Vetrean Pastor, Life time Learner, Problem Solver, Servant-Leader and Motivational Speaker.

Shaun King: 3 Hard-Earned Lessons and Why I Resigned by Shaun King - ChurchLeaders.com - Christian Leadership Blogs, Articles, Videos, How To's, and Free Resources

2. People L.O.V.E to hear about radical change.  They just don’t love making it.

Political campaigns based on radical change win.  Books written about radical change sell.  Sermons on radical change boost Sunday morning attendance.  The idea and thought of change is exciting to people, but mistaking that excitement for an actual willingness on behalf of those people to change now or later could be a miscalculation.  I found out the hard way.

In March of this year, I announced I was preaching my last sermon series of all-time.  For the next 8 weeks, I preached the most radical, game-changing sermon series ever entitled “Disciple.”  Our average attendance was its highest ever.  Our average offering was the highest ever.  Excitement was its highest ever.  Man, I was pumped!!

Then, almost literally the day we jumped into change, all types of stuff started falling apart.  People left in droves.  Scores of people started falling through on leadership commitments they made.  Systems starting failing.  Attendance was down.  Offering was down.  Excitement was down.

I had no idea that zero correlation exists between how much people love hearing about change and their actual willingness to make it.   I then made a series of gross errors that really cost me dearly based on what I incorrectly assumed was a desire for people to change when, for most people, what existed was just an interest in the topic on a theoretical level.  Here are some of the errors:

• I seriously overestimated how excited (or even willing) people were to actually do the things I was talking about.
• When people left our church saying they did not support the changes, I did what I never do and helped talked them in to staying.  I meant well, but this was so dumb of me.  These folk stayed but never earnestly fought for the vision because, as they already stated, they don’t believe in it.
• Change sounds pretty but actually looks ugly, feels like hard labor, takes time, and pushes every limit we have.  I had said that the changes I was suggesting could take 3 years to really nail down.  Few people objected when I said that because we hadn’t actually changed yet.  When I took a private poll just 3 months after we made changes, over 85% of people stated that they wanted to go back to the way things used to be.  Our board did as well.  I overestimated how willing folks would be to deal with the ugliness of it all.
• These miscalculations also took an enormous toll on my family and me, and it was at this point that I decided that I could not lead the church back to a place where I had no heart, vision, or stamina to go.  The death of Pastor Zach Tims shook me up in such a way that I didn’t want to ignore my own warning signs before it was too late, and I ended up losing my family (or my life) in the process.

3. Few disciples of Jesus Christ actually exist in the world.

I’m not even saying I am one and nobody else is.  I have to fight the battle for my own discipleship daily.  What I am saying is that church attendance, Sunday morning services, sermon-listening (or even sermon preaching), song-singing, hand-clapping, amen-saying, and all of the things that “Christ-ians” have lifted up so high look so little like Christ himself that I am utterly convinced that we are completely off base with what discipleship means.  

via www.churchleaders.com

Shaun King: 3 Hard-Earned Lessons and Why I Resigned by Shaun King - ChurchLeaders.com - Christian Leadership Blogs, Articles, Videos, How To's, and Free Resources

3. Few disciples of Jesus Christ actually exist in the world.

I’m not even saying I am one and nobody else is.  I have to fight the battle for my own discipleship daily.  What I am saying is that church attendance, Sunday morning services, sermon-listening (or even sermon preaching), song-singing, hand-clapping, amen-saying, and all of the things that “Christ-ians” have lifted up so high look so little like Christ himself that I am utterly convinced that we are completely off base with what discipleship means.  

Considering all of this, I think I have given up on church as I knew it.  Big buildings.  Huge crowds.  Few disciples.  I’m not with it.  It’s inefficient and just doesn’t feel right with my soul.  This is not a rejection of big buildings or huge crowds but an indictment on how few disciples are being made in the process of it all.  A better way has to exist.

via www.churchleaders.com

10 Keys to Hiring - Doug Franklin Online

The Don’ts:

5.  Don’t limit your candidates
Many churches and organizations pick a couple candidates without opening up the position to any who might be interested.  Of course you want to be cautious and not have 30 applicants for a part-time position, but you also don’t want to limit your choices to one or two individuals.  If you limit your candidates, then you may be limiting who God wants on your team.

4.  Don’t assume a good volunteer will be a great staff member
Many times when hiring, churches and organizations will hire those volunteers who are amazing at what they do.  Although this is probably where a lot of your hires will come from, don’t think just cause they are good at volunteering that they will be a great paid staff member.  I have seen many people enter into full-time ministry disillusioned with what it actually takes to run a ministry.  They were great volunteers, but not necessarily great staff members.

3.  Don’t assume you are hiring the candidate’s spouse when you hire the candidate
I have heard many horror stories of youth pastors and staff members getting hired on and the manager who hired them expecting the employees spouse to be a non-paid full-time staff member.  Just remember when you hire someone that you are hiring them to do the job, not two people.

2.  Don’t hire emotionally
Many times over the years, I have seen people hire someone because they were getting anxious about filling a spot or because they were emotionally tied to a person and wanted them on the team.  Don’t ever allow your emotions to control your actions.  Think logically about who you are hiring and make sure they are right fit because of their heart, giftings, personality, vision and strengths, not because they are your best friend.

1.  Don’t speed through the process
Hiring the right person usually takes time.  Don’t rush the hiring process.  If you just stay focused on the long term vision and not the present need, then you will make your decision wisely.  Don’t allow your need for someone to make you rush a decision that you will regret later on.

The Do’s

5.  Do know the vision of the person you are hiring
Every person has a vision for their life and the ministry they want to do.  When hiring someone you must make sure that the vision for the ministry they have is the vision that the church is already shooting for.  When visions clash, everyone becomes frustrated and goals are not achieved.  Everyone on the team must have the same vision for what the ministry should look like.

4.  Do have the person(s) fill out gifts, personality and strengths tests
In order to know if the person will fit well on the team, have the candidate take every test that is useful in knowing their personality, gifts and strengths.  Without this knowledge, it is almost impossible to know if the person will fit or not.

3.  Do observe the person in action first
I remember one hire we needed to make one time.  We were looking at this one individual and on paper the person looked perfect.  Over the phone, the individual sounded like a sure fit.  So one last move we made was to go and see the person in action.  We decided after the visit that the person wasn’t right for our need.  That night taught me to always see a person in action first.  It will allow you to see how the person interacts with students, leaders and parents.  It will allow you to see the person’s skill set played out in ministry.  Don’t go on word or reference allow, observ

via www.dougfranklinonline.com

When God Rocks Your World on Vimeo

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It may the best teacher but ....Experience is a Brutal teacher....."I would rather learn from other people's mistake.......

Lord.... I really want to be teachable. I want to learn from your heart.  I do not want to only learn from  my experience. I want other people to pay my "dumb tax". I want to stand on the shoulder of the generation before me and learn from them. I do not want to tear down a wall before asking why the wall was built.  Lord thank you for my mentors and thank you for the men and women in my life who speak the truth when I do not want to hear it. Lord give me the humility to listen to my teachers. God may  I never stop learning. 

Proverbs 9:9: Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.

 

"Experience is often a brutal teacher. Experience eats up your most valuable commondity: time. Learning from experience can eat up years. It can steal an entire stage of life. Experienc can leave scars, inescapable memories, and regret. Sure, we will all live and learn. But living and learning dont erase regret. And regret is more than memory. It is more than cerebral. It's emotional. Regret has the potential to create powerful emotion-emotions that have the potential to drive us a person right back to the behavior that created the regret to begin with. If regret can be avoided, It should be".-Andy Stanley from 'The Principle of the Path'

1. Lord make my heart teacheable.
2. Lord give me a new heart daily.
3. Lord my heart is prone to wander.
4.  Lord aid my mind that loves wandering into places where your grace is seems invisible.
5. God feed my soul with your truth daily. 
6. Speak words to my  heart when it is broken oh Lord!!!
7. You only Lord are my rock!!!!!

Some wise but simple thoughts for Pastors ( Parents of Teenagers) or Leaders......Welcome to the Wall | The Resurgence

This I do believe by James Owolabi.............

1. I believe in getting 6 - 8 hours of sleep everyday.
2. I believe in getting a 40 minute "handsome nap" everyday.
3. I believe in excercising one hour six days a week when I am not traveling. 
4. I believe in connecting with a friend in ministry once a week.
5. I believe in having lunch with a vetrean in ministry once a month.
6. I love food so watching my diet is hard but thank you Pastor Mark.......

Thank you for these wise words......from Pastor Mark Driscoll.........

Get your sleep. If you don’t, you will get sick and it only gets worse. 

 

Watch your diet. You will be tempted to self-medicate with junk food, caffeine, and energy drinks. Don’t. 

 

Watch your alcohol, if you drink at all. Since it is a depressant, increasing your alcohol intake when you are slouching toward depression and exhaustion is a big mistake.

 

Watch your temptation. The more fatigued you get, the more easily tempted you become. Take more precautionary measures during this season of the year to safeguard your holiness.

 

Watch your anger. Whereas women internalize their depression and manifest it with emotion, men externalize their depression as anger and manifest it with explosion. 

 

Get some exercise. It helps you work out your frustration, aids sleep, and is good for your health.

 

You really need your day off, especially during trying seasons. Guard it. If you don’t take a voluntary Sabbath you will take an involuntary one for counseling and/or hospitalization. 

 

Keep going by the grace of God,

Pastor Mark

 

via theresurgence.com

Listen to a sermon by Pastor James Owolabi Psalm 23 clink on the link below...

 Hey click on the Link below:

FAOGrace23Psalm2-1

 

You want Young Leaders on your team? « Brad Lomenick

You want young leaders on your team? Here are a few traits I think young leaders are drawn to:

1. humility, combined with incredible passion and skill. Jim Collins writes about this as the key characteristic of a level 5 leader.

2. Unwavering commitment to reaching their desired audience and accomplishing the mission. Know the hill they are climbing and willing to fight to get to the top.

3. The IT factor- hard to explain, but easy to spot. Young leaders can sense it and want to be tied to leaders with IT.

4. Collaboration and not competition. A leader who celebrates others’ victories along with their own.

5. Willing to give over responsibility vs. a “wait your turn” mentality- will allow young leaders to lead if they are qualified and can handle it.

6. Authenticity- They keep it real. Young leaders clamor towards authentic and honest leaders.

7. Open to change- a big deal. If you as a leader are not open to change, no one worth their salt will probably be willing to follow you, especially younger leaders. (thanks to Shinabarger on this one)

8. Can have at least a little fun. Like attracts like. It’s a reality= regardless of age, demographic, and style. The next generation wants a family environment that is fun and experiential.

9. Passionately create a culture that takes risks, allows for failure, and thinks outside the box.

10. BIG vision. Young leaders want to change the world, and want to follow leaders who think BIG and dream big.

11. BEST at what they do. Regardless of industry or profession or organization, young leaders want to be part of a culture and organization built on excellence with a desire to be great. This is why Google and Facebook and Apple have hundreds of thousands of college graduates clamoring for a chance to be on the team.

via bradlomenick.com

My thoughts on Alamo Car rentals. Please dont use them.

Last Year I arrived at Baltimore Airport and had a car reserved through Alamo the service was horrible!!! Please Dont use them.....I went from Kiosk to Kiosk......Bad Service.....

Pool-Side Retirement Thoughts @ LeadingSmart

Pool-Side Retirement Thoughts @ LeadingSmart