LeaderPastor

  Healthy churches have healthy boards. Regardless of the term (elder board, board of directors or leadership board, etc), it is invaluable to have a team of men and women who keep their finger on the pulse of the church. Leadership boards should be made up by individuals who love Jesus, the mission of the church and the pastor (in that order), who are called and gifted to help the church move forward. One of the greatest challenges of creating healthy boards is determining who should be on the board. There are scriptures that define what the heart of church leadership should look like (1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:7), but selecting the right people can certainly create anxiety, especially due to the decisions they are tasked with. For example, most leadership boards hire or fire the lead pastor, determine the salary of the lead pastor, approve the annual budget and sign off on building proje...

I love leading our church and I equally love helping churches increase their impact in helping people find and follow Jesus.  As a pastor,  practitioner  and a consultant, I have learned the value of systems and strategies. But there is something else that I consider a high value for churches and that's the vibe churches gives off. Every church has a vibe; an energy or an expression. People can usually sense it right away, especially new people.   Whenever I secret shop at churches, the vibe of the church is the first thing I notice. What did I experience when I arrived on campus? What did I sense when I entered the building? What vibe did hospitality give off? Were people genuinely happy I was there?  The environments where people gather to worship or have community should have an expression of "You are welcome here!" There should be evidence that families and children are valued. The  ministry approach, language, methodologies and aesthetics influenc...

  Team health is vital when it comes to ministry effectiveness. A healthy team encourages vitality and growth, while malignant teams leak poison into the organization. However, creating healthy teams isn’t easy. Every church, large and small, experiences internal friction because people will always be people – and people are wired differently. Plus, we have an adversary who’s always trying to disrupt the work of the church. There are many things than can generate antagonism – low job performance, vision drift, lack of communication and poor attitudes, to name a few. Regardless of the root of conflict, there are right and wrong ways to handle it. Here are four common mistakes church leaders make when dealing with team conflict: Sweep it under the rug and pretend it isn’t happening. Say what people want to hear to keep all parties happy. Have side conversations about the person(s) of conflict with other team members to build a case against them. Pray a lot and hope it ...

  No one enjoys firing people. If you do, you're on the wrong side of the desk. Firing people is never fun, but sometimes necessary. There will be times we hire the wrong person. Other times an organization outgrows a staff person's skill set and they aren't able to perform at a higher level.  Having the wrong person on staff can be detrimental, because a staff must function as one team. This is especially true in church. It takes a lot of effort and teamwork to create a church that impacts people with the gospel. And yes, there are times that churches, just like secular organizations, have to let people go. The struggle is, most church staff are tied together relationally and formed around Jesus and ministry, which can really make firing feel very icky.  While the primary focus of most pastors is (and should be) vision and teaching, the church has a business side that must be managed and monitored. Part of that busin...

  Just about every secular organization has some sort of mission statement. They are usually framed and hanging on a wall or printed in their internal documents. A mission statement is a phrase that defines the aim and purpose of the organization. It answers the questions, “What do we value? Why do we exist?”  God has given the church a mission as well. While there are literally thousands of mission statements floating around churches, most are tied (or should be) to Matthew 28:19-20, which says,  “ Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.   Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age. ”  I have never encountered a church that disagreed with this passage as the foundation of the mission. However, many churches struggle with living out the mission. What does it really mean for a churc...