WE NEED TO STOP TALKING AND START DOING!
By Mark W. Pfeifer
One of the questions people ask is, “What do we do after the Roundtables?”
This is absolutely the right question to be asking!
But to answer this question, we must back up and revisit the mission and purpose of ICAL/USCAL as an organization.
There are three single words that appear on the ICAL logo that every member should know by heart:
ACCESS, EXPOSURE, and DIALOGUE!
We came up with these three words after surveying the last 20 years of our existence. We asked ourselves questions like these:
▶️ What do we do well?
▶️ What can we realistically achieve as an organization?
▶️ What exactly are we “selling?”
▶️ Why would anyone want to buy it?
▶️ What value do we provide to our members?
▶️ How can we express that value in simple terms?
▶️ How can we encapsulate that mission simply and succinctly?
These questions led to the emergence of these three words as an accurate expression of the purpose of ICAL/USCAL. These are the things our members can expect to receive from their involvement with us.
✅ We provide ACCESS to like-minded people that we would otherwise never have a chance to meet.
✅ We provide EXPOSURE to new ideas, systems, perspectives, and ways of advancing the Kingdom of God.
✅ We provide DIALOGUE in a peer-level environment where relationships are fostered, and strategies are discovered, discussed, and debated.
In the United States, we provide these three valuable components through organizing Roundtables. This provides our members with an excellent opportunity to sit down and discuss with other leaders the topics that we all have in common.
🎁 Sometimes we are gleaning wisdom from others.
🎁 Sometimes we are sharing our wisdom with others.
⚔️ Either way, iron sharpens iron (Proverbs 27:17)!
NOW I CAN HEAR THE CRITICS IN MY HEAD...
One of the objections people raise in response to these conversational gatherings is, “When are we going to stop talking and start doing?"
That’s a great question, too!
But the answer depends on you!
Let me explain…
I agree that doing is important. But I don’t agree that doing is more important than talking! Because...
▶️ An uneducated doer is a failure!
▶️ An untrained competitor is a loser!
▶️ An unprepared worker is a hindrance!
Think about the first verse in John's Gospel:
"In the beginning was the Word (John 1:1)."
THE CREATIVE WORD PRECEDES THE DOING OF THAT WORD—just like it was in creation.
To reverse the process would be problematic. We have all experienced what it's like to try to take a test or accomplish a task without the necessary training and preparation.
Jesus said in Luke 14:28,
“For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it?”
Only a fool attempts to do something without first counting the costs...
…and perhaps counting the costs includes ACCESS, EXPOSURE, and DIALOGUE!
The Process of Counting the Costs
Counting the cost means we must evaluate our available resources to see if we have the time, money, and manpower to accomplish the task. This process includes:
✅ Talking to people who have done what we are planning to do.
✅ Discussing our ideas in a sort of peer review.
✅ Floating our ideas in a room full of experienced practitioners.
In the above passage, Jesus advises us to find ACCESS to people who have done what we plan to do, gain EXPOSURE to their wisdom and experience, and create an ongoing DIALOGUE with them as the project progresses.
A Cautionary Tale
🏠 At this point in the conversation, I think about how many people try and fail at flipping houses.
They think they can do it because they watched Chip and Joanna Gaines make it look so fun and exciting. After a few hours of HGTV, they are convinced they can find a house, remodel it, put it on the market, and make $150,000.
📺 After all, those people on TV do it in thirty minutes!
People who enter the doing stage without EXPOSURE, ACCESS, and DIALOGUE are bound to falter—because in their inexperience, they remain naïve and overly optimistic about a project for which they are ill-prepared.
THE FACT IS THIS: We don’t know what we don’t know!
And sometimes it’s not until we get in the middle of a project that we discover our blind spots. Many churches and ministries have tragically stumbled and experienced fatal setbacks because their leaders didn’t count the cost.
A little ACCESS, EXPOSURE, and DIALOGUE would have saved them a lot of headaches!
What Happens After the Roundtable?
🤷🏻♂️ But what do we do after the Roundtable is over?
Should we join together and organize a joint project?
Probably not!
The purpose of ICAL/USCAL is best executed on the Strategic Level while the execution of these strategies must happen on the Tactical Level.
👉🏻 The STRATEGIC LEVEL is where the ideas and theories are discussed and debated.
👉🏻 The TACTICAL LEVEL, in military terms, is “boots on the ground.” That’s where the mission is implemented and where soldiers perform what has been strategically planned by their leaders.
The primary tactical units beyond the single individual in the Kingdom of God are...
Families
Local Churches
Local Parachurch Ministries
Kingdom Oriented Businesses
Final Thoughts
We need both levels—Strategic and Tactical—and the leaders who excel in each area.
For Nicki and me, we are grateful for the ACCESS, EXPOSURE, and DIALOGUE that ICAL/USCAL provides. But we also value those with whom we serve on the Tactical Level, including our family, local church, apostolic network, schools, other churches, and business leaders.
We need both!
And you probably do, too!