Tag: ministry

How to Lead When You’re Not in Charge

No man or woman is ever fully acquitted of all responsibility. Just as there are inalienable rights, there is such a thing as inalienable responsibility.

What this means is that everyone leads something.

Everyone is in charge of something—even if it’s just you. Each one of us is responsible for the choices and decisions we make. We must all learn to rightly influence ourselves.

In this 3-day track, Clay challenges us to identify the ways in which we lead, even when we don’t think we are in a position of leadership. He reminds us that we are all always leaders – we are always in charge of our emotions, thoughts, reactions, and decisions.

Perhaps you’ve blamed your boss for poor leadership, or resisted your own leadership capabilities. Regardless of your circumstance, take the next few days to recognize your flourishing leadership. Complete the challenges at the end of the day to help guide your reflection.

DAY 1: CREATING THE BLAME

When most people think about the challenges of leading when they aren’t in charge, the most common excuse they give for their failure is—you guessed it—their boss.

It’s likely that, at some point, we’ll all have to work for a bad leader, but that is not an excuse. I say that even though I don’t know your situation. There are some bosses who are insecure, unaware, and defensive and are intimidated if you choose to exercise any kind of leadership when you’re not yet in charge.

What I’m going to say in this chapter may feel next to impossible. But let me ask you: what is the chance there is still something you can learn in this situation where you currently find yourself? Even if that chance is one in a million, I’d like to quote my friend and yours, Lloyd Christmas, “So you’re telling me there’s a chance. Yeah!”

When you aren’t accomplishing what you want to accomplish in the role you’re in, it’s natural to look for someone to blame. And the easiest target is your boss, especially when you’ve already concluded he or she is a bad leader.

When you make a judgment about someone, specifically your manager, you will persistently look for behaviors to justify the judgment you’ve made. Then, with your settled judgment in place, you look for every possible reason no one else would or could succeed in your role. It’s a self-defeating prophecy where you give yourself a pass for your own lack of leadership.

Reflection: Answer the poll below.

How well do you lead when you feel you’re not in charge?

I never lead
Only lead due to my boss’s lack of leadership
I only when asked to do so
Always lead

Article taken from Pastors.com and written by Rick Warren. Rick is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church, one of America’s largest and most influential churches.

3 Ways to Replace Busyness with Purpose in Your Ministry

More than 70 percent of pastors say they work between 55 to 75 hours every single week.

Those numbers may not surprise you. But they should.

Just like all the people you serve in ministry every week, you were created for a specific purpose—and that purpose isn’t fulfilled simply through activity and busyness.

You might think those late nights hunched over your computer and all those times you’ve skipped family meals are helping you fulfill your unique purpose.

But your purpose is more than what you do on Sunday mornings. It’s more than what you do in meetings and hospital visits. Those activities may help you fulfill your purpose, but they must not define your purpose.

Every pastor, just like every person, is driven by something. Many are driven by the pressures around them. Others are driven by responding to crises in their midst—and there are plenty of those, right? Some pastors are driven by the expectations of those they lead.

But God wants something more from us.

He wants us to live purpose driven lives. You can’t lead others to make the most of their lives if you’re not doing it. Just because you’re doing the activities of ministry doesn’t mean you’re pursuing your unique calling in life.

Often, our unique calling gets drowned out by random activity.

Consider what the apostle Paul shared with Timothy, a young pastor in his day, and his church in Ephesus. “Live life, then, with a due sense of responsibility, not as [people] who do not know the meaning of life but as those who do. Make the best use of your time”(Ephesians 5:15-16 PHILLIPS).

God expects us to make use of our time in ways that help us achieve what he has called us to do. Too often, though, we do everything but what really matters most.

I’ve got good news for you. You can do something about it.

Let me share three steps to organizing your life and ministry in a way that’ll help you achieve your life mission.

1. Develop your goals around your purpose.

Start with your unique purpose, which is rooted in God’s five purposes: worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism. For this article, I’ll assume you’ve got that settled.

Goals put feet on your purpose. Think of them as statements of faith, typically phrased like this: “I believe God wants me to accomplish ____________ (what you’ll accomplish) by _________ (when you’ll do it).”

Set goals that you can’t accomplish without God’s help. Goals that require faith. Frankly, those are the only goals worth having. Jesus said, “According to your faith let it be done to you” (Matthew 9:29 NIV). God uses us to do the incredible when we trust him to do the impossible.

But make sure you’re chasing the right goals. Few realities will be more disheartening than reaching the end of your life and realizing you were successful in achieving a goal that didn’t matter.

Ask yourself these five questions as you set your goals:

Will it glorify God?
Does it make me more like Jesus?
Will it make a positive contribution to the world?
Does it enhance my life message?
Can I do it in faith without doubting?

If you can answer these questions affirmatively (at least one of them and, hopefully, more than one), you know you have goals that matter, goals that will lead to a purpose driven life.

2. Organize your activities around your goals.

Many people have goals, but if your goals aren’t organized into actions and activities, your life won’t be purpose driven.

The best way to organize your activities is to categorize and prioritize them. Make a big laundry list of all the activities you need to do, but don’t just stop there.

Put together tasks that relate to one another. Your hospital visits. Put all your sermon preparation tasks together. Then rank them by importance.

The problem with many to-do lists is that the tasks can vary widely in value. If you’re living your life by a to-do list, you’re not purpose-driven, you’re activity driven.

Instead, organize your goals around the activities God wants you to do. You could do that many different ways.

I’ll tell you how I do it:

I organize my tasks around relationships—my relationship with God, my relationship with my family, my relationships at church, my relationships with other churches, and my relationships with the unchurched. This helps me stay balanced.

It’s easy in ministry to focus on serving others and ignore your own relationship with Jesus and your relationships within your family. Organizing your tasks around these relationships will help you avoid that.

3. Balance your schedule around your goals and activities.

Your schedule is ground zero for accomplishing God’s mission for your life. You can have great goals and focused tasks yet fail at fulfilling your mission if you miss this part.

You’ll have to schedule what’s important in your life. If you only have a 2 p.m. doctor’s visit on your schedule, it’s likely your whole day will revolve around that appointment.

Don’t let other people determine what’s important in your life. Schedule the tasks that matter to you, the tasks that will help you advance toward your goals.

The antidote to the frantic way many of us live in ministry is a schedule that’s planned and lived around our purpose.

I think of it like a tree. The roots of the tree are God’s five purposes for your life.

The trunk of the tree is God’s mission based upon your unique SHAPE, what God has called you to do. Then you have the branches, which are the five spheres (relationships) of life I mentioned earlier. The twigs coming out of those branches are the goals you’ve set to accomplish in those specific spheres. The pine needles are the activities and tasks you need to schedule in order to achieve your goals.

Everything is connected.

The roots of God’s eternal purposes nourish and provide the foundation for your purpose. Your unique purpose flows into the different spheres of your life. Your faith goals in each of those areas provide the momentum that moves you forward in your mission.

The scheduled tasks and actions within each of those goals provide the practical handles that ensure you complete your goals.

I know that many pastors feel as if their lives have gotten out of control. They’re busy going from meeting one need to another without the opportunity to really focus on their unique purpose.

But remember this. Time is not the issue. You have just enough time to do God’s will. If you try to do more than God’s will, you won’t have time. If you’re constantly running out of time, you’re either trying to do something that’s not God’s will or you’re doing it in the wrong way.

Stop letting your task list drive your life and your ministry.

Start letting God’s mission for your life drive your goals in all spheres of your life.

Article taken from Pastors.com and written by Rick Warren. Rick is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church, one of America’s largest and most influential churches.

Why a Jam-Packed Fall Ministry Calendar Might Be a Warning Sign

Feeling too busy already? Over-programming is one of the most common indicators a church has slipped into Maintenance Phase.

We recently released our Q3 2018 edition of The Unstuck Church Report. Based on about 1,200 churches that have recently taken the team version of the Unstuck Church Assessment, 80% found themselves on the right side of the church life cycle.

I pulled this image from the report to show you what I’m talking about.

As you can see, the majority of churches are sitting in the Maintenance Phase. The tricky thing about Maintenance Phase is that churches are often here months, or even years, before they recognize it. These churches look healthy on the surface, but when you dig deeper, you’ll find they have started to plateau or decline.

There are a few key indicators that a church has entered Maintenance. One of the most common? Over-programming.

Rather than one team pulling in one direction, ministries begin to prioritize their programming over the health of the overall church.

This particular season of ministry seems more program-filled than others—back-to-school events, Fall Festivals, Trunk or Treat, new small groups and a lot more. I do believe some events can serve a place in the Church, but if they start driving your church instead of a simple strategy, you will likely start experiencing the pain of complexity creep.

When I work with churches, I’ve noticed a common theme: healthy, growing churches tend to approach discipleship in the form of a path. Declining churches tend to approach discipleship through lots of programs.

As leaders, the pull can be to always do more. We seem to think, “The more we offer, the more people will show up.” But getting people to show up for more things doesn’t equate to spiritual development. (I dig into this topic a lot more in a previous blog post. You should read it.)

Healthy churches are helping people take their next steps following Jesus.

With the start of this new ministry calendar, I’d encourage you to take a step back, look at the big picture and ask yourself the tough questions.

Is your church experiencing sustained health?

Where are you seeing the most life-change within your church?

Are you feeling incredibly busy because there is so much going on?

What is all of the fall activity leading people towards?

I’m passionate about churches experiencing greater health and growth. If you’re in a season of plateau or decline, the first step towards reversing it is to recognize where you really are today.

Article taken from Tony Morgan Live and written by Tony Morgan. Tony is the Chief Strategic Officer and founder of The Unstuck Group.

Churches That Play Together Stay Together

In its new Households of Faith report, Barna researchers claim that one of the many reasons “vibrant households” stand out from others is because they engage in “meaningful, fun. Quality time with both housemates and extended household members.” That includes playing games together (32%), sharing meals (63% eat breakfast as a family and 75% eat dinner as a family), and enjoying other leisure activities. “These are practicing Christians who know the meaning of play—and indeed, half call their home life ‘playful,’” according to the report.

In other words, the old adage still rings true: Families that play together stay together, and more than that, exhibit signs of strong spiritual health.

The same can be said of the church family.

From softball leagues to book clubs, jazz ensembles to craft nights, churches that play together seem to stay together and grow together, too, adapting more easily to upheaval and building up the camaraderie, compassion, and collective resilience that are essential to a robust church body.

“Our congregation is experiencing some growing edges as younger families begin to assume leadership roles,” said Katie Nix, lead pastor at Trinity United Methodist Church in Missouri. “Usually the generations become divided between gatekeepers and new people, but kickball helped to break down some of the walls of fear and create relationships. I believe we avoided several potential turf wars because the two groups experienced an opportunity to play together.”

Other pastors, too, report the unique gains of “letting loose” as the body of Christ.

Jackson Clelland, head of staff at Presbyterian Church of the Master in Mission Viejo, California, often provides opportunities for his church staff and board members to play together as a way to lay the foundation for their collaborative work as the people of God.

“My mentor, the late Chuck Miller, taught that we need a proper order to our relationships within the church. [We need to view our colleagues as] brothers or sisters and then fellow workers,” quoting from Philemon 1–2. Staff meetings at Church of the Master are commonly held in a conference room—except when they’re not.

“We went to an escape room a month ago, We play so that we can learn to enjoy each other beyond the tasks we need each other for.”

In the earliest Scriptures, the people of God are called to a regular rhythm of work and worship, rest and play. In addition to the weekly Sabbath celebration, the Pentateuch mentions seven feast days. After the Exile, three more were added. Wedding celebrations commonly lasted a week or more. While some contemporary congregations find play by practicing these feasts of the ancient church and other traditional “holy day” celebrations, others are discovering it in even simpler, almost child-like forms.

Antoine Lassiter, pastor of Think Kingdom, a multiracial congregation in North Carolina, extols the power of play to bring diverse groups of people into deeper relationship.

“This church was the result of two churches merging—a predominantly black church with a white church. Play was a way to get folks who didn’t normally interact to talk. We’d encourage them at the doors—‘Find someone you don’t know and sit with them!’—and they wouldn’t do it.”

So Lassiter and his team came up with a creative solution in Sunday worship. “I’d say, ‘Grab all your belongings!’ Then the musicians would play some happy music, and we’d play musical chairs.”

As Lassiter helped shepherd his congregation through the change, he learned that play was essential for him as a leader, as well.

“For the first three months [after the churches merged] I was a politician,” said Lassiter. “I had stopped having fun and the ministry became dark. It became stressful. Then I realized that it wasn’t for me to make it work. It needed to be a Holy Spirit–led thing.

“We have a church full of young men who play basketball, so I started walking with them and having fun with them. And that’s where I think the church turned.”

Pastors in international churches, too, notice the benefits of church play in developing a community spirit and practicing creative mission.

“One of the signs of healthy community is laughter and the ability to have fun together,” said Ondřej Szturc, preacher at Evangelical Christian Fellowship in the Czech Republic. “It also attracts people and speeds ministry up, making it easier and more pleasant. Hospitality is one of the big priorities for us.”

Two other Europeans, Andrej and Nina, helped plant their church in Maribor, Slovenia. “We do yearly church retreats where we intentionally build in play time—bonfires and s’mores, hikes and swimming time. “We had to push ourselves once a month just to play games together as a leadership team.”

Lovse finds that occasionally replacing traditional worship with play can strengthen bonds of friendship and fellowship, especially in the group of young adults who comprise the bulk of his congregation.

“There have been times when we canceled our church service and all went out for coffee. When we grew distant and needed to reconnect with one another, through play we got to know and appreciate each other.”

Agaba Moses, an ordained minister in the Anglican Church in Uganda, noted that play hasn’t traditionally been part of his church culture. That is starting to change. “Churches in Africa commonly do not go beyond pulpit preaching to engage Christians in play activities like football, swimming, or drama, calling them ‘secular.’ But playing well is of great importance in navigating conflict and developing a united and focused church.”

“Towards the end of last year, we invited the bishop as the chief guest” of a soccer event. The bishop knew how to play, and he demonstrated it by kicking a penalty. This helped people change their attitudes toward the entire church.”

Research suggests that organizations whose members fail to play often descend into unhealthy seriousness, leading to increasing anxiety and resistance to change. By contrast, study after study show that play begets creativity, innovation, relationship, rejuvenation, and joy. All qualities found in healthy congregations and their time together both outside and inside of worship.

“If a fundamental purpose of corporate worship is to proclaim and to enact the gospel,” writes David Taylor, “then surely, I would like to believe, our practices of proclamation and enactment would somehow point to the astonishing, gratuitous, even hilarious nature of the good news.”

For pastors whose plates are often filled to overflowing with the traditional work of the church, enabling play in any form can feel like an additional burden. But when congregations engage in recreation, laughter, and creative pursuits together, they are building bonds that strengthen mission, deepen fellowship, and create a relational foundation for discipleship.

“As leaders, we have to teach people to flow with the rhythms of life,” says Lassiter. “Sometimes the music is happy. Sometimes the music is somber. We can dance to both.

Article written ChristianityToday by Courtney Ellis. Courtney is a pastor and speaker and the author of Uncluttered (Feb. 2019, Rose Publishing). She lives in Southern California with her husband, Daryl, and three kids. Find her on Twitter, Facebook, or her blog.

6 Tips to Find Candidates Who Will Stay

One of my biggest hiring rules of thumb is to make sure the job candidate knows that I’m a candidate as much as he or she is a candidate. I only hire the best people, and since they are the best, they have a lot of options too. By being humble and treating the candidate as an equal, you can actually create better long-term employment relationships.

This gets to the heart of what I call “hiring for retention.” Too many business owners treat employee retention as something to do after they hire someone–things like annual bonuses and free lunches on Fridays. But retention actually starts well before the first day of work. Before any employment contracts are signed. Before any offers are made.

Retention starts during the recruiting process. The reason: Retention has a lot to do with ensuring cultural fit from the get-go, and not merely incentivizing happiness. Of all U.S. employees who left their jobs last year, 40 percent did so within six months of starting the position–and signs point to bad cultural fit as one of the main culprits.

Imagine if those employees and businesses had assessed one another more accurately from the start. Here are six tips to do just that.

1. Create more choice.

Greater choice gives you a better chance of finding someone with the right mix of skills, experience and personality traits. Search all the places where top people are, including your colleagues’ networks–the best source of quality candidates–as well as, your careers site, job boards, recruitment firms and mobile channels.

2. Hire for attitude, not aptitude.

Knowledge and skills are certainly important for making a long-term hire, but there’s also no discounting cultural fit. When deciding between the two, put personality first. You can train for skill. You can’t train for personality.

3. Broadcast your employer brand.

Give candidates in-depth information about your employer brand and what it’s like to work with you. Fill your culture Web page and social media with regularly updated content about life at your company. This helps candidates decide if they align with your mission and personality and whether they see themselves being happy with you for the long haul.

4. Foster high-touch relationships.

Engage with candidates through several different interactions, such as in-person interviews, lunches, dinners, email correspondences and phone conversations. Have your entire hiring team meet with candidates to gain a full understanding of whether you see a long-lasting match.

5. Let candidates know you are a candidate, too.

Hiring for retention requires you and a candidate to mutually decide to work together. During interviews, let candidates know that they are choosing you just as much as you are choosing them. Ask if they have questions and provide the information you would like to have if you were in their shoes.

6. Always be closing the best candidate.

Don’t dawdle when you’ve found the best candidate. Average time to hire is about 25 working days, according to the Dice-DFH Vacancy Duration Measure. But I’ve found that the best candidate gets snatched up within two weeks. You have to close a candidate to make the relationship happen–not the other way around. If you don’t manage this step well, you often settle for less than the best.

Hiring for retention should be part of every company’s business strategy. Long-term growth hinges on having long-lasting team members, who provide far greater productivity and value than a constantly rotating workforce.

Article written for Inc.Com by Jerome Ternynck, founder and CEO of SmartRecruiters.com

Polish Your Guest Engagement Strategy this Easter

Holidays can bring new people to your church and create opportunities for impact. Most pastors can easily name the big days that bring high attendance. But knowing about big days and planning for them are two different things.

Too often, these calendar-given gifts sneak up on pastors, resulting in last minute planning and low impact. One of the biggest days comes early this year. Easter weekend is only a few weeks away!

When big days sneak up on you, the rule of thumb is to polish what’s working instead of trying to create something new. Creating new requires time and planning, and time isn’t on your side.

The most important thing to polish to enhance your Easter weekend impact? I think it’s probably your guest engagement strategy. Gary McIntosh’s book What Every Pastor Should Know reports the responses from a number of interviews with people who visited a church for the first time. These people were asked, “What made the biggest impression? What affected your decision to return the following week?”

It wasn’t the eloquent preaching, excellent worship or a fun kids ministry. The number one response by far was the friendliness of the church. Effectively engaging new guests with friendliness requires planning and intentionality. It can’t be something we hope happens; it must be something we make happen… because it can determine if they come back.

If your church is unfriendly today, chances are you won’t be able to turn things around by Easter weekend. (Though I’d make it a high priority after!) But if your church has a guest engagement strategy in place, take this opportunity to review it with fresh eyes and polish it up.

Ideas to Polish Your Guest Engagement Strategy

Invite a few “outsiders” to attend your church this weekend specifically to rate the friendliness of your church.

Ask a few people who fit the type of person your church is trying to reach, and let them know you want them to be completely honest. Offer to buy them coffee afterwards. Let them share their feedback however they are most comfortable.
Cast vision again to the First Impressions team.

Share the findings from Gary McIntosh’s book. Help them understand the vital importance of their roles. Help them understand how the First Impressions team engages guests. The right engagement can make a good impression on the people who wander into your church. Train your team with guidelines. For example, asking guests, “Would you like me to show you our children’s area? Would you like a cup of coffee?” can make guests feel very welcome as soon as they walk into the door. Consistency matters.
Reconsider where you locate your First Impressions teams.

Locate your guest engagement teams in the right places. While there is value in having door greeters, think deeper than the front door. Having intentional teams in the lobby, auditorium and hospitality areas can make a huge impact.

These teams should engage and celebrate all people—not just new people (identifying them can be a challenge in a growing church, especially on Easter). If a team member doesn’t know someone’s name, that person is the target. This will ensure both new and returning guests are engaged, feel God’s love and get a sense of community.
Think more strategically about how and why you collect guest information.

Obtaining guest information creates your second opportunity to engage guests after they leave the building. Most churches use some version of a connection card, but getting guests to fill out the card can be a challenge. Here are a few ways to polish your information gathering strategy:
- Make sure your guest service area is highly visible, easy to access, and well-stocked.Ensure church members aren’t congregating there. New guests typically won’t fight a crowd to get to the table. Make sure you have the right information available. Easter is usually attended by families with children. Have strong communication pieces available that highlight your children’s and student ministries. Make sure volunteers at the guest service area are trained to collect the right information and explain quickly how it will be used. That leads me to the next thing…
- Only ask for the bare minimum info and give people options for sharing their info. Do you really need their full name, address, email and phone number? Would you give all of that information out to a church you visited for the first time? Think about what information you actually plan to do something with, and get it down to the bare minimum.Many guests will not visit the guest area. Give people options for sharing their information (connect card, Facebook, church app, etc). A new guest gift can incentivize if it’s something people will actually want.
- Review your first time guest follow-up communication with fresh eyes. If you’re collecting guest information, make sure your system for following up is buttoned-up. It’s tough enough to get someone to share their info. If you manage to do that and then don’t follow up well or at all, you create a negative impression.Keep communication short and purposeful. Always include a next step you suggest they take

What other strategies are working today at your church? Take a look at them with fresh eyes in the next few weeks. Polish what you can before Easter gets here.

Article written for The Unstuck Group by Chad Hunt. Chad currently serves as the executive pastor at Eagle Heights Church in Somerset, KY.

4 Ways to Beat Discontentment

You always seem satisfied with your life until you meet somebody new or experience something exciting. Discontentment always seems to settle in making us irritable and frustrated with where we’re at in life. If we see that somebody has something that we want, we feel the need to go after it. Why is that?

Whether it be a new product or an experience, we always find ourselves excited by a temporary situation. If a friend gets a new phone, you feel like you need a phone. That family member went on that dream vacation, so you feel the need to do the same thing. A co-worker gets a new job, so you feel like you need a new job. We invent this “need” and make ourself feel like it’s a “necessity”.

1 Timothy 6:6 says “godliness with contentment is great gain.” True necessity should only lead us to one place and that’s contentment with God.

How do we do that when the world is shouting that we “need” this stuff?

#1 Be thankful for what you have

When you’re thankful and have a heart of gratitude you tend to realize and appreciate the things that you DO have. Spend time each day thanking God and having an attitude of gratitude.

#2 Pray

Pray that God would give you a heart and mind that’s content. Ask and you shall receive – if we come to God and pour out our hearts and let Him know that we desire to be content with the things He blesses ya with, he will!

#3 Volunteer and give your time

When we volunteer and give our time to others, the things we think of as “necessities” won’t seem as important. Focus on someone other than yourself and there will be a shift in your mindset.

#4 Read scripture

Seek out what God tells us to do in His word. What are His instructions? If we keep our eyes on Him and follow His word, He will guide us.

Be thankful for what you DO have and you’ll end up having more.

Written by Meggan Jacobus. Meggan is the staffing manager at Froot Group, a worship staffing and consulting company.

If I Only Knew

Have you ever had an, “If I only knew,” moment? The kind of moment that you look back at something wishing you would have known ahead of time so you could have done something different.

If I only knew that buying furniture on credit as a young couple would spiral into a mess of credit card debt, I would have….

If I only knew that the company I worked for was going to downsize this year, I would have….

If I only knew that my friend would be shot and killed today, I would have…..

If I only knew that the children in that neighborhood didn’t have shoes, I would have….

If I only knew that there was a need in ministry for this, I would have….

If I only knew that God was leading me in this direction, I would have…

If I only knew my kids were feeling this way, I would have….

Life would look different if we had some crystal ball or mirror we could look into and see the future, but that’s just a Disney movie. But God can see what is, was, and will be, for each of us.

Have I not commanded you?
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 NIV

“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. From eternity to eternity I am God. No one can snatch anyone out of my hand. No one can undo what I have done.” Isaiah 43:1-3, 13 NLT

“O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel, and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!” Psalms 139:1-6 NLT

God knows our struggles, the struggles of others, and also what each of us needs. He sent his son, Jesus to the earth to live a life as human, yet as God, to reconcile us to his purpose for eternity. Jesus told the woman at the well, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” (John 4:10 NLT) When the woman at the well discovered that she was in the presence of the Son of God, the Messiah, she and many in her village became believers.

13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:13-15 NIV)

It is my responsibility as a Christian, (and of every Christian) to make sure others ‘know’ the story of Jesus. To listen to the life stories of others so I know what is going on in their life, how/what to pray for, how I might help them and how to connect God’s story with them. It’s my responsibility to know what’s going on in my neighborhood, what’s going on in the schools, what’s going on in the ministries and the lives of my friends by asking critical questions often.

We must put aside the excuses of saying…
IF WE ONLY KNEW

Written by Jeff Shicks, Executive Director at Youth for Christ, Nashville, TN. To find out more about Jeff or Youth for Christ, visit www.nashvilleyfc.org.

5 Ways to Grow Your Worship Team

Over the past 10 years I’ve had the privilege of being part of worship teams all around the country. Now as a Worship Pastor of a growing church, I often am asked “How are you growing your worship team?”

So I thought I would share with you 5 simple ways to grow your team.

Build the Culture

When we talk about building the culture we want to first talk about having a vision for your worship team.So ask yourself this question. Why should people want to be on the worship team? By sharing the vision, your team will know if this is something that they can get behind or not. Do not be afraid to lose teammates over casting a vision. King Solomon said it best, “People without a vision will perish.” So, what kind of culture do you want to build?

Worship Team Commitments

Worship team expectations or team commitments are essential for building your worship team. It is a way for people to not only see the vision of the team, but to also have a good idea of what they are getting into and what is expected of them. You may also want to include a vision statement as well as a list of your team believes. i.e. We believe every week something powerful happens when we worship Jesus.

Ask People to Join

There is a true and real statement in the worship world when talking about worship teams, “Excellence Attracts Excellence”! Though this is true, the simple truth is people want to be asked. Try not to assume they don’t want to play with the team. Maybe they are just waiting for someone to ask them? You never know until you ask.

All Team Nights

As a volunteer at our church, you are not just on a team but you are part of a worship family. We love to get together and one way we do this is by having All Team Nights. This consists of all our worship and tech team coming together once a quarter. We have a time of worship and encouragement. We talk about upcoming events as well as changes that we are going to be making. This is truly a great time for the whole team to be unified.

Build a Lead Team

If you can, build a lead team. This is so key as it helps cast the vision and unite. Your lead team will also be able to see things that you as a worship leader may not see. They will help you dream and implement new ideas that you may not be able to implement yourself.

Try to find a time, each month, to sit down over coffee or a meal and talk about how things are going. Always try and answer the question, “Are we better than we were 3 months ago?” Trust me when I say this is a game changer!

Written by Derek Harsch. Derek is the Marketing Director of Froot Group, a worship staffing and consulting company.

The Power of Excellence

I’m a perfectionist! It’s one of my greatest assets and one of my greatest struggles! Perfection is actually not a healthy goal. It’s actually not even a healthy mindset. And it’s definitely not biblical. So why do we strive to be perfect, when we know for a fact it’s unachievable? I mean the reason that Jesus gave his life for us was to be the perfect sacrifice that He knew we could never and would never be. So why do so many of us struggle so much with this ideal of perfection? Because it’s Godly, and we are called to live a holy and pleasing life? Maybe?

So how do we shift our perspective and objective to be healthy and pleasing, rather than unhealthy and trapping? The answer is something I’ve spent years learning… excellence. Excellence vs perfection is something that will release you from disappointment, shame, guilt and burn out. Not only as a human being, but as a team and even a church.

Working out the freedom of excellence is a very important lesson to learn! Excellence is simply doing the best you can, bringing your best offering, working to be the best you can be at your gift, calling, job! And letting go of unrealistic expectations, so that you are free from burning out or giving up on some impossible goal you may never achieve.

A mentor once told me “the only person you can compare yourself to is the you that you were yesterday.” This is a mantra I carry with me! As long as I’m trying to be better today than I was yesterday at the task at hand or the gift I find myself using, I’m doing okay!

Cultivating this mental shift within yourself and your team, will release an atmosphere of excitement, learning, and grace! You will ignite a passion for the things you can achieve and set goals that you work towards with realistic standards. The end result will be a much healthier mental space, a much healthier team, and a much healthier church!

So release yourself and your team from perfection and strive for excellence and see how God will work in and through you!

Written by: Kelli Wright

Kelli is the Consulting Director at Froot Group, a worship staffing and consulting company.