Tag Archive - pastor

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3 Roles an Executive Pastor Can’t Delegate | Webinar Replay

Sunday, December 15, 2019

You wear a lot of hats. You want to help the church be effective, and you make everything come together. Just make sure you don’t delegate these 3 roles.

If you’re an Executive Pastor, you want to win in your role and help the church be effective.

But you’re not immune to the ministry whirlwind. There are so many things that seem to require your attention.

We’ve heard it again and again from executive pastors: “I’m the one who’s supposed to make vision actionable, but I get pulled in so many directions!”

Ever felt that way? You’re not alone.

What are the things ONLY you can do?

This webinar helps you get a framework for evaluating the work that lands on your desk and deciding what gets delegated and what does not.

You’ll walk away with:

  • Greater clarity on the wins for your role
  • How to build a foundation for a more effective working relationship with your lead pastor
  • Practical ways to decide what gets delegated and what does not

When your role isn’t clear (and protected), the results are pretty predictable… vision stalls out, staff teams can get dysfunctional, and tension can develop in your relationship with your lead pastor. It’s frustrating to feel stuck—knowing you have the gifts to lead but lacking a way to clear the clutter.

Watch the webinar replay here:

Posted in Leadership, Staffing

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Why the Grass isn’t Greener at that other Church

Sunday, September 22, 2019

If you haven’t noticed, church staffing has become a competitive market in recent years. So much so that a quick Google search of “Church Staff Search Firms” will provide you with a list of companies whose entire purpose is to help staff local churches, and whom didn’t exist 20 years ago. By the way, some of these search firms are very good at their jobs.

It’s easier than ever for church staff members to change churches…and they are. Unfortunately, staff longevity is becoming a rare thing in churches. I frequently have conversations with churches that are looking to hire a new team member or a team member who is looking to make a move to a new church.

And while moving to a new church may be what God wants you to do, it’s important to remember that the grass isn’t always greener at that new church.

Your Expectations may not be Reasonable

Often times I hear sad stories from church staff members about how the church or their Pastor hasn’t met their expectations. Expectations that go unmet can create all kinds of hurt and disillusionment. However, your expectations may not be reasonable. It’s not your pastor’s job to disciple you, working at a church isn’t always rainbows and unicorns, and I know you got into ministry to be a part of life-change and people meeting Jesus but this is your job, you don’t get to get paid to do a hobby (and you shouldn’t get paid to have coffee with people all day long). So, temper your expectations (by the way, the secret to happiness in life is low expectations).

The Problem isn’t “out there”

Typically, when I hear church staff members talk about leaving their church the conversation focuses on a problem or series of problems at the church they’re currently serving in. The first bit of input I consistently find myself providing is this: “If God has given you the insight through His Spirt to see something in the church you serve at that needs to change, instead of criticizing it why don’t you try and help it be what you see God wants it to be?” Maybe the problem isn’t with the church, maybe the problem is you’re not being solution oriented and you’re focusing on what’s wrong instead of trying to help it get better.

Planting a New Church may not Fix it

When things get tough, many young leaders are opting to leave and plant a new church. And while I’m all for planting new churches to reach new people, too often these new churches are planted for all the wrong reasons by all the wrong people.

Sometimes you have to Create the kind of place you want to be

I firmly believe, that if at all possible (it isn’t always), the best option for you and the best option for your church is for you to stay and figure it out. You will grow through the process and the church will experience the benefit and fruit of you staying and figuring it out. Sometimes it’s worth staying and creating the kind of place you want to be.

Work at a church? Trying to figure out if it’s time for you to leave your church? Check out this post about “Why Church Staff Change Churches.”

Posted in Leadership, Staffing

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How Great Church Leaders Lead Up

Monday, September 2, 2019

Most young church leaders I talk to want to learn about how they grow as a leader, be more effective and gather a larger following. I love their zeal and ambition to go and do big things for God!

But one of the most overlooked leadership tactics that young church leaders need to learn is leading up. And this is one of the keys that separate good church leaders from great church leaders.

Great church leaders know that they’re responsible not only to lead those under their care, but also to lead their peers and perhaps most importantly those who are above them. Here’s a few ways they do that well.

#1 Expectation Management

No leader likes to be surprised. So, communicate early and often. Managing the expectations of your Lead Pastor is an essential tool for leading up. Scripture teaches us that, “hope deferred makes the heart grow sick.” In other words, when you mismanage the expectations of your leader you are actually leading their heart in a direction that will create disappointment, frustration, and even “sickness.” None of that is going to work out well for you. So, learn to set expectations for your leader and follow through on those expectations. They’ll love you for it.

#2 Bring Solutions to the Table

No leader wants to do your job for you, that’s why you’re there. Soliciting your Lead Pastor’s input can be helpful to learn their preferences or their style. And when you encounter something new or difficult and you really need their input and help, certainly go and get it. But I’d suggest leading with a couple of solutions to whatever it is you’re facing. This will let them know that you are solution oriented, that you take initiative, and you’re not just looking for someone to tell you what to do. This helps your leader know that they can trust you to think and make good decisions in the scope of ministry that you’re responsible for at your church.

#3 Support Publicly and Question Privately

No leader likes to be hit by, “friendly fire.” One of the fastest ways to lose trust the opportunity to privately influence your leader is to not support them publicly. Appropriately disagree all you want behind closed doors, that’s part of the process of getting to good decisions organizationally. But once the decision is made you’ve got to be 100% committed to it. When Church Members (or other Staff Members) complain to you, you cannot respond by saying, “I can see how you feel that way,” unless you redirect from there. You can’t in any way validate their criticism or they’ll think that you agree with them and it will lead to divisiveness in the Church. Someone in the Body will end up saying, “Well I spoke to so and so, who is on Staff and they don’t agree with it either.” When that happens there is division in the Body and the Enemy wins. And by the way, eventually you’ll lose.

#4 Carry the Vision

No leader wants to carry the vision alone. Leaders and Pastors that have to carry the vision alone lose. Most churches never reach their full potential because the vision ends up somehow being relegated to just one person. This limits everything because vision cannot be sustained through only one person. It has to be embraced and carried forward by everyone on the team. Your Lead Pastor can’t be the only one talking about the vision. When it comes to casting vision your Lead Pastor is looking for you to embrace, own, contextualize, and communicate the vision of the Church in the area of responsibility that has been entrusted into your care. You may not be the vision caster in the church, but make no mistake about it, you are a vision carrier. A great daily question to ask yourself is: “What did I do today to cast vision for the Church?”

Posted in Leadership

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Leaders are the Culture

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Everywhere I turn it seems like people are talking about culture. Team culture, staff culture, and organizational culture. How to build a healthy culture and how to avoid a toxic one. But what about the culture at your church? How do you know what your church culture actually is and how can you change it if you don’t like it?

A church’s culture is determined by the defining set of values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of the Sr. Leadership Team. This could be the Sr. Pastor, the Staff Team, a Board, Deacons or a group of Volunteer Leaders depending on the size and nature of the church. Another way to say it is, show me the top 3-5 decision makers or leaders in your church and I’ll show you who your church is going to be and the culture you’re going to have in a couple of years.

Culture is something that is usually unnoticed, unspoken, and unexamined in churches. As a result, few churches ever take steps towards intentionally defining and building a healthy culture; instead it usually happens by default.

It’s common to see churches fall into ruts and get stuck in the familiar traps of, “just preach the Word,” “just reach people,” or “just build disciples.” The problem is building a healthy culture in a church; particularly a healthy leadership culture is never “just that easy.”

While every church already has a culture, most of them “happen on accident.” As the leader you have to create the culture. And here’s a truth about culture you may have never thought about before…

Leaders are the culture

Their behaviors, their attitudes, what they allow, what they address, how they approach people, the decisions that they make, how they dress and carry themselves, how approachable they are, the list goes on and on. All of this tells people how to behave.

This is why I can play a name association game with you, and by saying Jeff Bezos you automatically think about Amazon. Or if I say Mark Zuckerberg you think Facebook. Or if I say Steve Jobs you think Apple.

This is because over time every organization takes on the personality of the leader. This is how the organization takes its cultural cues. Some leaders understand this and are wise and intentional about it while others lead without thought as to how their behavior is building or eroding culture.

Because leaders are the culture at your church, the easiest and fastest way to change the culture at your church is to change the leader at your church.

Change the leader, change the culture

Obviously, a new leader is a leadership change and will result in a change to the culture. But I’m more so referring to the leader themselves changing and growing. This is why everything gets better when the leader gets better.

If you’re the leader at your church and you want a better culture on your team and at your church, than change and be a better you. Pay close attention to the culture of your church because it is a mirror for you and your leadership, and after all you are the culture.

Posted in Leadership

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Why it’s Good for Ministry to be Difficult

Sunday, August 11, 2019

Over the last couple of decades of full-time local church ministry, I’ve seen my fair share of difficult ministry moments. Like many of you I’ve experienced incredible wins and painful setbacks.

Anyone who’s been in local church ministry for more than 5 minutes knows that it’s not always rainbows and unicorns. Ministry can have incredibly difficult seasons and sometimes we can face what seems like insurmountable obstacles.

And that’s good…

Difficulties often force us to take a Different Direction:

When things become difficult in ministry sometimes the right thing to do is to push through and give more effort. But sometimes difficulties provide an opportunity to take a different approach and get different results. Either way, the best way to silence your critics is not to shout or fight back but to simply keep going and prove them wrong. So if you have to give more effort or take a different approach, either way, keep going!

Difficulties provide a Mirror for our Leadership:

When the lights come on and the whistle blows, and the game clock begins to tick it’s too late to practice and perfect your craft. Difficulties are a gauge for us to measure how we’re growing as a leader. Difficulties reveal our leadership capacity and effectiveness.

Difficulties help us Develop a Greater Capacity:

Often times you don’t know you can, until you do. One more mile, one more rep…one more. Everyone knows that overworking can lead to all kinds of unhealth and ultimately kill you. But people have a tendency to forget that underwork can lead to all kinds of unhealth and kill you just the same. Life change isn’t easy. The cross wasn’t easy. Difficulty is good for church leaders because it helps us develop our leadership muscle, mental toughness, and remind us to rely on the One we’re doing all of this for. Don’t give up just because it’s difficult. God can do more in you and through you than you think He can.

Posted in Leadership
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