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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Letting Go of Control

To move forward, you often have to let go of something significant.

Too often, what we hold tightly keeps us from following God’s promptings toward something new.

This week I’ll write about a few things leaders need to let go. We’ll start with control.

Too many leaders try to control too much. Our perceived need to control is one of the greatest limiting factors to what God wants to do.

When we control everything:

• We train people to do what they are told rather than think.
• We build followers instead of leaders.
• We put a lid on our ministries.
• We put our faith in our abilities to manage rather than in God and other people.

What are you controlling that you need to let go of?

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Small Explosions

Next week, I’ll be traveling to Chicago with several members of my team for the Cultivate 09 Conference.

While we’re there, Terry Storch and I will be talking about combustion engines…sort of. Actually, we’ll be discussing the idea that the same principles that propel an engine can also build momentum for your team.

Small explosions, or really a carefully timed series of small explosions, are what make an engine run. To create thrust on our teams, we need to figure out how to mix the right ingredients at the right time.

What are the right ingredients? A great idea. A great team. Appropriate autonomy and empowerment. Intensity.  Short term scope with high expectations.

There have been times when we’ve drastically shortened the scope for a given project, and in turn have experienced dramatic results. By focusing on what can be accomplished in a short period of time, we’re able to tackle those pieces and then move on (quickly) to the next thing.

Is there a project or idea you’ve been putting off because it’s just too much? What can be done in two weeks?  How about one week?

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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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On Leading Up: Do Well With What You Have

The easiest way to lead up is to do a great job with what you’ve been entrusted with.  I’ve known several people who are confused about why their great idea or new project/plan is seemingly being ignored by their leaders. Regardless of how insightful the idea might be, it’s hard to give more influence or receive significant input from those who are not being responsible with what they have been given. I know my ability to lead up or have influence can be significantly reduced if I’m not leading well in my areas of responsibility.

Have you faced seasons where it’s been difficult to do well with what you’ve been given? How did you work through that time? What was the outcome?

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On Leading Up: In Their Shoes

In every leadership role I’ve held, I’ve had to make decisions that others did not agree with and did not understand. In hindsight, not all of those decisions were the best, and in a few cases would have been better if I had heeded more of the input from those who worked with me. So why didn’t I take their advice? I wasn’t sure they appreciated all of the factors that I had to weigh in making the decision. I also didn’t think they fully understood the potential consequences of a bad decision, or how those would affect me.

Those experiences have helped me in leading up (or having influence with other decision makers). Sometimes it’s easy to think the key to influencing a decision is for your leader to understand your perspective, but it is much more important for you to spend your energy trying to understand their perspective. Doing so will help you build trust and give better input.

Can you share some ways you’ve found to better understand your leader’s perspective?

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Cultural Relevance

Understanding the culture is helpful for a Christian to reach those without Christ. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9:22 “To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.”

Jesus was the master at communicating God’s truth in a way that people understood. Unfortunately, as committed Christians, we can love Christ without being as effective at showing Him to those who don’t know Him.

Here are some questions we use in our interviews to help us understand how a candidate might relate to people outside the Church.

• What five or six adjectives best describe you?
• What words best describe your ministry style?
• What are the last three books you’ve read?
• What is the last movie you watched?
• How many unbelievers do you have regular contact with?
• Tell us about the last person you personally led to Christ.

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Flexibility

We have a saying: “Change is good, all the time, and all the time change is good.” For the organization to remain agile, we need team members that are agile. We seek team members that accept and assimilate change quickly.

Here are some questions we might ask:

• During your ministry role, what was the most difficult adjustment you’ve had to make? What was the situation? Why was it a difficult adjustment? What did you do? What happened as a result of your actions?
• Tell me about the last time you were responsible for implementing a change in a previous work context. What was the change? What steps did you take to implement the change?  How many were affected by the change?  What mistakes did you make along the way?  What was the outcome?

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