1. Be humble. It is an honor to be in a leadership position. Your team is counting on you to make the right decisions. 2. Don’t act like you know everything. You don’t. The team knows that. Ask smart questions. 3. Listen. Ask for advice and heed it. 4. Treat people with respect. Regardless of rank, everyone is…
On the first official date with my (now) wife, we had finished eating at a restaurant and decided to drive around the city we were in. I didn’t really know the city that well so we just headed off in the direction of the downtown area. Once downtown, I made a turn and just started…
As a ministry leader, you will want to set goals for yourself and for your ministry. Goal-setting is actually biblical as Jesus himself has given the church a goal of sorts when he commanded us to "make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19). Yet so often we fail to reach our ministry goals or we…
Leaders have to make decisions. Sometimes leaders are even paid to make decisions for a living. Most CEOs are not involved in the day-to-day execution of making products for their company. Instead, they are paid to make decisions about the future of the company. Even if you're not a CEO-level leader, as a ministry leader…
One of my goals as a pastor is to have a bunch of mini-Chris's running around the church. I want to people to think like me, act like me, and lead like me. Scary, huh!? But the apostle Paul embodied such a goal when he called to the Corinthians to be like him: "Be imitators…
"Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable"Dwight. D. Eisnehower "Winging it" is not an acceptable ministry strategy. Show me a leader who doesn't spend time planning and I'll show you an ineffective leader. Planning is one of the most effective uses of a time for leaders because it sharpens their focus on what is really…
I've done things in my life that I'm not proud of, and after the fact, I have thought to myself, "That's not me." Maybe you've had a similar experience. We can probably all relate to those times when we surprise ourselves by how bad we can be. What motivates us to do those things? While…
When was the last time you felt like you had too much to do and not enough time to do it? What was your solution? Was it to "just work harder"? Or maybe you threw your hands up in despair and just walked away from the pile of working sitting on your desk or kitchen…
It is totally obvious to state, but here it is: Jesus was a genius disciple-maker. And to make disciples what did Jesus do? He shared his life and he shared the word of God. His practices influences our practices. The practices of sharing life and the word are the two foundational pillars for building a…
When you're leading a ministry, you only have a compass, not a map. You can't predict the future and trying to plan out every little thing often does not work. Yet the allure of planning runs strong in many leaders. Map-Based Planning We often treat planning for ministry like we have a map in our hands: a…