How to Lead a Ministry You Don’t Love
If you haven’t been there, you will: You get hired for your dream job or at your dream organization. The job description is everything you’ve ever wanted, except for that one little add-on ministry at...
Category: Leadership
How to Lead a Grandfathered-In Volunteer Team
Q: Now that you’re gonna be a grandfather, do you plan on making these types of puns in future post titles? [Suddenly-disgruntled blog reader, Monowi, Nebraska] A: Probably. (And please, call me “Pops.” Grandfather was...
What’s Your Lane?
On the team that I lead, we will occasionally revisit the topic of our “lanes:” We know that on our team, we are responsible for a certain number of things. But just because one particular...
Give Your Team Permission to Call You Out
All of us have work habits that drive our co-workers crazy. Maybe you’re always five minutes late to a meeting. Perhaps it’s your incessant need to get things perfect before you get them published. Maybe...
Kill Your Admin.
Let’s be clear: no one is recommending homicide, bloodshed, permanently dispatching, offing, taking out, or issuing a one-way ticket to buying the farm. (Legal issues covered? Good. Let’s move on.) But whether you call that...
Stop Transacting. Start Relating.
A friend told me this story almost thirty years ago, and I’ve never forgotten it. She was a volunteer, in charge of an upcoming event at her church. In the early stages of planning, her...
How to Fire Yourself (part 2)
This is the second in a two-part series. Read part 1 here. 3. Know the difference between handoffs and hands-off. Once we’ve identified our successor, we don’t wish them godspeed as we race away from...
How to Fire Yourself (part 1)
If you lead in the local church – whether you’re full-time, part-time, paid, or volunteer – it’s time that you ask for your own resignation. Before you start penning that first “I’m outta here” draft,...
Ministry vs. The Machine
Good leaders ought to have a mix of people skills and administrative skills. The first is a non-negotiable, the second is a solid bonus. While administration can always be farmed out to a teammate who...
When You Hit Your Ceiling, Knock Out Some Walls.
It can be hard to climb the corporate ladder in the church world. Some would argue that you shouldn’t. After all, we’ve seen the lure and the defects of celebrity Christian culture. “Climbing a ladder”...
