Sticky Faith Summit – Scott Cormode – Session #2

Sticky Faith

Session #2

Dr. Scott Cormode

Leadership Begins with Listening
One of the most powerful pieces of scripture is the Lament
The lament tells us that we can speak honestly to God, especially when we are angry.
Leadership begins with listening
If you can’t listen to people’s pain and anger, you have no business listening.
In the laments, God accepts people’s anger, even though it’s misdirected.
We have to do the same.
We can’t allow ourselves to jump too quickly from lament to hope, it cuts short the healing process.
We have to understand the depth of people’s pain to bring the healing of hope.
Story has a ton of power.
Story of aging church and the cribs that were illegal.
Churches have stories about children/youth ministry, there are reasons they pay us.
We want to mess it up.
We want to change what it means to be a parent.
Mental models are the images that we hold in our head of how things are supposed to be.
Mark 8 is a seminal model of the challenges of changing the mental models people have.
People disagreed on who He was, the disciples knew He was Messiah.
He had to change their view of Messiah.
They didn’t get it until after He died.
We must be patient with these changes in people.
We have to offer and alternative story for their future.
It’s not enough to discredit an old story.
To thrive in the midst of social change, we have to:

1. Tell new stories
2. Listen to old stories with new ears

BASIC: all good stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end

Story of Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address

1. start with the constitution in 1785, you had to keep slavery (slaves were 3/5 of a person)
2. starts with the Declaration of Independence in 1776, no slavery

Starting with a different past puts you on a different trajectory to the future.
It’s not vision until it emanates back from the people.
It’s not vision until other people “come up with a new idea”
You don’t get. or deserve, credit.
Paul – Appollos – God
Plant- Water – Increase

Being a good parent improves your odds, it doesn’t guarantee anything.
Being a good leader improves your odds, it doesn’t guarantee anything.
God gives the results, He gets the credit.
We do NOT get the credit.

Mentoring answer – If the grownups won’t come to the teenagers, bring the teenagers to the grownups.

We need to cultivate experiments on the margins.        

This is the premise of rolling programs and ideas out slowly, quietly, and covertly.
Work out  the details, and add to it as we go.
Let people discover by word of mouth.

*We have to fail people’s expectations at a rate they can stand.* – Dr. Scott Cormode

Competing Commitments are often the problem.

• Example of kids in worship / kids not disturbing worship

Organizational Momentum

A small win is a momentum changer.