The Five Enemies of Unity
I am currently deep into the process of my doctoral studies through Rawlings School of Divinity at Liberty University. My experience thus far has been fantastic and I have learned so much not only about my cognate of Evangelism & Church Planting, but more importantly I've learned so much about myself.
The focus now in this later track of my cognate is to complete 4 research projects that become part of my eventual portfolio and dissertation for defense next Spring.
For what it's worth, my first project is now complete and I was humbled to receive a perfect score from my professor. I'm sharing my Culmination Paper and Video below to help prospective doctoral students get a window into the process. Enjoy!
The focus now in this later track of my cognate is to complete 4 research projects that become part of my eventual portfolio and dissertation for defense next Spring.
For what it's worth, my first project is now complete and I was humbled to receive a perfect score from my professor. I'm sharing my Culmination Paper and Video below to help prospective doctoral students get a window into the process. Enjoy!
Culmination Phase for Micro-Project I
Instructional Video
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DMIN 851 - D02
Micro-Project I: Biblical Precedence
by Jonathan D. Herron, MA
Saginaw, Michigan June 2022
Justification
The problem I seek to resolve is that Life Church does not have a clear plan for leveraging what it learned during the pandemic to come back stronger.
Pre-pandemic, Life Church was on a rollercoaster ride of robust momentum and positive Kingdom advancement in the Great Lakes Bay Region of Michigan. In the Fall of 2019, Life Church was recognized as the 11th Fastest Growing Church in America.1 We never saw it coming: when COVID shut-downs were put into effect overnight, Life Church experienced an immediate and sharp downturn that has lasted for nearly two years. Engagement, attendance, giving, outreach and baptism metrics are all down in Life Church's post-pandemic era. Nearly every key volunteer and high-impact donor disappeared, leaving Life Church in an emaciated state.
Reemerging from the pandemic shut-down has been slow and tedious at best. A lack of resources combined by a lack of volunteers has resulted in stalled-out momentum. Further, an abrupt church division has compounded the complexities of moving forward and coming back stronger.
This Micro-Project is undertaken with the belief that as challenging as this experience has been, in Christ the best is yet to come! God promises through the prophet Jeremiah, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. Again I will build you, and you shall be built..." (Jeremiah 31:3-4, ESV).
To that end, the research will focus on leveraging what we have learned during this protracted shut-down and lingering pandemic experience in order to come back stronger going forward. Embracing both physical worship gatherings with new digital tools, the research explore new methodologies (or rediscovering old ones) for advancing the gospel. The need for reaching the lost at any cost has not changed. The eternal destiny of men are continually at stake! However, Jesus' words in Matthew 9:37 have never rung more truer: "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few."
Peer Review
A fellow classmate agreed with the great challenge facing Life Church by writing, “You seemed to hit this one on the head. This concern is a wave running through the kingdom at large. It would be fair to say all ministries impacted by the shutdown have had some kinds of lasting negative effects... Take note of the disturbed metrics in your ministry, study them and build your strategy around getting back to normal gradually.”
This point of view is helpful when undertaking research such as this which contains a deeply personal connection to the researcher. Normalizing the pandemic experience allows one to move past self-pity and begin assessing reality as the new baseline. Comparing pre and post- pandemic metrics allows for ascertaining just how far off-track the church has gone. Numbers don’t lie; pure data will pierce through anecdotal evidence like a surgical tool deftly bringing wounding before there can be healing.
The peer continued offering feedback that was helpful: “We are designed to be the body and we must function as such. This means all should get back on their post and serve in their Spirit-given capacity (1 Corinthians 12:1-12, 1 Peter 4:10). I would also suggest meeting with the leadership to design a creative way to communicate these truths so the church can have an effective return to impacting the world. Jonathan, maybe a virtual workshop to cast vision and set visual goals which will encourage them to see their part and participate. Take all you have learned and delegate to those who will embrace truth what can be done even without full participation. Pour out of yourself the rich wisdom and revelations you have acquired during this unprecedented time.”
This feedback helped to crystallize thoughts on how one might remedy the situation through an Instructional Video. By confronting the negatives that the organization does have control over, it gives the church a sense of ownership and new groove to move forward upon.
Post-production on the Instructional Video, input was solicited from Dr. Dennis Wilhite of Liberty University. While he found the video to contain a a great message and professional delivery, his advice was, “Draw a very clear connection between your product and the problem statement. That will help you tie this together with the rest of your micro projects as a solution to that problem.”
To that end, the goal of this first Micro-Project is to identify and analyze the five areas that can derail a church, preventing unified forward progress. Getting all church members on the exact same page is paramount in regaining footing and beginning to move back toward an outreach focus through evangelistic methods.
Implementation
At the macro-level, the audience for this Instructional Video is church leaders (universal). The problem facing Life Church is also being faced by other churches post-pandemic: “Willow Creek Church is about half of the size we were before COVID, which is right in line with the churches across the country. But as you can see, and as you can imagine, that has fiscal
impactions.”2
At the micro-level, this video is intended for the leaders and volunteers of Life Church who have experienced the past two years of pandemic disruption. Building team unity within the church is paramount to the plan for coming back stronger.
In particular, an Instructional Video makes the intended outcome clear and reproducible for all audiences. Since it is published on an online YouTube channel, this Instructional Video is accessible for all audiences, regardless of one’s time constraints or geographical location. This allows the video’s instructions to be shared with the intended audience without restraints.
The lesson is How to Identify the Five Enemies of Unity on a Team. The identified points are (1) poor communication, (2) lack of one clear vision, (3) gossip, (4) unresolved disagreements, and (5) sanctioned incompetence. These five points prevent Life Church from having a clear plan for leveraging what was learned during the pandemic in order to come back stronger. Additionally, these five points apply to all churches who desire to move forward post- pandemic.
The video instructs leaders — be they paid staff members, volunteers, or lay workers — how to identify these five points on their ministry teams and how to disarm them in a gospel- honoring fashion. This is necessary so that ministry teams facilitate healthy communication and cooperation together. Disruptions that are left unattended will simply lead to divisions in the church, stalling forward movement and progress in the church’s mission.
When a church is able to identify potential weaknesses and unify around how they will address potential hurdles, robust unity is established. When a church is unified, it is unstoppable. For example, the Scriptures record that at one time in the ancient past, all people had one language and common speech (Genesis 11:1). As a result, the LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them” (Genesis 11:6, NIV). Where there is unified language, there is a unity among God’s people, the church.
The earliest moments of the Christian Church recorded in Acts 2 shares again how unified language is paramount in moving forward on mission: “Utterly amazed, they asked, ‘Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?” (Acts 2:7). Again, the paradigm being emphasized is that unified language in a church leads to unity among God’s people. This is why this lesson is necessary for Life Church as well as a wider church leadership audience.
The outline of this lesson is as follows:
(1) Poor Communication: We understand that people are busy and have lives outside of Sunday mornings (jobs, kids, etc.). Therefore we will choose to over-communicate and make our expectations for each other clear.
(2) One Clear Vision: Everybody has an idea or an agenda for what they want for and from their church. However, to be effective, we must all agree upon on clear vision to be working towards for the future. Unambiguous vision-casting must come from the leader.
(3) Gossip: Sharing something negative with someone who has no power to fix it is defined as gossip. We are choosing to not engage in this activity. Instead, when faced with a negative, we will share it up the chain of command in order to fix it and move forward together.
(4) Unresolved Disagreements: If and when problems arise, we will address them openly and honestly (Matthew 18). We will not allow little problems to fester into becoming bigger problems.
(5) Sanctioned Incompetence: We will set the bar and guard the bar. If someone is missing the mark on our team, we will lovingly address it and not allow it to continue lowering performance and morale.
This Micro-Project will begin to tackle the stated problem in a linear and logical format. The audiences will receive instruction utilizing technology and humor to inspire a better course of action going forward. Because this is being shared on YouTube, there will be no restrictions in the audience accessing the information. As a result, Life Church will be able to move forward post-pandemic and build a stronger future together.
The Instructional Video was filmed inside Life Church’s Saginaw Campus with the main stage used as the backdrop. This environment allowed the production to have total control over
the atmosphere with no surprises while filming. Backlighting the main stage created a visual pop to the presenter situated front and center on the floor in front of the stage.
Appropriate stage lighting was leveraged and utilized to highlight the presenter and provide undistracting excellence when the video is viewed by an audience. The video was filmed with a single digital camera and one high-end microphone to ensure a professional recording was captured. Digital graphics for lower thirds were inserted during the post- production editing process to enhance the video’s teaching. Additionally, an up tempo yet non- distracting background soundtrack was added during post-production to add a professional touch and flavor to the video. In so doing, future viewers will be engaged while being instructed by the content of the presenter.
As this video was filmed in one take, the script was of paramount value. The following are the main elements presented for a successful Instructional Video on promoting team unity at Life Church.
The opening of the video must always grab the viewers’ attention and engage their curiosity. If the goal is for volunteers to want to take notes on the content, getting to the point quickly is of great importance to the presenter, in addition to their on-screen charisma and speaking pace:
Today we want to help you go further faster by sharing with you The Five Enemies of Unity. You're serving in the church and there are guests coming in the door, the Enemy will try to
disrupt what God is starting. So get a notebook, write these down, and tweet them out: The Five Enemies of Unity.
As can be seen, there is not a lot of fluff in the opening of the video. Engaging the viewer with a clear objective and a promised pay-off leads to a successful video. Teaching on unity could come across as boring or dry, so keeping the energy going is the key.
The first point is Poor Communication. By clearly identifying the problem, the presenter was able to pivot toward a non-intuitive solution for going forward. Further, this first point is strengthened by connecting its usage to a popular movie that is known by the viewers. When a viewer later watches the mentioned movie on a streaming service, it will give the Instructional Video a connecting point into the viewer’s daily life outside of church:
The first is Poor Communication. You're a leader. You set the bar, you guard the bar and you want to be accused of over communicating, not under communicating. People in our church are busy. Newsflash: they have a life outside of Sunday morning! They have jobs, kids stress finances. So worrying about when to get to a church program or when to show up to serve is not at the top of their A-1 Party List.
We want to over communicate, because poor communication causes disunity and we want people united on fire ready to go. We choose to over communicate just like McDonald's. Here's what you need to do: hop on Netflix. You need to see the movie The Founder starring Michael Keaton. Keaton was nominated for an Academy Award. It's all about the true story of Ray Kroc, who revolutionized fast food through McDonald’s. Ray Kroc’s philosophy was this: People forget stuff, vision leaks, and so McDonald's knows that they have to get their Golden Arches in front of your face seven times before you remember that you're hungry for a Big Mac.
We need to communicate something seven times before it gets into somebody's noggin. We will utilize texting, Facebook, our website, the bully pulpit, and one-on-one phone calls. We don't want to be accused of poor communication; that’s an enemy of unity. Over communicate!
The second point involves clarity of the church’s mission. When a church is speaking with one heart and mind, they can be used mightily by God.3 Having a common language creates unity and cuts through any clutter clouding someone’s mind:
The second enemy of unity in a church is Lack of One Clear Vision. Every single time someone walks through the doors of our church, they have an agenda. They have their own idea of what your church should look like. We want our vision for our church to outpace their agenda. If they bring in their agenda and they don't understand that our church is united under one clear vision, that's a recipe for doom.
To counteract this, we need to be sharing the vision unambiguously and unapologetically at least once every four Sundays. When you are blue in the face sharing the vision and heartbeat and passion of the church, the people in the pew are just starting to catch the vision. So we want to have a clear vision and communicate it well so that we can attack disunity.
The third point zeroes in on a common disruptor of trust and unity: gossip. The presenter defined and demonstrated what gossip is and how it can cause problems within the organization. These demonstrations educate the viewer and protect against gossip in the future:
The third enemy of unity in any organization or church is one word: Gossip. We want you to be a champion at our church. Stand before your team say, “Hey guys, guess what? We have a
no gossip policy in this church.”4
Gossip is when you share something negative with somebody who has no power to fix it. So if I go up to Randy and say, “Randy, I can't stand it when Tim sings that way on Sundays.” That's gossip, because I'm sharing something negative with Randy and poor Randy he can't fix the problem.
If I share something negative up the chain of commands, that's not gossip. That's an example of a volunteer taking responsibility for my church. When we see something that's wrong or when we don't understand something, pass it up the chain of command. Share your negative up to a leader who can help you can fix it. Don't share it down. The number one weapon for
disrupting a movement of God is gossip in the church.5
The fourth point identifies the need for resolving any lingering disagreement within the church. By bringing peace to any outstanding situations, conflict resolution will serve to create an atmosphere of trust so that the church can move forward unencumbered:
The fourth enemy of unity is Unresolved Disagreements. We have a whole chapter in the Scriptures (Matthew 18) with Jesus instructing one to go to the person you have a beef with.6 We see more warnings in Ephesians when Paul says to avoid going to sleep angry, for you leave the door open for the Enemy to slip in.7 Go to the person pick up the phone, buy them some Starbucks and get it in the open and move forward together.
The final point examined in the video is Sanctioned Incompetence. Allowing chronic mistakes to continue and fester will eventually cause a team disruption:
The fifth enemy of unity in your church is Sanctioned Incompetence. If someone is continually dropping the ball, help them in an appropriate way. Don't allow incompetence to continue at the staff or volunteer level because if you lower the bar, everybody else is going to start going to a lower bar. If you raise the bar and guard the bar, you will help raise the leadership temperature in the church.
Sanctioned incompetence is when someone keeps blowing it or there's a miscue on your tech team or there's a volunteer not following a policy and it continues over time. The most loving thing you can do is to shepherd that person: “Hey, you may not realize it, but we have a policy for this. So you may not realize this but but you're dropping the ball here. Let me help you with a solution.”
When the organization wins, and when people see that you care about excellence in detail in the Sunday morning worship environments, people are going to roll out the red carpet to invite their friends, and serve more because excellence honors God and inspires people. Don't settle for sanctioned incompetence. Do the hard work, pick up the phone and meet with that person to fix the problem.
The Instructional Video finishes with a brief recap of the material covered, in bullet- point form. This allows the viewer to double-check their notes as the video is brought to a conclusion. Once completed, church volunteers will feel better equipped to promote radical unity and overcome possible disruptions that may come their way.
The Instructional Video will become a valuable tool for the future of our church. It is with great enthusiasm that we pressed forward in making this video a reality for future distribution. The Instructional Video is available to view online. The video length is nine minutes, thirty-six seconds and it was filmed entirely at Life Church in Saginaw, Michigan.
The purpose of the Instructional Video was two-fold: to bring unity among the members of Life Church Michigan while also providing a reusable digital resource for church leaders who face the problem of creating unity within their teams. By teaching the five enemies of unity, the purpose of the video was fulfilled for future audiences to digest.
The video was filmed in one take using a digital camera and microphone system. The back-drop is the main stage of Life Church and included use of professional stage lighting with illuminated accenting effects. A light hazer helped to grab the lighting on camera and give a professional touch to the visuals.
Cue cards were utilized in delivering the teaching content. This allowed the presenter to be at ease in delivering his lines. Additionally, eye contact was maintained with the camera, giving the at-home audience a natural, familiar connection with the presenter.
In terms of actual content, the script created and used was as follows:
“Hey gang, Jonathan Herron here from the Saginaw Campus of Life Church Michigan in the high five state. When a leader gets better, everyone gets better. Today we want to help you go further, faster by sharing with you the Five Enemies of Unity.
If you're leading a church, there's people coming in, and the Enemy wants to disrupt what God is starting. Get a notebook, write these down, tweet them out: the Five Enemies of Unity.
The first is this Poor Communication. Listen, you're the leader. You set the bar, you guard the bar and you want to be accused of over communicating, not under communicating. Why? Because the people in your church are busy. Newsflash: they have a life outside of Sunday morning! They have jobs, kids, stress, and finances. Worrying about when to get to a church program or when to show up to serve is not at the top of their A-1 Party List.
You want to over communicate, because poor communication causes disunity and you
want people united on fire ready to go. So you over communicate just like McDonald's. Here's what you need to do: hop on Netflix. You need to see the movie The Founder starring Michael Keaton; he was nominated for an Academy Award. It's all about the true story of Ray Kroc, who revolutionized fast food through McDonald’s. Ray Kroc’s philosophy was this: people forget stuff and vision leaks. McDonald's knows that they have to get their golden arches in front of your face seven times before you remember that you're hungry for a Big Mac.
Church leaders need to communicate something seven times before it gets into somebody's noggin. Utilize text, Facebook, website, the bully pulpit, one-on-one phone calls; pick up the phone and hustle, make that call! Don't be accused of poor communication; that's an enemy of unity. Over communicate!
Here's the second enemy of unity in a church: Lack of One Clear Vision. Every single time someone walks through the doors of your church, they have an agenda. They have their own idea of what your church should look like and how it should function. You want your vision and your agenda for your church to outpace their agenda, because if they bring in their agenda and their vision and they don't understand that your church is united under one clear vision, that's a recipe for Doom. You’re going to have disunity! You're gonna have little pockets of power popping up.
Pastor, you need to be sharing the vision unambiguously and unapologetically at least once every four Sundays. Until you are blue in the face sharing the vision and heartbeat and passion of your church, the people in the pew are just starting to catch the vision. So have a clear vision, communicate it well so that you can attack disunity.
The third enemy of unity in any organization or church is one word: gossip. You want to be a champion at your church. Stand before your staff stand before your church this Sunday and say, ‘Hey guys, guess what? We have a no gossip policy in this church!’
Gossip is when you share something negative with somebody who has no power to fix it. So if I go up to Randy and say, ‘Randy, I can't stand it when Tim sings that way on Sundays,’ that's gossip. I'm sharing something negative with Randy and poor old Randy can't fix the problem.
Now if I share something negative up the chain of commands, that's not gossip. That's taking responsibility for my church. So you want to encourage your folks that when they see something that's wrong or that when they don't understand something, pass it up the chain of command, share your negative up to a leader who can help you can fix it. Don't share it down.
Sharing down is gossip and listen, Satan's tools and tactics have not changed in 2000 years of church history. The number one weapon for disrupting a movement of God is gossip in the church. The leader needs to take charge and be unapologetic. Define gossip to the entire community and then guard it.
Here we go with number four, the fourth enemy of unity: Unresolved Disagreements. We have a whole chapter in the Scriptures on this: Matthew 18. Jesus says go to the person you have a beef with! We have some more warnings in Ephesians when Paul says, ‘Don't go to sleep angry; you leave the door open for the enemy to slip in.’ And yet you and me just love to not deal with conflict.
Unresolved disagreements will cause disunity in your church. When you signed up for leadership, you signed up for conflict. Nobody enjoys having a confrontation. But counselors will tell you and psychologists will tell you the healthiest thing you can do in a relationship is to go to the person humbly, privately, and quickly and say, ‘I don't understand this or I see you saying this. Maybe I'm not hearing it correctly. Can you help me?’ That's Matthew 18. That's the beauty of the gospel.
When you go to the person, get it out in the open and resolve it, your relationship actually grows stronger with two people going through a disagreement and reconciling. There's bonding, there's glue in that relationship. So don't allow unresolved disagreements to fester at the staff level or with volunteers or with folks in your church. Go to the person, pick up the phone, buy them some Starbucks and get it in the open and move forward together.
All right, I'm proud of you for sticking with me. We've gone through four of the five enemies of unity. Here's the last one drumroll please. The fifth enemy of unity in your church is Sanctioned Incompetence. Everybody in your staff, your volunteers, they will go crazy if someone is continually dropping the ball and you - the leader - don’t call them out. Call them out in an appropriate way. Don't be like, ‘Hey, bozo, you're a jerk.’ No, love them, shepherd them, but don't allow incompetence to continue at the staff or volunteer level.
If you lower the bar, everybody else is going to start going to a lower bar, but if you raise the bar and guard the bar, that raises the leadership temperature in your church. Sanctioned incompetence is when someone keeps blowing it or there's a miscue on your tech team or there's a volunteer not following a policy and it continues over time. People look at the leader. They're waiting for you to intervene because - guess what? - you’re the leader.
So don't settle for sanctioned incompetence. The most loving thing you can do is to shepherd that person, help them see, ‘Hey, you may not realize it, but we have a policy for this. So you may not realize this but but you're dropping the ball here. Let me help you with a solution.’
When they when the organization wins, and when people see that you care about excellence in detail in the Sunday morning worship environments, people are going to roll out the red carpet invite their friends, and serve more because excellence honors God and inspires people. So don't settle for sanctioned incompetence. Do the hard work, pick up the phone, meet with that person and fix the problem.
Let's review the Five Enemies of Unity for your church: number one, Poor Communication. Be accused of over communicating! Number two: Lack of One Clear Vision. You're the leader. You're the visionary, make it plain like Habakkuk. Number three, Gossip. If you declare that this is a gossip-free zone at your church, people will love you. I promise. Number four: Unresolved Disagreements. Don't pull a Paul and Barnabus over John Mark. Come together like the Beatles, link arms and move forward. And the fifth enemy of unity is Sanctioned Incompetence. Is Forrest Gump on your staff team? Identify the mess, provide solutions and move forward.
Listen, gang, I am proud of you. I'm excited about what God is going to do in you and through you. I would love to share more with you online. Thank you.”
Analysis of the Micro-Project
Having concluded the post-production phase of the Instructional Video, it is now worth looking back at the entirety of the project to identify the good, the bad, and what was learned during the Micro-Project I process. This will allow for future growth and sharpening of one’s tool set in ministry endeavors that might later present themselves worth pursuing.
To be sure, following a process of identifying the problem, choosing a project solution, and then writing (and rewriting) a script was a great exercise in details and clearly presenting one’s thoughts. The scattering of the congregation during the initial pandemic disruption multiplied by an inner church division all revealed the need to creatively yet unambiguously tackle church unity. This video’s use of fast-cut edits and robust lower thirds certainly keeps the audience’s attention so that the information can be imparted in a useful fashion.
The script-writing process took quite a bit of time in order to nail down key ideas and provide clarity to the presenter’s thoughts. In the end, the first person narrative was edited in such a way as to sound very natural and slightly casual during delivery.
The actual post-production work with motion graphic creation, computer animations, and editing took a much longer amount of time than was anticipated. As nice as modern computers are, one quickly discovers that the computer’s process of actually compiling and rendering terabytes of animation graphics slows down a computer’s performance.
Keeping the video content to just under ten minutes was also a goal of the presenter, based on the strict time limit of eighteen minutes by the popular TED Talks web videos. TED often asks speakers to present for three, five, or nine minutes within their platform. The maximum length of a TED Talk is eighteen minutes.8 This makes the Instructional Video perfectly attuned for an audience’s intuitive viewing experience.
The balance of information combined with an air of whimsy was also important in creating a fast-pitch tone that resonates with audiences. The video appears to successfully navigate both wings of the proverbial airplane by being both blunt in the approach while also maintaining a tongue-in-cheek flavor.
The Instructional Video was eventually shown on a Sunday morning to the Life Church congregation. While church attendees have grown accustomed to the high level of artistry and commitment poured into the weekly worship experience, this video in particular resonated with the church body by boldly identifying and providing robust forward-moving steps in the area of church unity. The content combined with the visuals was embraced enthusiastically by a wide margin, with no negative feedback provided.
By providing an online outlet to make this video available anywhere at anytime, it was also discovered that church members on their own freely shared this video with other church leaders in order to encourage and equip the Church at large. This signaled a win from the Micro-Project’s initial formative stage: making an Instructional Video that would help not just Life Church, but church leaders elsewhere facing similar challenges. Knowing this video is equipping and edifying others feels very gratifying.
To that end, this Micro-Project has been a greatly beneficial learning experience. By conceiving, articulating, scripting, and producing an Instructional Video to begin solving a real- world ministry problem, the theoretical world of academia has collided with the urgent needs for a solution at Life Church. One cannot help but be thankful for being placed into a solution- producing endeavor and creating a Micro-Project that will continue to advance Kingdom causes in the days ahead.
----
1 “Make ‘Em Laugh: Life Church Michigan,” Outreach Magazine, accessed June 19, 2022, https:// outreachmagazine.com/ideas/church-profiles/45642-make-em-laugh-life-church-michigan.html.
2 “Willow Creek announces staff cuts as pandemic ravages giving, church attendance,” The Christian Post, accessed May 21, 2022, https://www.christianpost.com/news/willow-creek-announces-staff-cuts- due-to-pandemic.html.
3 Acts 4:32
4 Ramsey Solutions, “Gossip is Poison to Your Team,” accessed May 29, 2022. https:// www.ramseysolutions.com/ business/gossip-is-poison-to-your-team.
5 Ephesians 4:29
6 Matthew 18:15-17
7 Ephesians 4:26-27
8 TED: Ideas Worth Spreading, “Organize a Local TEDx Event,” accessed May 29, 2022. https:// www.ted.com/participate/organize-a-local-tedx-event/tedx-organizer-guide/speakers-program/event- program#:~:text=Talks may be no longer,how much time they have.
Instructional Video
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DMIN 851 - D02
Micro-Project I: Biblical Precedence
by Jonathan D. Herron, MA
Saginaw, Michigan June 2022
Justification
The problem I seek to resolve is that Life Church does not have a clear plan for leveraging what it learned during the pandemic to come back stronger.
Pre-pandemic, Life Church was on a rollercoaster ride of robust momentum and positive Kingdom advancement in the Great Lakes Bay Region of Michigan. In the Fall of 2019, Life Church was recognized as the 11th Fastest Growing Church in America.1 We never saw it coming: when COVID shut-downs were put into effect overnight, Life Church experienced an immediate and sharp downturn that has lasted for nearly two years. Engagement, attendance, giving, outreach and baptism metrics are all down in Life Church's post-pandemic era. Nearly every key volunteer and high-impact donor disappeared, leaving Life Church in an emaciated state.
Reemerging from the pandemic shut-down has been slow and tedious at best. A lack of resources combined by a lack of volunteers has resulted in stalled-out momentum. Further, an abrupt church division has compounded the complexities of moving forward and coming back stronger.
This Micro-Project is undertaken with the belief that as challenging as this experience has been, in Christ the best is yet to come! God promises through the prophet Jeremiah, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. Again I will build you, and you shall be built..." (Jeremiah 31:3-4, ESV).
To that end, the research will focus on leveraging what we have learned during this protracted shut-down and lingering pandemic experience in order to come back stronger going forward. Embracing both physical worship gatherings with new digital tools, the research explore new methodologies (or rediscovering old ones) for advancing the gospel. The need for reaching the lost at any cost has not changed. The eternal destiny of men are continually at stake! However, Jesus' words in Matthew 9:37 have never rung more truer: "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few."
Peer Review
A fellow classmate agreed with the great challenge facing Life Church by writing, “You seemed to hit this one on the head. This concern is a wave running through the kingdom at large. It would be fair to say all ministries impacted by the shutdown have had some kinds of lasting negative effects... Take note of the disturbed metrics in your ministry, study them and build your strategy around getting back to normal gradually.”
This point of view is helpful when undertaking research such as this which contains a deeply personal connection to the researcher. Normalizing the pandemic experience allows one to move past self-pity and begin assessing reality as the new baseline. Comparing pre and post- pandemic metrics allows for ascertaining just how far off-track the church has gone. Numbers don’t lie; pure data will pierce through anecdotal evidence like a surgical tool deftly bringing wounding before there can be healing.
The peer continued offering feedback that was helpful: “We are designed to be the body and we must function as such. This means all should get back on their post and serve in their Spirit-given capacity (1 Corinthians 12:1-12, 1 Peter 4:10). I would also suggest meeting with the leadership to design a creative way to communicate these truths so the church can have an effective return to impacting the world. Jonathan, maybe a virtual workshop to cast vision and set visual goals which will encourage them to see their part and participate. Take all you have learned and delegate to those who will embrace truth what can be done even without full participation. Pour out of yourself the rich wisdom and revelations you have acquired during this unprecedented time.”
This feedback helped to crystallize thoughts on how one might remedy the situation through an Instructional Video. By confronting the negatives that the organization does have control over, it gives the church a sense of ownership and new groove to move forward upon.
Post-production on the Instructional Video, input was solicited from Dr. Dennis Wilhite of Liberty University. While he found the video to contain a a great message and professional delivery, his advice was, “Draw a very clear connection between your product and the problem statement. That will help you tie this together with the rest of your micro projects as a solution to that problem.”
To that end, the goal of this first Micro-Project is to identify and analyze the five areas that can derail a church, preventing unified forward progress. Getting all church members on the exact same page is paramount in regaining footing and beginning to move back toward an outreach focus through evangelistic methods.
Implementation
At the macro-level, the audience for this Instructional Video is church leaders (universal). The problem facing Life Church is also being faced by other churches post-pandemic: “Willow Creek Church is about half of the size we were before COVID, which is right in line with the churches across the country. But as you can see, and as you can imagine, that has fiscal
impactions.”2
At the micro-level, this video is intended for the leaders and volunteers of Life Church who have experienced the past two years of pandemic disruption. Building team unity within the church is paramount to the plan for coming back stronger.
In particular, an Instructional Video makes the intended outcome clear and reproducible for all audiences. Since it is published on an online YouTube channel, this Instructional Video is accessible for all audiences, regardless of one’s time constraints or geographical location. This allows the video’s instructions to be shared with the intended audience without restraints.
The lesson is How to Identify the Five Enemies of Unity on a Team. The identified points are (1) poor communication, (2) lack of one clear vision, (3) gossip, (4) unresolved disagreements, and (5) sanctioned incompetence. These five points prevent Life Church from having a clear plan for leveraging what was learned during the pandemic in order to come back stronger. Additionally, these five points apply to all churches who desire to move forward post- pandemic.
The video instructs leaders — be they paid staff members, volunteers, or lay workers — how to identify these five points on their ministry teams and how to disarm them in a gospel- honoring fashion. This is necessary so that ministry teams facilitate healthy communication and cooperation together. Disruptions that are left unattended will simply lead to divisions in the church, stalling forward movement and progress in the church’s mission.
When a church is able to identify potential weaknesses and unify around how they will address potential hurdles, robust unity is established. When a church is unified, it is unstoppable. For example, the Scriptures record that at one time in the ancient past, all people had one language and common speech (Genesis 11:1). As a result, the LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them” (Genesis 11:6, NIV). Where there is unified language, there is a unity among God’s people, the church.
The earliest moments of the Christian Church recorded in Acts 2 shares again how unified language is paramount in moving forward on mission: “Utterly amazed, they asked, ‘Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?” (Acts 2:7). Again, the paradigm being emphasized is that unified language in a church leads to unity among God’s people. This is why this lesson is necessary for Life Church as well as a wider church leadership audience.
The outline of this lesson is as follows:
(1) Poor Communication: We understand that people are busy and have lives outside of Sunday mornings (jobs, kids, etc.). Therefore we will choose to over-communicate and make our expectations for each other clear.
(2) One Clear Vision: Everybody has an idea or an agenda for what they want for and from their church. However, to be effective, we must all agree upon on clear vision to be working towards for the future. Unambiguous vision-casting must come from the leader.
(3) Gossip: Sharing something negative with someone who has no power to fix it is defined as gossip. We are choosing to not engage in this activity. Instead, when faced with a negative, we will share it up the chain of command in order to fix it and move forward together.
(4) Unresolved Disagreements: If and when problems arise, we will address them openly and honestly (Matthew 18). We will not allow little problems to fester into becoming bigger problems.
(5) Sanctioned Incompetence: We will set the bar and guard the bar. If someone is missing the mark on our team, we will lovingly address it and not allow it to continue lowering performance and morale.
This Micro-Project will begin to tackle the stated problem in a linear and logical format. The audiences will receive instruction utilizing technology and humor to inspire a better course of action going forward. Because this is being shared on YouTube, there will be no restrictions in the audience accessing the information. As a result, Life Church will be able to move forward post-pandemic and build a stronger future together.
The Instructional Video was filmed inside Life Church’s Saginaw Campus with the main stage used as the backdrop. This environment allowed the production to have total control over
the atmosphere with no surprises while filming. Backlighting the main stage created a visual pop to the presenter situated front and center on the floor in front of the stage.
Appropriate stage lighting was leveraged and utilized to highlight the presenter and provide undistracting excellence when the video is viewed by an audience. The video was filmed with a single digital camera and one high-end microphone to ensure a professional recording was captured. Digital graphics for lower thirds were inserted during the post- production editing process to enhance the video’s teaching. Additionally, an up tempo yet non- distracting background soundtrack was added during post-production to add a professional touch and flavor to the video. In so doing, future viewers will be engaged while being instructed by the content of the presenter.
As this video was filmed in one take, the script was of paramount value. The following are the main elements presented for a successful Instructional Video on promoting team unity at Life Church.
The opening of the video must always grab the viewers’ attention and engage their curiosity. If the goal is for volunteers to want to take notes on the content, getting to the point quickly is of great importance to the presenter, in addition to their on-screen charisma and speaking pace:
Today we want to help you go further faster by sharing with you The Five Enemies of Unity. You're serving in the church and there are guests coming in the door, the Enemy will try to
disrupt what God is starting. So get a notebook, write these down, and tweet them out: The Five Enemies of Unity.
As can be seen, there is not a lot of fluff in the opening of the video. Engaging the viewer with a clear objective and a promised pay-off leads to a successful video. Teaching on unity could come across as boring or dry, so keeping the energy going is the key.
The first point is Poor Communication. By clearly identifying the problem, the presenter was able to pivot toward a non-intuitive solution for going forward. Further, this first point is strengthened by connecting its usage to a popular movie that is known by the viewers. When a viewer later watches the mentioned movie on a streaming service, it will give the Instructional Video a connecting point into the viewer’s daily life outside of church:
The first is Poor Communication. You're a leader. You set the bar, you guard the bar and you want to be accused of over communicating, not under communicating. People in our church are busy. Newsflash: they have a life outside of Sunday morning! They have jobs, kids stress finances. So worrying about when to get to a church program or when to show up to serve is not at the top of their A-1 Party List.
We want to over communicate, because poor communication causes disunity and we want people united on fire ready to go. We choose to over communicate just like McDonald's. Here's what you need to do: hop on Netflix. You need to see the movie The Founder starring Michael Keaton. Keaton was nominated for an Academy Award. It's all about the true story of Ray Kroc, who revolutionized fast food through McDonald’s. Ray Kroc’s philosophy was this: People forget stuff, vision leaks, and so McDonald's knows that they have to get their Golden Arches in front of your face seven times before you remember that you're hungry for a Big Mac.
We need to communicate something seven times before it gets into somebody's noggin. We will utilize texting, Facebook, our website, the bully pulpit, and one-on-one phone calls. We don't want to be accused of poor communication; that’s an enemy of unity. Over communicate!
The second point involves clarity of the church’s mission. When a church is speaking with one heart and mind, they can be used mightily by God.3 Having a common language creates unity and cuts through any clutter clouding someone’s mind:
The second enemy of unity in a church is Lack of One Clear Vision. Every single time someone walks through the doors of our church, they have an agenda. They have their own idea of what your church should look like. We want our vision for our church to outpace their agenda. If they bring in their agenda and they don't understand that our church is united under one clear vision, that's a recipe for doom.
To counteract this, we need to be sharing the vision unambiguously and unapologetically at least once every four Sundays. When you are blue in the face sharing the vision and heartbeat and passion of the church, the people in the pew are just starting to catch the vision. So we want to have a clear vision and communicate it well so that we can attack disunity.
The third point zeroes in on a common disruptor of trust and unity: gossip. The presenter defined and demonstrated what gossip is and how it can cause problems within the organization. These demonstrations educate the viewer and protect against gossip in the future:
The third enemy of unity in any organization or church is one word: Gossip. We want you to be a champion at our church. Stand before your team say, “Hey guys, guess what? We have a
no gossip policy in this church.”4
Gossip is when you share something negative with somebody who has no power to fix it. So if I go up to Randy and say, “Randy, I can't stand it when Tim sings that way on Sundays.” That's gossip, because I'm sharing something negative with Randy and poor Randy he can't fix the problem.
If I share something negative up the chain of commands, that's not gossip. That's an example of a volunteer taking responsibility for my church. When we see something that's wrong or when we don't understand something, pass it up the chain of command. Share your negative up to a leader who can help you can fix it. Don't share it down. The number one weapon for
disrupting a movement of God is gossip in the church.5
The fourth point identifies the need for resolving any lingering disagreement within the church. By bringing peace to any outstanding situations, conflict resolution will serve to create an atmosphere of trust so that the church can move forward unencumbered:
The fourth enemy of unity is Unresolved Disagreements. We have a whole chapter in the Scriptures (Matthew 18) with Jesus instructing one to go to the person you have a beef with.6 We see more warnings in Ephesians when Paul says to avoid going to sleep angry, for you leave the door open for the Enemy to slip in.7 Go to the person pick up the phone, buy them some Starbucks and get it in the open and move forward together.
The final point examined in the video is Sanctioned Incompetence. Allowing chronic mistakes to continue and fester will eventually cause a team disruption:
The fifth enemy of unity in your church is Sanctioned Incompetence. If someone is continually dropping the ball, help them in an appropriate way. Don't allow incompetence to continue at the staff or volunteer level because if you lower the bar, everybody else is going to start going to a lower bar. If you raise the bar and guard the bar, you will help raise the leadership temperature in the church.
Sanctioned incompetence is when someone keeps blowing it or there's a miscue on your tech team or there's a volunteer not following a policy and it continues over time. The most loving thing you can do is to shepherd that person: “Hey, you may not realize it, but we have a policy for this. So you may not realize this but but you're dropping the ball here. Let me help you with a solution.”
When the organization wins, and when people see that you care about excellence in detail in the Sunday morning worship environments, people are going to roll out the red carpet to invite their friends, and serve more because excellence honors God and inspires people. Don't settle for sanctioned incompetence. Do the hard work, pick up the phone and meet with that person to fix the problem.
The Instructional Video finishes with a brief recap of the material covered, in bullet- point form. This allows the viewer to double-check their notes as the video is brought to a conclusion. Once completed, church volunteers will feel better equipped to promote radical unity and overcome possible disruptions that may come their way.
The Instructional Video will become a valuable tool for the future of our church. It is with great enthusiasm that we pressed forward in making this video a reality for future distribution. The Instructional Video is available to view online. The video length is nine minutes, thirty-six seconds and it was filmed entirely at Life Church in Saginaw, Michigan.
The purpose of the Instructional Video was two-fold: to bring unity among the members of Life Church Michigan while also providing a reusable digital resource for church leaders who face the problem of creating unity within their teams. By teaching the five enemies of unity, the purpose of the video was fulfilled for future audiences to digest.
The video was filmed in one take using a digital camera and microphone system. The back-drop is the main stage of Life Church and included use of professional stage lighting with illuminated accenting effects. A light hazer helped to grab the lighting on camera and give a professional touch to the visuals.
Cue cards were utilized in delivering the teaching content. This allowed the presenter to be at ease in delivering his lines. Additionally, eye contact was maintained with the camera, giving the at-home audience a natural, familiar connection with the presenter.
In terms of actual content, the script created and used was as follows:
“Hey gang, Jonathan Herron here from the Saginaw Campus of Life Church Michigan in the high five state. When a leader gets better, everyone gets better. Today we want to help you go further, faster by sharing with you the Five Enemies of Unity.
If you're leading a church, there's people coming in, and the Enemy wants to disrupt what God is starting. Get a notebook, write these down, tweet them out: the Five Enemies of Unity.
The first is this Poor Communication. Listen, you're the leader. You set the bar, you guard the bar and you want to be accused of over communicating, not under communicating. Why? Because the people in your church are busy. Newsflash: they have a life outside of Sunday morning! They have jobs, kids, stress, and finances. Worrying about when to get to a church program or when to show up to serve is not at the top of their A-1 Party List.
You want to over communicate, because poor communication causes disunity and you
want people united on fire ready to go. So you over communicate just like McDonald's. Here's what you need to do: hop on Netflix. You need to see the movie The Founder starring Michael Keaton; he was nominated for an Academy Award. It's all about the true story of Ray Kroc, who revolutionized fast food through McDonald’s. Ray Kroc’s philosophy was this: people forget stuff and vision leaks. McDonald's knows that they have to get their golden arches in front of your face seven times before you remember that you're hungry for a Big Mac.
Church leaders need to communicate something seven times before it gets into somebody's noggin. Utilize text, Facebook, website, the bully pulpit, one-on-one phone calls; pick up the phone and hustle, make that call! Don't be accused of poor communication; that's an enemy of unity. Over communicate!
Here's the second enemy of unity in a church: Lack of One Clear Vision. Every single time someone walks through the doors of your church, they have an agenda. They have their own idea of what your church should look like and how it should function. You want your vision and your agenda for your church to outpace their agenda, because if they bring in their agenda and their vision and they don't understand that your church is united under one clear vision, that's a recipe for Doom. You’re going to have disunity! You're gonna have little pockets of power popping up.
Pastor, you need to be sharing the vision unambiguously and unapologetically at least once every four Sundays. Until you are blue in the face sharing the vision and heartbeat and passion of your church, the people in the pew are just starting to catch the vision. So have a clear vision, communicate it well so that you can attack disunity.
The third enemy of unity in any organization or church is one word: gossip. You want to be a champion at your church. Stand before your staff stand before your church this Sunday and say, ‘Hey guys, guess what? We have a no gossip policy in this church!’
Gossip is when you share something negative with somebody who has no power to fix it. So if I go up to Randy and say, ‘Randy, I can't stand it when Tim sings that way on Sundays,’ that's gossip. I'm sharing something negative with Randy and poor old Randy can't fix the problem.
Now if I share something negative up the chain of commands, that's not gossip. That's taking responsibility for my church. So you want to encourage your folks that when they see something that's wrong or that when they don't understand something, pass it up the chain of command, share your negative up to a leader who can help you can fix it. Don't share it down.
Sharing down is gossip and listen, Satan's tools and tactics have not changed in 2000 years of church history. The number one weapon for disrupting a movement of God is gossip in the church. The leader needs to take charge and be unapologetic. Define gossip to the entire community and then guard it.
Here we go with number four, the fourth enemy of unity: Unresolved Disagreements. We have a whole chapter in the Scriptures on this: Matthew 18. Jesus says go to the person you have a beef with! We have some more warnings in Ephesians when Paul says, ‘Don't go to sleep angry; you leave the door open for the enemy to slip in.’ And yet you and me just love to not deal with conflict.
Unresolved disagreements will cause disunity in your church. When you signed up for leadership, you signed up for conflict. Nobody enjoys having a confrontation. But counselors will tell you and psychologists will tell you the healthiest thing you can do in a relationship is to go to the person humbly, privately, and quickly and say, ‘I don't understand this or I see you saying this. Maybe I'm not hearing it correctly. Can you help me?’ That's Matthew 18. That's the beauty of the gospel.
When you go to the person, get it out in the open and resolve it, your relationship actually grows stronger with two people going through a disagreement and reconciling. There's bonding, there's glue in that relationship. So don't allow unresolved disagreements to fester at the staff level or with volunteers or with folks in your church. Go to the person, pick up the phone, buy them some Starbucks and get it in the open and move forward together.
All right, I'm proud of you for sticking with me. We've gone through four of the five enemies of unity. Here's the last one drumroll please. The fifth enemy of unity in your church is Sanctioned Incompetence. Everybody in your staff, your volunteers, they will go crazy if someone is continually dropping the ball and you - the leader - don’t call them out. Call them out in an appropriate way. Don't be like, ‘Hey, bozo, you're a jerk.’ No, love them, shepherd them, but don't allow incompetence to continue at the staff or volunteer level.
If you lower the bar, everybody else is going to start going to a lower bar, but if you raise the bar and guard the bar, that raises the leadership temperature in your church. Sanctioned incompetence is when someone keeps blowing it or there's a miscue on your tech team or there's a volunteer not following a policy and it continues over time. People look at the leader. They're waiting for you to intervene because - guess what? - you’re the leader.
So don't settle for sanctioned incompetence. The most loving thing you can do is to shepherd that person, help them see, ‘Hey, you may not realize it, but we have a policy for this. So you may not realize this but but you're dropping the ball here. Let me help you with a solution.’
When they when the organization wins, and when people see that you care about excellence in detail in the Sunday morning worship environments, people are going to roll out the red carpet invite their friends, and serve more because excellence honors God and inspires people. So don't settle for sanctioned incompetence. Do the hard work, pick up the phone, meet with that person and fix the problem.
Let's review the Five Enemies of Unity for your church: number one, Poor Communication. Be accused of over communicating! Number two: Lack of One Clear Vision. You're the leader. You're the visionary, make it plain like Habakkuk. Number three, Gossip. If you declare that this is a gossip-free zone at your church, people will love you. I promise. Number four: Unresolved Disagreements. Don't pull a Paul and Barnabus over John Mark. Come together like the Beatles, link arms and move forward. And the fifth enemy of unity is Sanctioned Incompetence. Is Forrest Gump on your staff team? Identify the mess, provide solutions and move forward.
Listen, gang, I am proud of you. I'm excited about what God is going to do in you and through you. I would love to share more with you online. Thank you.”
Analysis of the Micro-Project
Having concluded the post-production phase of the Instructional Video, it is now worth looking back at the entirety of the project to identify the good, the bad, and what was learned during the Micro-Project I process. This will allow for future growth and sharpening of one’s tool set in ministry endeavors that might later present themselves worth pursuing.
To be sure, following a process of identifying the problem, choosing a project solution, and then writing (and rewriting) a script was a great exercise in details and clearly presenting one’s thoughts. The scattering of the congregation during the initial pandemic disruption multiplied by an inner church division all revealed the need to creatively yet unambiguously tackle church unity. This video’s use of fast-cut edits and robust lower thirds certainly keeps the audience’s attention so that the information can be imparted in a useful fashion.
The script-writing process took quite a bit of time in order to nail down key ideas and provide clarity to the presenter’s thoughts. In the end, the first person narrative was edited in such a way as to sound very natural and slightly casual during delivery.
The actual post-production work with motion graphic creation, computer animations, and editing took a much longer amount of time than was anticipated. As nice as modern computers are, one quickly discovers that the computer’s process of actually compiling and rendering terabytes of animation graphics slows down a computer’s performance.
Keeping the video content to just under ten minutes was also a goal of the presenter, based on the strict time limit of eighteen minutes by the popular TED Talks web videos. TED often asks speakers to present for three, five, or nine minutes within their platform. The maximum length of a TED Talk is eighteen minutes.8 This makes the Instructional Video perfectly attuned for an audience’s intuitive viewing experience.
The balance of information combined with an air of whimsy was also important in creating a fast-pitch tone that resonates with audiences. The video appears to successfully navigate both wings of the proverbial airplane by being both blunt in the approach while also maintaining a tongue-in-cheek flavor.
The Instructional Video was eventually shown on a Sunday morning to the Life Church congregation. While church attendees have grown accustomed to the high level of artistry and commitment poured into the weekly worship experience, this video in particular resonated with the church body by boldly identifying and providing robust forward-moving steps in the area of church unity. The content combined with the visuals was embraced enthusiastically by a wide margin, with no negative feedback provided.
By providing an online outlet to make this video available anywhere at anytime, it was also discovered that church members on their own freely shared this video with other church leaders in order to encourage and equip the Church at large. This signaled a win from the Micro-Project’s initial formative stage: making an Instructional Video that would help not just Life Church, but church leaders elsewhere facing similar challenges. Knowing this video is equipping and edifying others feels very gratifying.
To that end, this Micro-Project has been a greatly beneficial learning experience. By conceiving, articulating, scripting, and producing an Instructional Video to begin solving a real- world ministry problem, the theoretical world of academia has collided with the urgent needs for a solution at Life Church. One cannot help but be thankful for being placed into a solution- producing endeavor and creating a Micro-Project that will continue to advance Kingdom causes in the days ahead.
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1 “Make ‘Em Laugh: Life Church Michigan,” Outreach Magazine, accessed June 19, 2022, https:// outreachmagazine.com/ideas/church-profiles/45642-make-em-laugh-life-church-michigan.html.
2 “Willow Creek announces staff cuts as pandemic ravages giving, church attendance,” The Christian Post, accessed May 21, 2022, https://www.christianpost.com/news/willow-creek-announces-staff-cuts- due-to-pandemic.html.
3 Acts 4:32
4 Ramsey Solutions, “Gossip is Poison to Your Team,” accessed May 29, 2022. https:// www.ramseysolutions.com/ business/gossip-is-poison-to-your-team.
5 Ephesians 4:29
6 Matthew 18:15-17
7 Ephesians 4:26-27
8 TED: Ideas Worth Spreading, “Organize a Local TEDx Event,” accessed May 29, 2022. https:// www.ted.com/participate/organize-a-local-tedx-event/tedx-organizer-guide/speakers-program/event- program#:~:text=Talks may be no longer,how much time they have.
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