Clarify your motives for leadership. It is a simple question but most of us who are pastors don’t ask it enough. It is the “Why?” question. Why do I do the things that I do? This is an issue of the heart and your status of your heart doesn’t necessarily mimic your Facebook status. What …
Category Archive: 31 Days To A Better Church
Jan 20
31 Days to a Better Church
Go all day long without a single directive. As pastors, we’re good at telling people what to do. In our minds, leadership is direction, pointing the way, telling people where to go (in a nice way, of course). We assume that telling is the same thing as training. It is not. The truth is that …
Jan 19
31 Days to a Better Church
Get mad at the right thing. This one sounds dangerous, doesn’t it? And most of us have been taught that we should never get mad. Anger is a sin. Right? Wrong. Anyone who truly loves has the capacity for anger. If you tell me that you never get mad, I have wonder if you truly …
Jan 18
31 Days to a Better Church
Plan a year’s worth of sermons. Nothing a pastor does impacts the nature of his church more than his teaching and preaching ministry. While today’s pastor has to wear a variety of hats, the church’s life is grounded in the soil of God’s Word. The better I can be as an expositor and practitioner of …
Jan 17
31 Days to a Better Church
Ask a church member to pray for you. I keep a memento in my office. It is a solitary brick. I use it to remind me of a time in my ministry when I became isolated and arrogant, seeking no one’s fellowship because I didn’t feel that I needed anyone’s help. Through a variety of …
Jan 16
31 Days to a Better Church
Pay someone a compliment. Great leaders inspire those they lead. One of the ways that is done is through the power of encouragement. There will be someone today whose life will intersect with yours that needs some affirmation. Be ready to pay them a sincere compliment on either an action or an attitude. A researcher …
Jan 15
31 Days to a Better Church
Write your elevator speech. Much of the leadership we exercise takes place in informal settings. In the hallway, at the supermarket, on the phone–these are the arenas of leadership at which we are given opportunities to lead and to cast vision for our church. The annual 30-35 minute “State of the Church” delivered from the …
Jan 14
31 Days to a Better Church
Involve someone else in your work. Much of what we call “training” is really only “education.” True training involves orientation, participation, and then reflection. This is the best way to learn any skill, whether carpentry or pastoral care. I have a pastor friend who always takes someone with him every time he makes a pastoral …
Jan 13
31 Days to a Better Church
Spend extra time in prayer today. The greatest leadership role model in history is Jesus Christ. The proof of that statement is found in the fact that 2,000 years after He left this earth, His followers remain. It is hard to imagine a more definitive test of leadership than successors. Jesus passes that test with …
Jan 12
31 Days to a Better Church
Do the most basic job in your church. One of the realities of local church life is that all eyes are on the pastor. Like it or not, all of his visible moments in front of the organization are being viewed by someone. While this could be perceived as a liability, it is also a …
Loading tweets...