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

How you can be a part:
Do what you can do.
Build real community in the life of your church.  (why I believe in small groups)
care about the mission.