It is so important for us as leaders in ministry to know what we have and to know what’s missing.  Have you ever taken a ministry inventory at your church? I’d like to encourage you to do this exercise with your team or with your volunteer leaders.  Personally, I make it a part of the strategic planning process here at Hope Summit. For us, our ministry inventory revolves around the three parts of our vision:

1. Intimacy with God – list every ministry, activity, event, and experience the people in the church, our church staff, and volunteers have been part of in the last year that contributed to developing intimacy with God.  If this area is lacking it will often result in mature Christians being discontent and misunderstanding our purpose.  Environments that lend themselves to spiritual growth can be developed for new Christians and mature believers.  I believe if leaders can work together both can be offered in every church.

2. Community within the church – list every ministry, activity, event, and experience the church, our church staff, and volunteers have been part of in the last year that contributed to developing community. If this area is lacking it will often result in people feeling disconnected or lost in the crowds.  This can happen as a small church becomes a mid-size church (and as mid-size churches grow even larger) if the leadership is not intentional at creating environments friendly to building relationships.

3. Influence outside the church – list every ministry, activity, event, and experience the where we are providing opportunities for influencing our community and individuals for Christ. If this area is lacking it often will result in a few people far from God meeting Jesus and an overall lack of church growth.

After creating these lists the next step is evaluation.  When looking at the result of the inventory are you surprised by what you see? Is there balance between these three areas or are there major differences between the three?

At Hope Summit I desire to see balance between all three areas.  Think of it like three legs of a stool.  If one leg is out of whack it makes it difficult to maintain balance and you would notice the instability.  You would probably discard the stool and move on to another one that provided a firm place to sit.

Our churches need to be a place of stability.  That means we are providing balanced enviornments of intimacy, community, and influence.

I like to think of myself as a leader. I was a student leader in my high school youth group. I led several groups in college. I’ve led several small groups over the years through my church experience. I’m a leader in my company. And I’m a leader in my home.

I’m a leader.

As a leader, I thrive on gaining wisdom and leadership tips and advice from all kinds of resources. I listen to leadership podcasts. I read leadership books, and I follow several leadership blogs. I watch and imitate leaders in my church and at my work. I want to be known as a leader, and I want to be the best leader I can be.

All these things are great, but they mean nothing if I don’t get one major thing right.

God has to be first in my life, and God’s Word has to be the basis or foundation for my life and my leadership.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33

I’ve read the Bible a couple of times (from cover to cover), and I’ve gone through periods of consistency and time of inconsistency when it comes to being in God’s Word. Last year, I experienced a dry spell in my spiritual life. I could partially attribute this to some significant life events which left me numb and even disinterested in God’s Word. But most of it was related to laziness and distraction. I survived through some of the resources listed above like podcasts and blogs, but it wasn’t enough.

As 2012 is unfolding, my desire to be in God’s Word daily is reigniting. I still feed myself with other resources, but these resources come with much deeper meaning with a steady diet and backdrop of God’s Word. I look forward to my morning appointments with my God and The Word.

I challenge you to STRETCH into God’s Word this year. Use the Bible as your first resource for developing your leadership. You can’t go wrong by hiding God’s Word in your heart!

I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Praise be to you, LORD; teach me your decrees. Psalm 119:10-12

Jon has some good thoughts, and it falls into alignment with what we’ve been talking about at Hope Summit in recent weeks. Are you a fan of Jesus? Or are you a follower? If the pursuit of our goals, knowledge, prestige, come between our pursuit of knowing God… we’re not really following Him – we are no more than an enthusiastic admirer.

How do you stay shap as a leader? What Scripture have you found useful for leadership?

The solution for me has been to get strategic with my goals.  You can get strategic with your new year’s resolutions this year.  The key is not in creating the list, its in stratigically planning how to accomplish the goals on the list – the “when” and “how” these things get accomplished.

Here are a few examples of popular goals I’ve heard people set over the years:

1. lose 20 pounds

2. read the entire bible

3. get out of debt

Great goals! However, just putting them on paper (and even reminding yourself regularly by posting on your refrigerator) is not enough to accomplish anything on this short list.  Each of these goals requires Preperation, Accountability, Planning, and Action – (PAPA – a goofy way I remember).

As an example lets take goal number 3 Getting Out of Debt and strategically figure out how to make this goal a reality.

1. Preparation:

We can’t even begin to approach a goal until we do the research. You have to research your goal and it may require some self-evaluation.  In this example… How much debt do you have? How soon can you get out of debt? Is 1 year realistic or does it have to happen over 2-3 years? Are there programs, groups, professionals, and resources you can seek out for help? Researching your goal and what is available to help you acheive it is key to getting started.

2. Accountability:

Preparation you can do on your own, but an important part of self-motivation is TELLING SOMEONE. We need accountability to keep us going, to stay motivated, and it goes beyond just telling someone.  Give someone permission to ask you the hard questions. Let someone far enough into your daily life so they confront you when you get off track.  It’s not easy because it requires transparency, and a high level of commitment. It means you might get embarrassed from time to time when you fail or make a mistake, but if the person holding you accountable is a true friend or mentor, they will help you get back up and continue pushing forward toward your goal.

3. Planning:

Once you’ve got someone to hold you accountable and some research under your belt, what’s your plan? What are the small goals that will help you achieve the greater goal and when does it need to happen?  Fortunately, for the debt illustration that are some great plans in place that you can take advantage of and hit the ground running. Programs like Financial Peace University that will help you implement a custom financial plan to debt freedom.  Putting the extra time into the preparation phase can help you in the planning phase of managing goals strategically.

4. Action:

After the planning is finished GET STARTED! Action is the most important part of setting goals. So many people get stuck talking about their goals or researching possible solutions and never get anything accomplished.  Before you know it next year will have come and gone and the same goal will be on your list. Sometimes its helpful to have someone take action with you. When one person isn’t motivated to continue the other can pull them along.  In the debt illustration – have a spouse work with you, or a friend that has the similar goals.  Accomplishing the same goal with a friend or family member can be fun and provide the extra motivation you need to be a person of action!

Now make some strategic resolutions!!!

Control

Leaders that focus on control tend to act more as managers than high quality leaders.  They will micro manage their team down to the minute. When I was in my early twenties I actually had a boss that wanted me to report on every 15 minutes of my day and I remember worrying more about my reporting than performing well on the job. When leaders micromanage their teams we become overbearing dictators rather than developers of future leaders.  Our goal should be to reproduce change agents.  People that will make wise choices for our churches and organizations, not a group of followers dependent on marching orders.

There are times that our teams do require us to manage more of the details.  Especially when vision hasn’t been clearly communicated or expectations are misunderstood.  This is where tension must be intentional for the leader.  Paying attention to details to ensure that expectations are met (and often times exceeded) while not smothering the team and stifling development of personnel.

Guidance

Leaders that only focus on guidance find themselves leading teams that may work hard but are often out of alignment with the mission and vision of the church or organization.   This happens because the leader has chosen to delegate responsibility too quickly or not adequately prepared those that follow.  I’ve made this mistake a couple of times in my ministry career and I could have avoided some hurtful conflict had I paid closer attention to my team member and how they were getting the job done.

However, when we live in a healthy place of tension, we can create a balanced approach. In my current role, leading here at Hope Summit, I’ve had to keep our team and myself in a place of healthy tension.  It is especially important for me to acknowledge that there are some great leaders in our congregation that our very capable of leading teams in our church.  However, whenever a new leader (like myself), enters an organization they often bring new vision.  I have to make sure that everyone I lead clearly understands that vision.  Without it, those leaders will continue to lead their teams as they always have.  That can be a problem if they lead out of alignment with the new vision that is being cast by the elders and staff of our church.

Plan Your Tension

So what I propose is that you actually plan your tension.  I have regular meetings with each of our staff, sometimes planned, other times impromptu… I call them focus meetings.  At these meetings I’ll ask them two key questions and offer a challenge that creates tension associated with our vision:

1. What is going well for you right now?

2. What has you frustrated?

3. Challenge that creates tension.

That challenge has to revolve around a piece of the vision for our church.  Let me give you an example…

Our staff and elders agree over the next year we have to create more opportunities for building community at Hope Summit.  A leader that is focused on guidance would simply communicate the need to the team and back off and see what happens.  A leader focused on control would micromanage everyone and every event through the coming year to solve the problem.  Instead of one of these extremes I would suggest living in the sweet spot of tension between the two, actually plan the meeting that creates that tension.  If I was sitting down with our Arts Pastor I would  discuss the challenge during one of our focus meetings and tie it back to our vision by saying, “We’ve been talking about our difficulty with community lately in our church, over the next few Sunday worship services what our some creative ways we can encourage community?”  That question challenges the person I’m leading, provides some guidance, and even some control because it keeps them focused on our vision.

Do you find yourself leading with healthy tension? I’d love to hear your story below!

When was the last time you read a leadership book or attended a leadership conference where it was taught that blaming your people for the performance (or lack there of) of your church was the right thing to do?

I have never heard this from anyone that truly understood leadership. In fact, I’ve always read, heard, and experienced the opposite. In their book Spiritual Leadership, Henry and Richard Blackaby write “Spiritual leadership necessitates an acute sense of accountability. Just as a teacher has not taught until students have learned, leaders don’t blame their followers when they don’t do what they should do.” Ninety-nine point nine percent of the time the cause of a problem is not the people doing the job. It’s the fault of the system. And, who is responsible for the system?

Who has the authority to make changes in any organization? Who should understand the system at the highest level? I believe the answer is the leader. In other words, if things are not going according to plan the leader (usually at the top) needs to take a look in the mirror to find the person to blame! So, why do so many who are in leadership positions blame their employees for problems? I believe it’s because it is the easy way out … at least that’s what they think. “Let’s fire that person and find someone else that can do a better job” … when the person in that position, nine times out of ten, is doing the best they can with what they’ve been given by their leader. Disagree? The real fix requires much more work from the leader. They might actually have to change something about themselves. What a concept! Systems thinking and building solid infrastructure is very hard work!

If you disagree with my position on this, I invite you to defend your position. Give me a book title where the author advocates blaming employees for problems. Provide me with a link to a leadership conference where the leadership guru is going to teach that problems are fixed by firing people and replacing them. I challenge you to back up your position with data! I’ll be happy to provide a long list of book titles that back up my position.

OK … so what about the point one percent of the time when the problem is the employee? Good question. It’s really pretty simple. Ask yourself “Have I done everything I am supposed to do as a leader to ensure this person has what they need to be successful? Have I asked them what they need and provided them with it? Are they working hard to try to do a good job? Are they truly giving it their best shot?” If you have provided them with what they need but they are lazy or otherwise just not giving it their best shot, perhaps you have an employee who needs to work somewhere else. Again, this is almost always not the case.

So, on what should the leader focus? In any organization, the leadership must focus on the system! They must focus on vision casting, developing infrastructure, and treating employees with respect. In the words of University of Alabama head football coach Bear Bryant, “When something goes really well, they did it. When something goes marginally well, we did it. And, when something goes very poorly, I did it.” These are words that we, as leaders, should live by!

So, the next time you are inclined to blame someone for a problem, stop and go find a mirror. You won’t have to look much further to find the person to blame!

For more of Kevin’s thoughts keep an eye on his website – Executive Pastor Online

Pastors get criticized all the time – from church members, community members, and even other pastors. Sometimes it isn’t worth giving a second thought. But a good leader has a teachable spirit. He learns from criticism while not letting it deter his ministry.

Godly leaders don’t pretend to know it all. They accept constructive criticism, and try to learn from it. The Bible teaches in James 1:19, “My dear friends, you should be quick to listen and slow to speak or to get angry.” (CEV) When criticism comes, take James’ advice and listen. When you do that, you’ll hold your temper and remain teachable.

How do you relate to a constructive suggestion? Do you get uptight or defensive?

Don’t consider the source; consider the suggestion.

Leaders don’t need to have all the answers. In fact, we should be concerned about leaders with all the answers. They are dangerous.

The truth is, your biggest critics often help you out the most—unintentionally. They may mean to hurt you, but God can use that criticism to teach you and make you the kind of pastor he wants you to be.

Does that mean that you should blindly accept all criticism? Of course not. Sometimes people are just being mean. Ask God, “Is there something I can learn from this criticism?”

Never let a critic set your agenda. That’s God’s job. Never let a critic keep you from doing what God has called you to do.

Also, ask people you trust to help you evaluate your ministry. Put people around you who can give you their unvarnished perspective. People you can trust for honest input in your ministry are absolutely invaluable.

The Bible says in Proverbs 13:18: “If you ignore criticism, you will end in poverty and disgrace; if you accept correction, you will be honored.” (NLT) Criticism isn’t always negative. It can often prevent great failures. I once read a sign that said: “I’d rather change my mind and succeed than have my own way and fail.”

That sounds about right to me.

Another leader I respect is Tim Stevens, Executive Pastor at Granger Community Church in Indiana. He recently reflected on a letter he recieved from a leader in the church and how they were threatening to leave if the church didn’t submit to some demands, here is what Tim had to share:

I just spent a few minutes in memory lane reading a letter exchange I had with a leader who was contemplating leaving our church six years ago. They had written several pages of gripes and complaints about the church, which I attempted to graciously address. This leader ended the letter by laying out a challenge with a list of 14 people: Talk to everyone of these people about why they left the church, or if they are still here, what they don’t like about the church. If you don’t, I’ll know my points are valid and I’ll leave the church.

I really don’t like being threatened. And frankly, after having several one-on-one conversations with this leader and reading their list of things they were unhappy about, I believed it was probably best that they leave. Here is how I responded…

In your list of names, in every case (of the ones who are no longer at the church), I, or someone on our senior team, had a conversation with them upon their leaving. We knew their issues. There is no reason to have that conversation again. The others on your list are still here and participating.

We aren’t interested in “no” votes. There are over 290 million people in America alone who haven’t voted “yes” at GCC. I’m not trying to be sarcastic. I’m just saying there are a number of reasons someone isn’t going to attend GCC. Geography is a big one. But there are a bunch of other reasons. We just want to say, “Here’s where we are going…do you want to come with us? Do you want to help us get there? Yes? Good, let’s go.” We aren’t counting the people who say “no.” We aren’t mad at them. We don’t think they’re stupid. We don’t think they are lesser as Christians. They just want to go somewhere else and that is fine. We’re looking for the yes votes.

Does that mean that we don’t want feedback? Absolutely not. I have conversations every week (with people who are “in”) about what they wish were different. We change things every day. I imagine you’ve never been to a church anywhere that is quicker at changing things that aren’t working or aren’t effective. I believe there is a “kernel of truth” in just about everything. So I look for that. Sometimes it’s a high percentage of truth…sometimes you have to look hard to get past the individual’s filters and biases…but you can find a kernel of truth.

I think too often churches get side-tracked by the “no” votes. We cater to their whining, or we spend all our energy trying to keep them happy, or we do damage control because of the side conversations they are having. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s important to listen. Sometimes (perhaps often) God will speak through someone when we least expect it. But there is a cross-over point after we’ve listened, considered and prayed. We know what God has called the church to do and be–and we must pursue that with confidence.

Some will go with us. And some won’t. And we’ll experience deep pain, sometimes, when the person who chooses to leave is our closest friend or relative–the person who we never imagined moving on without.

Just put one foot in front of the other. Count ‘yes’ votes, and keep moving.

I don’t think I completely agree with Tim in only counting yes votes but I do think that we have to remain confident enough in our mission that we never compromise on essentials.

Today I had the priveledge of working with Kirk and Desi down at Y105 (soft rock) here in Rochester.  Our goal is to get the word out to the community about our Easter production called Alive Forever and I had a great experience with the team at the radio station.  In about an hour they had me sounding like a pro.  When you have the opportunity to work with an expert, stay true to your identity but listen closely to their advice.  I have yet to be dissapointed. 

Here is the audio invite that will begin airing for this Easter…

Hope Summit – Behind Easter – 30

• How many conversations have you have with a new convert where you painstakingly, step by step, taught them how to obey Jesus’ commandments in their everyday life?
• How many conversations have you had like that in the last 6 months?
• How many conversations have you had in meetings or gatherings about, attendance, worship preferences, seating capacity, buildings, finances, vision, infrastructure, staff, property maintenance, parking lots, policies, curriculum, volunteer recruitment, and videos for worship services?

He goes on to say, “Its very simple to understand why evangelical churches in America don’t crank out disciples. IT’S BECAUSE WE TAKE OUR BEST LEADERS AND STICK THEM IN A ROOM! Instead the best spiritual leaders need to be working with the baby converts!”

If you haven’t heard this talk you you gotta take 30 minutes and listen.  Brian has also authored two books and you can buy them here:

Second Guessing God – Hanging on When You Can’t See His Plan
Getting Rid of the Gorilla – Confessions on the Struggle to Forgive

Now, let me make myself clear – I HATE ADULTERY.  I’ve seen cheating cause severe pain in couples, families and even destroy churches.  However, facebook is not the problem, people are the problem.  Creating rules for people to follow like, “THOU SHALL NOT FACEBOOK” is not going to fix problems that exist relationally in our churches.  What we have to do is teach what the Bible says about relationships and marriage, not create rules!

As ministers we have the opportunity to communicate a timeless message and life changing principles that can help people.  The teachings contained in the Bible help people develop healthy relationships, create personal accountability, build strong marriages, raise loving children, resolve difficult conflict, manage finances, honor parents, break addictions, and become genuinely better individuals.  No product or software is more powerful than the Word of God.

Facebook is a morally neutral tool, and we can use that tool for good or evil.  I would compare it to the Bible’s teachings on money.  Money is also a morally neutral tool.  1 Timothy 6:10 says, “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” It doesn’t say that money is evil… it’s the “love of money” that is evil. Facebook and money are simply morally neutral tools.

I think what we’re seeing in many churches is a need to explore something that is unknown.  We all get afraid of the unknown.  My kids are afraid to go into our basement alone simply because its dark and they can’t really see what might be at the bottom of the stairs.  That unknown space makes their imagination run wild at the thought of what might be down there in the dark. I think we can get that way when we as leaders have to take our congregations into unknown territory.

However, as church leaders, when we find ourselves in these strange and unknown places we have to educate ourselves. We can do so much more for our churches, and God’s kingdom, when we join together to help our congregations navigate new territories.  I actually think churches should embrace facebook and actively use it with their congregation for the greater community, not avoid it.  Here is a recent post I wrote on 10 Reasons Your Church Should Be On Facebook.  Those are just some quick thoughts, hope it helps!

UPDATE: Also if you want to know more about the questions I was asked you can read Lauren Green’s article here on Fox News.

It would be nice if it was that easy.  Unfortunately it’s not, we’ve got people from all walks of life and showing up on Sunday for different reasons.  Some are seeking truth and don’t even know if they believe the Bible is inspired, while others have been devoted followers of Christ for over 40 years.  Still others are transplants and connected with God 6 years ago and they’re beginning to discover how living like a Christian changes their life and impacts some of their decision making, marriage, parenting and finances.

At Hope Summit we’re trying to tackle this monster in the way we structure our involvement opportunities.  We’ve decided to start with our classes we offer, and to be a little bit more intentional is the way we communicate these opportunities.  It is a work in progress and I’m sure we’ll have to make further changes as we experiment with the idea. We’re calling it the “Hope Summit Path” and we’ve broken down our class structure into three tracks.

The New-Comers Path: These are opportunities for people just getting started on their spiritual journey.  Classes that cover an intro to the Bible, basic beliefs and topics like baptism are included in this track to help people acclimate to our church and the Christian faith.

The Explorer Path: This track has classes that are geared for those that are not brand new Christians but also not seasoned in their faith.  Many of these opportunities revolve around what it means to live the Christian life.  How our faith impacts our marriage, parenting, finances, and relationships.

The Adventurer Path: This path contains classes that target those ready for going deep into theology, philosophy, and significant Bible study.  They often require a significant time commitment due to the materials, homework, and additional study.

Base Camp: Opportunities in this category really are geared for everyone.  Our Starting Point class is an orientation to the church while small groups are great environments to connect with others. Pastoral Care is something we want everyone to connect with when in need, and how mature you are spiritually should have nothing to do with getting the support you need in a time of crisis.

We’re looking forward to defining what this means in numerous areas of discipleship and leadership development.  How do you handle assimilation and spiritual growth at your church?