Okay – this is not a TONY ROBBINSish blog or a new age blog.

This is also not a blog on how I was able to marry a beautiful woman

This is how we get to attract people to volunteer in church.

1. VISION – it should be a big vision. People want to matter so your vision has to matter if you want to attract people to serve.

2. LEADER – people have to love the leader or they won’t last. I have seen this happen in some circles. They love the vision, they rallied behind the leader but found out later that the leader is not worth following. They left the team and looked for a new team with the same vision. Are you a leader worth following?

3. TEAM – they have to love the people that they would serve with if you want them to stay. Chemistry is so important. One of the major changes we made with our music ministry was to create 4 bands. The bands would have the same team, practice together and lead the people in worship together and the key to make it happen is that they would learn to like each other.

ps: Got this from Pastor Tim Stevens and mixed it with how we applied it.

Derek Sivers gave a wonderful talk on leadership and movements in less than 3 minutes. This is a must watch for people who want to make a difference.

With all the social networks around there is no excuse not to make your communication among your tribe (church, office, business, family, friends) tight. Communication today is so fast that I could tell at least 2000 people that I am now working in the office. That means if I am selling a vision, asking for volunteers, pleading for a cause, fund raising – it would be just a click away.

For Christianity to expand – we have to make use of the resources available to us. The internet is God’s gift to Christianity but if we don’t maximize it – it could become Christianity’s worst nightmare.

To my Christian bros and sis – let us take this technology and spread the GOOD NEWS.

I was in the hospital this afternoon to pray for our member whose dad is in critical condition. While waiting for our turn to enter the ICU, a doctor pass by and stopped and looked intently on me. He stared for around 3 seconds and smiled. He then said the 2 magic words I commonly hear from people who I think I know or knows me:

“Pastor………………Victory?”

Tonight I dated my wife in Gateway Cubao. While buying tickets to watch Wolverine I heard 4 girls mention the word ………. “Pastor”. Immediately I knew they were from Victory.

I said hi to them and went down to meet my wife who was shopping. While walking a girl waves her hand and nods.

I heard my mind say “Hmmm…..Victory.”

The incident reminded me of God. If there are Victory people everywhere – then where can I hide?

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? Psalms 139:7 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. Psalms 139:8 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, Psalms 139:9 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. Psalms 139:10

THE NEXT GREAT CHALLENGE FOR OUR TEAM IS TO BRING OUR PEOPLE FROM

- CHURCH BUILDING TO OUR SMALL GROUPS
- ATTENDEE TO CHURCH MEMBERS
- SPECTATOR TO PLAYER
- ENGAGING THEM TO ESTABLISHING THEM

A GOOD PICTURE IS A LOT OF OUR PEOPLE ARE IN THE FOYER. OUR CHALLENGE IS TO MOVE THEM TO THE LIVING ROOM.

IN LOCAL SETTING – WE WANT OUR PEOPLE NOT TO STAY IN THE GATE OF OUR HOUSE. WE WANT THEM COMING TO OUR SALA!!!!

WE ARE CHALLENGING EVERY MEMBER OF OUR CHURCH TO START THINKING GROUPS. WHY GROUPS?

WAIT FOR MY NEXT BLOG

When Jesus came to earth, he had one PASSIONATE goal.

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” Luke 19:10

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:17

He then recruited 12 men and imparted the GOAL passionately.

With the goal in mind, he then ask them to:

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. 2Timothy 2:2

He created a system that allowed the movement to grow (discipleship) and He used the disciples as a leverage to let Christianity spread worldwide.

In summary: MOVEMENTS IN CHURCH HAPPENS WHEN

1. THEIR IS A SHARED PASSIONATE GOAL : SAVE THE LOST
2. THEIR IS A SYSTEM ON HOW TO REACH THE GOAL: DISCIPLESHIP
3. THEIR ARE TRIBES SPREADING THE WORD

Here is HARD reality, people will leave your church.

Gone are the days when someone leaves your church and its because of their moral failure or a sinful thing happened in church.

Reasons could vary:

1. boring sermons
2. too fun
3. too traditional
4. too contemporary
5. too big
6. too small
7. too offensive
8. too soft
9. too manly
10. too womanly

If the person does not like your leadership style, your preaching, your systems, your structure, they can freely leave and

MOVE TO A CHURCH THAT FITS THEM.

Sad but true.

The title of this blog might brand me as a heretic but please give me an opportunity to explain.

Jesus is Lord. Jesus is to be worshiped. No doubt about it. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. Jesus is always there. People know Jesus. RELIGIOUS TRIBES AND JESUS TRIBES abound everywhere. Some tribes are called fellowship, bible study groups or churches.

My challenge is this: People tribe. Who’s leading?

Pastors we are called to lead the flock. To shepherd them. In tribal terms, we are the tribal leader.

Every one of these tribes is looking for leadership and someone who will connect them.

Pastors – this is our opportunity. This is our job. If we think making messages is our only job then we’ve missed the point. The question is will you lead the tribe?

If you signed up for church planting what you are saying is YES, I want to lead a tribe that points people to Jesus.

Pastor, you are the leader. The tribe needs you!

I just finished a wonderful book by Seth Godin, “TRIBES, we need you to Lead us.” A powerful book that fascinated and reignited my passion to study culture being a graduate of Social Studies and Behavioral Sciences.

Godin zeroed in that millions of tribes exist today but NO ONE IS LEADING THEM.

Sounds like the people are crying out for change and transformation thus forming tribes.
The question is who wants to lead those tribes.

We have facebook tribes, multiply tribes, hiphop tribes, artist tribes, athletes tribes, wine lovers tribe, nationalistic tribes, money maker tribes, single mom’s tribe, shopaholic tribes, nursing tribes, doctor’s tribe, pastor’s kids tribe ( I hope you get the point)

We’ve heard of “birds of the same feather flock together.” Fish form schools.

Prior to the 8th month of our church, some elders ( mature people) approached me and told me about a concern they have in how the church is run. This people who approached me were some of the most sold out, loyal, God-minded people you could ever ask for in a member of a church. Their concern was that they wanted me to preach more often in church.

At that time I was scheduled to preach 3x a month and then we invite guests pastors to preach or Pastor Chinkee to fill up my slot. The concern was they needed to see me up in the pulpit more often because they said I was leading this church.

I contemplated real hard on what they have to say and beleive me I have some good reasons why I only preach 3x a month. After much thought, I went to my mentor, Pastor Joey – senior pastor of Victory Fort, and ask about his opinion about it.

He then started explaining the concept of TRIBES. The main thesis of this concept was that people need someone to lead them. A tribal leader to unite them.

On this aspect, I was not fulfilling the mandate given to me as the tribal leader. Our Greenhills people were at a lost. They were clamoring for someone to lead them.

I talked to our pastoral team about the concern and we agreed to focus on building the GH tribe. I would take a more active role in becoming the tribal leader.

Pastors here is what I learned. Our people needs to see an obvious leader and a person who would lead them. We have to build TRUST with our people (our tribe).

We have to instill an atmosphere of a tribal group. The stronger the tribe is the more effective it becomes.

How to be a TRIBAL LEADER:

1. Take the lead in creating the atmosphere of where you want the church to go.
2. Communicate your leadership. Let people know you are the leader.
3. Lead courageously. Take RISKS. Champion the cause of your church.
4. Preach more often on your worship services. Experiment on guest speakers when the tribe is intact.
5. Live by the maxim that DISCIPLESHIP IS RELATIONSHIP.