How often do you meet with your staff? Are the meetings productive? Successful? In my experience as an Executive Pastor, I went through many iterations of attempting to have great staff meetings. While I wouldn't say I ever got it "perfect,", I would say we did a pretty good job with it. We met every Wednesday at noon and began with a brown bag lunch. In my experience, here's what I would say are the top 5 "keys" … [Read more...]
Staff Development
Exploring The Topic Of Staff Development And Its Role In Helping Staff To Excel
I've fielded several questions on the topic of "staff development" lately. Having been in leadership for more than 35 years, I can say with certainty that I've seen many a staff member "develop." I think what we have to ask ourselves, though, is the purpose of "staff development," and what's the best way to get it done? Obviously, the purpose is to "develop staff," but how well do we actually do … [Read more...]
Should Churches Require Their Staffs To Tithe?
Never Make A Rule You're Not Prepared To Enforce
Not too long ago, the network of church leaders with whom I routinely communicate was discussing the issue of staff member tithing. I was surprised by the number of churches that communicate it as an expectation of staff but don’t check to see if it’s happening. I have an old saying, “never make a ‘rule’ you’re not prepared to enforce.” I don’t know how you can tell your staff that they are expected to tithe, and … [Read more...]
Leadership And Confrontation
Four Reasons Good Leadership Includes Occasional Confrontation
I've often said that leadership is easy as long as everyone does what they're supposed to do and nothing goes wrong. A piece of cake, right? Most of us don't like confrontation. Therefore, the easiest thing to do is ignore issues rather than address them. As leaders, though, it's our responsibility to confront the problems. Here are a few reasons why: Overall Success - The organization's success depends on … [Read more...]