This is a leadership lesson I put it together a couple years ago and used it in Peru when I spoke as the speaker for a Pastors Leadership conference to all the Youth Ministry leaders (don't worry I did not show the Mac commercial).

Don't worry about what someone else has, worry about what you got. Leadership is stewardship and you need to...

It is scary of the amount of jobs that are being lost in the past 4 months. American job loss has accelerated at an alarming rate, especially at the end of 2008, and 2009 is keeping the trend strong. Pastor friends of mine has experienced this. I spoke to one pastor luckily enough, who's church administration chose a 5% reduction in pay for all staff instead of having to let go of great leaders. His comment to me was, "We couldn't think of trying to decide who is 'it' to let go. Ministry is what we do and our life is designed to love others. We couldn't even think to have to let someone go."

However there are a couple other churches in Arizona, megachurches, who are on their second and third job cuts. This takes a huge toll on the emotional and spiritual climate of a church.

Having the largest job loss at a level higher than that of the last six decades for America as a whole is a tough reality. There is an implosion in the job market and Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute says,"We're seeing a complete unraveling of the labor market and are on track for getting beyond 10% unemployment."

This WILL affect the church. In multiple ways:

• Those needing help and the church being a help financially.[This definitely will be a larger topic in the near future for the church response to this issue]
• The church not being able to 'afford' to keep staff or able to keep paying staff as they are currently being payed.
• The churches ability to pour money into evangelistic efforts.
• The ability for children, students, and even adults in participating in events that costs money. [Blog to come to discuss how do we do ministry less expensive but still good]
• Families that have one or no parents that are working. They will need groceries and clothing for their families. How does the church respond?

Check this out, nearly a third of younger employees would consider quitting their job if Facebook was banned in the workplace. The way many boomers respond to this is that they say they are a bunch of immature kids that need to grow up. But not forgetting the Millennials, they say, "Hey listen, if we are so immature then why are we the most educated generation in the history of mankind." The Millennial could be best described as adaptive, collaborative, updative, and integrated. Their ability to work together and dream a creative perspective of life is the driving force of the future!

Why else would Google, the largest most used search engine, be hit with a lawsuit about age discrimination? Google says that their company emphasizes "youth and energy." The strategy has led to a work force with an average age of under 30 and with less than 2 percent of employees over 40, according to the claim. Google employed just more than 1,600 people in 2003. 1600 new highers and only 2 percent are over 40. If you are not "Googling" Google to see what all they are doing then you need to start! As a leader/pastor/specialist this an interesting lesson learned.

So what is the problem?