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Consider Carefully What You Do

Drawing on the biblical story of Jehoshaphat and utilizing the process of assessment, failure, alarm, and renewal, Steve Staten outlines his findings and recommendations for the church. These include developing elders and deacons, team leadership models, making one another commitments, memorializing lessons from past challenges, and improving communication. The narrative concludes with the implementation of a new leadership structure and the instigation of phase three of the renewal process, focusing on continued collaboration, selection of long-term leadership, and sustaining spiritual and organizational health.

00:00 Welcome and Introduction: A Rainy Arrival and the Role of Curiosity

01:04 The Consultation Report: Preliminary Findings and Future Directions

01:53 Navigating Church Turbulence: Insights from Jehoshaphat's Story

04:20 Assessment and Renewal: Jehoshaphat's Leadership Lessons

09:05 Addressing OC's Challenges: From Staff Departure to Leadership Investigation

10:31 Phase Two: Organizational Restructuring and Community Feedback

11:19 Reconciliation and Mediation: Strategies for Healing and Understanding

14:53 Legacy Issues and Cultural Shifts: A Path Forward for the Church

16:30 Observations and Recommendations: Addressing Structural and Cultural Challenges

21:03 Exploring Conflict Resolution and Trust Building

22:08 Addressing Unresolved Conflicts and Leadership Challenges

23:00 Navigating Decision-Making and Communication in Church Leadership

23:41 The Importance of Policy, Authority, and Conflict of Interest

25:00 Visualizing Organizational Structure: From Maze to Clarity

26:29 Eldership Development and Church Leadership Reimagining

29:39 Memorializing Lessons and Embracing Repentance for Renewal

33:57 Fostering One Anotherness and Building a Supportive Community

35:52 Strategic Recommendations for Church Renewal and Communication

38:54 Concluding Thoughts and Future Leadership Transition

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OC Church of Christ

Transcript
Steve Staten:

It has been fantastic to be here for the last few months.

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You know your family when people

start giving you nicknames.

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Vicky has been calling me Columbo,

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partly because I wear a raincoat.

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Every time I've come I've brought rain.

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It was rain Saturday morning.

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And, but the other thing is, is like

Columbo, I'll ask A curious question that

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I think I already know the answer to.

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And so, uh, but it has

been, it's been warm.

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I've received a lot of, uh,

encouragement and respect.

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And so today we were gonna, we're

gonna talk about things that

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are gonna be, uh, perhaps very

inspiring, but there's a gut check.

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Taking a look.

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That's why you brought me in.

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You didn't bring me in to give

you wonderful platitudes, right?

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So you brought me in to help

do a reality check to look

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underneath the hood of the church.

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So, so if we could pull up

the first screen, there we

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go, let me come back here.

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So this consultation report

is a preliminary draft.

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It's a high level, doesn't get down into

the weeds like the other final report.

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Well, I want to give you an

overview because this is the end

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coming to a close of phase two.

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I'll still be working with OC through

the month, you know, behind the scenes,

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but this will be my last official

time here until I'm invited back.

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Um, if this was for the sermon part, if

I, if you like sermon titles, it would

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be called consider carefully what you do.

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And that's a quote from a character

in what we're about ready to read.

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So in order to, um, be, be honorable,

I am going to start the timer.

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That's important, right?

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So, okay, so we're going to look at a

story, but first I need to tell you where

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my consultancy started 12 years ago.

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I wanted to know what are the primary

options available to churches that

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are navigating turbulence that comes

with transition change and troubles.

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And I found a passage that

really was helpful to me.

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It kind of gives like an arc.

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Uh, what can happen in the

story that we're going to read.

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There's a prologue where

there's no problem.

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There's a drift where a

problem is about to happen.

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There's a failure.

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There's alarm from the failure.

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There's an assessment as a result of that.

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Looking back, we need reset.

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And then there's a stage of renewal.

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So we're going to be looking at

those kind of things through the

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story of Jehoshaphat and Judah.

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Now, the prologue, the Canaanites

worshiped El, which means God,

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and the Israelites worshiped El

Shaddai, a specific God, and there's

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only one God, and it's Yahweh.

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Baal had a girlfriend, Asherah,

who enticed people into immorality.

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Ahab was the king, and Jezebel

was the queen, and she was

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the one who enticed people.

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And so Judah opposed Baal and

Asherah because they were on the

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right side of history in all this.

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These were their neighbors.

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So then we come into a drift.

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Jehoshaphat was king of Judah.

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Judah was the rightful kingdom.

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Israel was the schism out

of rebellion that took place

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after Solomon had passed away.

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Jehoshaphat's son married

Jezebel's daughter.

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This begins to be a problem.

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I mean, this is, was, how did that happen?

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Right?

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The two kings ended up bonding.

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And the friendly Ahab pursued

an alliance with Jehoshaphat.

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Now the king of Aram, another

kingdom, intended to assassinate Ahab.

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Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, I will

enter in battle in disguise,

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but you wear your royal robes.

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Well, why would you say do that?

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So they'll get you, not me.

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Crazy, Jehoshaphat became Aram's prey.

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And Aram's commanders pursued what they

thought was the king of Israel, but was

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Jehoshaphat, nearly killed him, then

recognized who he was, saw the ruse.

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Ahab ended up dying by a random

arrow, just fortunately, through

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the prowess of God, takes him out.

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But Jehoshaphat nearly lost his life.

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This is failure and alarm.

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We went from back history, to

drift, to now a situation, really

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bad almost happened, but it

indicates something's really wrong.

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And so next we actually have to

talk about having an assessment.

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Now this is really important.

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I want to say every leader in

this room pay close attention.

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Each King who ended well

in the old Testament had a

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prophet or seer in their life.

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Okay.

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That's really important.

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One from Israel, that was David,

five from Judah, Asa, Jehoshaphat,

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Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah.

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And Josiah's seer was Jehu.

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And like Jeremiah was told to, in

his era, comes later, assay Judah,

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which is the same word when you

test silver to see if it's pure.

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It's like test, evaluate

the ways of the people.

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And that's what a seer or a prophet does.

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They're supposed to like inspect

kind of a model for what a consultant

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ought to be able to do, right?

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So that's kind of why I'm here.

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Now, let me tell you,

let's read the story.

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When Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned

safely to his palace in Jerusalem,

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Jehu the seer, the son of a nanny

went out to meet him and said to

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the king, should you help the wicked

and love those who hate the Lord?

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Because of this, the wrath

of the Lord is on you.

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There is, however, some good in you.

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For you have rid the land of Asherah poles

and have set your heart on seeking God.

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Jehoshaphat catches his breath.

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I'm not all bad, right?

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Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem and

he went out again among the people.

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This is the time for a reset.

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And to be from Beersheba to the hill

country of re and turned them back to

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the Lord, the God of their ancestors.

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So he took it to heart.

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He heard what the consultant

said and he took it to heart.

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He appointed judges in the land in

each of the fortified cities of Judah.

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He told them, consider

carefully what you do.

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because you're not judging for mere

mortals, but for the Lord and who is

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with you whenever you give a verdict.

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Now, let the fear of the Lord

beyond you judge carefully for

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with the Lord, our God, there is no

injustice or partiality or bribery.

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In Jerusalem also Jehoshaphat appointed

some of the Levites priests and the heads

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of the Israelite families to administer

the law, the Lord, and to settle disputes.

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Now I wanna park there for just a moment.

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One, two, three.

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Jethro gave Moses advice who Moses

who was handling so many problems.

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He developed a scaled level of competency

and experience those over tens, fifties,

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hundreds, thousands of whatever to handle

conflicts and disputes among the tribes.

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40 years later in Deuteronomy chapter

one, Moses reflects on having done

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that and he has a very specific

criteria for what Dispute Handlers

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would be and he implemented and

he made it even more resilient.

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This is what I believe

Jehoshaphat is doing.

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He's taking a page from the past

and right sizing things by what

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he knows will please the Lord.

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And they lived in Jerusalem.

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He gave them these orders.

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You must serve faithfully and

wholeheartedly in the fear of the

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Lord, and every case that comes

before your people who live in the

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cities, will have their blood shed?

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Or other concerns of the law,

commands, decrees, or regulations.

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You are to warn them not to sin

against the Lord, otherwise the wrath

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will come on you and your people.

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Do this, and you will not sin.

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Now this gets really interesting.

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Amariah, the chief priest, will be over

you in any matter concerning the Lord.

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So there's a spiritual authority, Amariah.

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And Zebediah, son of Ishmael, the leader

of the tribe of Judah, will be over

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you in any matter concerning the king.

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And the Levites will serve

as officials among you.

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Act with courage and may the Lord

be with you, those who do well.

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But here's the part I want to focus on.

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Ishmael, the leader of the tribe

of Judah, will be over you in

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any matter concerning the king.

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The king is now under authority.

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Okay, so they have spiritual authority.

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They have tribal authority

that's even over the king.

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And of course the king is the leader.

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Which is usually a governance

military, things like that.

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So, Jehoshaphat humbled out, put

himself in a situation that was

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going to be best for the people.

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Let's talk about the OC.

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In August on the 18th of last year,

James Willis informed the Ministry

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Leadership Council that the OC

staff will be requesting help.

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There had been a problem with it.

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It was a departure of

a beloved staff member.

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There was internal turmoil.

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There were strong things felt

in the South ministry and strong

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things felt in the Korean ministry.

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And so this was coming.

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Two days later, there was an

anonymous letter that was sent

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Asking for a formal investigation

into the leadership of the O.

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C.

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region.

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And then a few, six

days after that, the M.

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L.

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C.

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received the official request

from the staff and the elder.

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And so then, we, we move into a new phase.

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Okay, we're going to be

moving into assessment.

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So, August to January, the Orange

County Service Team, which is

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like a task force that was set up

to respond to the two requests,

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take them seriously, show respect.

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That there's something up.

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And then they moved into what would later

be looked back and be called Phase 1.

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Now, uh, of course, Robert and

Michelle are on that group.

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They're here today.

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And others who have been in

and out are on that as advisors

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or part of the regular team.

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We've been meeting about every week

or two weeks since I've got involved.

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Phase 1 was interviews, survey, various

meetings, and an initial report.

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Phase two organizational

leadership restructure required

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somebody to be on the ground.

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I was interviewed by the staff and

the Orange County Separating Group

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along with the task force, the service

team to be here for three months,

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which would have ended in April.

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We've added a month.

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And so what we're doing

is going into phase two.

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My job is to review findings

of phase one, make sure I fully

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understand what they came up with.

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And then to review correspondence, some

that they received and then a lot that

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I've received since I've been involved.

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I've conducted interviews, about

50 people I've met with in various

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configurations and meetings with groups.

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Priority would be probing the

South and Korean ministries out of

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respect for the request from the

staff and the anonymous letter.

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Reconciliations.

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Reconciliations can work like this.

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There's reconciliations that are

full fledged like mediations.

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Then there's reconciliations where

there's a facilitated conversation.

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Then there's, uh, reconciliations that

take place after a report comes out that

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has the voices of so many people in it

that they know they're being heard because

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there's a real good solid narrative.

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And it produces ah ha moments, and

those ah ha moments make people go,

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you know what, I had the situation

wrong, I didn't have it quite

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right, I'm gonna choose to forgive.

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Okay, so that's kind of what

happens a lot in my work.

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I do mediations, like sit down,

go back and forth, back and forth.

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We've had some really great talks,

even with the whole staff, where

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we're able to go, okay, we turn

the lights on, now we have a better

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story because it's facilitated.

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I'm an outsider.

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It's easy for an outsider who

has no pony in the race to have

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those conversations, you know?

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And so we've done that, and

they pay attention to structure.

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So typical discussion topics have

been, uh, let's talk about the

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recent developments that have been

very difficult as perspectives

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around congregational trust, legacy

issues that impede the present.

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Let me give you an

example of a legacy issue.

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It comes out of the software world,

by the way, if there's a there's a bug

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in a program like Windows one and then

Microsoft didn't fix it by Windows two.

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And it keeps carrying forth and they

didn't quite recognize that it was there.

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That kind of thing happens

in software world lot.

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There was a there were two ships requested

to be built in:

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They were gonna go from Chicago to the

other side over in Michigan, and they

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were gonna make a lot of money on this.

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These two ships were in competition to

see which one would get done fast, which

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one would be faster, which one was much

more luxurious and the advantage to be on.

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And, uh, one, uh, existed for

probably two decades before being

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decommissioned, made money, did

fine, hardly anything about it on the

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internet, because there were no problems.

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The other one was designed to hold, I

think, about 1, 800 people, and then

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they specced it out, added a deck so they

could put, you know, 2, 600 people on it.

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Then after the Titanic, uh, sunk in

:

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putting boats up on deck a whole lot more.

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You can see where this is gonna go.

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This was the SS Eastland.

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Even before the additional deck for

more housing, even before the boats,

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it had a reputation for listing.

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It'd be like this, like a

bike, until you get moving.

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Freaked people out.

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Scared a lot of people.

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In 1915, while they were loading it up,

right in the Chicago River, it capsized.

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They were trying to put 3,

500 people on that boat.

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And 842 people drowned.

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And so, there was search for scapegoats,

trying to figure out who was the problem.

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Was it the engineer not managing

the ballast and whatever?

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It turns out, They consulted

the original construction

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person that designed the boat.

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He said it was not designed for people.

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It was designed for cargo.

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It should have been maxed out.

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It should have been like 500 people.

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That was a legacy issue.

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So it had some past baggage

that had designed a structure

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that needed to be resorted out.

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And I think that's the way the church is.

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I have to tell you, I'm excited to say

I was at a three hour meeting with the

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board and the ministry leadership council.

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And there's a major effort.

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To rethink a lot of things in the

LA church, including structure and

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governance and health and major efforts.

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I don't even know anywhere that,

that, where they're taking it as

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serious as what I've been hearing.

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But this is important.

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The, the Orange County Ministry

culture was a, a big topic, and then

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there were open-ended questions.

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So let's talk about the positives.

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I have felt a respectful disposition of

members in interactive group settings

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when discussing main areas in need of

review and speaking about other concerns.

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That's always a good sign.

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There's a humility and curiosity

among the whole OC community about

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what assumptions and practices might

need to change or do need to change.

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The willingness of the entire staff to

look at their own functioning over the

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last few years Each individually fully

engaged in the process and were helpful

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when discussing elephants in the room.

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And this is not so much a strength,

but you should just know there were

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no concerns of a legal nature like

a scandal that were brought up.

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Most issues were relational dynamics,

structural processes, practices,

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and the alignment of roles.

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Now those things are significant

because they can lead to hurt.

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They can lead to bad

judgments, bad decisions.

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But it wasn't like secrets.

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So let's talk now about my observations.

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First one being, the death of the

leader, Kevin Maynes, with the

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mixture of grief and succession

challenges, was significant.

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He, first of all, he was a unicorn.

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Nobody could do what Kevin did.

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Okay.

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And then there's a thought that maybe

Kevin shouldn't have been trying

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to do all the things he was doing.

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You needed a bigger eldership,

and a flatter hierarchy,

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and more team leadership.

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We shouldn't have that model.

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Now, he was noble in his

doing the model, right?

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But that, we don't want to go there,

and you guys already made that decision,

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because right after he passed away,

there was a sense, we want a team model.

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We want something different.

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We don't want to recreate that setting.

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But it never really got figured out.

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Legacy, structural and cultural

issues over reliance on top down

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authoritative model, which I just

mentioned, uh, challenges around

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making disciples and discipling.

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And this is, this is not just OC or

the LA church, this is widespread.

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We have words that there's

no Greek equivalent of.

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Discipleship, discipled,

discipling, Those have all sorts

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of meaning and the meaning evolved.

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It really started around the late

seventies, but it didn't become like

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crystallized into the regular language

till probably 89 to the early nineties.

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And just consider this for instance, when

somebody says, I got, I got discipled.

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Okay.

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No, the, the word that's used twice,

Matthew, 28 and Acts 14 in the Greek,

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some version of that word, only twice in

terms of a verb or an adjective, means to

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strengthen, to train, to help somebody go

after the object, which is Jesus Christ.

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It doesn't mean correct,

rebuke, humiliate, it doesn't.

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And so, I've tried to go

for long stretches where I

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don't say any of those words.

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It's hard when you're around a community.

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That's all we're saying, right?

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The earlier purity culture and

its effect on young women, this

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is significant, came to me from

multiple places, but it's not just OC.

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And it's actually an evangelical

baggage issue in this current era.

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But the version that I was hearing

here was, be that young women were

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being treated in a punitive way for

the way they dressed, As if they were

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being blamed for the lust of a male.

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That is ridiculous.

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The males are responsible for their lust.

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Certainly, young women will need to

be guided humbly and respectfully

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and with great tact about making them

aware of what can happen with guys.

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But not from blaming.

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Not from blaming.

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And so the then the effect on parents

from negative experiences with kids and

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then seeing their kids not stick around.

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I mean, this, these are like, that's

what a, you know, the kind of significant

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category ongoing conflicts and concerns

among some of the ministry staff.

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Uh, with the south ministry

external from some leadership.

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Towards some leadership in the South and

there were conflicts within the South.

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Um, and then the Korean ministry

also external, uh, issues that

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was, were treated as conflicts.

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The lack of implementation of

mediation or arbitration of unresolved

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employment issues mandated by the L.

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A.

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employee handbook.

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Now, this was boilerplate.

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Like it's in every responsible,

uh, religious body.

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And so what you see up on the

screen, this is being slightly

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modified for going forward, but

it's basically the same substance.

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That this just is what you do.

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You get help.

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You're required to get help.

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You have no choice but to get help.

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And you have the right to make sure

that the help that you get is unbiased.

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It's a very neutral third party.

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It may happen in the church

locally, some other part of the

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church where there's trusted,

that can be an excellent resource.

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It could be in a brotherhood of

familiar culture and tradition.

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Sometimes it's great to

get it completely outside.

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I had a professor that used to

say, sometimes the Baptists need

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it from the Catholics and the

church of Christ from the Jews.

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Okay.

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Okay.

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And there's wisdom behind it, because

it's usually not about doctrine.

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It's about finding a third way,

so you break out of either or

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thinking, or to see how we come

across to people in a conflict.

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:

That's usually a big part of a

conflict, how we come across.

372

:

But we need help, and

they didn't get help.

373

:

Staff didn't get it.

374

:

Now, staff is humble about this,

even admitting that, Hey, I forgot

375

:

about that, or I didn't even

read that, or didn't know that.

376

:

There's a responsibility on both ends,

administration, staff leadership,

377

:

and I think you should from time

to time just rehearse scenarios

378

:

that could bring out the worst in

us and ask what our policies are.

379

:

A low level of trust.

380

:

Part of it was related to growing

awareness of unresolved conflicts.

381

:

And that happens not just

in a congregation, that can

382

:

happen in a brotherhood.

383

:

That can happen.

384

:

There's been times in the past where I

didn't even want to go to a leadership

385

:

meeting representing multiple churches

because I knew for a fact that people

386

:

in conflicts, not living quite right,

were in prominent positions of speaking.

387

:

And there were people in the room

that were like rolling their eyes

388

:

or going to the bathroom a lot.

389

:

I've seen where people will put

in their ear pods and listen to a

390

:

sermon from a denominational church,

which that's okay, I do that too.

391

:

But in the middle of

a leadership workshop?

392

:

No.

393

:

Related to how decisions have been made

or how decisions have been communicated.

394

:

Sometimes the right decisions are made,

and they would have got there anyway,

395

:

but there should have been collaboration

and consensus building beforehand.

396

:

And there should be a communication.

397

:

Some of the trust involves some,

but not all the staff members, and

398

:

some of it's been related to unkept

commitments, which leads to hope deferred.

399

:

And I just want you to know, and

this, putting this up on the slide,

400

:

nobody on staff resists this.

401

:

This is, some of it comes straight

from the staff, and we've talked

402

:

about it in open settings.

403

:

The need for clarity on policy,

authority, supervision, and covenants,

404

:

including how to identify and address

potential conflicts of interest.

405

:

And the first part of it is

about just making sure people

406

:

know, even congregational members

know, what are the mechanisms if

407

:

there's a grievance or a concern.

408

:

Those kinds of things.

409

:

And, uh, but here, around the

conflict of interest, there's a

410

:

thought out in the church world

that you can't be in two roles.

411

:

Because there would be

a conflict of interest.

412

:

And actually, that's not,

that's not very accurate.

413

:

There's an advantage and a

disadvantage of having multiple roles.

414

:

If you are, here's the advantage.

415

:

If you have multiple roles that

are going to put you in multiple

416

:

groups, you become a ligament

between the groups of communication.

417

:

It really is helpful.

418

:

Very helpful.

419

:

However, But if there's not a policy

and an understanding and implementation

420

:

of recusal when there's a potential

conflict of interest and say, I might

421

:

not be best to weigh in on this, I

might, I might not even be best to be

422

:

in the room on this, or can we pass

this on to somebody else so there's no

423

:

question about conflict of interest.

424

:

We've got to get better on that

and that became a concern as well.

425

:

So I want to show you a slide.

426

:

This slide is about, uh,

it's kind of a hyperbole.

427

:

And what I mean by that is on the

left is a maze, which is how it

428

:

feels sometimes in organizations.

429

:

When we know, who do I call?

430

:

What do we have written on that?

431

:

Is there a manual?

432

:

Is there a policy?

433

:

You know, and what happens in the maze

is sometimes There's an oligarchy, you

434

:

know, a few kind of control things.

435

:

There's an inner circle.

436

:

And there's just, and I'm not projecting

that here, I'm just saying what

437

:

happens is, we don't know why we can't

get a good answer or a good outcome.

438

:

But on the right side is when you have

somebody can walk you through this and

439

:

super informed of how the church works.

440

:

Here's our policies.

441

:

Here's our handbook.

442

:

Here's our covenants.

443

:

And if you have a concern to report

something that went wrong, that a bad

444

:

thing that happened, first of all,

take it to the outside authorities.

445

:

If it's of a certain nature, right?

446

:

But also here's what we do internally.

447

:

And so to make sure we're being the best

and here's how to handle it internally.

448

:

And so again, these are two extremes,

but they, they, they communicate.

449

:

We want an open space and we want

somebody wise who knows how the

450

:

church works, uh, you know, because

we live in complicated times.

451

:

So I think that's really important.

452

:

The seven, there's an

urgent need for more elders.

453

:

and other biblical roles and functions,

including deacons and teachers, right?

454

:

So there's an urge in you, but we're

starting with the elders, top priority.

455

:

If there was a robust eldership here,

four or five people over the last

456

:

seven years, ever since Kevin had

passed away, you wouldn't even need me.

457

:

And I would say, if there were strong,

robust elderships in the LA church,

458

:

Sizable enough for the community.

459

:

I would have never been needed

except for workshop training.

460

:

I've come in and five very

serious, serious situations.

461

:

And so shepherding is a big part of it.

462

:

Governance, quality governance with the

right people and those roles for that.

463

:

These moments in time.

464

:

Okay, so in the reset part of the

Orange County, by the way, these slides

465

:

will go out, but um, There are three

changes currently underway and six

466

:

recommendations would have been nine

recommendations, but you don't have

467

:

to think about the first three here

that are currently underway because

468

:

the movements are the ship is sailed.

469

:

We're moving in the right direction, but

I wanna make sure you know what they are.

470

:

And then, of course, six

recommendations going forward.

471

:

First, the development

of elders and deacons.

472

:

We started that on March 3rd.

473

:

We created a process underlain to Mhm.

474

:

Biblical criteria, nomination,

vetting, review, syncing with the L.

475

:

A.

476

:

Church, syncing with the service team.

477

:

We created a rep team of outstanding

members within the Orange County

478

:

Ministry to run things off of.

479

:

And we've got the ball rolling.

480

:

37 names were put

forward for an eldership.

481

:

Some of them, many of them were

very few nominations, but, and then

482

:

many of them were many nominations.

483

:

Some have taken themselves out.

484

:

We have come down to seven

that we are still working with.

485

:

And so many of those others

would be great for deacons.

486

:

So, but anyway, this is well underway

and I predict that there would be

487

:

round one, maybe two, three over the

next, you know, six months or so.

488

:

But the first round would

be probably in June.

489

:

Uh, and I will tell you how

this ministry will be led in

490

:

my absence a little bit later.

491

:

The ministry is being reimagined

from top down, which is church

492

:

history is full of top down.

493

:

We've certainly experienced top down.

494

:

We're moving to more gift based,

integrative, team oriented,

495

:

and that's already happening.

496

:

I see it.

497

:

I'm in these meetings.

498

:

I can officially say, I'm

leading this meeting, and here's

499

:

what I think we ought to do.

500

:

But it's not like that.

501

:

Because really, somebody comes in

with, Hey, I want to be on top of this.

502

:

I want to be on top of that.

503

:

What do you think?

504

:

And a lot of times in our meetings

with the staff, I'm just watching

505

:

same with the our fact meetings.

506

:

There's a lot of, like, really good

chemistry going on there because

507

:

we're moving in the right direction.

508

:

Now, this might be the next

three slides might be the most

509

:

important in this presentation.

510

:

We're going to talk about

memorializing lessons using a metaphor.

511

:

The Japanese ken stands for gold

and sugi means to reconnect.

512

:

A kentsugi master mends the broken ware

with lacquer and covers it with gold.

513

:

The repaired pottery is

even more beautiful and

514

:

sophisticated than the original.

515

:

Organizational consultants use this

metaphor to make the point that sometimes

516

:

having been through something where

people are broken, systems are broken,

517

:

the organization is broken, becomes

such a great teachable moment that

518

:

you want to never forget it, you want

to shine a light on it, you want to

519

:

point to it, you want to talk about

it, so you become better because of it.

520

:

It's like a superior failure.

521

:

You're better because you had it, but

you properly put it back together.

522

:

Okay, so we want the staff has been

going through an exercise where I

523

:

sent them a five page document called

memorialization facing previous

524

:

challenges with integrity and honor

and had gut wrenching questions in it.

525

:

It's kind of a quiet time with

gut wrenching questions reflecting

526

:

what happened in this ministry.

527

:

And so I think I got almost all

of them in or I got them all in

528

:

and I'm going to be harmonizing.

529

:

These lessons and you they will be

available to you either in the report

530

:

or as a separate piece, which takes

us to something that's very related.

531

:

The first recommendation.

532

:

There has to be repentance and some

sense of atonement, which some people

533

:

use it to mean we become at one again.

534

:

We become at one where we're

fully crossing a threshold.

535

:

We close a chapter.

536

:

Because we figured out what divided

us, what polarized us, what went wrong.

537

:

And so we're going to be using

the findings from the exercise.

538

:

And then the staff members will

stand before their ministries,

539

:

articulating the very personal

version that applies to them.

540

:

And I'm going to recommend that

the elders that we have, because

541

:

we may have elders, plural, by

the time this happens this summer.

542

:

That even maybe some future elders and

shepherding people are part of that,

543

:

probably a midweek, I don't know.

544

:

Um, but that there's ownership,

real clear ownership.

545

:

I think two bad things can

happen in something like this,

546

:

besides the obvious good.

547

:

One is an over apology.

548

:

And one is an under apology,

second is an under apology.

549

:

Over apology hurts the person who's

apologizing because later on they go

550

:

I just, I don't feel good, you know,

and under apology hurts the community.

551

:

They feel like that person doesn't get it.

552

:

I've even delayed memorialization

until sometimes people get professional

553

:

help, you know, therapy, whatever,

from a christian perspective, because

554

:

these moments can be very intense.

555

:

Um, Trying to figure out, you

know, what was done wrong.

556

:

The staff will express commitments

to ensure that the same errors

557

:

will not be repeated in the future.

558

:

And they have to be really

clear, articulate, because we

559

:

want to mean business here.

560

:

Close that chapter through

repentance and atonement.

561

:

Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't.

562

:

Okay, so now, uh, number two,

complete the team leadership model.

563

:

That's the team.

564

:

Staff has been working on something

and they've got to pave some good

565

:

ways by reading good books on church

leadership from the team perspective.

566

:

They even created a document

that had a lot going for it.

567

:

I think they need to wrap it up.

568

:

I talked to Marcel, who I think

has the document, the latest

569

:

version, and he's out of town today.

570

:

But I said, what I would suggest is that

you guys come up with a two page version.

571

:

Because I think it might be like 10 pages.

572

:

Keep it simple.

573

:

And it's always divided into two things.

574

:

Perspective gathering.

575

:

When you're going to make a decision,

you want to have good perspective.

576

:

Right?

577

:

People in the thinking.

578

:

And then you want to

define the subject well.

579

:

Set up the team with the team leader.

580

:

Who are your additional partners?

581

:

What kind of style are we using?

582

:

Consensus building or collaboration?

583

:

Those are two different things.

584

:

And how are we going to communicate it?

585

:

Number three.

586

:

Number three.

587

:

Each member, this is for everybody

here, makes one another commitments.

588

:

I'm going to introduce a Greek

word that may change your mind

589

:

about one anotherness forever.

590

:

Homothumadon is formed by two words that

mean one and spirited and passionate.

591

:

And that is often translated in the book

of Acts as all together or came together.

592

:

Bible translators have

trouble with this word.

593

:

Because if they would really

translate it to get the full dynamic

594

:

meaning, it would be multiple words.

595

:

It would be, Come together and be

the greatest version of yourself and

596

:

draw the best out of one another.

597

:

It's, One in one is three.

598

:

You know, You know, it's

that kind of a thing.

599

:

But the original hearers

knows what homothumadon is.

600

:

It's a word that describes how

people get unified as they're

601

:

going out to war, you know?

602

:

So when we walk into a room with other

people, you know, a small group or in

603

:

fellowship, it shouldn't be like, hey,

yeah, hey, we're here, yeah, yeah.

604

:

No, I mean, there should

be a togetherness, okay?

605

:

And so I wanna give you some charges here.

606

:

I think we should be in the

habit of getting with people

607

:

we don't naturally like.

608

:

So that means if somebody sets up an

appointment with you today, I use this

609

:

because you don't think you don't like me.

610

:

Um, live unoffendable lives.

611

:

Be devoted to one another.

612

:

Don't withhold your love.

613

:

Carry each other's burdens.

614

:

Assume the best motives.

615

:

Speak the truth in love.

616

:

And by the way, you should look

at the passages because they say

617

:

it better than I possibly have.

618

:

I think, you know, If we come giving

our all, don't withhold our affection,

619

:

don't withhold our contribution,

don't withhold our gifts from the

620

:

church, and we're in, I think we're

going to see some really great things.

621

:

Periodically review and pivot the culture.

622

:

I'm not going to spend a lot of time

here, but the authors of this book,

623

:

Pivot, make a great case for there are

seven things that show up when a culture

624

:

goes bad, and it's usually not all seven.

625

:

And you can probably figure out the

ones that come from our history.

626

:

And then on the right side,

these are the antidotes.

627

:

And so, uh, there would be

specific ways to facilitate

628

:

having conversations about this.

629

:

I will have more in the report about it.

630

:

I think you should develop a

renewal strategy for the dispirited.

631

:

My wife 20 years ago.

632

:

There's the person who's

baptized who's fired up.

633

:

Then there's the enthusiast person who's

grown, been around for a few months.

634

:

They become a new Bible talk leader.

635

:

And then after a while, they go through

a bad experience and they get dispirited.

636

:

That might take 10 or 15

years, but it happens.

637

:

And then they get stuck and they get mad.

638

:

And the twos and the threes

don't get along with each other.

639

:

The fired up Bible talk leader

says, you're so into yourself.

640

:

Why are you not bringing visitors?

641

:

Why are you negative?

642

:

That's 1990s culture,

but that's what happened.

643

:

And so the dispirited person

will say, you're just so shallow.

644

:

You're just cranking numbers.

645

:

Again, we implemented this

when that stuff was very real.

646

:

The mature person values all of

the earlier three and the mature

647

:

person has been in all the threes.

648

:

And so they can have a gracious

attitude and when we create the

649

:

space for the dispirited person to

get well, they go on to maturity.

650

:

And so I could actually see groups led

by elders and shepherding type people

651

:

and deacons where we create a space

for our participants to be real, to

652

:

be heard, to be encouraged, to gain

spiritual wisdom and receive guidance.

653

:

And I have a whole section

in the report about that.

654

:

Number six, we need robust communications.

655

:

There are at least 15 areas when

strong communications are vital.

656

:

In a plan to meet an unmet need, a

disputed resolution, major expense,

657

:

possible hire, all these kinds of things.

658

:

We need robust communication.

659

:

This is an area that we could

probably read five books on and

660

:

still feel like we need to read more.

661

:

Not because the Bible is not

clear about how to do this.

662

:

The Bible modifies it wonderfully,

but we are in such a sophisticated

663

:

age where computers and technologies

and media and all this kind of

664

:

stuff, like how do we do it?

665

:

How do we communicate?

666

:

Who do we, and I think

it gets complicated.

667

:

And it's, but it's one of the

ways to get trust that might've

668

:

been liquidated previously.

669

:

Okay, so this is what happened at

the end of the story with Josiah.

670

:

It's the next chapter, and such

a great story that I'm going to

671

:

request that you read it on your

own time, but here's the conclusion.

672

:

And the kingdom of

Jehoshaphat was at peace.

673

:

And it was a huge story that

took place in one chapter.

674

:

And they were at peace.

675

:

I want to ask you, what will the story

be for the Orange County renewal?

676

:

You And the Orange County Church

found peace, dot, dot, dot.

677

:

Because there was more to that

outcome for Judah, and there's going

678

:

to be more than just having peace.

679

:

Fill in the blank.

680

:

What do you think it ought to be?

681

:

Pay attention to the scriptures

and get some ideas and be a

682

:

participant in a greater form of

one another ness and engaging.

683

:

So.

684

:

This is where we're at.

685

:

Phase three.

686

:

I've got some good news here.

687

:

The Orange County service team recommended

and along with the discussion in the

688

:

South last time and in collaboration

with the our facts of the Metro

689

:

in Orange County of both regions,

Robert and Michelle will lead the

690

:

South ministry on a halftime basis.

691

:

And they will lead the staff as well.

692

:

Robert will be the spiritual

director and the team leader.

693

:

They will have a supervisory

authoritative role, but this is

694

:

not about coming in with a pyramid.

695

:

This is coming in to continue the work,

started with the service team, what

696

:

I've been doing, and this is a six

month engagement that could go longer.

697

:

Okay?

698

:

And he will be working in close

partnership with the elders when it

699

:

comes to mapping out his schedule and

stuff, but he's got a good start plan.

700

:

Robert will be completing

the elder process.

701

:

The 2023 survey from last fall, which

you've not seen the results on yet.

702

:

Robert this month is doing an exact

version of that with the, uh, quantifiable

703

:

questions and you will get released

the findings of both side by side.

704

:

And, um, Robert will be

collaborating with you and the

705

:

selection of a long time leader.

706

:

Uh, in the kind of collaboration processes

we've been having these last few months,

707

:

so we are really coming around the corner.

708

:

Phase three starts June 1st.

709

:

That's when Robert and Michelle start.

710

:

I will be working with Robert and

Michelle and the service team and

711

:

the staff for the rest this month.

712

:

And, uh, you know, if things get glitchy

or weird just because, you know, let's

713

:

say Robert gets sick or something.

714

:

I'm a phone call away or a zoom

meeting away, and, uh, I'm with

715

:

this story waiting, praying and

encouraging till we really cross over

716

:

into full renewal, and I want to say

it's been an honor to be with you.

717

:

Thank you very much.

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