This is fresh life.
Paul McCartney was once asked when he knew the writing was on the wall for the Beatles, as a band. He pointed to the summer of 1965 and specifically their sold-out performance at Shea Stadium. Because the screaming of the crowd was was so loud, and there wasn’t such a thing as in-ear monitors to block out noise back then; they could not hear themselves play their set. Paul said that he knew in his gut that it was the beginning of the end when they could no longer hear the music but they kept performing anyway.
I think that is a haunting lesson for anyone who is passionately pursuing any dream. Failure, as trying as it can be, is not the worst thing that can happen to you. Success can actually be worse. This is true in ministry and in business. You can get so big and so successful that as an organization you are no longer lit by the same fire you once had. You have to fight to retain the original passion you had when you were starting out.
There are two things that we have been intentional about doing at fresh life, as we have grown, to keep us on mission and fight the forces of entropy. One is being careful to remember our history. This is vital. New hires and those who join later on need to understand what they are a part of or they will take the sacrifices paid early on for granted. The second is to make sure that the core values that lead to the success in the first place are instilled afresh, again and again, so that they are not forsaken.
A while back a friend of mine, Pastor Steven Furtick from Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, gave me a book that really opened my eyes to seeing the need for these things to be specifically nailed down and not allowed to remain nebulous. The book is called The Orange Code: How ING Direct Succeeded by Being a Rebel with a Cause (you can buy it here). That and the book Onward by Howard Schultz (link) are two phenomenal resources for any leader looking to create clarity in their organizational culture.
One things for sure, it’s a war you must wage if you want to continue to hear the music. It doesn’t happen on accident.
Check out this video where I explain what’s unique about the culture at fresh life to our church.
comments
-
Thank you Levi, our family is definitely all in! When my husband and I moved to Kalispell three years ago expecting our first child any day, with no family or friends and spiritually wounded from an unhealthy, unbiblical ministry experience, we visited every church in the Valley and felt lost. To our shame, we had listened to some rumors that Freshlife was “the church for the young, cool and trendy” which we are none of those things. However, we were starving for the Word of God and the hope of his promises. We were absolutely blown away. I listened to a rich, insightful chock-full-of-Jesus message you taught sitting next to a 70 year old woman to my left, a young married couple to my right and a group of 20-something friends with every tatoo and piercing imaginable in the row in front of us–it was awesome! Your God-given gift of teaching has helped heal our hearts and inspired us to dig deeper in our relationship with Jesus. In a message, you had said that there are a lot of great churches out there but to just make sure God still goes to your church. Well, God’s presence is at Freshlife and we’ve been praying for His continual provision and protection as he works powerfully to rescue those stranded in sin find life and liberty in Christ. Thank you for leading the charge and inviting us all to lean in to what God has in store as we make Jesus famous.
Leave a Comment
Previous Post
the fresh life story trailerNext Post
happy birthday fresh life!!
Great blog! Love the Paul McCartney bit!