Germany Fundraiser / Vision Meeting

Hello friends, 

I wanted to follow up and personally invite you to a worship night that is acting as a fundraiser for our team that is going to Germany on May 14th.  We are taking 18 people overseas to minister to youth, leaders and evangelize in multiple cities.  It's going to be a powerful trip of encouraging the church leaders in Germany, pouring gas on the blazing hearts of the youth and seeing the lost become found.  

This Sunday we will meet at 7:30 pm for a night of worship and sowing into the kingdom at Hamlin Elementary School in Rochester Hills, MI.  GENERATE Worship will be leading the worship and this exact team will also be traveling to Germany.   We need your support as our expenses are well over $20,000.00.  We believe that our second invitation to Germany will bring great momentum to encouraging a great move of God there.  God loves Germany and we're honored to go.  

Additionally, as many of you know, Generation ONE is merging/expanding (with Salt River Church and Soulquest Ministries) and beginning it's journey in planting churches.  Our first work is going to be in Rochester Hills and will use this same school as it's launch space for gatherings starting June 3rd. If you would like to meet the new senior leadership team, gather information and hear the vision of this new work... we'd like to invite you out to a meeting on the same day (april 29th) at 5:30pm.  We will have refreshments to bridge the time between the two experiences.  

April 29th @ Hamlin Elementary School.  

Hamlin Elementary School

270 West Hamlin Road

Rochester Hills, MI 48307

Vision Meeting:

5:30-7pm

*Childcare provided for this meeting up to toddler.  

7pm Refreshments

Worship Fundraiser

7:30-9pm

*Childcare provided for this meeting up to toddler.  

Please contact me with any questions.  I look forward to connecting with you all!  Thanks for your support whether in prayer, attendance, love or financial donation. 

Do You Ask The Right Questions? Part I

Melissa and I's life has been a journey of many beginnings, we have it in our DNA.  Whether planting churches, going after real-estate investments, putting on a nationally headlined events, or planning to get up in front of thousands of people with a mission or cause,  we have seen successes and learning opportunities. Many of these results where predicated on what questions were asked before starting to execute the projects. Learning to ask the right questions before going after dreams, concepts, causes, vision or ideas makes seeing these things actually become reality and at the highest level possible.  So, what are the right questions?

They're actually very simple and I've found that many people think about the questions, it's answering them honestly and following through that seems to be the toughest part.  Some great questions to ask are:

1. What is the end result we want to have in our endeavor?
2. Who do we involve in our team to accomplish our overall goal?
3. What is our realistic budget and how do we stay within our means?
4. What are the core values that become our guidelines for sustaining the project's focus?
5. Are our goals realistic?
6. What will research tell us about our idea or experience?
7. Is it good or great?
8. Who is our target audience?
9. What is unique about our cause/product/idea that will compel people to engage?
10.  Can you explain your concept in three sentences?

God gave you a brain, so why not use it right?

Questions like these, when answered and used as a guide, set us up for greater success.  It's our responsibility as humans to utilize all the gifts and talents we are given.  Its our way of contributing to the beauty of us all being a "body fitly joined together" (Ephesians 4).  My journey has been full of "learning opportunities" though as I spoke earlier.  We all have the stories where if we would have just made one more adjustment, prepared more or just asked the right question, we would have had the success we were looking for in our endeavor.  I came across someone a few weeks ago that in two questions had me rethinking our conversation for multiple hours.  Questions should push us to know for sure what we believe we know.  Great questions are usually found in having the right people around us.


If you want to optimize your success, I've found that building a great team and surrounding yourself with loyal personal relationships creates a safe place for research, development and of course sounding board.


Having people who think from a different perspective work with you allows for the working out of a concept with rich depth.  This process requires patience, self-control and of course real love in what you're doing.  If you love it, it's worth putting through complete process of discovery that a healthy foundation can be built.  Many relationships are built on constant states of agreement.  I've found that instant agreement as a rule of thumb can create as much havoc as it can momentum.  When different people come together with different perspectives, questions get asked.  It's our job to be honest with the answer and believe in the outcome of that answer.  It takes real relationships to handle this dynamic, but it's possible.

So as leaders who embrace God as a true source in all we do, how do we ask the right questions, plan for the future and still live a lifestyle of risk/faith? I'll address that in my next post of "Do You Ask The Right Questions? PART 2"

Special News To Share With You!

I wanted to take a moment and let you know about something happening in Melissa and I's life that we're very excited about.

It's a new organization that is representing the movement of some regional metro detroit leaders. There are three entities that are coming together to form a more complete picture of what we believe God is doing today. Generation ONE, Salt River Church & Soulquest Ministries have decided that we are stronger together and are uniting as a team for greater exploits. We will restore and rebuild people thru local church. We will equip the generations through our school of ministry and also be a regional launching hub for many world wide or local ministries.

Our home base will be in Rochester but will be serving all of Metro Detroit, the Great Lakes and abroad.

One of the first foundation pieces we are setting in place is a church plant in Rochester.  This will be established with gatherings on sunday mornings in Hamlin Elementary School on Hamlin Rd. in Rochester.  Having three networks come together has allowed the launch of the local church to really hit the ground running. We have many people coming to establish this work as well as resources. There's a dynamic senior management team in Dave and Connie Bauer, Tony and Carrie Mancina, Andrew Mancina, and of course Melissa and myself, that are leading this together.

Please hold us up in prayer as we walk out this next step in our lives!  It's been an amazing couple of years and this will be icing on the cake.  I would  have love to have told many of you personally, but there's just so many people to get to. Feel free to contact me with questions or thoughts.  We will be posting official information about the new work in the coming weeks.  Love you all and thank you for your continued support.

Drew and Melissa Neal

Worship Smartbook - Simple Tools

This is a great interview by Rob Still of Anthony Skinner.  They are discussing Anthony's new book "Worship Smartbook".

Building For Your Future.

It's important to maintain a balanced tension between dreaming and planning when in discovery of your future.  I think dreaming is a lost art form and those who are willing to dream along side of God will find that there really isn't much we can't do.  (Proverbs says as a man thinks in his heart, so he is!) When we align ourselves with His thoughts and principles, we are a sure fire hit.  I love what Think-Differently says about discovery.  

"Appreciate Your Successes: review what went well in the previous season and celebrate your successes. "  We need to really begin to be people who celebrate success more.  In a culture that more times than not celebrates and exposes failure, we're in drastic need to think on things that are good!  Creating a culture of reward that acknowledges publicly really builds momentum and favor.  This also creates a foundation for personal development through trust and advocacy that people can succeed as we challenge them in their weaknesses too.  (Listen to my radio show Gravity Network next week for a great series on this exact topic!)

"Unleash Your Imagination: step aside from what you think is possible, and create you life as if there were no boundaries!"  If you can see it, you can believe it.  If it fits God's nature and greatest desires toward you, it can truly be possible.  There are no limitations to what is possible in our lives.  We really can do all things through His strength.  Don't get stuck dreaming out of need or temporary satisfaction but dream out of your greatest desires and delight in who HE is. 

"Create Your Vision: move from your ideal fantasy vision of what you’d love to create to a concrete description of exactly what you plan to accomplish in the next season."  Without vision, we end up self-destructing.  We need a plan and this is where partnership is usually really good to have.  Having other people who you can trust to stand opposite you and build a plan that will help you succeed at the highest level possible is very wise.  You were designed to have a "sweet spot" if you will.  A place that you hum on all cylinders.  Do you have people in your life who willing to partner with you in finding that place?  Don't settle until your plan has this as it's greatest goal.  For YOU to succeed and be happy.   Our greatest happiness will found when we are doing what HE designed us to succeed at.  He made you the right way the first time!  

"Validate and Commit: celebrate your vision for this year and the years ahead. Validate that this vision is what you actually want to achieve – and are prepared to commit to."  This is where all the work is, in our commitment.  The only difference between people who are doing something and those who are not, is the people who are doing something are decided to do something.  This is the action that fortifies our faith.  If you have a plan and it aligns with His greatest thoughts toward you... then DO IT.  God designed you to succeed, but it requires us using wisdom in knowing who we and where we'll succeed in bearing the most fruit.  Hard work always pays off, but it pays more when we love what we do.  Do what you love and all of a sudden, it start to feel less like work and more like living.  

Celebrate, Dream, Make A Plan & DO IT.  It's that simple.  What were you created for?  Where's the place you "hum on all cylinders?".  What would you do if there were no limitations?  What are God's greatest thoughts and desires toward your life?   Answer these questions and you'll begin to build a foundation of discovering the greatest season of your life.  

Becoming a Servant Leader.

I've been spending a lot of time the last couple of years forming a better understanding of God's perspective of who I am.  Many Christians today live a limited version of what I believe He was dreaming into when He made them and I believe it's due to not knowing who we really are.  There have been many movements and messages that have come raging to the forefront over the last couple of decades and there's always been a message of "increase", "prosperity", "sonship" and "favor".  I've really found the core of the scripture used to support those messages to really inspire me to want to live my life out in the extravagant love of God that makes all those things possible.  My identity upgrading out of one who is a slave and into a son or a companion of God has truly transformed my life.  

I think the greatest benefit has been in my experience of serving out of love and not serving out of obligation or penalty.  Leaving my identity in place as a son but embracing a lifestyle of serving has brought the managed tension of living a life after Christ in my constant crosshairs.  I've seen greater things in the last few years than I ever have and it's been in response to walking these two values out.  In Galations, we understand that the prerequisite for surrender of a companion is to love them into that place of surrender.  That love is laying down your life.  It's preferring others over yourself while maintaining a desire to do only what the Father is doing.  

A popular term these days is Servant Leadership.  I've been putting into practice some characteristics that I believe embody the values necessary to live out serving as a leader.  Larry C. Spears, who has served as President and CEO of the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership since 1990, has extracted a set of 10 characteristics that he believes are central to the development of a servant leader:

• Listening: Traditionally, and also in servant leadership, managers are required to have communication skills as well as the competence to make decisions. A servant leader has the motivation to listen actively to subordinates and support them in decision identification. The servant leader particularly needs to pay attention to what remains unspoken in the management setting. This means relying on his inner voice in order to find out what the body, mind and spirit are communicating.

• Empathy: A servant leader attempts to understand and empathize with others. Workers may be considered not only as employees, but also as people who need respect and appreciation for their personal development. As a result, leadership is seen as a special type of human work, which ultimately generates a competitive advantage.

• Healing: A great strength of a Servant Leader is the ability for healing one’s self and others. A servant leader tries to help people solve their problems and conflicts in relationships, because he wants to encourage and support the personal development of each individual. This leads to the formation of a business culture, in which the working environment is dynamic, fun and free of the fear of failure.

• Awareness: A servant leader needs to gain general awareness and especially self-awareness. He has the ability to view situations from a more integrated, holistic position. As a result, he gets a better understanding about ethics and values.

• Persuasion: A Servant Leader does not take advantage of their power and status by coercing compliance; they rather try to convince those they manage. This element distinguishes servant leadership most clearly from traditional, authoritarian models and can be traced back to the religious views of Robert Greenleaf.

• Conceptualization: A servant leader thinks beyond day-to-day realities. That means he has the ability to see beyond the limits of the operating business and also focuses on long term operating goals.  A Leader constructs a personal vision that only he can develop by reflecting on the meaning of life. As a result, he derives specific goals and implementation strategies.

• Foresight: Foresight is the ability to foresee the likely outcome of a situation. It enables the servant leader to learn about the past and to achieve a better understanding about the current reality. It also enables the servant leader to identify consequences about the future. This characteristic is closely related to conceptualization.

• Stewardship: CEOs, staffs and trustees have the task to hold their institution in trust for the greater good of society. In conclusion, servant leadership is seen as an obligation to help and serve others. Openness and persuasion are more important than control.

• Commitment to the growth of people: A servant leader is convinced that people have an intrinsic value beyond their contributions as workers. Therefore, she should nurture the personal, professional and spiritual growth of employees. For example, she spends money for the personal and professional development of the people who make up her organization. The servant leader will also encourage the ideas of everyone and involve workers in decision making.

• Building community: A servant leader identifies means to build a strong community within his organization and wants to develop a true community among businesses and institutions

I hope these inspire you to be a better leader, understanding we have natural tools in place that will always bring increase into everything we do.  Our commitment to characteristics like these shape the counter culture that we as believers are responsible to foster.  

New Radio SHOW! Gravity Network: LIVE

I'm excited about the new radio show Gravity Network: LIVE.  This show is all about one thing:  transformation.  It's goal is to give you tools on how see transformation in your life, your church and your city.  We're passionate about discovering the gravity of the kingdom of heaven that will bring this transformation.  There's a lot attached to the goals of what we're wanting to accomplish, but for now... it's a radio show.

Tune into Gravity Network: LIVE  M-F at 3:30pm on WRDT 560am currently.  Internet radio and podcasting will be live asap.

Thanks for the support and make sure give us some feedback!  You can connect with the show by taking a sneak peak listen on facebook here:  http://www.facebook.com/gravitynetworkonline

Blessings...

Drew

#winning

I walked into the store the other day and I noticed I was within close proximity of five different people who were wearing the colors green and white. For all of you non-Michiganders, they were representing the Spartans of Michigan State University.  This was the most public display of that team’s spirit I’ve ever witnessed in a 30-foot radius that I can think of and not be in Lansing itself.  If you don’t know, the University Of Michigan Wolverines dominate the general fair weather college sports fan here in the mitten, but MSU is rising in their visible fan base.  Why?

They are putting together a culture of winning.

Have you ever met anyone who seriously wants to lose for the enjoyment of not winning?   There’s something innately powerful about being apart of the winning team that every single person on earth connects with.  The more MSU is winning, the more people are proud to show their support and show they believe in the team.

Winning builds momentum.

I think we could easily cite pop-culture phenomenon Charlie Sheen, and see how even with #winning defined as milking the system catapults movement.  Many churches in America have big plans in “forwarding” their initiatives with the end result filling up their buildings and having some level of notoriety. Is this true success in God?  Is this the cause we’re looking to champion? Don’t get me wrong, I believe in products, marketing, having a following and the funds necessary to do it things at a high level.  It’s all a part of life, but do these things define success in forwarding the gospel? It’s success if your whole goal is only exposure.  There are lots of gimmicks we can all do to build awareness that Jesus exists, but if we’ve not given them a taste of who He is beyond words, what success do really have to mention of?  Just because I told you about MSU doesn’t make you want to be a fan.  You need to encounter them winning to be a FANantic.

How do we measure the success of forwarding the Gospel?

I believe it’s really easy to put the cart before the horse when wanting to build a movement that transcends walls or a specific gathering.  The first step the church has routinely taken was to upgrade their infrastructure, communication, budget and marketing.  “Maybe if we convince them we’re cool, they’ll want to hang out with us.”  I am immensely grateful that we no longer need to speak in King James Version to be spiritual and that those who wore pretentious suits and ties are fading. However, does this mean we are winning a generation over because we’re more agreeable culturally?  I believe winning is simple and keeping the focus on Jesus in the midst of all our creative tools-essential.  I’m not here to convince anyone of Jesus.  I’m here to give them Jesus.  When I’ve given a person an encounter with Jesus (His truth, love and power) it gives them an experience that turns them into a fan.  They encounter the Win of the Gospel, which is bigger than a one time prayer; it’s the beginning of transformation.

I’m not here to “win souls”.  I’m here to see lives completely transformed - body, soul and spirit.

I don’t want people to agree with me in a moment.  I want them to be lost for words for what they just experienced, for there to be such a heavy hunger immediately birthed in their life to want to KNOW who and where this came from.  A true experience with Jesus will mark a person to want to follow Him all the days of their life.  Our #winning is not in our gatherings alone, but should mostly be defined by the story of lives lived out in the workplace, school and home.  If we don’t take Jesus with us everywhere we go, what’s the point of sacrificing your life to follow Him?  There’s no shame in representing what you would be willing to die for. The motive is not judgment, conversational strong arm or behavior focused fire hosing.  If we lead people to the lap of Jesus, He’ll take care of the rest. 

That’s a win.

Can you imagine a whole tribe of people who have encountered transformation being a true visible demonstration of God’s truth, love and power?  Fans don’t need to “sell” or try to convince people of their team, they just point to the score board.  As believers we’re not fighting for victory, we’re fighting FROM victory.  It's not striving, it's rest.  Jesus paid it all for me to win in this life. Are you merely regurgitating faith based propaganda or are you a FANatic?  Let’s build a tribe of believers who actually believe and live out FULL Jesus.  The world is watching to see if the church can actually win.  They'll notice our culture of winning not when we tell them, but when they are completely surrounded by more fans in a 30 foot radius than they can remember and it not be at church itself.  

Written by: Drew Neal

Edited by: Brett Whitefield

Short Excerpt From Forthcoming Book Project...

"We the church, are called to live a life that is victorious and never short of inspiring, but maybe we have lost our understanding of exactly how powerful the gospel is in a global context.   Our thoughts typically have radiated towards the church organization and it's success.  There's fruit of this within our big buildings, large gatherings and good coffee, but i think it's time to expand our thought.  First, to have an enlarged perspective of who we are, we need an enlarged perspective of who God is.  If we're not seeing success in a realm, we have to know it's only the absence of believing that God already has in His character everything we would ever need to be successful in that realm.  Secondly, many people talk about having a “world view” and as that expands, you are able to see things more clearly.   I would pose that as a body of believers, we've settled on having a “church view” alone rather than having a “kingdom view” (which includes all understanding of the church).  The church is not a destination of upmost arrival but a launch pad into the kingdom.   Jesus came preaching the coming of the kingdom of heaven here on earth, which should lead us to define what it looks like to live a life with no limits in the kingdom and how that impacts every sphere of influence."