getting unstuck

Monday, October 3, 2011

Most of us know exactly what it feels like to be stuck. We’ve been stuck in traffic, stuck in the wrong checkout line at the grocery store, or even stuck going to some chic-flic in an attempt to be a better husband. It’s a bad feeling…feeling stuck. And it can be unbearable when you’re leading a church that’s stuck. You feel strongly that you have a clear and compelling picture from God about where the church needs to go…but…you’re stuck. No matter how hard you try it seems like you can’t get the church to move from where you are, to where you know God wants it to be. And the longer things stay stuck the more you begin to doubt the picture you think God gave you about that preferred future, or that you’re even the person to lead it there at all.

Last week I had the opportunity to sit down with author, coach, and consultant Tony Morgan and discuss this issue of “stuckness” that so many churches and leaders are facing today. In the middle of the conversation something he said really resonated with me, “Where churches typically get stuck isn’t on the vision and dream, but rather the gap between vision and ministry.” Vision alone isn’t enough. Churches get stuck on the “how.” How you are actually going to get it done and make the dream reality.

We went on to discuss his latest installment of the Leisure Suit Series, “How to Get Unstuck.” In which he unpacks the following issues that must be addressed if you’re going to move towards the dream God has placed on your heart:

Posted in Leadership

0

building and leading a volunteer organization

Monday, September 19, 2011

What would you do if the ministry you are leading doubled tomorrow? Now respond to that question again, however this time try resolving it without any additional time or money to throw at the problem. Problem you say? Yes…problem. Your ministry doubling tomorrow would be a tremendous opportunity and an exciting moment, you may even have to pinch yourself, but there would be serious problems to solve (even if they were good problems) if you hope for that growth to be sustainable.

You may take a look at what you are doing and begin to prioritize by learning to say “no” some things. But prioritization will only get you so far. The only sustainable answer is volunteers. No matter how creative or innovative you may be, the only thing you can reproduce with limited resources is yourself. The Apostle Paul says it this way in the book of Ephesians…

Ephesians 4:11-13

“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.”

So according to the Scriptures, the primary job of a Pastor is to equip the Church to be the Church. Not to do the work of the ministry for them, or to get them to do the work of the Pastor. But to lead them to do the work of God…and that is to advance the Gospel. The most important asset you have as a Pastor is not your buildings, budget, or even your vision. It is the people that God has entrusted to you. So below are a few thoughts that may help you in building and leading this volunteer organization called the Church. For your volunteers to jump on board, and stay on board, you’ve got to answer 4 key questions for them…

Posted in Leadership, Volunteers

1

Leading on Empty

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

I recently finished reading “Leading on Empty” by Wayne Cordeiro, and simply put, if you are a leader than this is a must-read! While we in Church-world are seemingly adept at identifying and pointing the finger when it comes to burnout, depression, and the pressures of leadership we are unfortunately rarely as honest, forthright, and helpful with those same issues as Wayne is in this book. Wayne’s courageously transparent about his own struggles while at the same time provides his readers a clear path forward. It’s such a good book that we are going to be reading and discussing it together with the Sun Valley Lead Team this fall.

Here are some thoughts and quotes from the book that impacted me:

Posted in Leadership, Spiritual Formation, Staffing

0

The Downside to delegation

Monday, August 29, 2011

Delegation is a necessary evil. It’s an essential skill needed to get tasks accomplished, free up high-level leaders to spend their attention on what is most necessary, and it allows developing leaders to experiment with getting things done. But empowerment is what is really needed to grow the emerging leaders in your organization. There is a big difference between delegation and empowerment.

Posted in Leadership, Staffing

2

The 3 most important responsibilities of a leader and why you can’t meet them all

Monday, August 22, 2011

Should a leader be out in front charting the way forward? Should they be magnetic personalities who immediately change the temperature of the room they walk into? Should they be a great developer of others? Or do leaders simply get paid to make decisions? The truth is, there are three key responsibilities of leaders and unfortunately leaders are usually good at one of these…NOT all of them.

Posted in Leadership