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...
Don't worry about what someone else has, worry about what you got. Leadership is stewardship and you need to...
focus on that. If you are a leader then steward what you have.
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How to Stay Put for the Long Haul: Being happy fulfilled where God has planted you.
Ministry is not measured by your happiness, it is measured by looking back at your fulfillment. Every great leader has hit a moment where raising the white flag seems easier and better then staying. Almost every study on pastoral longevity has shown that ‘long-term’ pastorates are the most fulfilling and fruitful. There are great leadership qualities required for great leaders, such as vision (discovery and articulation), discipline, empowerment, and persistence. Of course true leadership senses two parallel dichotomies; vision, and the management (of that vision), again the discovery and articulation.
However it is not these attributes that keep you as a youth pastor/leader, full-time/part-time/volunteer at your post. It’s often the overlooked areas and the subtle leadership qualities that keep a team together. The average teenager will experience on average 4-5 youth pastors, the average for a YP is 9months. Following are five areas to focus on in staying for the long haul. Hopefully these help remedy some excuses that may come.
But they have a Mac, they have lighting, they have a nice sound system and videos, people actually show up to their outreaches and service, it's no fair. Remember to be a steward where you are, it is not yours, it is God's. What the other churches/ministries has is of no issue to you to be jealous, chances are they are possible feeling the same feelings at a different level. If you have a vision and they have what you need in order to fulfill that vision then just hold on to that vision and God will make it happen in due time.
This post was published by a Mac... but our ministry needs a good speaker. That other church has a great speaker. *oops was that out loud*
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How to Stay Put for the Long Haul: Being happy fulfilled where God has planted you.
Ministry is not measured by your happiness, it is measured by looking back at your fulfillment. Every great leader has hit a moment where raising the white flag seems easier and better then staying. Almost every study on pastoral longevity has shown that ‘long-term’ pastorates are the most fulfilling and fruitful. There are great leadership qualities required for great leaders, such as vision (discovery and articulation), discipline, empowerment, and persistence. Of course true leadership senses two parallel dichotomies; vision, and the management (of that vision), again the discovery and articulation.
However it is not these attributes that keep you as a youth pastor/leader, full-time/part-time/volunteer at your post. It’s often the overlooked areas and the subtle leadership qualities that keep a team together. The average teenager will experience on average 4-5 youth pastors, the average for a YP is 9months. Following are five areas to focus on in staying for the long haul. Hopefully these help remedy some excuses that may come.
- Build Personal Connections. [Doorway] This is your way into peoples personal lives. When you develop connections in a personal way you will enjoy where you are at. Jeanne Mayo said, “safety is in relationships, not in doctrine.” Doorways are not given, they are made and created. You must be intentional and care enough to get into people's lives and let them in yours.
- Building Personal Vulnerabilities. [Windows] This is allowing others to see you, the real you. Pastors live in a glass house. When we live vulnerable people relate and see that we are genuine. No fakies!
- Building Creative Adaptations. [Remodeling] Growing stale and comfortable is a wasted effort. Nothing is more annoying then bread that is dried out. Look at your surrounding, your environment and change it, remodel it. Spurgeon says, "When fatigue walks in faith walks out." Get out your tape measure and start making measurements and evaluate everything. Maybe just a remodel in your ministry might save you and help you stay for the long haul.
- Building With Better Tools [Sharpening] Now that you have measured all that needs to change go and sharpen your tools. Abraham Lincoln said, "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." Don't waste your efforts working to hard when a little more work upfront pays off in the end. Read a new book, a new blog. Listen to a new podcast, there are many AMAZING ones! Learn, grow and adapt.
- Build Comfort Without Getting Comfortable [Redecorate] Get new furniture, or remodel, don’t move. Apply this to ministry (this doesn't mean a new sofa for your office), change the look, the feel. Begin a new campaign. Launch a movement. Start a Cause. Experiment in a new way. Start a newministry. Roll out a new strategy. Launch an outreach. The only thing is to not be comfortable. The day you get comfortable in your ministry sofa is the day you stop affecting lives in your ministry. No spiritual couch potato pastors! However make your ministry a comfortable place for people, students, people, VISITORS, and make it an enjoyableexperience not boring.
But they have a Mac, they have lighting, they have a nice sound system and videos, people actually show up to their outreaches and service, it's no fair. Remember to be a steward where you are, it is not yours, it is God's. What the other churches/ministries has is of no issue to you to be jealous, chances are they are possible feeling the same feelings at a different level. If you have a vision and they have what you need in order to fulfill that vision then just hold on to that vision and God will make it happen in due time.
This post was published by a Mac... but our ministry needs a good speaker. That other church has a great speaker. *oops was that out loud*
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