Your Vision Is Too Small
Can you reach your goals without God?
Is the greatest thing happening in your ministry explainable?
Do you prefer ministry to be manageable?
Do you have plans to keep your structure the same in the future, even if that means it can’t give appropriate support to what God is calling you into?
What would happen if the vision for your ministry were accomplished today? Would you be satisfied?
Is your vision too small?
Who's Glory?
I had a haunting thought the other day.
What if God said “I would have blessed your work, but I didn’t because you would’ve given yourself the glory”?
What if He told me that He would have blessed my work, but He didn’t because I would’ve taken all the credit?
What would you change about your life? Your leadership? Your processes?
I don’t want to be the one that God would’ve used, but didn’t because I got in the way.
I want to be used.
Gratitude And Impact Are Linked
I found something last week that was pretty interesting. I was prepping a lesson on thanksgiving and was trying my best to write a great lesson – not just another “what are you thankful for” session.
In my head, I could remember all the times that Paul said that he would thank God at the beginning of his letters. To be honest, I’d never thought much about it. Kind of like I’d never thought about any of the genealogies.
But I didn’t realize how often Paul, in some form, thanked Godaround the beginning of his letters until I took a look for myself.
Romans 1:8 – “I thank my God…”
1 Corinthians 1:4 – “I thank my God…”
2 Corinthians 1:3 – “Blessed be God…”
Ephesians 1:16 – “I don’t stop giving thanks…”
Philippians 1:3 – “I thank my God…”
Colossians 1:3 – “We give thanks to God…”
1 Thessalonians 1:2 – “We give thanks…”
2 Thessalonians 1:3 – “We ought to always give thanks…”
1 Timothy 1:12 – “I thank Christ Jesus…”
2 Timothy 1:3 – “I thank God…”
Philemon 1:4 – “I thank my God…”
I’m not saying that there’s a link to Paul’s thankfulness to God and his impact in the Kingdom. But I’m not saying there isn’t, either. To be complete, a quick glance will show you that other New Testament writers don’t always follow this same prescription.
However, what if there is a connection? What if there’s a connection to how thankful you are to God and how much impact you have? After all, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5).
What would it look like if you started each day this week, starting today, with a short prayer thanking God for all He’s done in our lives?
I’m taking the challenge, and would love to hear what God does in your life through being thankful!
Miracle
I consider myself to be a great driver. By that, I don’t mean that I know all the rules and obey them (although I do…sometimes). What I mean is that I react pretty quickly and have been able to avoid several wrecks over the years
But the picture below refers to a fear of mine. Ever since I was a kid, I hate driving by semi trucks. As soon as I approach one, I press the gas a little harder, leaving my fears safely behind me.
This morning, during rush hour, I was driving down an interstate I travel frequently. My exit was just up ahead. I was in the middle lane, hoping for a chance to get over, which is not usually a problem. To my right, a semi. Behind that semi was another semi.
Have you ever been in a driving situation in which you see cars stopped ahead, but no one else does around you? Even the semi trucks? That’s exactly what happened this morning. In fact, all reason told me that, at that point, there was going to be a wreck.
A quick glance to the far left lane left me with no options, as there were cars there, too. I was about to be in product of a very ugly wreck, including two semi trucks doing 65 mph.
Then the first semi realized the traffic was stopped. He hit the brakes and stopped almost immediately. May I remind you that he had no other option. No other lanes were open. The semi behind him reacted quickly, safely pulling behind me. And no one was hurt.
I guess what was crazy to me about the situation was that I thought for sure that there was going to be necessary collateral damage. He either needed to side-swipe me or smash into the cars in front of him. Taking everything into account, I represented less damage in the situation.
But he just stopped. Almost immediately. The tires didn’t screech. The truck didn’t jackknife. I would estimate that he stopped the truck in 30-50 yards.
Now, I’m no truck driver; nor am I an engineer. But everything I’ve witnessed in the past tells me that this doesn’t happen.
For the next 15 minutes, I thought about what could have happened. I thought about the family that I’d left at home. I thought about what life would look like if I’d been in a terrible wreck. I wondered if I’d even be alive to be think these thoughts.
And then this thought popped into my head: What if God had purpose for stopping that wreck from happening. What if the laws of nature were bent for even just one of the people who would be involved?
What if God miraculously stopped that wreck because He has a big plan for someone involved?
May we remember that God has a plan for us all!
If you’re breathing today, then God is not done with you yet!
What would you regret not doing if you died today?
What burning passion is God stirring up in you?
What are you waiting for?
And if you’re one of those people who knows that this was in fact not a miracle, but happens all the time with semi trucks, just go ahead and keep your comment to yourself. I’d rather go on believing that it was a miraculous event :).
My Worship Service Was Better Than Yours
This last Sunday, our son Kipton had a cold. We didn’t want to take him to the nursery, so he didn’t sneeze and cough all over his friends.
My wife had not been at our services in the past couple weeks, because she had been visiting family. So, I offered to keep Kipton in the lobby.
I was able to hear muffled versions of the music played and the words spoken. As the music played, I sang. As I sang, my son rang out sounds of worship as only a 7-month old boy can.
He explored my face with his hands. I explored his with my eyes. His wide-open smile…a source of joy for me.
A little after the message started, my son fell asleep in my arms. His stuffed-up nose was making it hard for him to breathe, but he slept in my arms nonetheless. Maybe it would help you to know that he doesn’t do this very often. I have a very engaged boy. He loves to play and watch and learn. When it’s time for him to sleep, he sleeps. It just rarely happens in my arms. In fact, this was only the 5th time he has ever slept in my arms.
I’d like to offer this: Worship doesn’t just happen in a room on Sunday morning. Worship happens when we respond to what God has done for us. Singing to my King with my son in my arms was the best worship service I’ve taken part in in a long time.
Driving Change: Part 3 [Casting Vision]
Through the process of driving change, you’ll experience your share of push-back. But there is one solid element that will carry you through the process.
Vision.
Bill Hybels puts it this way:
“At the core of leadership sits the power of vision, in my estimation the most potent offensive weapon in the leader’s arsenal. Vision is a picture of the future that produces passion in people. Whatever the picture, if it produces powerful amounts of passion in those who hear it, it is already en route to being achieved.”
If you’ve been in church leadership very long, there’s a good chance you’ve heard the word “vision” more times than you can count. You might hate the fact that I’m writing on this topic, because you’ve heard it before. It might seem redundant or annoying, but I would contend that there’s a good chance most of our people are not as close to getting the vision as you think they are.
Andy Stanley would tell you that no one gets the vision like the leader. No one thinks about the vision and mission more than the leader. Because of this fact, vision leaks. You have to continually keep the vision out in front of your people.
Andy has outlined a strategic plan for casting vision; so rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, I’ll share his plan for vision casting. It’s been super helpful to our local church context.
1. State the vision simply. Hint: 5-sentence vision statements are not simple, nor are they memorable. If you want people to remember the vision (which should be your goal), you have to state it simply.
2. Cast vision convincingly. In order to do this, you need to define the problem and offer a solution. Your vision is a solution to a problem. If It’s not, it’s probably not much of a vision. So what is the problem your vision is designed to solve? In other words, what would go undone if your organization ceased to exist?
3. Re-state the vision creatively. So many of our leaders verbally state their vision once a year in January. Here are the problems with that.
a. Once a year isn’t frequent enough.
b. Verbal communication is only one avenue of communication (and one that doesn’t connect clearly to a large percent of our people).
c. If your lead pastor isn’t a great communicator, the vision gets muddy.
We need to find creative ways to re-state the vision, because we can’t afford to let the vision leak! Maybe the most strategic thing you could do is to pay attention to the way people are affected by outside stimuli. What makes people tick? What motivates people? Go after those avenues.
4. Celebrate the vision regularly. Simply put, what’s rewarded is repeated. Most likely, your people don’t actually know what the win is. In order to keep it clear, make sure that you celebrate the vision regularly. One way this can be done is to create an entire service – just to celebrate. You might consider this a waste of time, but when you see the results of that celebration, I promise you’ll want to start planning these types of services ahead of time.
5. Embrace the vision personally. That’s so easy to say out loud, but your people need a living, breathing example of the win. Think about it this way: How many times in school did you or a friend lean over to someone after directions were given to ask, “OK, what are we supposed to do again?” You, as the leader, are the example that your people will follow. If you want them to follow a life of apathy, then be apathetic. If you want them to live a life of passion, be passionate. If you want them to live a life of discipline, then be disciplined. Living the vision means not taking comfort breaks when you feel like it.
“Where there is no vision, the people go unrestrained.”
Proverbs 29:18
Driving Change: Part 2 [There Will Be Resistance]
So, you know you have a big dream for change. That’s a great place to start. Now, for some depressing news: Having an idea is only 1% of the entire process. Making the idea happen is 99% of the process (Scott Belsky spends a lot of time talking about this. Check him out).
And unfortunately, resistance is a big part of that 99%.
Before I begin, I want to state something that makes this painful process worth the work. The pain that you experience in the process is a monumental portion of the brilliance of the end product. In other words, most brilliant ideas, by nature of being brilliant, are born in pain. Furthermore, leaders who can’t embrace the pain that’s embedded in the process will rarely experience the brilliance of an idea that came to fruition. Only those who fight through the resistance to achieve their goal(s) will see their dreams realized.
Whatever industry you work in, the resistance is an absolute because people will always fight change. There are three main reasons this happens:
1. In most situations, the leader is the only one who can see the vision clear enough to warrant the change.
2. The people affected by the change have most likely been impacted by your organization in positive ways in the past. In the minds of these people, driving change might be equated to ripping away their connection to “the good old days.”
3. Changing peoples’ minds is rarely a one-night event. Trust is gained over time. And in most cases, people won’t fully put their trust in the new system until they see it working.
This presents the leader with a fork-in-the-road moment. Does the leader engage a vision for a brighter future or play it safe in the light of the challenges associated with driving change?
It’s time that leaders stepped up to the plate and embraced the vision that God has given them. There will be resistance, but the pain is worth it. We have so many great examples of leaders in the Bible who knew that tough times would follow the call to a great mission. Some of these greats weren’t even defined by their end-goal; rather, they were defined by the process by which it took to reach their goals.
Think Abraham and his seemingly destinationless journey.
Think Moses with the Israelites.
Think Peter and his call to spread the Gospel, despite his history.
Think Jesus and His necessity to humble Himself as a man, and to hang on a cross.
Each of these experienced a painful process to get to a certain landmark. Each of these great leaders should inspire us to endure the process, in order to accomplish the big idea we have set out to achieve.
“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
Hebrews 12:1-3
Driving Change: Part 1
Earlier this year, I felt a strong sense that something was wrong in our student ministry. Something was very wrong. Our youth ministry drifted from an others-first outreach to a safehouse for believers to gather.
Now, some people think I’m a heretic for thinking the “safehouse” mentality is wrong. I want to clarify that I definitely think that we should gather with other believers. But, as I read the Gospels, Jesus was never interested in only serving those who were already “found.” He was known for spending time with those who needed rescued. He would leave the 99 and go after the 1. We were spending all our time with the 99.
We had slipped into mediocrity.
At the right time, God gave me a big vision for a big change. Right off the bat, I knew it was what God had for us to do. But I also knew that we would have to count the cost of this change.
Over the next week or so, I’m going to be hitting the high points of how we’re going through the process of driving change. Our student ministry is in its 7th week of the change I’m referring to, so I’m by no means an expert. However, I feel like there may be church leaders who might have a vision for big change out there, and that are afraid to go through with it because of the consequences.
Before I move on with this series, you need to know the core principle of driving change:
If It’s a God-given vision; if God told you to move, then you’d better move. If God is calling you to drive change, He will equip you. He’ll raise up people around you. But even if He doesn’t, you’d better move.
Tonight, in our student services, we’re celebrating what God has done. We’ve spent this last summer training 12 students to lead their peers. For the last 7 weeks, we’ve seen God move in big ways – bigger than I originally expected. Tonight, we’re baptizing the students who have made decisions for Christ since we made our change. My hope is that the sight of so many students standing up for Christ will influence others to do the same. I hope to post a clip of the service to give you a little more context into what our student ministry is up to.
I’m looking forward to working through this series. As I post, if you resonate with the idea of driving change in your organization, I’d love to hear from you. This blog typically isn’t comment-heavy, but I’d love to hear about what you’re going through in your context.
Songs For My Walk: Volume 2
Lately, my music tastes have taken an odd turn. I’m usually pretty streaky with genres. These last couple months, I’ve been all over the map. You’ll see anything from hip hop, metal, Christian pop, or worship. Also, I feel like I need to give Interlinc props for their Youth Leaders Only (YLO) music videos this season. I’m not usually into a lot of mainstream Christian alternative artists, but this last DVD has changed my mind a little toward them. Lastly, not all of them are “worship songs.” Some of them are in my earbuds when I need a little audio caffeine :). Anyways, enough with the explanations. Here they are in alphabetical order:
Close Your Eyes by Abandon Kansas
Come Like You Promised by Ascend The Hill
The Love of God by Ascend The Hill
God Gave Me You by Dave Barnes
For Those Who Wait by Fireflight
Your Love Is Strong by Jon Foreman
Instead Of A Show by Jon Foreman
Hookers And Robbers by Charlie Hall
Beautiful Exchange by Hillsong
Don’t Waste Your Life by Lecrae Featuring Cam and Dwayne Tryumf
Go Hard by Lecrae Featuring Tedashii
Washed By The Water by Needtobreathe
Your Love Never Fails by Chris Quilala and Jesus Culture
Mercy On Me by Sho Baraka Featuring Chinua Hawk
Honorable Mentions:
Some of my most intimate times with God lately have been to the tunes of: This Will Destroy You, Jonsi, and The Album Leaf.
Sobering D.L. Moody Quote
A friend of mine tweeted the following quote this morning. It was definitely a timely reminder for me, so I thought I’d share it with you.
“Of 100 unsaved men, 1 will read the Bible; 99 will read the Christian.” – DL Moody
This is so true. I guess the only question left to answer is this:
“What are the unsaved men reading when they read you?”
The Pitfall For Teaching Pastors
I know that not everyone in ministry has the same experiences in life, but I think this principle is pretty transferable to most pastors. You should know, by the way, that my use of the phrase, “teaching pastors” doesn’t refer to the modern title held by many in our churches today. I’m simply referring to anyone (especially pastors who speak every week) who speaks to a group of people on a periodic basis about Scripture.
We teaching pastors do our best each week to communicate God’s truth to people. Between Sundays (or whenever you meet), we prep. We have differing methods, but at some point, you take time out to get ready for what you’re going to say.
We’re always thinking about what to say next (Obvious, right? Follow me. I’m going somewhere with this).
I had to make a two-hour drive the other day, so I decided I’d listen to one of my favorite pastors/authors’ audiobooks. As he taught, I kept thinking, “That’s so good. I need to teach that some time.”
We’re always thinking about what to say next.
One morning this week, I stopped in to Starbucks to read through a passage in the Gospel of Matthew before my day started. I hit an incredible portion of Scripture and was so excited about teaching our students through it.
We’re always thinking about what to say next.
The pitfall of the teaching pastor is that we’re always thinking about what to say next. Sometimes, God tees up a huge lesson that’s meant for US to digest for OUR OWN personal growth. But we start framing it in the context of a sermon series. Maybe our first thought is what the graphic could look like, or the concept of a cool promo video.
Pastors, let’s remember to be Christ-followers before we’re pastors who get up to say stuff every week.
Challenging Thought: How many layers does God have to peel back before we start applying Scripture to our own life rather than a creative board for our next teaching series?
Taking Risks In Leadership
Today marks the beginning of a giant change in our student ministry. It’s scary and has the capacity to crush any and all momentum we’ve ever experienced. This week, I’d like to tell the story of how God led us to take that big risk.
Making moves in ministry is dangerous. Making moves can influence someone to downsize their involvement level. Making moves can hurt peoples’ feelings. Making moves can change someone’s perspective about the church.
But when God calls you to do something, you’d better get moving.
That was the thought that crossed my mind on March 1, 2010. I was sitting in my car, waiting to meet someone. They were super-late. That usually bugs the heck out of me, but I was re-reading “The 7 Practices of Effective Ministry” by Andy Stanley, Lane Jones, and Reggie Joiner and didn’t mind waiting (by the way, if you haven’t read it yet, what the crap are you doing reading my blog?!). I came across a line that jarred me into a line of thinking I wasn’t ready for.
“Maybe you need to eliminate what works, so something else can work better.” (Page 106, “Seven Practices of Effective Ministry”)
At that moment, I knew what I needed to do. I didn’t know the specifics, but I knew what I needed to kill, and I knew what it needed to be replaced with (I plan to talk a lot about this change over the next week, so don’t worry – details are coming). The comfort in knowing that God was leading me to make those decisions was overwhelming, but comforting. It wasn’t on me to figure out the replacement. Sure, I’ve had to work through some details, but I’m OK with that as long as I know I’m on the track God wants us on.
My point is this, though. When God plants a big vision deep in your soul, what do you do with it?
What did Noah do when God told him to build an ark?
What did Abraham do when God asked him to get up and go?
What did Moses do when God told him to lead a group of people on the longest journey he could imagine?
What did Daniel do when God let him be taken captive?
What did David do when he was selected to slay the giant?
What did Nehemiah do when his city needed him?
What did Job do when every comfort he had was gone?
They followed with reckless abandon, because our Heavenly Father is worth following!
He’s all-knowing. Are you nervous about where He’s taking you?
He’s all-powerful. Are you afraid He can’t give you the strength?
He’s the Creator. Are you afraid He isn’t able to make things happen?
He’s our Provider. Are you wondering if taking this risk will leave you in need?
He’s our Father. Do you think He’d lead you astray?
Is it possible that God might be calling you to take a risk this year? What will your response be? Are you ready to cast fear out and lean in to what God is leading you to do?
Keeping Good Communication With Your Senior Pastor: Part 2
The truth is that we have a TON to gain by investing in your relationship with your senior pastor. And I don’t mean a bigger budget, or getting to preach when he steps out. I’m gonna go Jesus-style on you, and say that maybe…just maybe…the results for investing in a good relationship with your senior pastor are mainly in the realm of what happens in your heart.
Proverbs 17:1 says it best: “Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.”
I’ve decided to share four quick points of action I’ve used in order to preserve my relationship with my senior pastor. These may totally not work for you, but we’ve found that this is what keeps us reading on the same page.
4 Tips to Consider:
1. Don’t gossip. I heard Dave Ramsey say recently that he instantly fires people who’ve been caught gossiping. “It’s that serious,” he said. It’s so true! But how many of feel the entitlement to talk to different people about all the things he’s done wrong? All I know is that I hope, if I’m ever a lead pastor, that I can trust my youth pastor not to do that. Think about it this way. Good communication means not sharing bad communication about him.
2. Email him periodically. What? More email? We don’t get enough of that already?! Let me explain. One of the small things that Tom and I realized was hard to keep up with was communication. We’re both hard-workers by nature, and therefore, we rarely stop into each other’s offices to talk about what we’ve been up to or what we’re looking forward to. One of Tom’s values is the connection point between people; “touches” he calls them. He always wants to know when a connection point was made and how it went. He also loves to hear feedback on services. As a student pastor, he wants to know when I hit the schools, or when I one-on-one disciple a student, or when I visit a new member’s home. In order to keep those communications flowing, I shoot him a periodic (monthly) email to let him know what all I’ve been up to. That way he can trust me with my office hours (if you’ve ever worked in an environment in which you weren’t trusted, you know how valuable this is!). This has been one of the keys to our relationship staying on point.
3. Over-communicate. This tags on the last point a little, but it deserves its own stage time. As a young youth pastor, I made the mistake that almost every single youth pastor (and teacher) makes. I thought that if I said something once, that everyone heard it loud and clear. There was no reason that they shouldn’t remember what I said verbatim. Right? Wrong? I’m assuming I’m talking to youth pastors for the moment. Even if I’m wrong, you can transfer this concept into your work relationship with your boss. You have a lot going on, right? It’s hard to balance everything, right? How much more do you think your senior pastor is balancing? He has so much on his plate, and so much weight on his shoulders. And we expect him to remember every little detail? Rest assured, a lot of our bosses (secular world, too) are hearing what we’re saying the first time. However, I’m sure you’ve experienced what it’s like to have a tiny (by tiny, I mean huge) details slip between the cracks. Over-communication might be annoying, but a lack of communication starts all kinds of fires.
4. Be honest. “What did you think of my sermon?” “How do you think that meeting went?” “That event was awesome, right?” Ladies and gentlemen, it’s simple, but not easy. Lying is wrong. Are we trying to preserve our jobs? Are we trying to make sure that we have a good relationship with our senior pastor by lying to him? This simple truth is what has changed my relationship with Tom the most. When he asks what I think, I tell him the truth. What I’m about to tell you might be counter-intuitive, but I’ve found it to be true: When I’m honest with my senior pastor, he invites me in to the planning processes of future big projects. Think about Daniel as a prophet in a foreign land. Think about Joseph telling his brothers about his dreams. Honesty gets really ugly sometimes, but God always honors it. Are you putting your trust in your ability to preserve your relationships or looking to God for that?
Prepping For Summer Camp
And so it happens. Summer camp is a matter of hours away. Summer camp has historically been a huge part of a student ministry’s year. We’ve literally been planning for this event since the end of last year’s camp. It’s kind of like Christmas. You spend so much time building up to it that when it shows up, it’s surreal that you’re about to finally experience it!
So, what do we youth pastors do to prepare? Most of us, sadly, are so bogged down with details that we forget to mentally prepare for what’s about to happen. I regret to say that I’ve learned this the hard way. By that, I mean that my lack of mental awareness has distracted me from the entire purpose of the camp. The week quickly morphs into a system of decisions, details, and rules.
This year, it’s been my goal to be prepared beforehand, so I can be mentally prepared for what God is about to do in our lives. In fact, I’m more prepared than I’ve ever been…ever. It’s a weird feeling. I feel like I forgot to do something big, like pay the registration fees or set up transportation (we’ve all been there, haven’t we?). But alas, we are ready.
So here’s what I plan to do in the 24 hours leading up to our departure.
ps. This is transferable to parents, students, or volunteers, too!
1. Pray.
It should go without saying, but that’s usually one of the first things to go out the window for me, sadly. The late Dr. Jerry Falwell once said, “Nothing of eternal significance is ever accomplished apart from prayer.” So, I’m setting aside a lot of time to pray today. If I REALLY desire a movement of God in our teenagers, I believe it’s worth BEGGING GOD for His favor. I’m praying specifically that God would open the heart of our teenagers to receive HIS calling for them, and that they would respond in humble worship and receptivity to Him!
2. Re-establish My Purpose For This Camp.
I tend to get wrapped up in the details and systems of our youth services/events. Because of this, I tend to overlook the very students I’m there to serve. Not this time. It’s time for me to spend time with them. My purpose is to lead, guide, and serve our students during this time. I plan to get very real with a bunch of our students, to help them open up to God and what HE wants for THEM.
3. Challenge Our Core Students To Serve Others.
It’s inevitable that you have a wide variety of students going on your trips. Some students need to connect with Jesus for the very first time, while others honing in on their call to ministry. One of the jobs of every youth pastor is to shepherd each student through their individual journey. One of the joys I’ve experienced in student ministry is seeing the core students reaching out to the outsiders, to invite them into what they’ve already experienced. This is one of the main purposes of our student ministry: to catalyze students to reach out to their friends and to have what we call an “others-first” mindset. I’m really excited to see how this plays out.
4. Pay Attention To Spiritual Waves.
While it’s true that every student is on a specific journey, there are usually similar elements happening in our group as we do these types of events. In most cases, it’s because the speaker hits on a specific issue. Sometimes, the Holy Spirit has something to say and He’ll say the same thing to everyone in different ways. I think this is the time to PAY ATTENTION! When God does a similar work in or sends a specific message to different people in our group, we know that God’s up to something. Those elements are KEY to bring home. I believe, in a lot of cases, God is setting the direction for our student ministry in what He’s doing in our students’ lives.
Mainly, I need to align my agenda for our students with God’s agenda. That’s going to take some intense focus on my part, which requires 100% mental awareness.
May we be open to what You have for us, Father.
Summer 2010 Reading List
While my wife has been out of town, I decided to knock out some books that I’ve started, but yet to finish. I have a nasty habit of reading a small portion of a book, and then buying another one that looks exciting and doing the same thing. So, I’ve committed to stop buying books until I finish the ones I have. Some of these are re-reads and some are first-timers. Here’s the list of books I plan to tackle:
(I would normally feed the OCD side of me by alphabetizing the list, but I’m tired. So you get the “as I took them off the shelf” version).
Deep Justice Journeys by Kara Powell and Brad Griffin
The Rest of God by Mark Buchanan
Youth Ministry 3.0 by Mark Oestreicher
Speaking to Teenagers by Doug Fields
99 Thoughts for Youth Workers by Joshua Griffin
Transforming Church in Rural America by Shannon O’Dell
Doctrine by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears
The Emotionally Healthy Church by Pete Scazzero and Warren Bird
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller
The Search to Belong by Joseph Myers
Jesus Centered Youth Ministry by Rick Lawrence
Killing Cockroaches by Tony Morgan
Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster
Reclaiming Christianity by A.W. Tozer
The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul
The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer
Reflections on the Psalms by C.S. Lewis
The Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel
Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley
Simple Student Ministry by Eric Geiger and Jeff Borton
Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith
Hear No Evil by Matthew Paul Turner
Funded And Free by Casey Graham and Joseph Sangl(updated…thanks Casey :)).
I would normally ask you for suggestions on other great books out there, but as you can see, I don’t need any more at the moment.
Keeping Good Communication With Your Senior Pastor: Part 1
One of the most counter-intuitive portions of youth ministry is an intentional pursuit of a good relationship with your senior pastor. That’s not to say youth pastors don’t want one – we just generally don’t start off knowing how to sustain one.
When I started in youth ministry, my idea of a relationship with my senior pastor was working hard without any communication. That’s probably why I had such a hard time. I was fortunate enough to get a second chance at the church we’ve been at for the last three years, and I’ve learned a couple of big lessons along the way that might help you before you make the mistakes that I (and many others) have made in the past.
5 Questions to ask yourself:
1. What are his values? If you value modernity, and your senior pastor values old school traditions, you’re going to have a breakdown. If you don’t value the same things, you can probably expect to disagree on a lot of foundational issues. Disagreement can be expected on a couple of issues, but if you disagree about your root beliefs in ministry, it’s going to be very difficult to sustain a great relationship with your pastor.
2. Do you talk negatively about your senior pastor around others? This is a tough one for a lot of us, because our hearts are involved in our work. Ministry isn’t just a paycheck. Our lives are steeped in our work. So when the leader makes a big mistake, it’s easy to want to vent to everyone who has an open ear. But watch yourself: are you giving the people around you a reason to stop following your senior pastor? This is a simple business rule. Talking negatively to those under your leadership about your leader is gossip. That’s never the solution! Guard against that!
3. What questions does he repeatedly ask you? Andy Stanley once said that the questions a leader repeatedly asks usually drive the organization one way or the other. The point he makes is that when a leader, or boss to emphasize the point, asks the same set of questions over and over, you can see what is important to him or her. If you start paying attention to your senior pastor is asking you, it might give you some insight into what they want to see from you.
4. Are you committed to him as you want him to be to you? A couple years ago, my senior pastor went through a pretty major challenge in ministry. I knew that he was fighting some tough issues. I walked in his office one day without any agenda or purpose, other than to tell that man that I believed in him and that I had his back. He looked at me as if I was the only person who’d ever said that to him. That was a moment that marked my relationship with him. Since then, we’ve walked through the trenches together in ministry as friends. It was simply the most powerful moment that he and I ever experienced together.
5. If you were a senior pastor, would you hire you? Really? This is the question that should keep you up at night. Are you worth hiring? Youth pastors get a bad wrap for being lazy, uninspired, and having poor work ethics. So, this is the question I repeatedly ask myself: Would I hire me? If I were the senior pastor, would I want someone to come in late to work every day? Would I want someone who gossips about me? Would I want someone who ignores my leadership? Maybe the best thing you can do for yourself today is to do some honest self-exploration. Ask God to do some surgery on your heart.
If you’re like me, you could always use a little more intentionality in your relationship with your senior pastor. Choose today to show him that you have his back. What do you have to lose? What do you have to gain?
The Way You Follow Leadership
I’ve been on both sides of leadership: following and leading. I’ve also lived long enough to know that the general public tends to be skeptical of leadership in any arena. Now, this is a tough thing to call out, because there have been so many reasons not to trust leaders in the past.
However, throwing a blanket of cynicism over all of leadership is so unfair. I’ve seen this play out in ugly ways in the church. Decisions are made. People disagree with said decisions.
And then the ugliness rears its ugly head in the form of assumptions (unfair, not-fully-thought-out, ridiculous assumptions).
“They’re only going that direction because _______.”
“He just changed the budget so it _________.”
“She quit because _________.”
I’ve never personally experienced leaders who make decisions based purely on selfish motives. Most times, you’ll find that when you get down to the details of the decision-makers, they’ve made the best decision for the scenario. However, in some cases, a less-than-perfect solution may have been reached.
STOP THE PRESSES! Bad decisions are made?! What?! Yep. It’s true. It happens. Every once in a while, leaders make bad decisions. It’s crazy, because it’s not like we make bad decisions. Nope…never.
What if we decided to move on without the cynicism toward leadership? What if we saw the good side of people and decided that we’d stop jumping to conclusions when leaders make decisions that we agree with?
Andy Stanley said it this way: “We need to start believing the best, and stop assuming the worst. Trusting is risky. Refusing to trust is riskier.”
Learning & Leading
It’s been said that leaders are learners. It just so happens that I really engage in the process of learning. It’s something that I intentionally do each week. I learned through the Strength Finders 2.0 test that I’m more valuable when I spend time doing this.
Practically, this looks like studying Scripture, reading books, blogs, watching teaching videos, engaging in critical conversation, talking with other people in my field, etc. Any and all these activities make up a great day for me.
But I wonder if I spend too much time learning? In other words, I wonder if I spend too much time being a consumer?
One of the ironies of learning from people I admire is that they seem to always stay way out front, leading their people and peers. They produce new content and ideas. In many cases, people all over the world copy their ideas, or at least learn from them. Like I said, though, it’s ironic because we are inspired by their originality and creativity. So why don’t we spend more time seeking what it is that we’re uniquely designed to do? Only then will we experience the rush of living out front in leadership.
That’s producing.
Goal-Setting Done Right: Mid-Year Evaluations
When I posted earlier this year about goal-setting in youth ministry, I had an idea that I’d be posting this summer for the purpose of evaluation. I had no idea that I’d be posting what I’m about to post.
I learned something today. Goals change – in huge ways.
As I looked back over our goals for 2010, I realized that 50% of the goals I set are literally obsolete. By that, I mean that we are killing the program that half of our goals were set for.
Specifically, we’ve been following God in a most risky journey. I believe He has led us to kill our Wednesday night community environment, and replace it with a different method of outreach (cell groups, which I’ll be talking a lot about in the future). Since half of our goals were designed to enrich and help our Remix service become more excellent, they are absolutely obsolete.
And that’s why you re-evaluate.
We’ve adopted a plan in which we set goals for 12 months, and re-evaluate at each quarter. It’s been my experience that we go through different thought processes in different seasons, and often times, we need to re-focus in on what God is doing now (not just what we planned on doing 6 months ago).
Did you set goals in January? How has the year changed things for your ministry/organization? Are you chasing after an old dream, when God wants something new out of you?
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”
- Isaiah 43:19
Goal-Setting Done Right: Part 2
4. Decide what you want to do, and then give yourself deadlines. I’m a firm believer that schools use homework to teach us that deadlines are a healthy thing in the job force. If you work in an arena in which you have to set your own goals and deadlines, this can be tough sometimes. The process I’ve adopted allows me to make a “Dream List.” These are the big things I want to make happen this year. This is usually a very invigorating time…until you look at the finished list. It’s super-easy to look at a list like that and think it can never happen. That’s why the second part is so crucial. Divide those ‘dreams’ into quarters of the year. I made a list of 10 big dreams for the year, which is a lot to accomplish. However, if you can split those into two or three per quarter, it’s a lot more manageable. You have to learn the value of taking initiative. Again, there are people far more capable of ‘getting things done.’ Why are you OK with just hoping it gets done? Make it happen!
5. Convince those around you that these goals are worthy of a year’s effort. In any organization, there are people that help you make this happen. And in most cases, the people that help you make it happen are not just subordinate to you. In fact, the most important meeting you’ll have, after engaging in goal-setting, is sharing your goals with those who lead you. John Maxwell coined a term, “leading up” that described the process in which an employee shares ideas with his/her direct report. In my case, that’s my pastor. Now that you’ve poured your heart and soul onto a whiteboard, you need to compile it in a clear and concise plan and hand it to your boss. Please know that this is dangerous! You need to be ready for anything. Your goals may not be their goals (it helps to know the expectations you have been given before you even start setting goals). They may not approve, and if they don’t, you need to be mentally prepared to head back to the drawing board. Once your plans have been approved, you need to convince those who follow you that these goals are worth chasing. If your team is not on the same page, you cannot move forward. You can try as you may, but don’t expect much progress. This process may be more difficult than you thought. However, it’s wise to gain the approval and excitement of your team before you can move forward. A singular focus is a crucial element to progress. If you don’t have focus, you can’t have synergy. And if you can’t have synergy, your idea will invariably fall apart at the seams.
6. Continually remind your team members of your goals and follow through. This is the tough part for me. I’m a big picture kind-of-guy. That means a couple things about me. I’m not good with details. I’m really good at starting things, and rarely good at finishing them. Ideas excite me. Processing them drains me. If you’re like me, you need a team of people to help you with this. Whether you have employees or volunteers, they are the ones who are going to help you make this idea come to life. What does follow-through look like in my life? Simply, it means keeping that list in front of me for 12 months. It also looks like reminding my team, at every level, and at every meeting, what we’re shooting for. This has the potential to be really annoying and stagnating. One way to avoid that is to present the idea creatively. If you say the same sentence over and over again, expecting people to catch the idea, it probably won’t be caught. However, different people respond to different stories, illustrations, and dreams. You may catch someone’s attention on the third or fourth cast. That’s normal! This is the same reason you see commercials aired repeatedly in a given night. What do you remember? The commercial that aired once in a four-hour span, or the commercial that aired every single break between shows? Repetition isn’t your enemy. Presentation is.
In short, your team needs to be excited about the plan. Once they’re excited, they need to know what part you want them to play, and how to play it. That’s leadership.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the processes you’ve adapted, and what you may think works better in your context!