Stuart Briscoe wrote about a funeral for a war veteran in which the man’s military buddies had a role in the memorial service. The friends requested that the minister lead them to the casket for a moment of silence. They would then follow the pastor out a side door.

The plan was carried out with military precision – until the minister marched them into a broom closet. The soldiers had to make a disorganized retreat.

That pastor made an honest mistake, but it illustrates that leaders must know where they are going. As go the leaders, so go the followers.

The mistakes I’ve made in ministry (and there have been many), have caused me to be more cautious, but never made me want to quit. Let’s learn from our mistakes.

Tags: Leadership, mistakes

In his book As Iron Sharpens Iron, Christian author Howard Hendricks talks about his early life:

“This is a very personal point for me, because it takes me back to my fifth grade class. I’ve already mentioned my troubled home background. By the fifth grade, I was bearing all the fruit of a kid who feels insecure, unloved, and pretty angry at life. In other words, I was tearing the place apart. However, my teacher Miss Simon apparently thought that I was blind to this problem, because she regularly reminded me, “Howard, you are the worst behaved child in this school!”

So tell me something I don’t already know! I thought to myself, as I proceeded to live up (or down) to her opinion of me.

One time I got so out of hand that she physically grabbed me, shoved me into my desk, tied me to my seat with a rope, and wrapped tape around my mouth. “Now you will sit still and be quiet!” she announced triumphantly. So what else could I do?

Needless to say, the fifth grade was probably the worst year of my life. Finally I was graduated – for obvious reasons. But I left with Miss Simon’s words ringing in my ears: “Howard, you are the worst behaved child in this school!”

You can imagine, then, my expectations upon entering the sixth grade, where my teacher was Miss Noé. The first day of class she went down the roll, and it wasn’t long before she came to my name. “Howard Hendricks,” she called out, glancing from her list to where I was sitting with my arms folded, just waiting to go into action. She looked me over for a moment, and then said, “I’ve heard a lot about you.” Then she smiled and added, “But I don’t believe a word of it!”

I tell you, that moment was a fundamental turning point, not only in my education, but in my life. Suddenly, unexpectedly, someone believed in me. For the first time in my life, someone saw potential in me. Miss Noé put me on special assignments. She gave me little jobs to do. She invited me to come in after school to work on my reading and arithmetic. She challenged me with higher standards. I had a hard time letting her down.”

That, my friends, is a disciple making disciples.

Tags: discipleship, Howard Hendricks, Leadership

Last week Anita and I went to the Grabill Country Fair. We first headed for the Walleyed Fish Sandwich place but found the waiting line half a block long. So we detoured to the Breaded Pork Tenderloin place which was very efficient. Before we got in line for our apple dumpling (a fair tradition for us), we walked through the ‘Merchant Tent’.

Our son and wife, Nathan and Emily, went with us. The Merchant Tent was pretty crowded at that time so I took the lead and lead everyone through the congestion of people. I was pretty proud of my leadership skills until I got to a spacious area and turned around. There my followers were way back there checking out the wares at a fair booth. Old Chinese proverb say: “Who who thinks he leads, but no one follows, is only taking a walk.”

The practical lesson for me is to make sure everyone knows they’re expected to follow the leader. If they don’t know that, everyone becomes their own leader, and we go a dozen directions.

Tags: following, Leadership

This past week in staff meeting I shared some simple lessons from Acts 6:1-4; you know, the story about the first Deacons who were chosen to rectify the problem that arose over apparent favoritism that had arisen over care for some poor widows. Here are the lessons I shared:

1. Growth Always Results in Disputes. What worked well back then, doesn’t work anymore when we grow larger. The rank and file are the first people to notice these breakdowns. The Apostles weren’t doing anything wrong, they were just overwhelmed and had become inefficient. This is the inevitable price of growth!

2. Brothers will Murmur Against Brothers. Because we all tend to personalize problems, we seek to blame people, rather than help to identify and fix the problem. Murmuring leads to division (two visions), and was judged severely in the Old Testament. We should, rather, seek to identify the problem and help to heal it.

3. Leaders Deal with the Problems. Followers gripe and complain about the problems. Leaders, however, step up to the plate and try to alleviate the problem. These Apostles did not get defensive and justify their actions; they instead took immediate action to resolve the problem. They listened!

4. The Complainers Were Appointed to Solve the Problem. The Hellenist (Greek) converts murmured against the Hebrew converts. So each of the seven Deacons put forth and appointed by the Apostles had a Greek name. Who can better fix a problem than the one who sees it? If you’re going to complain about a problem in your church, you ought to volunteer to fix it.

5. Leaders Cannot Do Everything: So They Delegate. It is unfair to expect one pastor to do all the ministry in a growing church. A good leader will release ministry to competent parts of the body. The ultimate in spiritual pride is saying: Nobody can do this but me! The Apostles did not relinquish their responsibility, but they appointed others this specific task. Appointees must give account.

6. Leaders Commit to Prayer & the Word. There are so many things for a pastor to do, but prayer and ministering the Word are top priority. You can delegate everything else, but you cannot delegate these things and fulfill your calling. A good leader will build a team and release them, so that these priorities can be maximized.

Tags: deacons, growth, Leadership, murmuring