9. Tight-Fisted Toolers. At Celebrate we spend the vast majority of our budget on people and ministries. We trim fat and make wise financial decisions so that we can use every possible resource to reach people for Christ. However – we’re not shy about making sure that we’ve got the right tools to do the job effectively and efficiently. We work very hard as a team to cut unnecessary expenditures, but if a ministry needs a tool to reach people, we try our very best to find a great deal and to get that tool. We can’t always do it – but we try very hard! That’s a FOUNDATIONAL part of Celebrate’s DNA.

10. Creative Synergy. We are a HIGHLY creative group and we have an INCREDIBLY creative leader! We thrive on each other’s creativity and we use each other’s creativity to better our ministries and our lives. It’s that creativity that allows us to always be thinking and planning for the future. It’s that creativity that keeps us honest and humble about the God we serve. CREATIVITY is what makes Celebrate’s DNA so awesome!

11. Core Values. In closing this DNA scan out, I just want to talk about the fact that our church is growing at an incredible pace. but the reality is – the number of people that attend the church is not the number that is most important to us. What matters most is that over 2500 people have accepted Christ through the ministries of our church. What matters is that lost and lonely people are finding life and love and positive relationships at Celebrate. What matters is that we live in a community that is still largely unchurched and because of that, our collective heart breaks for the lost in our community. That, in my humble opinion, is the CORE of Celebrate’s DNA.

Let’s be clear, I love working at Celebrate. It’s incredible and it’s something that I am so thankful for each and every day!

I get a lot of questions about what it’s like to be a part of Celebrate. I’ve been thinking about this for a while, here’s just a couple of things that I see in scanning Celebrate’s DNA that makes this church so different than any other place I’ve ever been a part of.

1. Learning for Impact. There is such a high priority on being a learning leader at Celebrate, that learning is something that the staff is constantly doing. From reading leadership books, to pairing off into teams to learn a concept, to individuals taking initiative and partnering up to read and discuss a book. Lots of churches take time to learn, but what makes Celebrate unique is that we are always learning so that we can Impact our ministries and the people who are a part of that ministry. Learning for IMPACT is something that is truly in our DNA.

2. Staff Spotlighting. We share every success with each other! We don’t just recognize the successes, we totally CELEBRATE them! We understand that at times ministry is hard work and that if we fail to reward a job well done, it hurts motivation. So we share in our successes both in our personal and our private lives! That’s absolutely VITAL to Celebrate’s DNA.

3. We’re Cheaters. Yup. I said it. We are intentional about our cheating and we are constantly working at getting better at it. The thing is, we cheat the right things. If you’ve never read Andy Stanley’s book, “Choosing to Cheat” – you’ve totally got to pick it up – it’ll change your life! We understand that if we’re going to be effective in ministry, we have to take care of our relationship with God first, our families second, and our ministry roles third. Sure there are times when the proverbial ass falls in the well and we’ve got to put in the hours to make something happen, but we are very good at making up that time to our families and ourselves after the event is over. Choosing to cheat the right things is part of Celebrate’s DNA.

4. Straight Shooters. We don’t mince words. We call it as we see it. We have the tough conversations with each other because we all want to do the very best we can. Honestly, sometimes it sucks big time to have to recognize that we’re dropping the ball. We get angry with ourselves and sometimes with the person saying it, but the key is that we always know that it’s done in love. Sometimes the truth is the most difficult pill to swallow, but once we do we’re a better church because of it. That’s absolutely KEY to Celebrate’s DNA.

Don’t miss part 2!