Currents That Shape Your Soul - Christianity Today

Ken Fong EvergreenBaptist ChurchRosemead, California

Coached for greatness.

In spite of having spent half my life as a pastor, I still feel like I have so much to learn to enable this church to go from “good to great,” as Jim Collins puts it.

Since reading his book, I have wrestled with becoming a great church that will make a lasting impact for God’s kingdom. This isn’t about how large our church is, but about the quality of our life together and our ability to bring God glory.

To do this, I need to lead more effectively. So I took the SIMA (System for Identifying Motivated Abilities) inventory to determine if my God-designed “motivated abilities” are a good fit for our church now. Having determined that, I engaged a Christian “executive coach” to focus my energies on some of the emerging macro tasks.

Recently I’ve spearheaded an effort to improve our organizational structure and culture, and focused on increasing the excitement and investment of our members and supporters. Without writing out these goals and getting coached regularly, the tyranny of my normal workload would have crowded out these priorities.

Erwin McManus MosaicLos Angeles, California

Creating boundaries.

I must admit I struggle with the demands of ministry, and saying yes too often. When I was new in ministry, my boundaries were simply saying no the bad things and yes to the good things. But as my opportunities grow, the challenge is choosing between good things and things that are better for my ministry and family. I use several filters for choosing:

Can someone else do this as well? Or am I the only person who can do this well and passionately?
Does this give me the opportunity to build ongoing relationships?
Does this adversely affect my time with my wife and family?

I have to narrow my filters periodically. A half-dozen times over the past decade, I’ve felt overwhelmed, and I’ve redefined my priorities. If I didn’t, I would have crashed and burned long ago.

My family checks me on my boundaries sometimes, and several staff members do, too. My team shares the same values, and by saying no to some demands, I create opportunities for others to share in the ministry.

Cheryl Sanders Third StreetChurch of GodWashington, D.C.

Growing in hospitality.

There is one area in which I am challenged to grow as a leader—the ministry of hospitality.

Because I hold two full-time responsibilities, as senior pastor and seminary professor, in addition to the demands of marriage and parenting two teenagers, I set priorities for the allocation of my time and energies a day at a time. Consequently, after I have done what I can to maintain meals, laundry, and other absolute necessities for our household, I do not have much time and energy left for entertaining guests in my home.

I would love to have people over for Sunday dinner—new members, church leaders, old friends—but I have not figured out how to preach and cook on Sundays!

In other words, my challenge is to learn how to minister as both Mary and Martha, because I see the offering of hospitality as a key asset to effective leadership.

My goal is to invest more time just “hanging out” with people in my congregation apart from the time we spend together in worship.

Maybe Starbucks will have to suffice for now.

While spiritual leadership involves many of the same principles as general leadership, spiritual leadership has certain distinctive qualities that must be understood and practiced if spirit-ual leaders are to be successful.

Too often, people assume that along with the role of leader comes the responsibility of determining what should be done. They develop aggressive goals. They dream grandiose dreams. They cast grand visions. Then they pray and ask God to join them in their agenda and bless their efforts. That’s not what spiritual leaders do. (They) seek God’s will, then marshal their people to pursue God’s plan.

What is Spiritual Leadership?

It differs from plain, ol’ leadership. Henry Blackaby’s checklist.

The spiritual leader’s task is to move people from where they are to where God wants them to be. This is influence. Once spiritual leaders understand God’s will, they make every effort to move their followers from following their own agendas to pursuing God’s purposes. People who fail to move people to God’s agenda have not led. They may have exhorted, cajoled, pleaded, or bullied, but they will not have led until their people have adjusted their lives to God’s will.
Spiritual leaders depend on the Holy Spirit. Spiritual leaders work within a paradox, for God calls them to do something that, in fact, only God can do. Ultimately, spiritual leaders cannot produce spiritual change in people; only the Holy Spirit can accomplish this. Yet the Spirit often uses people to bring about spiritual growth in others.
Spiritual leaders are accountable to God. Spiritual leadership necessitates an acute sense of accountability. Just as a teacher has not taught until students have learned, leaders don’t blame their followers when they don’t do what they should do. Leaders don’t make excuses. They assume their responsibility is to move people to do God’s will.
Spiritual leaders can influence all people, not just God’s people. God’s agenda applies to the marketplace as well as the meeting place. Although spiritual leaders will generally move God’s people to achieve God’s purposes, God can use them to exert significant godly influence upon unbelievers.
Spiritual leaders work from God’s agenda. The greatest obstacle to effective spiritual leadership is people pursuing their own agendas rather than seeking God’s will.

—from Spiritual Leadership
by Henry and Richard Blackaby
(Broadman & Holman, 2001)

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Qualities leaders want to develop:

high quality performance
communication
inspiration
effective conflict management
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Online Poll
As a servant leader, I grow most by:
Supporting others	32%
Not expecting the credit	19%
Valuing relationships	19%
Basing my authority on character	15%
Feeling secure	8%
Shunning status	5%