3 Things that are keeping you from growing. - Notes from todays Six Minute Seminar

Every Tuesday at 12noon Pacific Time I do a Six Minute Seminar through Facebook Live on my wall. Today we did a session titled - 3 things that will keep you from growing. Here are some written notes from the video training. You can watch the actual Seminar on my facebook wall.....

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE 6 MINUTE SEMINAR

3 Things that will keep you from growing. 

Do you want to get better? Do you? Do you really want to get better? Do you want to be a better parent - businessman - leader - pastor - speaker? Do you want to get better? 

Today I want to talk to you about 3 things that will stifle your growth and keep you where you are and hold you back from improving. 

1. LOOKING AT THE WRONG PEOPLE.

Let's say you are a 6′ tall forward in High School that averages 15 points per game for your basketball team in rural small-town America. If all you ever do is compare yourself to the local competition, kids you play in Gym class, the other kids on your team - you are going to be in for a rude awakening when you play against Division I Athletes that are All-Americans from the big city. However, if you consistently study guys that are bigger, faster and stronger than you. It will keep you humble, reveal your weaknesses and help you understand where you need to improve.

The same is true for leadership. If you are a Pastor/Youth Pastor at a slightly above average size church, with a nice website, a few staff members, and a strong offering each week and all you ever do is compare yourself to other leaders with less people, less staff, no web-site, and a small giving base than you are going to feel like you have arrived.

However, just like the Basketball player, you haven’t arrived at all. You are just looking at the wrong people. If instead of looking at Leaders that are the same or below you in certain areas, you would look at leaders with larger congregations, more staff members, multiple church locations, and much larger bank accounts, you would stay humble, see where you are weak and understand the areas that you need to improve in.

Far to many people have a “big fish in a little pond” mentality. When we do, we put a lid on our growth. I firmly believe that what we “see” is what we will “be”. 

Because of this, you and I will never grow past what we are looking at. So make sure that you look at people, organizations, and leaders that are bigger, faster, stronger and more effective than you currently are. When you do, you will stay humble and that humility will allow God to put His grace on everything you do.

2. REFUSING TO TAKE HONEST CRITIQUE

We all want to be right.I think it’s just human nature.We want to come up with a great idea, have it be amazing and then get all of the credit.

But the truth of the matter is, there are very few times in life where we as leaders come up with an idea that is absolutely perfect and cannot be improved upon. In fact I would go as far to say that there is NEVER a time in life where our ideas are perfect … everything can get better.

If you and I want to improve in life and leadership we have to be willing to open ourselves and our ideas up for critique. We have to be willing to have people sitting around a table or living life with us that care enough to say … “I think your idea is OK … but what if we did this instead”.

When we don’t do that. When you and I surround ourselves with a bunch of “yes” men or woman who are too afraid, too intimidated, or too apathetic to offer us their honest opinion …. we will never be better than our last idea. And may I be bold enough to say that our last idea … was OK at best.

If you don’t like critique … get used to the level you are at … because that is where you’re going to stay. 

3. STOP ASKING QUESTIONS

Great leaders never stop asking questions … that is why they never stop growing.I have been around some incredible leaders thru the years, and there is one thing I have noticed about all of them … they ask a ton of questions. There is always someone doing something better than you are.Find them and ask them what they are doing. When you do … you will grow.

Hope this helps - for more tips on life and leadership check out growmooreymu.com

If your in the Visalia area - love to have you join us this weekend at TheCHURCH - go to welcometothechurch.com to find service times and info. 

7 things we do that make us less effective as communicators.

Last week I was in my home town in Indiana speaking at a church conference. While I was there I set up an appointment with my old high school friend Todd Gongwer. Todd is the author of Lead for Gods Sake, and travels around the country speaking at colleges and coaching conferences. 

While we were in his office, we started picking each others brains about what we do, where we've failed, and where we are going in the future. I had a blast catching up. While we were throwing questions back and forth, the topic of speaking came up and out of that conversation I started thinking about mistakes that I've made and know that a lot of speakers make on a regular basis with their talks. So I thought I would share and unpack a few of them today in hopes that we all can become masters of our craft. 

1. Consistent passionate and loud voice flexions. 

Passion is a great thing. Moving your voice to a new level of intensity is good. However, being passionate and loud all the way from the introduction to the closing point, gets old to the listener very quickly. 

Here's a tip - let the content dictate when you go up and down in your voice flexions. Let you message breath a little. Think through when you are going to speak in normal voice, when you are going to crank it up a bit

2. Too much body movement on stage. 

Moving around the stage is a “must do” in speaking and using your hands is a very engaging thing, however, it is possible to move around so much that you take away from the message or point you are trying to make. 

Stay in control. Use your body to sell the point, to engage the listener, or get more involved as a speaker. But don't let what you do, be a distraction to what you are trying to say. 

3. When feel like you're losing the crowd you drop a cheap joke or give a golden nugget of truth. 

As communicators we have all been here many times. You feel like your point is not sinking in. You don’t feel like the crowd is with you, so you throw out a quick silly joke to get the crowd to laugh and participate. Or you throw out a golden nugget that is very true and very good, however, it has absolutely nothing to do with the message you are speaking. You just threw it out there because you felt like you are losing the crowd. 

Here’s the thing, you may be losing the crowd … but you may not be. Sometimes people are just listening (thats a good thing). As a communicator we have to lean in on our preparation and trust that we have the content that people need to hear. There is nothing wrong with making onstage modifications like being funny or dropping awe inspiring truths but always trust your content … don't do things to cheapen, or shortchange it. 

4. Telling the same story the same way you told it before. 

Sometimes, especially, if you travel and speak you will tell a story that you have told many times before. That is more than fine, because most likely the people you are speaking to have never heard the story.

The problem is, that as the speaker you have heard the story far to many times. You know the story up and down, backwards and forwards. You know the sad parts and you know the parts where everyone is going to laugh. 

All of that is fine, however, the problem comes when we get into “robot mode” in telling the story.  Robot mode sucks for the listener! Every time you tell the story you have to be “in the moment” and let the story shrink and expand to the environment you are currently in. 

Trust me, as a guy who speaks for a living every weekend as well as speaks at and attends many conferences every year … people know when you have told the story before.  Here are some tell tell signs that you are telling a story that you’ve told many times before. 

You are talking very fast. 

You know the content so well, you are flying through it.

You pause for laughter at just the perfect time. 

That is really awkward when the crowd does not laugh on cue. 

You drum up an emotional response

Pull up the tears and voice flexion changes, when you really aren’t feeling anything in the moment, but you do it because thats what the story demands

I speak three times every Sunday, so every week I am telling the same story at least three times. I also travel and speak each month and sometimes have stories that I use repeatedly in certain . Two things that I do to keep a story fresh in my heart is: I tell the story in a different order, or I leave a part of the story out. This mixes things up in my head and keeps it fresh in the moment. 

5. Spend so much time on your personal story it takes  away from the actual point you are making. 

Our personal story is not the point of the message we are giving. It is a tool that we use to set up the point or apply the point. But it is not the point. As communicators we need to spend more time on the point and less time on our story. 

6. Skim across six points but never unpack one. 

Every time we speak, we are speaking for change. We want the listener to change something. It is easier for them leave inspired to live differently, when they hear the details of one thing, rather than an overview of five or six things. 

7. Give why and the what, but never give the how. 

If you are speaking about making disciples, you need to explain WHY we should disciple, WHAT is a disciple, and then HOW we actually make a disciple. The why inspires. The what gives clarity. But it is the how, that they actually use. Never forget the how.

Here are a few questions:

Which of these seven do you typically struggle with?

Why is it that you struggle with it?

What changes can you make in preparation to remedy these? 

I would love to hear from you - comment below - or email me at growmoore@gmail.com  

Youth Pastor - there is no excuse - it's time to grow!

Do you want to build better teams, deliver more effective messages, create big momentum, and build bridges to parents? If so, there is no excuse ... it's time to grow! 

In 2016 we launched Youth Ministry University, an online training platform for youth pastors. There are currently more than 2,000 Youth Pastors with access to YMU in the U.S., Canada, France, Switzerland, Austria, and more.

One of the biggest reasons we as leaders don't take the steps we need to take to improve and grow is because of the cost of training. That is no longer a valid reason. I want to get YMU into the hands of as many youth pastors as we possibly can. That is why from today March 8th, through Saturday March 10th we are going to offer YMU for only $50.  

Just click this link - YOUTH MINISTRY UNIVERSITY and enter GROUP in the coupon code section.

I sure hope you will take advantage of this opportunity. 

If you have any question - comment below or email me at growmoore@gmail.com 

Are you burning the candle at both ends? You need to read this. For real ... you need to read this.

Something was off and I knew it. We were visiting family in Indiana, so I set up an appointment with my mentor Pastor Dave Engbrecht from Nappanee Missionary Church. 

As I sat in Pastors office several months ago, I started to talk about my life. How I was pushing so hard but not seeming to move forward. At least not at the pace that I wanted.  I expressed the frustration of wanting to do more. I wanted to reach more people. I felt called to disciple more believers and train more leaders. However, I just couldn't seem to get the traction I was looking for or the contentment in the journey. My marriage was great, my family was awesome, and I loved the people in my church, but I guess I just felt like I was burning the candle at both ends. 

Pastor Dave, poured out a lot of sage advice. He talked about pacing myself. The importance of family time, as well as resting and that he felt like the season of introspection that I was in was extremely helpful not just for now, but if I could truly change things up a bit, this season would set me on a great course for the future. (I love Pastor Dave!)

At the end of our conversation he started talking to me about a Pastor from Aida, Michigan named Jeff Manion and his book Dream Big, Think Small. He walked me through the premises of the book, and I knew it was one that I needed to read and apply. 

So I took the book home, and started going through each chapter, journalling all along the way. The principles Jeff wrote about and the questions that he asked in the book were so challenging, that I could not help but change. 

Now I can't say that since ready the book, my church has grown by 40% but what I can say is that I am walking out daily routines that bring health to my body, my mind, and my life. 

Dream Big, Think Small is an absolute must read for anyone who wants to accomplish extraordinary things and not lose themselves along the way. 

Please note, neither Jeff or Dave have asked me to promote this book. I just feel so strongly about it that I wanted to share it with you. Below is the link to Jeffs website. Check it out. Pick up the book. Read it. Journal your thoughts. And start to change. 

DREAM BIG THINK SMALL WEBSITE

How McDonalds helped me do better messages.

I love sharing Gods word. Every week I want to share the narrative of scripture in a way that is understandable and applicable to the everyday average person, not just to the weekly church goer, or someone who has a steady personal study time with God. 

I don't know about you, but I've found that where I prepare my messages has a big effect on how I write and deliver them.  So through the years I have been very step by step oriented in my message preparation. Here is what I do and where I do it. 

Study time at Home Office. 

About six months ago I moved my office to my house. My message preparation begins here. I do the big rock lifting of foundational scriptures, theming, and commentary study in this first phase. Blocking off the overall direction on my whiteboard. 

Team Teaching Meeting. 

Every Wednesday I get with a small group of people to go over my big thoughts and direction of the message. Critiquing it and coming up with better ways to deliver the thoughts not only for that week but for the entire series we are working on. I really love this meeting. 

Writing Time at Home Office. 

After the team teaching meeting, is when I start the doing the detail work of the message. Prayer, study, writing out the points, illustrations, and thinking through the actual pacing and timing of delivery. 

Panera Bread, Coffee Shop, McDonalds

Most weeks, at the end of my message prep, I will go to a public place, get out my notes and just read over the message about 5 to 6 times. As I sit there, seeing the people around me, and hearing there conversations, I begin to run the points of my message through the filter of "if this person beside me at the coffee shop is at my church on Sunday, would they be able understand and apply what I've written so far". 

I've found that getting out of the house and going to a public place helps me bring the message to a much more applicable place for the people who are at our weekend gatherings or watching online. 

I would love to hear what you do for your message prep. Feel free to comment below or email me at growmoore@gmail.com 

If you are a Youth Pastor find out about message prep and more at YOUTH MINISTRY UNIVERSITY.