Staying current in ministry

Two years ago I got an auctioneer's license. In Indiana every auctioneer's license expires on the same day and must be renewed. Before renewal can occur the auctioneer must have taken 16 hours of continuing education (CE). This is the year for the education so as soon as the new year rolled around I started receiving invitations from various auction schools to take my CE with them.

Since this is the first time I've had to do this I'm not sure what will be covered. I assume we will hear about any changes in the law that affects auctions plus hear about some new things that auctioneers are learning.

When I started receiving these I began thinking about a survey I did of bivocational pastors in 2004. In the survey a large number of bivocational ministers indicated they had not attended a single CE event related to ministry in the previous three years. Many of them had attended such training for their other jobs, but they had done nothing in three years to grow as a minister. That's a shame.

Almost every career requires on-going education as a condition of license renewal. I can't sell a box of tools at auction for more than two years without taking CE, but many ministers believe they can care for the souls of people without doing anything to grow and develop their gifts and skills.

I've been out of pastoral ministry now for 14 years, but a couple of weeks ago I attended a CE event designed for pastors. It wasn't information I needed for my ministry, but because I work with pastors I wanted the information covered in that seminar to share with pastors.

When I was a pastor I constantly received invitations to various seminars and conferences. Even though I was bivocational, I tried to attend 2-3 a year because I wanted to grow. It required an investment of time and money that I didn't always have, but I considered it an essential investment in my own personal development as a minister.

I hope you feel the same way and have already attended such a seminar or are scheduled to attend one or two this year. God calls us to ministry and gives us the tools we need, but it is up to us to keep those tools sharp. Invest in yourself and your ministry.

What door is God preparing to open in your life?

One of the benefits of living to a certain age is the opportunity to look back and see how things unfolded in your life.  I still remember the day in 1981 as if it was yesterday when Hebron Baptist Church voted unanimously to call me as their pastor.  I had no experience and no education beyond high school.  The only thing I did have was the absolute confidence God had called me to pastor a church.  Few churches would have called me as their pastor, but God led me to one that would.

Although bivocational ministry was not uncommon in those days, it was not widely respected by many denominational leaders and others in church leadership.  For 20 years I served that church as a bivocational pastor until I was called to a judicatory ministry position at least in part because of my experience with bivocational ministry.  Never did I think this ministry opportunity would present itself, but God opened the door.

Soon after beginning my pastoral ministry I decided that I needed some formal education if I was going to be a more effective minister.  Working a full-time job, pastoring a church, and raising a family did not lend itself to pursuing an education, but God opened a door that allowed me to attend a Bible school.  After completing that program he made it possible for me to continue my education allowing me to earn three degrees.  Even now I sometimes wonder how that happened, but I realize that God kept opening doors and I kept walking through them.

One of my frustrations as a pastor was the lack of resources specifically created for bivocational ministers.  Towards the end of my pastoral ministry I decided to try to write a book that would encourage bivocational ministers and present this ministry as a viable option that others should consider.  I had never attempted to write a book before, but I sat down and began to write.  A couple of years later that book was published becoming the first of eight books (so far) that I've published on bivocational and small church ministry.  God opened a door that gave me an opportunity to not only write but to lead workshops and conferences for bivocational and small church leaders for numerous denominational bodies.

I mention these things not to focus on what I've done with my life but to recognize that God is continually preparing us for doors he plans to open for us to walk through.  Scripture is clear that even before we are born God has a plan for our lives.  I sometimes wonder how many times God has opened a door for me that I refused to enter thus missing out on that opportunity he had for me.  How many times have I failed to prepare myself for an opportunity that God couldn't give me because I wasn't ready?

I also mention these things to encourage you to look for the doors God may be opening for you.  Too many of us limit ourselves by failing to take advantage of the opportunities God gives us.  We are presented with an opportunity but begin to make excuses why we couldn't possibly do that.  Have you ever been faced with a ministry opportunity that you turned down because you are "Just a bivocational minister?"  Do you spend more time looking at all the things you don't have than you do looking at what God has been doing in your life that may have prepared you for more responsibilities?  In one of the sermons I sometimes preach I remind the congregation that "God is more interested in your availability than in your capability."

Believe me that although I was excited about being called as the pastor of that small, rural church, I was also fearful because I didn't know if I could lead a church.  When I was asked to come on our region staff it was also a fearful time.  By then I knew I could pastor that church, but I had no idea about how well I could serve in this new role.  I know what you experience at times when God seems to be opening new doors for you, but if he is opening the door it means that he knows you are capable of performing the task.  If God is opening a door for you he just wants you to be available, and if you'll do that he'll make you capable.

Is God opening a door for you?

That second job

One of the challenges a bivocational minister must face is choosing a career besides his or her ministry.  In recent years I've had a number of conversations with fully-funded pastors whose churches were considering asking them to become bivocational due to financial issues.  Virtually, all of them were concerned that they were not trained to do anything else.  After some discussion we were usually able to find some possible career choices for them based on their interests or their undergrad degrees, but this can be a difficult decision for one to make when he or she has only seen their calling to be church ministry.

Some of us, like my own experience, had other jobs when we entered ministry so this wasn't a big issue.  I had a very good factory job when I became a pastor, and I remained there until I was eligible for early retirement.

However, the future challenge for bivocational ministers is how will they remain employable in the secular world.  I worked for my employer for 30 years and qualified for early retirement.  Those days are virtually over.  People entering the work force today do not expect to remain at one job for 30 years and leave with a gold watch.  Many young people today think that a year in the same job is an eternity.  Even if people do remain with one company, the needs of most companies are rapidly changing, and the skills required to remain current on many jobs are changing just as rapidly.  In his fascinating book, Promote Yourself: The New Rules for Career Success, Dan Schawbel points out that one estimate is that 60 percent of new jobs by 2015 will require skills that only 20 percent of the population currently has.

Several years ago I heard Zig Ziglar warn his audience that there was no longer anything such as job security regardless of your career.  He said the challenge was to seek employment security, and the only way to do that was to be a life-long learner.  Schawbel makes the same point in his book.  To remain employable one must continually be learning new skills and become known as the go-to person in the company.

As a bivocational minister this may seem impossible.  How can we serve a church, work a second job, meet the needs of our families, have any kind of life for ourselves, and find the time to continually be learning new skills?  It's not impossible, but it's also not easy, but we really have no choice if we believe we are called to bivocational ministry.

Actually, bivocational ministers may find it easier to learn these skills than they think.  Many employers now offer classes that will teach those skills in-house.  Often, these classes are even taught during working hours.  My employer offered numerous courses that almost anyone in the company could attend, and they were all taught during working hours so it didn't require any additional time on our part.  I took many of those courses that were related to my work to improve my skill sets, and I took many that were not directly related to what I was doing at the time so I could be better prepared for something else in the future.

Some of those latter courses involved computers.  I took some introductory computer classes that began with showing us how to turn them on!  Later, I took classes on the various tools found in Microsoft Office and learned how to use them.  When I bought my first computer one of the first programs I bought was Office.  Not only did I have new skills to use at my work, but I now had new skills that made ministry much easier, and I was able to learn how to use it through classes taught by my secular employer who paid me to attend the classes.  It doesn't get much better than that!

Be sure to check with your employer to see if they offer classes or will pay for you to take courses off-site so you can learn the skills needed in the 21st century to remain employable.  You'll find that many of those skills will transfer over into your ministry enabling you to do a better job there as well.  Being a life-long learner is no longer an option if we want to remain employable in the future, and it's not an option if we want to be faithful to our call to bivocational ministry.

What causes leaders to fail?

Over the past few months there have been numerous stories of senior pastors whose ministries did not end well.  We've read of misconduct leading to the arrest of some, moral failures resulting in forced terminations, and pastors leaving the ministry because of burn-out and/or depression.  While these situations make the headlines, the more common pastoral failures result in troubled churches that fail to enjoy productive, effective ministries.

What causes these pastoral failures?  Sometimes the pastor lacks the skill sets needed for ministry.  Such persons have not been called into the ministry by God but have entered the ministry of their own choosing.  Perhaps the minister did have the skills to serve a church of a certain size, but lacked the skills to serve in a different setting.  It may be that the minister failed to grow as a person and as a minister making his or her ministry ineffective.

However, most leadership failures are not due to a lack of skills.  They are a failure of character.    Tim Irwin provides us with a fascinating look at the failures of leadership in his book Derailed: Five Lessons Learned from Catastrophic Failures of Leadership (NelsonFree).  Irwin studied six well-known leaders in the business community and sought answers as to why they failed to successfully lead the companies that hired them.  He notes that their derailments were due to a failure of character that was tied to one of four qualities:

1. Authenticity
2. Self-management
3. Humility
4. Courage

While we often look at failure as an event, Irwin found that derailment occurs over time.  It happens before the crash itself occurs as we miss warning signs that things are not right.  We ignore the feedback others might be giving us.  Our arrogance assures us that we are on the right track, and even that still, small voice inside of us cannot get us to turn aside and avoid the crash.

One of the leaders he profiles is Durk Jager who was CEO of Proctor & Gamble for only seventeen months before the board forced him to resign.  One of the failings noted in the book is that Jager pitted himself against the P&G culture creating distrust between himself and those he was leading.  In the margin of the book next to this section I've written, "Pastors who do not appreciate the history of their church and its former leaders make the same mistake."

When I speak to churches that have suffered under poor pastoral leadership I hear the same character failures Irwin found in his research.  One recent church described their last two pastors to me as dictators.  These pastors lacked the ability to manage themselves and lacked any sense of humility.  They arrogantly believed they were the pastors of that church, and it would be their way or the highway.  Significant numbers of people chose the highway and it is questionable as to whether or not this church will survive.  Other churches tell of the absence of leadership on the part of their pastor.  Pastors fail to lead due to a lack of courage.  They don't want to be responsible if something goes wrong.  What these pastors do not realize is that their lack of leadership is failure on their part that hurts the church and the community the church is called to reach far more because it keeps them stuck in the status quo.

This book was written about business leaders who failed, but the lessons learned apply to anyone in a leadership role.  Inside the dust jacket we read, "Ultimately, Derailed is not about six high profile leaders...it's about how YOU avoid derailment.  When you apply these principles about leadership and life in the upcoming pages, you will stay on track!"  I agree and believe this is a most helpful book for anyone in a church leadership position.

Investing in yourself

One of my core values is to be a life-long learner.  That is the reason I pursued a master's and doctoral degree at an age when many people are thinking about retirement.  It is also the reason I try to read so many books and blogs.  I cannot understand why so many high school and college graduates never read a book once they graduate from school and why so many people are not interested in personal growth.  We have been told for years that the average person uses only about 10 percent of his or her abilities.  What could change in a person's life if he or she decided to tap into some of that remaining 90 percent?  Most of us will go to great lengths to plan a one-week vacation and yet many will spend virtually no time developing a plan for personal growth.

Investing in ourselves is the one investment that can not be taken from us.  Financial investments can be lost overnight if the market changes or if someone cheats us through some fraudulent act.  We can spend years at a job only to see it moved to another country or eliminated because of technology or a takeover from another company.  Virtually everything that people try to accumulate can be gone in moments, but the one thing that can never be taken from us is any investment we've made in ourselves.

If you are a minister reading this post there are so many things that one can learn about ministry.  I would love to have the opportunity to relive the twenty years I spent as the pastor at Hebron Baptist Church with the knowledge I have now about ministry that I did not have back when I was the pastor there.  My ministry would look so much different, and I know it would have a positive impact on the life and ministry of the church.  If you are a leader in any organization, there is so much new information on leadership that if you are not growing personally your organization is operating far short of its capacity.  Even if you are not currently a leader, an investment in yourself is the way that you can create and enjoy a better life for yourself and your family.

In my opinion, one of the most important books John Maxwell has written recently is The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential.  Again, this is only my opinion, but I believe out of all the books he has written (and I have most of them) this is his second most important book only behind The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You (10th Anniversary Edition).  The reason I feel so strongly about his book on the 15 laws of growth is because he describes so clearly what one must do in order to grow as an individual.

One of the laws he discusses is the Law of the Rubber Band.  He notes that rubber bands are useful only when they are stretched.  Pursuing personal growth will always stretch us, but it is only when we are stretched that we become useful.  Too many of us are satisfied with the status quo.  We are satisfied with being average.  In the chapter Maxwell provides a description of average, and one of the items in that description says, ""Average is the top of the bottom, the best of the worst, the bottom of the top, the worst of the best.  Which of these are you?"  Looking at it this way, average doesn't seem so great after all, does it?

Yet, we shy away from being stretched.  Our churches claim they want to grow, but they don't want to be stretched.  Businesses talk about wanting to grow, but they are often averse to doing anything that might stretch them and take them away from their comfort zone.  As leaders, we should want to be growing if we want to lead growing organizations, but many of us avoid anything that would stretch us.  We won't take a class or read a book or meet with a mentor or do anything that might be uncomfortable even if it would promote personal growth.

This is the second time I've read this book, and I found new insights that I had missed in my first reading.  I made several new highlights in the book during my second reading.  For any leader serious about wanting to grow I think this is a must read.  At the very least it will give you some specific areas in which each of us should grow and some direction for how growth can occur in those areas.  As leaders, we must invest in ourselves if we want to effectively lead our churches and other organizations.

Prepare yourself for what God has in store

A couple of years before I took early retirement from the company I worked for I was selected for a new job.  For 28 years I had worked in the shop, belonged to our company union, but now I was chosen for a very unusual position.  Several things made it unusual.  One, because our company was unionized all shop jobs were given based on seniority; this job would not be based on seniority.  Two, the union was responsible for selecting the person for this job.  Third, there were only about five people working this job throughout this world-wide company.  Fourth, I would continue to be a shop employee but would work from an office and would report directly to the quality manager and the plant manager.  Finally, I was the contact person for every customer for every product our plant produced.  I would receive all complaints from every customer we had around the world, and it would be my role to find out why there was a problem and how it would be corrected.  Needless to say, it was a very interesting job.

Out of all the persons in our plant who could have been chosen, why did our union rep select me?  I believe one reason was that about five years earlier I had began working on my bachelor's degree and was nearing graduation.  To my knowledge, I was the only shop person in our plant with a college education.  I also think it was because I had been a pastor for a number of years, and our rep knew that I could work with people.  He also knew I would represent our company well and treat our customers with integrity and courtesy.

I did not enroll in college with the hopes of being qualified to get this job.  In fact, these positions did not exist in the company until about three years after I enrolled.  I was completely surprised when our union rep told me he wanted to submit my name for the position.  However, I don't think it caught God by surprise.  Scripture teaches us that he has a path prepared for each of us even before we were born.  Whether we follow that path or not depends on us and the choices we make.  In this particular situation, I had made a choice to pursue an education later in life than most that turned out to prepare me for a new position in the company I was working for.  Not surprisingly, that choice has also prepared me for several other opportunities I may not have been given otherwise.

Mark Miller has written a wonderful book, The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow, in which he writes, "Others control many of our opportunities, so that shouldn't be our concern.  We control our readiness."  Too many people want to be in positions of leadership but have done nothing to be ready if and when their time comes.  They are by-passed over and over and wonder why, and the reason is that others can tell they are not ready to lead.  The same thing happens for those of us in ministry leadership as well. 

I think of the time when Samuel was to select the person who would follow Saul as king of Israel.  God kept rejecting the ones Samuel chose.  God explained that while mankind often chooses people based on their outward appearance, he looks at the heart.  Only David was prepared to become the next king, and he was the one Samuel (and God) anointed.

How have you prepared yourself for whatever God has in mind for you?  I'm not talking just about educational achievements, either.  As Miller writes about in his book, a leader's character is more important than his or her skills or knowledge.  What are you doing to grow your leadership character?  Are you consistently trustworthy in your words and actions?  Do you put others first?  How well do you listen?  Do you accept responsibility for your failures, or do you blame others?  Miller discusses all of these, and more, in his book.  I've had the opportunity to do things I would never have supposed possible because I was prepared when the time came.  At the same time, I sometimes wonder how many other opportunities were never presented to me because I wasn't prepared.

You never know what God may have in mind for you.  Look for ways to develop your skillset and your leadership character so you'll be ready when God opens up a new door of opportunity for you.  I think Miller's book will help you do that.  You'll find it to be an enjoyable and a quick read.  I read it in two days because I found it so helpful.

Will you pay the price to reach your destiny as a leader?

While on vacation recently I picked up a book to read titled The Ascent of a Leader: How Ordinary Relationships Develop Extraordinary Character and Influence.  It is a powerful look at the choices leaders can make regarding their climb to success.  The authors write that there are two ladders leaders can choose to climb.  The first is the Capacity Ladder which is the one most choose to climb.  It will take you as high as your abilities allow.  The second ladder they call the Character Ladder which is much harder to climb but will take the leader higher.  They point out that some leaders will begin to climb the Character Ladder but when things start to become difficult they switch to the Capacity Ladder and settle for the level of success they find there.

Although there are challenges on both ladders, the ones on the Character Ladder can be the most demanding since they deal not only with our skill levels but also with who we are inside.  How many leaders have you known who did not fail because they lacked the skills but because of character issues within their lives?  This is why it is so important to intentionally choose the Character Ladder and deal with the issues each rung of that ladder brings.

The fourth rung of the ladder is called Paying the Price, and it seems that it is here that drives many leaders off the Character Ladder and onto the Capacity Ladder.  Paying the price will either test or prove our character, and this can be a very frightening time for most of us.  Such testing is never easy nor pleasant.  Sometimes we learn things about ourselves we would rather not know.  We can choose to ignore those lessons or we can choose to address our new-found knowledge and take the steps to correct those things in our lives that are not right.  If we choose to climb the Character Ladder we will face a time when we must be willing to pay the price if we want to continue our climb.

The authors point out that "Reaching our destiny requires such testing.  Although we may reach certain goals, we will not reach our destiny without the refining and purifying of our hearts.  We need the process of the fourth rung in order to mature.  This maturity gives us the strength we need to manage our influence well."

As ministry leaders our goal should be to achieve the destiny God has in mind for us.  I'm a great believer in goal setting, and it's important to reach our goals, but we must not settle just for that.  God had a destiny in mind for each individual even before they were born (Jer. 1:5).  Our ultimate goal should be to know and achieve that destiny, but we must be willing to pay the price that will involve.

I have found this to be a great book and only wish I had read it much earlier as a younger leader.  You can order it by clicking on the book cover below.

We don't know what we don't know

Last Saturday I taught a class for our Church Leadership Institute.  During a break one of my students, a retired gentleman, came to me and said that the more classes he takes the more that he realizes he doesn't know.  I laughed and said that was the reason every person should commit to being a life-long learner.  None of us knows what we don't know, and an important part of an educational program is to open us up to new areas of knowledge.

In the secular world continuing education is part of the expectation for many jobs.  Professionals such as doctors and nurses, accountants, lawyers, educators, and others are required to have a certain number of continuing education hours during a specific time period.  Even many blue collar jobs require continuing education.  Many states require an air conditioning service tech to be licensed and require continuing education to maintain that license.  Before my auctioneer license can be renewed I will have to have completed sixteen hours of continuing education.

It is sad that no such requirement exists for those of us in ministry positions.  We are responsible before God for the eternal souls of men and women, and yet there is no requirement that we pursue continuing education as ministers.  At least, in the denominations with which I'm more familiar there is no such requirement.  I believe there should be.

Too many ministers are still trying to minister as they were taught to do so in the 1980s and wonder why their ministries are no longer successful.  Society has changed much since the 1980s, and what was effective then may not be today.  Much has been learned about Christian education, worship, effective preaching styles, the importance of hospitality, and other aspects of ministry that persons who have never pursued continuing education may not be aware of.  The needs of persons today have changed as have their expectations of church, and if those current needs and expectations are not addressed those persons may well be lost to our churches.  Associated with this is the need to understand generational differences and how to address those differences to more effectively communicate the gospel.  While referring to the gospel, anyone who thinks he or she understands everything written in the Bible is seriously deluded.  Every person can learn much more about the Bible as he or she continues to study it.  But, in each of the aspects of ministry mentioned here, we don't know what we don't know, and the only way to learn what we don't know is to avail ourselves of regular continuing education events.

Maybe you've attended some events in the past and went away feeling like you didn't learn much.  I've gone to some like that, but I can't think of a single one I didn't come away with something I didn't know before.  Every class I've ever taken, every workshop I've ever attended, I've left there with at least one nugget of information I didn't have before or one more tool to add to my ministry toolbox.  Sometimes I've left with a bag full of such nuggets.  If you went into a gold mine to find gold would you feel like it was a wasted effort if you only found one gold nugget?  I doubt it, and my experience has been that even the most disappointing workshops gave me at least one nugget of helpful information.

As you prepared your fall calendar look over the announcements of various workshops that now cross your desk and select one or two that you believe will be helpful to your personal and ministerial growth.  If it doesn't, ask your church to set aside money in next year's budget to pay for you to attend two or three continuing education events and to allow you time away to do that.  The work of ministry is too important to fail to take advantage of those opportunities to grow and to learn new ways of doing the work God has called you to do.

My heart is heavy for those pastors who are struggling

It seems like a lot of my time recently has been spent with pastors who are hurting, confused, and about ready to give up.    In recent weeks I've talked with pastors who have resigned their churches due to the pressures they were feeling and a pastor who admitted he was near burnout and wanted to talk about how to ask his church for a sabbatical.  The good news in his case is the church did grant him the time away he needed.  I've talked with other pastors who are frustrated with the ministry in general.  Some have said they would leave ministry completely if they had training in any other field.  Some of the saddest pastors are those who have given up and are just going through the motions hoping to endure to retirement.

Church consultant and coach Eddie Hammett has written a number of recent articles on this problem because he is seeing more of it in his work.  I read another article last week saying that there is an increase in clergy depression that is quite troubling to denominational leaders.  The problem for all of us is that no one seems to know a solution to the problem.

I can identify some of the causes, but I struggle knowing how to resolve them.  Some of the causes I've seen are

• People have not been adequately prepared by their seminary training for ministry in the real world.  As I've written before, too many are trained to be research theologians, not pastors, so when they arrive at their first church they are not prepared for what will be expected of them.
• Churches and clergy may not be a good fit.  I've seen many good churches and good pastors find out they were not good for one another.  When the expectations of the church and pastor are at variance with one another, and the pastor does not have the gift mix to meet the expectations of the church, problems are sure to occur.
• Too many ministers and churches have not learned how to properly deal with conflict.  When conflict is on-going it takes a toll on everyone.  Clergy and churches need to learn how to address conflict and be willing to bring in outside assistance early in the conflict.
• Many clergy have unrealistic expectations of what ministry will be.  Ministry is often messy work that doesn't normally occur within the safe surroundings of the pastor's study.  There can be a lot of drama in ministry, and healthy ministers need to quickly learn how to deal with that drama or it will begin to eat at them.
• Many churches have unrealistic expectations of their pastor.  One pastor asked his board to list what they believed his primary tasks in the church were and how much time he should spend on each task.  When their lists were compiled the hours that were listed totaled over 100 hours and did not include family time, meals, sleep, or any other personal activity.  He used that to point out to them the need for the church to begin to develop more realistic expectations of his role in the church.
• Clergy often underestimate how difficult introducing change into a church will be.  Most all church systems prefer the status quo and will resist change.  My experience has been that it takes much longer to bring about change in a church than I would have originally thought when I began the process.  Systems tend to always try to revert back to what was familiar, and that struggle can be very tiring on the minister.
• Some churches are dysfunctional.  They are led by controlling lay leaders who are simply mean-spirited.  One thing denominational leaders can do in such cases is to refuse to assist them in pastor searches until they are willing to become healthier.
• Some pastors are dysfunctional.  I've known a few pastors who were also controllers who felt it was their call to beat the sheep, not feed them.  However, not all dysfunctional ministers are abusive.  Some are manipulative, and they abuse their congregations through manipulative means to get what they want.  Again, denominational leaders have a means to address this.  We should feel no obligation to assist such people as they search for a new ministry position.
• Some pastors should have never gone into the ministry.  They lack the giftedness and the calling to serve as ministers.  The reason such pastors struggle so much is that they are out of their element.  The individuals should be helped to recognize this and encouraged to find other employment outside of ministry.  Such persons may find that they will be excellent lay leaders in a church, but they are not the right person to pastor a church.

There are many more reasons that could be listed, but these are enough to illustrate that the solution to this problem is not a simple one.  I do think the problem is serious enough that denominations and seminaries need to become quite intentional about addressing it.  I also believe that we need to spend much time in prayer for these hurting ministers.  I have done that today.  We also need to let them know that it is OK to talk to others about their pain and their questions.  Every pastor needs a coach or counselor with whom he or she can openly and honestly share their fears, their frustrations, and their doubts.

Working in your strength zone

Throughout my ministry I have taken a number of spiritual gift assessments.  My primary spiritual gifts have been the same on each of these assessments: preaching, teaching, and leadership.  I have to say that I agree with the assessments, not only because these gifts show up consistently on each assessment I've done but because I am the most comfortable and effective when I am engaged in these activities.  No matter how I may feel physically once I step on a stage I am energized and ready to deliver my message.  While some people find it frightening to think about speaking to a group of people, it is one of the most exciting things I do.

On the other hand, I need to fill out some reports to send into our region office.  None of them would take more than ten minutes to complete, but the very thought of doing them bores me to tears.  (The truth is I should probably be doing them now instead of writing this post, but I enjoy doing this because it goes out to leaders who hopefully will find it helpful.)  There are few things I dislike more than doing administrative work, and I am very glad I have an administrative assistant who does much of it, but there are still some administrative things that only I can do.  I'm just thankful I don't have to do too much of that kind of work.

The Pareto Principle teaches us that 80 percent of our effectiveness will be found in 20 percent of what we do.  When we are able to identify that 20 percent of our activity that provides the greatest return on our efforts and spend more time doing those things we will find that we can increase our effectiveness.  I believe most of that 20 percent will be found in the areas in which God has gifted us.  I want to spend as much time as possible working in the areas of preaching, teaching, and leadership because I am convinced that I can make my greatest impact in those three areas.  If I had to spend enormous amounts of time doing administration or working in some other area in which I am not especially gifted my work would quickly become drudgery and mostly ineffective.  So how do we handle that 80 percent of our work that isn't especially productive for us? 

There are two things we can do.  One, there are some things we just have to do because they are a part of our jobs.  I call them pay-the-rent activities.  They may not be the most productive things you could be doing, but they are necessary to your job so you do them.  I usually try to group such activities as close together and do them all at once.  I'll set aside an hour or so and fill out the forms, send them into the office, and then get back to doing something I believe is a better use of my time.

The second thing we can do is to manage around those areas in which we are weaker.  We delegate those activities to others who are more gifted in those areas than we are.  We don't do that because we want to get out of doing them but because there are other people who will do them much better than we will.  It allows them to use the areas of giftedness God has given them and it allows us to spend more time in the areas of our own giftedness.

This is important for anyone in a leadership position to do, but it is especially important for a bivocational minister.  If you are such a minister and you are feeling overwhelmed by all the demands on your time it may be because you are spending too much time doing things other people could do better.  If you sense you are about to burnout it may be because you are working in areas in which you are not gifted too much of your time.  You need to look around and see if there are some tasks you can delegate to others.  As you begin to unburden yourself from some of the responsibilities that have been given to you there will be a sense of relief.  Doing this will enable you to have more time to focus on the work for which you are gifted and will begin to re-energize you for the work God has called you to do.

Pastors must never stop growing

One of my professors worked for a number of years for Ford Motor Company.  He had worked in many departments, but for several years he was in Human Resources.  In our first or second class he said something that has always stuck with me.  He said when he was reviewing job applications he was not impressed with the degrees the person may or may not have had.  The only thing a college degree meant, according to him, was that the person was capable of learning.  He emphasized that Ford would teach a person everything he or she needed to be successful in the company as long as the person was capable of learning.  At the time that made a lot of sense to me, and it still does.

Some people believe that once they receive a degree they have learned everything they need.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I read recently that when one individual received his PhD  his mentor sent him a congratulatory card in which he wrote, "Now you can start learning."  What an insightful comment!  As important as formal education may be, we must always recognize that we must continue to learn and grow if we want to enjoy success in our ministries.

In his book How to Thrive as a Small-Church Pastor Steve Bierly writes, "If you are not trying to grow as a pastor, you won't be able to retain even the level of competence you have now."  As a regional minister I can say sadly that I sometimes meet pastors who have never grown beyond what they learned in seminary years earlier.  Such ministers leave a trail of destruction behind them everywhere they go and cannot understand why.  Every two or three years they change churches never realizing that their problems are not coming from their churches but from their own lack of personal growth.

What are some of the areas in which we need continual growth?

• Spiritual growth - A major risk that many ministers face at some point in their ministries is neglecting their own spiritual development.  We can become so busy doing things for God that we forget our own need to maintain a growing relationship with Him.  We cannot give out what we are not taking in.  The pastor who neglects his or her personal walk with God will eventually dry up and have nothing fresh to give.
• Relational skills - Everything in smaller churches is based on relationships.  The pastor who is weak in relational skills will never enjoy a successful ministry in a smaller church.  The good news is that this is an area in which anyone can grow.  One place to start growing in relational skills is by becoming a better listener.  Another is by spending time with people.
• Leadership skills - In the past several months I have worked with churches that asked their pastors to resign.  In every case the primary complaint was that the pastor failed to provide leadership to the congregation.  One of the problems faced by pastors is that many seminaries have not trained their students to be leaders.  They've taught them how to manage their churches, not lead them.  Churches that are serious about growing and serving their communities are looking for leaders, and if we are not growing in that area we will find ourselves limited to serving only those churches who are satisfied with the status quo.
• Communication skills - Pastors must be great communicators both in and out of the pulpit.  As far back as 1870 John A. Broadus wrote, "The record of Christian history has been that the strength of the church is directly related to the strength of the pulpit.  When the message from the pulpit has been uncertain and faltering, the church has been weak; when the pulpit has given a positive, declarative message, the church has been strong.  The need for effective preaching has never been greater."  I agree totally, and I also believe that ministers must be skilled at interpersonal communication.  Such communication is directly related to our ability to lead, and if we can't communicate with others we cannot lead them.
• Conflict resolution skills - Church conflict is a reality.  While it will never be entirely eliminated, it can be managed and even resolved.  The problem is that many of us in pastoral leadership have never been taught how to do that.  At a workshop I once led a pastor asked why so many pastors get stabbed in the back.  I responded that I wasn't sure that we get stabbed in the back as often as we shoot ourselves in the foot.  I've witnessed many pastors who made the conflict in their churches much worse by the steps they took to address it.  We must continually be learning ways to better handle conflict.

These are only five areas in which we need to continue to grow.  There are more, but these are a good place to start.  I cover each of these in much more detail in my book The Bivocational Pastor: Two Jobs, One Ministry.  I would certainly recommend you read that book and Bierly's book mentioned above for more information on the need for continual growth and some helpful steps you can take to experience that growth in your life.

What do people want in their leaders?

In 1993 James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner wrote Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It.  In 2011 the book was revised based upon new research they had done in the intervening years.  The book examines the reasons people follow the leaders they choose to follow and looks at the traits people identify as the most important qualities they look for in their leaders.  One interesting finding in the book is that the top three qualities had not changed in the nearly two decades since the first book was released.  These top three qualities are

1. Integrity (honest, trustworthy, a person of character and conviction)
2. Competence (capable, productive, and efficient)
3. Leadership (inspiring, decisive, and provides direction)

The writers explain that "The key to unlocking greater leadership potential can be found when you seek to understand the desires and expectations of your constituents and when you act on them in ways that correspond to their image of what an exemplary leader is and does."  This is true whether you are the head of a Fortune 500 company or the pastor of a bivocational church.  People will be more willing to follow you if you exhibit these three qualities and they will be more committed to helping you achieve the vision you have laid out before them.

As I work with church leaders I see some who exhibit some of these three qualities but not all of them.  Some are totally honest people but they lack competence.  It's not that they don't try to accomplish good things; they just don't know how.  Some lack leadership abilities.  The way they relate to the people they serve fails to inspire those people.  They have no vision for the future of the church so they are unable to provide direction.  Like the Israelites in the Wilderness, the church spends its time wandering in the wilderness under their leadership.  The saddest group however are those leaders who lack integrity.  Because of their track record people no longer trust them to tell the truth.  Of the three, integrity is the most important because if the people do not trust you no one will follow you regardless of how talented you might be.  The most successful church leaders are those who show evidence of all three qualities.

Now that you know what people are looking for in their leaders, and if the statement in the second paragraph is true, now is a good time to examine yourself and see how you rate on these three qualities.  As part of that evaluation you should try to see yourself through the eyes of those you are leading.  How would they evaluate you in these three categories? 

Competence and leadership can be learned, and as a person called to a leadership position you should be committed to growing in each of these areas.  Integrity is an inside job and has to do with your character.  Once integrity is violated and people view their leader as a person that cannot be trusted it is very difficult to earn back that trust.  Congregations will often offer grace to a pastor who leads them in a ministry that doesn't produce the desired results; much less grace is often afforded the pastor who violates their trust in his or her integrity.  I once heard a long-tenured pastor of a church say that even when people did not necessarily agree with the direction he sought to take them as a congregation they were willing to follow him because they knew his heart.  They trusted his intentions because they trusted him as a man of integrity.

As I read the section of the book that addressed these issues I was reminded again of how important a long tenure is in a church, especially a smaller church that has experienced frequent pastoral turnover.  It takes time to prove you are a person of integrity.  It takes time to prove one's competence and ability to lead, and until these qualities are proven to the congregation they are unlikely to accept the pastor as a leader in the church.

If you are a leader of a church, or any organization for that matter, keep these three qualities in mind at all times.  Be a person of your word.  Don't promise something if you do not intend to keep it.  Remember that people are watching you at all times so be a person of character.  Work as much as possible in the areas of your strengths because that is where you will be most competent.  Prayerfully seek God's vision for your church and lead the people in the fulfillment of that vision. Demonstrate courage and lead.  As you consistently focus on demonstrating these three qualities in your life and ministry you will find greater acceptance as a leader, and one day you'll suddenly notice just how far you have led the people God has given you.