Entries Tagged 'Leadership' ↓

Last week, while returning from State College, I listened to “Holy Discontent,” a message by Bill Hybels presented at the Willow Creek Association Global Leadership Summit a few years ago (I need to listen to it a few more times!). Hybels wrote a book by the same title, which I reviewed in 2008.

I love listening to Bill Hybels. As I tweeted afterward, “Hearing @billhybels always makes me wanna charge hell w/ a water pistol!”

In the message, Hybels talks about how witnessing the beating of an Israelite by an Egyptian soldier wrecked Moses (it changed his life forever). When God went looking for someone he could use to deliver the Israelites, he looked for someone whose heart was wrecked like his own. Hybels talks about the importance of knowing the one thing that wrecks your heart.

As I reflected on the message, I wondered how many of us are motivated by wrong, or at least, lesser, things. Perhaps we’re leaders because we want to be great leaders, or we want to lead growing churches, etc. We may couch it in spiritual language (we want to build God’s kingdom, etc.), but I wonder how much of it is personal ambition.

But, what would it look like, if we were driven to be (God-called) leaders because something had so wrecked our hearts that we couldn’t do anything else?

Hybels asks, Do you know what wrecks your heart?

Three years ago, I wrote Praying for Pastors, a post that includes a 7-day prayer guide for pastors (I encourage you to print it and use it to pray for your pastor, including those of you who are part of Centre Grove or West Side).

I’ve been thinking about the prayer guide for a few reasons: Joleen and I appreciate those who pray for us, prayer is a focus of my ordination project, and I’ve been reading a lot lately about the struggles pastors face.

In fact, I encourage you to read the following articles:

Yesterday, Ron Edmondson posted a brief list of things that describe some of the struggles that many pastors face: 10 Things You May Not Know About Senior Pastors.

Taking a Break From the Lord’s Work appeared on the New York Times’ website on August 1, 2010. Here’s the first paragraph …

The findings have surfaced with ominous regularity over the last few years, and with little notice: Members of the clergy now suffer from obesity, hypertension and depression at rates higher than most Americans. In the last decade, their use of antidepressants has risen, while their life expectancy has fallen. Many would change jobs if they could.

The article goes on to describe the current situation and what some churches are doing to encourage care of clergy and clergy self-care.

This past week, Eugene Cho wrote Death by Ministry?, a sobering look at the challenges of ministry with a ton of scary statistics.

Last April, Thom Rainer, author of Simple Church, which we’ve been working our way through with our covenant groups (see 1.0 and 2.0), wrote a pointed piece for church members called, Straight Talk to Church Members about Their Pastors.

Rainer offers a list of things to do and not do for pastors. I want to include them here (words in brackets added for inclusiveness) …

From Rainer’s article …

What Not to Do

1. Don’t criticize or make critical suggestions to the pastor unless you have spent much time in prayer over the matter. Pastors have to deal with criticisms every week. It drains them. Also, don’t criticize the pastor’s family.
2. Don’t ask the pastor to make announcements right before the worship service. He [She] needs to be focused on his [her] sermon. Similarly, don’t say other things to him [her] that may distract him [her] before he [she] preaches.
3. Don’t tell your pastor how he [she] compares to other pastors.
4. Don’t expect the pastor to be at all the church events and functions you think he [she] should attend. Most of the other church members want him [her] at “their” events as well.
5. Don’t expect the pastor to be the primary pastoral care giver to all members, their relatives, their distant relatives, and the rest of the community within a 30-mile radius.

What to Do

1. Do pray for your pastor. Send him [her] an email to let him [her] know you are praying for him [her].
2. Do encourage your pastor. He [She] needs it because he’s [she's] human, and he [she] needs it to balance the criticisms he [she] hears.
3. Do work with the leadership of the church to make certain the pastor is getting sufficient rest, time off, and family time. Most pastors are on call 24/7.
4. Do encourage the rest of the church to take on pastoral care responsibility, particularly through small groups and Sunday school classes. The pastor should be the primary care giver for the most urgent and serious of needs. The rest of the church should do the bulk of the ministry.
5. Do be faithful to the ministry of the church. Few things encourage a pastor as much as committed church members.

These articles offer some good practical advice as well as sobering statistics on the need to pray for pastors.

I often think of Terry Teykl’s book, which encourages people to pray for pastors, Preyed On or Prayed For. We’d much rather be prayed for than preyed on, so we’re asking for your help (again, check out this 7-day prayer guide)!

Thank you for your prayers!

The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, had a legendary work ethic, travelling thousands of miles by horseback, preaching thousands of sermons over the course of his long life, and starting a global movement, in the process.

Wesley was very disciplined. In fact, it’s no surprise that the UMC’s official book is called the “Book of Discipline.” Included in this book is a series of questions Wesley asked of candidates for ordination, including this one …

Will you observe the following directions?

(a) Be diligent. Never be unemployed. Never be triflingly employed. Never trifle away time; neither spend any more time at any one place than is strictly necessary.

(b) Be punctual. Do everything exactly at the time.

Recently, I read Michael McKinney’s post, distilling some lessons for leaders from Leaders in Gear by Rhett Laubach. One of the lessons especially struck me, and fits here. McKinney writes …

The Threshold Thread concept states that all high achievers have developed the ability to push their capabilities further than the average person. Their threshold for hard work is higher. Their patience threshold is longer. Their commitment threshold is stronger. Will Smith has been quoted as saying that the true secret to his success is an insane work ethic. He uses running as an example. If you were on a treadmill beside him he knows one thing for certain—you will get off first.

I love that. “If you were on a treadmill beside him he knows one thing for certain—you will get off first.” That’s determination (I recently wrote about Developing the Discipline of Determination).

A few months ago, Thom Rainer wrote about Pastors and Time, noting some research that revealed differences in how effective pastors and ineffective pastors use time. Through research, they discovered differences in how much sleep pastors of effective and ineffective churches got, how much time they spent with family, in sermon preparation, etc. The point is that our use of time matters, and our use of time is largely dependent on our work ethic.

One of the questions I’ve wrestled with while writing this post, though, is, how do you have a strong work ethic without becoming a workaholic. I think the answer lies in having a strong work ethic for life, not just for work. We become workaholics when we work hard at work only, but we’re healthier when we value and spend time with our families, by having a strong work ethic at home.

“Work hard at whatever you do.” (Ecclesiastes 9.10, CEV)

Three months ago, I wrote that I started using Twitter (click here for my Twitter stream). I also wrote about Twitter Web Apps shortly after that (which probably needs updating).

Over the last few months, I’ve marked a number of tweets as “favorites.” Periodically, I’ll blog some of my favorite favorites—statements that inspire and challenge me—starting with these (copied-and-pasted here in their original format) …

A Twitter stream featuring quotes from my favorite devotional writer, Oswald Chambers …

Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led.

Never allow a feeling that was awakened in you on the mountaintop to evaporate.

I tend to favorite a lot of Mike Slaughter’s tweets …

1st key 2 revitalize dying church: Preach evry Sun. abt how a church looks that takes biblical model of the church seriously.

2nd key 2 revitalize a church: Ask in ech mtg, “How is what we r doing not only getting people 2 know the word, but to do it?”

3rd key 2 revitalize a church: ask self-if neighborhood person walked n2 back of church on Sun, would this attract him/her 2 Jesus?

4th key way 2 revitalize a church: Teach people not only 2 invite others 2 worship, but also 2 invite them 2 participate in ministry

If someone unfamiliar w/ ur church examined ur budget, what would he/she conclude about ur church’s priorities?

Leaders, at heart of every decision u make 4 ur church is a choice between courage and compliance. How r u doing?

Renewals and reformation are never born out of timidity.

Some favorites from Rick Warren …

Never fear criticism.Fear conformity,which stunts the soul. U cant have everyone’s approval &God’s anointing at same time.

God sometimes removes a person from your life for your protection. Don’t run after them.

And Rick Warren’s RWToolbox …

“You pay God a great compliment by asking great things of Him.” Teresa of Avila

ATSAlumni posts a lot of inspirational/challenging quotes. Some of my favorites include …

Jesus does not want us to work for Him. He wants us to let Him do His work through us.-C.G. Trumbull

The Church that does not evangelize will fossilize.-Oswald J. Smith

Preachers with cold hearts will never warm and awaken the consciences of their hearers.-Bruce Milne

The greatness of man’s power is his surrender. It is not who you are, or what you are, but whether God controls you.-Henrietta C Mear

UNTAMEDbook is a book by Alan Hirsch. Here are a couple quotes from the book …

“You simply cannot be a disciple without being a missionary – a sent one.”

Prayer is rebellion against the status quo. “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”

One from Stephen Covey …

So many competing priorities. Learn to say “no” or you will burn out. Having a burning “yes” will allow you to say NO to the unimportant.

One of my favorite leadership writers is John Maxwell. Here are a couple of his tweets …

The greatest gap in life is the one between knowing & doing. -Dick Biggs

Effective communication is 20% what you know & 80% how you feel about what you know. -Jim Rohn

One Twitter stream posts unpublished quotes from A. W. Tozer …

It will cost you everything to follow the Lord. And it will cost you even more to be His man [or woman] for this hour.

Many Christians are satisfied with their destination but they neglect the journey.

Any sermon that is not birthed in prayer is not a message from God no matter how learned the preacher.

Silence is often the most eloquent answer to our critics.

In an effort to get the work of the Lord done we often lose contact with the Lord of work.

God is never satisfied with anything less than all.

From Ed Stetzer …

“Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter.” ~Spurgeon.

Leonard Sweet …

For Wesley, internal combustion (“heart strangely warmed”) led to external combustion (“world is my parish”)

Life is not a do-it-yourself project.

Max Lucado …

Blessed are those who acknowledge that there is only one God and have quit applying for his position.

Tom Tumblin from Asbury Theological Seminary …

Which shall we be: leaders who evoke (draw out) or provoke (stir up)? Jesus was both invitational and confrontational. Lord, teach me both.

Tim Sanders …

The only reason to give a speech is to change the world – Nick Morgan

Janice Neely …

I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world. Mother Teresa

These are a lot of my favorites. You can read the full list of my favorites here.

In 2008, I wrote a couple posts on task management (see Task Management and Task Management 2.0). My previous posts focused on specific systems, but even after checking out different systems, I keep coming back to my own. I’ll keep looking, for ideas, if nothing else, but here I want to focus on “time management.”

Interestingly, I have now been a student of leadership for (exactly) 20 years now, going back to when John Maxwell did a seminar for my denomination called, “Six Keys to Church Growth.” Point number two was “Leadership.” But even before I was a student of leadership, I was interested in time management, or at least, managing my time more effectively (when I started using a Franklin Day Planner in college).

Twenty-one years later, time management is still a tremendous challenge, and an area that I want to grow in!

In recent days, I’ve been thinking about some areas in which I need to further develop and/or improve. Here’s what I wrote in my journal this morning …

1. Pray. If I’m going to use time well, especially doing the things God calls me to do in ministry and leadership, then I must have God’s guidance and blessing!
2. Master List. I think my current practice of updating my master list weekly works pretty well. I might try to update the list at the end of the week instead of first thing Monday, which might help me to hit the ground running at the beginning of the week. I’ll give it a shot.
3. Schedule Tasks. I sometimes plan what days I will work on specific tasks/agenda items, but I’d like to do this better.
4. Estimate Time for Tasks. I do this occasionally, but I’m not very good at it. I always underestimate the amount of time tasks will take. Need to work on this!
5. Focusing on the Most Important Tasks. Rick Warren often says that we have enough time to do what God calls us to do. Either we’re trying to do more than we should be doing or we’re not doing them right. It’s a constant challenge doing those things that are important, not just urgent (especially if they’re not even that important)! Knowing my call and having a clear sense of vision, as well as understanding the real leadership/ministry needs in the church, are critical here, as well.
6. Ruthlessly Eliminate Hurry. Long time challenge. Still haven’t figured it out. But I’m convinced it’s an important discipline!

Question: How do you manage time? What do you do well? Where do you need to grow?

When we were in Washington D.C. for the GBCS seminar last month, we met with a staffer in Senator Robert Casey’s office who, on a particular issue, said it was good to receive our input because they “hear so much noise,” much of it negative.

This idea has stuck with me. The noise describes all the stuff we see and hear that distracts us from our mission and keeps us from having peace.

Recently, it struck me that leaders must learn to cut through the noise in order to stay on task and lead with clarity.

Life is filled with noise now more than ever. In recent centuries, the amount of information available to us has dramatically increased through the printing press, radio, television, and most recently, the internet.

All of these things are tremendous developments, of course. But they’ve also increased the noise level. It’s our responsibility to cut through the noise to find those things that are most valuable so that we can stay on task and help others stay on task.

Here are a few challenges leaders face …

• Choosing what we take in and focus on (through reading, listening, etc.). With so many resources out there, it’s impossible to read them all. Leaders must learn to make good decisions about what they read/listen to.
• Using social media wisely/effectively. With so many social media channels (forums, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc.), leaders must learn to use them wisely and efficiently. (See today’s blog post by John Ortberg, What Would Jesus Tweet?)
• Prioritizing Bible reading, praying, thinking, dreaming/visioning, etc.

Leaders must learn to handle the noise in their own lives. And, because we have a message to communicate and a mission to lead, leaders much also cut through the noise in other people’s lives!

To cut through the noise in other people’s lives, a leader’s communication must be clear, focused, concise, and passionate.

If a leader’s message isn’t clear, focused, concise, and passionate (i.e., from the heart), it just adds to the noise in people’s lives and will ultimately make little or no impact. This is why one-point preaching, which focuses on one point and building everything around it, is so important (not just for preaching!). I’ve been using this approach for four years, and it’s still a constant challenge to maintain focus!

In addition to being clear, focused, and concise, our communication also has to be passionate. According to Jim Rohn, “Effective communication is 20% what you know and 80% how you feel about what you know.”

A leader wants to make a difference in the world. I believe our impact is directly related to our ability to cut through the noise, in our lives and in the lives of others!

Philippians 4.8-9 (NLT) …

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise … Then the God of peace will be with you.

Question: How do you handle the noise?

Today, I caught bits and pieces of the free online leadership event from Leadership Network called, Sage. The event involved a number of brief videos from seasoned leaders, each dealing with the question of what they’d do differently if given a do-over. I tweeted some of my favorite quotes.

Since I only caught bits and pieces, these reflections are preliminary, but there were still some areas that particularly challenged me.

Michael Duduit talked about preaching. He said …

Clear is better than clever.

This certainly agrees with the one-point preaching approach.

Duduit also said …

Effective messages send people out not praising the speaker but the Savior.

I appreciate Walt Kallestad. We had the opportunity to hear him teach as part of our Asbury program a few years ago. Walt made several important memorable statements, including …

Keep it simple, like teaching people to love the Lord with all your heart, and that relationships are central to building community.

Walt hit on the importance of prayer and said now …

I pray more and work less.

One of the major themes was caring for yourself and your soul, including spending time with God. Joel Hunter challenged listeners to get into God’s Word. He said …

Read the word of God every day. I can‘t believe I get to learn and help others understand it.

But from what I could tell, by far the most common theme from these seasoned leaders, which many learned the hard way, was FAMILY.

I didn’t write down a lot of the statements, but a couple include Joel Hunter’s comment …

Enjoy your family.

I was more impacted by Hunter’s heart and authenticity than the actual words. (By the way, Hunter is one of the members of President Obama’s so-called “spiritual cabinet.”)

Gene Getz also highlighted the importance of family. Speaking of his regrets, he said …

You can’t make up for what you didn’t do!

I will need go back and watch the videos again, especially the ones I missed when they are posted on Leadership Network.

Finally, I really enjoyed Chip Ingram’s presentation, which unfortunately was cut short due to technical difficulties. But before the lights went out for several minutes, I loved what Ingram, who talked about lifelong learning, said …

God’s number one agenda is to work in you before he works through you.

Interestingly, I think this will shape my message this Sunday. I’ve been in a series on “Life in the Wilderness” (i.e., those times that are unplanned and unexpected and difficult!). This week, I’m talking about preparation and after today, may do so in the context of forgetting the past and preparing for the rest of our lives. What do we want to do differently? What do we need to do to make the most of the rest of our lives?

Today, Joleen and I attended a seminar (a requirement of our ordination process) held at Wesley Forest, a United Methodist camp. The presenter for the seminar on “Planning and Leading Change” was Rev. Tom Berlin, senior pastor of Floris United Methodist Church (Herndon, VA).

During the day, I posted several quotes on my Twitter page. But here, I’ll offer a little further review and reflection.

It was a very good leadership event and there’s a lot we need to process and reflect on. For now, here are some of the highlights …

Berlin began the day talking about calling. He said that passion based on call is the difference between pastors who finish well and pastors who burn out. Pastors must be intentional in processing their own call. Berlin said …

No one is ever gonna tell you what you need to be about. Your calling is your business with God!

Berlin recommended Dick Wills’ book, Waking to God’s Dream.

Berlin also talked about the importance of clarity …

Clarity of calling will keep you in ministry when everything is telling you to get out.

Berlin recommended Marcus Buckingham’s book, The One Thing You Need to Know (we’ve read his earlier book, Now, Discover Your Strengths but still need to read the follow-up book, Go Put Your Strengths to Work).

I love the following statement …

Try things that only God can do. … Listen to the things that God is calling you to do that you don’t think you can do.

But Berlin made it clear that leading change is difficult. He said that while seminaries “didn’t give you a hazmat suit, they should have” because we deal with toxic stuff in ministry.

Ministry is a distance event. (Berlin)

The closing session of the day, “the change marathon,” focused on self-care in the midst of leading change. With input from his wife, a marathon runner, Berlin offered several steps change leaders need to take in order to finish well, in spite of the challenges of leadership (incidentally, I came across some scary statistics on clergy families yesterday that point to the challenges clergy families face).

Marathon runners often train with “training buddies” for mutual support. Berlin noted the importance of pastors having friends, both clergy and non-clergy (the stats in the link above support this point).

Runners take time to stretch before and after running. Similarly, pastors need spiritual, emotional, and physical “stretching activities” in order to stay healthy. Related to this, pastors need to “make time for recovery” through daily, weekly, monthly, and annual activities. These points remind me of Wayne Cordeiro’s tank-filling activities.

Well, there were other good points, but I’ll stop there for now. Again, it was a worthwhile event, and we need to process it further, especially since the parts dealing with self-care have implications for us *and* our family. In the meantime, here are a few photos from the day …

As I mentioned a few days ago, Leadership Network held a free online leadership event today called, Aha!, a 4-hour (plus) series of videos from around 40 different presenters talking about their aha! moments.

I had the event running on my computer (to the TV) the entire time, but I didn’t catch nearly all of it (other tasks and/or kids). But I think the quote that struck me most came from Pete Briscoe (Bent Tree Bible Fellowship), who shared his aha! moment …

I am no longer working for Jesus. I’m walking with him.

This was a great reminder that our call to serve and lead must always be grounded in a relationship with God. Nothing is more important than our relationship with God!

Dale Dawson talked about passion and stated …

And Jon Ferguson (Community Christian Church) offered six great questions for coaches/mentors to use with people they’re coaching/mentoring …

1. How are you?
2. What are you celebrating? Where are you winning?
3. What challenges are you experiencing?
4. What do you plan to do to solve these challenges?
5. How can I help you?
6. How can I pray for you?

I’m sure there were some other impacting statements as well, so I’ll try to catch some of the videos after they are posted in the near future. I’ll edit this post to add the link when it’s available.

I am grateful for my time at Asbury Theological Seminary for the doctor of ministry program (2004-2008). It was certainly worthwhile … and formational.

One of the statements that has shaped me the most came out of one of the three required courses, “Theology of Ministry,” taught by Dr. Stephen Seamands (author of Wounds That Heal, among others).

Seamands taught the following statement (subsequently published in Ministry in the Image of God: The Trinitarian Shape of Christian Service) …

I have entered into the ministry of Jesus, to the Father, through the Holy Spirit, on behalf of the world.

It’s a great statement. It’s both humbling — it’s God’s ministry, ultimately — and motivating. It’s been a great reminder over the course of the last six years!

(Incidentally, I think the fact that this statement is so memorable/impacting, speaks to the importance of “sticky statements”; see One-Point Preaching for more on sticky statements.)