Let me share one of the realizations or revelations I’ve come to in recent weeks. NCC is getting more and more complicated. As you add more personalities to a staff you better expect more tension. It is normal and natural.

The tectonic plates of our church structure are shifting as we go from individuals working with individuals to departments working with departments. I am committed to keeping us a movement, but you have to add systems and policies and charts to keep things organized. You can’t make case-by-case decisions every time. You have to set precedent and create policy so you don’t make the same decision over and over and over again! And the danger is depersonalization. So you live with this tension: task-orientation versus people-orientation!

We just added our fourth location. And here is what I’m coming to terms with: more locations = more tension! As a multi-site church, we have a two-dimension organizational chart. We have a horizontal and vertical dimension with our point pastors and ministry coordinators. That is challenging. It is often confusing and frustrating. But it is what it is. And if we continue to launch more locations, we’ll experience even more tension.

So here is what I’ve come to terms with: I need to embrace the tension. It will never go away. In fact, it is actually a sign of health. In musical terms, it is the tension of the string that makes music.

No tension,no music!