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Lean In
“Winners never quit and quitters never win.” Great men say great things. Named "Coach of the Century" by ESPN, Vince Lombardi is remembered for his dedication. Lombardi played college football at Fordham University. After graduating, he studied for the priesthood for two years. For the next two years, Vince worked at a finance company and took night classes at law school. I knew I liked this guy – he studied for ministry and the law. By 1958, Lombardi became the head coach of a perpetual losing team, the Green Bay Packers. At the time, the Packers had no clout in professional football, for they had won only one game the previous year. Lombardi held the first ever of his notoriously intense training camps to gear up for the 1959 season. "Dancing is a contact sport," he told his Packers, "Football is a hitting sport." He expected obedience, dedication and 110 percent effort from each man, but he also made a promise to them - If they obeyed his rules and used his method, they would be a championship team. Three years later, that promise became a reality. At Lambeau Field in Green Bay on December 31, 1961, the Packers defeated the New York Giants 37-0 for the National Football League championship. In 1967, after nine phenomenal winning seasons with the Packers, Vince decided to retire as head coach (though he would still act as general manager). The Packers had dominated professional football under his direction, collecting six division titles, five NFL championships, two Super Bowls (I and II) and acquiring a record of 98-30-4. They had become the stick by which all other teams were measured. But, why didn’t Lombardi just say winners always win? Or, winners win with ease? Great men can say great things, but it is not until a team fully engages, it is not until they buy in, it is not until they lean in to the challenge to greatness…it is not until the team does this that what the great man said that greatness is possible.
Now, consider what Jesus said in Matthew, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18) Great men say great things. Why didn’t Jesus say, “I will build my church and everything’s going to be just great”? In fact, that is what Jesus’ first students thought he would say. The rabbis and scribes over centuries taught that when the coming Messiah arrived he would militarily conquer their oppressors, ushering in the Kingdom. The reason Jesus did not say “I will build my church and everything will be peachy,” is because Jesus knew it was about to experience its first dip. While the people thought Jesus would make the church flourish and grow with supernatural EASE, Jesus knew the church’s future would be a CHALLENGE. You should write that down. Your discussion notes are in your program. Upon Jesus’ arrival onto the public scene, he performed many miracles and people loved him and listened to him. There was definitely excitement. As time went on, the Jewish leaders were more and more adamant in their opposition to Jesus. Jesus’ massive following was becoming more skeptical and disillusioned. The disciples were confused because they wondered why the Messiah did not overthrow Rome and establish his kingdom. Despite Jesus’ obvious supernatural powers and His claims of divine authority, He was less influential and respected among the people now than when he first began his ministry. Interestingly, it was challenging for the disciples and when Jesus gathered them together he did pat them on the head and make it all better; instead it got worse. Jesus told them that he would have to suffer and eventually be killed. But, the bad news became still worse when Jesus declared that every true disciple of His must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Jesus. This is the dip that Jesus shared with his first followers. What would you have done? Would you have jumped ship? Would you have returned home and patiently waited it out? Or, would you have leaned in? Would you have picked up your cross and climbed that hill giving all your strength to lean in and make it to the top? In you discussion notes, check off the box that reflects what you would have done.
The Dip Every since studying business in the MBA program at University of Detroit, I have been fascinated with reading business books. I came across this little book that was so simple yet penetrated many areas of my life. I have thought about book’s idea for about a year and considered its potential spiritual implications. Today, I would like to share with you some of these thoughts. It begins with a quote, “Almost everything in life worth doing is controlled by the Dip.” (p.16) Seth Godin a marketing expert wrote the book entitled The Dip. In the book, the author explains that when we begin something it usually is fun. When someone takes us golfing, it’s enjoyable, it’s peaceful and you have fun playing. Usually there is some learning going on during this first little while and that keeps you engaged, and enjoying the new pursuit. As you take the game more seriously and take lessons you begin to see your game take a dip because the experts make you unlearn all your bad habit so they can teach you the better skills; during this time your game gets worse. Then you find yourself in the dip and trying to move up the hill to becoming a seriously better golfer. Many try getting great clubs but that’s not enough; some buy country club membership but that’s not enough…it will take much more effort to make it through the dip and to the top.
Similarly, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry he healed all kinds of diseases, he miraculously fed thousands of people, and he even raised people from the dead. After this initial excitement, the dip happened. Then, Jesus warned the disciples of the dip. He promised them that He would build the church, it would flourish, but it was going to be an uphill battle. There would be a stretch of time that they would have to carry their cross uphill and it would be difficult, yet Jesus promised that the church would be built. Many people who were interested in Jesus had already begun to become skeptical and walked away. As Jesus looked at his followers, he asked them will you walk away too. While the dip will be incredibly challenging, if you are willing to lean into your destiny to climb the hill, overcoming all the obstacles the world will throw at you, all the evil that Satan will throw at you, and all the questions your fleshly sin will make you think of…if you are willing…the reward will amaze you.
Seth Godin explains that the Dip serves to be the obstacle keeping many people out of being the best in the world. The Bar exam keeps many graduated law students from practicing law. Organic chemistry keeps many unmotivated students from attempting medical school. The dip is where many start-up businesses fail and go out of business although they have good ideas they cannot make it through the Dip. It is great being the best in the world, but the hard part is getting there – that is, getting through the Dip. There are many churches throughout the world that are currently impacting their city for God in significant ways. While every church in this community wants to significantly influence this city for God, currently there is no church having any broad, widespread spiritually powerful influence.
Permit me to put this into our context here at First Baptist Church of Romeo. When I arrived in March of 2004, everything was going well. People were excited to have a new pastor and things picked up for a while – people joined the church, we had baptisms – things were good. About a year and half later – during 2006 – the leadership (that is the pastors and deacons) realized that this church while good would remain in a category where 80% of all churches find themselves. This category is where 80% of all churches will be less than 200 people who grow in their Bible knowledge but have a miniscule effect on their community. The reason most churches don’t grow is because people don’t invite people and they are not financially invested to the success of their church. Upon this reality check, the leadership made the most important decision – they unanimously agreed that they wanted this church to not have a miniscule impact but a massive impact on this community for Jesus Christ. However, in order to move out of the 80% category, we absolutely had to restructure our vision…a vision that would be powerfully relevant in our culture, a vision that would reduce the barriers keeping your friends and family from accepting your invitations to church. So, we prayed and prayed more and we researched what other churches that already made the transition had to do and in September 2006 we unveiled our current strategy. Instead of talking about the strategy, let me show you this video. [video clip]
React to the video.
In Seth Godin’s book the Dip, he asks the question…is whatever you are doing worth doing? Lombardi said “winners never quit” but Godin says that winners quit all of the time. Winners know what to quit and what to stick with. So, the question is this – is this church worth sticking with?..............I have thought about this long and hard and I have come to a decision……..I want Jesus to say one thing to me…..“'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.” Matthew 25:21…this is what I want; this is all I want. I am all in. The reason is simple, Jesus made a promise that he would build the church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. That means this – this church is destined for greatness if and only if this – great men say great things will happen if the people will lean in to their destiny to be part of a church who will not settle for anything less than being the greatest spiritual influence on this community that God could make us. Just as Jacob wrestled with the angel and would not let go of the angel until the angel blessed him, we will not let go of God, we will wrestle with God until He blesses us to have massive spiritual impact on this community.
So, the question I have for you is this…are you all in? Will you or won’t lean in to being the best church this community has ever seen……….If you are in then you need to know this…“Successful people don’t just ride out the Dip. They don’t just buckle down and survive it. No they lean into the Dip.” (p.19) If we unite now and lean into the dip during this difficult phase, what is at the top of the hill is massive impact on our community for the name of Jesus Christ. When we are at the top of the hill, then we by the power of Jesus can effectively and powerfully do the great commission – going into the world to save the lost, help people to spiritually grow, and through greater influence we will have greater impact for Christ. “The Dip is the secret to your success. The people who set out to make it through the Dip – the people who invest the time and the energy and the effort to power through the Dip – those are the ones who become the best in the world. They are breaking the system because, instead of moving on to the next thing, instead of doing slightly above average and settling for what they’ve got, they embrace the challenge. For whatever reason, they refuse to abandon the quest and they push through the Dip all the way to the next level.” (p.24-25) This is us. Many of you have demonstrated this; next week Pastor Adam, Jimmy and myself will share God’s calling on our lives for the church in this community.
The final thing to talk about today is how can we lean into our dip? If you really are all in, if you really believe Jesus can build this church and nothing can stop it, then you either lean in or you quit.
1. Join the God of the City movement
This upcoming Saturday a couple thousand young families will attend the community Easter egg hunt at Barnabo field. We believe God wants to have a presence where a few thousand young families will be. We spoke with the director of the event and asked if we could get involved and she said we could do what we wanted. This Saturday at this event Jimmy and his band will be bringing live music, and we will have a warming station with Caribou Coffee and hot chocolate where we will hand out materials about our church. If you would like to lean into this incredible opportunity financially or by serving take a look at the sheet in your program titled Opportunities to Lean In. Primarily, we could use your help financially to adopt one of the many listed items. Take a look at that list – this is a specific way you can see God have a significant influence in our city. Will you lean in? if you would like to write a check and drop it off on the table, at the resource center or in the church office.
Another way we are reaching our community is marketing Easter Sunday. As you can see the new signs are up, and we have already been getting calls. People around town are talking. But, we have 3,000 door hangers that look incredible. We are asking everyone to take a stack – a large stack – and put them on their street and throughout their neighborhood. Please help us by taking them and putting them on doors. We also have placed a 13-week ad in the church section with our website. By the way our website hit are spiking which is very exciting. We also want to put a half page full color advertisement in the Romeo Observer the Wednesday before Easter. This would reach 15,000 homes for $800, that cost is about 5 cents per home. But, to do this we need someone to adopt that advertisement. We believe God is calling us to reach 15,000 homes with the great news that God has greater things for this city, and they can be involved and excited to see what God is about to do. Would you lean in and help us reach those 15,000 homes?
2. Lean In Every Week
What we just talked about was how to lean in 1 time; Easter is an incredible open door for us to be involved in our city. Yet, for Jesus to build this church to have an incredible spiritual effect on our community, we need to lean in every week. As we lean in to going uphill on this great adventure to see God build this church so he reveals that he is God of this city, I am asking you to be increasingly faithful in your attendance; try to be here every week rather than on a week off a week. Let’s commit together, let me tell you why. Runners like to run together because we encourage one another. When you are here every week I can encourage you and you can encourage me. But, when we our attendance is irregular, it can be a discouragement.
I also need to share with you where we stand financially. The leadership has done a great job in streamlining our budget in a difficult economy, yet we are still struggling from week to week. Our weekly budget is $5,300 and for 2008 we are already more than 7,000 behind budget. Biblically God calls us to give as he has prospered us; God calls us to tithe or give 10% of our time, our talent and our finances. A great goal is to give regularly. Maybe you would start with giving $100 but do it regularly weekly or monthly; then pray that God would help you move toward his biblical command. We constantly need to be reminded that it is God who blesses you with all your finances, and he is testing us to see if we will be faithful with what he has provided.
Closing: Do you believe that God has more for our city? Do you want God to be the God of this city? If you are all in, if you are fully engaged in, and if you are ready to lean in. We have set up a table with a banner for you to sign. Your signature is your visible act of leaning into our current dip, it is your expression of encouraging the people here that you are one of the many who will be used by God to see Jesus fulfill his promise that Jesus will build his church. In addition, after signing the banner you will be given a reminder that we are asking you to put on your key chain. May this be a reminder that you are an owner, you have an ownership stake in this church. May this reminder be a continual encouragement to invest financially into your church and begin all over again to invite and re-invite people to a great place to learn and worship our risen Savior Jesus Christ. There are door hangers for you to take a big stack and go around neighborhoods and put them up. There are talk cards too, use these to share one on one with people our website. We believe this is God’s time and God wants to build his church in a significant way right now to be the God of this city as he has never done previously. If you want to lean in with us, we are giving you the opportunity, we are giving you the tools…see great men say great things but great things don’t happen until the people lean in to the dip.
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