building and leading a volunteer organization

Tag Archive - relationship

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

how to change your marriage

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The easiest and most productive step you can take to change your marriage is to change yourself! After being married for the past 15 years and providing coaching and shepherding to other marriages during that same period of time in full-time ministry; one of the most simple and yet most powerful lessons I’ve learned is the significance of taking personal responsibility. You want to change your marriage? Then quit shifting blame and take ownership for what is happening inside of you and as a result the patterns of behavior that you’ve established in the relationship with your spouse. Check out these 4 steps you can start taking today…

Posted in Family

where god does his best work

Monday, January 17, 2011

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth and everything in them he didn’t do it alone. He did it in the context of perfect relationship with Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Check it out for yourself and you’ll find language like this, “Let us make man in our image.” When God established the nation of Israel you’ll find God saying, “I will be their God, and dwell among them.” In the first chapter of the Gospel of John you find this phrase, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.”

Look through out the Scriptures and you’ll find that God has always done His best work in the context of relationship. And since we’ve been made in His image, like Him, we’re also at our best when we’re living in the context of relational intimacy. We were made for it. We chase after it. But why does it seem that so few people ever actually experience it? Genesis 3:8-10 may speak into this a bit. Adam and Eve have just sinned for the first time ever in the history of man kind, and this is what happens next:

“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” Genesis 3:8-10

Think about it for a moment. Before this moment man had never been afraid of God before, man had never run from God before, and man had never hid from God before. But ever since this moment we’ve been running from God, and from one another. It creates this awful internal conflict inside of us, because the very thing we long for is the very thing we run from.

So, a simple idea, and a simple question…if God does His best work in the context of relationship, are you missing out on God’s best work in you?

Here’s a short video that may get you thinking a little more about it…