Executive Assistant

After almost eight years, my assistant, Sarah McLean, is transitioning to a new role on our staff team.

If you are interested in knowing more about the executive assistant position available, please click here.

Feel free to send a resume and a short video describing why you might be a good fit for this position. If you choose to submit a one to two minute video, just use a webcam and a service like Vimeo and send the link to jerry@lifechurch.tv.

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New Seasons Mean New People

When a ministry enters a new season, we must open the door for new leaders.

The “old guard” often resents new seasons. I’m a big believer in working hard to lead the tenured believers toward new life. Sometimes, though, they refuse to move forward.

In those times, we have to help people grow. If we can’t help people grow with the new direction, we need to be willing to allow some people to move on.

During these transitional seasons, I’m always looking for new leaders. Often they arise from right in front of you. There could be faithful people that were serving under others who seem to rise from nowhere when there is a new chance to lead.

When the current changes, keep your eyes open to new people God will raise up.

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What I Didn’t Learn in Seminary

I’m writing from my perspective. Obviously many of you had much different experiences. Here’s a short list of what I didn’t learn in seminary.

• Believe it or not, I never had a class on how to do a wedding or funeral.
• We never looked at how to manage a budget, lead a board meeting, recruit volunteers, raise money, hire and fire staff, or design church facilities.
• I only took one class on preaching. In my opinion, we should have been required to take at least three if we were hoping to be a senior pastor.
• We didn’t study any thoughts on kids’ ministry, student ministry, missions, or small groups.
• Although my time in seminary predated the need, I think all schools today should teach pastors how to leverage technology in the church.

For those of you that attended Bible School or Seminary, what skills were overlooked in your preparation?

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Final Thoughts on Hiring from Inside or Out

While some of our best staff members have come from other churches, I am still heavily biased to hire from within. Our rate of success in raising up leaders from our church outweighs bringing them in from other churches.

While many staff from other churches sell out to the vision, for some it is just another job. I don’t want to fill roles with people doing a job. I want people obsessed with a mission. Those from within are usually more prone to give their lives to the mission.

We’ll continue to look for the best everywhere. To me, it is always more fun when you recognize those God has put in your local body and equip them to do more than they ever thought possible.

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Disadvantages of Hiring From Outside

Some of this is repetitive from earlier posts this week. In many ways, I’m saying the same thing from a different perspective. Even though these thoughts are similar, I think they are worth addressing again.

The disadvantages of hiring from outside your ministry include:

1. Cultural risks. Just because someone is successful ministering at one place, does not guarantee they will be successful at another. The cultural and value differences are often difficult to discern in an interview.
2. Hurt Relationships. If you hire from other ministries, you can put a strain on ministry friendships. We must be careful to hire with integrity.
3. Family risks. When someone uproots their family and moves to another city, state, or country, there are many factors involved besides the giftedness of the pastor. We’ve hired effective staff from other churches, but the spouses and children never settled in and kept their ministry relationship from working long-term.

Please share from your experience.

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Hiring From Other Ministries

Hiring From Other Ministries

When done with integrity, hiring from other ministries can be a big win for everyone involved.

The advantages include:

1. Observing a proven ministry track record. When hiring from within, there are many ministry unknowns. Those who have served somewhere else in ministry have often honed their gifts and have a proven track record to observe, minimizing some of the risks.
2. Deeper biblical knowledge. This isn’t always true, but when someone is trained by a strong seminary or has served for years under a great Bible teacher, they are often more theologically grounded than a lay person.
3. Placing under-challenged leaders in a place to maximize their gifts. If a gifted leader isn’t fulfilled, he or she can be a huge blessing to another ministry when they are allowed to fully use their gifts and passions to make a difference.

More tomorrow on the disadvantages. What are your thoughts?

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