There are two things that naturally radiate from my personality. All my life I’ve been the “people person.” I very rarely find myself in a room full of strangers. I find it very easy to network and connect with people. Similarly, I enjoy connecting groups or organizations. I like to see organizations begin to work together to accomplish a common goal. The second trait that emanates from my personality is that I enjoy seeing people and organizations become more effective. I like to set a large goal and then engage people, streamline processes and ultimately strategize on how I/we can more effectively reach or exceed that goal. Simply put, I like to see people and organizations be more effective at accomplishing their mission.

In the midst of these traits, I like variety. I don’t like to do the same things over and over again. I don’t function well in hard structure. There has to be room to flex, grow and change. For me, I like the challenge of finding new ways to do things. Or, I just like doing new things altogether. Nothing is sacred unless it makes me or the organization more effective at accomplishing our goals.

So then, why NEXT Worldwide? What’s the connection and how does this fit better than a church staff position?

NEXT Worldwide is not a “para-church” organization. We are not trying to accomplish a mission alongside the local church. Our desire and goal is to make the local church stronger by investing in its next generation leaders. We want to help the local church reach more people, have greater impact and do its work better. And, we want the local church to duplicate herself around the world.

Here’s where I fit. I see NEXT Worldwide as a resource to the local church and I want to connect as many churches, ministries and organizations to this resource. I believe that churches who cannot afford a full-time Student Pastor or Missions Pastor can use NEXT to develop a strategy for reaching students and reaching the nations with the Gospel. I believe NEXT can be an invaluable resource to every church both in accomplishing their mission and investing in the next generation of leadership.

On the same note, NEXT Worldwide is constantly looking for ways to deepen their impact in the US and around the world. My “I-need-variety” personality gets really excited at this point. We are constantly having to evaluate what we do and how we can do it better. We want to mobilize more people, see the Gospel reach more nations, and ultimately see the Kingdom of God expand. In each country we may use the same tools, but it will look different in every culture. That excites me and I know my personality will play well in that arena.

The “connector” in me wants to reach out to as many churches, ministries and organizations so they can utilize a great resource. This great tool will help these organizations strengthen their leadership and deepen their impact in their community and around the world. Ultimately, it will help them advance the Gospel and the Kingdom.

I hope this post sheds a little light on the motivation behind such a big decision. As I’ve told several people, this job just feels like a dream job. I am so excited to see my work and my passion come together. I can’t wait to see what’s in store…

grace and peace,

stan

Part 4 – What is NEXT Worldwide?

Part 3 – Costa Rica

Part 2 – Out on Faith

Part 1 – Where It All Started

More about NEXT Worldwide

31 Jan This entry was published on January 31, 2012 at 12:55 am and is filed under experiences, God, leadership, learning, maximizing, mobilization, NEXT Worldwide. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.