Welcome to My Blog!

Welcome to my blog, Noble Leadership in the Age of Celebrity. I am passionate about the Church and those who serve and lead them. But more important, I am passionate about the Lord of the Church: Jesus Christ. I serve as the founder and Chief Equipping Officer (CEO) of Noble Leadership Ministries, one of the first leadership-on-demand service ministries in North America. We provide leadership services to churches, associations and denominational organizations.

This is my personal blog, where I write about leadership, equipping for ministry and the interaction between Christianity and culture. People who know me will tell you that I also love politics. But as much as I do love to talk about politics, I love the Gospel much, much more. So we don’t do politics here. My life verse, Isaiah 32:8 says: ‘a noble person plans noble things; he stands up for noble causes.’ (HCSB)  If you are a pastor, church planter, Bible study leader or a Christian serving faithfully in the workplace you are engaged in a noble enterprise.

My goal is to post three times a week.

About Me

I’m just a regular guy who’s been incredibly blessed in my life. During the last thirty years I have served as a church planter, pastor, large church staff member, denominational consultant and now as a leader of a ministry I am passionate about.

I attended Baylor University, The University of Texas at Dallas (B.A.), The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and Fuller Theological Seminary (D. Min.).

My wife and I have been married for thirty-one years. We have two sons and live in Denton County, Texas. My family and I are members of First Baptist Church, Lewisville, Texas where I have led adult Bible studies and served on the Children’s Ministry Leadership team.

In my free time I enjoy reading, writing and working our family ranch in the Texas Hill Country. Just so you know I believe that Lonesome Dove is the great American novel.

My contact information

You can contact me via e-mail, or follow me on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. Let me encourage you to comment on my blog posts and though I am unable to respond to every comment, I pledge to be a part of the conversation.

Email: mike.tucker81@gmail.com

Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn: just search for me with: MichaelGTucker, and we should be able to connect.

This is my personal blog. The opinions I express here do not necessarily represent of those on the leadership team or supporters of Noble Leadership Ministries LLC or the Vision 2030 Network. The information I provide is on an as-is basis. I make no representation as to accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information on this blog and will not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this information or any losses, injuries or damages arising from its use.

 

Asking the Right Question, Part 2

Twenty five years ago this month I left the comfortable setting of Seminary life for my first fulltime ministry position (a pastorate in Middle Tennessee). As my wife and I packed up to move, said goodbye to our friends and headed off to our new ministry adventure, I asked myself the key question I had been trained to ask, "How can I grow my church?"

St. Joseph, Tennessee is a wonderful little hamlet on the Tennessee-Alabama state line. It had a population of 900 within the city limits, along with its only traffic light (yellow). About 8,000 people lived within 8-10 miles of our church, on both sides of the border. I was the first seminary trained pastor in the history of the church.  They called me as pastor on a 49-0 vote. I was thirty years old.  The church had been plateaued for twenty-five years. What was I gonna do?

We went to work. We started new units. We trained new workers. We promoted outreach activities. We used every program in the Southern Baptist lexicon to train people to share their faith. I helped organize activities at the local Senior center. But for eight long months.....not much happened. But we kept working .....serving.....and praying.

Then God began to work. People starting coming to Jesus.....back to Church......back to service. There were frustrating days but blessed days as well. We bought property. We found buildings to put on the new property.....and God blessed. And we were then and remain now grateful for what God did through us.

But if I were starting again twenty five years later I would ask myself a different question. Instead of asking "How can I grow my church" I would ask instead: "How can I impact my community.....and my world?"

This does not mean that the question I asked twenty-five years ago was the wrong question. I just happen to believe the second question is a better one. Why do I believe this? First, it takes the emphasis off of 'us' and puts it on 'them'. It's less selfish. It puts the needs of others before our own. Second, it's visionary. It allows you to widen your vision and get you into the community and out of your comfort zone. Finally, it does not mean we should not give attention to buildings, budgets and baptism. We still need to train workers,and teach people how to share their faith.  We must remain faithful to the gospel. And it remains faithful to the New Testament mission of the church.

That's why its a better question.

It's the right one.

Asking the Right Question, Part 1

Recently a prominent DFW based pastor criticized churches with a different theological outlook than his. It was much more than an honest critique, it was a rant. One of his criticisms was that, in his view, these other churches were less focused on evangelism than his church. This is the issue that I want to address, not some of the other issues he raised (although I certainly could). He accused them of being less evangelistic and anti-missions, branding them guilty of being committed to the social gospel. During this rant he told his congregation that the question they should ask when evaluating a church is, "who are they reaching?" This pastor and his church reach a whole lot of people. I am glad they do. I believe that's what churches should do. I applaud them for their faithfulness to that New Testament emphasis.

However, I must take issue with the key question for evaluating churches. The primary question should not be "Who are they reaching?" The primary question we should ask in this and in every age is, "Who are they preaching?" That is the critical question. Are they preaching the Jesus of the Bible? The exclusive Christ in a pluralistic world (Colossians), the superiority of Jesus in all things (Hebrews), the pre-existent, first and last, Logos of John's Gospel?

This is the critical issue confronting the Bride of Christ in our day.

Recently my 21-year old son, a future PCA pastor/theologian and I were talking about this very issue. I told him when I began my ministry thirty years ago the key issue was biblical authority: 'Can the Bible be trusted?' People had to choose. Churches and denominations split (mine did). That was the key issue then.

Now, the key issue is the Gospel of Jesus Christ Himself. Whether you're a pastor, denominational leader, Bible study teacher or lay person in your church, always ask yourself and your partners in ministry, "Who are you preaching?"

GROWTH POINTS MEMO

GROWTH POINTS MEMO, Volume 1 Number 2 September 8, 2011

How to know if your people understand that ‘vision thing’

Too many times churches spend time and money trying to find God’s vision for their church. Leadership retreats. Bring in a consultant or two. Sermon series. Assessments. Focus groups. These tools and more are used to discover, communicate and implement the vision to members and communities. After all that work, is there a way to know if it’s all worth the effort? Let me suggest five ways to evaluate whether or not your people understand God’s vision for your church:

First, do your members remember and share the vision? Your church’s vision should include only 3-4 important elements. Why? It’s easier to communicate and it should be repeatable. In my life I’ve paid for a couple of hundred golf lessons. Unfortunately, none were for me----my oldest son played junior golf at a pretty high level in North Texas. A good God-given vision is like a great golf swing: it should be repeatable! Are your members sharing the vision with others?

Second, your members can point to specific actions and behaviors that show the vision. Embracing vision happens incrementally. Obviously, you want members to remember, embrace and share it with others. But the next step is implementation. Are your members doing the vision? They must be doers of the vision, not just hearers only. A classic example involves evangelism. Most evangelical churches would say it’s important. They may even believe that they share the good news. But what they really mean is: ‘Go ahead pastor, reach all the people you want as long as it doesn’t change our church, make us uncomfortable and nobody sits in my pew! Are your people beginning to be involved in making the vision happen?

Third, your vision is publicly integrated in how your church does its ministry. Lots of churches spend time, energy and resources embedding the vision inside their congregations. That’s good. You want your people to “get it.” But they don’t take it to the next level. You should be sharing it with your community. The community grapevine is a powerful tool. You can do one of two things with it: ignore it and let someone else frame it for your community or take a proactive step to share it with your community. Several years ago I served on a large regional church with a passion for ministry and missions. We invited a local community leader (who was not a church member, but a well-known and respected believer) to participate in our mission and ministry emphasis. Several years later he was the two-term governor of our state. His involvement reinforced to our community we were actually implementing our vision.

Fourth, your church public perception matches your vision. The issue here is credibility. If you market your church as a place for young couples and families but the median age of your church is seventy years old, you’ve got a credibility problem. Keep it real! Be truthful. Don’t over promise. Certainly don’t under deliver. Several years ago my wife and I travelled to another region of the country about the possibility of a move in our ministry. We had a good weekend with the search committee and staff. As we were leaving to return home we stopped at a gas station on our way out of town. My wife had a conversation with the lady running the cash register. Somehow my wife mentioned the name of the church, we had just visited. The lady behind the counter got very excited and said, “That is a great church-----full of wonderful people.” She’s wasn’t a member but her public perception matched the church’s vision. That was one factor in God leading us to relocate and serve there.

Finally, your members own experiences are aligned with your vision. The most powerful organizational principle and process I know is alignment. When church members begin making life-changing decisions due to the vision of your church, you’ve reached the final step. I’ve known Christians who’ve turned down opportunities in their careers because they didn’t want to leave their church. That’s powerful. It’s transformational. If your vision isn’t ultimately transforming lives is it really a God-honoring vision at all?

Ten Essential Books for Every Leader’s Library

1. Good to Great by Jim Collins. Great book even though one of the great organizations in his model is Fannie Mae (oops!). Still worth it though.
2. Seven Principles of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. This book changed my life years ago. It helped me transition my leadership from being driven to understanding I’m called.
3. What Leaders Really Do by John P. Kotter, helps leaders understand the process of change and the challenge of relationships. If we don’t get that right, nothing about our leadership will be right.
4. The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins, provides leadership strategies for new leaders at all levels. Start right and you’ll finish strong. Watkins helps you do that.
5. Spiritual Leadership by Henry & Richard Blackaby. This book is a great resource to multiply leaders in your church and ministry.
6. The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make by Hans Finzel. We need both positive and negative examples to refine our leadership. Finzel helps us by showing us what to avoid and not do.
7. Go Put Your Strengths to Work by Marcus Buckingham. Buckingham is leading a movement that says don’t focus on changing your weaknesses, instead build your life and career around what you do best. Well written and researched.
8. The Five Pillars of TQM (Total Quality Management) by Bill Creech. Ok, yeah I’m a process guy and this is one of my handbooks.
9. The Leadership Challenge by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner. Classic primer on leadership.
10. Landry on Leadership: Noble Leadership in the Age of Celebrity by yours truly. It’s shameless plug and it’s not out yet. Hopefully this will motivate me to finish it!

GROWTH POINTS MEMO

Growth Points
• Years ago Lyle Schaller published a small but very important book, The Seven-Day-a-Week Church. One of the key things he anticipated in that classic volume was the fact that many churches would be offering several worship services every weekend. On this point Schaller nailed it. In many places we now see churches offering seven or eight worship services every weekend. For Schaller, the key was the stamina of the senior pastor. He did not foresee multi-site churches or the multiplication of the use of teaching pastors and the technology so many churches now use each weekend.

• But the theme of Schaller’s book is right on. Is your church a seven day a week church? The larger your church is, the more days it should be impacting your community. If your church is small you need to add impact with excellent, making it a part of your church culture before adding something else. Smaller churches historically try to do too much. They over commit resources, especially leaders. So what should you do to begin?

Small churches (fewer than 125), make sure you are a one-day-a-week church. Be tenacious, but kind, at looking at your Sunday services and programming. Find out what is working and what isn’t. Fix it before you move on.

Medium size churches (125-300 in attendance), look at your ministries and programming on Sunday evenings and mid-week services. What groups are growing? Which ones are struggling? Which need to be fed or starved? Are they outdated and/or outmoded? Are there needs that aren’t being met? Could this be an opportunity for your church?

Larger churches (300 +) should ask a couple of questions about everything they do: does this ministry align with our values and vision? Is this who we are? Is there enough support for us to do this? What kind of staff and resources do we need to do this or make it better?

• Your goal should be to create as many quality entry points as possible. How many do you have? If you don’t know how many you have, then that’s your first assignment. Get started. Now.


Leader Lifts
Winston Churchill is one of my heroes, for so many reasons: leader, writer, speaker, and his famous wit. He once said that “courage is the greatest of all virtues because it guarantees all others.’ So true. Pastor Ron Edmondson describes the seven traits that separate a courageous leader: http:www.ronedmondson.com/2011/7-traits-that-separate-a-leader-of-courage.html.@via RonEdmondson. Become a leader with courage! Enjoy.
Conversations from the field
Recently, I spent a couple of hours with a pastor. He’s been at his current ministry less than a year. His last church he served for nearly 40 years. So he’s not your typical new pastor. But he has fresh eyes for a church that needs it. He pastors a county seat ‘first church’ in a fast growing county of nearly 120,000 people. He’s in his mid-sixties. I asked him why he wasn’t bass fishing somewhere and he laughed, “I’ve still got too much preach in me I guess.” The fire still burns. The passion remains.
We talked about some of his leadership challenges. The next five years are critically important for his church. It will determine if they have a healthy future or see a decline in community impact and influence. I’ve had this conversation before. I have it on a regular basis. I believe that is the challenge of the vast majority of evangelical churches in North America. Yes, there are great islands of health. Yet, most of our churches continue to operate and make decisions like it’s the 1950s. This will not do. It cannot continue. Too many churches are past the tipping point.
My pastor friend has five years. So many of our churches have less. How many years does your church have? Be a difference maker. Be a leader. The fire must burn. The passion must remain.

Quotes for Preaching, Teaching & Leading
Be a good listener. Your ears will never get you in trouble.
Laura Maxwell, John Maxwell’s mother
If God only used perfect people nothing would get done. God will use anybody who’s available.
Rick Warren
Light houses blow no horns; they only shine.
D. L. Moody
Pride is the mother of all sin.
Martin Luther

Summer tIME rEADING!

Summertime Reading
Summertime is a time for reading. Each summer I put together a list of certain subjects I want to cover before the summer ends. Among these subjects include Texas history, biography, World War II, biblical studies, and at least one work of fiction. Here’s what I’m reading or read this summer to stay out of this withering Texas heat:
This I read a couple of volumes of fiction. Usually don’t read a lot of fiction but Tom Clancy had a new book out this year so I read his Against All Enemies. It’s not part of his Jack Ryan series but a good work nonetheless. Just think about our worst nightmare: Al Qaeda partners with the largest drug cartel in Mexico. Enough said. But an ex-Seal is on the hunt. This past week I got a small paperback book Golf’s Sacred Journey: Seven Days at the Links of Utopia. It’s the basis of a new movie starring Robert Duvall and Lucas Black. To say it’s a story about golf would miss the point. It’s full of life lessons. Its gospel centered. I am looking forward to seeing the movie when it opens September 3.
My friends no I love World War II history so no summer would be complete if I didn’t read from that genre. This summer I read three books on the Second World War: 11 Days in September: Christmas at the Bulge, 1944 is the story of the Allied response to the last German counteroffensive on the western front during the war. I may have read it trying to get some relief from the Texas heat! The author is Stanley Weintraub a noted historian on World War II. He retells the story of Patton’s Third Army that stopped fighting the Germans head on and pivoted ninety degrees to cut off the German bulge. He even includes a chapter on Patton’s famous prayer for good weather telling the Lord: “Sir, you have to make up your mind whose side you’re on.” But mostly he uses new documents and interviews to tell the story of the ordinary citizen soldiers who made the difference. We should be grateful for all they have done. In Jonathan Jordan’s book, Brothers, Rivals, Victors he describes the partnership between Eisenhower, Patton and Bradley that led the American forces to victory in Europe. The three men began the war as longtime friends. But by the time V-E Day came they were barely talking to each other. Jordan describes how they argued and fought each other while at the same time vanquishing the Wehrmacht. It was both triumphant and tragic. When Patton died in December 1945 from injuries received in an automobile accident, Patton’s widow Bea refused to let Ike visit. It’s a reminder that even our heroes are human. Sir Martin Gilbert is one of my favorite historians; he is official biographer of Winston Churchill. In the spring I found a copy of Gilbert’s, Winston Churchill, Road to Victory, 1941-1945. Meticulously researched it reads almost like a daily diary of Churchill’s actions during the war. He is bluntly honest on the differences between Churchill and FDR. A must for anyone who loves Churchill or World War II.
I also try to read something related to Texas history each summer. This year I read David Stokes book, The Shooting Salvationist, the story of Dr. J. Frank Norris, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Fort Worth, Texas for most of the first half of the 20th century. He was the first American mega church pastor. It was controversial. He was indicted three times. This is the story of his murder trial. He shot an unarmed man in his study at church. He was indicted and tried for murder in the late 1920s. This is the story of that trial. I had heard bits and pieces of this story my entire life. This is the complete history of that story. All I can say is that it is fascinating.
Summer is baseball time. I always try to include a book about baseball in my summer reading. This year I read two baseball bios: Jane Leavey’s The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood and George Vecsey’s, Stan Musial: An American Life. Mantle is a hero of mine from when I was a kid. He lived in Dallas in the off season. Leavy is sensitive to his struggle with alcoholism with shirking from telling his tragic story. She also details how Mickey got his life under control in the last 18 months before he died, going through Betty Ford, getting things right with his family and trusting Jesus. Vecsey’s book tells the story of a humble superstar, Stan Musial one of the greatest players in major league history. Musial is often overlooked by fans today. This bio will remind them of a man with humility and talent.
Finally I always try to read something in biblical studies and theology each summer. Because I am teaching from Genesis 1-11 this fall I read Kenneth A. Matthews, Genesis 1-11 New American Commentary. It’s been a longtime since I read a commentary cover to cover, but I did this year. It is a treasure of biblical exegesis, theological reflection and personal application. The last book I read this summer was actually a reread. Every year I try to read or reread from one of three: J.I. Packer, C.S. Lewis and Carl F. H. Henry. This was a Packer summer for me. So I reread his Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God. It is a great essay from the reformed view on the Christian duty of evangelism.
What are you reading this summer? What should I read this fall? Love to hear your thoughts.