Blog - CJ Alvarado

The Worship Industry

Posted By CJ / March, 25, 2008 / 0 comments

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What say ye?

The Growth Paradox

Posted By CJ / March, 20, 2008 / 0 comments

Every church wants to grow.

At least I think and hope so. On a rudimentary level I guess it can be a type of measuring stick by which we judge how well we are doing. This can and has been misused when “the numbers” become the sole focus but I won’t be talking about that. This morning I was thinking about the differences in feelings towards growth. On one hand I feel like the idea of growth should be exciting among church staffers, volunteers and the congregation. But so many that I have talked to lately have expressed concern and hesitancy towards the idea. So I started probing. As raw as this is at the moment I’m starting to see something among many churches which I’ll call The Growth Paradox.

Growth means more work for someone. Someone on some level is working more to make the “dream” happen. If the leadership spreading the vision is disconnected from the staff and the issues the staff faces, then I guarantee the excitement for growth will not be shared wholeheartedly. How can it be when in actuality they will have to do more work.

“How can he/she think about growth when we are up to our necks in work. We are barely getting by right now.” “I hope they are going to bring on some people to help.”

I recently heard an interview with Andy Stanly of Northpoint Ministries and he was talking about the culture at Northpoint. He mentioned that the satisfaction of the congregation was so closely tied to the satisfaction of the staff. He found that when his staff was excited about being at church that it would translate to the congregation. As a result, he makes it a point to go and check in frequently with the staff and asks how they are doing, what do they need to do their job well etc.

In an interview with the CEO of Jiffy Lube the CEO stated that each manager including executive managers were to spend a couple weeks-a month at a local Jiffy Lube shop every year seeing what it is like at that level. He stated that the connection enabled them to provide relevant and enduring solutions which overall contributed to the success of the franchise.

While I was working at Digidesign as a Product Specialist I saw the GM frequently show up to a setup or tear down of a conference or tradeshow and stick around for an hour or so to lend a hand. I saw him on a number of occasions rolling up his sleeves and getting in the trenches. I marveled at this because he obviously did not need to do this and while many of the upper directors and managers left he stayed and helped. I can’t tell you the impact this had on the group. It was the one ingredient that single handedly built trust between the techs and him. Eventually when we cried out about something we needed he made it happened very quickly or he went to bat for us because he understood the situation. On the other hand, If he needed something done or a drastic change needed to happen in the plan, then we worked hard to make it happen. It was very healthy. When he talked about growth we trusted him and shared the excitement because we had a sense that Dave (The GM) wouldn’t leave us hanging.

Today I think about the kind of manager I want to be. I want to be visible, accessible and connected to my staff. I don’t want to spread my “vision” for growth at the expense of an already over worked staff.

Any thoughts?

Commute Nuggets

Posted By CJ / March, 19, 2008 / 1 comments

Most of you know that currently I have a 45 minute commute to work everyday. This time isn’t all that bad as some of the stuff you see on the road is funny. Some real Commute Nuggets! I’ve seen over turned busses, road ragers, seaguls murdered by the windshield of speeding vehicles, nose pickers and other oddities that now I just find humorous.

Today I was on the bridge when I came along a Semi which had some graffiti on the side of it. This might be the most amazing Graffiti I have seen in a long time. Thank you “Thryl” for that fine diplay of urban art.