Lessons learned by Luaulou

The Pain of Growth

 

Here's a great post by Tim Stevens of Grangier Community Church.

Last week I was asked, “If our church is going to double in the next two years (from 500 to 1,000), what will it take?” Here is what I shared…

• Some of you won’t have as much access to the senior leader. This has to be okay with you.
  • Ask: Are you more committed to maintaining the tight-knit staff size and your proximity to the pastor? Or are you more committed to the church growing?
• Some of you are doing okay as a leader in a church of 500, but that’s not going to cut it at 1,000. You need to be willing to step aside into another role.
  • Ask: Are you more committed to keeping your position and title? Or are you more committed to reaching more people?
• You will need to anticipate the strain and pressure before you actually feel it. You are the leader–looking ahead, around the corner.
  • Ask: Are you comfortable? If so, you probably aren’t anticipating growth adequately.
• You will have to be as willing to stop stuff as you are to start stuff.
  • Ask: What are you doing that takes time and energy and diverts your focus? What has God uniquely gifted your team to do where you should put more focus?
• You will have to drive up the level of excellence. When people walk up to a fair booth to buy food, they have one expectation of service and quality. At McDonalds, it’s another level. And when they walk into a Houlihan’s, it’s yet another level. As you grow, so will the expectations of your guests.
  • Ask: What areas of the ministry would not be considered excellent if you were a church of 1,000?

Time for a Facelift

Well, as you can see I've given my site a much needed facelift. How do you like it?

Good to Great to Godly | LeadershipJournal.net

Here is a great article on church leadership.
Good to Great to Godly | LeadershipJournal.net.

Leadership: 5 Facts Leadership Gurus Don’t Tell

Leadership: the leader, the supervisor, the boss, the manager.. These titles (and others) describe people who are responsible for getting things accomplished by acting trough others.

Leading can be a daunting task. In some ways it can be positively thrilling. Just as the freedom, responsibility, and respect start to lift you to cloud nine, the paranoia, fear, and anxiety can bring you crashing back down to earth!

1. The ‘F’ word isn’t easy

For most people, firing is not an easy thing to do. Those you must discharge, may have worked at a job for a long time. They may or may not have done their best. Either way, firing can mean they have loss of money, prestige, security and sense of self-worth. Still, if you are going to be true to yourself and to your organization as leader, you have no choice.

2. Leadership is lonely

The scariest down side of the whole thing is the isolation. People do not become leaders because they want to have more dark days of isolation!
One of the hardest times for a leader is when you have to keep your own counsel and make a difficult decision. It may be decision that is received with dismay and resentment, but you are not at liberty to give your staff the complete picture.

3. “Freaking out” isn’t an option

Learning to pull yourself together and gain control over these emotions and actions before they bury you….
This is a tough one. No matter how bad it gets, no matter what kind of day you’re having, you have to hold yourself together.

4. You don’t need to be an expert in everything

It used to be thought that leaders grow into their jobs because of the technical experience and product knowledge they acquire at each step. However, in this age of technical specialization, it is virtually impossible to be more of an expert in everything that those you lead in most leadership jobs. This means that the technical knowledge is far less importance then is how you train you belief system.

5. To lead, you must first win minds

The higher you go, the more you’re under scrutiny from those beneath you who think they can do your job better and those above you who think they are paying you too much (in most cases).

A good deal of leadership in the wining of victories, in everything you do, has to do with your ability to win the minds of the people around you. If you can do this, you’ll not only lead successfully, but you’ll be successful in achieving your goals and objectives.

10 of the Hardest Things We Face in Ministry 2 Timothy 4: 7-18

No one ever said that being in Ministry was going to be easy.  The Apostle Paul knew this better than anyone else. He knew that there would be daily challenges and a multitude of situations that would require him to stand and remain steadfast in the face of adversity even when everyone with the exception of Luke had left him Here are just 10 of the many hard things we will face in Ministry and what we can learn from Paul.

 

How to Be a Better Visionary

In order to be on the cutting edge of ministry, you have see before and beyond what others see.  You may have the gift of leadership and able to cast vision, but you have to have a process of how to catch the vision God wants you to see.

Places to “see” the vision.

 

Prayer- You get vision from God.  When you spend time in prayer, everything that God wants to accomplished through you will be revealed.  When you pray, set aside an adequate amount of time to pray.  It’s very hard to catch vision when you pray for only 2 minutes.

Think- Huh?  Yeah that’s right think.  Think about your ministry.  Constantly think about your ministry. God will give you vision about your ministry when your thinking about your ministry.  God gives me vision about my ministry when I wash dishes!  Yeah I know sounds weird, hey take it up with God.  I just know He gives me great visions for ministry when I do the dishes, so I love doing dishes.

Listen – Shut up and listen when God speaks.  We do too much talking to God but not enough time listen to God.  After you’ve finished praying, stop and listen for God to speak to your heart about what you just prayed about.

Write it down – Always have some type of a recording device to remember what God said.  Use paper and pen or if you’re like me use a small digital recorder.  The important thing is you record what God has said.

Research – Once you have the vision you must research it out.  Is it even possible? Is it doable? Now let me parking it right here for a moment.  I believe God gives God size vision.  If it is something that is so easy that anyone can do it, it probably not God.  When it a God vision, the only way it can happen is if God is in the middle of it.  That’s where prayer comes in.  Because you have been spending time with God you know that you know this vision is of God and with His help it is doable!

Influence It – Bounce this vision off some people whose opinion you trust.  Get another’s person’s perspective.  The Bible says that there is wisdom in a multitude of counselors.

Correct it – By this point you should be pretty confident that this vision is the real thing.  Now it’s time to tweak it and make any adjustments needed.

Do It - This is where we separate the men from the boys.  So many God given ideas never come to pass because of the inability to “pull the trigger”.  Move on it now, don’t wait just do it.  Will you be right all of the time? Of course not.  Will you miss it? You’d better believe it. Do it anyway.

Delegate and Train it – As a leader and a visionary you will continue to have new vision so you cannot get bogged down.  Train and delegate your vision to someone who will keep your vision moving and growing so you can launch new vision that God will give you.

 

Pray again – Now you start the process all over again.  New vision, a new way to do the ministry that God has called you to do.

It's Broken

Seth Godin gave this presentation in 2006 about things that are broken that we see every day, but do not fix. How many things are broken in your church? and do you have the power to fix them?

For All Of You Upset About Mark Driscoll’s Take on Women…

Here's an outstanding post from MMI. Mark Driscoll has taken alot of flack for his view of women in ministry. Many have taken his view of women in leadership and misconstrued it to mean that Mark doesn't value women. After watching this clip, I think we can put that issue to rest. Driscoll is actually quite articulate on the other end of the spectrum as well: Men need to treat women with respect and dignity. Listen to Mark as he gets fired up against them 'boys' in his own church that don't treat women with respect. Let's just say that it ticks him off just a little...

Fix You

It's My Birthday!

Well, today is my birthday.  I have been on this earth for 56 years.  Today was very special to me. Not because it was my birthday but because I received a telephone call from my childhood best friend Bill.  It's been close to 18 years since we last spoke. It was great to hear his voice. I feel like I'm getting younger on the inside kinda like Brad Pitt in Benjamin Buttons.  I may  look like 56 years old on the outside but not on the inside.  Where people my age seem to not want to deal with technology I embrace it. Who knows, maybe next year i'll go chase a tornado.