Technology Quota - Email Solutions

I've seen an increase in the "badge of honor" syndrome among busy leaders. It is the swelling of the chest when a leader explains to other mere organizational mortals that they just don't have time to vacation, play, relax or in some cases, even sleep. It's an odd little interchange where one person is bragging to another about how busy he or she is which is intended to let the other person know how important they are based on the demanding schedule they must manage. I see it differently.

Everyone has the same 24-hours in a day. No one has proved to me yet that they have discovered a way to escape the commonly held day/night earth rotation. The problem comes then, with the use of their 24 precious hours.

The truth and tragedy of the issue is that some people do not prioritize or manage their time optimally. As a result they feel rushed and stressed, which their busy mind interprets as being important -- when they are just unorganized. There is hope.

For the overwhelmed, de-constructing our time so we can manage it more efficiently can be, well, overwhelming. A simple place to start is to introduce regular doses of technology into your daily routine. Develop the discipline of a technology quota to force efficiency in your routine. Commit to learning or applying one new techno-solution each week.

A great place to start for busy leaders is to more effectively manage your emails. Emails are digitized conversations. Much like verbal conversations, there are some in your email circle whom you want to interact with real time and others that you should ignore. The trick comes in differentiating them -- automatically.

A little organizational trick is to employ rules to sort your emails for you. If you use Outlook, use rules to color code and automatically file under the Organize tab. If Gmail is your email of choice it has many of the same functions including a slick little tool to identify emailers and then delete, archive or file automatically based on a unique address. Gmail allows you to customize your main email address so you and the Gmail software can recognize and react to members of groups (your deacons for example) or online spammers that may have received your address when you enrolled or purchased online.

Here's how it works on Gmail: Let's say your regular email address is pastorxyzabc@gmail.com. Gmail allows you to add words to your address in this way: pastorxyzabc+deacons@gmail.com by using a "+" symbol between the regular address and the additional word. You can use any word (+purchases; +family; +spam) and then allow Gmail to filter for messages sent to that address and handle them to your specifications. You can also insert "." in your address and Gmail treats it the same way. You could use pas.tor.xyz.abc@gmail.com to identify a specific emailer or group. Giving out customized email addresses will allow you to quickly identify emailers who matter and those who don't.

That's just one of thousands of email technology solutions to help you become more efficient in your time use each day. Set a weekly technology quota to keep you moving toward greater productivity while at the same time becoming more responsive to those who matter most.

Step 4 of Fulfilling Your Vision (Aligning Effort)

You have arrived at the last step in your journey to fulfill your vision for your church. With your champions enrolled and well versed in the urgent purpose you have called others to join in; the last step is where the impact is made and the vision takes shape.

Step 4 is the alignment of effort. Alignment is often the missing ingredient in a plan. By creating well defined roles and allowing others the flexibility to execute their portion of the vision, a unified effort brings results. Simple in concept, alignment is frequently overlooked in a volunteer organization such as a church. Leaders tend to not closely coordinate or align volunteer efforts as they would an employed position. Champion volunteers, on the other hand, are aligned first with your urgent purpose, making them more inclined to accept assigned roles and coordinated efforts. Be clear in your expectations of your champions and check in with them often to monitor their progress. Ensure they have reasonable timelines and the necessary support and resources.

It is important that each person involved not only understand their role, but also understand the role of other champions. Moving from the “big picture” to an individual’s specific role allows self-coordination and greater creativity without interfering with other roles. By using a “tight-loose-tight” oversight approach, you can appropriately manage a unified effort while allowing the personal touch of individual effort.

The initial “tight” is the definition of your urgent purpose. A vague purpose statement will not fulfill your vision. Create the expectation among champions that everyone will strive for the same, highly defined goal. Once the “tight” expectation is established through your urgent purpose definition and described during your focused communication phase, you can then allow a more “loose” approach to execution. Allow champions a great deal of latitude in executing their part of the plan. Encourage new approaches and different avenues. The final “tight” is in the expectation of timelines and end results that represent successful execution of the vision. “Tight-loose-tight” will inspire your team to individualize the effort while at the same time stay on goal.

By aligning effort your momentum is more likely to overcome negative opinions or political maneuvering by those desiring the status quo or an alternative direction. The alignment establishes your individual champions as a team of highly coordinated and inspired ambassadors for the cause. They will find strength in their coordination and satisfaction in the part they play. Celebrate with them as you reach your desired destination and realize the purpose for which God has called your church.

Here are links to all 4 steps:

Step One - Engaging Ministry Champions
Step Two - Defining an Urgent Purpose
Step Three - Focused Communication
Step Four - Aligning Effort

Step 3 of Fulfilling Your Vision (Focused Communication)

Let’s recap -- In Step 1 you chose your twelve individuals who share a desire to support your vision - your champions. Step 2 formed your urgent purpose and made sure it is well defined and easily described. You are now ready to begin the crucial phase of talking, often times deeply, about your urgent purpose and why you are called to achieve that purpose. Step 3 is all about communication.

The simplicity of this step will often cause people to down play its importance ending in a half communicated effort. Instead, commit that you will over communicate to the point that your 12 targeted champions will say “enough! -- we get it -- let‘s start!”

You should package your urgent purpose in a three size message. One version should be the short version -- an “elevator speech” that quickly communicates your passionate desire. Secondly, you should have a 20 to 30 minute version that you can share one-on-one with those in your targeted champion group ensuring that you wrap the message in the personal passion that you have for the purpose. Lastly, you should have a one hour version that is more suitable for a group that passionately paints the picture for the purpose and the end result of pursuing that purpose.

Once you have your three messages ready to go, the fun now begins. It should be your driving desire for the next 30-days to communicate to your targeted champions your urgent purpose, encouraging them to join the effort and recruit twelve of their own champions to join them in their part of the effort. As they identify champions, you meet with them in larger and larger groups so they can hear from you and hear from each other. It is in this pattern of focused communication that momentum is born.

The focus during this phase is to communicate your urgent purpose to champions. It is not a time to debate or address the controversy that will come from the typical naysayer. The message is in search of willing hearts. If willingness is absent in one person, move on to the next. A positive momentum fueled by the passion of champions will overcome negative reactions over time.

Finally, be creative in your approach to sharing your urgent purpose. Draw pictures on napkins, create a logo, boil it down to a memorable phrase -- do whatever it takes to share the spirit and excitement of the purpose.

Through focused communication your urgent purpose takes root in the hearts of those who will join with you in the effort. Communication at this level takes deliberate planning to ensure there are no distractions and that the setting inspires understanding. Let your champion understand the importance this purpose plays in your life as well as how important they are to realizing the goal. Test their understanding and acceptance; listen to their questions and use what you learn to strengthen your approach in future discussions.

Communication is the key to success and the cause of most failures. Give this phase the thought and dedication that it deserves. It will make Step 4, the last step and our next article, go much better. Begin today sharing your urgent purpose with your chosen champions!

Here are links to all 4 steps:

Step One - Engaging Ministry Champions
Step Two - Defining an Urgent Purpose
Step Three - Focused Communication
Step Four - Aligning Effort

Connecting the Financial Dots of Divorce

The breakdown of marriage in America costs at least $112 billion a year, owing to costs of health care, criminal justice, welfare programs and lost income-tax revenue, according to a study released today.

"This study documents for the first time that divorce and unwed childbearing — besides being bad for children — are also costing taxpayers a ton of money," says David Blankenhorn, president of the Institute for American Values (IAV), one of four sponsors of today's study.
Even a small improvement in marriage rates — for example, a 1 percent reduction in the rate of "fragmented families" — would save more than $1 billion, Mr. Blankenhorn says.

The $112 billion — which is equivalent to the state budget for New York — stems from "increased taxpayer expenditures" for anti-poverty, criminal justice and education programs, and lower levels of taxes paid by people whose "adult productivity has been negatively affected by increased childhood poverty caused by family fragmentation," says Benjamin Scafidi, an economics professor at Georgia College & State University and principal investigator of the report. - Washington Times article

We have long known the "cost" of divorce is high, however, we have typically measured it as an emotional or spiritual cost. The IAV study validates a significant financial cost as well. The inter-related nature of spiritual, social and financial matters is a constant reminder of the intricate work of the Creator. Often labeled as "irrelevant" the teachings of the church have the opportunity to "connect the dots" for an increasingly "practical" society that is more concerned with polls and research than with personal convictions and inspired scripture. Be the bridge.

Tolerating Intolerance at Expense of Pastors

"An epidemic of forced pastoral terminations has developed in our denomination that are the result, not of moral or even theological issues, but differences in perspectives, styles, values and traditions. Mission becomes secondary, giving way to church politics and stifling opinions.

As a result, thousands of Southern Baptist pastors and ministers have found themselves on the raw end of a church controversy or political scenario that has left many of them and their families just one step short of the "streets" and scrambling to piece together their lives. Furthermore, the damage it can create to children, spouses, and esteem for all can be nothing short of devastating.

Nationwide, about one-third (34 percent) of all pastors surveyed serve a congregation who terminated their previous pastor or who were themselves forced from their last pastoral ministry. In the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) alone, assuming that trends discovered by Life Way Research from seven years ago are still relatively similar, about 1,000 pastors will be force-terminated in calendar year 2008. This is a trend that has continued for nearly two and one-half decades. That's a staggering 25,000 forced pastoral terminations since the early 1980's. So where have all those pastors gone? Many have walked away from the church for good. According to the same LifeWay study, 45 percent have not returned to the pulpit. Rather, they have chosen a different vocation altogether." - Biblical Recorder article

The common scenario of lay leadership at odds with the pastor's vision is becoming -- well, too common. Research indicates that disagreements surrounding issues secondary to the heart of a church's urgent purpose are disrupting and destroying the overall impact of the church.

One against many has become the environment in which the pastor resides in many churches. Deacons, elders, lay-leaders, board members have become accomplices to this unfortunate pattern of behavior. Rather than being protectors of the faith, lay-leaders have allowed the voice of a few opinion leaders to become their own by refusing to stand up against the stagnant voice of tradition.

As a lay-leader, it is time that you protect your congregation from the turnstile habit of tolerating intolerance on matters of style, preference and opinion. Pastors need the support of their lay-leaders to accomplish the urgent purpose of the church. When the trivial is allowed to side-track the essential, everyone suffers.

Listen very carefully at your next meeting to spot the rising tide of criticism under which your pastor strains to stay out of harm's way. Become the defender of purpose in your church, not allowing insignificant issues to distract from the ultimate goal.

Giving Shifting Away from Traditional Church

"With millions of people shifting their allegiance to different forms of church experience, and a more participatory society altering how people interact and serve others, many Christians are now giving their money to different types of organizations instead of a church. They attend conventional churches less often. They are expanding their circle of Christian relationships beyond local church boundaries. And they are investing greater amounts of their time and money in service organizations that are not connected with a conventional church." - Barna Report

Traditionally organized congregations and building related funding is at risk as American's shift their stagnant giving (hovering around 5% the last decade) to alternative ministry and non-profit organizations not necessarily aligned with a church. On the heels of a building boom, and increased staffing, churches will be faced with attracting new giving sources to maintain current ministry efforts.

Look for multiple churches to utilize existing buildings on a "coop" basis to share overhead. Those not achieving necessary giving levels will re-evaluate their ministry focus to attract giving from younger generations who are prone to give toward more socially oriented causes addressing humanitarian efforts. Consumer behavior analysis firms will provide churches with a more in depth look at congregational giving trends and member's desired connectivity to highly specialized social causes. Mega churches will move toward "franchise" agreements to broadcast and staff hundreds of satellite locations to generate new giving streams creating national church "brands."

In general, the financial pressures will necessitate church leadership becoming more active in understanding the congregation's desire for ministry focus to ensure engagement and giving. The next 10 years will see considerable controversy within the church as we experience generational clashes over the debate of this new church organizational design.

Courtesy of Trend Ping

Step 2 of Fulfilling Your Vision - (Defining an Urgent Purpose)

Now that you have identified your list of twelve “champions” to serve as your team, (if not, go to the Step 1 article) you are ready to move on to step two. This step is the engine behind the effort. In their eagerness to “get going” many pastors run quickly past step two pausing only long enough to grab a very generic statement of cause that generates little ownership. Step two is a careful exploration of the urgent purpose that God has called you and your church to bring to life in your community. We begin with what it is not.

An urgent purpose is not a lofty mission statement that lazily encompasses every possible spiritual avenue in God’s Kingdom. A statement such as: “To be the light on a hill for our community and surrounding area reaching to the far ends of the earth with the gospel message” doesn't define action. In step two your goal is to carefully define your purpose -- the hands and feet of your existence -- in such a way that it defines a purpose based action.

Your description of urgent purpose should be definitive enough for someone outside your church to know what effort they will join in joining your church. Urgent purpose is what people want in life; they want to make a difference. The church is the ideal and intended platform for fulfilling that need.

As God reveals to you the urgent purpose or purposes, a story will develop that you will relate over and over to your champions. Your champions will then internalize the urgent purpose, personalize it as their own story and relate it to their circle of influence. The process virally creates a church that is propelled by the stories of impact centered around your urgent purpose. The circle begins with you spending time individually with your twelve champions, relating to them your version of the urgent purpose story. It is a story of precisely who you will serve along with a description of their current need and how the efforts of the church will serve them.

Urgency will be the key to your progress. Think about the “super-human” efforts that have been accomplished when time is of the essence. You get a call that a friend is dropping by and your family launches into a whirlwind of house cleaning that would have taken hours and not minutes to accomplish. A neighbor pounds on your door screaming that they need a ride to the E.R. as their child has been hurt. You drop everything and run. Urgency moves obstacles and keenly focuses the mind and senses on resolute actions. The church has lost that sense of urgency. In its absence, we slowly plod through actions and decisions more focused on the church bylaws than on those in our community who have an urgent need for our urgent purpose. As the pastor, creating a sense of urgency is your responsibility.

An urgent purpose should always have a beneficiary. Constructing a church building is not an urgent purpose, training workers is not an urgent purpose, raising money is not an urgent purpose -- they may be supporting efforts, but they are not the purpose. There has to be a face to our efforts. In many churches, we have lost that face. The only faces we see are the faces that we recognize but don’t really know -- the ones that show up every Sunday and sit for an hour without much interaction. Often, it’s not even their face -- it’s the back of their head we recognize. As you share your urgent purpose with your twelve champions, you must be able to describe in detail who you desire to serve. You must know their needs. If you have lost contact with those in need, go visit them. Take pictures of them. Write down their story. Capture the emotion of their challenging life, the emptiness they long to fill. Use these details as you relate the urgent purpose to your champions.

Urgent purpose will become the banner under which you move forward. It will become the screen through which you pass choices. If an effort does not move your purpose forward, you should remove it. The day-to-day movement of your church should support the purpose. Anything outside of that effort will be a distraction.

Step two will be the most critical step in the series as you align your church around a central purpose. It is shared initially with your twelve champions individually and then eventually as a group of twelve. They then begin to build their ministry champions in their part of the overall effort following the same individual to group pattern of sharing the purpose. As the consensus of purpose grows from you, outward in a concentric circle, your church will begin to experience the joy and hard work found in fulfilling the vision that God has specifically given to you for your community.

Here are a few examples of an urgent purpose:

Adopt a specific 6 block section of the city to provide food, clothing, job training, minor health care and spiritual support for every willing family within 2 years of inception.

Open a facility for victims of spousal abuse and operate as a church ministry to have capacity for temporary shelter and transition services for up to 100 women and their children to be completed within 3 years. Once established, open an additional center every 3 years.

In the next 12 months, lease space in the heart of the business district to create a “Life Resource Center” providing career, life-balance and chaplaincy counseling to the 3,000 workers that converge daily.

Open a “strip-mall” family counseling center within 9 months housing 12 family counselors to provide free marriage and family counseling to the community. Support the counseling efforts by organizing and training 100 couples over the next 12 months to serve as “marriage mentors” for 400 area married couples to provide ongoing support and discipleship.

Construct a “parish clinic” within 12 months on the church campus to provide free to low cost health care for children living in poverty. Adopt the children and their family to provide additional support as needed.

Organize a team of workers to put in security measures (doors, locks, lighting) at the home of 500 elderly adults in the community over the next 2 years. Organize routine visits with the elderly to assist and encourage in other ways.

Organize and train church members to “adopt their block” within the next 6 months to include a block survey of needs and the provision for those needs through church resources to include support groups, counseling services, financial assistance, job training and discipleship.

As you seek to develop your urgent purpose message give it the careful consideration it warrants. Slow down. Start with a “blank sheet” approach and determine what God has for you. If your urgent purpose looks a lot like what other churches are doing, spend more time trying to uncover the very specific purpose God is calling you to lead. Organize that purpose into various lengths of descriptions so that you can give a two minute “elevator speech” up through a one hour detailed description. You will use these versions in various settings with your twelve and then again with their twelve and so on which is explained further in step three of this series.

In the beginning don’t worry about having too narrow of a focus. The common church-wide reaction to a very specific ministry opportunity is to fear leaving other needs unmet. In reality, in their good intention to not leave anyone out -- they leave everyone out by not doing anything. Start somewhere. You will naturally migrate to adding additional efforts to your purpose. You will also find that the opportunities serve as a “hands on” training ground for bible study and community groups to experience servant-living through the purpose efforts. The goal is to be an engaging, purposeful church.

Urgent purpose will become the rally cry of your church. You will quickly see that once the church experiences the impact of their efforts, they will want to add additional initiatives to your purpose list. Champions will become self-starters and will direct their twelve into other aspects of your overall church purpose. It will be an inspiring time of growth and impact for your church. Begin now in discovering or organizing the exciting purpose that you and your church are perfectly suited to do.

Here are links to all 4 steps:

Step One - Engaging Ministry Champions
Step Two - Defining an Urgent Purpose
Step Three - Focused Communication
Step Four - Aligning Effort

Whose Problem is Poverty?

"In the United States, the wealthiest country in the world, 36 million Americans live in poverty - earning less than $20,650 for a family of four in 2007. Another one in six Americans struggle to make ends meet on incomes between 100% and 200% of poverty ( $20,650 to about $40,000 for a family of four). More than 12 million American children grow up in impoverished homes. When compared with 20 other wealthy nation on measures of health, safety and relative poverty, America's children fare amongst the worst." - Spot Light on Poverty


Poverty continues to be a political issue in election years, but hasn't been widely embraced by society as a problem to be solved with much urgency. It is a matter of prayer to some, but is far from a matter of priority for the church.


The widening of the income gap in the U.S. will continue to drive families into poverty as energy, healthcare and housing costs reach all time highs over the next 10 years. With little in the way of safety net provisions to rely upon, these families will turn to the local church. The appointment of leadership and the funding of an organized relief strategy at the local church level will be crucial to bringing about real relief to this marginalized social issue.



Courtesy of Trend Ping

A Letter to Lay Leaders

Dear Lay Leader:
We at Convergence want to encourage you. With so many current pressures and more to come, the church -- your church -- is under tremendous strain. You are the link between the present and the future. You are the hope of future impact.

Over the last 25 years of serving as a lay leader in various churches, I’ve seen the tremendous movement that the church can undertake when fueled by lay leader participation. Lay leaders are at the crossroads. Lay leaders, however, are not all created equally.

I prefer to make the distinction between lay leader (a term that has become generic in some churches for a warm body that is willing to serve on a committee) and that of ministry champion. A champion is a non-staff leader in the congregation that shares the pastor’s passion for reaching their community with the life-changing message lived and taught by Christ. As a champion, you should “own” the movement. You are the defender of the faith in literal terms. You stand as a constant support to your pastor and their vision. We need more champions and fewer committee members.

My encouragement to you is to thoughtfully consider God’s leadership calling in your life. You have an important calling. You have a purpose to which you are specifically called. There is a place within your congregation for you to display the champion effort. We encourage you to find that place and fully engage your life in that cause.

In some cases, the very survival of your church could be in your hands. As we encounter churches in distress in the U.S. it almost always involves an adversarial relationship between pastor’s and those in lay leadership positions. There are levels of distrust that permeate the entire organization that eventually become distractions from the ultimate purpose. In other cases, lay leaders have “checked out” spiritually, emotionally and physically leaving the pastoral staff to fend for themselves against those members stuck in that dreaded no-impact zone. It is a loss. It only takes a handful of champions to stand up for what is relevant and right. It can be the spark that resuscitates your local impact.

We, the church, need you. Our hope is that you will be energized to do a few important things that we believe will be beneficial to your church and your pastor.

1. Meet with your senior pastor and ask them to share with you their frustrations. Listen carefully. Take notes.

2. Spend a week praying over those notes asking God to prompt you to action.

3. Meet again with your senior pastor to discuss God’s prompting and to get their feedback on what God has revealed as your role.

4. Set out to serve with excellence and determination, the role to which you are called.

By joining with your pastor, you will serve as a role model for others who have the heart of a champion. The journey begins today. The journey begins with you.

Checkers vs. Chess

I prefer checkers to chess. I know chess is considered by many to be the more mature game of the two, but checkers doesn’t require as much thought or strategy. Sure, there is some strategy involved with checkers, but you could easily play checkers without having to think nearly as hard. Also, with checkers you can be more reactive if you were feeling particularly lazy.

However, one day I was driving and I was thinking about how I was leading my life, family, and ministry. That is when the metaphor of checkers vs. chess first popped up in my mind regarding life and leadership. I had been leading my life with a reaction-driven mentality, and often was moving forward impulsively hoping for the best and not thinking about how my current ‘moves’ would be impacting the future. I was viewing my life like a person who was playing checkers.

I’m not very good at chess, and perhaps this is one of the reasons why I do not prefer it to checkers. However, I know people who are great at chess and often think many moves ahead. They are responsive, strategic, and are aware how one move will effect another opportunity. When I realized this it hit me, “I need to begin viewing life and leadership like a chess player!”

As ministers, leaders, spouses, parents, and teammates we can learn a lot from this metaphor. Most of us lead our lives and all that is involved as lazy checker players. We have tons of opportunities and options on our plate and rather than slowly considering the long-term goals and visions we are serving, we usually react to the most appealing options and ‘fires’ that pop up. Of course, we all have seasons of life when this is inevitable, however, this tends to be the norm rather than the exception for many.

It is not easy to change how we view life, especially if we have forced ourselves into a place where disorganization rules our lives. I know first hand how crippling disorganization can be, so the first step to transition from checker-style living to living like a chess player is to get organized, which I recently did. Also, it will take some time to sit and consider how your current decisions are going to effect long-term impact on you, your family, your church, or your organization. However, this is imperative in order to shift your thinking and outlook.

Those of us who are in any leadership position have a lot that is required of us. The stress builds up quickly and we are forced to make a lot of decisions. However, it is possible to be more strategic in our approach and this is why I hope you will commit to shifting your thinking away from reacting like a checker player and learn to be responsive and strategic like a chess player. You will find that the more you demonstrate this shift, the more your people (family, church members, etc.) will trust you and follow your lead, and the lower stress you will experience in the long-run. Leading like a chess player requires that we keep the end in mind (capturing the King) while being intentional about the steps in getting there.

3 Types of Supporters

By God’s grace I have been leading a non-profit organization for over seven years. For the last few years people have asked me questions about the in’s and out’s of leading a non-profit organization. From questions like, “How do I file paperwork with the government?” to “What should I do first?” I have grown to enjoy helping people see God’s calling on their lives come to fruition.

One favorite question often asked has to do with gathering ‘supporters’ for the organization. I, along with most whom I talk with typically begin by equaling support with dollar amounts. However, looking solely for people to give money to your cause is extremely short-sighted. While I do not know of one leader of an organization who would turn away funds, I would say that an organization whose primary goal is to get money from individuals or organizations are missing out on the fullness of support that one needs in order to grow a healthy, thriving non-profit entity.

Over the years I have come to realize that there are several key support roles needed to effectively fulfill the mission of your organization.

The three primary types of supporters are Contributors, Connectors, and Expanders.

A Contributor is anyone who invests in the ministry either with their resources, their time, or their expertise. Without contributors the organization could not function or flourish. These contributors are invested in the vision and this is observed by their contributions to the mission. This is an obvious type of supporter, but not always easy to find at the onset of the ministry.

The Connector is an individual who believes in the vision of the ministry and is intentional about letting others know about it. They are driven to connect the leadership with those who would interested in becoming a supporter of the ministry. Without people who are willing to connect your vision with others who would A) be interested in participating or B) willing to support, then the effectiveness of the ministry will be greatly hampered.

Lastly, the Expander is similar to the connector, but this type of supporter is intentional about finding other like-minded individuals and ministries for yours to partner with. These people are gifted visionaries who are able to grab hold of the vision of your organization, accurately convey it to others, and effectively pursue new opportunities for the ministry. These individuals are unique in that they have a larger Kingdom perspective and are strategic in how they forge relationships.

With this brief overview, one can quickly understand that limiting ‘support’ to a financial contribution is short-sighted at best, but ultimately damaging to the organization in the long run. In order to effectively lead a ministry organization that flourishes the leader must understand the importance of enlisting each type of supporter. There may be some supporters who possess all of these qualities, which would be ideal. However, to dismiss someone because of their inability to ‘contribute’ financially is faulty as that individual may be a key connector or expander. To have a solid support base each of these support types should be pursued and nurtured.

Should vs. Could

It’s like watching a wave roll across the ocean to see seemingly great ideas make their way through the church circuit. Tends to be a great deal of “me-too” going on these days when it comes to good ideas. Some ideas, though, are not so great.

Church #1 thinks it would be very unique and oh-so “post-something-or-other” for the pastor to read poetry barefoot in a hemp robe and before you know it, the local doctor has pastors from Church # 2-5 lined up to get medication for the hemp-robe-rash going around town. It’s a viral reaction when we see a great idea and feel compelled to call it our own. We just can't help it.

Yet, great ideas can range from distractive to destructive when we fail to consider the difference between “should” and “could” decisions. A great idea is only great if it fit’s the urgent and specific purpose to which our church is called, organized and inclined to pursue. A great idea that doesn’t fit the specific purpose to which you are directing your strategic focus-- is not a great idea.

During the course of your planning, thinking, showering, driving -- you will generate thousands of potentially great ideas, but you must carefully remind yourself that you “could” certainly implement that creative aha (because after all, you are the pastor, no out of touch deacon could withstand the awesome power of this Wow of an effort) -- but, “should” you implement the masterpiece is the big question.

Ideas that do not fit your purpose are counter-productive and time consuming. They often require additional expenditure to overcome their ill-fitting impact and momentum devouring force. As a leader your greatest contribution to your organization hinges on your judgment. Think it through. Don’t fall prey to the victimization of a great idea that is a “could” but not a “should.”

Could vs. Should

It’s like watching a wave roll across the ocean to see seemingly great ideas make their way through the church circuit. Tends to be a great deal of “me-too” going on these days when it comes to good ideas.


Church #1 thinks it would be very unique and oh-so “post-something-or-other” for the pastor to read poetry barefoot in a hemp robe and before you know it, the local doctor has pastors from Church # 2-5 lined up to get medication for the hemp-robe-rash going around town. It’s a viral reaction when we see a great idea and feel compelled to call it our own.


Yet, great ideas can range from distractive to destructive when we fail to consider the difference between “should” and “could” decisions. A great idea is only great if it fit’s the urgent and specific purpose to which our church is called, organized and inclined to pursue. A great idea that doesn’t fit the specific purpose to which you are directing your effort, time and prayer -- is not a great idea.


During the course of your planning, thinking, showering, driving -- you will generate thousands of potentially great ideas, but you must carefully remind yourself that you “could” certainly implement that creative aha (because after all, you are the pastor, no out of touch deacon could withstand the awesome power of this Wow of an effort) -- but, “should” you implement the masterpiece is the big question.


Ideas that do not fit your purpose, strategy or goals are counter-productive and time consuming. They often require additional expenditure to overcome their ill-fitting impact and momentum devouring force. As a leader your greatest contribution to your organization hinges on your judgment. Think it through. Don’t fall prey to the victimization of a great idea that is a “could” but not a “should.”

Trends May Point to Freelance Pastors

As several trends begin to align, the potential for an increase in freelance pastors is a plausible outcome. As younger generations are more broad in their financial giving as opposed to retiring baby boomers who have been primarily focused on giving to their church, the prospect of cash flow problems are likely for many American churches. Churches with extended mortgages, when faced with reduced cash flow and high building costs will be required to reduce staffing.

The younger generations who are more diverse in their giving will likely be more loyal to causes that match their personal preference for ministry which will open the door for an increase in non-church affiliated ministries to seek funding for these more specific ministry projects.
To leverage their ministry, these non-profit freelancers may return to the traditional church setting with the offer of "outsourcing" their ministry. For example, an independent youth pastor may serve multiple churches providing individual congregation ministry and support while at the same time aggregating ministry activities to include all churches he covers. Loyalty with the minister rather than loyalty to a particular church or denomination will likely be more prevalent causing a more scattered approach to giving and a more conducive environment for freelance pastors.

The growing dissatisfaction among young pastors with the traditional board and committee approach to church governance, will further fuel this outsourced pastor approach allowing them to focus more on the goal of their ministry without having to manage the "politics" and risk of high turnover often found in more traditional church settings. It is plausible that independent pastors will eventually combine across multiple specialties to form an association of non-profit ministries that could eventually outsource an entire church ministry team, allowing the formation of new church start-ups to accelerate their development time-line and be more intentional in their particular area of ministry emphasis.

Courtesy of Trend Ping

Retiree Debt and Church Voice

"Sixty-four percent of retirees carry debt into retirement and among these, more than one in four (28 per cent) don't feel comfortable with their amount of debt. More than two thirds (68 per cent) of pre-retirees expect to carry debt into retirement." - BMO Financial Survey

The impact of debt can be devastating at any age, but consider the prospects of entering into retirement with debt. The expected norm is for a large percentage of those facing retirement to retire with debt in place. Without a stream of income to pay-off the debt, retirees will enter the period of their life in which they are suceptible to depression with the looming threat of losing their electricity, verbal abuse by collectors and the shame of not meeting their obligations. The paradigms involved can be complex, but the church can serve as a voice of clarity during these times.

Churches with a high percentage of aging adults in their congregation should consider providing financial counseling as well as emergency funds for assisting retirees in times of utility loss or lack of food. With funds in short supply, basic home upkeep will be ignored providing a ministry opportunity to retirees through home improvement efforts particularly those involving security measures such as exterior lighting and locks.

God's command to "honor" our parents should be taught and lived within our congregations to ensure that our desire for more does not ignore the needs of parents during these trying times. Conferences within the church to prepare adult children for the care of their parents will help them plan for the future with long-term care insurance, basic understanding of Medicare drug plans and estate planning resources.

The church must become the protector of the aged as the continued escalation of health care cost may sway some families to consider withholding care for purely economic reasons. The establishment of Ethics Advisory Teams by churches in the community would be a welcome voice of reason and support for families struggling with the complexity and emotions of these decisions.

Courtesy of Trend Ping

Step 1 of Fulfilling Your Vision - (Engaging Ministry Champions vs. Lay Leaders)

Vision, to be implemented, requires champions. Champions are more than traditional “lay leaders” who show up for a meeting or two each month. They are special souls who are, or can become, as passionate as you are for the work that God has set before you. They are highly motivated by a sense of urgency to accomplish the vision you have put forth. They are energetic, creative and tireless in their pursuit of your vision. They are the people of your dreams. I suspect that at this very moment you are yearning for these champions. You can find them, but before we go further, we should distinguish between their way of thinking and that of lay leaders. The subtle difference between the world in which lay leaders live and the world in which you are calling them to serve -- makes a big difference. Here’s why.

Many a community leader and executive turned deacon, elder or teacher have underestimated the subtle, yet powerful distinction between the world in which they work and the church -- namely -- the power of employment.

There is something very controlling about having an employee’s paycheck at risk if he or she refuses to follow your vision. Countless Americans wake up each morning and head off to jobs they disdain. Yet, they do it. They tolerate the boss’s bad jokes, they endure the close confines of the cubicle, they trudge forward in a world of back-stabbing and inefficiency for one reason -- they don’t want to be fired - they need the job. For the most part -- they do what they are told, silently, begrudgingly. They do it. Not the case, though, when they are at church.

Something magically sinister happens when they enter the hallowed halls of church -- they become the recipient of their make-believe “God-given” right to criticize, chastise and rebuke. No individual, no minor detail escapes their critique. The pastor’s hair, the color of the carpet, the quality of the toilet paper, all fall prey to their biting tongue. The very same cheapo toilet paper found at church is silently endured at their workplace, but at church it is now an insult to their spirituality promulgated by none other than the Senior Pastor and it must be stopped with the execution of a curtly worded demand for his resignation appropriately signed anonymous. And so goes the difference between “at work” and “at church.”

It’s a difference that is lost on most well meaning business execs who serve on what they believe to be board-like positions at church. They miss the fact that the pastoral staff is holding it together on borrowed and begged time from volunteers. They don’t get that pastors have one of the most difficult roles in any organization. They treat a church like a business in which the pastor is a well-meaning but somewhat idealistic good guy who just needs to be guided. They don’t get that the pastor is God’s representative on site to ensure that God’s will is accomplished. They try to force what they know on an organization that is far more than what they can ever hope to know. They don’t get it, so they should not lead. They are different than champions -- they are merely leaders. The church doesn’t need more management technique wielding lay leaders. The church needs champions.

Lay leaders like to lead. But champions lead without knowing it. They draw people to the ministry. They recruit others to the effort by merely describing what God desires for their life. Champions support pastors in ways they could never imagine and in many instances without the pastor realizing so. Champions get things done without leaving a trail of bodies behind. Champions are rare in churches and even more rare in the corporate world which is why pastors need to look beyond the obvious business leaders and find the champions -- the inspired leaders that endear others to their leadership.

To successfully fulfill your vision and calling, you must have champions. To find these rare leaders will require some thoughtful observation and prayer. They are there. They are not easily visible because you have been taught to look in the wrong places. Step one toward reaching your vision is to find them. Once your champions are in place, the journey toward your vision involves a few additional simple principles (to be covered later in this series) coupled with the discipline of pursuit that only God can energize within you. With champions -- it is possible.

If you would like to pursue that journey through this series, let’s start with identifying some potential champions. Make a list of 12 individuals (yes, 12, worked well one other time) you believe have the capacity to be a ministry champion. Think of people who have joy in their life, who don’t have hungry egos, who have a heart for the things of Christ. Consider these people regardless of their position in life. You are looking for heart not title. Make the list and live with it a couple of weeks before moving to step two -- which is our next article in this series as we plot the path toward bringing your vision to life.

Here are the links to all 4 steps:

Step One - Engaging Ministry Champions
Step Two - Defining an Urgent Purpose
Step Three - Focused Communication
Step Four - Aligning Effort

Pastor's Priority

Life has many choices. Thousands of times a day we are faced with making a choice -- clothes to wear, books to read, calls to take or ignore. The efficiency of our day is predicated on the skill at which we make these choices. By choosing actions that are aligned with our goals, we experience productivity and feelings of accomplishment. To select otherwise, results in feeling overwhelmed and off-center.

In a recent survey of pastors conducted by Transform Ministries, prioritizing daily actions was listed as one of their greatest challenges. Understandably, pastors are faced with more opportunities in a day than they can hope to accomplish. Pastors serve a unique and difficult role in the church that compounds the difficulty of prioritization.

In my 25 years of executive leadership positions in for-profit and non-profit organizations, as well as providing leadership coaching to pastors, I have concluded that by far, one of the most difficult organizations to lead is the church. Primarily fueled by “volunteer” efforts and an individualistic spirit, the church is a complex organization that is often plagued by mis-alignment of intent which fuels the difficulty pastors find in prioritizing. Every member has a unique perception as to how the pastor should spend their time, and frequently, members of the congregation use the “democratic” platform that they believe the church should offer to them, to convey their beliefs.

As difficult as it may be, there are still some basic guidelines that pastors can use to prioritize their efforts and those of their congregation. Humans act like humans regardless the setting, making leadership principles a bit more generic than many leaders recognize.

The ability to effectively set priorities is in its basic form a question of alignment. Alignment simply means that all efforts in the organization are focused on agreed upon goals with everyone working in concert toward those accomplishments. Once purpose is established and agreed upon by the organization, prioritizing becomes much easier. The equation becomes:

Urgent Purpose + Focused Communication + Aligned Efforts = Success

Prioritization occurs as we select tasks based upon their support of the above three areas. If an activity does not support the urgent purpose of our church, then it should not be a priority. If a meeting is not used to communicate the urgent purpose or organize an aligned effort, it is not a high priority of our time or the time of others in our church. If an activity is not aligned with the urgent purpose, it will be wasted time at best or counter-productive to our goals in the worse sense.

Of course, simple equations often attempt to overlay simple answers on complex issues, but they can serve as an effective “screen” to determine the impact of a considered choice. In general, the mis-alignment of church efforts toward an undefined purpose, has caused considerable disruption among the congregation and frustration with the pastor’s calling.

Step back and ask yourself if you have appropriately completed the success equation for your church. It will become your effective tool for prioritization.

For additional insight into the connection between alignment and accountability, click here to read an additional article at http://www.rodbrace.com/

Convergence welcomes your comments, questions and advice for our readers.

Serial Marriages Expected

"There no longer seems to be much of a stigma attached to divorce; it is now seen as an unavoidable rite of passage," the researcher indicated. "Interviews with young adults suggest that they want their initial marriage to last, but are not particularly optimistic about that possibility. There is also evidence that many young people are moving toward embracing the idea of serial marriage, in which a person gets married two or three times, seeking a different partner for each phase of their adult life." - Barna Report

The idea of "serial marriage" is a reflection of recent generation's first hand experience that marriage is unpredictable. In many cases, products of broken homes themselves, this emerging adult generation enters a relationships with caution and low expectations. Lack of stability in marriages will change the complexion of ministries and churches once built on the foundation of families.

As commitment declines toward marriage, look for an increase in American adults who suffer from depression, financial distress and employment difficulties. Those ministries that organize toward supporting this growing subset, while at the same time creating a supportive environment will be an effective counter-measure. Support programs should organize to address all aspects of the problem and include the addition of licensed counselors on the ministry team.

Training "marriage mentors" will be essential for additional support as pastors will become quickly overwhelmed with the crisis. These role model marriages will pair with struggling marriages to establish a relationship of support. Those ministries who have a deep understanding of and a passion for at risk couples will create strong training programs for mentors and the mentored.

Young couples experiencing divorce or those who are struggling will be less inclined to attend churches that have a high percentage of "judgmental" older adults who lack an appreciation of the problem or churches that demonstrate a lack of acceptance of this at risk population. Those churches who embrace this growing segment of American population will experience growth and community support.