Lance Wallnau

Adaptability wins.

Charles Darwin observed, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” In this he got it right: the one with the ability to adapt wins. The feet of the red-eyed tree frog Adaptability Winshave developed suction cups on their toes, allowing them to climb trees and stick to leaves. Their beautiful coloration allows them to be covert—camouflaged under a leaf until the timing is right to emerge and strike its prey.
In human terms, it is not the kid in class with the highest I.Q. that ends up the wealthiest or the greatest leader—it’s the one with the most E.Q.—Emotional Intelligence. The ability to read a situation and adapt your strategy is the greatest indicator of ultimate success in relationships and business innovation.
How about in the movement Jesus started 2000 years ago? Historically, the church has always had the ability to adapt to different environments and survive. From the catacombs of Rome to the underground church in China, sincere believers have always discovered new ways to create flexible forms of meeting and growing. But what about the current church world? The decline of influence in western civilization is astonishing. In particular, the impact of believers on culture is in rapid decline and forecasting an alarming erosion among young people 25 years old and younger. We know the formula for building a certain type of church, but we don't have models to shape modern nation states, and if we don't adapt we may be finding our way back into a moral and spiritual dark ages.
Don't settle for merely “going to church.” The front lines are now going to church and planting a new kind of church. They are a covert company of praying entrepreneurs who “go into every system” and “occupy” the landscape with new models of heaven invading earth.
I am interested in learning how you have adapted and what you see emerging in the church landscape. How are you going into systems? Tell me what strategies you are deploying … I want to hear from you!
 

45 thoughts on “Adaptability wins.”

  1. Carlos Arredondo

    Lance,
    My strategy is this: My observation is that due to the irrelevancy of the “church” culture and “churchianity” and also the disintegration of the family-nucleus-unit (it’s rarer to meet the child of a married parents than divorced ones in my experience nowadays), and also the waning relevancy of the now-archaic and lagging school systems and structures, a new occupant has come to fill the void left by all the aforementioned. That occupant is in a nutshell: digital&media content… whatever topic-matter or nature it may be of.
    The trend we are in now is that technology/communication is not only advancing and progressing technologically speaking, but it is also becoming more profuse/commonplace in every aspect of the average civilians life as well as used more frequently. It is progressing to become more engaging, more dynamic, more interactive, more engrossing, more accessible. Whether it’s video games, music, youtube, streaming tv&movies, independent news channels, etc. etc. It’s all the same: it’s higher quality, more interactive, more available and on-demand, more accessible, etc. You get the picture. The point is this: This trend is by no means near ending, I believe this trend will only continue, in fact we may only be at the beginning of this trend. This trend is synonymous with modernity, progress, and the general increasing connectivity of globalization.
    So here’s the bottom line: What I observe is that the young-generation isn’t influenced by parents, by schools, by church like my own and the ones before us. The dominant, and I do mean DOMINANT source of input and therefore yield of influence on the shaping of their minds, values and culture is all the digital-media-content floating in the cyber-world. The world as presented by hollywood in film. The fantasy worlds of video-games that are increasingly realistic. The endless internet-world of user generated content. Etc. etc.
    So this is where I see the lack: where are the saints who are gonna step it up and create content that instills, inspires, reveals, encourages and brings the revelation of Truth (in a relevant, real, and genuine fashion)? Because I assure that is where the youth are spending the majority of their time. And the majority of input that is entering their minds through the gates of their eyes and ears. It makes me mad that the best the “Christians” can produce are a few low-budget, C-grade cheeseball movies… is that it? Really? Our God is the maker of the universe and that’s the best we can do to reflect that reality? C’mon… this isn’t right.
    So I’ll tell you my strategy Lance. It’s simple. I’m going to build a massive capital base. Along the way, the skill-sets and execution-intelligence I will develop along the way with the help of Holy Ghost are going to take me to a place where I will become a tycoon-power-broker (I’m still honestly wrestling with the notion of multi-billionaire or billionaire, although I have no problem thinking in terms of 100’s of millions of $, so that’s where I have my mindset right now). And I’m going to do as much damage as I can! To be part of a production company who puts films out there, to create a publishing house who puts written content out there, to work with musicians, to penetrate the video-game industry and set standards with games that tell a story of love, redemption and enable people to have God-encounters while they’re playing it. And guess what, ALL of it will be done with an excellence unparalleled… the way it should be… the way Daniel demonstrated in his day….
    That is my strategy: Build capital base, grow skills in the process of doing that, and then occupy those places at the top of the media, business, arts & entertainment mountains and kick some ass!
    Yield influence in shaping the minds via both generating/producing the content which they feed on as well as controlling what content is available to them (who says we can’t buy up the tv-networks for example and now have a say on what content they output?)
    Love you man. Thanks for all your wisdom as always Lance.
    Blessings.
    -C

  2. This information was completely and entirely, to say the least, captivating. Our church here in Atwater Ca. is going through somewhat of a facelift, so to speak. We’ve taken it from a every Sunday to every other Sunday and having church in homes throughout the week. For whatever reason, this shift in home church has brought attendance up and anew spiritual growth. There is a hunger for God like never seen before. There has been a Five Fold Ministry established here, of course not without some indifferences, but were able to overcome. On another note, this church body also feels Gods move throughout the world, and our hope is that this church body not be passed up. We seek the greater things of God. The power, the signs and wonders, healings and miracles are all good, but better than that is His presence. All things can be done with Him in the center. You ask about what I’d be interested in reading or watching. I’d like to know more about water baptism, it’s importance today and where it should be done. Who can perform the work and why. Thank you for you time, hopefully this is not going to be read by a staff who respond to these sort of Facebook post.Your Friend From CWC Merced Prophetic Ministries. Tony Rodriguez

    1. Assuming you still await an answer,. This is historically a divisive issue, where, who, and why are still hotly disputed between various groups. But one thing is key. Anyone can say he is a Christian and then break away and say that he didn’t mean it, that he was forced to say it, whatever. But once you get voluntarily water baptized, it’s hard to say you didn’t mean it, especially when you’re an adult. From then on, people can watch your conduct to see if you’re faking it. If you meant it enough to get baptized, you’re supposed to press on even through tribulation, and not chuck Christianity when it starts cramping your style. When you do wrong, people should expect you to apologize and make amends. And although we don’t do it, the bible says to kick blatant fakers out of the church. Hope this helps.

  3. rebornaddictsarise.com A prayer line of and for addicts reborn to a place of praying for the lies of the enemy to come forth as lies and be cast into the pits of Hell allowing the chains to be broken and fall away and the light of Jesus be our guide to love and everlasting life in His truth train us Father as we lift our brothers and sisters to you in prayer give us ears to hear and eyes to see as we seek your face through the testimoney of Jesus sharing life and love with all people in Jesus name I pray Amen

Comments are closed.