Recently Sun Valley, the church I serve at, brought in Tony Morgan the Founder and Chief Strategic Officer of The UnStuck Group, to do some Leadership Training with the team. He spent time with our Executive Team, our Board and then he spoke at our monthly Staff Training that we do with Staff from all three of our campuses. Here are some of the take aways from the conversations that have broader implications for pastors and church leaders:
- It’s possible to be doing the work of God, but not doing the work that God has called us to do (see Acts & the food distribution v. preaching God’s Word and prayer etc.) – when they got focused on what they were supposed to be doing the Gospel took ground and the church had a bigger impact
- Church Leaders have a tendency to hold on to too much for too long (i.e. Moses & Jethro)
- Leaders need to help people think about outcomes rather than execution
- Span of care issues: do I know what people on my team are celebrating in their lives, challenges in their lives,
- You know you’re managing too many people: when you can get the tasks done but don’t have time to focus on the discipleship, development, and knowing the team
- Young leaders don’t learn to lead by reading books and going to conferences. They learn to lead by leading.
- Delegation is telling people what to do every step of the way and then having them report back after each step for the next step. For people who want to serve, delegation is a good approach.
- People who are wired for leadership…if all you ever do is delegate tasks you’ll lose them because they need to be empowered to pick the route to the destination from point A to point B.
- You can empower when you have clear boundaries (mission, vision, values, strategies, expectations, etc.)
- The clearer you are on the boundaries and the outcomes the easier it is empower people
- Leaders don’t respond to platform pleas to serve but a personal ask and a personal challenge connected to the overall vision
- We aren’t equipping people to do our work, we’re equipping people to do God’s work
- If you’re waiting for you boss to help you go to the next level you’re probably not a next level leader because leaders initiate their own growth
- “I wasn’t there to be their boss. I was there to help the players get better.” Tony Dungy, former coach Indianapolis Colts
- With larger churches the person leading the Creative Arts area is not creative, they’re a leader/manager keeping the process moving forward. They understand/can relate to the artists but aren’t an artist. They’re primary role is to equip and lead the team.
- 3 Areas that Growing Churches have the Potential to Derail:
- #1 The Health of the Leadership Team
- #2 The larger you get the more focused you have to get (strategy, programming, communications)
- #3 Money – generosity/stewardship, funding the ministry
- As the church grows the role of the Board needs to shift to freeing the staff to lead and live out the vision
- Boards get into trouble when they start getting into the strategy, decision making & execution side of things
- How do you know you’re ready for the next site (multi-site)?
- #1 Intentional Leadership Development Strategy: who is the next campus pastor, children’s pastor, worship pastor, etc.
- #2 Reproducible Systems: Written down systems, core strategies, processes and best practices
Posted in Leadership
