"Good to Great," Book Review

Principles in “Good to Great”

“Good to Great” by Jim Collins is a secular book on what makes companies go from being “good” to “great.” The main premise of the book is that being “good” is the greatest enemy of being “great.” Collins and his twenty-person research team studied 126 companies to find the best examples of going from good to great. The criteria was to find companies that had an average or below average profits for fifteen years, then they hit a place of increase and grew consistently for the next fifteen years with a minimum of 3x greater profits than the stock market. Some of the companies profiled are Kroger, Gillette, Wels Fargo, and Walgreens.

Collins developed a graph to display his concepts that he believed showed why eleven companies went from good to great. His main concern was to document what the great companies did that good companies did not do. The graph is based on three key foundations to a great company, (1) Disciplined People, (2) Disciplined Thought, and (3) Disciplined Action. The three foundations are seen within a “flywheel” which is a large wheel used to produce energy. Lastly, the phases of growth “buildup” and “break through” are placed in the wheel on top the foundations to show the right way to grow. Thus, this graph is helpful to see the main concepts that make a company go from good to great.


Here is a quick overview of the three foundations, (1) Disciplined People: a company needs to have a “Level 5” leader that first builds a team and then develops with the team a simple action plan, (2) Disciplined Thought: the leadership team must be able to have faith for a greater future, but also be able to confront the brutal facts. Plus, the company needs to find what they do better than anyone else and avoid any distractions, and (3) Disciplined Action: the company needs to stay disciplined and on track towards their goals and use technology and new ideas to get there.

The basic idea of the “flywheel” is that good companies become great not because they do “one thing right” or have a “miracle moment,” but that over time they keep making small yet focused pushes that eventually gain great momentum. The flywheel was used in the 1800’s to produce energy by rotating at a fast speed. However, the speed was not reached by just pushing the wheel one time, it had to be manually pushed until it had enough momentum to be self-sustaining. Collins uses this example to show that it is not “over-night” success that makes a company sustain growth and become great over 15 years, but the continual pushing and simple steps that make a company great and stay great for many years.

Lastly, “build up” and “break through” are based on the “flywheel” concept that describe the phases in which the company becomes great. Buildup: First, the leadership develops the right team and then they make the right plans. Second, the changes begin to gradually take place and they find a rhythm. Breakthrough: Third, at some point the breakthrough begins to take place. The company begins to grow from being good to great. Lastly, the company needs to maintain the breakthrough by using fresh ideas and technology.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths: “Good to Great” had a few strengths to apply to ministry: (1) Collins’ “flywheel” concept reinforced the idea that Paul said in Galatians 6:9, “let us not grow weary in well-doing,” (2) The book did a good job of encouraging people not to “settle” for second best, (3) It did a good job of emphasizing the importance of good leadership, and (4) Collins’ “hedgehog concept” of doing your best thing with all your effort was a good idea.

Weaknesses: The book had many weaknesses- here are just a few, (1) It deals strictly with the business world, thus “worldly” ways are not necessarily the ways of the Kingdom, (2) Some of the companies the book highlights have recently gone bankrupt, “Fannie May” and “Circuit City,” (3) The book does not deal with integrity and servanthood, which is a key part of leadership, (4) Collins makes no mention of companies that were started great and remained great, like “Micro-Soft” and “Starbucks,” and (5) The book is boring to read, nothing exciting or cutting edge.

My Personal Thoughts

I enjoyed learning about what makes businesses great, but I wish it would had been written by a Christian leader so that the places of similarity and differences could have been outlined clearly. Can I as a pastor really only focus on “one thing?” “Excuse Mr. Jones, we do not do marriage counseling here- it is not our ‘one-passion.’” I can understand how a drug store does not have to get into the movie rental business, but does that really relate to the church? I do not think so.

Also, has anyone heard of “revival?” Do we as Christians believe in revival anymore? I understand that we should be faithful in the church to “preach, pray, and plug away,” but is that it? I still believe God can change a person in a moment, bring revival instantly, and do more in one minute than man can do in a lifetime of effort. I wish leadership classes would focus more on what God can do than what man can do.

Lastly, Jesus used the worldly concepts of work and success to illustrate His principles, not as the basis. Meaning, we as Christians do not need to read the research of secular businesses to know how to have a powerful, Pentecostal, soul-winning, disciple-making on-fire church! May we as pastors turn back to pray, God’s Word, and Biblical mentorship to grow our churches and ministries!

"Simple Church," Book Review

Basic Overview of “Simple Church”

Simple Church,” by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger is a must read for all “cutting edge” church planters, youth pastors, and senior pastors. The subtitle says it all, “Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples!” The whole idea of the book is to remove the clutter and unnecessary trappings of the church and return back to the simple, yet powerful strategies of Jesus to make disciples.

The book provides great research by contrasting thriving churches and dying churches. They define a thriving church as one that grows a minimum of 5% a year for three years in a row. The comparison churches are either not growing or are losing members. The research is impressive and is included in the book with easy-to-read graphs. The most powerful stat is the overall research that shows 999 out of 1000 churches have a “simple church” strategy (p. 14).

The authors do an impressive job of making the “simple church” strategy, well… simple. They give four steps that define the simple church strategy, they are: Clarity, Movement, Alignment, and Focus. Here is a simple breakdown of each part:

Clarity: a church should have a clear, simple, and concise purpose. This purpose should be made into a short, easily understood statement. For example: Metro Praise’s vision is to “Love God and Love People.” As a result, every ministry, staff member, service, and function must line up to the clear purpose.

Movement: the growing church possesses a simple strategy to “move” people from “a to b.” This movement is to be seen in every aspect of the ministry. For example: Metro Praise’s movement is, “Connect, Mentor, and Send.” Thus, the children, youth, and every adult should know how to move in the church the same way from conversion to mature soul-winning leader.

Alignment: the simple church moves every leader and ministry onto the same path to maximize their efforts. The church should be aligned the same with the children, youth, and adults. For example: Metro Praise aligns every leader through the same discipleship process.

Focus: the simple church has to say “no” to anything that causes division to the unified vision. If the church’s purpose involves small groups, there can never be a function or ministry that takes people away from everyone’s focus on small groups. For example: At Metro Praise a person cannot be in the worship band unless they are faithful to small groups.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths: “Simple Church” has the following strengths: (1) It proves through its statistical analysis of over 500 churches that simple is better, (2) The book offers practical ways to become more effective and focused in making disciples, and (3) The authors do not force “one way” of doing church, they give the parameters of what they believe is effective and allow the leader to pray and develop a God-ordained plan.

Weaknesses: Even though the book is great, there are some weaknesses, (1) The authors do not define discipleship and true Christianity enough, therefore, each reader may differ on what they consider a “true disciple,” (2) The book does not address what happens when a “simple church” fails, meaning, “what else” is import to a healthy “simple” church other than being “simple,” (3) There is not enough mention of the Holy Spirit- His gifts, His power, and the moving of His presence in the church, and lastly, (3) The Bible can feel at times to be reduced to more of a “support” to the “proofs” of the research instead of the stats being “support” of the Bible.

My Personal Thoughts

I loved the book because it supports so much of what I feel as a church planter. After my first church plant in New Orleans I have learned the importance of keeping things simple. Some of the best things we have done in our present church are remove mid-week services, eliminate unfruitful outreaches, have a “one-size-fits-all” discipleship process, and focus everyone in small groups. Thus, I am totally in agreement with keeping the movement in the church simple and to the point.

I would love to add a section to this book called, “Anointing: Keep it Simple!” I believe that too many churches make the Holy Ghost out to be the “helper” of their plans, instead of the “power” behind God’s plans. At the same time, there are churches that make the moving of the Spirit so “spooky” that it does not build the church, but it divides. I believe there is a powerful lesson in learning the balance between being wise in God’s eyes and being totally dependant on His plans and the freedom for God to do whatever He wants, whenever He wants, and for whatever reason He wants.

Jesus simplified the Jewish religion by making a mess of the temple, He took longer paths to destinations to make accidental meetings divine appointments, and He turned people’s simple understanding of God into a eternal mystery by coming in the flesh as the “God-Man!”

Simple.

"The Seven Deadly Sins of Small Group Ministry," Book Review

Overview

“The Seven Deadly Sins of a Small Group” by Bill Donahue and Russ Robinson is about teaching churches and small group leaders how to have a successful small group ministry. The book is based on the experiences of the Willow Creek Association of Churches and specifically Willow Creek Church in Chicago. The authors both work for Willow Creek Church and have a passion to reach other churches with their knowledge and experience in small group leadership.

The information found in the book is neither new nor inventive, however, it is concise and to the point. The authors use everyday examples to help the reader understand the points and grasp their importance. The book is not deep in theology or spiritual principles and is far from being “power packed.” Therefore, it sometimes was very boring to read and not very “cutting edge.” On the other hand it does a good job of presenting the seven mistakes common to small groups and teaches how to avoid them.

Here are the “deadly” seven sins of a small group: (1) Unclear Ministry Objectives: not having a clear vision for small groups and their multiplication, (2) Lack of Point Leadership: unable to place the right person over a small group, (3) Poor Coaching Skills: lacking in training of new small group leaders, (4) Neglect of Ongoing Leadership Development: not continuing the process of growth in the leader’s life, (5) Closed Group Mind-Set: not open to new people, (6) Narrow Definition of a Small Group: making all the small groups the same, and (7) Neglect of the Assimilation Process: dropping the ball in connecting new visitors to the group.

After each “sin” that is listed the authors take the time to give helpful instruction to avoid the pitfalls mentioned. The instructions are clear and tested, thus they serve as good “cures” for the above “sins.” Here is a brief summary of the cures: (1) Unclear Ministry Objectives: decide how your church will use small groups, make a plan to multiply, and remain faithful, (2) Lack of Point Leadership: spend the majority of the time choosing the right people and then train them effectively, (3) Poor Coaching Skills: develop relationships with the small group leaders, (4) Neglect of Ongoing Leadership Development: continue to give the small group leaders materials, retreats, and conferences, (5) Closed Group Mind-Set: teach the small group to “fill the empty chair” every week, (6) Narrow Definition of a Small Group: develop small groups according to people’s spiritual and real-life needs, and (7) Neglect of the Assimilation Process: have a simple and clear process to follow with every visitor so they can easily get connected with a small group.

How it Made Me Feel

While reading this book I was reminded of my beginnings with small groups in my first pastorate. I was still a student in Bible College and was co-leading an inner city ministry in New Orleans called, “When Warriors Dream.” We were instructed on the importance of small groups and were even given examples of the type of materials we were to make. The ministry was very effective at getting the young urban youths to attend the outreaches, but we could not get them to gather during the week.

I then began to develop a strategy to get the youths to come, “free food!” This solved our problem with numbers, but made many more problems in its place. First, we suffered from “unclear ministry objectives” because we did not have a plan; we were just going with the “flow.” We simply had another “large group” on a different day.

Secondly, we suffered from “lack of point leadership.” When we finally enough leaders to make the break out groups smaller we soon realized they were unqualified to manage their group effectively. And lastly, we had no “assimilation process” in place, we just were happy if at the end of the day everyone was safe and still alive! We had no way of keep track of the new people.

In contrast, when I started the church I know pastor here in Chicago with a small group I did things much differently. I made sure I had a clear goal to the small group, which was the vision of the church. My wife and I were the leaders so we made sure everything we did was well planned. And lastly, we had a “follow-up” process from the start that involved phone calls, letters, emails, and coffee talks.

As a result, the outcome was a successful church plant. Today we have three adult small groups and two youth small groups. My wife and I also lead an elders small group once a month and our discipleship process is based on small group principles. Therefore, I believe this book can keep our church on track and help us not make the same mistakes I once made.

Personal Reflection

I liked this book for its main points and applications, but I disliked it because of its lack of passion and anointing. I pray that more people like the authors will realize that the church is just not a business. I know they believe this in “theory,” but how they “practice it” is very lacking. For example, the author makes mention of a time at a leadership retreat when guest singer Alvin Slaughter came and God moved in a special way. He noted to Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek, that this never happens in Willow Creek services. I was shocked to hear this! Why not?

How can we as Christian leaders really desire to follow pastors that do not have a strong presence of God in their services? How is this acceptable? I believe if the services are weak, how much “weaker” are the small groups. I know people will say, “We get ‘deeper’ in the smaller meetings.” But what is the point if you cannot express it in the larger meetings? How can a church really grow disciples if they have to adjust to two different types of services? This is not true to the Bible; Jesus was Jesus wherever He was. Jesus always loved being with the Father, both in small and large groups. I sincerely hope that more people get tired of just having “clubs” and start getting closer to God by the Holy Spirit!

Personal Application

Here are some of the things I learned from this book that can be applied to Metro Praise Church in Chicago:

(1) Become a small group church, not just a church with small groups
(2) Promote small groups from the pulpit and at every announcements in both adult and youth services
(3) Make small attendance a must for all leadership positions
(4) Take time in choosing the right leaders and do not rush the process of appoint leadership
(5) Develop simply yet power training materials for leaders and apprentices
(6) Activate the same follow up process in all small groups
(7) Coach small group leaders, keep them accountable, and have continued leadership training
(8) Set a goal for every small group to multiply every six months!