Paul Benger

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

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

  • Upgrade

    I love september it’s like the start of a new year in the life of the church after summer. I’ve been thinking recently about how do we upgrade what we are doing, how can we think differently about stuff? One of the greatest dangers in any creative organisation and for me the Church is the most creative organisation on the planet is that there’s just a load of stuff no one is thinking about.

    What aren’t you thinking about?

    When we think about stuff inevitably we want to upgrade it, improve it, future-proof it, do something, anything… It’s time for an upgrade! Perhaps you lead a church or a ministry within a church, I’m absolutely convinced that there’s stuff that needs an upgrade. The reason I know that is because there are things in my world that without a shadow of doubt need upgrading!

    Upgrades fix bugs! – If you’ve got some bugs/viruses in the system it’s time to fix them. you cannot optimize performance if you don’t get rid of the bugs.

    Upgrades increase security, speed and stability!

    If you don’t upgrade obsolete is your destination. Right now, when it comes to computers,  3rd party developers are designing with the next version of the software in mind. God is designing with the next version of you in mind, he’s planning all the things you will be able to access and enjoy once upgraded. So here are three tips to help you upgrade.

    1. Change your Surroundings: You’ve got to get with some people bigger than you. People who have a different attitude. If you’re prone to be negative get with the positive people and break out of your comfort zone!

    2. Change your System: Don’t keep doing what you’ve always done if nothings changing. Freshen things up, change things around. Let change impact upon everyone.

    3. Change your Culture: Decide what you want and be the change, be it!  Don’t wait for it to happen, be the change, make something happen!

  • Culture – What is Culture?

    Every organisation has it, many have a culture they don’t want, many know the culture they want but don’t know how to get it. But what is it?. Culture is what makes us who we are. It is the accumulation of shared values, beliefs, experiences etc. Culture develops over time, simply stated it is a way of doing and being, better stated it is our way of doing and being. “The way we do things around here.”

    Culture is important because it shapes the Why, What and How of what we do.

    culture check out this pdf diagram…

    Culture starts with our beliefs and assumptions, our values. We act a certain way because we believe a certain thing. Our core values and beliefs drive us forward. These beliefs develop our Norms. The behaviours, the way we do things and these together are reflected in our signs, symbols, ceremonies, celebrations, songs  and rewards.

  • Gathering

    So several church surveys are telling us that a committed church member can now be identified as someone who attends at least once per month. Apparently, as a Pastor, that’s meant to make me feel better. No prizes for guessing it doesn’t.

    I’ve got two choices, as I see it. One, I can philosophize and say well, ‘we are all so much busier than we use to be, ‘ and other emotion settling phrases. Or I can read my Bible, look at early Christians and say, ‘these guys were devoted, and we should be too.’ I choose the latter.

    The gathered church is so important and always has been. Reading the book of acts you find phrases repeated like, ‘they were ALL together in one place,’ ‘they met daily in the temple courts,’ ‘they broke bread from house to house.’ The reality these people met MORE than we do for worship, prayer, instruction in the word and so on.

    Our faith cannot become convenient or else it becomes powerless, there’s a radical, full-on nature to following Jesus and that includes being with and part of his people.

    See you in church.

  • It’s all about the quality of the team

    I really am suspicious of the phrase this is the only thing you need to know so I want to talk about the only thing you need to know. This blog is inspired by a tweet I read today by a Pastor friend who wrote. “I really do have the best team” and a blog I read by another friend about his team and finally by a vook I’m reading on excellence. No that’s not a spelling mistake a vook is a book with video included, I have a few on my ipad.

    The only thing that in the end matters = The quality and character of the team and the unstinting devotion of entrepreneural servant leaders to develop each individual member of that team.

    People who are committed 100%

    Committed, engaged, growing, learning, fearless (encouraged to try new things!), respected, trusted, appreciated, independent-minded, team-focused, obsessed with the growth of others, passionate about mates and people, informed, open (fanatical about sharing helpful things!), caring, committed to excellence.

    Servant Leaders who are committed 100% to their no 1 priority being developing people who are:

    Committed, engaged, growing, learning, fearless (encouraged to try new things!), respected, trusted, appreciated, independent-minded, team-focused, obsessed with the growth of others, passionate about mates and people, informed, open (fanatical about sharing helpful things!), caring, committed to excellence.

  • Capacity

    It’s all about capacity! Today I can do more than I could 20 years ago. It is true that in some areas my capacity may be less than it was 20 years ago. Im not sure I’m as strong, I’m not as fit but overall I would have to say my capacity is far greater than it was. I hear many people who seem to have a vision of their life somehow fizzling out, dying off like a sparkler on bonfire night. That’s not a biblical picture. Our outward man may decay but inwardly, Paul says, we are being renewed day by day. In other words your tank should be enlarging, your capacity increasing.

    Hurts, offences, unforgiveness, disappointment, betrayal all things our biblical heros faced have the potential to reduce our capacity tank size but that is not the will of God. oh no, God sees you larger, stronger, fitter, inwardly renewed. More effective, more relevant, more relational. God had to teach Moses how to increase his personal capacity to lead and fulfill his destiny. Here are some God lessons on increasing your capacity from Exodus 18.

    1. Be Teachable: Ex 18:17-18. Moses has lead the people through the Red Sea but he still took the wisdom of Jethro on board. Don’t think look what I’ve done, think what can I learn.

    2. Listen: Ex 18:19-24. It’s one thing to hear it’s another to listen and heed. People often hear but listeners do so with a commitment to change. Moses changed what he was doing! Don’t live life without reflection. Look back through your notes, what did God say? What did you do?

    3. Pray: Ex 18:19 Nuff said. Ok not enough, talk to God mate…

    4. Read: Ex 18:21-25 Some people read books which is good, but also read people and situations. Find the people that have your best interests a heart and connect, even the lone-ranger had tonto (sorry).

    5. Release people: Ex 18:27. Release the people in your world, empower them to make a huge difference and impact, release them into their destiny.

    My prayer for any leader reading this blog is that we would increase our capacity.

    More!

  • Is nothing better than bad?

    The problem with vision is, vision can become the mother of the bad. Vision leads us to do something as does passion, but often if our response to vision & passion isn’t well thought through and planned we end up not doing things well. I have to say just doing something has sometimes worked for me. As I’ve had a go and attempted things often poorly in the first instance I have been able to then to tweak those things and occasionally make them excellent. Also if I had waited for the resources to be available many times I wouldn’t have done anything, often I’ve found both money and people shortages when I felt God leading me forward.

    That said, principally I think like this. Get an idea (vision) call it what you will, write it down, write down what you will need, what you desire to accomplish the task as you see it being accomplished. Start to pray and look for God to provide the resource you need. Keep praying, believing, preparing. It’s amazing how God fulfils dreams and visions that we thought might be dead when we approach them in the right fashion.

    Habakkuk 2:2-3 Then the LORD replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.

    One of the things that proper planning, envisioning and prayer does for us is it moves us towards the vision ourselves. Sometimes we see things that we personally are not ready for and God needs to move us in the right direction of growth and momentum, as well as moving the people along too.

    So what are you believing God for? Write it down, write down how you see it fulfilled, pray and let God move you into the arena that you dream of. So is nothing better than bad? It often is, it is better often to not do a thing than do it poorly. However, even if we feel at a place of not being able to have a go due to shortages, we can do something, plan, pray, believe, expect, learn, ask, so that God finds us equipped for the arena we desire.