Bivocational ministers and entrepreneurs

Wikipedia defines an entrepreneur as "a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk." That also sounds like a good definition for a bivocational minister which is why I believe bivocational ministers are entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs are risk takers. They often operate their organization outside the box of traditional thinking. They believe there are better ways of doing what their organization does, and they are not afraid to experiment to find out what works and what doesn't.

Entrepreneurs are hard to control. They often don't conform to standard practices. In a world of suits and button-down collars they think every day is casual Friday. They view most policies as ways to avoid creative thinking. They understand that today's "best practices" replaced what was recognized as "best practices" in the past, and they are convinced that there are better practices that should replace the current "best practices."

Corporate offices are afraid of entrepreneurial thinking. Most organizations are risk-averse. The don't want thinking that takes the organization away from the tried-and-true way of doing things even if those ways are no longer as effective. With their eyes on the quarterly statement, they don't want anything that might affect that statement. An organization whose vision is limited to the next quarter cannot afford to have entrepreneurs who are looking long-term.

Everything I've said about entrepreneurs is also true of most bivocational ministers I've known. The very fact of becoming a bivocational minister is to take a risk. We put ourselves out there knowing that we could fail. We're trying to balance a ministry, a second job, a family, and other commitments. There is a huge amount of risk involved in that.

Churches that call bivocational ministers take a risk. Will he or she be able to provide the ministry the church needs with the other responsibilities that person may have? Who will pick up the tasks the bivocational minister cannot do while at work?

Bivocational ministers are by nature creative thinkers. Adding ministry responsibilities to the other demands on our lives requires creative thinking. We often do not understand why our churches do some of the things they do, and we are often challenging them to consider new ways of doing things.

We frighten many in denominational leadership. Many tend to be less involved in denominational activities than our fully-funded colleagues. We're also less likely to buy into the denominational way of thinking. We know our church better than someone in a far-away office, and we're less likely to follow the "best practices" that come down from denominational headquarters.

Bivocational ministers should embrace their entrepreneurial tendencies. Our churches need such thinking. However, let's not become so independent that we refuse to find ways to work with other churches. Let's not be so certain that we are right that we automatically assume everyone else is wrong and that we cannot learn from others. Our churches do not need a Lone Ranger mentality from their pastors.

Some bivocational ministers believe that everything associated with traditional thinking, traditional worship, and traditional ways of doing things must be replaced. We should be careful of such thinking. As someone once said, "Before you remove a fence, first find out why it was put there." Some traditions should be preserved. Others can be changed, but first let's understand why they exist.

The best bivocational ministers will be wise entrepreneurs, and this is a worthy goal for each of us called to this ministry.

Should a Christian be wealthy?

While reading some of the blogs I follow I came across a post entitled "Should Christians Be Wealthy?" I did not read the article. There are two points of view on this question that many hold, and I disagree with both so I moved on to the next post.

One view takes the approach of the Prosperity Gospel that claims if you have enough faith you can create great riches. Pray in certain ways, use the right words, and God is obligated to open up the windows of heaven and pour out riches upon you. I stopped listening to those teaching that when I questioned why they never took that message to Bangladesh or some other third-world country. Surely those folks would like to know the magic formula to become wealthy. It seems those teaching this philosophy preferred to remain in the states where people could afford to buy their books and tapes.

The other view sees wealth as something evil. In this view one can only become wealthy if someone else is becoming poorer. People holding this view believe that wealthy people must be punished with increased taxes in order to spread the wealth. As a bivocational minister I am not wealthy, but I strongly disagree with this view.

People who take risks have the right to benefit when those risks produce results. An entrepreneur who starts a small business that becomes successful should not be punished for that success. The government is ready to increase his or her taxes if the business succeeds, but does nothing if it fails. Besides, what is gained by punishing success? No poor person ever gave me a job so I'm thankful that people have succeeded and businesses have grown so that they needed to employ more people.

There is a third view on Christians and wealth that I find more balanced. I believe the Bible does teach principles that will lead to a Christian (and non-Christian for that matter) to enjoy financial success. One of the best resources I've found that addresses this is Rabbi Daniel Lapin's book Thou Shall Prosper: Ten Commandments for Making Money. Rabbi Lapin explains that one of the reasons the Jewish people have often been so successful is that they follow Biblical principles that promote wealth. Referring to the Old Testament and the Torah, he presents ten fundamental "commandments" that relate to both money and business.

One of these commandments is that people should believe in the dignity and morality of business assuming they are conducting their business in a moral and ethical manner. No one should apologize for making a profit if they are offering a product or service that benefits others. No one should apologize for doing a good job and being rewarded financially for doing so, nor should they be attacked by others for being successful.

Another commandment addresses tithing. Rabbi Lapin says that for thousands of years Jewish people have seen the connection between giving and increased wealth. We do not give in order to receive, but it seems that givers do receive far more than they give which enables them to give even more. Some of the most generous people I know are wealthy Christians who understand they are merely stewards of all they possess.

Rabbi Lapin goes into great detail explaining the principles and reasoning behind each commandment. I found the book helpful as both a minister and an entrepreneur and learned things I had never seen taught elsewhere.

I think you will find this a very interesting and inspiring book. I enjoyed the insights the Rabbi shared regarding some of the teachings out of the Torah as well as the Jewish understanding of some Old Testament stories. You don't have to preach a prosperity gospel in order to teach your congregation sound Biblical principles about wealth and money.

The dilemma for the bivocational minister/small business owner

Those who follow me on Twitter know that most days I post several articles I find on other blogs that relate to ministerial matters, leadership, or small business.  Most small business owners are entrepreneurs as are many bivocational ministers.  Both require good leadership skills, and I have found that many of the leadership principles that are helpful for one are transferable to the other.  Of course, my entire ministry has been bivocational, and for many years my other occupation had been heading a small business.  I find both enjoyable and challenging.

Combining ministry with business leadership brings its own set of challenges.  I sometimes found it hard to make needed decisions in my business because those decisions went against what I tried to do as a pastor.  There would be times when an employee needed to be let go, but I usually found that extremely difficult.  As a pastor I was wired to retain people, not send them away.  As a preacher of grace I believe in giving people second and third and fourth chances.  God has certainly forgiven me many time when I have failed and never once ran me off.  How then could I fire someone for his or her mistakes?  More than once I knew as a small business owner what I needed to do, but it was very hard to convince my heart that it was the right thing.  This was always a difficult decision that cost me many nights of sleep.

I recently found solace in the fact that T. D. Jakes admits to some of the same problems.  I'm currently reading his book Instinct: The Power to Unleash Your Inborn Drive.  In one chapter he discusses how challenging it can be to be both a pastor and a business owner, and he specifically addresses the area of hiring and firing.

Instituting change is also a challenge for ministry leaders who are also small business owners.  As we well know, change occurs very slowly in the church as the cost of such change is minimized as much as possible.  Again, we are wired in the church to retain people.  In the business world change happens much quicker with little concern for how it will impact people.  If people don't like the change they are free to leave and seek employment elsewhere.  I found that in most cases I chose the pastoral model when trying to introduce change into our business.  I wanted to move much slower than I should have, and it created problems for the business.

Another challenge pastor/business owners can face is when people owe their business money.  I would listen to every sad story people wanted to give as to why they couldn't pay their bill.  Cash flow is king in a small business.  You can be profitable and go broke if you don't have the cash to pay your bills.  The problem became worse when the person who owes you money is a Christian.  Our small business once had a client who owed us money and was several weeks late paying it.  Some wanted me to take him to court to get our money.  I refused.  The man was not only a Christian; he was a leader in his church.  I took seriously the biblical admonition to not take a brother to court.  He eventually did pay us what he owed, but it created a lot of grief for a lot of people.

There were people, usually other Christians, who thought that because I was a minister they should get special deals.  They failed to realize that our business had bills to pay just like any other business.  We had employees who needed us to be profitable so they could receive their pay checks each week.  A few Christians just assumed I had to be greedy since I would not give them special pricing, and I'm sure a percentage of them became angry with me as a result.  The minister/small business owner often has to work very hard to help others understand that his or her business must remain profitable to exist.

Occasionally, our business would make mistakes and have unhappy customers.  That's going to happen, and you try to minimize it and resolve it to the satisfaction of the customers.  What hurts is when people question your integrity and even your calling as a minister because of an honest mistake that your business made.  I even had one or two question whether I was even a Christian because of a simple mistake that we made.  We resolved the issue with the customer, but the pain their accusations caused did not go away for some time.

Despite the challenges, I still enjoy both ministry and small business.  I also believe that the flexibility owning a small business can bring can be an asset to a bivocational minister.  Knowing some of the unique challenges that a minister-owned business can bring can help one avoid them or at least not be surprised when they occur.  If you want to read more about some of the mistakes I made as a small business owner read my book Mistakes: Avoiding the Ones that Will Close Your Small Business.  It is only available for the NOOK device, but it will help you avoid some of the mistakes that are common to many small business owners.

PastorPreneur

I'm sure you recognize the title of this post as a combination between two words: pastor and entrepreneur.  I wish I had come up with that word myself, but I didn't.  It comes from a book by the same title, PastorPreneur: Pastors and Entrepreneurs Answer the Call by John Jackson.  I have an entrepreneurial spirit and feel that most bivocational pastors do as well so the title really reached out to me.  It's been a few years since I've read the book, but occasionally I'll check out some of the places I highlighted and a few of the notes I made in the margins.

The author defines a pastorpreneur as "an innovative Christian leader, a creative dreamer who is willing to take great risks in church ministry with the hope of great gain for Christ and his kingdom."  Does that define you?  I hope it does.  Jackson goes on to ask, "Are we content to remain comfortable doing ministry the way we have always done it, with some positive but limited results, knowing in our hearts that we aren't making much of a dent in our culture?  Or will we take the risk of boldly trusting God for a fresh vision, powerful strategies, and incredible results?  I believe that a fresh, Spirit-led burst of entrepreneurial activity will lead the church to greater impact that ever before."  I agree.

Unfortunately, I see too little of that entrepreneurial spirit at work in our churches today.  I believe most ministers go into ministry with such a spirit, but then lose it as they deal with the day-to-day aspects of ministry.  It is so easy for a pastor to get caught up in trying to maintain the status quo of the church.  (Someone once defined status quo as "the mess we're in."  Not a bad definition!)  How does a pastor keep the church machinery running and find the time to seek a fresh vision from God and develop a strategy for getting buy-in from the congregation?  This book addresses these challenges, but I can tell you that it's not easy.

It requires an entrepreneurial spirit, but that can be a problem as well.  Many churches don't like entrepreneurs.  These churches want a chaplain as pastor, not someone who is a risk taker, someone who too often thinks outside the box and then asks the congregation to join him or her there.  Denominational leaders are also often uncomfortable with entrepreneurial leaders.  They prefer pastors who are willing to follow the manual, march in step with the rest of the denomination, graduate from the denominational seminaries, and fill out their reports in a timely manner.  Entrepreneurs are too often people who ask questions, and some churches and denominational leaders are very uncomfortable with questions.

However, without such an entrepreneurial spirit we are unlikely to have the impact we planned to have when we entered ministry.  We may have a more comfortable ministry, but I'm not sure we were called to a comfortable ministry.  We are called to impact our culture for the Kingdom of God, and by any measurement the church in North America is not doing a great job of that.

I have always felt that most bivocational ministers are entrepreneurial by nature.  It's part of our DNA, and that is why God called us to this ministry.  Let's not allow that part of our nature to be sucked out of us by the expectations of others or by the daily demands of ministry.

Fully-funded pastors also need to maintain an entrepreneurial spirit.  Our culture is changing so rapidly today that we need to be constantly looking for new ways to do ministry.  The strategies we learned in seminary twenty years ago (five years ago?) are often going to be ineffective today, but the call to impact our communities for Christ remains the same.  PastorPreneur...that's a good way to look at the calling of today's minister.

Smaller churches must take advantage of existing technology.

What do you do if you are a small church in a small community?  Do you accept the prevailing opinion that you are not going to be able to grow and that death is inevitable, or do you look for other ways to reach people?  Most churches in that situation are accepting the prevailing opinion that they will never grow.  They have been small for so long they really cannot see themselves ever growing or having any type of significant ministry.  If they are located in a small or rural community, they have probably watched as their communities have also dwindled in size as more and more people are moving to larger cities.  In fact, some denominations have decided their primary focus in the future will be on the cities, and they are willing to virtually write off their small community and rural churches in order to have more resources for their city churches.  It's very hard for a small church to not be discouraged and see little future for their ministries.

I recently completed reading Transforming Church in Rural America by Shannon O'Dell.  In 2003 the author accepted the call to pastor a small church averaging about 30 people in a town of 100.  Today, the church has about 2,000 people who worship in one of their several satellite church sites with an additional 1,500 registered attendees who join in the worship in one of their many iCampus sites.  They are able to satellite feed their services all over the world giving them outreach capability far beyond the few people who live in their community.

It's an exciting story, but it is not one without problems.  Early in his ministry at the church O'Dell challenged some of the sacred cows in the church and experienced tremendous push-back and eventually saw many in his congregation leave the church.  As painful as that was it did not stop O'Dell.  He was a man who believed he had a vision from God to lead that little church into a world-wide ministry, and he did it.

As you might imagine, he didn't take the church from 30 people to 3,500 overnight.  He began slowly to make use of social media technology to connect with people in his own church and community.  It is here that so many of our smaller churches get stuck.  Anytime someone suggests using social media for ministry people give many arguments why it won't work.  Their people don't use social media. (The fastest growing group on Facebook is over 60 years old so that argument doesn't really work any more.)  If your folks don't know how to use Facebook, teach them.  Many pastors will argue that they don't know how to use computers and other technology.  Sorry, but that argument just doesn't cut it any more.  Either learn how to use it or step aside for someone who will.  In today's culture for a leader to say he or she doesn't know how to use computers is really saying they are no longer a leader.  Leaders are expected to be learners, and there is really no valid reason to not be able to at least do basic things on a computer.

You may never have a vision like O'Dell's that would include using satellite technology to send your messages and services across the world, but through the use of common technology like Facebook and Twitter you can easily send messages to members of your church and community.  People are now willing to drive an hour to attend a church that offers meaningful worship and messages.  What if you could save them the trip by opening other sites in nearby communities where your messages and worship would go?  Would these folks be likely to invite their friends to those services if they were held closer to where they lived?  The answer is probably yes, and all of a sudden you have expanded the ministry of your church.

I've enjoyed reading O'Dell's book not just for the out-of-the-box thinking he does but because he shares my passion for the small church.  At a time when many have written off the smaller church, many of these churches are finding creative ways to do ministry.  While some smaller churches do close their doors each week, those who find new ways of ministering have a bright future.  For many of the latter churches, the use of technology will be a significant new way of ministry.  I believe every church needs to examine how technology and social media can make your ministry much more effective.
































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The bivocational entrepreneur

I am occasionally asked why I post articles on ministry related articles and articles that address small business and entrepreneurialism.  Some people think that because I write a blog for bivocational ministers and smaller churches that I would only post ministry related articles on my social media accounts.  Actually, there are several reasons why I also post business related articles.

The first reason is because some bivocational ministers are involved in small businesses.  Based on a survey I did in 2004 and numerous conversations I've had over the years with bivocational ministers I know that their other careers run the gamut.  Certainly, not every bivocational minister owns or works for a small business, but some do.  I want to believe the articles I post will help them operate their businesses better.

A second reason is that I am convinced that many leadership principles and activities from the business community are transferrable to ministry.  Just as it's important for a small business to properly market itself it is important for a small church (and larger ones) to market themselves if they want their communities to know they exist.  A bivocational pastor needs to understand sound marketing techniques.  A minster also needs to understand budgeting, how to best develop a team, the importance of vision and how to pursue one, how to effectively communicate to the various groups he or she will come in contact with each day, how to more effectively manage time, how to make the best use of his or her strengths, how to manage conflict, how to introduce and manage change, and numerous other tasks.  The business community can tell us much about how leaders should go about these various tasks, and we should take advantage of what they can teach us.  I try to pull out some of the best advice from the various sources I read and share that advice with my readers in the hopes that it will benefit them and their ministries.

A third reason I post leadership and entrepreneurial information from the business community is that most bivocational ministers I know have entrepreneurial mindsets.  In fact, I would go so far to say that if one is not entrepreneurial he or she will likely not enjoy a very effective ministry.  Bivocational ministers take risks every day and face challenges for which there are no easy answers.  We often have to do things that had never been done before in our particular ministry setting especially if we are the first bivocational minister our church has had.  It's not that we just color outside the lines; sometimes we don't even have any lines and have to insert them as we go.  Personally, I enjoy learning from entrepreneurs regardless if they come from a church background or a business background.

Finally, I post the business articles because I believe ministers today, and certainly those in the future, will have to become even more entrepreneurial.  Years ago I heard Zig Ziglar speak at a leadership conference.  One of the things he said that day was that there was no such thing as job security.  He insisted the best anyone could experience was employment security.  I agreed with his comments as soon as he said them.  I graduated from high school, got a good job with a local factory, and worked there for thirty years until I qualified for their early retirement.  Those jobs and opportunities are not going to be there for future generations.  Even blue collar workers like me will have to be continually learning new skills in order to qualify for the jobs of the future.  Staying with one company until retirement will soon be unheard of.

The same is true for those of us in ministry.  In the past a student graduated from college, went to seminary, and after graduation went to his or her first church.  It was expected that the seminary trained minister would remain in full-time ministry until he or she retired.  That is not a safe assumption to make today.  Increasingly, I find myself talking to fully-funded ministers who are convinced that they will soon have to become bivocational if they wish to remain at their current church.  They often tell me that they don't mind going bivocational, but their fear is that they are not trained to do anything but ministry.  They literally do not know what they could do apart from ministry to provide for their families.

These folks better start exercising their entrepreneurial muscles, and I am hopeful the articles I refer them to will help them do that.  I refer my readers to articles that address business start-ups, financing, marketing, how to supervise team members, how to overcome obstacles, how to do strategic planning, and virtually everything that a business leader might need to know.  With the many changes occurring today in the business and church world, we need to know how to do all these things if we want to remain employable in the future.

I am convinced we will see the numbers of bivocational ministers continue to climb in the foreseeable future.  Some of these will be former fully-funded ministers who will begin to serve as bivocational ministers out of necessity.  Now is the time for them to begin learning new ways of thinking and to seek out the skills apart from ministry that God has given them so they can be prepared if they find they need to transition into bivocational ministry.  I hope that I can help them do that.

The church needs a pastorpreneur for 21st century leadership

You may have stumbled a little with the title of this post over the word pastorpreneur.  I can assure you my spell checker doesn't like it one bit, but this is exactly the kind of leadership our churches need today.  The word comes from the book PastorPreneur written by John Jackson.  I think the book may be out of print, but there are still copes for sale at amazon.com if you click on the above title.  If it is out of print, it's a shame because it is a book that pastors need to read.  It is especially appropriate for bivocational ministers because many of us are entrepreneurial by nature anyway.  The title is a combination of the words pastor and entrepreneur.  The author defines a pastorpreneur as "an innovative leader..., a creative dreamer who is willing to take great risks in church ministry with the hope of great gain for Christ and his kingdom."

The book describes five strategies for leading one's church beyond "business as usual."  They are

1. Grab the community's attention.
2. Build strategic partnerships.
3. Conduct faith-building events.
4. Everyone's a 10 - get them moving.
5. Multiply your impact.

Of course, each of these are discussed in detail throughout the book.  The first time I read this book I wore out a highlighter and made numerous notes in the margins.  Let me share just one piece of advice he gave in the chapter about conducting faith-building events.

Almost every family in every community in the country is interested in topics like marriage, parenting, finances and handling debt, and finding purpose and meaning in life.  Does the church have anything to say about these things?  You bet it does!  Can the church use its classes on these topics as outreach tools?  Of course.  Entrepreneurs can help the church understand how to position these events to reach the maximum number of people.

Compare that approach to reaching a community for Christ to what smaller churches often ask for.  Several times a year I'll get a call from a church leader knowing if I know anyone who could come and lead a revival to try to get people to come to the church.  Do they really believe a revival is going to attract people?  Probably not, but they don't know what else to do.  It's all they've seen modeled, and just because it hasn't been effective in the past twenty-plus years it's still the only thing they've got.  Jackson would argue there are many things a church could do to attract people and earn the right to share a life-changing message with them, and he gives numerous examples of churches that are doing just that.

Churches need a new style of leadership to be effective in the 21st century, and I believe it will be entrepreneurial leadership that is needed.  Denominational leadership may not like it very much because entrepreneurs tend to color outside the lines.  Their work is often messy, and we often prefer things to be neat and tidy.  Their structures tend to be a little loose.  But, I'm afraid our neat and tidy structures have brought so much order and predictability to what we are doing that they have effectively kept many people from experiencing God in any meaningful way.  If what we've been doing isn't working then maybe it's time to do something different.  Maybe it's time to replace our managerial styles of ministry with one that is more entrepreneurial.