How important is planning?

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first hour sharpening the axe.” 

Abraham Lincoln

1- Talk to God. (Prayer). We are spinning our wheels if we don't know what is His plan and receive His blessing. Heather and I tithe. Which means that we give 10% of our income to the Lord. We have a great quote about tithing, that is not ours, but we adopted it as our own. "We believe that by giving God 10% of our income the 90% that is left will go further and last longer by His blessing than If we were to keep the entire 100% of our income." This is also a great example of trying to cut down a tree without sharpening the axe first. Prayer is that important. 

2- You must have a clear priority scale to really utilize planning. What are the most important things for your relationship with God, your family, your work and yourself. Then plan ahead for each one.

3- Tony Morgan has equipped me with four valuable questions: What is right, What is wrong,What is  missing and What is confusing? These simple questions have brought the most clarity in the last 9 months for me.

4- What dull tools have I grown accustomed to using? Has loving people become dull and even numb? If so, then has patience also? Work demands creativity and invention, so does my family. When you get tired and dull do we stop and sharpen the axe or do we allow work to rob the best of us from our family? Does work suffer because you are no longer carrying the passion you once had? What can you do to get passion back? 

5- Rest... Its amazing what a little can do. (For those that don't know how) Do nothing, Nap - my favorite, Don't do what you normally do, Ask a loved one what they would like to do, PRAY, garden - unless your a gardner...

Recently one of our good friends Tony Morgan wrote a blog about Cowboy Junction Church. Tony is a church consultant that helps church's get "unstuck". Though we are not stuck. We want to make sure that we keep the momentum going. Here is what he said about Cowboy Junction Church.

Tony Morgan blog.

COWBOY JUNCTION CHURCH: A DISTINCTIVE CHURCH WITH A DISTINCTIVE MISSION

Ty and Heather Bean, Senior Pastors of Cowboy Junction Church

I’ve had a unique opportunity the last several months to work with Cowboy Junction Church in Hobbs, New Mexico. (They’re going to hate that I’m pointing to their website before their new one launches.) It’s the first church I’ve worked with in New Mexico. And, it’s the first cowboy church I’ve worked with, though, that’s not what makes them unique.

Cowboy Junction is actually the smallest church that I’ve worked with in an extended relationship where we’ve gone through a (1) ministry health assessment, (2) developing and implementing a strategic operating plan, and (3) completing a staffing and structure review. We’re wrapping up the final phase now to confirm their staffing structure for today and, more important, develop a plan for future growth.

And, in the case of Cowboy Junction, I’m convinced they’re going to experience growth. Here are a few reasons why.

Clear and Distinctive Mission

Many churches are stuck “doing church” because they feel obligated to do what churches have always done. Because Cowboy Junction started out with a clear objective to do whatever it takes to reach people engaged in rodeo and other people with that western mindset, they aren’t under any obligation to be a “normal” church.

What they’ve learned is that if they focus their ministries on a specific type of person and avoid trying to be all things to all people, they actually reach all kinds of people…including the guys that spend most of their weekends engaged in rodeo activities that other churches don’t typically reach.

Strengths-Based Leadership

Cowboy Junction reaches about 400 to 500 people every weekend. It’s mid-sized church, but they have huge leadership capacity. What makes them unique is that they’ve been very intentional about getting leaders in positions that best fit their gifts and abilities.

Ty and Heather Bean, the senior pastors, have done a remarkable job in the last number of months empowering the other leaders on their team. They’re more focused on teaching, leadership development and vision casting. The team is handling more of the execution. Everyone wins.

Clear Action Plan

Most churches live from Sunday to Sunday without any clear plan to get from here to there. Cowboy Junction has done the hard work of figuring out what’s most important now. They’ve developed an action plan. They’ve assigned leaders and built teams around that plan. There are clear target dates and measures to monitor progress.

Their current plan has 11 initiatives that include establishing new systems around budgeting and staffing, expanding facilities, launching a new web strategy and redefining their discipleship path. Because they have an intentional plan with focused leadership, they’re well on their way to finishing all 11 initiatives in the next six months. At that point, they will renew their plan with a new set of initiatives.

A big reason why this is working is because Ty has empowered Cigi Hardin, their new Administrative Pastor, to run point on their strategic operating plan. Again, focused leadership based on the strengths of each person really works.

I wanted you to hear a bit of Cowboy Junction’s story. For those of you leading churches that aren’t in the megachurch category, they need to be on your radar. Watch what they’re doing. Don’t copy their ministries, because you probably don’t have many folks wearing cowboy hats in your community. Instead, embrace the foundational principles that make Cowboy Junction healthy.

And, when you have a moment, pray for Ty, Heather and the their team. Hobbs, New Mexico needs healthy churches like Cowboy Junction to reach people for Jesus.