Posted on July 11, 2009 - by rfrank

Fritz Henderson, Bankruptcy & Children’s Ministry

I’ve been very interested in the current GM bankruptcy crisis. Not only because of national economics, but because we have a GM plant just stone-throw away from my church.

This week the new CEO of GM, Fritz Henderson, held a press conference. I was very interested in what he had to say. Man, I’m listening to this guy! He’s got some things right.

“We recognize that we’ve been given a rare second chance at GM, and we are very grateful for that.” (Henderson)

Let me let you in on a little secret. Listen and I’ll whisper it into your ear: You’re gonna need a second chance before long. I will too. We all screw up now and then.

Last fall we decided to do our trunk or treat in conjunction with our town’s parade and pumpkin walk. Great idea. Poor execution. We planned for 400 and over 800 showed up. We ran out of hot dogs and popcorn in the first hour. It was bad and it was all my fault. I failed to execute the right plan. The good news is there’s always next year. I’ll take another hit at it and I bet this year I’m ready for 1,000 people. Learn to accept second chances with grace.

“Business as usual is over at General Motors.” (Henderson)

Repeat after me: “Ministry as usual is over at (the name of your church).”

Are you in a rut? If you have to stop and think about it, you probably are. One way to get out of a rut is to learn from others. I challenged our KidzMatter team yesterday to always be in a good book. Only hungry minds can grow. It’s been said that it’s what you learn after you know it all that counts. The bottom line is this: you are the captain of your own ship – start sailing out of that rut!

“As a culture, General Motors needs to be prepared to experiment and adjust.” (Henderson)

GM is experimenting with eBay and will allow customers to start bidding on cars. You’ll never succeed in ministry until you start experimenting with change.

Some pastors I know want their ministry to grow without change. Impossible! John Patterson said, “Only fools and dead men don’t change their minds. Fools won’t. Dead men can’t.”

Henderson said that GM will create a single, eight-member executive committee to speed up day-to-day decision-making, replacing two senior leadership forums.

Fast-acting leadership is increasingly essential for companies to stay ahead of the curve. We often justify our procrastination and fear of moving ahead by saying we are “praying” or “waiting on the Lord.” Sound familiar? Yes, prayer and waiting are important, but don’t use them as an excuse for your failure to move.  Why do you need to make decisions (and fast)?

1. Until you make a decision, you are traveling in a car with no wheels. Go try it and see where you get.

2. Great ideas and important projects often fail when it takes you too long to make a decision.

3. When you choose not to make a decision, you leave the decision to others. Take the steering wheel yourself or whatever it is you need to decide on will go a million different directions.

4. Wrong decisions are better than no decisions? Why? A boat with no rudder sits still.

Start making decisions fast. This doesn’t mean in two minutes – it means as soon as possible. The important thing is to set a deadline and stick to it. General Georage S. Patton said, “Be willing to make decisions. That’s the most important quality of a leader.”