Swerve Favorites: An Outsider’s Words Often Mean More

[Repost from October 22, 2008]

I see it as one of my biggest roles to encourage and strengthen our staff.

Almost every time we gather, I remind them they are part of something special. But no matter how often I say it, it doesn’t mean as much as when an outsider tells them.

We’ve been blessed to have Dr. Sam Chand, Chris Hodges, Perry Noble, Steven Furtick, Jentzen Franklin, and Bill Hybels speak to our staff.

Each time, I promise you they say things very similar to what I often say, but when they say it, it means so much more!

• Invite the youth pastor from the other side of town to speak to your youth leaders.
• Call another worship leader to lead your choir in worship.
• Ask a neighboring pastor to speak to your volunteers.

Leverage the voice of friends to lift those around you in a way that you can’t.

How have you observed this in your life or ministry?

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Swerve Favorites: The Summer Slump

[Repost from May 27, 2008]

Most churches experience a “summer slump.”

• Attendance drops
• Giving slows
• Volunteers miss
• Interest fades

What should a leader do during down times? Although I can’t answer the question for you specifically, I would say, “DO SOMETHING INTENTIONAL!”

You might:

• Challenge the church to host summer neighborhood block parties
• Ask your small groups to take the summer off and challenge them to devote one weekend a month to an inner city mission project.
• Write devotionals for people traveling on vacation.
• Do a summer long overview of the Old Testament
• Experiment with a different style of worship
• Participate in “One Prayer” (Couldn’t resist)
• Take some extended time off
• Challenge people to devote a week of their vacation to minister on an international mission trip

Whatever you do, don’t miss this great opportunity to pray, seek God, and do something intentional! Even though many are distracted, God still wants to do something powerful through your ministry this summer.

Please share any summer ideas or ministries you are excited about.

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Swerve Favorites: Training Your Church

[Repost from April 16, 2009]

If you don’t train your church what boundaries are appropriate, you likely won’t  have many.

If you are the senior pastor, you can set the tone publicly.

I’d suggest a few of the following:

• Publicly communicate when your day off is. Talk about how important that day is to your family.
• At appropriate times, explain the challenges of your schedule. Some people think you only work on Sundays. Explaining some of what you face will create understanding.
• Create some level of screening if possible. Even if you are a solo pastor with no staff, a volunteer could help you with your email or answer phones. Many things you do daily can be handled by capable volunteers. You don’t need to know and do everything.
• Be willing to “go dark” at least once a year. You might explain to the church that you’ll be away with your family and not taking calls for a week. Ask your lay leader to be in charge. I’d suggest you give a phone number to one person who has permission to contact you with only dire emergencies. You need at least one week a year to disconnect.
• Don’t feel pressure to reply to emails instantly. I like all emails returned, won’t be slave to them.
• Protect at least one night a week for dates or family nights. Explain that Monday or Thursday or whatever is the one night you protect. When someone asks for counseling or a wedding rehearsal on that night, don’t do it.
• Be willing to say “no.” As a pastor who loves people, you’ll say “yes” to many invitations. Don’t be afraid to occasionally or often say “no.” Don’t feel pressure to give an explanation. A simple, “No, I’m sorry, but I can’t make it” is enough.

Ministry is a marathon, not a sprint. Set the boundaries that will help you go the distance.

What are your thoughts?

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Letting Go of the Know

Perhaps the most challenging thing about empowering people is “letting go of the know.”

When you are in the beginning stages of empowering another (developing) leader, you probably want to know a lot. You are building trust.

Once a leader is trained and functioning well, it’s time to “let go of the know.”

Sam Roberts oversees all of our Life Church locations and pastors. Because we’ve developed a deep trust, he knows what I need to know. Rather than me interacting regularly with fourteen pastors, I interact regularly with one leader.

When someone else knows what I need to know, I don’t have to worry about the details. As we hand off the “need to know,” we are freed to lead rather than micromanage.

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Shocked By What I Don’t Know

It happened again the other day. We had a group of pastors visiting. When they started asking me questions, I deferred often to several trusted staff members.

After about 30 minutes of looking to my team to answer questions, one pastor said, “Craig, there are a lot of things about your church that you don’t know!”

When I told him “thanks,” he seemed surprised.

I unquestionably want to know when people need prayer, when major problems arise, and when my help is needed; but there are so many things I really don’t want to know.

If I have capable team members and volunteers who know about issues and can make decisions without me, that’s all I really need to know about those issues.

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You Don’t Need to Know What, But Who

Instead of always knowing “what” is happening with a project, what we really need to know is “who” is covering the project. If we have the right “who,” we shouldn’t have to worry about the “what.”

If we have the wrong “who,” then we need to know the “what.” If you always need to know the “what,” you have one of two problems:

1. You are not an empowering leader.
2. You have the wrong “who.”

Either way, the problem needs to be fixed.

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What You Don’t Know Matters

In some ways as a leader, what you don’t know matters as much as what you do know.

In ministry, many pastors want to know everything about what is going on. The problem with that concept should be obvious. To know everything means that you can’t have a lot going on.

It’s not uncommon for a pastor to delegate something to a trusted person, then expect to know all of the details about the progress. Although some communication is always valuable, the only thing the pastor really needs to know… is that the job is covered and will be done well.

This week we’ll talk about the benefits of not knowing everything.

What do you not know about what is going on in your ministry?

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The Code: Keeping it Brief

As we started to write out our values, we had more material than we could include. We wanted to keep The Code short enough that people could take it all in and remember relevant points during the course of ministry. Who says 13 is an unlucky number?

10)    We always bring our best. Excellence honors God and inspires people.

11)    The only constant in our ministry is change. God is always doing a new thing. Why we do what we do never changes. How we do it must change.

12)    We don’t recruit volunteers; we release leaders. Volunteers do good things but leaders change the world.

13)    We’re living in the “good old days.” We’re thankful for God’s blessings today and expect even more tomorrow.

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