2012 Note: A while back I tried to start a church planting website to promote and encourage churches that focus on the free grace of God. The attempt failed… 

Here is the post from that time….

Free Grace Churches is now live! 

At that site, we want to focus on taking the Free Grace theology we all know and love, and putting it into practice in our churches, in our communities, and around the world. By joining today, you have the opportunity to change the future.

By becoming a member, you can:

• Add your church to the list of Free Grace Churches (and edit the information any time it changes)
• Post (or search for) job openings
• Get YOUR VERY OWN Blog for your friends, family, and congregation to read
• Get your own “___@freegracechurches” e-mail address
• Connect with other Free Grace people around the world
• Post (or find out about) mission trips
• Get ministry and leadership ideas and resources
• Help plant Free Grace Churches in the US and around the world

Best of all…there is no charge! Like grace, it’s free.

Check out the site, join today, and start connecting with others.

This is third and final installment on things about church leaders and church planters can learn from Will Smith. Yesterday we looked at the first five principles of his success.

Here are the last five:

6. Understand ideas, and which ideas move people.

Smith says that when studying movies, and which ones are popular, he tries to back up and get the big picture. “I look at movies in their essence,” Smith says. “Will that idea sell?” If you look at the movies Smith does, he always does movies that focus on an idea or a story that resonate with the vast majority of people on the planet. He is not just trying to entertain, he is trying to connect.

This is key for church planters. Too often we get caught up in the entertainment mode. But entertainment is fleeting; personal connections are forever.

7. Understand universal patterns.

This is related to number 6. Smith calls himself a student of universal patterns. He watches for movements in worldwide society and culture, and then tries to focus on these patterns. He and his manager sit down every Monday morning any analyze the box office numbers for the past weekend, as well as the past 10, 20, and 30 weekends. He is looking for trends and patterns.

We too can look for universal trends, needs, and patterns. Study history, culture, and relationships. These are the areas in which God is at work.

8. Think globally.

Smith doesn’t just want people in the US to see his movies. He wants to be a worldwide movie star. So after a movie debuts in the US, he travels to England, Germany, Japan, Brazil, China, and promotes his movies. This, of course, makes him popular with the movie producers because it is  more money for them.

So also with church planting. While our first focus is our neighborhood, we must also develop a global perspective. See the excellent book by Bob Roberts on this: Glocalization: How Followers of Jesus Engage a Flat World.

9. Go where the people are.

Since Smith didn’t initially have worldwide recognition, he knew it would be hard to get a worldwide platform unless he went where people were already gathering. So when he travels, he travels intentionally. He promotes his movies in South Korea at the World Cup, in Brazil during Carnival, and is headed to Beijing for the 2008 Olympics. Why try to gather a crowd on your own when you can just use a ready-made crowd?

Churches often try to gather their own crowds, and they spend huge sums of money and large amounts of time to do it. Why not just go to wherever the crowds are already gathering in town?

10. Never neglect what is important: family.

This I though was the most amazing thing of all. Hollywood actors are not known for stable marriages, mostly because they are trying to follow their dreams and make it big. Smith has been married for 10 years and says, “Our first official date was with a relationship counselor. The math is simple. Start while it’s good. Do it three times a week while you’re laughing and still having fun. You get so much more work done. You head off problems. Do it during the ether time, and do it aggressively.” Smith knows that all of his fame and glory is nothing if he doesn’t have a his wife and kids to share it with.

Church planters and church leaders take heed! What good does it do to have a huge church if you lose your wife and kids in the process?

Conclusion

Most of these ten principles are driven by secular goals. But if you go back through them, and substitute in spiritual, biblically-based goals, you have a surprisingly good list of what it takes to hear God say “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

In a previous post, I reminisced about Will Smith and his transformation from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air to Will Smith of Hollywood.

In the December 10, 2007 issue of TIME magazine, there was a writeup about Will Smith and how this transformation occurred.

What is Will Smith’s secret?

Intentionality.

Will Smith says his success is all according to plan.

TIME reports that “Because Smith has mastered the delicate art of appearing artless, few moviegoers realize that his is one of Hollywood’s most meticulously planned and executed careers.”

He hatched his plan at age 16 after his first girlfriend cheated on him because (in his mind) he wasn’t good enough. He decided that he was never not be good enough again. He made a plan to correct this, and never looked back. You can see the plan unfold as you watch the career of Will Smith.

10 Principles of Success

But what interests me are ten principles he operates by to execute that plan. Here they are as gleaned from the article:

1. Don’t have a Plan B. Relentlessly pursue Plan A.

Smith says “By even contemplating a Plan B, you almost create the necessity for a Plan B.”

As church leaders, while it is often a good idea to make plans, I think we sometimes get derailed from God’s vision for our lives by naysayers and setbacks. But if all we have is Plan A, we will work at it wholeheartedly because there is no other  option.

2. Read. Read. Read. Find your answers in books.

Smith has a library stocked with books on every topic imaginable. He reads and studies to find the answers he needs.

This reminds me of something I heard Chuck Swindoll say: “Readers are leaders.”

3. Study what others have done, and emulate. Learn by watching others.

When Smith began his acting career, he would watch and emulate the various actors that came on the show, even mouthing their words after them when they rehearsed. Later, when he started to try to get into movies, he and his manager found a list of the 10 top-grossing movies of all time, and looked for patterns and similarities in them.

Church leaders can do this with churches, but we have to be careful how we define “success.” Big churches are not the most successful churches.

4. Be Friendly. Make contacts. 

Smith had a knack for charming his way out of trouble and winning friends.  This is how he met “DJ Jazzy Jeff” and later, James Lassiter, his manager.

Church leaders and planters cannot afford to be introverted. We must love to spend time with people.

5. Work hard. Be Diligent.

Smith has a good work ethic and works hard at everything he does.

Leading a church is not easy. It takes hard work and lots of sweat and tears.

We’ll save the final five principles for tomorrow.