The first couple weeks of leading through the COVID-19 crisis the staff team at Sun Valley Community Church (the church I have the honor of serving at) has been fantastic! I’m so proud of how hard they’ve been working, how quickly they’ve been able to pivot, and how well they’ve been pastoring people through this. Like every church staff team around the country we’re dealing with a level of disruption that we’ve never experienced before. We’re leading in a new normal, and I’m not sure anyone really has a great handle on what things are going to look like for the church in North America on the other side of this…but we know it’s going to be different.
In an effort to support and encourage out team through this time I sat down and recorded a conversation with Dr. Ray Branton. Dr. Branton is the founder and Clinical Director of Arizona Psychology Consultants, as well as the founder and Clinical Director of Professional Counseling Associates. He’s been a part of Sun Valley for years, and I trust him. I was hoping to simply provide a resource to our team. Some way to encourage them through the chaos they are leading through. The conversation was really well received and I received some requests by the team to share it. Typically I don’t share resources like this that are intended for the team at Sun Valley on my blog. Simply because it’s designed for this team, for who they are and for what they’re leading through. But at their request, with Dr. Branton’s permission, and in the hope that this may be helpful for other church staff team members out there I’m sharing this resource with you. Understand that this was designed for our team here, so there’s going to be some “insider” moments that may not make sense for everyone viewing.
My concern is that if we don’t somehow figure out how to do the “both-and” of leading through crisis while paying attention to our own soul we could get ourselves into trouble. And all of that is coming from a guy (me) that likes to get things done and take new ground. But my friend Lance Witt at the Unstuck Group has challenged me by telling me, “Following Jesus cannot be done at a sprint. You can’t live life at warp speed without warping your soul.” I’m trying to listen.
Posted in Leadership, Staffing, Testimonial
