Rich Wilkerson Jr. — VOUSTOPSY / VOUS Conference 2018

[Music] well hey we are so happy that you are here for the session this is the first time we've done something like this and so I'm excited about it I always find it to be a real privilege real honor to get to speak to leaders I think all of us in some way shape or form that's what we are we're leaders on the journey and maybe you don't lead in church per se from a staff role but you might be a mom you might be a teacher you might have an organization and so leadership principles they they translate so often and I think as the leader gets better the organization gets better as the leader gets better everybody gets better and so one of things at vu conference that we're really really working on more than ever is that we want to make sure that we're creating content and spaces to talk to next generation leaders in fact next conference as we keep saying I'm going to keep pushing there's a lot of leaders in you that you represent more people I just encourage you to get registered to be a part of it because I really believe that as vous conference continues to take shape it's not just going to be a place that people know that we passionately worship God but it's also going to be a place where next generation leaders are galvanized and empowered to step into the marketplace step into the church and really really change the world and so next year we gonna have a lot more spaces to be niche my goal with this session is that we get often just through email so many people asking us questions about our organization about our church I'm alone these kind of people I'm not one of these like negative people like I like things like social media I actually like the Internet don't get me wrong there's it can the Internet can like take you all the way to the worst places but can also create portals for some of the best places and so with just this thing called an iPhone so many people have joined into this story of vous church and they've watched from afar and so they've been curious and so I thought today for about an hour here this is not like a real scripted session I want to take us through what we call our staff values that are very very important to me I've got some of our staff some servant leaders up here our church is still servant leader LED well over a thousand people would call themselves servant leaders at vu Church come on let's give God praise for that and I I'm that's a picture of a healthy church a healthy church is not the gifts have a couple people but it's the sacrifice of a lot of people and what I want to do is I'm gonna kind of teach here and then I'm gonna don't even really know but I'm gonna draw on some of these guys I'll introduce them as we go and then judging upon time I want to open up questions really leadership you know directed questions I don't we're not going to counseling sessions about if you should marry that guy or you felt you open up for questions like you know I've been dating this girl and I just don't know it's like yeah well let's talk offline but maybe be thinking leadership it's not because we have all the answers but I think that we learn together our church started we announced our church September of 2014 I served for many years with my dad come on at Trinity Church in Miami Gardens in September of 2014 we made a big huge announcement and part of our conviction as we announced a new church I had gotten a word from a friend of mine leader Louie Giglio he said two things be said I this what I would tell you I would say don't ask anybody to go with you in anybody you don't think should go with you let them know they cannot go with you huh and it was kind of this strong language but nonetheless we made this announcement September of 2014 and really as we made the announcement we didn't know what was gonna happen next we literally took a year from announcement to launch how many know there's a big difference between announcing something and actually launching something there's a big big difference between an IT idea and then actually executing the idea what happens to a lot of leaders a lot of leaders they operate in this space called ideation without execution it only leads to frustration and so at some point you announce something will then what took place for us one of the best things that started happen is that we felt many times that we were being delayed we wanted to launch sooner but because of venues because of locations we could not launch but what we did not know is that God was shaping us God was developing us and it was in the weight that amazing things took place because we started to find who we were we would spend hours together I'm looking at Sam and Luke up here and Jerry some of our key leaders from the very very GetGo used to sit at our house and we put on music and we would look at different designs and say alright what is the look of food church and we were we're serious about it man we were passionate we'd play our favorite records and we were just dreaming up and you might not think that's a holy moment but for us it was a really holy moment and what I found in that space of the waiting and this is what I want you to get today is that leaders that are expecting God to do something great they don't waste a moment and I wrote it down this way in my journal it's that expectation always leads to preparation so if you're not preparing for it I think we've got a slide hopefully do we have that I'm already off on my notes it's okay I think we got notes we don't have notes that's all right if you're not prepared for something it's probably because you're not actually believing God to do it we moved into our office space about a year ago and right from the get-go I said it's not oh there it is look at that give somebody in the back a big round of applause forget that's Austin I think someone just manually did that it was awesome but but this has been a big value point for us that that if we're expecting God to do something we have to start to prepare for it Jerry's back here and we'll meet Jerry a little bit she's a key leader in our church but I remember we first I remember I told the team after a year of us all really two years of us hanging out all of us I said we got this office space and Jerry said pastor rich this is after two one year of a lot of launch phase one year being in church she said pastor rich I just want you to know I'm ready to design the entire office space I've got all the Pinterest boards because from the very first day we met in your apartment overall of garden with 12 people I started storing references because I knew there would come a day that God would give us not an office a headquarters praise God and I wanted to be ready to design it and as she spoke that to me it's something unlocked to me that when I'm expecting something I prepare for it so maybe you're not leading at the level you want to but you should start preparing right now today you should start sharpening your saw right now today so that God would do something your life amen all right so here we go so we had seven values for our staff we call these our aspirational values these are things that we are longing to be in the first one is this thought that everything on our staff and our team is that we want to make it better ever let's say make it better well come on say it louder say make it better as leaders our first pursuit on the Voot church staff is every we do we want to make it better and every value has a little blurb attached I want to read this blurb to what am i doing personally to help us improve organizationally my role no matter the job description is to make the organization better here we go I won't do tomorrow what I can do today I choose to put my full weight down imitate innovate evaluate repeat so this is our first value as a team and everyone up here they could chat on this and how we do this in a practical way but you want to create a culture of people that are constantly wanting to improve its progress over perfection in fact you'll never ever be perfect but you can continue to progress and when I say to our team all the time is it you don't have to be the best today you just got to get better today so here's the good news all of my weaknesses right now that you see and that you're aware of all of my weaknesses and my shortcomings the good news is is Who I am next year is not going to be the same guy I'm committed to growing I'm committed to leaning in I'm committed to progressing I want to make things better I think the Church of Jesus Christ ought to be the most creative place in the planet we ought to be leading in every sphere of life people ought to be raised up equipped and challenged and when churches operate in a sloppy way it does nothing to advance the gospel so if you're a church leader here right now today you need to get over yourself you need to take on I want a culture of improvement and the only way you can have a culture of improvement is if you're ok with the friction isn't it amazing that the scripture says that iron sharpens iron as one man sharpens another it's really fun to quote but I've you ever considered what that looks like it looks like us bumping together and it looks like us confronting each other and say you got more in the tank until you put a demand on your gift in private you'll never ever see the world put a demand on your gift in public and what we're committed to doing at vu charge is to making things better and so it's our first value and I just maybe Samuel Thierry I'm gonna go to youtube community Mike Sam is incredible salmon his wife angel helped us launch vous Church and Sam right now is looking after a lot of our creative areas our marketing our communications has lots of teams photo team social media team right now is coming under his care he works in a lot of the promo stuff did you guys like that promo for 2019 come on please give God praise I just I like that kind of stuff Sam practically speaking because I think we got church leaders in you really what are what a couple things that we're doing at vu that you would say not just to give a great point but to systematically make things better is that microphone on I love that though your voice is gorgeous check check one two oh there we go there he goes on so having a culture of making things better starts within yourself it's a decision that you are going to be open to feedback and that you're going to be willing to make changes have used some of the things that we do practically to create systems around that is we do something that's called a SWOT SWOT stands for strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats and we'll SWAT or evaluate every single event that we do if it's if it's worth doing it's worth evaluating there you go and I think that hold on keyline if it's worth doing it's worth evaluating people ask us this question all the time well how often should I evaluate we always say evaluate is often the event occurs absolutely so like if you want know a frequency level it's not like we evaluate once a month now if you have a service you should evaluate it every week just so anything that you do the frequency of it yeah I would just evaluate that pace sorry I'm absolutely okay and so one of the ways that we bring you know as many voices around it you know we find that communication is very important and if something's worth evaluating and you have to communicate that to the right people so we use a we use programs on a practical level you want to get the very baseline of what we do we use a program called Basecamp where we have you know all of our servant leaders we have different groups set up with you know different privileges and so we'll swap within the different departments so that the right people in those departments can access that feedback and make those improvements right away so as we're bringing in that that feedback that feedbacks getting communicated to the right people at the right times feedback also happens on the real time level you know if you notice something that's that's wrong or it can be improved well say it we're gonna go to that person we're gonna shoot them a text we're gonna jump out the slack channel whatever it is we're gonna get it across so that the communication is being made and making every effort as possible to make sure that we're recognizing that things can be better set that bar higher than what you than what you currently are are seeing and and then create a plan create a method to get there it's beautiful it's really gonna give Sam a big round of applause I like that so we don't just say we want to make it better we actually put a system attached to it because until you have a structure in a system all you've got is just some good idea you know it you just got a dream but you need it you need to attach something to it and so a SWOT analysis that's really really easy there's a lots of things you can do other other tools but SWOT stands for strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats so everything we do after this session is over a group of people that put the session on will go that was what was strong that was weak rich wore the wrong shirt and he yells too much in a leadership panel and look talk about opportunities how could we how could we let more people know how can we talk to more people as real needs what are the threats the threats are that some people paid for lunch today and they didn't get a lunch and now they hate vu conference they're never coming back because all we are a bunch of liars I don't know but we'll go through that and we'll talk about it that's just called SWOT analysis all right number two I want to write this one down at vu on our staff as leaders what we say is we take it personally everyone say take it personally no come on say take it personally all right listen this I love this is how it says here on the screen this little blurb it says how am I personally engaged in our mission and vision how am i putting into practice that which I'm encouraging others to participate in we can't ask people to do that which we are unwilling to do we lead but we also participate we are not just church leaders we are members of the body serving giving crews growth track the fundamental parts of our organization are championed by the team wholeheartedly this is who we are we are the church think bee do we take this thing personally listen to me I heard one time a leaders say you can't take people to a place you've never been I disagree you can take people to a place you never been but you have to be willing to go so you can't take someone to a place that you're not willing to go I can't go somewhere in the spirit with you that I myself am not willing to dive in with you I can't teach servant-leadership if I'm not willing to be a servant leader like like you can't do all your evangelism campaigns and here we got a brand new series called win your friends to Jesus it does not matter pastor ma'am whoever you are sir if you don't invite the people in your life to church so at our church it's a big deal we just I'll have any prima donnas we were against it we just everyone whatever we got to do we're willing to do it if you're too big to serve you're too small to lead if serving is beyond you leadership is beneath you but we have this in our hearts this is this is a really really big deal and I really think that ministry was we say it taken it personally it's not a career like if you're signing up for a minister he's like that's it that's what that sounds like a good job it won't sustain you it's not a career it's a calling that you have to take personally and be attached to it my greatest frustration - my greatest frustration this is pet peeve time and I can't say this is the main session but you're real leaders and you're here giving up your lunch for Jesus you're fasting some of you but my greatest frustration pastors who don't go to worship worship leaders who don't sit in the sermon like come on like you can't like what we're doing for one team what were one team one of the things that I'll give an example our church started with these things called cruise cruise or our small groups just maybe a cooler name I don't know but our small groups the way that they work is they happen every of the week and they happen on seasons I'm gonna save some time I've talked about seasons here in a moment but they they happen every other week so in a season which is a three month window they happen probably six to seven times in one season we make a really big deal about them there's a structure attached to building our crews you've got five different roles just to start a crew you've got two crew leaders two co-leaders a cultivator somebody who's supposed to bring the vibe to it you've got a calculator somebody who's in charge of the administrative side of it so right there alone it's two four six different people we call it the building blocks of the crew but listen every person on our staff and every person who's in a key role in leadership is in a crew but not they're not even considered to be a staff member if they're not it most of our leading the crew let alone definitely in a crew why because we don't want a church that has small groups we want to be a church of small groups so we take it we take it personally number three I want you write this one down this one's really good I like this one number three is work together but one say work together say it work together i watch this as good as it comes up where am i leveraging the talents and skills of those outside my primary team I'm not too proud to ask for help and I'm not too busy to be of help I will inspect what I expect collaboration is valued in all aspects of ministry there are no one-man bands at vu Church God is honored in our unity we seek to honor God by our collaboration in every aspect of his church I just think about you know the church the scriptures are so clear that it's the body of Christ that we have different members working together yet once again I think that we as leaders we must create systems and processes to ensure that we're creating cultures and environments that people are easily working together and there's these moments that we come in and like you know I've got weaknesses in fact when you come on to our staff like there's always a little senior pastor speech I give everyone I always say hey like you're coming to staff and you should know that I'm very aware of all of your strengths I'm very aware that you are better than me in a lot of categories in leadership you're smarter than me you're stronger than me that's another message can you lead people that are stronger than you smarter than you better than you if you want to do something great you got to learn but I always say yo like be it on our team you're gonna know all about my weaknesses like I have a lot of them I have more weaknesses that I do strikes in fact I might have like one little tiny strength okay maybe just maybe it's a little strength and what your job is is to make much out of my one little tiny strength and you're here to cover my weaknesses we're working together I don't need you to remind me of my weaknesses I need you to realize I've empowered you that we're working together to cover my weaknesses make much out of my strengths but it's not just me it's our team's cohesively together making sure that we are doing that and that we're working together in every season do you believe that today come on somebody I like this all right I like this number fall I get into a couple more these are for replace yourself replace your self this is absolutely vital Who am I empowering today it's not just about getting the job done it's about involving as many people as you can if you replace yourself you'll always have a place leaders who attract leaders are the leaders you can't afford to lose can't fill anyone's cup but you can empty yours if you aren't bringing someone along and teaching them how to do what you are doing you aren't leading we aren't doers we are leaders we are intentionally creating and communicating a pathway of growth and purpose for others so this is leadership by the way that you would replace yourself what happens to us is that we become insecure we operate in fear and we're afraid if I replace myself well then I'm out of a job but it's actually the opposite the more you replace yourself the more the fact that matter is that you become an asset to the organization that you can't ever ever lose your job is to pour yourself out I can't feel any of our staffs cup but I am responsible for constantly pouring myself out and training and giving everything I have to people it's funny I was talking to it you know you hear people sometimes like oh man like but well here's my deal this is this is just called a scarcity mindset this is called a mindset of fear what happens if I train people and they leave me that's a that's one way to look at it the other way to look at is what if you don't train them and they stay with you forever I don't want to get to 60 with a bunch of people that don't know how to do nothing I want to give everything that I'm learning along the way that I'm processing out loud and I'm transferring replacing everything that I have in myself but once again I think we try to systematically do this I'm gonna talk to Adrian here for a second because Adrian oversees our eye tech location Adrian has a background in organizational leadership him and his wife Michelle who's up there they helped us plant the church as well in just a couple months ago he actually came on to our staff and is leading in a really really incredible way helping a lot of us but Adrian talk just for a minute on this because I think people are going I don't replace myself but what are ways maybe for a church or an organization that we can be doing that practically yeah absolutely so I I was talking about from Trinity Harlem about this just earlier I think what's really important is language so it's information but it's also the application right so those two things lead to the transformation also language that we use on team is that we recruit we resource and then we release out but then how do you systematically build that into what you do so something we do as part of the staff is we would do something called an off month meeting so our church will talk about it in a second but our church we work on a seasonal calendar so the season lasts for three months in that fourth month would be an off month and we would use that time to bring in different team leaders and talk to them about their team and the health of their team one of the things we just implemented which is pretty cool is we asked every single team to bring in five high potential leaders so we provided a criteria we said hey a high potential leader at vous church meets these four items bring in bring in five people that meet those four items and we'll talk through those individuals and talk through how we're resourcing them and how in the next season we're gonna release them out so what we're trying to equip our team leaders with is some systematic ways of bringing in identifying people but then telling them what the next steps are and releasing them out and one thing that we're trying to coach our leaders on doing is again I think language is important but I also think the application of it is important too so oftentimes we're saying we want a resource but then we want to release well how do you systematically do that well one thing that we're teaching operationally is show tell observe verify so I want to show you how to do what it is that I need you to do then I'm gonna tell you how to do what it is that I need you to do I'm gonna observe you doing it and then I'm gonna verify that you're doing it correctly so it's about creating repetition about observing the behavior and then about reinforcing it by making sure that doing it the right way it's beautiful I think what I love about it too is just even trying to get people to think that way like as I'm doing life like who's behind me you know as a leader I think Brian Houston one time told me he's like whenever I'm looking at somebody I'm always looking through that person meaning who's behind them and it should always stuck with me when I'm looking at people who's behind them because their talent is one thing but leadership is more than Talent leadership is about going I'm going to transfer all that God has given me to the next generation of what Brook which is tell about that like there's generations the church is full of generations and you don't want to just have an organization whether you have a business or whatnot that just exists for one lifetime you want to something great you want to pass it on you want a successor you want people to come behind you and I just I've learned that more and more as we get out of the way and replace ourselves things get stronger and healthier and you do an incredible job I love listen you talk on that stuff number five this is probably my favorite one talking to this room right now at number five is stay fit everyone say stay fit how am i taking care of myself spiritually physically relationally financially and emotionally we take responsibility for our own health no excuses nobody owes me anything Jesus gave me everything our personal lives come to work with us your marriage body frustrations come to work with you I can make a personal decision that negatively impacts the organization and my co-workers our attitude is not dictated by the weather we carry our own whether we choose to be that's a key word no one made me do this I'm choosing this every single day I don't have to be here because rich told me I have to be here God called me to this thing we are thankful for our community I've learned that the enemy all he has to do is get to remove gratitude from your heart and that's where he traps you like in marriages by the way like every affair it doesn't start with an illicit relationship it starts with a little seed of ungratefulness it's hard for me to go get in an affair when I'm just thankful for it on cherie it's hard for me to be upset with Jesus if I'm just constantly thanking jeez why because as I get thankful I get joyful and as I get joyful I get strong according to Nehemiah chapter 8 verse 10 the joy the Lord is our strength so how do I get through tough seasons when I feel like the world's coming at me I remember who God is I get thankful for him and joy rises up and so staying fit is vital and I wish people would have talked to me about this a whole lot earlier when I was younger but that's your responsibility you know that nobody else can have a prayer life for you nobody I wonder what hopefully they'll come up with an app for this but nobody can go to the gym for you like nobody can get your body into shape as this might sound funny but I'm actually serious about it like I was talking to a young church planter on telling all right rich what some of your what some of your best advice for me right now is about to plant this church I said you you need to enjoy the journey and and you you honestly right now you need to lose about 25 pounds he was like like if I wasn't sighs some spiritual like you know I was like now it's true like the way you're taking care of your body right now is you're gonna find yourself under so much more attack because your body physically just doesn't feel good and all the spiritual pressure that's coming your way you don't need anything else to get in the way I think the body of Christ has to rise up and understand that not everything is always a supernatural problem but rather some things are a natural problem there is a correlation but we must war and then supernatural but we must take care of ourselves in the natural so people always ask me rich how do you balance your life I don't in fact don't ask that question in a minute our staff as we have people come in and talk I've told them do not ask another leader again how you balance your life because you don't life is not about balance it's about rhythm do you think Jesus was balanced foxes have holes birds have nests but the Son of man has no place to lay his head Joker roamed the earth for three years with 12 misfits no house no home no wife this was a radical charge that he defined the rhythm of his life and I'm not saying that you should be unhealthy no it's it's actually the opposite I think that you'll discover health when you are actually in a place that you can figure out what your rhythm is for right now where you are we always say this you have to define your season so you can determine your rhythm so the way I look at my life as I'm looking at my life through seasons like a big season just changed we have I have a four month son like that's that's so now I'm evaluating from that lens so that which I used to do four months ago there's some things that I'm saying no to now there's some things I'm saying yes to how many of you know that having a 14 year old son is probably different from having a four month old son and what happens to a lot of us in this room is a lot of you guys are grading yourself on a wrong scale and you have to learn in leadership how to diversify your effort you can't get an A in every category so inhale exhale and diversify your effort define the season so you can determine what your rhythm is what is your target what is a wind you know as a church you can't do everything you can't solve every problem I can't take care of every social injustice I can't have a prophetic ministry and a miracle-working ministry I can't feed the hungry and get people out of sex trafficking I can over time but if I want to get there I gotta focus my efforts and I must know my season so I can create a healthy and rhythm where do you want to win everywhere well you can't win everywhere somedays I put my effort into my marriage more than others other days I'm going my church needs all of me right now and it's a dance but balancing it there's not it's a rhythm and rhythms come and rhythms change and there's a vibe to it and so once again this starts with us personally but collectively as a church we try to put our church onto a rhythm and right now the rhythm we have is working for us but but it but it could adjust and and Luke Berry's up here Luke is incredible Luke and his wife Fran is Fran in this room by any chance Francesca Barrie is in here well my favorite people in the entire world Luke and Fran some of our dearest friends just people that you know we walked through some stuff together and so grateful for them but they lead in so many different levels Luke is over all of our worship and I think he did a pretty good job with this EP can we just thank God for my face awesome Luke is one of the sharpest and clearest communicators like honestly like his logical brain and his eloquence is always so fun to sit and talk with him on things but Luke maybe let's just talk for a second about that our seasonal model because I think will help some of the church leaders in here and once again I don't think we're committed to this method it could change right but right now we have a little bit of method which is all that staying fit which is our three seasons if you could to just chat about that yeah exactly as you're saying this this is a personal value and something that we all seek to figure out for ourselves but then speaking organizationally we wanted to find a rhythm for ourselves so one thing before seasons I want to mention we have a weekly rhythm for our staff talk about it tell we've named our days Monday through Sunday and so we go meeting Monday tackle Tuesday wrap up Wednesday think a lot Thursday free Friday semi slow Saturday and slam Sunday hello and make the devil pay but I like that idea [Applause] I like the idea where you're saying some days you're investing more in our marriage more in church like we go exclaims Sunday defines itself where we go Sundays just it's Sunday so it's blocked out from 5:00 a.m. to a midnight and you know sometimes later what the after-after-party exactly but um but yeah I love it and then we have this kind of seasonal rhythm calendar as a church and I I remember talking about this in the early days I don't fully remember how we we came to it but we were talking I think about design rhythms and things like that like how we want to create a look for our church and then lock into it and then wait until we absolutely hate it to move on and so that was part of it but then it created this much bigger system and so really we just operate on three seasons a year Adrienne already referenced it so it's kind of four months at a time but then we have season 1 season 2 season 3 each season is three months with an off month in between so you can go January February March a season one April is the off month and all the way through the year and the way that that's helped us is that we've been able to place events and certain things adrienne mentioned off month meetings in the off months that's how they got their name so this is our offseason so we go off month meeting every single team leader has a check-in with a staff member that oversees them it's about an hour and 15 minutes and often longer and it starts personal how are you doing how are you feeling and then we get into all very specific measurable questions we take notes we submit the notes and and we review them next season we look back and go hey this is what we're talking about last season we're talking about this again what didn't change over the past three months but then we also place with crews we take the off months off of crew and so it gives our crew leaders a month to rest and then we come back and we just find that we have refreshed we have greater energy and we're excited it builds kind of anticipation as we take a month off stopping and restarting is actually really powerful with different things just cuz something's working doesn't mean you should keep doing it forever so for example we do this thing called creative collective and last season we decided we weren't going to do it because the previous seasons collective was felt a bit challenging and we were launching a new location during season one and so we went in season one we won't do collective and then like Sam said we'll evaluate so the season ended and we said hey we lost some of the real benefits of collective we're glad we got the break but we're gonna bring it back in season two and so it just helps us to make those kinds of decisions we placed a boo girl we know there's certain events that happen boo girl creative collective crew ketchup crew coaching we know where they fall throughout the year because of our seasonal and then it also helps with all of our design staging environments that stuff shifts seasonally and so we've got a whole season to prepare and we know those deadlines have one that stuff changes it's beautiful great job I love that good stuff number six number six number six has remained flexible remain flexible how do I manage the tension triggered by new ideas innovation and change god gives you the what before it gives you the how we are not intimidated by a big vision we run towards God dreams and put our faith in action everyone is hope for change until something changes change brings tension in order to be flexible you have to constantly stretch we embrace the stretch and the tension that change brings we are not defensive or protective we are called to the house not a room we are committed to the big picture I love this idea because being flexible if you're gonna live in a big world and if you're living in a world that's growing that means you have to live in a world that's constantly changing and so you wonder okay well how just a basic idea of being flexible I'd I did a big stint in the fall of yoga I am going back don't judge me for quitting but I am going back hot yoga and I say Jesus the whole time on there if you're upset about that anyways um but what's wild right is that the only way that you can become flexible is by stretching and stretching like it if I'm being honest like for me because I'm not very flexible it hurts there's pain it's uncommon out of my comfort zone get the more that I stretch the more that I become flexible just the truth of the matter is is that if you're not being stretched you won't remain flexible like this is this is important that cuz this is a commitment that you must put yourself under the pressure like I'm actually not trying to build a world that I can just be comfortable in I'm actually that's not my goal like I just can't wait till I don't have to work anymore that's not what the scripture says jesus said the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few therefore pray to the lord of the harvest that he might send out workers what it tells me is this is that the recipe for revival is always prayer and work so there's not coming a day that I won't work but there is coming a day that I will become more and more flexible that I can change quicker and I can adjust and I can pivot to what God is speaking to me I want to be a leader that's in a big growing ever-evolving world in the only way that I'll remain flexible to listen to his voice in to adjust is if I continually stretch so if you're feeling stretched today I wouldn't run from that I would lean into that if you have a leader that at times confronts you and you feel a bit annoyed when you get and every time you get annoyed you get better if you got a leader who's like who's on you for being late to work hey you were late this guy's on you know he's stretching you she's stretching you I'm think about jerry del vento up here she's up here Jerry and Nick Nick's here on the front row once again Core couple who helped us launch the church the church before that they were in they were there for 15 years these are faithful committed loyal people lay people in the church and about a year before we even announced God started speaking to them and didn't even know we had a church in our heart and Nick came and met me in my office and just said hey I don't know what's going on but God's speaking to me and I think I'm supposed to leave where I'm at which is wild because I've been there for 15 years I love those people but we're supposed to just come and hang out with you in DC and that's crazy because we're about to announce that we're gonna start this church and we would love for you to come you know when we wept and we got inhalers out like you know we're crying but um but Jerry we kind of call her Ike project mom in our house cuz like she just is if there's a project Jerry's a part of it but I think when I'm thing about flexible what I love about Jerry is that Jerry started boo kids Jamila is up here she's part of vous kids and yeah come on let's get off the bukas by the way we have a kids conference next year parents bring the whole tribe bring the whole tribe he's the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob but rich we get it you know the Bible okay so anyways um Jerry you started like hey I kind of asked you like you'd never really even like done kids I don't think yeah I never heard you like hey I'm dying to do kids ministry I was kind of like I kinda like hey I need you to do kids ministry and you sort of leaned into that and then sort of like one day like we needed you to go into the creative space and you just sort of like quickly just pivoted maybe just like I don't know like teach us like how do you added you why were you willing to do I think the first one of the first times that I got asked to help with kids I was like we were in the launch team we had a launch team before we started the church and I was like one of the first moms you know so my daughter was like six months old and I'm like they're in meetings with her like holding her so it just felt right like hey can you help us start a children's ministry so I was like absolutely let's do this you know but I really didn't have much knowledge with kids or anything I was a first-time mom didn't really had any previous training and kids so I kind of helped start something and it's like you said you know where I see our church as one big house you know many rooms and I was called at that moment for that specific season two kids boo kids to help start something and really that's always been our our lives desire you know at this season in our lives it was to help someone start something and that was to help pastor rich and DC to start new church and the moment the you know is presented help start boot kids and I was like let's do it and with the right people around me we've kind of started doing this and we've got a sort of shaping what it all looked like and you know worked heart and soul for two I think two years and gave it all I had you know and brought people along in the journey but one thing that you've taught me I think it's really important for me that it was like always attached people to the vision never to yourself you know so it's like if you leave people don't come with you you know they stay and they're attached to the mission into the vision so that's really what I did you know I literally just hardened so incredible leaders like Jamila and dontay people that came around most smarter than I was at that moment and just really poor heart and so interview kids and attach them to the mission attach attach them to the vision of blue kids into the church and honestly rootkits is seen about right now it has an incredible leader Breanna Graham and it has seen about 400 kids you know on a Sunday it's really why it looks like a small Church going on but it is all about really I went into a big church it's really about just I went into a different room of the house you know but really all these incredible leaders that I did life with for two years heart and soul in there stayed there making it better and somebody else is stepping with fresh eyes to look at this space to innovate it to get make it better because that's part of our goal and they're going to levels that I you know we hadn't been and and that's really what it's all about um so for me it's just about remaining flexible it's like the ability of a leader to to be able to bend without breaking you know to adapt to different environments no matter the season and no matter the rhythm it's just being flexible it hurts at times is uncomfortable but really that is what leadership is all about I love it number seven number seven we're at the finish line number seven this is a good one we say this way celebrate constantly celebrate constantly am i finding something or someone to celebrate today gratitude brings joy and joy brings strength we make it an organizational focus to celebrate the journey every step of the way we don't take ourselves too seriously we're committed to learn to laugh and have a sense of humor celebrate others success we like to party in parentheses with a Barba's at vu we make hard work look fun yeah we make hard work look fun I think I think this is so so vital because I think this whole thing called church especially in 2018 especially a lot of your church planters there's just no getting around the fact that I don't care what you want to say nobody really feels called to wake up at 5:45 on Memorial Day weekend in a drive rainstorm and load into an old middle school gym pipe and drape and say let's start a kids ministry but we're called to it and we're committed to it and so if we're gonna do it we might as well have some fun while we do it and so your culture will either happen by a default or by design so we've designed that we're going to celebrate constantly every step of the way we don't take ourselves too seriously like the other day our it's it's it's a joke if you didn't get it like someone someone wrote on my wall like richer kind of B and braggadocious about your EP going to number one I was like I'm actually being the opposite EP went to number one for like twelve hours because all of our church at one point started streaming it but I think it's cool to be proud of what you're doing if you're not proud of what you're doing why would anybody else want to join so it's not like we think we're cool it's like the opposite we're just gonna go we're gonna we're gonna celebrate every step of the way making much out of every moment and so once again practically of how we do this is like we talk at leadership like leaders this is your goal get the focus off of you want take a handle like right now pastor like you want to build something you want get something going get the focus off of you you get people up on the set I could go through every person from this stage this is Joe Kay she's incredible she's a doctor she's amazing she leads our food care program she serves Tuesday she leads a crew as well Tuesday nights she has all sorts of teams underneath her financial piece courses marriage counseling she's got free to grow which is an emotional recovery program she speaks in our church she's on the front row whether she's rosted on the platform or not going amen that's good and she's a model at the same time I mean just scrolls them that I'm just going like this is this is Jamila I've known Jamila for like eight years now and she's just like she's thriving in our church right now she's leading a lot of our team right she's in our kids department but she leads like team rallies and I've known her forever but now she just turned out that she's a preacher and everyone's like I was like oh my god Pastor Jamila you changed my life you know Michele Molina same thing Michele came by the way Michele used to be heat the answer rich not here don't talk about that it's private he's right moving on that's all I say about you you know but like Michele like like she's so get that she would you believe this Michele her husband leads our location she still oversees the Welcome team at a location holding signs she's out there every Sunday what I'm about two and a half years of doing this Daunte this guy is like just one of the great men in our house who works five days a week and then I keep telling him you can only go to either a morning block or an evening block of services and he's rebellious he gets through at 5:45 and he loads out all the way to 11 p.m. [Applause] what I'm trying all I'm trying to get in your in your in your spirit is that it's not hard to find something to celebrate if you're just like like like I people are not coming to our church because I'm savvy and so it's just not the truth they're coming because they're they're fallen in love with this culture and this community of people that are sacrificially so if I have the microphone the most that means I should be celebrating others the most that that's our role that's all right and so like practical ways how do we do it like every would you believe is every block of our services so morning or night we have a team rally people ask us all time what does your team rally all our team rally is this is that all of our teams aside from parking and kids is that is that probably right and welcome back so welcome and parking and kids because they have to be in places but but is it how many minutes before 35 minutes 45 minutes help me Luke somebody 35 minutes before any one of our blocks of services we have two leaders come out and they go over one of our churches seven values and they come out and it's just a moment to encourage so everyone gathers at the front the worship team is behind them we at lots of times will have a brand new worship leaders never let us on before that's where they start is in team rally so in all it is a six minute moment you know and they walk out and we put new people in the platform and they just encourage the team they speak live from the team they go through one of our church values and they just remind everyone why we do what we do and who we are we give a couple key inside announcements and then we always pray big and we worship we just set the atmosphere you could do that tomorrow it's very very easy it gets everyone on the mission gets everyone excited and then this is what we do do every service that we do every service that I preached at one point we I was preaching six services on a Sunday 9:15 eleven one four six and eight and every one of those services I still would join in the back what we call platform huddle that happens 20 minutes before the service this has been vital to our church and I look people in the eye and I open the curtain behind of what all this stuff is about church mechanics and we just speak public I think there's people that are brand-new serving on the backstage a production team they don't even know me and I'm just talking to people as if like they're like I'm like hey you there like I didn't know I was this was gonna happen today and I just start telling them things that I'm hoping is gonna happen in that meeting we just going into making things better glass service someone was off-key or if the last service somebody did something silly we just talked about it right there but we always look at people and say you were awesome we do the thing called gang ball this is really easy so this from Chad Beach you I give a game ball to someone outside of my core team and I speak life over them once they get the game ball they then have to speak life over somebody else opposite of their core team and we'll get like four or five game balls going around I'm like all right we have to actually at a church you know do a lot will worship back there if it's someone's birthday we'll say happy birthday if someone just got married we'll lay our hands right before church and say let's pray for this couple it's so it's just it's just a huddle it's a practical thing and then and then one of our key things that we did from day one is that from day one the church starting to my house and so to this day even to this day almost every other Sunday night we have a thing called family dinner that after loadouts done I think now starts around 10:00 p.m. at night I know it's crazy but we have a conviction about it 65 to 80 people now now have a home I just have a little apartment show up in our house they gather and we just throw a party like it's not really like spiritual it's just a party good food cheap wine it's a great party and and and we just have a week we we celebrate and somewhere in the night we stop the music we pause and we start to testify until the stories of what God did in that day and I haven't ever gone to a family dinner where I didn't care miracle stories from all sorts of different places as people championed and spoke about what they did some of which I don't even know their names and they just start to brag on people say rich where did you get this idea I got it from the Bible not only script from one to give you today's first Thessalonians Paul said this just as a nursing mother cares for her children so we cared for you because we loved you so much we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well and real leadership in 2018 real church leadership isn't just about preaching the Bible it's about opening up your life to people and it's about crying with people and it's about celebrating with people and it's about championing people and it's about being there for people I don't want to just preach the gospel I want to share my life do

Channel: VOUS Church

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Keywords: rich wilkerson jr, vous church, vous conference, voustopsy

Id: BRsK2jbNbFw

Length: 49min 3sec (2943 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 05 2018