Not Exactly Where I Thought I Would Be

Cross Point, Leadership, church administration, personal growth

Not Exactly Where I Thought I Would Be

40 Comments 02 March 2010

Five years ago this week I walked through the doors of Cross Point Church not as a volunteer anymore, but a staff member.  I remember that day so vividly.  I remember driving the 30 minute commute from my home to the office thinking “Have I really done this?”, “Am I really walking away from the career I’ve passionately pursued since the age of 13 to work at a church?”, “God, is this really you?”

My mind was racing with questions and doubt, and yet there was a quiet calm underlying this decision.  I couldn’t deny that God was doing something special at Cross Point.  Five years ago with maybe 500 people in the seats in a dirty school cafeteria it wasn’t always apparently obvious that God had big things in store for this young church, but I can remember specifically the moment when I felt God telling me this was what I needed to do.

Fast forward five years and there are still days that I ask God similar questions to the ones I asked that morning of my commute… “God, really… is this really what you’ve called me to?”… sometimes that question is asked out of frustration and sometimes that question is asked out of awe and wonder.

In celebration of five years, I thought I would share five things I’ve learned so far…

1)  It’s a 24/7 job. It’s a calling, a commitment and a sacrifice.  I’m not suggesting you have to work unsustainable hours, but you can’t clock-in and clock-out.  You have to embrace the responsibility.
2)  Ministry leadership is not easier. In my case it’s been much more difficult than my corporate leadership experience.
3)  I GET to do this. May I never forget the privilege it is to partner with God in the work of transforming lives.
4)  Life-change never gets old. Seeing lives changed is all the fuel you need to make it through the dark days.
5)  You can’t lose hope. You can’t lose sight of the vision.  Create whatever marker you need to create to remember why you are in ministry and keep it prominently in front of you all the time.

What has ministry taught you?

Second Chairs & See-Saws

Business, Leadership, church administration, staff/employees

Second Chairs & See-Saws

5 Comments 25 February 2010

If you are in the second chair, you have not been called to a place of comfort; you have been called to a place of leadership.“

This quote is from one of my all-time favorite books entitled Leading from the Second Chair: Serving Your Church, Fulfilling Your Role, and Realizing Your Dreams (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series) by Mike Bonem and Roger Patterson.

Leading at any level is difficult, but being a second chair leader – that leader that isn’t the CEO, Pastor, President, etc, but is the next tier of leadership directly serving these types of first chairs – has it’s own unique set of challenges. In my opinion, most second chair leaders have to balance many of the challenges of strategic planning, future development and business administration details with an awareness and intentionality to relationally leading the staff on a daily basis. The Second Chair is the leader that the team needs feedback, encouragement and direction from on a daily basis.

But, the see-saw of going back and forth from business to staff relations can make any good leader a little dizzy and unfocused.

Because I’m wired to be “task first”, I have to be very intentional to see-saw over to the relational side. The heaviness of the business, management and develop stuff can easily keep me grounded on that side if I let it. Remember when the big kid would get on the see-saw and keep you dangling in the air? Yep, that’s me. I’m the big kid on the business side holding down the see-saw while my staff are dangling in the air on the relational side dieing for a chance to come back down.

Odds are we all lean to one side or the other. Most of us are wired to be “task” or “people” first. Striking a balance between the two and having the discernment to know when to lean into one or the other, is a leadership skill that is developed over time.

Since I lean to the “task” side, I have created a few questions that help me know when and how to see-saw back to relationship.

My relationship questions:

  • What does the team need from me today? Encouragement? Direction? A listening ear? Practical help?
  • What tasks do I have and how can I take care of them so that I’m energized and able to focus on the team?

If you are naturally a relationship person who needs help see-sawing over to the task side more consistently, here are a few questions you might ask yourself:

  • What is one thing I can do today that will help better prepare our organization and staff for the future?
  • What is the best time and place for me to work on my leadership tasks and how can I adjust my schedule to create intentional time to work on these priorities?

Here’s the deal, the see-saw will never be perfectly balanced. Remember how hard you tried to scoot up or scoot back on the see-saw to balance the weight so both you and your friend would be floating in mid-air? A lot of work for short reward.

Embrace the see-saw… just remember to not get stuck on one side or the other!

How about you? Which side of the leadership see-saw do you have the potential to get stuck on? Task or Relationship?

Cultivate Her THIS FRIDAY!!

Cultivate Her, church administration

Cultivate Her THIS FRIDAY!!

1 Comment 23 February 2010

I’ve been hanging out at the Velocity Conference hosted by ChurchPlanters.com yesterday and today.  It’s been a great time to connect with some great church leaders!

Yesterday my dear friend and mentor Sherry Surratt led a break-out discussion about “Engaging Women in Leadership”.  Its exciting to see this topic growing in church circles and I love to get the chance to talk more about it.  I also had the opportunity to share what we’re doing with “Cultivate Her”.  It makes me so proud to be working with a team of women who are passionate about creating leadership environments for the women of Nashville.

Don’t Forget! Our next Cultivate Her event is THIS FRIDAY, February 26th at 7:00 AM.  You can RSVP HERE.

If you don’t live in the Nashville area, I encourage you to join the discussion on the Cultivate Her blog!!

Cross Point, Sunday Highlights, church administration, scripture/devotions

Sunday Highlights

1 Comment 31 January 2010

It was a crazy weekend for us at Cross Point. Nashville had around 4-6 inches of snow this weekend so everyone has been pretty hunkered down.  Most local churches were closed, but we opted to keep the doors open and I’m so glad we did.

Each of our campuses made some adjustments to make the day work.  And our Programming guys, Matt, Aaron & Darrin quickly pulled together a Ustream option for people to join us online.  Literally thousands worshiped with us today!

If you joined us, we were so glad that you were a part of the day!

Here are my notes from today’s message:

Pursuing Wisdom in Words by Pete Wilson

Words are a very powerful thing.

For some of you your self-esteem has been formed by the power of words that were spoken to you.

We are very sensitive to the words spoken to us, but oftentimes we’re not careful about the words that come out of our mouths.

Proverbs 18:21

James 3:2-8

Are you going to allow your words to bring peace or cause dissention?

Matthew 12:34

If you have a mouth problem, you really have a heart problem.

What God is looking for is for our words to bring life.

Proverbs 25:11

There is an element of power to our words.

We are impacted by words.  It affects our souls.  We are designed that way.

There is no such thing as a neutral word.  God has designed the human soul where your words will either destroy or build up one another.

Proverbs 15:4

Secret of the human soul: Everyone needs healing, no matter how put together they appear.  Everyone needs healing!

Ephesians 4:29

To be aware of others’ needs, you have to be present, listening, understanding in the moment.

Two questions to think about this week:

Who has God placed in your life?

What do they need to hear you say?

The power is not in the thought.  The power is in the word.  The power is in saying it.

Say what you need to say this week!

*******************

I need to say a BIG THANK YOU to all of our staff for working together to create worship environments at all of our campuses.  I appreciate your hearts for people.  I appreciate your commitment to one another.  I’m so thankful to be on your team! You guys are amazing!

Cross Point Sunday Plan

Cross Point, church administration

Cross Point Sunday Plan

No Comments 30 January 2010

Cross Point Family,

I hope you are all enjoying the snow today!

I just wanted to let you know that services at ALL of our campuses will meet regardless of inclement weather tomorrow (Sunday).

However, in the event you and your family are iced/snowed in and are unable to attend, we will be broadcasting our services LIVE from the Nashville campus.

You can watch the service at this link: www.crosspoint.tv/live

Broadcast Times: 9:00 AM, 10:30 AM, 12:00 PM and 6:30 PM

Praying you all have a very safe weekend!

church administration

Got $25?

3 Comments 29 December 2009

A couple of weeks ago I told you guys about my friends Jarrett & Jeanne Stevens who are starting Soul City Church in Chicago Spring 2010.  These guys are in my prayers daily as they embark on this massive faith journey of planting a church.

Today me and several other bloggers are asking everyone we know to make one final 2009 contribution to the launch of Soul City Church.  We’re asking everyone to consider giving $25 towards Soul City’s “Year End Start”.

Would you take the next few minutes to:

  1. Watch this video from Jarrett & Jeanne
  2. Take a couple of moments to pray for Jarrett, Jeanne, Soul City Church and the lives that this church is going to reach
  3. Consider giving a one-time $25 gift
YouTube Preview Image

Click HERE to give. Go now.  Quit thinking.  Just do it.  I did.

Leadership, church administration, staff/employees

I’m Creating a Crisis

5 Comments 08 December 2009

Today our staff met for our all-day all-staff planning meeting.  I love these scheduled opportunities to get out of the rigor of the immediate needs and look ahead into the new year.

We do some practical stuff like working through the calendar and talking about some of the big initiatives on the horizon, but the best thing we do is…

Create a Crisis.

We’re fortunate that Cross Point is experiencing some tremendous growth.  We have so much to be thankful for and so much to be excited about, but we still need to create a crisis.

I’m sure that sounds a bit crazy, so let me explain:

A couple of years ago I read Silos, Politics & Turf Wars by Patrick Lencioni and quickly adopted his idea of the “Thematic Goal”.  His point is that oftentimes you see organizations most unified during times of crisis.  When something goes wrong everyone, across all departments, has to come together to pull through it.  When things are going well, territorialism and silos begin to creep into the organization.  He suggests that every organization should “create a crisis” – a rallying cry for the entire organization.  It’s a goal that everyone across all departments, ministry areas, etc. can join together and share.

I absolutely love this concept because one of the things that I fear the most for our team is the issue of silos; employees becoming too caught up or concerned with their own area of responsibility that they become disconnected from the overarching mission.  When this creeps in it’s disaster for the organization.

So today we created a crisis… and we had some great discussion doing it.

How about you?  Are you facing a crisis? If so, don’t underestimate the power that this unfortunate event can be in unifying your team.

If you aren’t currently facing a crisis, do you need to create one? Does your team need a crisis – a thematic goal – to unify them?

Cross Point, church administration

Cross Point – Get Ready!

3 Comments 14 October 2009

FHL_date_web

Cross Point Family!  This week we launch a brand new series that I am so excited about called “Faith, Hope & Love”.  Pete, the staff and I have been working diligently behind the scenes on some really exciting things that we are going to share in this series.   Here’s a letter from Pete asking you to be sure to join us this weekend!!

Dear Cross Point Family,

I can’t believe that it’s already October, that the leaves are changing, that football season is in full swing and that the holidays are right around the corner.  This fall has been a tremendously busy season for us as a church.  Just a few weeks ago we celebrated 7 years of ministry as a church and launched our new North campus.  I can’t believe in just seven years how far God has taken us and how He has enabled us to continue to reach Nashville, Dickson and most recently the Goodlettsville/North Nashville areas.  Every day I hear stories of how lives are being changed because of what God is doing through the people of Cross Point.

I’d like to ask you to make it a priority to attend one of our services at any of our campuses this Sunday October 18th.  We’ll be launching our new series “Faith, Hope & Love” and I have some very exciting things to share with you about our next season of ministry as a church.  I really believe this series will challenge us and stretch our faith. The next 5 weeks have the potential to revolutionize our church like never before.  I’d love to be able to share with you firsthand this Sunday some specific things that God has laid on my heart.

As a reminder, all three of our campuses now receive the message nearly simultaneously so wherever you attend you’ll hear the same message.  The service times are:

Cross Point Dickson: 9:00 AM & 11:00 AM
Cross Point Nashville: 8:30 AM, 10:00 AM, 11:30 AM & 6:00 PM
Cross Point North: 9:30 AM & 11:00 AM

I hope to see you Sunday!

Pete

I hope to see you there too!

Leadership, church administration

Risk It All or Not At All?

7 Comments 12 October 2009

risk

What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken?

I’ve never considered myself much of a risk-taker.  I tend to be too calculated, too strategic, too thoughtful.  However I’m beginning to rethink that.  I think I tend to confuse spontaneity with risk-taking. In fact, I would venture to bet that we all have a tendency to make this assumption.  We think that the out-going, gregarious, fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants, spontaneous types are the risk-takers.  But I think that’s a limited perspective.  While I do believe the spontaneous types can be risk-takers, I also think that we deliberate, calculated types can be big risk-takers as well.  The process just may be a bit different.  Ultimately, whether you’re deliberate or spontaneous, good risk-taking comes down to how you approach the process.  Healthy risk-takers are the people who turn organizations around, rebuild communities and change the world. Unhealthy risk-takers often create a lot of hype, but I wonder if they really influence change or just create messes?

As I’ve reflected on my life, I’ve discovered that I’ve taken some HUGE risks.  I’ve pursued dreams that people thought I was crazy for believing in.

  • I moved 1000 miles away to college when I was 18 to a school where I didn’t know a soul and didn’t own a car.  (A big leap for a girl who lived in a town with a population of 200 – seriously 200!)
  • I quit college after my sophomore year to take an unpaid internship at the company I had always dreamed of working for.  I moved to Nashville with everything I could pack in my 1992 Saturn with no money and no place to live.
  • I resigned from an amazing job at that same company where I had worked for eight years, left behind a career path that had me in line for executive status in a few years to take a position at this church called Cross Point.

I have a tendency to not consider these decisions big risks because each and every one of them was well-thought-out, prayed over and acted upon cautiously.  But in looking back, these were huge, critical milestones in my life that if I hadn’t taken the risk, my course of life would have looked very different than it does today.

We hear all the time that leaders are risk-takers, but I think oftentimes we fail to give that challenge any context or definition.  I would clarify that I believe leaders are healthy risk-takers.

Healthy risk-takers:

  • are thoughtful/careful
  • always count the cost
  • evaluate and understand the risk and what’s potentially at stake
  • have thorough dialogue with those involved or affected by the risk
  • weigh the cost of failure
  • know who it will affect and how
  • attempt to learn all that can be known and accept what can’t
  • surround their decisions in prayer

I don’t believe you can lead without taking some risks.  It’s part of what makes you a leader - the willingness to make the decisions that no one else will make. But I would also challenge that taking risks is not easy.  The best risks are the ones that are agonized over, evaluated and then confidently acted upon.

What healthy risks have you taken lately?

Leadership, church administration

Catalyst Day 2 Recap

No Comments 10 October 2009

Another great Catalyst Conference over.  It always goes way too fast.

I wish I could have connected with more friends.

I wish I had more time to wander the halls.

I wish I could capture some of the worship moments where I let go of all of the stresses and just connected with God.

I wish I could find some moments to reflect on all that I learned before I rush back into real life.

But in spite of my wishes, I’m so thankful for two full days of inspiring worship, teaching, laughter and motivation.  Events like Catalyst always re-energize me in a big way.

Here are my key takeaways from day 2:

Session 7 Part 1 – Priscilla Shirer, Founder, Going Beyond Ministries, Author and Bible Teacher

  • Priscilla challenges us to yield to the interrupted life by sharing four characteristics from Joshua 3
  1. Joshua acted immediately in obedience to God
  2. Joshua acted fearlessly
  3. Joshua acknowledged the presence of God
  4. Joshua anticipated God’s miracles

Session 7 Part 2 – Dave Ramsey, Best-selling Author, National Radio and TV Host

  • Focused Intensity, over Time, multiplied by God, equals Unstoppable Momentum!
  • Focus is lost because of fear and greed
  • Pour intensity into things that really matter
  • Figure out the course, stay the course – no distractions!

Session 8 – Chuck Swindoll, Best-selling Author and Founder, Insight for Living

10 Things He Learned During Almost 50 Years in Leadership:

  1. It’s lonely to lead
  2. It’s dangerous to succeed
  3. It’s hardest at home
  4. It’s essential to be real
  5. It’s painful to obey
  6. Brokenness and failure are necessary
  7. My attitude is more important than my actions
  8. Integrity eclipses image
  9. God’s way is always better than my way
  10. Christ-likeness begins and ends with humility

Five Statements Worth Remembering During Your Next 50 Years in Leadership:

  1. Whatever you do, do more with others and less alone
  2. Whenever you do it, emphasize quality not quantity
  3. Wherever you go, do it the same as if you were among those who know you best
  4. Whoever may respond, keep a level head
  5. However long you lead, keep on dripping with gratitude and grace

Session 9 – Louie Giglio, Visionary Architect, Director, Passion Conference

  • Leadership is knowing and following Jesus Christ.
  • Leadership is choosing wisely to seek His face and to reflect His face to the world.

What we’ll see on Jesus face:

  1. Matchless beauty and magnificence
  2. Confidence and courage to be the leaders we need to be

Unfortunately I missed the last session with Andy Stanley but Kent Shaffer over at Church Relevance has great notes on that session.  Go check them out here!

All in all, another great year!  Happy 10th Anniversary Catalyst.  Here’s hoping for 10 more!!

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About Jenni

Jenni Catron is the Executive Director of Cross Point Church, a multi-site church in the Nashville, TN area.

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