Paul Benger

A conversation for pastors, leaders, creators, entrepreneurs, cultural architects

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Pastor, Creator, Leader, Author, Entrepreneur, Cultural Architect, Leadership Coach

  • If you want it to grow get the atmosphere right.

    20110415-143814.jpg Ignore the atmosphere at your peril. Have you ever been to someone’s home, you know, just dropped in and whoa it hit you like a train. Toxicity.

    Let me ask you these questions, “Did you want to stay? Did you feel awkward?” I know the answers are No and Yes. We don’t like being around negative atmospheres, negative things never grow over the long term. So if you want the church to grow, the ministry you lead within the church to grow, your connect group to grow or your business to grow you’d better give some attention to the atmosphere.

    There’s some practical things you can do, some questions you can ask:

    1. What’s the environment like? The environment needs to reflect the event. Is it clean/tidy. It doesn’t have to be 5 star luxury but inviting would be good. How does it smell? Have you considered the lighting?

    You don’t need a “take that” light show especially for a connect group but is the mood friendly, welcoming, inviting etc..

    2. What’s playing? Music is a great aid to atmosphere. It should’t be dominant as people arrive but needs to be at a level to create mood.

    3. What’s the welcome like?

    Pay attention to hello’s and goodbyes, this is very important! You want to people to feel welcome, tell them its great to see them! Let them know how good it was to spend time with them as they leave!

    Church is all about God & People, God will take care of his part, we can take care of the people!

    Business ultimately is always about people. Look after your customers and you’ll end up with some raving fans!

    OK that’s the easy stuff, the physical environment but here’s some real atmosphere killers that you’ve got to make sure don’t give a stale feeling to your group, your office, your home.

    – A Miserable Face. Smile more.

    You and I can’t help the face we’ve been given we can determine what picture that face presents.

    – A critical spirit. Loads of negativity in a room kills the atmosphere, everyone wants to get out quickly, everyone feels awkward. Don’t let negative people dominate your world.

    – Anger. Did you have an argument before the connect group arrived? Deal with it, don’t let it affect people, forgive, get over it, people’s lives depend on it, your life depends on it. You think nobody knows, the truth is, everybody knows!

    – Heaviness. The atmosphere needs to be fun, vibrant, faith-filled, real, relational not heavy man!

    So the number one thing you should consider when preparing any event from a Sunday Service, to Tuesday’s connect group is the atmosphere. Will it help or hinder what God wants to achieve? Set it so it helps. Remember, “It’s God who gives the increase,” but we sow and water.

    If you’re a leader in CLC and want more help with this for you’re event/ministry, talk to me…

    Love

    Paul

  • LESSONS FROM REX

    “The local church is the hope of the world and its future lies in the hands of its leaders” – Bill Hybels

    Over the last 2 years I’ve got into NFL (American Football) and started to support the New York Jets. At present Rex Ryan is their head coach and I recently saw a broadcast of one of his team talks that was full of lessons for us.

    I think we can learn from lots of sources about leadership and NFL teams have some synergy with church because teams are large with players taking responsibility for different disciplines. In NFL you actually have an offense, a defense, a kicking team and a special team.

    Anyway here’s what Rex said, “I believe in our team, I believe we are the best team in the league.” “This team however, is only going so far if I’m the only guy that leads, We wont win guys if its all about me, if I’m the only leader.” Rex was addressing a loss and some bad preparation for the game by the defense. “Let’s make sure we play this weekend like the New York Jets.”

    Three things from Rex’s speech that inspire me.

    1. I Believe in Our Church.
    I think Christian Life Church is amazing, I think the vision we have is awesome and the things we long to achieve are both God-given and awe inspiring. I totally believe in this church!

    2. The Church is going nowhere if I’m the only guy that leads.
    Thankfully that’s not true of us we have many taking positions of leadership, but the principle is that we need leadership throughout the church and leadership that grows, develops, believes in the church like I do, is passionate and leadership that produces other leaders too. I’m so glad the days of church being a one-man band have gone, I love seeing others growing and functioning in what God has given them to do.

    3. Let’s make sure we do Church like CLC.
    Rex was annoyed because the defense had not prepared properly for the game they lost. There’s a CLC way that we do things, I’m not saying its the right way, just that its right for us. I’m not saying its the only way, just that its the way for us. The culture of faith-hope-love should run throughout everything we do. The values of excellence, teamwork, Spirit and Word are crucial to our success. Filling every activity, programme, preparation time etc. with prayer is crucial. It shows humility, its leaders saying, we need you God, we want you God, we are thirsty for more from you.

    Let’s do Church like CLC

  • First post for CLC Wider Leaders

    Hey

    Our recent Core Leadership meeting decided that I should use this blog as a resource to communicate, train, advise, help etc. the members of our Church’s Wider Leadership Team.

    I hope you’ll take the time to read the posts that are included here. each time a new post is added you’ll receive an email letting you know.

    There’s already some pretty cool stuff here that I posted for Pastors, Leaders, Creators so feel free to have a browse.

    Future posts will be directed at you guys, the first of which will follow later this week entitled Lessons from Rex Ryan!.

    Can’t finish this without a recommendation. I’m currently reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan. It’s very good and challenges me deeply. I hope you’ll take a look.

    Love ya, have a great week!

    Paul

  • 7 GUIDELINES FOR GOOD MEETINGS

    Someone recently said to me, “Paul, you seem to be in loads of meetings, your days seem ful of meetings.” It is true I do my fair share because of all the forums I’m engaged in and I can honestly say some meetings are good and some are bad and some are disastrous. So I was thinking through some guidelines for good meetings. Here’s 7 off the top:

    1: Don’t take meetings unnecessarily: Remember, no is a legitimate answer.
    2: Ask, What is the Purpose of this meeting: Define the outcome.
    3: Ask, Who’s driving the meeting: This is very important as you can gauge a lot by a meeting by who the driver is.
    4: Define an appropriate amount of time: You can only do this if you are the chair or driver but it’s vitally important. Any meeting that I would define as disastrous has usually been a meeting that went on too long.
    5: Dress Appropriately: If in doubt dress up not down.
    6: Schedule Preparation Time: The biggest failure of meetings is attending unprepared, even if there’s no agenda, if you know the purpose you can still prepare.
    7: Pay attention to Hello’s and Goodbye’s: They matter, they matter a lot.

  • New Year’s Resolve

    As a teenager in church the passing of every year brought about messages on looking ahead, having a positive outlook, being faith filled about the future etc.. At the same time those messages often involved a disbelief, even disdain for New Years Resolutions. I distinctly remember thinking New Years Resolutions were inerrantly evil!

    I believe in Resolutions, at New Year or any other time of year. I’m a great believer in people resolving to make their life better! I also know that 82% of Resolutions made at midnight on the 31st December are broken by mid day on the 5th of January, staggering.

    A resolution requires resolve. To keep a resolution will require commitment, intensity tenacity, determination. I’ve got some strong goals for 2011, one of them is that I want to inspire people to aspire. I want to help people see more, see bigger etc.. Whether that’s the single mum seeing a confident and positive future, a young person believing they can rise to the challenge of leadership, a business person seeing innovative ways to navigate the challenges of the current economy and prosper or a church leader growing in the confidence of their calling and finding tools, resources and tweaks that will allow their ministry to flourish. I want people around me to catch aspiration. I want to inspire people to aspire.

    I also know however, that along with aspiration they are going to require resolve. Hope, I don’t think, is the difficult part. Resolve is. Just consider the account when Jesus comes to the garden of Gethsemane and goes on a little further to pray. “Watch and pray” he says to the disciples. One hour later (great title for a sermon) he pops back to find them asleep. “Could you not pray with me for one hour?” He asks, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation for the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” There it is, right there, no pain no gain. This scene is repeated, we are told, three times and each time the disciples are asleep and each time Jesus says the same thing.

    Hope is relatively easy most of the time, we are wired to have hope, the bible says we are prisoners of hope. Resolve well that’s a different story. Let’s not just take aspiration and hope into the new year let’s season it with a massive sprinkling of resolve. Without it, we’ll be making the same resolutions in about 361 days time.

    A few quick thoughts to finish…

    1. Resolve Speaks: “I’m in,” it says. Resolves says where it is and what it’s going to do.
    2. Resolve Acts: It books the conference ticket, fills in the standing order, sets the alarm clock, diaries important things, turns up.
    3. Aspiration often comes from prophecy. Resolve comes as a result of teaching/being taught. A person with an unteachable spirit may often be inspired but they’ll never develop resolve. For every prophecy fulfilled there’s 1000’s that weren’t, reason…no resolve.

    Galatians 5:24 Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh along with its passions and desires.

    Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

    Hope that helps.

  • Multiple site yea or nay

    check out this great discussion on multi site churches.
    http://player.vimeo.com/video/13082622

    Multiple Sites: Yea or Nay?
    Dever, Driscoll, and MacDonald Vote     from Ben Peays on Vimeo.

  • Building Church means Building People

    In my last blog I wrote about the fact that the church is people and not the organisation or the history/tradition or the administration systems and process. Building the church therefore by definition requires the building of people. Jesus called it discipleship. Our purpose as leaders is to build the lives of people, to provide lift so that they are able to achieve greater things. The house of God is a crucible for progress, a place of capacity building and achievement, a company of over-achievers!

    As Jesus builds his church he builds the individual, as he builds the individual he builds his church. Here are a few things that build the individual as we live and grow together as the people of God.

    1. Encouragement.
    People do not thrive in negative environments, they thrive in faith-filled learning environments that allow them to grow. We need to put courage into people, to help them to see what is possible, to guide them towards fulfilling dreams and aspirations, to navigate them through the seas of doubt and insecurity and land them on the plains of Faith, Hope & Love. The book of Hebrews tells us to encourage one another daily…

    2. Joining.
    Jesus doesn’t build individuals in isolation he builds community and communities and within those communities we live, learn, love and grow. It is vital then that we connect people, not just to the system, the program, the history or vision but to one another. Connectivity is vital for growth, we often give a knowing nod to this but sometimes our relational challenges hinder real community. Great leaders long to connect people knowing the benefits far outweigh the challenges.

    3. Recognition & Appreciation.
    As people grow we need to recognise and celebrate their achievements, we need to appreciate their contributions not because we are afraid that failure to do so would scupper our relationship, but because we are in the people-building business. Progress is as varied as the individual and so we need to be watchmen leaders who notice people and notice contributions. When someone has a great attitude and you see it, tell them. When you notice a contribution that helped say thank you, after all you are grateful, you really are!

  • My Greatest Frustration

    Someone once said, ‘Frustration and Vision are exactly the same thing.’ They’re right, but it doesn’t feel like it when you’re frustrated! being a church leader is a frustrating thing, partly because at times you don’t know how, when, where, or with whom you should discuss your frustrations. At home? With Leaders? With Friends? With God?

    That said, the truth is we only have frustration because we have vision. Our frustration is telling us something isn’t right, something could be better, this needs to change.

    My greatest frustration is this…(coughs awkwardly)… When the church doesn’t believe its the church. When the community of God’s people think that the professional clergy, the paid staff, the systems, the administration, the processes will do the work. It’s not right and it’s not biblical.

    Ephesians 4:12 clearly states that it is God’s people who will be equipped for works of service. I think we have a problem and here it is. We’ve heard that so many times we have tricked ourselves into thinking we’ve got it. As God’s people we have to rise and BE the church. Who’s gonna pray? Not the system, not just the staff it has to be us. Who’s going to invite the new people? That would be me, oh yes, and you because the administration can’t grow the church.

    Occasionally people will say something like, ‘I’ve noticed lots of new visitors in church recently. Where are they all?’ The thing is they are asking the wrong person. I should be asking them (I include myself in the them). When I’m asked, people can be saying, ‘What’s the system done with them, did they get lost in administration or follow-up?’ It’s an expectation that systems, processes etc. will do the work of the church. I should be saying, ‘I’ve noticed lots of new visitors in church recently. Where are they all?’ ‘Where were you when…?’ WE are the church and WE just need to recognise it and BE the church.

    Frustrated? I don’t think so, just packed full of vision!

  • What makes a great volunteer

    Yesterday ate CLC we had our Involved! Sunday. This is a day when we celebrate volunteers, have a little expo on positions that are available for volunteers and we teach on the culture of serving.

    Mark Wilkins brought a great message during which he took some time to share something he had come across recently about what makes a great volunteer. Three words are helpful when consider this question, they are; FUTURE, ENGAGE, DELIVER

    Future-Engage-Deliver

    Future…those whose future is aligned to building the church. We have a vision of what we believe the church should look like. People see the vision of the church and want to align their personal future with that vision. Basically, people that say, I’m in.

    Engage…we can agree with the vision…but to be a great volunteer we need to engage with vision, get involved! Carry the vision…not just look at it and nod our heads. Mark used the illustration of a pile of vision on the side of stage, people have to engage with it, pick up a piece of it and say I’ll look after that.

    Deliver…we set our goals alongside the vision, the future of the church. Commitment to seeing it through! A great volunteer desires to deliver. This is the weekly toil of turning up, preparing, serving, connecting, doing whatever it takes to ensure our piece of the vision is done and done well.

  • Atmosphere

    Right now we are looking at Christian Life Church into the theme Devoted. We are taking the first four chapters from Acts and seeing how the first Christians were Responding to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. One way they responded was to Devote themselves to living in the right Atmosphere.

    These people lived in an atmosphere of faith, unity, praise and worship, hope and love that created awesome community.

    Atmospheres are so important, we’ve all found ourselves in stale, negative, hopeless atmospheres and the truth is none of us really wanted to go back there. The atmospheres across our lives and churches have to be fresh, life-giving and faith-filled. Everybody wants to live in that kind of atmosphere but not everyone knows how to get there. Part of the problem is that we have a philosophy within the church world that is waiting for some external event such as a move of God or a miraculous healing to create it. What we need to understand is that atmospheres are BUILT in response to the internal work of the Holy Spirit.

    The first Christians lived in the atmosphere they did because they were people of prayer, worship, obedience to God, resolve, faith, fellowship, truth etc. They built this atmosphere across their lives and within the community of faith, the church. They lived out off the revival going off inside them rather than waiting for a revival to go off around them!

    It’s only in the right atmosphere that things grow. A seed needs soil, water, warmth, resistance, to grow and Christians need faith, hope, love, challenge, commitment, vision etc. etc.

    Living in a kingdom atmosphere is often counter culture and counter intuitive. Consider Isaiah 61:3 Beauty for Ashes, oil of gladness instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

    It’s time to live in a bubble, a kingdom bubble! Build that atmosphere around you today, make some declarations about the goodness of God over your life!