What John Maxwell Didn't Tell You

John Maxwell is famous for his 16th irrefutable law of leadership called the big mo. This law states that leaders create forward motion in an organization by achieving and nurturing small victories. I love how John made momentum sound so fun and personalized by calling it “Mo.” I’ve heard him do this with Jesus’ disciples: Pete, Jim and John. Too fun.

And it’s true. When your church reaches critical mass, Mo is indeed your friend. People hear about your church through word of mouth; large donors call you because they can’t think of a better recipient; influential people are attracted to the movement that is your church; good things start to happen.

But what Maxwell didn’t say is that unless you already have Mo, it doesn’t want to be your friend. It tries to reject you and elude you. It doesn’t want you to achieve it. And a church plant without momentum simply cannot win.

In Jim Collins’ best-selling book Good to Great, he likens momentum to a giant, concrete flywheel that will start to spin if you just push long and hard enough. It’s quite possible that this book added years to my personal threshold for perseverance.

But what Collins didn’t say is that the giant, concrete flywheel of momentum has a tension wire that pulls backward and has large, sharp spikes that swing back and hurt you.

This is a series of posts on my book Church in the Making (B&H) which explains what makes or breaks a new church before it starts...

1. GOOD GROUND
2. ROLLING ROCKS
3. DEEP ROOTS

Comments

[Jason]

good stuff, Ben! I sure do appreciate your wisdom!

[Ben Arment]

thanks Jason... miss seeing you my friend

[Ben Komanapalli Jr]

great thoughts Ben!

There is always a fight that you have to win before you can "get" momentum!

[Terrace Crawford]

Great post. Momentum is a funny thing. In fact, I'd say that what might create "mo" in some churches might have the adverse affect in others - much like you were describing.

This is why we need the Holy Spirit... and people gifted for strategy, like sir Tony Morgan.

--Terrace Crawford
www.terracecrawford.com
www.twitter.com/terracecrawford

[Karen Yates]

super excited about your book Ben. And love your insights. keep them coming.

Karen

[Ben Arment]

Karen, much credit to you for the initial shaping of the book. Thanks!

[Mike O]

Are you in any bookstores yet? I checked a Borders today and it wasn't in .

[Ben Arment]

so sorry for the delay. i would think b&h is on this...

[J.D. Meier]

I like the juxtaposition and I'm a fan of both Good to Great, as well as Maxwell's 21 Laws.