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?

Often they’ll be in a state of shock and I’ll explain myself.  It’s awesome because it is the perfect opportunity for a healthy confrontation.  I don’t love confrontation because it’s fun, I love the end result of confrontation when it is done in a Biblical and loving way.

Galatians 6:1-2 says, “¹Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. ²Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

Confrontation is not about getting your way, it is about taking advantage of an opportunity to teach someone how to manage conflict in a Christ-like way.  Biblical confrontation can be a part of discipleship.  Fortunately for us, Jesus lays out four steps in conflict resolution and some ground rules for a healthy confrontation.

Matthew 18:15-17

¹⁵“If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.

Step 1: Confrontation in Private

In my personal experience over 90% of our conflict can end with step one. There are quite a few things I think we can learn just from this first step. Often I think we want people to come to us because we’re the ones that have been offended.  We’ll say, “they’ve hurt me so it’s their fault.” However, Jesus flips our expectations around and basically says that we’ve got it backwards.  He’s telling us that if we’ve been hurt it is our responsibility to go to the person that has hurt us and initiate the confrontation.

The other hard part about this first step is keeping it private.  I don’t know about you but when I’ve  been hurt by someone, I want to tell the world.  I’m tempted to gather an army against them.  I want to find allies and go on the attack!  This is NOT what Jesus expects from me.  He’s telling me that I need to keep my trap shut and keep it between the two of us.

¹⁶But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’

Step 2: Confrontation With A Witness

What is the definition of a witness?

Witness – One who can give a firsthand account of something seen, heard, or experience

This is not just someone that agrees with you! This is a person of integrity that has experienced or observed the behavior or has personally experienced the issue in question. Why do you think Jesus asks us to do that? I think it could be because, the person that has been hurt may be over reacting.  When I’ve been hurt I tend to get emotional and when I’m emotional I’m not always thinking clearly.  This is when having an unbiased third party can make a difference and help bring clarity to a situation.  Not only may the person that’s been hurt be over reacting, but it is also possible that the person who has caused the hurt may not understand the seriousness of their offense.  Again, sometimes hearing another party present the problem from a different perspective may help resolve a difficult situation.

¹⁷If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church;

Step 3: Confrontation with Leadership

The first two steps were fairly private.  Now things escalating to a new level and it is necessary to involve the leadership of the church.

Now this is a matter of my opinion.  Personally I don’t believe that when Jesus said, “tell it to the church” that he meant standing up on a Sunday morning and saying, “hey I’ve got a problem with that guy!” I believe he was indicating that you should go to a well respected leader in the church to aid you in conflict resolution.  Paul addresses this as a problem at the church in Corinth when in 1Corinthians 6 he is upset over lawsuits among believers.

and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

Step 4: End the Relationship

I think this is probably the hardest thing to do.  I would hate to have to bring a confrontation to this point but Jesus says,

-if that person won’t listen to you

-if they won’t listen to an objective small group of people

-if they won’t listen to church leadership

END THE RELATIONSHIP!

Don’t pretend that nothing happened. Don’t act like everything is ok, because it’s not ok.  This person has turned their back on you, objective witnesses, and even the leadership of the church.  Sometimes moving on has to do with self preservation and we need to take the initiative in protecting ourselves mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

Plus, if you’ve handled the confrontation in a biblical manner you can rest your head on your pillow at night and know that you’ve done everything in your power to salvage the relationship.

While confrontation is never easy, confrontation is not a bad word…

Confession time. Sometimes when pastors preach, we feel like we are on an island and there is no one actually listening.  We get little or no response from the church, and we can almsot feel like what we’re doing is pointless.  It kind of feels like we are stranded on an island in the middle of a lake.  We can see people on the far shore all around us, but for some reason it doesn’t seem like they can hear what we’re saying.  I’ve seen pastors try to fix this problem a number of different ways:

• They scream louder – if I can preach screaming louder maybe they will hear me and actually listen! (This actually scares people away from the shore, especially the new people who need to hear the message the most.)
• They change the message – if I can tell them something they want to hear maybe they will listen? (When this happens it’s a catastrophy.  God already provided the message through the scriptures and He doesn’t want us to change it.  We can change our methods but NOT the message.)
• They try to be someone they’re not – if I preach like John Ortberg (or insert preacher’s name here) people will listen.  (God created me to be who I am and wired me with different passions and skills than John Ortberg.  Find a passage of scripture you’re passionate about, put in the hours of study needed and teach the congregation what God shows you through your hard work. It doesn’t mean you  can’t use John or other great preachers you admire for inspiration, but don’t try to be someone you’re not.)

I think we often find ourselves wanting to blame the listener when in reality we need to look in the mirror. There are a few key ingredients that I attempt to focus on when crafting a sermon:

1. Personal Connection: As a speaker I need to utilize my own experiences and be willing to be authentic with those that show up on Sunday.  God selected YOU to be a preacher for a reason, that means He believes you have something to offer that is unique.  Use your life and everyday experiences to help tell God’s story.

2. Biblical Truth: The Bible is the source of our teaching.  It needs to be our go-to book for truth, not the opinion page in the New York Times, or a talking head on Fox News or CNN.  Sometimes as preachers we can get so caught up in storytelling that we neglect staying focused on the scripture.

3. Relevance: I can’t tell you how many sermons that I’ve heard that sounded more like a list of scripture references from a topical Bible instead of a well-crafted teaching that provides the listener with something that they didn’t have prior to walking through the door.  As preachers we need to do our best to think of who might actually be sitting in the seat on Sunday morning.  Every time I sit down to write I think of two people.  First, I think of the believer, what can I present about this passage that will provide the seasoned Christian with something they didn’t know before?  Second, I think of the non-Christian, what can I say that will help them get one step closer to Jesus?

I don’t think preaching will ever become an easy task, and I’m not expecting it to be simple.  However, as I continue to pray and seek God in writing I hope to remain fresh, consistent, relevant, and most of all true to scripture.