Pay Attention To The Rule-Breakers

14 posted on October 14, 2008

POSTED IN: Church, Leadership, Makes You Think

Many of the people in my group said the most impactful session at Catalyst for them was the one by Steven Furtick, lead pastor of Elevation Church. Regardless of what you may think about Steven’s leadership style or church philosophy, there’s no denying that God’s hand is on him in a powerful way.

In the very last session Andy Stanley shared some thoughts on a handful of quotes that have helped shape his ministry. One of those quotes was from Joel Barker from his book Future Edge,

“What do I believe is impossible to do in my field, but if it could be done would fundamentally change my business?”

There are paradigm shifts taking place every day as companies, organizations, and churches are having to re-adjust their definition for what is and isn’t possible. Just because we think something is impossible or highly unlikely doesn’t necessarily mean it’s impossible. It could just mean that we haven’t discovered the way to get around that obstacle.

Andy’s takeaway from that quote was this:

Pay attention to people who are breaking the rules!

I think of people like Steven Furtick when I hear quotes like that. I just recently read about the Dream Sex series that Elevation is doing. They’re not only encouraging healthy relationships from the stage on Sunday, they’re actually providing an opportunity to kick-start it by giving out $30 gift-cards to local restaurants and 3 hours of childcare!

There is a new generation of churches and church leaders that are fundamentally redefining how church is done and people are reached.

Allow Room for Changing Paradigms
We’re used to the idea of an Internet Campus like LifeChurch and Seacoast are doing but it was only within the last 5 years that those models were pioneered. What new ideas and tools will be available to us in 5 years that haven’t even been thought of yet?

Let’s take that question off the whiteboard and bring it home.
Perhaps you’ve had to adjust your ministry model to incorporate social media. Maybe you’re figuring out ways to utilize current technology tools like text messaging to make your service interactive (check out Jarbyco). Or maybe you’re letting God stretch you in the area of music or methods.

What are the paradigm shifts you’re dealing with in your ministry or organization right now?

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 at 12:52 pm and is filed under Church, Leadership, Makes You Think. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

14 Comments

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October 14, 2008

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1 Rachel said:

Loving this! Thanks for sharing this stuff with us. Keep it up!

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October 14, 2008

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2 Nick said:

I think for me, even though I am not in the role of making a final decision where I am serving, is to identify what “rules” are holding us back. What are we doing that could be done differently (to be more effective and more efficient). What are we doing just because its what we’ve been conditioned to do, etc…From there, I really can’t say to many shifts are taking place, but there are definitely some that need to take place.

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October 14, 2008

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3 » Speaking of Paradigm Shifts… – BradRuggles.com said:

[...] wrote a post earlier today about recognizing paradigm shifts. Here’s one I came across this [...]
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October 14, 2008

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4 Jordan said:

good stuff, great incites, keep moving!

-jordan

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October 14, 2008

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5 Shanda said:

I’ve been following the blogs of Steve Furtick and his wife for a long time.
I thought it was an amazing act of faith to do what they are doing for the married couples in their church…made me wish I went there…and that I was married.

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6 Cherith said:

I saw this sermon on sunday with BJ. We were freaking out. What an AWESOME idea. Who does that?? And yet its SO SIMPLE! Any more people surrounding us don’t care about our personal lives but what we can do for them. I think breaking the rules is a brilliant idea. Although I do think it’s getting harder as time passes to find a way to not go over board, or making sure everyone is “ok” with it. Love Steven Furtick. He impacted BJ and I both.

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7 Brad Singleton said:

Hey Brad, thanks for the seacoast mention! [your checks in the mail by the way ].

I think some of the most creative and forward thinking ideas might not use technology, but they will break the rules of what is normal or accepted for church.

The whole Catalyst experience was so intense for me, my heart is still resonating and processing.

Loving your thoughts.
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8 Brad Ruggles said:

@BradSingleton – I think you’re totally right and you make a great point. The natural inclination is for us to look for the next paradigm shift to come in the form of a new technology tool or web site. That may not be it at all. I think the key is for us to constantly seek God and allow Him to stretch us.
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9 Kevin Bussey said:

Brad,

I responded to your question on my blog before I read your post. It is funny how you saw the same thing I did in Steven Furtick. God is all over him and I live in Charlotte (for 2 more months) and they have “IT”

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October 15, 2008

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10 aaron said:

what have be become with our “Christian Super-Stars”?
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11 Brad Ruggles said:

@Aaron – I mentioned Steven Furtick because I was illustrating the point that there are churches and leaders who are changing the way we think about church.

I do agree that we have a dangerous tendency in the church today to elevate our leaders to “super-star” status which can cause our eyes to be on the man rather than God. That’s a big enough topic that we’ll have to save it for a future post.
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12 Music at Catalyst with Jonathan Foreman of Switchfoot // #catalyst08 Thursday Photos | Scott Fillmer Photography from Auburn, Alabama said:

[...] say after looking at their sites. One in particular, Brad Ruggles, has several great posts like Pay Attention To The Rule-Breakers, Call + Response, and Catalyst Live Blogging: Andy Stanley to name a few. Another fantastic blog [...]
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October 15, 2008

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13 Chris Brown said:

Thanks for comment, Brad. So glad to hear that what Pastor Steven said connected with you guys. We had been praying that it would ignite passion and stir dreams for everyone there.

As for the others…a lot is still settling in my brain. But I thought Dave Ramsey brought so much straight forward wisdom that’s very applicable to where our department is right now. Really enjoyed Craig Groeschel and Tim Stevens as well. And Matt Chandler quickly fired through some meaty points, too, that I were great.

Great thoughts on this post as well.

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October 22, 2008

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14 Taylor said:

Thanks for the shout out! Yeah, the SIGG bottles were pretty hot at our booth at Catalyst this year. I thought the conference was awesome – Seth Godin and Matt Chandler specifically. Glad you and your group had a killer time in Hotlanta. We did too!

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