A Glimpse of the Future

This video does a great job of illustrating why “global” and “mobile” are two words that deserve our focus. It’s well worth your time to watch it!

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Should I Stay Or Should I Go?—4

Sometimes you love where you are and what you do, but God just does something that defies logic.

Just when you least expect it, God might apparently disrupt an otherwise productive ministry and lead you to take a bold step of faith into the unknown. When He does, have the courage to follow His voice.

Without faith, it is impossible to please God. If you wake up comfortable but can do ministry without any faith, God may speak to you and ask you do something that will prove His faithfulness.

If God speaks to you and calls you out, it is time to move.

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Should I Stay Or Should I Go?—3

You should consider leaving your current ministry when you realize that you are in the way.

Several months ago, I had lunch with an old friend and staff member from another church. The last time we had lunch (about ten years ago), he was griping about all the problems in his church. Although I didn’t tell him then, I thought privately that if he was on my staff and that miserable, I’d probably prefer that he’d leave.

There we sat, ten years later, and he still hated every thing about his church. He was critical of his pastor, critical of the elders, and critical of the direction of the church.

I politely asked him if perhaps his negative attitude might be slowing the progress of the church? After some painful introspection, he acknowledged that I might be right. As of today, he is still at the same church resisting everything the leaders attempt.

If you hate everything about where you are, maybe it is time to do ministry somewhere else.

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Should I Stay Or Should I Go?—2

It might be time to move when you and the leaders are in constant conflict.

All ministries have people in power: your senior pastor, the elders, your denominational leaders, or certain church members. If you’re constantly butting heads and you can’t agree on the ministry strategy, vision, or direction, you’ll likely want to wrestle with these questions:

• Can the ministry structure/system/culture support what you feel called to do?
• Are you the right person to bring about the changes?
• Do you have the right idea but you’re at the wrong place?
• Could it be that you have the wrong idea?
• Will the (possible) results be worth the cost to move forward?
• Are you spiritually and relationally strong enough to endure the pain of progress?
• Are you willing to risk your job to move the ministry forward?
• Are you seeing more spiritual fruit this year than last year?
• If you didn’t work at your church, would you worship there?

If you’re repeatedly facing battles and the “spiritual bloodshed” exceeds the “spiritual benefit,” you have two options:

1. Make the best of your current assignment with a genuinely submissive and supportive heart.
2. Acknowledge you’ve done all you can do at your current place and be open to a new ministry.

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Should I Stay Or Should I Go?—1

Many pastors and church staff members wonder if they should stay where they are, or seek a new place to serve Christ.

• Too many leaders leave before they’ve finished their current assignment.
• Too many leaders stay longer than they should.

How do you know when you should stay or go? This week we’ll talk about some times you might consider moving on.

You might consider moving on when your vision exceeds what others will allow.

Occasionally God will put a bigger dream in a person’s heart than the current ministry structure and culture will allow.

For example, I served for five years in denominational system. I had a true heart to make a difference and stay faithful to my roots, but the structure of the denomination would never allow my vision for church to become a reality.

When I realized my vision exceeded what the denomination would allow, I recognized it might be time to move on.

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The Intuitive Leader—5

Developing Your Spiritual Intuition

On the Meyers Briggs, I am an ESTJ. My natural gifts lean toward reading concrete, measurable evidence. Thankfully, I’m not limited to my natural gifts—and neither are you. Supernaturally, God has given me an ability to become more spiritually intuitive as a leader.

Here are a few things I do to increase my leadership intuition.

• Ask God for wisdom. For several years, I read a Proverb a day and asked for wisdom.
• Link conversations together. As a leader, words and tones mean a lot to me. After listening to several people, I try to link their conversations and discover underlying consistent messages.
• Study trends. I try to study trends in numbers, attitudes, conversations, work ethics, spiritual temperature, etc.
• Vacillate from working closely with a ministry and at a distance. My mind and spiritual instincts work better when I vary my level of involvement. If I am too involved, I lose objectivity. If I distance myself too much, I lose touch. By varying the intensity of my involvement, I can know enough to stay in touch, but stay “above” the situation to examine it with a leadership mindset.
• Ask questions. It is amazing how much people talk and how rarely they listen. When I’m with a staff team, I want to ask more questions than anyone in the room.
• Trust hunches. When I sense something, I try to go with it.

What works for you?

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The Intuitive Leader—4

Most leaders drift toward center. Intuitive leaders are willing to follow a hunch that leads them to the bleeding edges. They often sense opportunities before they become obvious.

Instead of asking:

• “What are others doing?” they ask, “What have others not thought of yet?”
• “What might work today?” they ask, “What might work tomorrow?”
• “Do you think this will work? they ask, “Is God leading us to try this?”

To reach people no one is reaching, you’ll have to do things no one is doing. If you sense a great spiritual opportunity, take a bold step of faith and see what God does!

I’d love to hear what you believe God is showing you about the future of your ministry.

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Unsolicited Feedback

Every once in a while we get a little bit of feedback that could be categorized as…unique. Check this out and see if you can relate:

How about you? Can you share similar feedback your church has received?

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