Continuing my notes from the C3 conference on Monday, Oct 13 at NorthwayChurch in New York.
In Session 3 Ed Young continued to go over the 10.5 Commandments of Creativity. In the previous session he covered the first 2.
- It’s The Weekend (Stupid)
- You Need Time for Creativity
- You Need a Creative Team
- Gives you fresh ideas
- Gives you confidence
- Gives you on-sight critique
- Great training ground for future leaders and speakers
- Helps you know who is coming on the weekend
- Thou Shalt Ask Critical Questions
- Too often fear & pride get in the way of asking questions.
- Go for the A.S.K. instead A – Always, S – Seeking, K – Knowledge.
- Too many churches worship the process instead of the purpose. They become like a big cruise ship which is hard and slow to turn instead of being like a quick, fast, speed boat.
- Ask questions of other people around 4 zones:
- Confirmation – what are we doing that is good?
- Cancellation – what are we doing that should be stopped?
- Copy – what are they doing that we can copy?
- Create – what do we need to create because nobody else is doing it?
- Thou Shalt Talk About the Vision Regularly
- You must let your ‘vision light’ shine – all the time!
- How often are you talking about your vision?
- It is not possible to talk about it too much – despite what you think!
- Thou Shalt Ride a Fate of Waves
- Need a regular work / break pattern to spur creativity
- You must have regular scheduled time off for yourself and your team.
- Thou Shalt Not Steal an Idea Without Making it Better
- Thou Shalt Work Your Rear Off
- Thou Shalt Hire “Yes” Men
- Y = Yielded to God and you
- E = Encouraging (team players)
- S = Strong
- Thou Shalt Grow by Strategic Subtraction
- As a tiger shark, don’t be bothered chasing after bait fish and end up beaching yourself
- It is just as important to understand who is leaving your church (loosing them can be a good thing).
- It will always hurt, but it cannot be avoided
- You need to surround yourself with the right “they”.
- T = Tough
- H = Honest
- E = Encouraging
- Y = Yielded to you
- The wrong they will keep you in the fray. Be more like Nehemiah and don’t let them distract you from your goals.
- Negative comments – don’t read or listen to them.
- (Or 10.5) Thou Shalt Not Lie About The Numbers
- Are you structured for growth? – Churches who are effective are staff-led. Leaders need to lead not laymen.
- Who are you reaching? (are you just sheep-stealing?) Measure:
- Baptisms
- Small Groups
- Volunteers
- New Memberships
- Where are you putting your money?
- Does it reflect your priorities?
- How do you pay your staff?
- Small well-paid staff is better than one that is large and underpaid