Earlier this week, the church staff at Palm Valley met together as Pastor Greg presented the vision for ministry for the coming year. The vision he outlined included tools to help us strive toward our ultimate mission of leading people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. Since one of my personal goals is to become a more effective leader at Palm Valley Church, I though I would take the tools he gave us and reflect on them personally in an effort to more effectively apply them to my life.
1. Work with Passion
For me, working with passion means that I need to realize each day that my work might catch the eye of a hurting person and offer them a step toward healing that they never knew was there. My work might help a person who has become cynical about church feel more comfortable because we have created a church environment they can actually relate to. My work might make it easier for someone to invite a lost friend to church.
If I continually cultivate passion for what I do, it will show in my work and ultimately help to touch lives.
2. Lead with Integrity
We all know in our heads what the perfect boss should be like, how the perfect leader would act. But put us in a position of leadership and we oftentimes find that becoming a leader of excellence takes a great deal of self-discipline and is nowhere near as easy as we thought it would be
Leading with integrity means that we develop a consistency that characterizes our lives, public and private. I know that, in order to focus on being a good leader at church, I need to also focus on paying my bills on time or helping with dishes at home. A true leader is able to strike a balance between excelling at work and excelling at home. That is my goal.
3. Develop and Unleash Leaders
This one is tough for me at times. On one hand, I love enabling people to take initiative and step out in leadership; on the other hand, I also have difficulty letting go of control because I tend to be a perfectionist. I guess you could say that I do a better job at development and a poorer job at unleashing.
With the "Seize the Moment" campaign coming up, I am going to be forced (in a good way) to rely on others to help me. During this time, it is my goal to identify, develop, and unleash leaders who will then go and do the same. I want to loosen my grip on my ministry so that potential leaders have room to spring up around me.
4. Cast Vision Regularly and Creatively
When we lose sight of our vision, we become discouraged and tired. Ministry begins to feel like a job. Setup and teardown begins to tire me more and make me grumpy. But when I focus on the fact that by rolling out mats or running cables I am creating an environment that may lead someone to Christ, the burden of it seems so light and I actually begin to enjoy it (don't tell Mark or Greg).
If I am to raise leaders up and call people toward a goal, I will need to cast the vision. No one will work for Michael Gray, but they will work if they see that their efforts make a difference in the lives of others.
5. Honor Your Family
I love my wife more than anything, and I need to become more protective of my time with her. We used to work close to each other and commute together for 1 and 1/2 hours a day. I loved spending that time with her each day. We also had the entire weekend to ourselves. Now, we only spend evenings together (times where we are usually exhausted from the day) and only part of the weekends together (her days off are my days on).
An entire day with Heidi is a rare occurence.
While I love my job, I am going to have to learn to leave it from time to time for something I love far more. This may mean that something doesn't get done. That is tough for me. But I know that honoring my job above my wife is not honoring God -- even if I work for a church.
1. Work with Passion
For me, working with passion means that I need to realize each day that my work might catch the eye of a hurting person and offer them a step toward healing that they never knew was there. My work might help a person who has become cynical about church feel more comfortable because we have created a church environment they can actually relate to. My work might make it easier for someone to invite a lost friend to church.
If I continually cultivate passion for what I do, it will show in my work and ultimately help to touch lives.
2. Lead with Integrity
We all know in our heads what the perfect boss should be like, how the perfect leader would act. But put us in a position of leadership and we oftentimes find that becoming a leader of excellence takes a great deal of self-discipline and is nowhere near as easy as we thought it would be
Leading with integrity means that we develop a consistency that characterizes our lives, public and private. I know that, in order to focus on being a good leader at church, I need to also focus on paying my bills on time or helping with dishes at home. A true leader is able to strike a balance between excelling at work and excelling at home. That is my goal.
3. Develop and Unleash Leaders
This one is tough for me at times. On one hand, I love enabling people to take initiative and step out in leadership; on the other hand, I also have difficulty letting go of control because I tend to be a perfectionist. I guess you could say that I do a better job at development and a poorer job at unleashing.
With the "Seize the Moment" campaign coming up, I am going to be forced (in a good way) to rely on others to help me. During this time, it is my goal to identify, develop, and unleash leaders who will then go and do the same. I want to loosen my grip on my ministry so that potential leaders have room to spring up around me.
4. Cast Vision Regularly and Creatively
When we lose sight of our vision, we become discouraged and tired. Ministry begins to feel like a job. Setup and teardown begins to tire me more and make me grumpy. But when I focus on the fact that by rolling out mats or running cables I am creating an environment that may lead someone to Christ, the burden of it seems so light and I actually begin to enjoy it (don't tell Mark or Greg).
If I am to raise leaders up and call people toward a goal, I will need to cast the vision. No one will work for Michael Gray, but they will work if they see that their efforts make a difference in the lives of others.
5. Honor Your Family
I love my wife more than anything, and I need to become more protective of my time with her. We used to work close to each other and commute together for 1 and 1/2 hours a day. I loved spending that time with her each day. We also had the entire weekend to ourselves. Now, we only spend evenings together (times where we are usually exhausted from the day) and only part of the weekends together (her days off are my days on).
An entire day with Heidi is a rare occurence.
While I love my job, I am going to have to learn to leave it from time to time for something I love far more. This may mean that something doesn't get done. That is tough for me. But I know that honoring my job above my wife is not honoring God -- even if I work for a church.
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1 comment:
We think a lot alike, my friend. It's easy to drop words like integrity, passion, or leadership but a real challenge to live them fully and completely. It's great hearing someone like-minded as I'm processing these challenges for myself. Nice blog.
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