"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."
(Joshua 1:9, NIV)
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From My Heart
Strengthening Strategy
By Daniel Ketchum
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Last month, we launched a mini-series of practical suggestions to move NMI to become more strategic. We began by describing strategy:
- A plan of action designed to achieve a major or overall objective;
- The art of planning and directing corporate mission and movements;
- Synonyms: master plan, grand design, game plan, action plan.
This month, we continue the series on strategy with:
- Strategic goal-setting
- Strategic visioning: mission maximum
- Strategic collaborating with pastors
We also review the request for Strategic Communicating that we sent last month. Thanks for sending an e-mail address for each local church on your district by July 26.
1. Strategic Goal-setting
S.M.A.R.T. Goals: Specific…Measurable…Attainable…Realistic…Timely/Tangible
Specific—A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal, you should answer the six "W" questions:
- Who will be involved?
- What do I want to accomplish?
- Where will this take place?
- When will the event occur?
- Which requirements and constraints are considered priority?
- Why are we doing this (purpose, benefits, and reasons of accomplishing the goal)?
Example:
General physical goal: "Get in shape."
Specific physical goal: "Work out four days per week until I tone my body and lose 12 pounds within six months; then workout to sustain vitality."
General goal: “Have devotions.”
Specific goal: “Meet with Jesus privately in worship, the Word, prayer, and accountability each morning for at least 20 minutes to become like Christ. Disciple my spouse and family daily with the same passion.”
Measurable—Establish criteria for measuring progress toward each goal. When you measure progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort toward reaching the goal. To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as: “How much?” “How many?” “How will I know when it is accomplished?”
Attainable—When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to determine ways you to accomplish them. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities, bringing yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.
You can attain most goals by planning your steps wisely and establishing a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals seemingly far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. When you list your goals, you build your self-image. You see yourself as worthy of these goals and develop the traits and personality that allow you to possess them.
Realistic—To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress. A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs you ever accomplished actually seem easy simply because they were a labor of love.
Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you have accomplished anything similar in the past. Ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this goal.
Timely—A goal should be grounded within a time frame. Otherwise, there's no sense of urgency. If you want to lose 10 pounds, by what date do you want to lose it? "Someday" won't work. If you anchor it within a time frame, "by January 1", then you've set your mind in motion to begin working on the goal.
T also Tangible—A goal is tangible when you can experience it with one of the senses: seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, or smelling. When your goal is tangible, you have a better opportunity to make it specific, measurable, and attainable.
2. Strategic Visioning: Mission Maximum
District NMI leaders, you are an amazing team. I appreciate each of you sincerely.
Thank you for embracing the Global Ministry Center challenges of two years of financial reductions (50 percent) and staff reductions (Aimee Curtis, Shawna Songer Gaines, Tabita Gonzalez, Jon Livengood, Giovanni Monterroso, Angel Sigui, Jason Sivewright) and opportunities to revision/redistribute our workload.
We are grateful for the NMI team members who remain: Rob North, Gail Sawrie, Linda Phelps, and Darryl Bennett. We also thank the Lord for colleagues from other teams such as Ann Baldwin, Wayne LaForce, Bruce Nuffer, Gina Pottenger, and volunteers/interns who partner NMI strategy with us. We really do need each other!
The Holy Spirit has enabled each of us individually and all of us as a team to face adversity as overcomers. We have avoided a “minimum mentality” and have pursued a “maximum mindset.” In all of us, God is working His gifts of faith, vision, and passion for global mission in Christ.
We anticipate our NMI office team advance (never retreat) on September 8-9. To contain costs, we will meet one day in my home and one day in Rob’s home and have home-cooked meals. Our agenda will include strategic praying and planning.
In preparation for those two significant days, I want each of us to pray, wait on the Lord, and envision God-sized dreams for the future of NMI. We will refer to this initiative as “mission maximum.”
I invite each district president to present to the team an idea beyond anything NMI has attempted in the past several years. Dream primarily around the core objectives of NMI: praying, discipling, giving, and educating. If you have another idea beyond NMI for other partners in Global Mission or in the GMC, you may present that idea to the team after you have shared your dream for NMI. Please send ideas to me by e-mail no later than September 1.
NMI graphics and Web site are soaring. EngageMagazine.com is one year young. HeartLine and Mission Connection are online monthly. We launched Living Mission three months ago. We are creating a database to communicate with every local NMI president. District presidents are becoming more collaborative, strategic, and missional.
This fall we will launch another extreme adventure. Please project SMART goals as noted above. Thank you so much for your labors of love in service to the Kingdom.
3. Strategic Collaborating: NMI Presidents with Pastors (and with District Pastors)
Partnering With Your Pastor to Expand Mission Vision
By Evelyn Sutton, past Anaheim district NMI president and global NMI council member
What will help to make missions effective in your church? The pastor is the key! Because the pastor is the key to missions and because you, the NMI president, are the mission executive in the pastor’s core team, how can you most effectively support him or her? How can you bring out the best in your pastor?
I. Study your pastor’s needs. “Successful leaders are great askers, and they do pay attention.”
(Warren Bennis)
A. Make an appointment to brainstorm with your pastor. Take your yellow pad
and pencil - or laptop.
B. Find out what your pastor thinks and feels about missions. Ask some
questions. Thomas Aquinas said, “To motivate someone, start where he is…
take him by the hand and guide him.”
1. “What first compelled you to become involved in missions?”
2. “If you had a free ticket to any mission field, where would you go?”
C. What are the pastor’s expectations of you?
1. Learn what the pastor perceives your parameters are.
a. What does the pastor expect of you?
b. Work out a job description for you, the local church NMI president.
2. Set important church calendar dates:
a. February and September Alabaster offerings.
b. Set date for Thanksgiving and Easter offerings; decide when offering
envelopes should be ordered and distributed.
c. Dates of local NMI council meetings.
d. Next year’s district NMI convention date.
3. Discuss the amount that needs to be raised for missions for the coming
year, starting with the World Evangelism Fund (5.5 percent of current
income), special offerings, Local NMI Council expenses, missionary
speakers—both care and offerings.
4. Set the date and plan a Faith Promise emphasis.
Discuss your specific responsibilities for the Faith Promise emphasis.
a. Who will be the speaker? Who will book the speaker?
b. Length of Faith Promise emphasis?: Saturday? Sunday morning only?
Sunday morning & evening?
c. Plan for special gatherings? Friday evening rally, Saturday men’s
breakfast, women’s lunch, teen pizza party Saturday night?
5. Ask about a missions bulletin board, the church calendar, and how and
when the deadlines are for submitting mission information for the Sunday
morning church worship folder, church newsletter, or Web site.
6. Take notes during your brainstorming conference
a. Make a copy—send it to your pastor.
b. Communicate regularly with your pastor. Stay on the same wavelength.
II. Recognize and affirm your pastor’s successes. “Encouragement is like oxygen to the soul.” (Unknown)
A. Bless and commend your pastor.
1. One of the meanings of “bless” is to speak well of someone in the presence
of others. To illustrate: Jesus “blessed” Nathanael in the presence of others
when He said, “Behold an Israelite in whom is no guile!”
2. One way to do this is to speak well of the pastor during the church
board meeting—“I appreciate the way you keep us informed of the church
finances.”
B. Write your pastor a note of appreciation.
1. Be specific, like “Your missions illustration was heartwarming.”
2. Appreciation can warm a pastor’s heart for many weeks.
C. Pray for your pastor when he/she steps into the pulpit.
During the message, your body language can bring out the best in a pastor.
Anne Ortlund, in Up With Worship, said, “You can set the mood for fifteen
people situated around you with your body language during worship.”
D. Welcome the pastor home from vacation.
1. Balloons at the front door.
2. Notes of welcome in the worship folder.
E. Feature a “We Love Pastor” mission service: “Applause is the spur for
noble minds.” (C.C. Colton)
1. Decorate with banners.
2. Give the pastor a T-shirt or a big Hershey’s Kiss.
3. Write a song about your pastor.
4. Interview the pastor about his/her love for missions.
III. Expect the best from your pastor.“We see what we are prepared to see.” (a psychology principle)
A. Keep your attitude positive.
Alan Loy McGinnis, psychologist, asked why a certain church succeeded so
well when the pastor had a glaring fault. How could this be? A member said,
“We specialize in our pastor’s strengths and forget his weak point.” They see
what they are prepared to see. McGinnis added: Doubtless their positive spirit
motivated the pastor to do everything in his power to produce at full capacity!
B. Be a top-notch board member. The late Tom Landry of Dallas Cowboys fame
said, “I’ve never seen a one-man team, but I’ve seen a team where one man
made a difference.”
1. How do you rate as a board member?
a. Do you smile when you enter?
b. Do you keep a perspective and try to see the whole picture?
c. Are you a catalyst?
d. Do you keep alert and in touch with all discussion and decisions?
e. Are you positive?
f. Do you keep a good attitude even when your thoughts or opinions don’t
prevail?
g. Do you pour on oil, making the church machine run smoothly?
2. Expect the best with your attitude.
A woman, 102, was asked on TV, “Do you have any children?” She said,
“Not yet!” Attitude!
IV. Conclusion A. You are the mission executive on your pastor’s core team.
B. You have more influence than you realize to motivate your pastor to an even
higher level of mission interest!
C. You have more influence than you realize to bring out the best in him and
other colleagues by:
1. Studying your pastor’s needs.
2. Recognizing the pastor’s accomplishments.
3. Expecting the best from your pastor.
Printable Versions of HeartLine
8.5 x 11 A4
8.5 x 11 A4
Downloadable Resouces
June 2010 Selected Receipts
Pakistan Prayer Requests