church
Episode 15-Lock Ins
When the Answer is not the answer
Lets say you’re trying to build a team. You have some young people on the team who are getting some much needed experience. While your team is not enjoying much success you feel that this experience will pay off in the long run. In an effort to be succesful now you bring in two industry veterans who have a track record of not making any teams better and whose presence will stunt the growth of the young people you’ve invested time and money in. This is how the Memphis Grizzlies do business and why they will never be a good(let alone, great) team under the current leadership. Here they have a great young nucleus, but instead of letting them develop over time they decide to bring on Allen Iverson and Zach Randolph, two notorious ball hogs and chemistry killers. I find myself scratching my head over these decisions, but then I remind myself,”This is the Grizzlies.” What’s this got to do with anything useful I might have to say? Too many times, I’ve seen churches, organizations, and universities scrap long range plans by trying to hit a home run with a big name. Again, too many times, no consideration is given to how the new person will fit into the organization. Let’s say you bring in someone to your organization whose been very successful in their area of expertise, but have no idea how to work or deal with the people on your team. That spells disaster faster than you can say “Bad PR.” Even if you’re bringing them in to overhaul a certain area(which may be desperate for it) you’ve got to give consideration to how it affects the entire team, church, organization, etc. Knowing when and how to do all of this is a mark of good(or poor) leadership. End up on the wrong side of these kind of decisions too many times and you could find yourself shopping yourself out to anyone who will take you. Unless, those in authority over you are clueless themselves and have no qualms with you running their organization into the ground. In that case, you’ll enjoy a long run with the Memphis Grizzlies or …um, other organizations I know.
Vision
Vision is scary. A lack of vision is even scarier. I’ve become a big fan of Newspring church in Anderson, SC and Senior Pastor Perry Noble. God has given him a vision for Newspring and during their current Gametime series he is outlining it for the congregation. www.newspring.cc He presents it with such passion and it is encouraging to see a church that is actually going somewhere because their pastor is leading them. I see so many churches that are just in maintenance mode. The pastor is working day to day. I don’t want to be like that. I want God to help me dream big for Chi United. I believe the Senior Pastor has a vision I can support and we’re going to see God move(He already is). However, I keep asking myself, am I dreaming big enough? A volunteer told me at a children’s ministry meeting tonight that thinking we would be up to 60 kids by Christmas wasn’t enough. She said that God could do more. It was awesome because this is an older lady who is so passionate about children’s ministry even with poor health. I wish I had 100 more volunteers like her. It was [Read more…] about Vision
Leadership in a new church
Well, we had over 180 at church yesterday and there are still people out of town. It was an awesome day. Next Sunday we will have a baptism service(before the weather turns cold for good) and the forecast looks good for the outdoor festivities. We’re having a grand reopening for our youth center next Friday night, September 28th, from 7-10 pm with food, games, and a movie. Now, we just got to get the thing finished. Pray for me this Wednesday as I will be meeting with all of the children’s volunteers to lay out our vision and build our team to make it happen. I’m excited about the material we are using and this is a major step in me using my administrative and leadership skills which I am working to improve. We’ve got great people and I just want to encourage, inspire, and invest in them in a way that make children’s ministry fun and fulfilling for them.
Sometimes it is hard for me because I am dreaming big for our church and I don’t want to be the weird guy with crazy ideas. However, [Read more…] about Leadership in a new church
Communion
I must say that the most heart pounding thing I experience in ministry is serving communion. I look at everyone’s hands. It is truly remarkable when you think of all the stories. I see young hands, old hands, smooth hands, dirty hands, tatooed hands, arthritic hands, deformed hands, and hands of different colors. It’s amazing to see people’s faces. Some have received communion a thousand times, but they still approach with anticipation. Some come because the person next to them came and that’s all they knew to do. Some come feeling unworthy and nervous. Others come as if to say,”That’s my Jesus who died for me!” I always get a lump in my throat and if there ever comes a time when I don’t then I would expect myself to hand my element to someone else. I also always feel unworthy, and I hope that never changes. Maybe that’s just me. The worship was great today with God’s presence all around. People continue to return from summer vacation and attendance has picked up.
We had [Read more…] about Communion