My journey in leadership development started with a John Maxwell One Day Conference back in 1996. Pastor Craig and I spent a day being poured into and by the end of the day, two things happened. One, my eyes were opened to the importance of leadership and secondly, we bought 12 books to begin our leadership libraries.

Since the church was small, I put myself on a crash course study in leadership. Every week, I would go to lunch and read one of the books, filling numerous notebooks. When those books were finished, I began to search out more. To this day, I usually have one book in my active reading that is about personal leadership or development.

Dr. Hugh Arnold, who holds a Ph.D. from Yale University in organizational behavior, wrote that there are three things a leader cannot give away. I read his thoughts and I am taking his three principles and applying them to church leadership.

 

 

1. Vision. Basically, “Where are we going?” If you have ever been on a family vacation where the group is pulled in multiple ways, you can see how this can affect even the smallest ministry. Creating vision is hard work. In church leadership it requires prayer, time alone, an awareness of the environments and a great understanding of the people we serve. You will know your vision is on target and solid when your close advisors, (the ones who will give you honest feedback), hear your vision and in the end say, “That is exactly where we need to go!”

 

2. You will answer the question – “How will we get there?” A good leader will surround themselves with people of various talents and strengths. They should tap into those people to get the most input from each area to understand the “lay of the land” when enacting this plan. But then, the strategy comes back to the leader. They have got to decide the path to take and divide up the responsibilities. Ultimately, the entire strategy will reflect on them. Good or bad results, the leader will be the one who shoulders that burden.

 

3. Core Values. Final question – “How will we conduct ourselves?” I have been listening to a lot of podcasts lately and I am always intrigued to hear how a church leader describes their own church. None of the answers are wrong – it’s their church and culture. But, none of them have been the same.  That is what is so great about different groups – they get to decide how they are going to carry themselves, what they are known for and what will people remember about them. That goes directly back to the foundation laid out by the leader. If people under him do not embrace his core values in their actions, speech and thoughts, the organization will be sending a mixed message and confusing those attending. Consistency will bring excellence to the church and peace to those attending.

 

These principles apply no matter how big or small your group. The leader must keep these three responsibilities. Next week, I am going to share the six things that a leader can give away…I think some may surprise you.

If you are a leader, your hardest assignment is yet to come.  It is the assignment of handing the responsibility and role of your job to someone else.  Basically, you are going to give your job away.

As a leader, we are used to developing vision, making crucial decisions and developing strategies to accomplish the goals set before us.  It is hard work.  Yet, a true leader relishes the challenge.  We want to be in the game and have our hand on “throttle” as our team moves towards the finish line.

The last post, I shared about GFC’s journey as our Lead Pastor began to transition someone else into the weekend sermon responsibilities.  After  twenty-two years of ministry, someone else’s voice was going to carry a significant amount of clout from the pulpit.

We focus on the Lead Pastor position because it is high-profile – but every leader, at every level, faces a transition.  I can only imagine how small the percentage of people who start in one position and stay there a lifetime.  In fact, even in healthy situations, if a person is “climbing the ladder of success,” you are taking different roles and positions.  Which means, you are leaving roles and positions.  

One of my first roles at GFC was the Children’s Pastor.  To this day, I think it is so cool when a child knows that God loves them and he/she accepts Him as Savior.   As I took on new roles, the day came where I had to give that responsibility to someone else.  It  wasn’t easy.  We had a good foundation, values and principles but I knew that in stepping away, that leader had the right to make any changes he wanted.  I would walk by the rooms and think, “I wouldn’t do it that way.”  It wasn’t right or wrong; it was different.

Gratefully, we chose a wonderful leader to replace me.  He brought a younger, fresher way of ministering to children.  I watched him grow.  I oversaw him from an executive level and he continued to develop a new level of ministering to kids…until the day we asked him to take over the Junior High Ministry.

Which is an ongoing tension in leadership.  If you are a good leader, you will find opportunity to change positions and responsibilities.  If you are a great leader, those under your leadership will be asked to assume leadership roles and responsibilities.  It creates a healthy demand for new leadership. 

As you can see, transition never really ends.  Healthy organizations continue to develop the next generation of leaders and put them into place.  So, transition is always happening and it is happening at all levels.

The next few posts will talk about how to do this.  They are practical lessons for anyone who is a leader that wants to promote commitment and engagement from those they lead.  Plus, it is an application that will empower the next generation leaders under you to grow and reach their highest potential.

Next week:  The Three Things a Leader Cannot  Give Away.

 

In February, I did a breakout session at the Relate Conference at Grace Family Church.  Relate is a coaching and networking group that helps other churches grow and answer their tough questions.  I have enjoyed coaching other churches and I learn a lot while helping them take the next step.

When asked to speak, I was asked to share part of my present day journey as a pastor.  I chose to speak on what I call “Transitional Leadership.”  This is a  very real challenge in a lot of churches today because many of the excellent leaders who have been leading the church, staff and volunteers did something without even trying…they got older.  As “cool” and “hip” as I think I am; I am not.  As much as I could try to stay young, I know that I will begin to slow down or even, impede the church’s ability to reach the next generation of leaders.  I have to be focused on doing only what I can do, while empowering the next generation of leaders to fulfill the calling they have on their lives.

The lesson that day was very fresh.  It was difficult to go through some of the teaching points because each of them represented a painful memory or even a step of growth that cost me something.  I am grateful that I have a great role model in Pastor Craig Altman.  In the summer of 2014, he came to me and said that we needed to begin to pray for a Teaching Pastor at GFC.  He still had lots of vision and ministry in him but the weekly demands of preaching were beginning to wear on him.  We began a search of our own early in 2015 and then partnered with Vanderbloemen group to formally find our candidates in August.  Saving you a lot of details, we brought Matt Roden on January 1, 2016.

So engrossed in the details of the journey, I never gave much thought to what it would look like to have someone else doing the preaching at GFC. Craig continues to lead through serving and being secure in the journey.  Craig had to give up a lot. He wouldn’t be “the guy” on stage, the one voice for GFC, the speaker everyone didn’t want to miss, etc – you get the picture.  I have been listening to him preach since college and I honestly get a nugget every time he speaks.  Now, we had a different voice also representing GFC.  The big win is that Craig is the most secure leader I know and he was ready to give up and empower Matt to come in and run as a speaker.  To Matt’s credit, he came in with great humility and honor to Craig.  We are excited about the future of GFC.  The “Duo Voices” already blend together as one very well and we are already seeing the benefits of bringing in the next generation of speaking at GFC.

I am going to do a blog series on leadership, based off the lesson I taught that day.  Each week I will take another point from the lesson and bring it out in a leadership lesson form.

Are you ready for your hardest assignment yet?

 

 

 

I hadn’t seen Matthew in twenty-two years.

When Kristin and I were first married, her parents began fostering.  Matthew was one of 65 babies they cared for.  He was a handsome, spunky infant who lit up the room. They had him about six months when he was placed with an awesome couple who love the Lord and now they had Matthew.  As our own family grew, we kept up with their family. The last time we were together, my curious Casey at the age of one just stared at Matthew’s dad as he held him.  Then, Casey tried to lick his face like an ice cream cone! Good times.

Last year, at our annual beach vacation, Matthew came over for dinner with his girlfriend, Jessica.  It was great to catch up with all that he had accomplished in his lifetime.  He had some great stories. My favorite was when my in-laws came to watch him run at his high school track meet.  They were cheering for him throughout the race and then came down to congratulate him when it was over.  After they left, his friends were asking Matthew, “Who are those folks?”  With much pride and a straight face, he said, “Those are my grand parents”.

Fast forward to this past week and a lot has happened in a year.  Matthew and Jessica got engaged and I am honored to be officiating the wedding.  They joined us at our family beach vacation for a great afternoon and dinner with the whole family. It was so good to have him and Jessica join us.

So here is a thought…what if his biological mom didn’t have the courage to carry him to delivery?  And then, enough strength to give him up for adoption?   What if my in-laws said, “We are not sure about loving foster babies and having to say goodbye.” What if his adoptive parents never went on the journey of adoption?

Or, what if all that happens?  It’s amazing to see a life lived over the many years and see how each of those decisions play a part in writing his story.

Life Wins!