Summary: Train people so well that they have an abundance of skills and abilities because you poured into them. They can leave and take on a different job because you have equipped them so well. But treat them so well that there's no way that they would ever want to leave your side.

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Train people so well that they can leave. Treat them so well that they want to stay. This is one of my favorite quotes. Train people so well that they have an abundance of skills and abilities because you poured into them. They can leave and take on a different job because you have equipped them so well. But treat them so well that there's no way that they would ever want to leave your side.

You see, I want to train people to be better than me. I want to train people to be able to run a ministry. I want to train them to run the entire show. However, I want to treat them so well and even befriend them that they would never leave in their wildest dreams. I want people to be getting all the goods but also be treated super good.
I want people to say, “I love this guy. He has taught me so much and there is so much more he can teach me. I would love to stay right here with this guy. The way he treats me is so amazing and this is such a sweet experience to learn all these things.”

Now I have been in ministry contexts where people didn't train me that well, and they didn't treat me that well. That's a painful experience. And I want to challenge you to pour into people and prepare people for great things in the Lord. You need to be an educator of how to do the tactics and the practices of ministry. But you also need to be an educator of how to treat people. Always remember, much more is caught than taught. They will learn so much by HOW you treat them, more than any lesson on how we should treat people. Train your people so well that they literally could take a job at another church, but treat them so well that they're like, man, I don't know if I would have it so good over there like I have it here. Train them well, but treat them even better.

Summary: Smile More. Have a face that people are eager to approach. Have a yes face, and not a stress face.

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In a ministry context, I think one of the most important things is simply to smile. Yes. At the end of a Sunday, I would come home, and my face would feel sore because I had worked the muscles, my smiling muscles. You see, I want to have a yes face and not a stress face.

I want to have a face that people are eager to approach. This is a “yes face”. Let’s contrast that with a “no face”. I don't want to walk around on a Sunday morning with such a stern, rougher composure, like I am on a mission and not to be interrupted. 90% of communication is non-verbal. So, I am communicating, even when I'm not intending to communicate.

Could you smile more? I think we can all look a little more approachable. I think we all look a little bit more open to others. I think people will want to be around a smiler more than they would a person to continually frown. My encouragement to you is simple. Smile more, smile today. There is a stark contrast between the Yes-Face and the No-Face. Get into the habit of having a resting “Yes face”. I think it will make a huge difference.

Summary: Everybody wants someone to listen to their story. Your volunteers are longing to have somebody take an interest in them. Every volunteer has a unique story.

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Every one of your volunteers has a story. It is to a leader's glory to find out that story. Everybody's got a story. My encouragement to you is to get to know people. Now, one thing it's kind of a silly phrase, but it really did crack the ice, so to speak. This phrase sought to find out the unique story of another person.

I would walk up to people and say, “Is there anything new or special in your life right now?” It was amazing to me how that simple phrase, “Is there anything new in your life right now,” could spark real conversation. Here was another variation of that original phrase: “Is there anything special or out of the ordinary that's happening in your life?”

Sometimes it would be a challenge that they were experiencing. Sometimes it would be a new thing at their work. I don't care what it is. I want to get them talking and I want to listen. Therefore, as a leader, I would move my way around and just engage people in this type of conversation.

I think everybody wants to tell their story. I think everybody wants someone to listen to their story. And if I could, I would want to hear your story. How did you get into ministry? What, what's the hardship that has shaped you? How are you super unique in the kingdom? And guess what? Your volunteers are longing to have somebody take an interest in them. Every volunteer has a story. It's a unique story. It's our job to pull that out and to exegete, so to speak, or draw that story out of them. I want you to find somebody this week and get them to tell you their story.

Summary: Have you ever realized that the lessons that we intend to impact kids or students or adults in our ministry sometimes are used by God to impact our own lives? Through our preparation, may we have a fresh and significant interaction with the Lord and his word. The greatest teacher starts out as the greatest learner. Assume the posture of the learner and grow in the knowledge of God.

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Have you ever realized that the lessons that we intend to impact kids or students or adults in our ministry sometimes are used by God to impact our own lives? Isn’t it funny when the lessons that we are preparing are ministering directly to our own lives, in our own situation. This happened so many times in my own life, and probably in your life as well. God just doesn’t waste anything.

What we intend as good spiritual food for others, actually comes out as being quite healthy for us as well. My encouragement to you is to be the learner. Come with your heart prepared, not only as a teacher, but also as someone who could learn and be ministered to by the very lesson you’re intending for others. Allowing God to move in you, will allow you to be in the best position to be used by God for others. Understand that God is going to be most real to others when he has become the most real to you.

One of my favorite passages in the entire Bible is found in the book of Colossians. Paul the apostle instructs us to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that we can walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

Through our preparation, may we have a fresh and significant interaction with the Lord and his word. The greatest teacher starts out as the greatest learner. As we prepare, understand that we are all students. Assume the posture of the learner and grow in the knowledge of God.

Summary: Jesus gave us the example to follow. When reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten. He kept entrusting himself to Him who judges righteously. Be like Jesus. Don’t lash back and crush a volunteer, or a kid or another staff person. Don’t return evil for evil, but give a blessing instead. You’ll be glad you did.

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Over the years I have carried a small newspaper clipping in my pocket. The small quote reads: “I’ve come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my mood that makes the weather. As the teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make another person’s life miserable or joyous. My words can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalate it and another person humiliated or lifted up.”

I learned this lesson first in the classroom as a chemistry teacher. Here you are. You’re teaching and a student throws you a disrespectful bomb in an attempt to derail and disrupt the whole class. The choice now sits before you. A literal fork in the road. You could return evil for evil. This public malalignment will certainly shut them up for the moment. However it does nothing but cause more difficulties. Do not return evil for evil or insult for insult.

When I return evil for evil to a mouthy student, I have just showcased to every other kid in my group that the same thing could happen to them. This teacher could publically humiliate me. Therefore, I will no longer take the risk of offering any answers. The whole group safety dynamic will instantly take a nosedive. Your initial reaction is going to be an indication of how the rest of the situation is going to play out. Crushing the group dynamic is a poor trade-off to somehow put a kid in his place.

Jesus gave us the example to follow. When reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten. What Jesus did under the painful remarks, ridicule and even torture? He kept entrusting himself to Him who judges righteously. Be like Jesus. Don’t lash back and crush a volunteer, or a kid or another staff person. Don’t return evil for evil, but give a blessing instead. You’ll be glad you did.

Summary: The law of the harvest is true. It takes faith as a spiritual farmer to believe that the seeds you are planting will someday provide fruit that is pleasing to the Lord for years to come. That takes faith. The seeds I am planting may look dormant, however in the Lord, those seeds, sown in faithfulness, will yield a great reward if we don’t give up.

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One important thing we must remember as students of the Bible is that God inspired and moved the writers of the Bible with things that he wanted to tell to us. While this might sound basic, it’s helpful for me to remember that God tells me things in the Bible that I might be prone to forget.

Paul wrote to an agrarian culture. The primary livelihood of his readers was farming. Paul writes in the book of Galatians, “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who were of the household of faith.”

God relates a law of farming to a law of spirituality. Quick fact: Whatever someone sows, that he will also reap. When I begin to become weary, when I begin to think that all might not be worth it, I need to consider the law of the farmer and the law of the harvest. What I put into the ground, it will come back. What I put into the ground will either bless me or burn me. God is not mocked. He has set up the universe, both physically and spiritually, with a simple and straightforward formula. You reap what you sow.

The law of the harvest is true. It certainly takes faith as a spiritual farmer to believe that the seeds you are planting will result in a tree, will someday provide fruit that is pleasing to the Lord for years to come. That takes faith. The seeds I am planting may look dormant, however in the Lord, those seeds, sown in faithfulness, will yield a great reward if we don’t give up.

Summary: Second Chronicles 16:9, “For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro the earth that he may strongly support those whose heart is completely his.” Be that person who is expectantly waiting for God to show up and see Him move. Expectantly await God to change hearts. Be faithful to prepare, be faithful to share and cultivate a heart that is completely his.

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One of my favorite Bible passages of all time comes from Second Chronicles 16:9, “For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro the earth that he may strongly support those whose heart is completely his.” God is looking for someone to stand behind and prove his own faithfulness. He is searching the earth for someone that he can strongly support. He’s looking for someone upon whom he can show himself faithful.

How beautiful it would be if I were that person. The person who literally catches God’s eye as he spans across the entire globe. I want to be the type of person that God sees as someone he could strongly support. I want to be the type of person that God would be pleased to show himself faithful. He is looking for someone who gets it. He is searching for someone who wants to cultivate this commodity of faith. The Lord is searching across the earth to find someone to whom he can come through for, to whom he can strongly support, to whom he can show himself faithful.

Be that person who is expectantly waiting for God to show up and see Him move. Pray to this end. Pray that God would show up and do his part. I’m not in the heart changing business. That is God’s job. I expectantly await God to change hearts. God is in the heart changing business. I am only in the faithfulness business. I need to be faithful to prepare, I need to be faithful to share and I need to cultivate a heart that is completely his. He is looking to strongly support someone. Be someone that God is pleased to strongly support.

Summary: Paul opens up the fifth chapter of the book of Ephesians by saying, “Therefore be imitators of God, as dearly beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Do you realize that people look up to you? It is a sobering thought, yet God has given his spirit to empower us to imitate who he is to a watching world.

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Paul opens up the fifth chapter of the book of Ephesians by saying, “Therefore be imitators of God, as dearly beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” What does it mean to be an imitator? Here is the dictionary definition of an imitator - to mimic; impersonate; to make a copy of; to have or assume the appearance of or to resemble.
Do you realize that people look up to you? Do you realize that you look so much more important as a church pastor or staff person then you see your very own self? Our offhanded opinions about nonessential matters are heard by people as authoritative.

As I think about the attributes that I believe God wants me to imitate, mimic, impersonate or become a copy of, I think of The Lord Jesus Christ. The book of Hebrews opens with these words: Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. Jesus was meek. Jesus was loving. Jesus prayed. Jesus wept. Jesus befriended the lowly. And the list goes on...

If I were to take a snapshot of my life, would I want a small group of people to imitate me? Yikes. This sobering thought, literally, can shut me down for how inadequate I truly am. However, God has given me his spirit to empower me to somehow successfully imitate who he is to a watching world.

Summary: Do you have tension in your life? Take God at His word. Rather than complaining, take the next step in sharing that anxiety with God through prayer.

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In the book of Philippians, the apostle Paul says some pretty challenging words, “Do not argue or complain about anything.” Interestingly enough, this verse could easily be applied to our work with people in ministry. I mean, think about it, people are pretty quick to complain. People are pretty quick to argue. Yet let’s take a look at ourselves. How about me? How about you? If I were honest with myself, I complain quite a bit. Let’s take this verse at face value. Let’s say that I completely stop verbally complaining and arguing. What then? Well, if I were to be honest with myself, the complaints that I resist coming out of my mouth will probably still be brewing deep inside of my heart and soul. While I might be able to keep myself from arguing or complaining out loud, the issue could still be quite unsettled in my heart.

While it is a good thing to not verbally argue or complain, what does a follower of Christ do with that internal tension that exists in your heart and yet has not come out of your mouth? Paul addresses this exact question later on in the book where he shares, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, present your requests to God; and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Do you have tension in your life? Take God at His word. Rather than audibly bellyaching, which is often my first response, I challenge all of us today, take the next step in sharing that anxiety with God through prayer.

Summary: Paul says in Philippians 1:6, “He who began a good work and you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Those are powerful words. God will carry on the work in the lives of those that you have an opportunity to serve after you are no longer their leader in ministry. Once you are out of the picture, God is still in the picture.

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Paul says in Philippians 1:6, “He who began a good work and you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Those are powerful words. God will carry on the work in the lives of the children that you have an opportunity to serve after you are no longer their leader in ministry. Once you are out of the picture, God is still in the picture.

You see, God has been at work in these people’s lives long before you were ever involved. God will still be at work in these people’s lives long after you’re gone. Take heart in this fact. Yet, In the providence of God, you have been selected to be with these people for this season. Be a faithful player and participant in the work of God in the lives of these people right now. Though he does not need you, he chooses to use you. God is self-sufficient; he needs nothing and he needs no one. However, it is an honor to play a part. How special to labor with the Almighty God of the universe and see him open the eyes of kids to see the gospel.

Not only is God going to carry on the good work that he began in these people’s lives, He is also committed to carrying on the good work that he began in you. He is beyond committed to bringing that work He began in you to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. He is at work in you. You are his project, his masterpiece, his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which he prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Your participation in the work of the ministry is part of his good work in you that he’s committed to carry on until it is complete. You are growing by serving. He is developing you and completing his work in you as you partner with him to bring about his completed work in the lives of those you are called to serve. Be a piece to God’s work; trusting in God that He will carry on His good work through your obedience.