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One final John Morgan story from Sagemont.  He’s a world class hunter who has hunted in 28 countries. We pastors were talking about the complexity of churches as they grow larger. He said the larger a church grows the more complex it gets - to about a thousand - then you have to restructure at that point and then it gets simple again. If you don’t change your mode of operation, you won’t survive and neither will the church. He said when he goes on a hunting expedition and someone gets off the plane with with all kinds of bells and whistels hanging off them, a dozen guns, looking like they just walked out of the L.L. Bean catalogue he knows that guy probably isn’t that much of a hunter. He said you only need 2 maybe 3 guns that take down anything in the entire world. A serious hunter travels light and keeps it simple. A man spanning the savana with binoculars to see the lion coming is too late. By the time he sees it, he then has to drop the binoculars then focus through his scope before he can shoot. That scope is the greatest set of binoculars you can have. If you see the lion with the scope, you have time to shoot. If you don’t, you’ll use your scope, you probably won’t see the lion in time, but he may see you and guess who gets who! Not bad advice for anything with reference to complexity.

I finished my time with several leading Southern Baptist mega-church pastors and enjoyed it at the Soderquist Center for Leadership and Ethics. That was the first time I’ve ever been involved with mega-church pastors from my historic roots and, candidly, I was a little apprehensive about it. Most of the time, when I am with mega-church guys, it’s a different group. It was fascinating, interesting, intriguing, confusing at times, but overall fun and very beneficial. Some of those guys really have incredible senses of humor which came close to getting me in trouble a couple of times. Getting to hang out with Don Soderquist and learn from one of the greatest living businessmen alive was a rare and incredible opportunity.

One pastor I really enjoyed a lot was John Morgan from Sagemont Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. He’s been at his church for 42 years! It’s easy for people to develop opinions about some of these men who are key leaders of huge churches from seeing them from a distance, but when you get up close to them they can be pretty cool. Most of them didn’t ever anticipate what their future would be let alone expect it. Therefore, they’ve tried to manage it as best they can.

John is friends with Stewart Morris, the President of Stewart Title. I’m good friends with his son Malcolm, the CEO, who also started Living Water, the premier water NGO for the world. Malcolm and his wife Becky will be with me in Vietnam later in November. John is close friends to Stewart who is now 90. Stewart called John to come eat lunch with him—a subway sandwich! He told John he was going to give him something he gives only to employees when they come and it’s only been given out only one other time outside the organization—the personel manual. He asked John if he would he like it. John said, “Well Stewart I’d love to have it, I’d be honored!”

Perspective—based in Houston, Stewart Title has 13,200 offices world-wide, 47,500 employees, and processes a billion dollars a day through its offices.

Stewart carefully hands John a little piece of paper and on it are two words, “Do Right!” He said, “That’s it—ever since I’ve been leading this company that’s what we tell our employees.” I wonder if Stewart knew Ken Lay? I wonder if he ever challenged Ken Lay? It’s a …

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The past 3 days I’ve been in some incredible meetings.  Been checking my emails as I can.  Several exciting issues are happening with several planters that have come out of NorthWood.  Everything from meeting Howard Schultz, to multiplying a church, to getting land, to you name it.  One thing that I’ve realized is, you plant a church for only the first 2 to 3 years max then regardless of where you meet you’re a church.  However, once a church planter, a church planter always thinks of himself as a church planter.  I think of myself as a church planter.  That was 22 years ago!!!!  I’m glad to say I’m a church multiplier, and that keeps us up on the edge.  What sets a planter apart is vision, desperation, risk, and experimentation.  Those are 4 things that should stay in a pastors life until the very end.    I did a ropes course yesterday with several pastors. The guy who cracked me up the most was a guy named Ted Trailer.  He had to balance himself, and it was hilarious seeing this red-headed, white-legged, skinny, knock-kneed man trying to hold on for dear life, but he was doing it!  When we “settle” in whatever ministry we’re in, we’ve lost the “ethos” of a church planter.  Rock on little bros - Big Bobby is rootin’ for ya!  Come on you young punks—you just try to keep up with me!

I’m at the Soderquist Center for Leadership and Ethics in Rogers, Arkansas with 10 mega-church pastors.  It’s been really good.  They’ve given us lots of evaluation tests, personality tests, and lots of interactive learning.  Things like this are both encouraging and depressing.  Encouraging because others are dealing with the same things and you can talk about it and try to grow.  Depressing, because none of us are perfect and seem to spend years trying to be more than we are overcoming our weaknesses, inabilities and worst of all - sin.  The guys I’m here with are real men, just like anyone else - dealing with their junk.  Some you see on TV, some in the paper - but when all said and done - just men who are gifted in a few areas.  Last night Don Soderquist talked to us - he was really good.  He spoke to us on leading like Jesus.  What a cool thing - a business guy preaching a bunch of pastors in the room who represent tens of thousands on Sundays and some of the TV ministries representing hundreds of thousands - maybe millions.  This is the new world we live in - and to me - it’s a good world.  There are so many people   who care about all of us waiting to speak into our lives - if we’ll just listen.

I love First Baptist Church of Glenarden, Maryland where Pastor John Jenkins is the senior pastor. This weekend they entered their new 4,000 seat Worship Center. I was able to be there on Saturday for the ribbon cutting ceremony. It was good to see many of my friends from Vision 360 along with some missionaries I’ve heard about for years. And, in addition, getting to see my old buddy Dwight McKissic who also flew up from Texas. John is one of the most “real” men I’ve ever known. He’s warm, intelligent, discerning, wise and “has it together.” We’ve been on cruises together, delicate state department meetings together, board meetings together, and even shared pulpits. Nikki and I love being with him and Trina. I get frustrated because our building isn’t going up fast enough. I found out John’s building took a lot longer. Of course, it’s a lot larger. I sat in his dedication service and was so moved by all they are doing, the people present, all of it was just incredible! If I lived at least 45 minutes from that church, that’s where I’d go to church. I can’t go in that place that I don’t sense the presence of God. Heavenly Father, keep ‘em passionate, keep ‘em lovin’ you, keep ‘em lookin up, keep ‘em movin’ out!

Last night Nikki and I began another year of interns at my home.  These guys will all plant churches.  It was a blast. Young married couples and singles crammed into our living room.  Two things were very different about this group.  First, the majority were non-anglo.  The “whites” were the minority!  This is a first, and a happy first.  Don’t get me wrong “crackers” I am one and love you and we want you - but the world is bigger than us “honkies” and we need to connect with it.  Second, a third of the guys are going to be planting outside the U.S.  I’m pumped, pumped, pumped - it just keeps developing.  I wanted to have a picture - but we went too long and it was dark outside and too many to get in a group picture inside.

I’ve read a lot of books this year. The Black Swan by Taleb on how history jumps was really good. Wikinomics by Don Tapscott is continuing to dramatically impact my thinking unlike any other business or sociology book since Friedman’s The World is Flat. But, of all the “religious” books I’ve read (and written) if I could get someone to read one book, it would be Pilgrims of Christ on the Muslim Road by Paul-Gordon Chandler. It’s the equivalent of Christ of the Indian Road by E. Stanley Jones. It’s a real page-turner and full of “missional” living. It will be next to impossible to put down when you start it—I warn you. With all the writing on “missional” and what it looks like, I’ve been saying our next great leaders are coming from the East and we need to be ready to learn from them. Mazhar Mallouhi is one of those leaders. He just doesn’t teach theory. It is the story of his life. I’m convinced more and more missional living isn’t theory and theology as much as it is biography. And, wow, is this biography! Paul-Gordon Chandler is an excellent writer who does us all a great service by exposing us to Mazhar. Church planters, it will teach you contextualization. Western Christians, it will help you understand Muslims. Middle-Eastern Muslims, it will help you understand Christians. Everybody, it will inspire you to live as followers of Jesus.