Carla couldn't find enough workers. With a growing Sunday school, children's church, and full-scale Wednesday night program, Carla struggled constantly to staff the children's ministries at Stillmeadow Church.
Carla needed 91 workers for the three major ministries. Or she would have, if she had found 91 people able and willing to work every week. She didn't. So Carla divided some of the jobs into once-a-month ...
Let me begin with a simple, wonderfully freeing premise: You do not need to know everything.
A few short generations ago, it could rightly be said, Information Is Power. That was true when there wasn't enough of it. Today, the motto should read: Information Is Fatigue. We get too much information, and a high percentage of that information is inane, meaningless, enervating. Do I really need to know ...
Many discussions of a pastor's tasks start with the advice to plan one's work. This sounds eminently plausible. The only thing wrong with it is that it rarely works. The plans remain on paper as good intentions. They seldom turn into achievements.
The first step toward effective pastoral time-management is to record actual time-use. The specific method in which the record is put together need not concern ...
That's a conversation almost guaranteed to lead to disaster—unmet expectations, missed deadlines, overspent budgets, and angry, disappointed, or burned-out workers.
Consider the questions not addressed:
What does work on mean? Chair a committee? Serve on a committee? Do all the work?
After placing the right people in the right spots, we have to make critical decisions about which tasks to do ourselves and which to accomplish through those individuals. Naturally, there are certain tasks we never delegate. Peter Drucker refers to those as a leader's "unique contribution," what he alone brings to the organization. Leaders shouldn't delegate what they are best positioned and gifted ...
Does the prospect of recruiting volunteer help make you shudder? Sometimes it almost seems easier to handle the task yourself instead of trying to find someone else to do it. However, that line of thinking may be unfair to two people—you, and the person who never is asked to do the job. If you take on too many extra duties, you will soon feel overburdened, perhaps even resentful. Moreover, if ...
The need to control may be one of the most destructive traits in church leaders. The attempt to dictate the outcome of every decision, to weigh in on every proposal, is like acid rain, which poisons the environment of leadership.
The most damage is often done by the leader who manipulates subtly, who outwardly talks about team leadership, but rules like an iron-fisted Kaiser. I think it was Peter Drucker, ...
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