Yesterday we took 30 OneLifers to an annual one-day conference at NewSpring Church called Unleash. It is a conference for church leaders and volunteers to learn and be encouraged from this church, which started 11 years ago in a small town and now has more than 10,000 in attendance each week!

This church and their pastor have been HUGE helps in getting OneLife started so I was pumped to take such an awesome group of OneLifers to check it out. I took some notes from the two amazing main sessions taught by Perry Noble and the breakout session for Senior Pastors, also led by him. Here’s what I learned, got reminded or was pumped up to hear:

• “You can’t water down the Gospel! It’s the GOSPEL! Jesus told stories. Did he water it down?”
• “Social justice without Jesus is social injustice. People don’t need a blanket they need JESUS.”
• “The church doesn’t have an agenda. It has a Savior! God’s not green. Kermit is!”
• “So-called mature people aren’t mature. Here’s what I’ve learned. Mature people give up their rights first.”
• “Two questions parents want to know about their kids at church – Did you have fun? What did you learn? Set up your kids ministries for that!”
• “If you make a pros and cons list to make decisions, you’ll never make a God-sized decision. The cons will always outweigh the pros!”
• “Pastor, if your church isn’t on fire for Jesus…look in the mirror.”
• “When you step out to do God’s vision, people won’t see the whole picture and they’ll think you’re crazy!”
• “Church staff and leaders – you can always submit to Godly authority and trust that the end result will be ok.”
• “You must care more for staff and volunteers for who the are than for what they do.”
• “Too many staff in the Church want to be known instead of being used! They want to be discovered more than they want to be developed!”
• “A good leader asks ‘Do I get to do that?’ instad of ‘Do I have to do that?’”
• “Staff and volunteers can take a cue from Jonathan in 1 Samuel 14:7. Tell your leader/pastor ‘Do all you have in mind. I am with you heart and soul.’”

OneLifers, God wants to do something fresh at our church and we have some big dreams. Are you with me heart and soul?! I hope so. I can’t do it without you.

Hey Volunteers…if you were at Unleash, what did I leave out? What did you learn? How were you challenged and encouraged?

I kind of pride myself on not being one of those guys that tries to be all athletic and act like I know every little detail of what a coach should do in a given scenario because I played pee-wee football in first grade. In fact, when it comes to being athletic I’m pretty much, well, terrible.

But…there have been a few glorious moments of exception. First was my lone year on my school’s swim team as a senior in high school. That’s right, I was district champion in the backstroke.

BAM!

The other was intramural flag football at UT. Believe it or not, I actually got pretty good at defense. And there was one reason for it. I knew my position on the field. When one of the wanna-be-jock coaches told me what to do, I did it and nothing else. It paid off! I got more sacks and “tackles” than just about anybody on our team. Not because I was most athletic, but because I knew my position on the field and focused on being the best I could in that role.

This same concept is what we focus on as a church. OneLife is a team sport! We can’t do it with just a pastor and a staff. So everyone who ends up being a part of our church MUST know their position on the field if we are going to win! And our win is far more important than a swim meet or flag football game.

Our win is seeing lives changed and a community transformed. It takes people who are gifted in teaching and leading, to be sure. But they can’t do it alone! It also takes people gifted in hospitality, encouragement, prayer, generosity, service, faith, wisdom, administration, and on and on the list goes. It takes all of us. It takes YOU!

But it takes you knowing your position on the field so you can focus on that and do it with every fiber in your being. And when we all do that, we WILL make a difference in this community. It WILL leave a mark on the lives of many. And we WILL use our one life to make a difference.

So don’t sit back and let the talking heads on a stage do all the heavy lifting. Because reality is, they simply can’t and won’t. Discover your position on the field, get out of the bleachers, and get in the game! There’s a place for you on the field. It’s your job to be the best you can at it and help our team to claim the victory.

Do something about it today. Start by answering this question honestly: “What is my position on the field?”

Two years ago the University of Tennessee football team had reached a tough spot. Phillip Fulmer, coach for 16 years, had experienced an unbelievable career including a national championship, two SEC championships, and was within a stone’s throw of becoming the all-time winningest coach in school history. But his program was struggling. Struggling badly. And thus, he was fired in the middle of the season.

The very next game was against a sub-par Wyoming team that should have presented no problem. The verdict? An embarrassing loss, on homecoming, that sent the team to its second losing record in three years. Why did this terrible loss happen? I think the answer is simple.

Trust in leadership was shot.

Any organization will be all but done for if there is no trust in leadership. For a church, it is even more important. The staff and especially the pastor must be trusted or you can guarantee the momentum will be lost. As a result, we aggressively defend our leadership and unity at OneLife.

The dream of reaching people who are far from God is too real and too urgent to do anything else. If someone doesn’t trust our leadership, that is totally fine. We will help them find a church where they can. Not because our way is the right way. But because our way is our way that God has clearly given.

I count myself as one of the most blessed people I know because I am surrounded by a staff and church that does in fact trust its leadership. This month is Pastor Appreciation Month and I have been blown away – to the point of tears – nearly every day this week as another card, another gift, another hand written note has shown up. It has reminded me of the unusual unity our church is experiencing. OneLife, we must protect that. Trust me. Trust our staff. And let’s watch God do some amazing things in our city.

The next two items on the Gauge are “We are Laser Focused” and “We are Meticulous.”

A story this morning on Good Morning America talked about how the new, energy efficient windows do a great job reflecting the sun’s rays. In fact, too good of a job! They act like magnifying glasses, reflecting the sun in beams nearly as intense as lasers. The focused sun light is so strong that it is melting the vinyl siding on neighboring houses!

That’s some intense focus. And that’s what we strive for at OneLife.

When we got started, we only did Sunday mornings. No small groups, no youth ministry, no big missions push. Just worship and the Gospel. Many told me that was too simple, but man am I glad we were laser focused. Now we remain laser focused though our ability to do more has indeed expanded. But it has expanded as far as it probably ever will. Now we simply focus on Sunday mornings and OneLife Communities. That’s it. Everything we will ever do from this point forward (missions, community outreach, etc.) will be funneled through one of these two avenues.

Why do we stay so focused? Because of number 6 on The Gauge. We are meticulous.

Colosians 3:23 says “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” When it comes to doing things for God, we want to make sure the details matter. Everything we do will be intentional and excellent. It simply isn’t possible to do that when a church or organization isn’t laser focused. That means some won’t like what we do. They will say we should offer more. Others will say we are too nit-picky or too worried about “the show.” And hey, they might be right. Because when it comes to the God who puts on a show every night when the stars are shining and the God who knows every nit-picky detail about his creation – down to numbering the hairs on their head – the least we can do is our best to give that back to Him.

So we unapologetically remind our staff, volunteers, and partners that what makes OneLife unique is that we are laser focused and meticulous in all that we do. The same approach can make us dangerous in our personal lives, too. How are you laser focused and meticulous in what God has called YOU to do? Focus makes you powerful. Being meticulous makes you unstoppable.

Let’s go do it!

Rick Warren tweeted something interesting last week: “Anything that grows too fast never lasts.”

At first, that irritated me. Then I realized he was probably right.

God’s Word is full of analogies. Jesus taught with them in his parables. So looking to God’s creation it is clear that this is indeed a godly principle. Cancer grows too fast. Weeds grow too fast. Populations grow too fast and endanger other populations. On and on the list goes. Even businesses growing too fast is a problem. Just Google “grow too fast” and see all the examples.

The only problem is this…what is “too” fast? I don’t know. When it comes to the Church, the magnitude of lostness would seem to echo the country song “Too much fun, what’s that mean? It’s like too much money there’s no such thing! Like a girl too pretty, with too much class. Being too lucky, a car too fast…” Ok…you get the point. Can a church really grow “too” fast if it is reaching lost people?

I don’t know. I wouldn’t think so…

But here’s what I do know. We are running a marathon. If OneLife is going to put a dent in the lostness of our community, it’s going to take time. It means we must value rest and not be a bunch of sprinters. Our volunteers must rest. Our staff must rest. And our church must rest.

We are in it for the long haul. So that’s why I may be inclined to believe what Pastor Rick had to say in that tweet. 30 years after planting his church, they are tens-of-thousands strong and have sent tens-of-thousands of missionaries from their church to the four corners of the earth. They have made huge progress at battling the lostness in Saddleback Valley. But it didn’t happen overnight. It wasn’t a sprint. It was a marathon.

For OneLife, we must not let our foot off the gast. Ever. But we also need to remember – it’s not a sprint. Let’s allow God to grow us at HIS pace, not our own. Because our pace may be one that is too fast and one that – on our own – is guaranteed to never last.