Greg Surratt

It was hotter than hell as their wallets melted into the asphalt...

With the release of Geoff Surratt's new book "Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches From Growing", I thought I would share a few of our "great ideas" that didn't work.

One of our first attempts at fund raising was exceptionally stupid.  I will take full credit for this one:

We had about 295 people coming to our church in 3 weekend services in an auditorium that seated 145 bodies.   We needed to raise about $400,000 to finish out a larger meeting space. I thought, "We will do a four week series on giving, and on the final week we will meet all together, outside, on our property.  I will present the opportunity, and then, together we will give a generous offering that will hopefully more than meet the need."

There were two things I didn't factor into the planning:

1. The 4th weekend landed on or about July 4th.
2. It get's rather hot in Charleston in the middle of the summer.

We arrived early on that Sunday morning, set up 300 chairs in the parking lot, a stage on the sidewalk, and began praying for God's blessing.  (We probably should have prayed for God's wisdom a few weeks earlier when we were thinking this up.)

People started to arrive (fewer than we expected, because of the holiday), we began worship, and the sun started to rise in the hot, hazy, humid South Carolina summer sky.  By the time I began to preach the temperature had passed 90 and the humidity was approaching unbearable.  We are sweating like iced tea on a summer day.  During the message some older people began to pass out (in some circles that may have started a revival).  Others, who were, let's say, "calorie challenged" began to see their chairs sink into the by now warm, gooey asphalt.  By the time we passed the plates for the offering, most of the already sparse crowd had taken shelter inside the building, desperate for some water and a little air conditioning.

The offering that day came to somewhere south of $10,000.  Not exactly what we were hoping for.

Dumb?  Yes.  Fatal?  No.  Failure seldom is.  We lived to see another day and try another stupid idea.  More on that tomorrow...

10 stupid things...

My brother Geoff's new book, 10 Stupid Things Churches Do to Keep From Growing, was just released today on Amazon.

It's a great book that identifies the most common mistakes pastors make that keep churches from reaping the harvest that God may have for them.  It's got stories from Craig Groeschel, Chris Hodges, Perry Noble, Mark Batterson, Dave Browning, Dave Ferguson, Scott Chapman, Ron Hamilton, Dino Rizzo and, yes, your's truly (that alone may thrust it into the best seller list).

Ed Stetzer even calls it "pithy".

In honor of the release, I'm going to write about some really stupid things we've done at Seacoast over the years, starting with tomorrow's post.  Seriously, this could be a year long series...but I'm going to limit it to just this week.

If you are a pastor, what's the dumbest mistake you've made?

If you are a Seacoaster, what's the dumbest thing you remember us doing?  (Be nice...I reserve the right to censor :-)

5% with a bullet ^

Last week the ARC (Association of Related Churches) planted our 100th church. It looks like we are on track to plant another 70 NEXT YEAR!

Some lessons:

1. It's okay to dream oversized dreams. 7 years ago, 2000 seamed impossible. Still does, actually, but I doubt we'd have planted 100 without the XX dream.

2. Oversized dreams attract over achieving people. When I had the vision I didn't even know Billy Hornsby, Chris Hodges, Dino Rizzo, the Bezets and the rest of the ARC posse. They were attracted by the vision.

3. Over sized dreams stimulated out of the box creativity. Everytime Billy latches onto a new way of moving forward, he ties it back to the original dream. "Just trying to plant 2000 churches".

You know, I'm beginning to believe we just might be able to do this...

My wife threw out a piece of paper that might have saved thousands...

My grandfather once told me, “Son, write everything down.  God will give you a thought and the Devil will steal it from you.”  I was just getting started in ministry and he was just finishing his.  Those were wise words, and, other than his

Ping

golf clubs, they were probably the most valuable things that he left me.

 

I’m not sure how much of it can be chalked up to spiritual warfare, but I’ve certainly lost an idea or too in my lifetime.  I’ve tried to write them down as quickly as I can.  The problem is, the best ideas seldom come when I’m prepared to capture them, and even if I do, they’ve often gotten lost in the shuffle of something else.  After 30 years of marriage, Debbie knows better than to throw away even the most obscure scrap of paper.  It could be notes on the back of an envelope, or pencil marks on a napkin. Her bent toward clean and my bent toward clutter have led to times of intense fellowship as I try to explain that the scribbles in the margin of the two day old newspaper now headed toward the recycle bin were actually the very words that would lead many to Jesus in next weeks sermon.  Now they were lost, both the notes and the people, and she would someday have to answer to God for it.

 

I’ve tried notebooks and filing systems, only to have thoughts either buried within the pages or stuck in a filing cabinet or computer database located somewhere other than where I needed them at the time. 

 

I think I may see some light at the end of the idea tunnel.  It’s called an iPhone and a program called Evernote.  With the iPhone I have an electronic pen and paper to capture the ideas as they come.  Evernote promises to become the virtual filing system to store and retrieve anything as long as AT&T will supply the connection.  This marriage could work.  What if every sermon I’ve ever preached, every thought I’ve written down, every website I’ve flagged as interesting, every email I thought should be saved, could be searchable and available within just a few seconds…anywhere, anytime?

 

In their marketing, Evernote promises to replace the memory portion of your brain.  Mine could certainly use an upgrade.

 

Now if my iPhone just had a bluetoothe keyboard and could cut and paste I could send my laptop to an early retirement and spend more time storing up words of wisdom to give to my grandkids someday. 

 

Anybody else experimenting with similar solutions?  

I finally found my desk (and Jesus, too)…

I wasn't born with the highly organized, administrative gene. Some people have it, some people don't.

I don't.

If you do, God bless you…we tend to make each other crazy.

Some people make messes, some people don't. Some people take things out, some people put them away. Some people like stacks, some people are bothered by stacks. End of story right?

It was for me…until recently. I think I'm coming to Jesus.

Three things are driving me to my knees:

• I'm in over my head.
• Recently, I couldn't find my desk, or anything else for that matter.
• It's become a stewardship issue.

I'm over my head

It's no secret that I am amazed that God would choose me to lead anyone, much less 10,000 people on a weekly basis. Then there is the issue of staff. We have a wonderfully dedicated, loyal, and talented herd of cats, nearly 200 strong, that I am expected to give leadership to daily. Often I wake up thinking, "If they only knew". (I think they do, and follow anyway.) The volume of information, decisions, and relational lubrication that I am expected to process is mind numbing to a messy, stack maker like me. I'm definitely in over my head.

Where is it?

Often I can't find what I need, when I need it. I know I wrote it down somewhere. I remember I said that in a message, but which one. I'm sure it's in one of the books I've read, I just can't remember the title. The answer may be in one of the stacks on my desk, but I'm not sure which stack…besides, I'm not at my desk right now. This is an exhausting, mind numbing exercise I go through daily.

It's a stewardship issue

Someday I'll stand before God and give account of all that he's given me. My organizational accounting will be brief, but I'm still responsible for what I've got. For years I've taught people that "It's not my gift" is not an excuse. Just because you don't have the gift of mercy doesn't mean that you have the liberty to be a jerk. You are responsible to use what you have responsibly, even if it's not very much. Besides, I believe that God has given us all we need in order to be successful in accomplishing his will in whatever he's called us to do. If I need to be more organized to be better at what I do, then it's a self leadership issue, not an "I don't have that gift" issue. I may not have the gift, or ever write the books about it, but I will answer to God for what I have done with what I have…no excuses.

So, I'm on a quest…a journey of sorts.

My desk is clear, my inbox is empty (over 900 plowed through just yesterday), my car is clean, my brain is refreshed…we'll see how long this lasts when I re-enter the real world on Monday. It may be an illusion but I'm certainly "hooked on the feeling".

We'll see.

Next time I blog, maybe we'll talk about some amazing tools that are available for guys like me.

What about you? What keeps you sane?

The young guys...

I'm sitting watching one our young guys, Ernest Smith, doing a message run thru. We affectionately call it 'waterboarding Seacoast style'. Ernest is going to take a swing at the big stage soon, so he is preaching his message to a mostly empty room. There are only 12 of us here, pen and notepad in hand, poised to give feedback. It's brutal. Not the feedback, but the process. His message will be better for it. I'm not sure he cares about that right now...he's just trying to survive the moment. I remember when Ernest was a 16 year old messed up kid trying to find his place in life. Now he will be speaking to thousands. Nobody knows his name outside of our team. Maybe someday they will. The cool thing is, he's getting a chance. Here's what we do to develop future speakers: 1. We give them a seat at the table in message planning. 2. We give them a swing in pressure situations a little before they are ready 3. We try to give them honest feedback without crushing creativity. What are you doing to give the young guys a chance?

Leadership coolaid

Every once in a while you pick up a book that rattles your thinking on a subject.  "Leaders at All Levels" by Ram Charan is one of those.  I loved his book "Leadership Pipeline", and I'm loving this one.

A couple of early quotes:

"There's no shortage of raw talent.  Businesses (churches) could fill the leadership vacuum from their internal rank if they knew how to spot and develop their real potential leaders.  But they don't..."

"Not everyone can become a leader.  Leaders are different from everyone else in ways that no amount of classroom instruction can supply."

"Sometimes bringing in outside talent is the best solution to deeply embedded corporate (church)  problems.  More often it is the only solution because the company (church) has failed to produce the leaders it needs."

My thought: Most churches talk leadership, hold leadership conferences, drink the leadership coolaid...but when they need crucial new leaders, they recruit them from other churches.

Agree/Disagree?

Name dropping

I'm sitting with Josh outside on the patio at Saddleback church listening to Rick Warren teach about 2000 pastors on 'preaching'.  Its about 72 degrees and no bugs or humidity. Carolina is fine but this ain't bad!  This afternoon I will be speaking on 'Worship'...pray for me if you get a chance.

The conference has been awesome but the best part has been hanging out with other guys behind the scenes and at Rick's house. Old friends like Stoval Weems and Curt Bradford, Dave Ferguson, Bobby Grunewald...getting better acquianted with Rick Warren, Mark Batterson, Steve Stroope, Perry Noble, Larry Stockstill...meeting great new guys like Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, Jonathon Falwell, Jentzen Franklin, Dave Stone,Judd Wilhite, and others.

Some things I'm learning:
1. The church is well lead by passionate, humble (mostly...don't ask!) men who love Jesus.
2. God uses an incredible variety of styles to accomplish His will.
3. You can't wear jeans in a country club (what's up with that?)
4. The best ideas for ministry are still to be discovered.
5. There are some great young leaders out there.
6. I love being the pastor at Seacoast Church.

You can also watch an interview I did HERE a interview that talks about us HERE and catch all of the interview HERE.

Josh and I will be seeing my Dad tomorrow and then heading back to Charleston.

Governor Sanford, You Can Make A Difference

I had the privilege of speaking at the Prayer service for the Inauguration of Governor Mark Sanford on Wednesday, January 10.  Here are the notes from that service as well as some newspaper coverage from around the state.

Download 2007_governors_inauguration_prayer_service.pdf

Balancing your iPod

I think I'm going to get serious about writing in 2006.

So...I was in the local library (Barnes and Noble) looking at how other writers go about their craft and I came across this quote:

"Read the greatest stuff but read the stuff that isn't so great, too.  Great stuff is very discouraging.  If you only read Beckett and Chekhov, you'll go away and only deliver telegrams at Western Union" - Edward Albee

When I read it I had one of those "I've been there" moments.

As a communicator, church planter, pastor...many of us have a shared experience.  You go to a conference...listen to the best...see some inspiring things...and you go away profoundly discouraged...in fact borderline depressed.  "I could never do that", you tell yourself. 

And you are probably right...you can't.  But you can do something.

Can I share a secret with you? 

One of the ways I stay encouraged is by balancing my iPod.

I'm not going to tell you who is on my iPod.  You probably won't find a list on this sight of the "Top 5" preachers/teachers that I listen too.  Oh, I've got the usual mixture of the great communicators ... I want to hear what God is saying through them and I want to learn how they say it.  But that's not all I listen too.

I've got some guys on there that, frankly, just aren't that good...and I've downloaded them on purpose.  I don't do it to feel superior or to privately ridicule their inadequacies.  I do it to remind myself that we are all human...and most of us aren't world class...but we can all be used by God.

"Great stuff can be very discouraging".

By the way...that's one of the reasons we offer podcasts of our messages for free on iTunes...to help balance other peoples iPods.