In review, we are answering the question how does the “every Sunday is the Superbowl��? theory hold up when real life hits and the key staff are faced with issues that require their attention (ie sickness and family issues).The question was followed with some potential answers:

1. Does everyone that is available just buckle down and spend whatever time it takes to make sure Sunday still gets the normal amount of attention?
2. Or do other people handle the little things (I’m assuming the details to Sunday Morning) so the people most necessary to Sundays can stay out of the fray?

We addressed potential solution #1 here.

This brings me to solution #2. Do other people handle the little things to free those most necessary on Sundays from the fray? I really don’t like the words “most necessary��? describing anyone that has duties on Sundays. We have physicians, attorneys, CFO’s, and pilots that do the “little things��? on Sundays and their role is having a sizeable impact on the Kingdom of God.

Building a team and leading a large group of people requires leadership. This is one of the most significant shifts we have had to make at Elevation to continue to allow God to grow our church. In the early days it was all about how much can each staff member do and how many gates can they “ram down��?. But now it’s more about how much can you empower and how many people can you lead.

Empowering is a key leadership principle but let me give you a practical application of what it looks like for us. One new thing that we have just implemented that may be helpful is our “replace yourself��? staff policy. Once a quarter, each staff member is not allowed to do their normal Sunday activities. Logic makes you think that you can’t get by without everybody doing their part. But practical leadership is the ability to replace oneself. By forcing our staff to replace themselves, we hope to see others step up into leadership roles.

Replacing oneself once a quarter is great to expose people to other roles. But the next level of leadership is completely replacing oneself for specific roles. Pastor has been an excellent model to the staff in this practice. By not micromanaging Sunday morning, he has allowed others to step up and develop their gifts. He has also allowed a system to develop that is not dependent on him.

There are so many layers to this answer but the principle is simple. We are all willing to “ram down gates��? for Sunday if we need to. But nowadays we are focused more on replacing ourselves and leading than on how much we can do by ourselves.

Chunks Corbett, Executive Pastor

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Pastor has been flooded with blog ideas from his recent post and he wanted me to tackle a few. Jeff wanted to know how the “every Sunday is the Superbowl��? theory holds up when real life hits and the key staff are faced with issues that require their attention (ie sickness and family issues).

The question was followed with some potential answers:

1.      Does everyone that is available just buckle down and spend whatever time it takes to make sure Sunday still gets the normal amount of attention?
2.      Or do other people handle the little things (I’m assuming the details to Sunday Morning) so the people most necessary to Sundays can stay out of the fray?

Well, both solutions are correct in our case here at Elevation. Let me tackle #1 today and follow up with #2 tomorrow. We have tried to hire leaders who can build and lead departments. But we have also hired people that won’t take no for an answer, will stay up all night to get it done, and will literally “Ram down the Gate��? if we have to for Sundays to be great.

We have a running list of qualities of an Elevation employee (and key volunteers). We use actual stories that have shaped who we are as a church as “tests��? to see if someone is a fit for our organization. The “Ram down the Gate test��? is just one of many examples but the best way I can explain our philosophy toward how we view Sundays and our work. Prior to hiring someone, we want to know if they are willing to��?ram down the gate��? if that’s what is needed. I’ll give you the short version of the story that goes with the “test��?.

In May of 2006, I got a phone call on Sunday morning at 5:15AM from our Assimilation Pastor, Larry Brey who told me that the gate at the storage unit where we stored all of our equipment for Sunday morning (remember portable church) would not open. Larry wanted to “ram the gate down��? with his truck. So I told him what every Executive Pastor would say, we’d get his truck fixed, buy them a new gate and I’d bail him out of jail because we both knew there was no way we weren’t having church. There was a happy ending. He was able to use some tools and actually remove the gate so no crash actually occurred but he was willing to do anything.

There is not of time to write the deeper spiritual significance behind this but what you don’t get from this story are a few key details. You see Larry and I quit our jobs to move to Charlotte to start this church with Pastor Furtick. To call Sunday the Superbowl is an understatement. We know that every Sunday there are people who need Jesus walking through our doors. That culture of sacrifice and determination to see things done with excellence and without excuse has flowed down to our volunteers and everybody feels that intensity on Sundays.

The key is that we don’t hire people without that motivation and drive. We are willing to buckle down to do what it takes and even “ram down the gate��? to see every Sunday be the best Sunday. We don’t get it right every week but we never go in playing defense giving God our second best with mediocre expectations.

So there is part 1 of how we view Sundays in regards to dealing with any distractions and others stepping up to make things happen. More tomorrow on replacing yourself and solution #2.

Chunks Corbett, Executive Pastor

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There has never been a time in history when church leaders had more access to what the most influential churches in America are doing. Between blogs, podcasts, online sermons, open source materials, e-mail, and books, we can access some of the most innovative leaders of our time. And there are also a multitude of church conferences offered all around the country. We have had some special times as a church when we’ve taken our leaders to conferences. In the past we’ve been to the Drive conference at Northpoint, Unleashed at Newspring, C3 at Fellowship, and Catalyst. They have all been great and have their own unique strengths. Pastor Furtick is actually speaking at Mountain Lake’s churchplanters.com conference this February. Â

So what is Elevation’s plan for 08? Well, of course we’ll take a crew down to Mountain Lake to support Pastor and check the conference out. We’re also going to go big for Unleashed at Newspring. The best thing about Unleashed (other than Newspring is great) is that since it a shorter event and close we can take our volunteer leaders. We’ll also be returning back to our roots this February. We’re excited to be taking our entire staff to C3 at Fellowship Church in Dallas. Prior to launching Elevation, Pastor and I made our first trip to C3 to begin dreaming about what would become Elevation. At the time, my knowledge about church was minimal to say the least and C3 rocked my world. We’re excited to expose our entire staff to what God is doing in Dallas. Â

The other conferences that are on our potential go-to list are Innovate at Granger and if we can work a California trip in, the Thrive Conference at Bayside. In the end, our goal is to expose ourselves to what others are doing and what God is blessing all over the country. Finally, we use these conference trips to develop and invest time in our staff and key volunteers. The conferences are great but some of the most valuable time is spent before and after the event with each other. You definitely can’t measure how valuable a conference trip can be at building a strong, unified team from a line item in the budget. Â

Chunks Corbett, Executive Pastor

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