1 00:00:00,140 --> 00:00:02,830 Steve Staten: It has been fantastic to be here for the last few months. 2 00:00:02,830 --> 00:00:07,550 You know your family when people start giving you nicknames. 3 00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:13,660 Vicky has been calling me Columbo, 4 00:00:17,090 --> 00:00:20,339 partly because I wear a raincoat. 5 00:00:20,879 --> 00:00:22,380 Every time I've come I've brought rain. 6 00:00:22,390 --> 00:00:23,830 It was rain Saturday morning. 7 00:00:25,420 --> 00:00:32,390 And, but the other thing is, is like Columbo, I'll ask A curious question that 8 00:00:32,390 --> 00:00:34,419 I think I already know the answer to. 9 00:00:35,629 --> 00:00:39,400 And so, uh, but it has been, it's been warm. 10 00:00:39,910 --> 00:00:43,669 I've received a lot of, uh, encouragement and respect. 11 00:00:44,290 --> 00:00:47,189 And so today we were gonna, we're gonna talk about things that 12 00:00:47,190 --> 00:00:52,849 are gonna be, uh, perhaps very inspiring, but there's a gut check. 13 00:00:53,989 --> 00:00:54,779 Taking a look. 14 00:00:54,819 --> 00:00:56,026 That's why you brought me in. 15 00:00:56,026 --> 00:00:58,789 You didn't bring me in to give you wonderful platitudes, right? 16 00:00:59,219 --> 00:01:02,300 So you brought me in to help do a reality check to look 17 00:01:02,300 --> 00:01:04,200 underneath the hood of the church. 18 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:07,469 So, so if we could pull up the first screen, there we 19 00:01:07,469 --> 00:01:08,880 go, let me come back here. 20 00:01:09,340 --> 00:01:12,570 So this consultation report is a preliminary draft. 21 00:01:12,580 --> 00:01:16,310 It's a high level, doesn't get down into the weeds like the other final report. 22 00:01:16,310 --> 00:01:20,020 Well, I want to give you an overview because this is the end 23 00:01:20,090 --> 00:01:22,430 coming to a close of phase two. 24 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:25,740 I'll still be working with OC through the month, you know, behind the scenes, 25 00:01:25,770 --> 00:01:29,240 but this will be my last official time here until I'm invited back. 26 00:01:29,750 --> 00:01:35,479 Um, if this was for the sermon part, if I, if you like sermon titles, it would 27 00:01:35,490 --> 00:01:39,060 be called consider carefully what you do. 28 00:01:39,309 --> 00:01:42,520 And that's a quote from a character in what we're about ready to read. 29 00:01:43,590 --> 00:01:49,569 So in order to, um, be, be honorable, I am going to start the timer. 30 00:01:51,090 --> 00:01:52,039 That's important, right? 31 00:01:53,009 --> 00:01:58,200 So, okay, so we're going to look at a story, but first I need to tell you where 32 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:00,870 my consultancy started 12 years ago. 33 00:02:00,870 --> 00:02:04,270 I wanted to know what are the primary options available to churches that 34 00:02:04,270 --> 00:02:08,408 are navigating turbulence that comes with transition change and troubles. 35 00:02:08,419 --> 00:02:11,839 And I found a passage that really was helpful to me. 36 00:02:11,839 --> 00:02:13,829 It kind of gives like an arc. 37 00:02:14,335 --> 00:02:16,675 Uh, what can happen in the story that we're going to read. 38 00:02:16,675 --> 00:02:18,505 There's a prologue where there's no problem. 39 00:02:18,505 --> 00:02:21,315 There's a drift where a problem is about to happen. 40 00:02:21,695 --> 00:02:22,765 There's a failure. 41 00:02:22,995 --> 00:02:24,405 There's alarm from the failure. 42 00:02:24,435 --> 00:02:27,565 There's an assessment as a result of that. 43 00:02:27,605 --> 00:02:29,345 Looking back, we need reset. 44 00:02:29,605 --> 00:02:31,985 And then there's a stage of renewal. 45 00:02:32,014 --> 00:02:35,035 So we're going to be looking at those kind of things through the 46 00:02:35,035 --> 00:02:37,475 story of Jehoshaphat and Judah. 47 00:02:38,465 --> 00:02:41,995 Now, the prologue, the Canaanites worshiped El, which means God, 48 00:02:42,195 --> 00:02:45,525 and the Israelites worshiped El Shaddai, a specific God, and there's 49 00:02:45,525 --> 00:02:47,285 only one God, and it's Yahweh. 50 00:02:47,804 --> 00:02:51,535 Baal had a girlfriend, Asherah, who enticed people into immorality. 51 00:02:52,224 --> 00:02:56,725 Ahab was the king, and Jezebel was the queen, and she was 52 00:02:56,725 --> 00:02:58,144 the one who enticed people. 53 00:02:58,695 --> 00:03:02,315 And so Judah opposed Baal and Asherah because they were on the 54 00:03:02,315 --> 00:03:03,774 right side of history in all this. 55 00:03:03,804 --> 00:03:04,924 These were their neighbors. 56 00:03:05,920 --> 00:03:07,380 So then we come into a drift. 57 00:03:07,380 --> 00:03:09,010 Jehoshaphat was king of Judah. 58 00:03:09,290 --> 00:03:10,679 Judah was the rightful kingdom. 59 00:03:10,679 --> 00:03:14,320 Israel was the schism out of rebellion that took place 60 00:03:14,539 --> 00:03:16,349 after Solomon had passed away. 61 00:03:16,890 --> 00:03:19,250 Jehoshaphat's son married Jezebel's daughter. 62 00:03:19,260 --> 00:03:21,109 This begins to be a problem. 63 00:03:22,959 --> 00:03:26,179 I mean, this is, was, how did that happen? 64 00:03:27,060 --> 00:03:27,450 Right? 65 00:03:28,299 --> 00:03:30,179 The two kings ended up bonding. 66 00:03:31,215 --> 00:03:35,435 And the friendly Ahab pursued an alliance with Jehoshaphat. 67 00:03:37,005 --> 00:03:43,535 Now the king of Aram, another kingdom, intended to assassinate Ahab. 68 00:03:45,215 --> 00:03:48,293 Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, I will enter in battle in disguise, 69 00:03:48,293 --> 00:03:49,935 but you wear your royal robes. 70 00:03:49,975 --> 00:03:51,545 Well, why would you say do that? 71 00:03:52,345 --> 00:03:53,885 So they'll get you, not me. 72 00:03:55,135 --> 00:03:57,484 Crazy, Jehoshaphat became Aram's prey. 73 00:03:58,855 --> 00:04:02,325 And Aram's commanders pursued what they thought was the king of Israel, but was 74 00:04:02,325 --> 00:04:06,924 Jehoshaphat, nearly killed him, then recognized who he was, saw the ruse. 75 00:04:07,804 --> 00:04:11,814 Ahab ended up dying by a random arrow, just fortunately, through 76 00:04:11,814 --> 00:04:13,605 the prowess of God, takes him out. 77 00:04:14,103 --> 00:04:16,224 But Jehoshaphat nearly lost his life. 78 00:04:16,235 --> 00:04:18,015 This is failure and alarm. 79 00:04:20,164 --> 00:04:27,315 We went from back history, to drift, to now a situation, really 80 00:04:27,325 --> 00:04:31,765 bad almost happened, but it indicates something's really wrong. 81 00:04:32,945 --> 00:04:36,984 And so next we actually have to talk about having an assessment. 82 00:04:37,554 --> 00:04:38,664 Now this is really important. 83 00:04:38,664 --> 00:04:42,085 I want to say every leader in this room pay close attention. 84 00:04:43,024 --> 00:04:45,984 Each King who ended well in the old Testament had a 85 00:04:45,984 --> 00:04:48,044 prophet or seer in their life. 86 00:04:49,445 --> 00:04:49,995 Okay. 87 00:04:50,234 --> 00:04:51,585 That's really important. 88 00:04:52,335 --> 00:04:56,465 One from Israel, that was David, five from Judah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, 89 00:04:56,465 --> 00:04:58,005 Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah. 90 00:04:58,015 --> 00:05:00,655 And Josiah's seer was Jehu. 91 00:05:02,365 --> 00:05:10,704 And like Jeremiah was told to, in his era, comes later, assay Judah, 92 00:05:10,755 --> 00:05:14,075 which is the same word when you test silver to see if it's pure. 93 00:05:14,865 --> 00:05:18,025 It's like test, evaluate the ways of the people. 94 00:05:19,075 --> 00:05:22,015 And that's what a seer or a prophet does. 95 00:05:22,015 --> 00:05:26,934 They're supposed to like inspect kind of a model for what a consultant 96 00:05:27,085 --> 00:05:28,854 ought to be able to do, right? 97 00:05:29,374 --> 00:05:30,945 So that's kind of why I'm here. 98 00:05:31,585 --> 00:05:34,075 Now, let me tell you, let's read the story. 99 00:05:34,575 --> 00:05:38,634 When Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned safely to his palace in Jerusalem, 100 00:05:39,344 --> 00:05:42,234 Jehu the seer, the son of a nanny went out to meet him and said to 101 00:05:42,234 --> 00:05:46,205 the king, should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? 102 00:05:46,919 --> 00:05:49,630 Because of this, the wrath of the Lord is on you. 103 00:05:51,030 --> 00:05:53,700 There is, however, some good in you. 104 00:05:54,409 --> 00:05:58,909 For you have rid the land of Asherah poles and have set your heart on seeking God. 105 00:06:00,090 --> 00:06:01,719 Jehoshaphat catches his breath. 106 00:06:02,469 --> 00:06:04,330 I'm not all bad, right? 107 00:06:05,659 --> 00:06:08,890 Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem and he went out again among the people. 108 00:06:08,890 --> 00:06:10,039 This is the time for a reset. 109 00:06:12,215 --> 00:06:16,265 And to be from Beersheba to the hill country of re and turned them back to 110 00:06:16,265 --> 00:06:19,025 the Lord, the God of their ancestors. 111 00:06:19,235 --> 00:06:20,345 So he took it to heart. 112 00:06:20,495 --> 00:06:24,485 He heard what the consultant said and he took it to heart. 113 00:06:25,745 --> 00:06:29,105 He appointed judges in the land in each of the fortified cities of Judah. 114 00:06:29,105 --> 00:06:33,020 He told them, consider carefully what you do. 115 00:06:34,255 --> 00:06:37,765 because you're not judging for mere mortals, but for the Lord and who is 116 00:06:37,765 --> 00:06:39,534 with you whenever you give a verdict. 117 00:06:39,715 --> 00:06:44,435 Now, let the fear of the Lord beyond you judge carefully for 118 00:06:44,435 --> 00:06:49,465 with the Lord, our God, there is no injustice or partiality or bribery. 119 00:06:50,265 --> 00:06:54,175 In Jerusalem also Jehoshaphat appointed some of the Levites priests and the heads 120 00:06:54,175 --> 00:06:58,265 of the Israelite families to administer the law, the Lord, and to settle disputes. 121 00:06:58,815 --> 00:07:00,295 Now I wanna park there for just a moment. 122 00:07:00,785 --> 00:07:01,429 One, two, three. 123 00:07:01,710 --> 00:07:07,000 Jethro gave Moses advice who Moses who was handling so many problems. 124 00:07:07,650 --> 00:07:13,499 He developed a scaled level of competency and experience those over tens, fifties, 125 00:07:13,500 --> 00:07:19,529 hundreds, thousands of whatever to handle conflicts and disputes among the tribes. 126 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:25,170 40 years later in Deuteronomy chapter one, Moses reflects on having done 127 00:07:25,180 --> 00:07:30,445 that and he has a very specific criteria for what Dispute Handlers 128 00:07:30,445 --> 00:07:33,865 would be and he implemented and he made it even more resilient. 129 00:07:34,595 --> 00:07:37,315 This is what I believe Jehoshaphat is doing. 130 00:07:37,315 --> 00:07:41,775 He's taking a page from the past and right sizing things by what 131 00:07:41,784 --> 00:07:43,665 he knows will please the Lord. 132 00:07:46,135 --> 00:07:47,605 And they lived in Jerusalem. 133 00:07:48,435 --> 00:07:49,915 He gave them these orders. 134 00:07:49,915 --> 00:07:52,325 You must serve faithfully and wholeheartedly in the fear of the 135 00:07:52,325 --> 00:07:55,655 Lord, and every case that comes before your people who live in the 136 00:07:55,655 --> 00:07:57,155 cities, will have their blood shed? 137 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:01,500 Or other concerns of the law, commands, decrees, or regulations. 138 00:08:02,010 --> 00:08:05,880 You are to warn them not to sin against the Lord, otherwise the wrath 139 00:08:06,460 --> 00:08:08,019 will come on you and your people. 140 00:08:08,019 --> 00:08:09,700 Do this, and you will not sin. 141 00:08:10,090 --> 00:08:12,890 Now this gets really interesting. 142 00:08:13,690 --> 00:08:18,060 Amariah, the chief priest, will be over you in any matter concerning the Lord. 143 00:08:18,060 --> 00:08:21,230 So there's a spiritual authority, Amariah. 144 00:08:22,294 --> 00:08:25,914 And Zebediah, son of Ishmael, the leader of the tribe of Judah, will be over 145 00:08:25,925 --> 00:08:28,505 you in any matter concerning the king. 146 00:08:28,825 --> 00:08:30,724 And the Levites will serve as officials among you. 147 00:08:31,255 --> 00:08:34,025 Act with courage and may the Lord be with you, those who do well. 148 00:08:34,044 --> 00:08:36,073 But here's the part I want to focus on. 149 00:08:36,375 --> 00:08:38,823 Ishmael, the leader of the tribe of Judah, will be over you in 150 00:08:38,823 --> 00:08:39,943 any matter concerning the king. 151 00:08:40,284 --> 00:08:42,205 The king is now under authority. 152 00:08:43,544 --> 00:08:45,925 Okay, so they have spiritual authority. 153 00:08:45,925 --> 00:08:48,085 They have tribal authority that's even over the king. 154 00:08:48,085 --> 00:08:49,725 And of course the king is the leader. 155 00:08:50,115 --> 00:08:53,245 Which is usually a governance military, things like that. 156 00:08:53,565 --> 00:09:01,245 So, Jehoshaphat humbled out, put himself in a situation that was 157 00:09:01,265 --> 00:09:04,104 going to be best for the people. 158 00:09:05,535 --> 00:09:06,674 Let's talk about the OC. 159 00:09:08,425 --> 00:09:12,415 In August on the 18th of last year, James Willis informed the Ministry 160 00:09:12,415 --> 00:09:15,795 Leadership Council that the OC staff will be requesting help. 161 00:09:16,255 --> 00:09:17,605 There had been a problem with it. 162 00:09:17,605 --> 00:09:20,175 It was a departure of a beloved staff member. 163 00:09:20,175 --> 00:09:22,155 There was internal turmoil. 164 00:09:22,435 --> 00:09:26,265 There were strong things felt in the South ministry and strong 165 00:09:26,265 --> 00:09:27,845 things felt in the Korean ministry. 166 00:09:28,455 --> 00:09:30,195 And so this was coming. 167 00:09:30,195 --> 00:09:32,655 Two days later, there was an anonymous letter that was sent 168 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:36,540 Asking for a formal investigation into the leadership of the O. 169 00:09:36,540 --> 00:09:36,740 C. 170 00:09:36,740 --> 00:09:37,310 region. 171 00:09:38,020 --> 00:09:39,960 And then a few, six days after that, the M. 172 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:40,080 L. 173 00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:40,290 C. 174 00:09:40,290 --> 00:09:43,320 received the official request from the staff and the elder. 175 00:09:44,110 --> 00:09:48,100 And so then, we, we move into a new phase. 176 00:09:48,470 --> 00:09:50,949 Okay, we're going to be moving into assessment. 177 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:55,185 So, August to January, the Orange County Service Team, which is 178 00:09:55,185 --> 00:09:59,810 like a task force that was set up to respond to the two requests, 179 00:10:00,130 --> 00:10:02,149 take them seriously, show respect. 180 00:10:02,435 --> 00:10:03,704 That there's something up. 181 00:10:04,245 --> 00:10:09,805 And then they moved into what would later be looked back and be called Phase 1. 182 00:10:12,415 --> 00:10:16,424 Now, uh, of course, Robert and Michelle are on that group. 183 00:10:16,425 --> 00:10:17,404 They're here today. 184 00:10:18,124 --> 00:10:21,514 And others who have been in and out are on that as advisors 185 00:10:21,514 --> 00:10:22,584 or part of the regular team. 186 00:10:22,594 --> 00:10:26,894 We've been meeting about every week or two weeks since I've got involved. 187 00:10:27,344 --> 00:10:31,084 Phase 1 was interviews, survey, various meetings, and an initial report. 188 00:10:31,594 --> 00:10:35,154 Phase two organizational leadership restructure required 189 00:10:35,154 --> 00:10:36,404 somebody to be on the ground. 190 00:10:36,754 --> 00:10:41,034 I was interviewed by the staff and the Orange County Separating Group 191 00:10:41,545 --> 00:10:45,675 along with the task force, the service team to be here for three months, 192 00:10:45,685 --> 00:10:46,964 which would have ended in April. 193 00:10:46,964 --> 00:10:48,685 We've added a month. 194 00:10:49,234 --> 00:10:52,084 And so what we're doing is going into phase two. 195 00:10:53,594 --> 00:10:57,074 My job is to review findings of phase one, make sure I fully 196 00:10:57,074 --> 00:10:58,424 understand what they came up with. 197 00:10:59,279 --> 00:11:02,979 And then to review correspondence, some that they received and then a lot that 198 00:11:02,979 --> 00:11:04,479 I've received since I've been involved. 199 00:11:05,359 --> 00:11:08,619 I've conducted interviews, about 50 people I've met with in various 200 00:11:08,619 --> 00:11:11,649 configurations and meetings with groups. 201 00:11:11,749 --> 00:11:15,159 Priority would be probing the South and Korean ministries out of 202 00:11:15,159 --> 00:11:18,759 respect for the request from the staff and the anonymous letter. 203 00:11:19,550 --> 00:11:20,839 Reconciliations. 204 00:11:21,139 --> 00:11:23,229 Reconciliations can work like this. 205 00:11:23,259 --> 00:11:27,359 There's reconciliations that are full fledged like mediations. 206 00:11:28,790 --> 00:11:32,680 Then there's reconciliations where there's a facilitated conversation. 207 00:11:34,020 --> 00:11:39,039 Then there's, uh, reconciliations that take place after a report comes out that 208 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:43,349 has the voices of so many people in it that they know they're being heard because 209 00:11:43,349 --> 00:11:45,579 there's a real good solid narrative. 210 00:11:46,049 --> 00:11:50,209 And it produces ah ha moments, and those ah ha moments make people go, 211 00:11:50,209 --> 00:11:53,040 you know what, I had the situation wrong, I didn't have it quite 212 00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:55,270 right, I'm gonna choose to forgive. 213 00:11:55,655 --> 00:11:59,225 Okay, so that's kind of what happens a lot in my work. 214 00:11:59,225 --> 00:12:02,635 I do mediations, like sit down, go back and forth, back and forth. 215 00:12:02,975 --> 00:12:06,924 We've had some really great talks, even with the whole staff, where 216 00:12:06,924 --> 00:12:12,275 we're able to go, okay, we turn the lights on, now we have a better 217 00:12:12,275 --> 00:12:14,425 story because it's facilitated. 218 00:12:14,435 --> 00:12:15,104 I'm an outsider. 219 00:12:15,174 --> 00:12:20,084 It's easy for an outsider who has no pony in the race to have 220 00:12:20,084 --> 00:12:21,584 those conversations, you know? 221 00:12:22,084 --> 00:12:25,255 And so we've done that, and they pay attention to structure. 222 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:30,199 So typical discussion topics have been, uh, let's talk about the 223 00:12:30,199 --> 00:12:33,310 recent developments that have been very difficult as perspectives 224 00:12:33,310 --> 00:12:38,270 around congregational trust, legacy issues that impede the present. 225 00:12:38,329 --> 00:12:40,010 Let me give you an example of a legacy issue. 226 00:12:40,500 --> 00:12:43,760 It comes out of the software world, by the way, if there's a there's a bug 227 00:12:43,790 --> 00:12:48,909 in a program like Windows one and then Microsoft didn't fix it by Windows two. 228 00:12:49,579 --> 00:12:53,569 And it keeps carrying forth and they didn't quite recognize that it was there. 229 00:12:53,569 --> 00:12:55,540 That kind of thing happens in software world lot. 230 00:12:56,180 --> 00:13:02,300 There was a there were two ships requested to be built in 1904 in the Midwest. 231 00:13:02,319 --> 00:13:07,129 They were gonna go from Chicago to the other side over in Michigan, and they 232 00:13:07,180 --> 00:13:08,680 were gonna make a lot of money on this. 233 00:13:08,810 --> 00:13:12,400 These two ships were in competition to see which one would get done fast, which 234 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:17,220 one would be faster, which one was much more luxurious and the advantage to be on. 235 00:13:17,685 --> 00:13:22,865 And, uh, one, uh, existed for probably two decades before being 236 00:13:22,875 --> 00:13:27,645 decommissioned, made money, did fine, hardly anything about it on the 237 00:13:27,645 --> 00:13:29,915 internet, because there were no problems. 238 00:13:30,885 --> 00:13:36,444 The other one was designed to hold, I think, about 1, 800 people, and then 239 00:13:36,444 --> 00:13:41,905 they specced it out, added a deck so they could put, you know, 2, 600 people on it. 240 00:13:42,489 --> 00:13:47,430 Then after the Titanic, uh, sunk in 1912, government regulations required 241 00:13:47,430 --> 00:13:50,019 putting boats up on deck a whole lot more. 242 00:13:51,099 --> 00:13:52,180 You can see where this is gonna go. 243 00:13:53,659 --> 00:13:55,589 This was the SS Eastland. 244 00:13:55,589 --> 00:14:00,269 Even before the additional deck for more housing, even before the boats, 245 00:14:00,339 --> 00:14:01,909 it had a reputation for listing. 246 00:14:02,670 --> 00:14:05,589 It'd be like this, like a bike, until you get moving. 247 00:14:06,529 --> 00:14:07,759 Freaked people out. 248 00:14:07,839 --> 00:14:09,019 Scared a lot of people. 249 00:14:10,454 --> 00:14:17,754 In 1915, while they were loading it up, right in the Chicago River, it capsized. 250 00:14:18,594 --> 00:14:20,805 They were trying to put 3, 500 people on that boat. 251 00:14:22,074 --> 00:14:23,915 And 842 people drowned. 252 00:14:25,794 --> 00:14:29,305 And so, there was search for scapegoats, trying to figure out who was the problem. 253 00:14:29,314 --> 00:14:31,795 Was it the engineer not managing the ballast and whatever? 254 00:14:32,234 --> 00:14:35,709 It turns out, They consulted the original construction 255 00:14:35,709 --> 00:14:37,199 person that designed the boat. 256 00:14:37,359 --> 00:14:39,160 He said it was not designed for people. 257 00:14:39,189 --> 00:14:40,369 It was designed for cargo. 258 00:14:40,959 --> 00:14:42,069 It should have been maxed out. 259 00:14:42,069 --> 00:14:44,229 It should have been like 500 people. 260 00:14:45,170 --> 00:14:46,609 That was a legacy issue. 261 00:14:47,489 --> 00:14:51,579 So it had some past baggage that had designed a structure 262 00:14:51,579 --> 00:14:53,069 that needed to be resorted out. 263 00:14:53,079 --> 00:14:54,359 And I think that's the way the church is. 264 00:14:55,109 --> 00:14:58,859 I have to tell you, I'm excited to say I was at a three hour meeting with the 265 00:14:58,859 --> 00:15:00,689 board and the ministry leadership council. 266 00:15:00,969 --> 00:15:02,269 And there's a major effort. 267 00:15:02,650 --> 00:15:08,079 To rethink a lot of things in the LA church, including structure and 268 00:15:08,079 --> 00:15:11,170 governance and health and major efforts. 269 00:15:11,170 --> 00:15:14,290 I don't even know anywhere that, that, where they're taking it as 270 00:15:14,290 --> 00:15:16,569 serious as what I've been hearing. 271 00:15:16,569 --> 00:15:17,500 But this is important. 272 00:15:18,670 --> 00:15:22,719 The, the Orange County Ministry culture was a, a big topic, and then 273 00:15:22,719 --> 00:15:24,130 there were open-ended questions. 274 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:26,709 So let's talk about the positives. 275 00:15:28,310 --> 00:15:33,740 I have felt a respectful disposition of members in interactive group settings 276 00:15:33,740 --> 00:15:37,879 when discussing main areas in need of review and speaking about other concerns. 277 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:39,930 That's always a good sign. 278 00:15:41,380 --> 00:15:44,880 There's a humility and curiosity among the whole OC community about 279 00:15:44,889 --> 00:15:48,809 what assumptions and practices might need to change or do need to change. 280 00:15:50,449 --> 00:15:54,389 The willingness of the entire staff to look at their own functioning over the 281 00:15:54,389 --> 00:16:00,055 last few years Each individually fully engaged in the process and were helpful 282 00:16:00,055 --> 00:16:01,995 when discussing elephants in the room. 283 00:16:03,515 --> 00:16:06,395 And this is not so much a strength, but you should just know there were 284 00:16:06,395 --> 00:16:10,035 no concerns of a legal nature like a scandal that were brought up. 285 00:16:10,845 --> 00:16:15,275 Most issues were relational dynamics, structural processes, practices, 286 00:16:15,275 --> 00:16:16,435 and the alignment of roles. 287 00:16:16,515 --> 00:16:19,885 Now those things are significant because they can lead to hurt. 288 00:16:21,125 --> 00:16:23,515 They can lead to bad judgments, bad decisions. 289 00:16:24,220 --> 00:16:28,280 But it wasn't like secrets. 290 00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:32,750 So let's talk now about my observations. 291 00:16:33,439 --> 00:16:38,390 First one being, the death of the leader, Kevin Maynes, with the 292 00:16:38,390 --> 00:16:42,569 mixture of grief and succession challenges, was significant. 293 00:16:44,299 --> 00:16:47,819 He, first of all, he was a unicorn. 294 00:16:47,879 --> 00:16:49,609 Nobody could do what Kevin did. 295 00:16:50,719 --> 00:16:51,129 Okay. 296 00:16:52,469 --> 00:16:55,160 And then there's a thought that maybe Kevin shouldn't have been trying 297 00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:56,439 to do all the things he was doing. 298 00:16:57,509 --> 00:17:00,459 You needed a bigger eldership, and a flatter hierarchy, 299 00:17:00,959 --> 00:17:02,589 and more team leadership. 300 00:17:03,369 --> 00:17:04,680 We shouldn't have that model. 301 00:17:04,690 --> 00:17:07,490 Now, he was noble in his doing the model, right? 302 00:17:07,919 --> 00:17:11,159 But that, we don't want to go there, and you guys already made that decision, 303 00:17:11,189 --> 00:17:14,510 because right after he passed away, there was a sense, we want a team model. 304 00:17:14,510 --> 00:17:15,419 We want something different. 305 00:17:15,429 --> 00:17:18,388 We don't want to recreate that setting. 306 00:17:18,699 --> 00:17:20,608 But it never really got figured out. 307 00:17:22,773 --> 00:17:27,635 Legacy, structural and cultural issues over reliance on top down 308 00:17:27,773 --> 00:17:31,715 authoritative model, which I just mentioned, uh, challenges around 309 00:17:31,715 --> 00:17:33,385 making disciples and discipling. 310 00:17:33,544 --> 00:17:39,284 And this is, this is not just OC or the LA church, this is widespread. 311 00:17:39,654 --> 00:17:47,064 We have words that there's no Greek equivalent of. 312 00:17:47,064 --> 00:17:51,425 Discipleship, discipled, discipling, Those have all sorts 313 00:17:51,425 --> 00:17:53,275 of meaning and the meaning evolved. 314 00:17:53,795 --> 00:17:58,204 It really started around the late seventies, but it didn't become like 315 00:17:58,205 --> 00:18:03,385 crystallized into the regular language till probably 89 to the early nineties. 316 00:18:04,045 --> 00:18:10,265 And just consider this for instance, when somebody says, I got, I got discipled. 317 00:18:13,155 --> 00:18:13,645 Okay. 318 00:18:14,715 --> 00:18:22,320 No, the, the word that's used twice, Matthew, 28 and Acts 14 in the Greek, 319 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:29,500 some version of that word, only twice in terms of a verb or an adjective, means to 320 00:18:29,500 --> 00:18:35,050 strengthen, to train, to help somebody go after the object, which is Jesus Christ. 321 00:18:35,909 --> 00:18:39,019 It doesn't mean correct, rebuke, humiliate, it doesn't. 322 00:18:39,980 --> 00:18:43,740 And so, I've tried to go for long stretches where I 323 00:18:43,740 --> 00:18:45,340 don't say any of those words. 324 00:18:45,915 --> 00:18:48,115 It's hard when you're around a community. 325 00:18:48,195 --> 00:18:49,355 That's all we're saying, right? 326 00:18:50,275 --> 00:18:53,704 The earlier purity culture and its effect on young women, this 327 00:18:53,704 --> 00:18:57,445 is significant, came to me from multiple places, but it's not just OC. 328 00:18:57,885 --> 00:19:02,464 And it's actually an evangelical baggage issue in this current era. 329 00:19:02,904 --> 00:19:07,544 But the version that I was hearing here was, be that young women were 330 00:19:07,544 --> 00:19:12,534 being treated in a punitive way for the way they dressed, As if they were 331 00:19:12,935 --> 00:19:15,695 being blamed for the lust of a male. 332 00:19:16,935 --> 00:19:18,074 That is ridiculous. 333 00:19:18,115 --> 00:19:20,544 The males are responsible for their lust. 334 00:19:25,714 --> 00:19:30,944 Certainly, young women will need to be guided humbly and respectfully 335 00:19:30,944 --> 00:19:37,814 and with great tact about making them aware of what can happen with guys. 336 00:19:38,384 --> 00:19:39,364 But not from blaming. 337 00:19:40,135 --> 00:19:41,125 Not from blaming. 338 00:19:41,905 --> 00:19:46,515 And so the then the effect on parents from negative experiences with kids and 339 00:19:46,515 --> 00:19:48,365 then seeing their kids not stick around. 340 00:19:49,335 --> 00:19:53,494 I mean, this, these are like, that's what a, you know, the kind of significant 341 00:19:53,494 --> 00:19:59,745 category ongoing conflicts and concerns among some of the ministry staff. 342 00:20:01,265 --> 00:20:05,175 Uh, with the south ministry external from some leadership. 343 00:20:06,405 --> 00:20:09,965 Towards some leadership in the South and there were conflicts within the South. 344 00:20:10,895 --> 00:20:15,585 Um, and then the Korean ministry also external, uh, issues that 345 00:20:15,635 --> 00:20:17,414 was, were treated as conflicts. 346 00:20:20,935 --> 00:20:27,415 The lack of implementation of mediation or arbitration of unresolved 347 00:20:27,415 --> 00:20:29,805 employment issues mandated by the L. 348 00:20:29,805 --> 00:20:30,045 A. 349 00:20:30,335 --> 00:20:31,895 employee handbook. 350 00:20:32,855 --> 00:20:34,175 Now, this was boilerplate. 351 00:20:35,810 --> 00:20:40,020 Like it's in every responsible, uh, religious body. 352 00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:44,560 And so what you see up on the screen, this is being slightly 353 00:20:44,580 --> 00:20:48,260 modified for going forward, but it's basically the same substance. 354 00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:51,360 That this just is what you do. 355 00:20:51,379 --> 00:20:52,280 You get help. 356 00:20:52,670 --> 00:20:54,160 You're required to get help. 357 00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:56,260 You have no choice but to get help. 358 00:20:57,035 --> 00:21:01,315 And you have the right to make sure that the help that you get is unbiased. 359 00:21:01,315 --> 00:21:03,185 It's a very neutral third party. 360 00:21:03,575 --> 00:21:06,274 It may happen in the church locally, some other part of the 361 00:21:06,274 --> 00:21:10,265 church where there's trusted, that can be an excellent resource. 362 00:21:10,545 --> 00:21:13,704 It could be in a brotherhood of familiar culture and tradition. 363 00:21:13,944 --> 00:21:16,185 Sometimes it's great to get it completely outside. 364 00:21:16,635 --> 00:21:20,015 I had a professor that used to say, sometimes the Baptists need 365 00:21:20,015 --> 00:21:22,845 it from the Catholics and the church of Christ from the Jews. 366 00:21:22,845 --> 00:21:23,774 Okay. 367 00:21:23,774 --> 00:21:24,264 Okay. 368 00:21:24,750 --> 00:21:28,620 And there's wisdom behind it, because it's usually not about doctrine. 369 00:21:29,420 --> 00:21:33,900 It's about finding a third way, so you break out of either or 370 00:21:33,900 --> 00:21:39,980 thinking, or to see how we come across to people in a conflict. 371 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:42,850 That's usually a big part of a conflict, how we come across. 372 00:21:42,850 --> 00:21:45,360 But we need help, and they didn't get help. 373 00:21:45,460 --> 00:21:46,100 Staff didn't get it. 374 00:21:46,120 --> 00:21:49,820 Now, staff is humble about this, even admitting that, Hey, I forgot 375 00:21:49,820 --> 00:21:52,269 about that, or I didn't even read that, or didn't know that. 376 00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:57,830 There's a responsibility on both ends, administration, staff leadership, 377 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:02,480 and I think you should from time to time just rehearse scenarios 378 00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:06,280 that could bring out the worst in us and ask what our policies are. 379 00:22:08,349 --> 00:22:09,900 A low level of trust. 380 00:22:10,529 --> 00:22:14,930 Part of it was related to growing awareness of unresolved conflicts. 381 00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:19,540 And that happens not just in a congregation, that can 382 00:22:19,540 --> 00:22:20,370 happen in a brotherhood. 383 00:22:22,035 --> 00:22:22,575 That can happen. 384 00:22:22,755 --> 00:22:26,875 There's been times in the past where I didn't even want to go to a leadership 385 00:22:26,875 --> 00:22:33,005 meeting representing multiple churches because I knew for a fact that people 386 00:22:33,045 --> 00:22:38,175 in conflicts, not living quite right, were in prominent positions of speaking. 387 00:22:38,775 --> 00:22:42,785 And there were people in the room that were like rolling their eyes 388 00:22:42,835 --> 00:22:44,265 or going to the bathroom a lot. 389 00:22:47,620 --> 00:22:51,270 I've seen where people will put in their ear pods and listen to a 390 00:22:51,270 --> 00:22:55,090 sermon from a denominational church, which that's okay, I do that too. 391 00:22:55,310 --> 00:22:57,220 But in the middle of a leadership workshop? 392 00:22:57,689 --> 00:22:58,099 No. 393 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:05,169 Related to how decisions have been made or how decisions have been communicated. 394 00:23:05,569 --> 00:23:10,120 Sometimes the right decisions are made, and they would have got there anyway, 395 00:23:10,120 --> 00:23:14,460 but there should have been collaboration and consensus building beforehand. 396 00:23:14,985 --> 00:23:16,594 And there should be a communication. 397 00:23:18,364 --> 00:23:22,964 Some of the trust involves some, but not all the staff members, and 398 00:23:22,964 --> 00:23:27,584 some of it's been related to unkept commitments, which leads to hope deferred. 399 00:23:29,364 --> 00:23:32,154 And I just want you to know, and this, putting this up on the slide, 400 00:23:32,164 --> 00:23:33,965 nobody on staff resists this. 401 00:23:34,754 --> 00:23:38,054 This is, some of it comes straight from the staff, and we've talked 402 00:23:38,054 --> 00:23:39,264 about it in open settings. 403 00:23:41,985 --> 00:23:45,905 The need for clarity on policy, authority, supervision, and covenants, 404 00:23:46,205 --> 00:23:49,815 including how to identify and address potential conflicts of interest. 405 00:23:50,705 --> 00:23:53,815 And the first part of it is about just making sure people 406 00:23:53,815 --> 00:23:58,074 know, even congregational members know, what are the mechanisms if 407 00:23:58,074 --> 00:23:59,805 there's a grievance or a concern. 408 00:24:00,535 --> 00:24:01,645 Those kinds of things. 409 00:24:01,795 --> 00:24:05,255 And, uh, but here, around the conflict of interest, there's a 410 00:24:05,265 --> 00:24:08,605 thought out in the church world that you can't be in two roles. 411 00:24:09,295 --> 00:24:11,045 Because there would be a conflict of interest. 412 00:24:11,885 --> 00:24:15,175 And actually, that's not, that's not very accurate. 413 00:24:17,005 --> 00:24:19,925 There's an advantage and a disadvantage of having multiple roles. 414 00:24:19,995 --> 00:24:21,965 If you are, here's the advantage. 415 00:24:22,165 --> 00:24:25,714 If you have multiple roles that are going to put you in multiple 416 00:24:25,725 --> 00:24:29,955 groups, you become a ligament between the groups of communication. 417 00:24:30,315 --> 00:24:31,815 It really is helpful. 418 00:24:32,655 --> 00:24:33,535 Very helpful. 419 00:24:34,125 --> 00:24:39,605 However, But if there's not a policy and an understanding and implementation 420 00:24:39,625 --> 00:24:45,154 of recusal when there's a potential conflict of interest and say, I might 421 00:24:45,154 --> 00:24:48,744 not be best to weigh in on this, I might, I might not even be best to be 422 00:24:48,744 --> 00:24:53,524 in the room on this, or can we pass this on to somebody else so there's no 423 00:24:53,524 --> 00:24:55,315 question about conflict of interest. 424 00:24:55,885 --> 00:25:00,054 We've got to get better on that and that became a concern as well. 425 00:25:00,065 --> 00:25:01,875 So I want to show you a slide. 426 00:25:03,900 --> 00:25:07,320 This slide is about, uh, it's kind of a hyperbole. 427 00:25:07,950 --> 00:25:13,159 And what I mean by that is on the left is a maze, which is how it 428 00:25:13,180 --> 00:25:16,050 feels sometimes in organizations. 429 00:25:16,430 --> 00:25:18,280 When we know, who do I call? 430 00:25:18,359 --> 00:25:20,130 What do we have written on that? 431 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:21,690 Is there a manual? 432 00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:23,370 Is there a policy? 433 00:25:24,140 --> 00:25:30,520 You know, and what happens in the maze is sometimes There's an oligarchy, you 434 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:32,730 know, a few kind of control things. 435 00:25:33,380 --> 00:25:35,050 There's an inner circle. 436 00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:39,100 And there's just, and I'm not projecting that here, I'm just saying what 437 00:25:39,109 --> 00:25:43,410 happens is, we don't know why we can't get a good answer or a good outcome. 438 00:25:44,605 --> 00:25:48,945 But on the right side is when you have somebody can walk you through this and 439 00:25:49,725 --> 00:25:52,074 super informed of how the church works. 440 00:25:52,074 --> 00:25:53,055 Here's our policies. 441 00:25:53,055 --> 00:25:53,995 Here's our handbook. 442 00:25:53,995 --> 00:25:55,125 Here's our covenants. 443 00:25:55,605 --> 00:26:00,485 And if you have a concern to report something that went wrong, that a bad 444 00:26:00,485 --> 00:26:03,725 thing that happened, first of all, take it to the outside authorities. 445 00:26:03,725 --> 00:26:05,545 If it's of a certain nature, right? 446 00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:08,330 But also here's what we do internally. 447 00:26:08,390 --> 00:26:12,780 And so to make sure we're being the best and here's how to handle it internally. 448 00:26:13,150 --> 00:26:17,330 And so again, these are two extremes, but they, they, they communicate. 449 00:26:17,659 --> 00:26:21,300 We want an open space and we want somebody wise who knows how the 450 00:26:21,300 --> 00:26:25,680 church works, uh, you know, because we live in complicated times. 451 00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:27,170 So I think that's really important. 452 00:26:29,310 --> 00:26:33,669 The seven, there's an urgent need for more elders. 453 00:26:34,330 --> 00:26:40,850 and other biblical roles and functions, including deacons and teachers, right? 454 00:26:41,190 --> 00:26:45,009 So there's an urge in you, but we're starting with the elders, top priority. 455 00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:50,330 If there was a robust eldership here, four or five people over the last 456 00:26:50,709 --> 00:26:53,940 seven years, ever since Kevin had passed away, you wouldn't even need me. 457 00:26:55,750 --> 00:26:59,680 And I would say, if there were strong, robust elderships in the LA church, 458 00:27:00,820 --> 00:27:02,740 Sizable enough for the community. 459 00:27:02,870 --> 00:27:05,840 I would have never been needed except for workshop training. 460 00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:10,180 I've come in and five very serious, serious situations. 461 00:27:10,820 --> 00:27:13,100 And so shepherding is a big part of it. 462 00:27:13,110 --> 00:27:17,969 Governance, quality governance with the right people and those roles for that. 463 00:27:17,980 --> 00:27:19,170 These moments in time. 464 00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:24,570 Okay, so in the reset part of the Orange County, by the way, these slides 465 00:27:24,570 --> 00:27:30,935 will go out, but um, There are three changes currently underway and six 466 00:27:30,935 --> 00:27:33,955 recommendations would have been nine recommendations, but you don't have 467 00:27:33,955 --> 00:27:37,214 to think about the first three here that are currently underway because 468 00:27:37,545 --> 00:27:39,204 the movements are the ship is sailed. 469 00:27:39,204 --> 00:27:42,605 We're moving in the right direction, but I wanna make sure you know what they are. 470 00:27:42,614 --> 00:27:45,835 And then, of course, six recommendations going forward. 471 00:27:46,544 --> 00:27:48,945 First, the development of elders and deacons. 472 00:27:48,945 --> 00:27:50,445 We started that on March 3rd. 473 00:27:51,105 --> 00:27:53,494 We created a process underlain to Mhm. 474 00:27:53,915 --> 00:27:59,304 Biblical criteria, nomination, vetting, review, syncing with the L. 475 00:27:59,304 --> 00:27:59,354 A. 476 00:27:59,354 --> 00:28:00,885 Church, syncing with the service team. 477 00:28:00,885 --> 00:28:04,975 We created a rep team of outstanding members within the Orange County 478 00:28:04,975 --> 00:28:06,674 Ministry to run things off of. 479 00:28:07,024 --> 00:28:08,624 And we've got the ball rolling. 480 00:28:08,625 --> 00:28:11,274 37 names were put forward for an eldership. 481 00:28:11,284 --> 00:28:15,314 Some of them, many of them were very few nominations, but, and then 482 00:28:15,314 --> 00:28:17,334 many of them were many nominations. 483 00:28:17,635 --> 00:28:19,114 Some have taken themselves out. 484 00:28:19,114 --> 00:28:22,614 We have come down to seven that we are still working with. 485 00:28:24,070 --> 00:28:27,759 And so many of those others would be great for deacons. 486 00:28:28,820 --> 00:28:33,029 So, but anyway, this is well underway and I predict that there would be 487 00:28:33,239 --> 00:28:38,209 round one, maybe two, three over the next, you know, six months or so. 488 00:28:38,209 --> 00:28:41,229 But the first round would be probably in June. 489 00:28:41,739 --> 00:28:44,939 Uh, and I will tell you how this ministry will be led in 490 00:28:44,939 --> 00:28:46,409 my absence a little bit later. 491 00:28:48,019 --> 00:28:54,159 The ministry is being reimagined from top down, which is church 492 00:28:54,399 --> 00:28:55,860 history is full of top down. 493 00:28:56,830 --> 00:28:58,519 We've certainly experienced top down. 494 00:28:58,719 --> 00:29:02,629 We're moving to more gift based, integrative, team oriented, 495 00:29:02,830 --> 00:29:04,560 and that's already happening. 496 00:29:04,830 --> 00:29:05,289 I see it. 497 00:29:05,289 --> 00:29:06,070 I'm in these meetings. 498 00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:09,249 I can officially say, I'm leading this meeting, and here's 499 00:29:09,249 --> 00:29:10,719 what I think we ought to do. 500 00:29:11,340 --> 00:29:12,379 But it's not like that. 501 00:29:12,990 --> 00:29:16,340 Because really, somebody comes in with, Hey, I want to be on top of this. 502 00:29:16,340 --> 00:29:17,340 I want to be on top of that. 503 00:29:17,340 --> 00:29:18,070 What do you think? 504 00:29:18,590 --> 00:29:21,250 And a lot of times in our meetings with the staff, I'm just watching 505 00:29:22,770 --> 00:29:24,020 same with the our fact meetings. 506 00:29:24,020 --> 00:29:28,379 There's a lot of, like, really good chemistry going on there because 507 00:29:28,689 --> 00:29:31,300 we're moving in the right direction. 508 00:29:32,740 --> 00:29:35,800 Now, this might be the next three slides might be the most 509 00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:38,100 important in this presentation. 510 00:29:39,050 --> 00:29:42,399 We're going to talk about memorializing lessons using a metaphor. 511 00:29:42,540 --> 00:29:46,009 The Japanese ken stands for gold and sugi means to reconnect. 512 00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:51,030 A kentsugi master mends the broken ware with lacquer and covers it with gold. 513 00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:53,419 The repaired pottery is even more beautiful and 514 00:29:53,419 --> 00:29:55,449 sophisticated than the original. 515 00:29:56,405 --> 00:30:01,025 Organizational consultants use this metaphor to make the point that sometimes 516 00:30:01,025 --> 00:30:04,965 having been through something where people are broken, systems are broken, 517 00:30:04,965 --> 00:30:08,805 the organization is broken, becomes such a great teachable moment that 518 00:30:08,815 --> 00:30:12,745 you want to never forget it, you want to shine a light on it, you want to 519 00:30:12,745 --> 00:30:16,995 point to it, you want to talk about it, so you become better because of it. 520 00:30:17,845 --> 00:30:19,535 It's like a superior failure. 521 00:30:19,775 --> 00:30:24,785 You're better because you had it, but you properly put it back together. 522 00:30:25,390 --> 00:30:29,450 Okay, so we want the staff has been going through an exercise where I 523 00:30:29,460 --> 00:30:34,330 sent them a five page document called memorialization facing previous 524 00:30:34,330 --> 00:30:38,050 challenges with integrity and honor and had gut wrenching questions in it. 525 00:30:38,590 --> 00:30:42,260 It's kind of a quiet time with gut wrenching questions reflecting 526 00:30:42,260 --> 00:30:43,830 what happened in this ministry. 527 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:48,650 And so I think I got almost all of them in or I got them all in 528 00:30:49,020 --> 00:30:52,430 and I'm going to be harmonizing. 529 00:30:52,935 --> 00:30:57,395 These lessons and you they will be available to you either in the report 530 00:30:57,395 --> 00:31:03,535 or as a separate piece, which takes us to something that's very related. 531 00:31:04,675 --> 00:31:05,975 The first recommendation. 532 00:31:06,665 --> 00:31:12,725 There has to be repentance and some sense of atonement, which some people 533 00:31:12,725 --> 00:31:15,555 use it to mean we become at one again. 534 00:31:16,335 --> 00:31:20,065 We become at one where we're fully crossing a threshold. 535 00:31:20,755 --> 00:31:22,215 We close a chapter. 536 00:31:22,925 --> 00:31:28,265 Because we figured out what divided us, what polarized us, what went wrong. 537 00:31:28,945 --> 00:31:33,295 And so we're going to be using the findings from the exercise. 538 00:31:34,195 --> 00:31:37,875 And then the staff members will stand before their ministries, 539 00:31:37,945 --> 00:31:42,965 articulating the very personal version that applies to them. 540 00:31:44,345 --> 00:31:47,395 And I'm going to recommend that the elders that we have, because 541 00:31:47,395 --> 00:31:51,695 we may have elders, plural, by the time this happens this summer. 542 00:31:52,275 --> 00:31:56,755 That even maybe some future elders and shepherding people are part of that, 543 00:31:56,835 --> 00:31:58,645 probably a midweek, I don't know. 544 00:31:59,185 --> 00:32:04,525 Um, but that there's ownership, real clear ownership. 545 00:32:05,365 --> 00:32:08,185 I think two bad things can happen in something like this, 546 00:32:08,265 --> 00:32:09,645 besides the obvious good. 547 00:32:10,145 --> 00:32:11,725 One is an over apology. 548 00:32:13,245 --> 00:32:15,915 And one is an under apology, second is an under apology. 549 00:32:16,685 --> 00:32:20,845 Over apology hurts the person who's apologizing because later on they go 550 00:32:21,505 --> 00:32:27,965 I just, I don't feel good, you know, and under apology hurts the community. 551 00:32:28,025 --> 00:32:30,055 They feel like that person doesn't get it. 552 00:32:30,515 --> 00:32:34,225 I've even delayed memorialization until sometimes people get professional 553 00:32:34,225 --> 00:32:37,645 help, you know, therapy, whatever, from a christian perspective, because 554 00:32:37,985 --> 00:32:40,095 these moments can be very intense. 555 00:32:40,925 --> 00:32:44,550 Um, Trying to figure out, you know, what was done wrong. 556 00:32:44,890 --> 00:32:48,260 The staff will express commitments to ensure that the same errors 557 00:32:48,260 --> 00:32:49,840 will not be repeated in the future. 558 00:32:49,850 --> 00:32:52,210 And they have to be really clear, articulate, because we 559 00:32:52,290 --> 00:32:53,590 want to mean business here. 560 00:32:54,070 --> 00:32:57,200 Close that chapter through repentance and atonement. 561 00:32:58,760 --> 00:32:59,750 Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't. 562 00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:04,090 Okay, so now, uh, number two, complete the team leadership model. 563 00:33:05,970 --> 00:33:07,110 That's the team. 564 00:33:07,540 --> 00:33:10,480 Staff has been working on something and they've got to pave some good 565 00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:14,940 ways by reading good books on church leadership from the team perspective. 566 00:33:15,220 --> 00:33:17,570 They even created a document that had a lot going for it. 567 00:33:17,910 --> 00:33:19,810 I think they need to wrap it up. 568 00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:23,370 I talked to Marcel, who I think has the document, the latest 569 00:33:23,370 --> 00:33:25,100 version, and he's out of town today. 570 00:33:25,100 --> 00:33:29,310 But I said, what I would suggest is that you guys come up with a two page version. 571 00:33:30,210 --> 00:33:31,860 Because I think it might be like 10 pages. 572 00:33:32,270 --> 00:33:33,120 Keep it simple. 573 00:33:33,630 --> 00:33:35,720 And it's always divided into two things. 574 00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:36,900 Perspective gathering. 575 00:33:36,900 --> 00:33:39,970 When you're going to make a decision, you want to have good perspective. 576 00:33:40,250 --> 00:33:40,500 Right? 577 00:33:40,500 --> 00:33:42,300 People in the thinking. 578 00:33:42,700 --> 00:33:44,530 And then you want to define the subject well. 579 00:33:44,540 --> 00:33:46,030 Set up the team with the team leader. 580 00:33:46,050 --> 00:33:47,470 Who are your additional partners? 581 00:33:47,940 --> 00:33:49,250 What kind of style are we using? 582 00:33:49,250 --> 00:33:51,490 Consensus building or collaboration? 583 00:33:51,490 --> 00:33:52,580 Those are two different things. 584 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:54,380 And how are we going to communicate it? 585 00:33:54,380 --> 00:33:55,880 Number three. 586 00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:57,170 Number three. 587 00:33:57,595 --> 00:34:01,035 Each member, this is for everybody here, makes one another commitments. 588 00:34:01,525 --> 00:34:04,325 I'm going to introduce a Greek word that may change your mind 589 00:34:04,335 --> 00:34:05,955 about one anotherness forever. 590 00:34:07,195 --> 00:34:13,815 Homothumadon is formed by two words that mean one and spirited and passionate. 591 00:34:15,025 --> 00:34:19,085 And that is often translated in the book of Acts as all together or came together. 592 00:34:20,940 --> 00:34:24,199 Bible translators have trouble with this word. 593 00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:27,820 Because if they would really translate it to get the full dynamic 594 00:34:27,820 --> 00:34:29,409 meaning, it would be multiple words. 595 00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:34,650 It would be, Come together and be the greatest version of yourself and 596 00:34:34,659 --> 00:34:36,210 draw the best out of one another. 597 00:34:36,989 --> 00:34:38,870 It's, One in one is three. 598 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:41,780 You know, You know, it's that kind of a thing. 599 00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:44,920 But the original hearers knows what homothumadon is. 600 00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:48,330 It's a word that describes how people get unified as they're 601 00:34:48,340 --> 00:34:50,980 going out to war, you know? 602 00:34:51,100 --> 00:34:55,409 So when we walk into a room with other people, you know, a small group or in 603 00:34:55,409 --> 00:34:59,210 fellowship, it shouldn't be like, hey, yeah, hey, we're here, yeah, yeah. 604 00:34:59,810 --> 00:35:04,080 No, I mean, there should be a togetherness, okay? 605 00:35:04,560 --> 00:35:07,200 And so I wanna give you some charges here. 606 00:35:07,230 --> 00:35:10,640 I think we should be in the habit of getting with people 607 00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:11,640 we don't naturally like. 608 00:35:13,450 --> 00:35:18,980 So that means if somebody sets up an appointment with you today, I use this 609 00:35:19,020 --> 00:35:20,610 because you don't think you don't like me. 610 00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:26,510 Um, live unoffendable lives. 611 00:35:26,540 --> 00:35:28,250 Be devoted to one another. 612 00:35:28,310 --> 00:35:29,740 Don't withhold your love. 613 00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:31,290 Carry each other's burdens. 614 00:35:31,500 --> 00:35:32,760 Assume the best motives. 615 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:33,730 Speak the truth in love. 616 00:35:33,730 --> 00:35:36,100 And by the way, you should look at the passages because they say 617 00:35:36,100 --> 00:35:38,280 it better than I possibly have. 618 00:35:38,660 --> 00:35:42,805 I think, you know, If we come giving our all, don't withhold our affection, 619 00:35:42,815 --> 00:35:46,135 don't withhold our contribution, don't withhold our gifts from the 620 00:35:46,135 --> 00:35:50,765 church, and we're in, I think we're going to see some really great things. 621 00:35:52,855 --> 00:35:55,355 Periodically review and pivot the culture. 622 00:35:55,395 --> 00:35:57,935 I'm not going to spend a lot of time here, but the authors of this book, 623 00:35:57,935 --> 00:36:02,575 Pivot, make a great case for there are seven things that show up when a culture 624 00:36:02,705 --> 00:36:04,755 goes bad, and it's usually not all seven. 625 00:36:05,525 --> 00:36:08,825 And you can probably figure out the ones that come from our history. 626 00:36:09,175 --> 00:36:11,685 And then on the right side, these are the antidotes. 627 00:36:11,825 --> 00:36:16,345 And so, uh, there would be specific ways to facilitate 628 00:36:16,355 --> 00:36:18,105 having conversations about this. 629 00:36:18,175 --> 00:36:21,195 I will have more in the report about it. 630 00:36:22,025 --> 00:36:25,345 I think you should develop a renewal strategy for the dispirited. 631 00:36:26,645 --> 00:36:29,275 My wife 20 years ago. 632 00:36:29,295 --> 00:36:31,215 There's the person who's baptized who's fired up. 633 00:36:31,680 --> 00:36:35,120 Then there's the enthusiast person who's grown, been around for a few months. 634 00:36:35,150 --> 00:36:36,760 They become a new Bible talk leader. 635 00:36:37,690 --> 00:36:41,230 And then after a while, they go through a bad experience and they get dispirited. 636 00:36:41,230 --> 00:36:44,500 That might take 10 or 15 years, but it happens. 637 00:36:45,050 --> 00:36:47,330 And then they get stuck and they get mad. 638 00:36:47,900 --> 00:36:50,600 And the twos and the threes don't get along with each other. 639 00:36:51,820 --> 00:36:55,370 The fired up Bible talk leader says, you're so into yourself. 640 00:36:55,410 --> 00:36:56,830 Why are you not bringing visitors? 641 00:36:56,830 --> 00:36:57,580 Why are you negative? 642 00:36:58,455 --> 00:37:00,745 That's 1990s culture, but that's what happened. 643 00:37:01,935 --> 00:37:05,515 And so the dispirited person will say, you're just so shallow. 644 00:37:05,515 --> 00:37:06,805 You're just cranking numbers. 645 00:37:08,175 --> 00:37:12,555 Again, we implemented this when that stuff was very real. 646 00:37:13,375 --> 00:37:17,995 The mature person values all of the earlier three and the mature 647 00:37:17,995 --> 00:37:19,935 person has been in all the threes. 648 00:37:21,265 --> 00:37:24,355 And so they can have a gracious attitude and when we create the 649 00:37:24,355 --> 00:37:28,685 space for the dispirited person to get well, they go on to maturity. 650 00:37:29,365 --> 00:37:33,785 And so I could actually see groups led by elders and shepherding type people 651 00:37:33,785 --> 00:37:38,305 and deacons where we create a space for our participants to be real, to 652 00:37:38,315 --> 00:37:42,755 be heard, to be encouraged, to gain spiritual wisdom and receive guidance. 653 00:37:42,815 --> 00:37:45,265 And I have a whole section in the report about that. 654 00:37:48,060 --> 00:37:51,770 Number six, we need robust communications. 655 00:37:52,580 --> 00:37:56,490 There are at least 15 areas when strong communications are vital. 656 00:37:57,020 --> 00:38:01,310 In a plan to meet an unmet need, a disputed resolution, major expense, 657 00:38:01,340 --> 00:38:03,170 possible hire, all these kinds of things. 658 00:38:03,670 --> 00:38:04,304 We need robust communication. 659 00:38:05,705 --> 00:38:08,735 This is an area that we could probably read five books on and 660 00:38:08,735 --> 00:38:10,565 still feel like we need to read more. 661 00:38:11,175 --> 00:38:13,585 Not because the Bible is not clear about how to do this. 662 00:38:13,585 --> 00:38:17,555 The Bible modifies it wonderfully, but we are in such a sophisticated 663 00:38:17,555 --> 00:38:21,275 age where computers and technologies and media and all this kind of 664 00:38:21,275 --> 00:38:22,345 stuff, like how do we do it? 665 00:38:22,375 --> 00:38:23,215 How do we communicate? 666 00:38:23,365 --> 00:38:25,785 Who do we, and I think it gets complicated. 667 00:38:26,195 --> 00:38:29,375 And it's, but it's one of the ways to get trust that might've 668 00:38:29,385 --> 00:38:30,695 been liquidated previously. 669 00:38:31,745 --> 00:38:36,755 Okay, so this is what happened at the end of the story with Josiah. 670 00:38:37,225 --> 00:38:41,085 It's the next chapter, and such a great story that I'm going to 671 00:38:41,515 --> 00:38:44,715 request that you read it on your own time, but here's the conclusion. 672 00:38:45,505 --> 00:38:47,785 And the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace. 673 00:38:48,775 --> 00:38:51,625 And it was a huge story that took place in one chapter. 674 00:38:52,505 --> 00:38:53,665 And they were at peace. 675 00:38:54,265 --> 00:38:58,445 I want to ask you, what will the story be for the Orange County renewal? 676 00:38:58,445 --> 00:39:04,065 You And the Orange County Church found peace, dot, dot, dot. 677 00:39:04,365 --> 00:39:09,125 Because there was more to that outcome for Judah, and there's going 678 00:39:09,125 --> 00:39:11,025 to be more than just having peace. 679 00:39:12,115 --> 00:39:13,235 Fill in the blank. 680 00:39:13,275 --> 00:39:14,655 What do you think it ought to be? 681 00:39:15,335 --> 00:39:20,265 Pay attention to the scriptures and get some ideas and be a 682 00:39:20,265 --> 00:39:24,855 participant in a greater form of one another ness and engaging. 683 00:39:27,035 --> 00:39:27,475 So. 684 00:39:28,710 --> 00:39:29,710 This is where we're at. 685 00:39:30,520 --> 00:39:31,440 Phase three. 686 00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:33,300 I've got some good news here. 687 00:39:33,980 --> 00:39:37,930 The Orange County service team recommended and along with the discussion in the 688 00:39:37,930 --> 00:39:41,700 South last time and in collaboration with the our facts of the Metro 689 00:39:41,720 --> 00:39:45,360 in Orange County of both regions, Robert and Michelle will lead the 690 00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:47,880 South ministry on a halftime basis. 691 00:39:54,330 --> 00:39:57,150 And they will lead the staff as well. 692 00:39:58,120 --> 00:40:01,240 Robert will be the spiritual director and the team leader. 693 00:40:01,250 --> 00:40:05,990 They will have a supervisory authoritative role, but this is 694 00:40:05,990 --> 00:40:08,170 not about coming in with a pyramid. 695 00:40:08,210 --> 00:40:13,110 This is coming in to continue the work, started with the service team, what 696 00:40:13,110 --> 00:40:17,930 I've been doing, and this is a six month engagement that could go longer. 697 00:40:18,570 --> 00:40:19,050 Okay? 698 00:40:19,050 --> 00:40:22,960 And he will be working in close partnership with the elders when it 699 00:40:22,960 --> 00:40:26,260 comes to mapping out his schedule and stuff, but he's got a good start plan. 700 00:40:27,415 --> 00:40:29,965 Robert will be completing the elder process. 701 00:40:30,995 --> 00:40:35,385 The 2023 survey from last fall, which you've not seen the results on yet. 702 00:40:36,255 --> 00:40:42,915 Robert this month is doing an exact version of that with the, uh, quantifiable 703 00:40:42,915 --> 00:40:47,355 questions and you will get released the findings of both side by side. 704 00:40:48,295 --> 00:40:53,845 And, um, Robert will be collaborating with you and the 705 00:40:53,855 --> 00:40:55,905 selection of a long time leader. 706 00:40:55,920 --> 00:41:00,710 Uh, in the kind of collaboration processes we've been having these last few months, 707 00:41:01,240 --> 00:41:03,690 so we are really coming around the corner. 708 00:41:04,360 --> 00:41:06,400 Phase three starts June 1st. 709 00:41:06,410 --> 00:41:08,380 That's when Robert and Michelle start. 710 00:41:08,550 --> 00:41:12,520 I will be working with Robert and Michelle and the service team and 711 00:41:12,520 --> 00:41:14,480 the staff for the rest this month. 712 00:41:15,030 --> 00:41:19,030 And, uh, you know, if things get glitchy or weird just because, you know, let's 713 00:41:19,030 --> 00:41:20,690 say Robert gets sick or something. 714 00:41:21,500 --> 00:41:26,080 I'm a phone call away or a zoom meeting away, and, uh, I'm with 715 00:41:26,140 --> 00:41:33,090 this story waiting, praying and encouraging till we really cross over 716 00:41:33,090 --> 00:41:36,750 into full renewal, and I want to say it's been an honor to be with you. 717 00:41:36,760 --> 00:41:37,540 Thank you very much.