Summary: Are you trying to live as if you are finite, or infinite? We are finite beings. We have limits. The Bible says that God doesn't sleep, and he doesn't slumber. There is absolutely nothing wrong and everything normal and right about needing rest as a human being.

Read Article

I want to share something that has been absolutely transformative to me. I want to stop asking a very self-deprecating question, “Why are you so lazy right now?” And I want to ask a new question. This new question asks, “Why does my body seem to need additional rest right now?”

There is a mental game that we're often playing with ourselves. I don’t know about you, but I can be rather self-deprecating. I can think that I've got problems, or that I have a laziness issue. However, my body often is telling me something.

Question: What's your body telling you right now? We are finite beings, you know. We have limits. The Bible says that God doesn't sleep, and he doesn't slumber. There is absolutely nothing wrong and everything normal and right about needing rest as a human being.

I like to say it's about seasons. I can't hit the gas and have my engine red line all the time. Listen, I have been guilty of thinking that I had the capacity to live in the red zone for extended periods of time. Your car engine has a “Red Zone” on the tachometer. Your car is not intended to be driven for 200 miles in the red zone, totally peeking out. This is not healthy for a car. It is not healthy for us either.

I have tried to live as if I am infinite. However, I am finite. You see, it's not about being lazy. It's about recognizing what's happening in your body, being wise and seeking an opportunity for recharge. Stop asking why you're lazy and start considering what's going on in my life that my body seems to need more recovery right now. It's a far better question to ask.

Summary: Are you an impatient person? I know I am. Can we wait better? Today, if you're being told no, or it isn't working out, give it some time. Rather than getting impatient, let’s work on how we are operating as we wait.

Read Article

Folks, I am a relatively impatient person. How are you when it comes to waiting and being patient? Patience is not the ability to wait, but how you act while you're waiting. Over the years, as I've gained a few more gray hairs, I have learned to wait. I have been and continue to wait better. I want to allow the Providence of God to methodically move forward. He works all things after the counsel of His will.

Now there are several roadblocks in our lives. Roadblocks come in different forms. Some roadblocks are more like military roadblock with cement barriers, razor wire and multiple guards with guns. That's a roadblock that seems harder to move though. You may have to go down the road 45 miles and see if you can go around it that way. I get that.

But sometimes, a roadblock is nothing more than a stubborn donkey standing in your way. If given enough time, that crazy and stubborn donkey just might move itself. Waiting can be a wonderfully powerful strategic move. Not every roadblock demands digging a tunnel, building a bridge or driving 45 miles down the road to pass through that roadblock.

My first question: Are you an impatient person? I know I am. My second question: Can we wait better? And that's something that I am working on in my life. Today, if you're being told no, or it isn't working out, give it some time. Rather than getting impatient, let’s work on how we are operating as we wait.

Summary: If you want to be successful in a ministry context, don't expect other people to solve your problems. Come to the table with a well-constructed plan and your leaders will actually love you.

Read Article

One of the most important lessons that I learned was that busy leaders don't want to solve my problems. Busy leaders want to approve well-constructed plans. Let me say it again. Busy leaders do not want you to come to their office so that you can passively sit there and they think through all of the details to solve your problems. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

You see, busy leaders would rather have you come to them, lay out a well-constructed plan. Once they look at all the good work you have done, hopefully, they will say, “Wow, they've thought through a lot of this. They did a lot of the work ahead of time. This looks pretty good.” Insert you getting approval and actually gaining bonus points with your leader. Listen to me on this concept: A busy leader would much rather say yes to you and not have to wade into the details. They may want to have you tweak this a little here and modify that a little bit there. But it is much easier for them to say, “Go therefor and make that happen”, than it is to delve into the weeds and solve your problems.

Listen, if you want to be successful in a ministry context, don't expect other people to solve your problems. Come to the table with a well-constructed plan and your leaders will actually love you.
Before you go into your leader’s office and ask for anything, do them a favor and do yourself a favor. Take 15 minutes at the very least to collect your thoughts, gather some details and put together a plan. Stop winging it. Stop walking in, thinking you will be able to lay out a cohesive plan on the fly. Stop doing this. Come to the table with a plan. Trust me when I say that you will save time - both your time and your leaders time - if you enter their office with a plan.

Summary: You're going to be paid great dividends in the future. Your difficult work will be renumerated. Rest assured, oh saints, you will be paid. But your reward and payment will be realized in the coming kingdom.

Read Article

Elon Musk is an amazing entrepreneur. He started Space X and Tesla Electric cars. He is quoted as saying, “You are paid in direct proportion to the difficulty of the problems you solve.”

In the kingdom of God, we may not be paid like an Elon Musk. However, don’t think that the problems you solve are somehow unimportant or difficult. One of the greatest problems in the church is volunteer leadership. We cannot do it alone. Beyond this, there's never going to be a time when the church will have enough resources to hire everyone needed to get the job done. It doesn't work that way. By the way, it's not supposed to work that way.

I want to reframe this entire conversation a little bit. You're going to be paid great dividends in the future. Your difficult work will be renumerated. Rest assured, oh saints, you will be paid. But your reward and payment will be realized in the coming kingdom. Our work is hard. Volunteer leadership is hard, isn’t it? It’s hard to get somebody to do something without being paid. And it's going to come down to meeting all of the other needs in a volunteer’s life that will keep them in the game with you. Knowing that you don't get to pull that magical arm of compensation, forces us to make sure we have a far more holistic plan for care and influence.

Here's the deal. Your job is hard. You will have to be very relationally savvy in order to convince people that this thing is worth it. You will be paid, certainly, but it's deferred payment. Your payday is coming. You will receive a great reward from heaven. You are solving hard problems, but your pay is truly deferred.

Summary: In order to be a good leader, it is not about being in charge. It's about making sure that the people that you are serving with are very well cared for.

Read Article

Leadership is not being in charge. Leadership is taking care of those in your charge. I did not want my employees or even the volunteers to somehow view me as “the boss.” I was actually uncomfortable with that concept. I was just a player. We all had a role to play. I didn't like to have anybody think of me as the boss. Granted, I happened to hold a particular seat with particular roles and responsibilities, but we led in community. Part of my responsibility to the whole was to make sure that other people were in a good space. I was kind of the general overseer of care.

They needed to have certain items to be successful, like materials or infrastructure. They needed to have adequate training. They needed to have emotional care. Not only that, they need relational touchpoints from me. Therefore, in order to be a good leader, it is not about being in charge. It's about making sure that the people that I'm serving with are very well cared for.

You know, it's always been a challenge to me when Jesus said that the first will be last and the last will be first. That's super challenging and it goes against our human condition. But I want to encourage you today. What are you doing to ensure that the people in your charge are well cared for? It is about structural care, relational care and so much more.

Now, before you start feeling overwhelmed, it is as simple as talking to another person. That’s it. Reach out to someone today and give them an emotional boost shot. By calling them on the phone or seeing them in the hall of your ministry and giving them your undivided attention, make sure that they are being cared for. Be present. Look someone in the eye and give them your attention.

Summary: If you have an open door policy, are people actually coming to you with suggestions? Do you need to get out of your seat, go out that open door and ask people, “what are we missing?” and “how could we improve?”

Read Article

If you are a leader in ministry, you want volunteers to stay with you for a really long time. Volunteers who have say are going to be the ones who stay. I believe that a key to retaining volunteers is to give them a voice in your ministry. Allow them to shape the future of the very thing they're serving in.

Now I have to tell you, I struggle with this. And the reason why is that I didn't want somebody who was serving once a month to shape the future. Well, what's going on inside of me that I think this way? Why not allow someone who serves once a month to have a voice? Do I think that somebody who serves once a month can’t have great ideas? I want to have a bias that other people are smart. I need to be soliciting people’s ideas.

Now I had somebody tell me, “Well, you know, I have, what's called an open door policy.” I'm grateful for that, but let me ask you: How many people are walking through that open door. Likely not very many. And the ones who are walking through are usually super perturbed and they're super aggressive, right?

If somebody gets to the point that they are coming to you to tell you how things should change, they're either a super aggressive person or they're really mad. My encouragement: Get out of your seat to go out of that open door and go ask people, what are we missing and how we could improve?

I believe with all my heart that people are smart and I am rarely ever the smartest person in the room. It is in the abundance of counsel that there's victory. So ask your volunteers broadly. What could be changed to give them a voice in how to shape the future? I think it'll make all the difference in the world.

Summary: Multiplication in ministry is truly the biggest win. Success in ministry isn't what you do. There's a piece to that. Success in ministry is what would happen if you never came back. What would happen?

Read Article

Well, if you've heard me say it once, you've heard me say it alot of times. Multiplication in ministry is truly the biggest win. Success in ministry isn't what you do. There's a piece to that. Success in ministry is what would happen if you never came back. What would happen? Would your ministry crash and burn?

Would it take a nose dive and dig up some turf? If your hands weren't touching it, would it carry on and be successful? If your hands are required for it to be successful? I have to tell you, you got your work cut out for you. Ministry multiplication definitely takes years, but I want you to begin to assess yourself in grace, in a forward thinking way.

Could a Wednesday night run completely without you? Could a Sunday morning for three weeks in a row run without you? Do you have people and processes in place? For ministry to carry on without your direct presence and your direct hand? Again, ministry success isn't just what you do. Ministry success is what would happen if you never came back.

Are you ready to walk away for a short period of time? We all want to be prepared to walk away for a weekend without stress. If you cannot do this, like I already said, we have our work cut out for us. Your success, and I mean your long term success, depends upon this. Listen to me: If you are not careful, you will not be able to successfully unplug and recover. Unplugging, even for a weekend, will determine your success or demise in ministry. You can take small steps today to begin multiplying ministry.

Summary: Ministry is a lifestyle more than it is a job. And this ministry lifestyle must assure the longest view. Ministry Multiplication takes time. So many of us just want a simple-strategy or the latest methodology. This is not a new-fandangled ministry approach. Not at all. The long term investment is THE way.

Read Article

I want to share with you an important reminder. Just as Peter shared in his second letter: “I do not write these things to you because you do not know them. I write these things to you because you do know them and I want to stir you up by way of reminder.”

Ministry is a lifestyle more than it is a job. And this ministry lifestyle must assure the longest view. Ministry is not a “Your way right away” type of job. Ministry is a SLOW COOKER in a Microwave culture. Ministry multiplication TAKES TIME. This is not a 7-minute conversation with someone. This is not a “7-Steps in 7-Days Power-Course” thing. This is not even a “7-week intensive” thing. This is more of a 70-week, life-on-life thing. In all actuality, when it really works, this is a 7-year thing.

SO many of us just want a simple-strategy or the latest methodology. This is not a new-fandangled ministry approach. Not at all. The long term investment is THE way. It may not be glamorous. It may be done in relative obscurity. Yet, there is no replacement. There is no fast-track or short-cut. Multiplication looks at the end game and chooses to slowly plod upon that sacred path. This is a Biblical approach that is seen in the Old and the New Testament. We see this in the Law and in the Prophets. We see it in the Gospels. We see it in the Early Church and in the Apostles. This is not new. This is the way.

My challenge to you is simple. My challenge to you is one I have shared with you before: Multiply yourself in ministry.

Summary: Jesus said, “Those who are faithful in a little thing will be faithful in much.” I want to give you a set of leadership lenses that would allow you to look across the sea of people at your church and have a special few pop off the page. Start looking for those who are currently showing faithfulness.

Read Article

Have you ever seen the popular movie “National Treasure”? There are hidden clues that Nicolas Cage is trying to piece together to unlock the location of hidden treasure. Cage actually steals the Declaration of Independence because there is a hidden message on the back of this historical document.

As with all hidden messages, there has to be a decoder. This was a unique and odd looking pair of Benjamin-Franklin-type glasses. The spectacles had several sets of additional lenses that could be swiveled in front of the primary lenses. These additional lenses had a blue tint and another had a red tint. As Cage looked through an additional lens and viewed the back side of the Declaration of Independence, things popped off the page.

So, how do we find people? And not just people, the right people. I want to give you a new set of lenses. I want to give you a set of leadership lenses that would allow you to look across the sea of people at your church and have a special few pop off the page, so to speak. Just as Nicolas Cage has a set of lenses, allowing him to see what normal eyes could not perceive, I want to give you a set of lenses to see what no one else sees.

What might be some of the qualifiers or indicators that cause them to jump out of the woodwork and get noticed by you? Well, it actually starts with the scriptures. Jesus said, “Those who are faithful in a little thing will be faithful in much.” I want you to start looking for those who are currently showing faithfulness. Who shows up early? Who has an acumen for ministry? Who has a proclivity for people and a propensity for details? Start looking today.

Summary: Our leadership lives often take on a twisted form of control. Things can have a warped sense of robotic uniformity when we want things to be exactly our way. You should have healthy guardrails, but, like raising children, it’s not your personal presence that holds it all together.

Read Article

I am a father of four children. To my four own physical offspring, the level of my direct involvement goes down precipitously with every year. I am now in “guidance mode” to my 17 year old. I have set the value structure. I have set the vision as a family who follows Christ. Now, I sit back and allow her to move forward with her own stride, her own pace, her own personality and her own flavor.

How weird and oppressive would that be if I followed my 17 year old daughter to her day-care job and constantly corrected her. But our leadership lives often take on a twisted form of control. Things can have a warped sense of robotic uniformity when we want things to be exactly our way.

What if Paul had stayed in Galatia, because he felt his personal presence was the ONE THING that would hold it all together. No Church of Philippi. No church at Colosse. No church at Berea. No church in Corinth. No church in Ephesus. Paul knew something powerful. The Holy Spirit would remain and guide and grow others.

What about you? Is a great ministry initiative unable to happen because you are holding it back? You might say, “There is only one of me.” Quite true. This sounds like an amazing rationale for multiplying yourself. You should have healthy guardrails, but can I say boldly, “Get your hands off the wheel, Dad. Quit trying to drive from the passenger seat, Mom.”