Hey Friends,

Let me give you one last quote from LIT2010 in Knoxville: “You get leadership when you take ownership.” Coach Pat Summitt challenged all of us leaders with that quote. One great thing to do with a lesson or message, or  even a quote, is to turn it into a question. Have I taken ownership of anything that has enabled me to be the leader? I love quotes and they are powerful, but the questions you ask yourself will change your life, attitude, actions, and your outcome.

We live in a day where few want to take responsibility and therefore no one has ownership and few get to be leaders. So simple and yet so profound!

Where are you taking ownership?

Never say, “IT’S NOT MY JOB!” There is no leadership or ownership in that pitiful phrase. As most of us have watched Pat Summitt, she is a lady with no problem in taking responsibility or making the hard calls. I guess that is part of the reason why we don’t want ownership: the buck will stop with us. With that attitude no progress will be made in ministry, family, business, or life in general.

I guess that is why our country is experiencing the problems we are. NO ONE will assume ownership or responsibility. How long can it be George Bush’s fault?

As Kingdom leaders we need to grow a spiritual spine and make the hard calls. I hate them also, but they have to be made and if you assume the ownership you will get to be the leader. That is not how most churches are structured, run or organized. So there is no momentum or growth and we wonder why.

Come on leaders, let’s assume ownership and get the leadership and let’s make a difference.

I have your back,

Pastor Chris

Hey Friends,

LIT2010 is almost here and I am so excited. I believe it will be an explosive day for leaders in and around Knoxville. I could sure use some help getting the word out. The website is LIT2010.com.  We will have worship, and a life-altering drama for pastors and ministers. We will also have great teaching for Kingdom leaders and workers from some amazing leaders: Coach Pat Summitt, Johnny Hunt, Pete Wilson, and (lastly) me.

I promise it will be a day to remember. The cost is $89.00 for the day and $49.00 for spouses. Lunch will be provided and there will be giveaways throughout the day.

It will be great whether you are on top of the mountain or at the bottom of the heap! It will be a day of encouragement, empowerment, and equipping. It will be a day of laughter, tears, and challenge. Please pray for this conference - the date is April 29.

Ways to help:

1. Pray for God to show up in power and pray for everyone involved.

2. Help spread the word.

3. You could sponsor your pastor. Every leader needs support and encouragement, especially in the Kingdom’s work.

4. Tweet, retweet, blog, email, and get the word out on Facebook to let everyone know.    Twitter: @litconference or @drchrisstephens  |   Facebook: LIT Conference Event Info

5. We have some info you can email to your friends and co-workers who are nearby. Please email kerri@kaleoministries.com if you would like some materials to distribute.

Important Notes:
- Any registrations received on or before April 15 will be entered to win a free Apple iPad. Details here.
- Tomorrow, April 7, for ONE DAY only, tickets are discounted. Leader’s tickets are $25 off & spouse’s tickets are $10 off!

I hope to see you on April 29th and  I pray this will help unite the ministries in East Tennessee. Together we can make a difference!

Pastor Chris

Hey Friends,

Have you ever watched a leader fall? It makes an ugly sound and it hurts everyone around. I just finished reading a great book called “Derailed.”  In it, Tim Irwin studied six key leaders in the business world that derailed or fell. Many were hurt and many lost a lot of money. It is even worse when leaders in the ministry fall. The pain is far deeper than money; souls are lost and lives are destroyed.

In the last chapter he gave five habits that can keep a leader from derailing. No one plans to derail, do they? Michael A. Volkema said, “Derailment factors can be fatal when they overwhelm a person’s strengths.” Irwin said, “A generally accepted truism reminds us that prevention is the most elegant solution to a problem…” How do we prevent derailment? This is a question everyone needs to ponder from time to time. As I read the book, I learned many things not to do. Sometimes it is worth a lot to watch leaders that have blown it and NOT DO IT!

We are going to talk about some of the habits we need to hammer into our own lives. I hope that you are ready to continue to grow as a person and as a leader. Please don’t die ’til your dead!

Habits can make you or they can break you. You are today where your habits have brought you. Discipline has become a cuss word in our culture and yet it is key if we are to succeed long term. How are your habits? Personal disciplines? What you do daily will determine your destiny. Are you ready to grow and become better? I know that you are, or you would not keep reading this blog because it is all about you reaching your full potential.

I pray God opens your eyes with fresh revelation of Him and of you. I pray you grow far beyond where you thought you could grow. I pray you are used by God to a level you never dreamed.

God, please keep Your hand on us and allow Your favor to rest on us. Let Your anointing fall on us like a heavy fog and let everyone we see, see You in us. In the name of Jesus we pray.

Stand Strong!

Pastor Chris

Hey Friends,

Remember, this weeks’ blogs are about leadership in the midst of crisis. If you are the coach and the game is on the line, who are you going to put in the game? If you are a football coach and you have time for one more play that must be a TD, who are you going to throw the ball to? As a leader you have to know how you will face this dilemma. It will test and prove your leadership ability.

We are in a bind on our staff. As you know, we called Chuck Carringer as our Pastor of Family Ministries. He is a class act and a great leader in his own right. As he came on staff our high school pastor left for First Baptist Dallas – quite a jump. His assistant followed him there to help build the team in Dallas. That left Chuck with no one on the high school staff. When Chuck was called here we were already without a children’s minister. Wow, what a way to start!

Remember, we have a huge children’s ministry and strong high school ministry. All we could do was tell Chuck to go long and throw him the ball. He rarely misses and he never drops the ball. I could tell you about the great lengths he as gone to in trying to fill the vacant positions – wow! In October he planned an outreach to kids on Halloween weekend and broke all attendance records. Way to go Chuck!

Who do you have in your life that you can call on? Are you a “crunch time” player? Leaders shine in the midst of mayhem. While the gang shrinks away in crisis, the leader stretches toward the goal. Can your team depend on you when the chips are down? Rise up leaders – they need us now!

Yours to count on,

Pastor

Hey Friends,

As you know, the Bible is called the “Sword.” Many times in my prayers I ask the Lord to help me swing His Sword. I pray that He will empower His Word as I share it. Two years ago my wife, Michele, began praying for me that God would anoint me to the level that the teaching and messages would demand a response! I was thrilled at her prayer for me. I believe God is answering that prayer in a big time way.

I have watched in the last year as the Sword is swung and the conviction has fallen. The conviction is the cutting edge of the Sword. Let me tell you what I saw a few weekends ago as we dealt with sex. I watched two lesbians on the front row struggling with the issues and what their responses would be. I praise the Lord as I, or we, leaders get to watch people struggle and be changed into the image of Christ. What a job!

As a leader it is our job to speak the “truth in love.” We do not help those we lead when we refuse to deal with issues we know must be dealt with. In the church world being “nice” seems to be the highest value. But is letting issues go really being nice? Is letting people walk in darkness or continue having issues that hurt the Kingdom or their ministry NICE? No Way!

As leaders in the Kingdom of God, it is our job to speak up whether it is to one person or a congregation of thousands. Are you speaking the truth? Are you saying the last 10%, or even more difficult, the last 2%? It is hard, but it is the job of the leaders to raise up other leaders and see the Kingdom of God expand one person at a time.

How do you see it? What a joy to see lives transformed by the power of God!

Yours to count on.

Pastor

Hey Friends,

I guess the title is sort of a DUH, but somehow it needs to be said. I have watched, for most of my time in the ministry, people supposed to be leading and NOT! It is very frustrating. I guess there are a lot of good reasons that leaders in the church have quit trying to lead. It really is like herding cats. But we have no excuse that is good enough for us to stop leading,

Two things make it easier for me to lead. One, is the fact that FPC is a church with great faith and they will follow. What a miracle and blessing in a day like today. Thank you Jesus and FPC. Second, is a great staff that is willing to risk and experiment. Kyle, our Communication Pastor is launching the first deaf interpretation on the Internet for a worship service.  Wow, push on Kyle. Can you imagine – the first in America! We already have two Internet campuses online and they are growing. With 2 million deaf in America and 93% not involved with church…well, you dream with us. It launches this weekend.

We have the ability to fail and it is O.K. at FPC. If you are not failing you are not trying anything new. Failure is my friend. I learn more from failure than success. As John Maxwell wrote, we can all fail forward. Come on leaders – lead, and if you fail it is alright; at least you are trying. Let’s get aggressive and try some new things to reach the lost. I can tell you this: the devil is not afraid to try new tactics to ruin our families, destroy our lives, rob us of  joy, and take people to hell forever!

Leaders get out in front and lead, you might be surprised who will follow. 

Yours to count on.

Pastor

P.S. Thank you FPC for obeying Heb. 13 and making it easy to lead. It is an amazing ride. Love you.

Hey Friends,

Yesterday I wrote a blog about lifting the lid for young adult leaders. I wanted to take some time to explain it in some more detail because it is so important! It occurred to me that many older leaders like me are not sure what younger leaders are looking for. Let me burst some myths and help you even more.

1. They are looking for an opportunity. They want to lead and make a difference for Jesus.

2. They are looking for a place where they can make a difference.

3. They are looking for a place where their voice counts. Will anyone  listen to me?

4. They are looking for a place where people are willing to take a risk. We call it faith!

5. They are looking for a place where they will be loved and respected.

6. They are looking for a place where everyone is loved and cared for regardless of color or financial status.

7. The whole church does not have to revolve around them, but they must matter. They do to Jesus!

I could keep going on for a long time. Every issue they are looking for, Jesus told us to do. We are not asking the church to be totally changed unless it needs to, to line up with the Word. If you are doing something you’d better tie it to Scripture and it needs to be relevant to today’s culture. It is the will of God and we must do it. The Kingdom of God depends on it.

Just a thought. Yours to count on.

Pastor

Hey Friends,

Part of our job as leaders is to make room or lift the lid for the next generation. If you have spent any time attempting this you already know it is not nearly as easy as it sounds. Finding leaders is not that easy but locating the younger ones makes it twice as hard. I am 49 and probably now in the middle-aged category.  Many of you may want to fight this but I probably won’t be here at 98 years old – you get the point. Many of us have either given up on the next generation or we are selfish with our “Power” and don’t want to give any away. If you want your organization, especially the church, to continue on then we must prepare the next generation. What can we do?

1. Make room for young adults. Look around you, do you see any? If not, then this is a problem.  Most churches are sadly empty of youth and young adults.

2. Don’t be selfish. Give away some of your authority. Moses did it to the elders and to Joshua. Remember it is not all about us! I am watching churches and denominations die that are ignoring this issue.

3. Do some things to attract the next generation. If you are a church leader this can be difficult because so many churches are selfish and refuse to change.  That is the death rattle you hear in the pews.

4. Raise up some young adult leaders.

5. Spend some time pouring into them. You might like it.

6. You must be willing to take a risk; someone did it for you.  Even if you try and they don’t pan out, there are some awesome leaders that are young.

7. Don’t give up on the whole generation. I was upset with some young adult leaders and wanted to do just this.  WRONG! We must lift the lid for them because heaven and hell weigh in the balance.

I believe this is the will of God for us as leaders to do. It is the only hope for the Church and we know Jesus cares! What is your next step?

Yours to count on,

Pastor

Hey Friends,

I love leadership a lot, yet as I wrote about two weeks ago, there is a dark side. One of the issues that is hard about leadership is making decisions.  The higher you climb on the leadership ladder the more decisions you have to make. The best situation is to learn to make good decisions to get very good at it. As leaders we can delegate many duties but making high-level decisions is  not one of the things we can delegate. So we start with the Words of our Lord: “Do not fear.” If we are living by fear we will never make decisions in a timely manner, especially when much is riding on them.

1. Do not be afraid to make the call.

2. Do not be afraid to  make a decision without all the information. In Andy Stanley’s book, Visioneering, he talks about making decisions without every detail. Many times all the information is not available.  Too many leaders experience paralysis by analysis – there comes a point when you just have to make the call.

3. Don’t worry about the armchair quarterbacks criticizing every decision you make. No one knows what you feel when the pressure is on you. As the leader this is just a pressure you must learn to live with.

4. Don’t worry when you make a  bad call.  We all make poor decisions from time to time. Once I spent $350,000.00 of the Lord’s money on a building project we never built. It was a bad call. Today we have grown over 700% since then, and we are better for it.

5. Do walk by faith knowing the Lord holds the future and He is holding you.

6. Don’t make all the decisions. Push the decisions to the lowest possible level. As you give others the authority and ability to make decisions you will raise them up to be better leaders in your organization. As the leader you can delegate this duty and make a better team.

Remember no one bats 1000 in making decisions and neither will you, so lead on and make the calls.

Yours to count on.

Pastor

Hey Gang,

As Christ-followers we all have burdens. Some are brief and some last for a lifetime.  My burden for the Church is a lifetime deal. I love the two churches I have served as Senior Pastor.  God has placed me in a very unique place. Being the pastor of two church plants and seeing the mighty hand of the Lord move, He has taught me some great lessons.  I have a burden to help the Church become all it can be.  I want to help raise up leaders for the Church and wake up the sleeping giant (The Church) in America.

I have wrestled with the Lord about this for years. I have waited for a door to open and it has not. So I believe He wants me to make one. I am not leaving Faith Promise – don’t worry or wonder. I am going to build a team of leaders to do some conferences and produce some resources and training to help churches and leaders become all they can be.

Watching two churches (the first went form 25 to over 500 in attendance and the second from 250 to over 3000 in average attendance) gives me a different vantage point to see how God moves. I want to help. Pray for me and Roy McKinnon as we build this team and look for revival to break out in churches all over America.

Big deal? Not for God! Remember so many ministers and leaders feel like they are doing it all by themselves. We can walk beside them and lift up their hands and be there for them. I think the Lord is in it - would you pray for us and help? How can you help? So glad you asked!

1. You can let everyone you know, know about this blog.

2. You can link your web site to this one. 

3. You can post my first book on your facebook and Twitter and link to this web site.

4. You can pray for wisdom and anointing.

5. You can let people know about the daily devotion.

More information to come. What do you think? For years we have kept everything we have created just for Faith Promise and now we want others to have the opportunity to benefit.

Yours to count on,

Pastor