strategy

Yesterday I attended a Jon Acuff breakout here at the Orange Conference in Atlanta, he talked about strategy. It was short and sweet, and to the point…with the ~~occasional~~ jokes of course. Jon has a great way of weaving authentic truth into his entertaining messages. I walked away with two nuggets of truth I’d like to share with you.

Strategy forces you to acknowledge the limits.

Many times we believe that the sky is the limit. And guess what? As leaders we are guilty for aiming at the sky. When we don’t hit the sky we’ve been chasing after, we feel as if we have failed. It’s time we consider our strategy and understand it has limits. A strategy encompasses a unique DNA that “should” help us better focus on what we are saying NO to. The word NO can be interpreted as a bad word, an uncomfortable word or even discouraging about what you can’t do. However, when we learn to say NO to good things we will begin to understand what it looks like to acknowledge our limits. This will help us remain faithful to our strategy and execute the desired outcome.

Bigger isn’t better, better is better.

I’ve had the privilege of touring many churches over the past few years. Some with bigger buildings, bigger youth groups, others with bigger budgets and bigger staff. What have I learned? Bigger isn’t better, better is better. The high school ministry I lead is actually historically smaller than back in the hay-day when it was huge. Nonetheless, I’m told often by past leaders, previous students and current staff that our ministry is healthier than it ever was before. Our team has worked hard to put a Christ following adult if not two in the life of every teenager. When you do that, things get better. We also shifted the mentality of not just getting students plugged into a program, we wanted them to be part of something greater. 50% of our students volunteer in the church on Sunday mornings, this helps make our church a better place and gives the student a place to belong in the church beyond high school program. If you are considering simply program attendance you will miss it. Bigger isn’t better, better is better.

I saw something today that literally stopped me in my tracks. It was not normal nor did it make any sense at all. There were numbers in the sky. Perfectly spaced. Perhaps you have seen sky writing before but this was on a whole new level!

After doing some research I have these facts:

5 planes.
Flying at 10,000 feet with dot-matrix sequencing.
Emitting 1/4 mile tall letters.
The company that helped make it happen, airsign.com
The artist behind this wonder, ISHKY out of California.
Showing off for SXSW here in Austin I’m sure.
You could do something similar.

So, was there just pure genius present here? Yes, there were engineers and an artist to make “pi in the sky” a reality. But I believe we all have been given the ability to wow the world around us. We need to think differently and perhaps look at situations from a different angle. When is the last time you really surprised someone? Did something out of the ordinary? Something they never would have imagined. Apparently, in this situation the sky is the limit! Students are always looking for that newest thing, or hottest item. Find something new for your crew to talk about this week, do something radically different, or you be the “Pi in the sky”… dress up like a leprechaun, they might see that one coming, but it could be totally worth it!

Here’s a little something in honor of national Pi day.

Life of a youth pastor .

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2 things when considering strategy.

Pi in the sky, the sky is the limit!