Replace Yourself

#3: replace yourself. Student pastors main role is to equip. The key is get out the spotlight all the time. The tendency I had in the beginning is to do everything! I wanted to do it my way, in my time and with my hopeful outcome. What I quickly realized is that I fell on my face in many areas. I would miss basic details. I would be running around trying to make sure everything was "perfect" before the service. I learned to plug people in because I missed the importance of being prepared beforehand so I could focus upon relationships. My desire to have a "top-notch" ministry revealed my pride and that I needed to learn to give away the ministry. Ministry is about pouring into other people and getting out of the spotlight. I know the tendency is to do it the "right way" and what this usually means is to only let a select few touch any part of the ministry. Student ministry is messy. Every leader and church has flaws, struggles and imperfections. If we really think that we have it all together in all areas, we will fail miserably. Once people were plugged into the roles that God created them for, the ministry  grew. In student ministry, we have to learn to not make it about our personality or our personal preferences. It is all about making much of Jesus and pointing all of the praise to Him!

Replacing yourself sounds great, but how do you do it?

• Stop dumping responsibility on people. It is easy to tell someone to do something. Dumping can leave people discouraged because they have no idea how to do it. Dumping is lazy and brash. Dumping bombards people. It creates a lack of communication that burns people out.
• Learn to delegate in a way that empowers them and does not bombard them. Give them insight on how to do the task with follow-up encouragement. Delegation includes knowing how to give direction to people so they can succeed. It creates a feeling of ownership because each person feels that they are making an investment into the ministry.

Ways to replace yourself: 

• Student-led band: Train up students to plan songs that go along with the series. It takes a lot of time and effort, but the reward is an avenue for students to grow in ministry. We have two student bands right now because students are plugging into a place of ministry.
• Prayer team: We pray thirty minutes before the weekly service. It is great hearing students pray for God's spirit to move and change lives.
• Videos/Games: Include leaders and students to come up with ideas to create a welcoming environment. (We do things like "Me-Tube" or "Room Raiders" as a fun way to get to know students and highlight them as part of the icebreakers during the service).
• Welcome team: Include parents and students in creating a welcoming environment to greet and encourage everyone who attends.
• Tech team: Equip students how to run the computers, sound board, and lighting.
• Teaching: Allow others to teach during the weekly gathering of students. It is good to let other leaders share their heart with all of the students. Include students to bring the Word! This past summer, three high school guys shared the message on Wednesday nights!

My goal is to only be up front when I bring the message. The goal is to give away the ministry so that we are raising up leaders who lead in all aspects of the ministry.

Replace yourself. Because it is not about us anyway.

Book Review: "Good to Great"

Essential Principles

I. Define your Level 5 Leaders

1.     You must put in place leaders who have “personal humility” and “professional will.” The leaders are focused upon inward humility but have an outward aspiration to be excellent in their work. 2.     You must get the right people “on the bus” if it will end up in the correct destination. 3.     Confronting the “brutal facts” is the only way to achieve greatness in any organization. 4.     Level 5 leaders look out for the interest of the organization before themselves. 5.     Do not hire someone who is not a fit for the job.

II. The Hedgehog Principle

1.     This process is to clearly communicate the simple and understandable meaning of the business. 2.     A healthy organization makes money, is passionate and has self-discipline. 3.     Technology is not the focus but is used as a motivator for change.

III. Culture of Discipline

1.     Great companies have a spirit of sacrifice and discipline. 2.     The structure of discipline helps build a culture that helps people live out their vision for the organization. 3.     The “stop doing” list was a fascinating approach to helping the organization lead people to greatness and not mediocrity.

VII. Strengths

1.     This book is a clear presentation for businesses to be streamlined and focused upon principles for growth. 2.     The communication of resisting apathy was felt throughout the book. 3.     It conveyed the importance of leadership setting the tone and direction for any organization. 4.     Biblical principles can be transferred into the business world and this book highlighted them well.

VIII. Weaknesses

1. The book was written mainly to businesses and it is hard to apply some principles into the church world. 2. It was somewhat hard to follow and used explanations of “great” companies that were secular with no mission for the gospel.

Personal Assessment

Good to Great has a great starting point for setting the strategy, “Good is the enemy of great” (Collins, 1).  Jim Collins displays a clear presentation of the need for leaders and organizations to achieve greatness over mediocrity. This book is written more along the lines of businesses, but some aspects can be transferred into the church organization. To understand what great really is, one must define it. Collins explains, “the crucial question in our study is not, what did the good-to-great companies share in common that distinguished them from the comparison companies?”(Collins, 7). From the explanation of the book, greatness is much more than an idea, but it is a conscious choice.

The emphasis is upon making a choice of unwavering commitment to excellence within all aspects of the organization. Collins characterizes the Level 5 leader as, "a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will." Collins is focusing on the importance of the motivation and skills of leadership. This principle, although not backed by specific scripture, can be applied under the realm of Christian leadership. The relevant topic that stood out to me was the leaders (level 5) always put the needs of the people of the company before their own. It reminds me of servant leadership and the example that Christ left the disciples at the Last supper (Luke 22). Humility was another character trait that is applicable to God’s Word (Philippians 2:8).

The book to me was not applicable as much to leadership in the church as the earlier books we have read. The emphasis is upon human leadership more so than the Holy Spirit’s power. I have heard Jim Collins speak and he is intelligent and engaging but this book would be more fitting in a business class. I prefer to look at the thought of “good to great” more along the lines of “character leads to excellence.” Churches must become unsatisfied with the status quo to improve but not at the cost of making it man-made. There were gems of wisdom found throughout the book but found the business strategy quite irrelevant to Christian leadership.

Overall, Good to Great was a research-based book on business principles. I would agree that it can be helpful in the church, but I would rather spend my time reading Simple Church or Purpose Driven Church to find help and insights into leadership. The thesis of this book is important to remind oneself of not becoming mundane or comfortable, but to strive for God’s glory in everything.

Philosophy Matters

#2: philosophy matters. In my first few years of student ministry, I quickly learned that the philosophy of a church ministry matters. In student ministry, we are under the authority of a church. Some view their students as a "mini church" but I believe that we need to be heading the same direction as the overall vision of the church. Now, it does not mean that we agree on every detail, but we cannot disagree upon why we do what we do in ministry. Many times, student pastors are looking for a place to serve and do not ask the right questions to find out the churches overall ministry philosophy. In conversations with a lot of my friends in student ministry, many have unreasonable expectations to live up to because of the churches philosophy of ministry. Philosophy of ministry is basically, why you do what you do and how you do it. I'm not talking about what you do (the mission and vision). It is looking at the heart motive of why we do ministry.

Why is philosophy important? Because you will have clarity! You will not bounce around to whatever is the new "hype" in ministry. If you view ministry through the lens of building relationships but you are being pressured about attendance, it is a question of philosophy. Yes, it is true that numbers represent people. But if our overall goal is to grow bigger, then having a "keg" party will definitely grow attendance right? I know that is an a bad example, but think about it. If the churches end goal is to fill up seats, then they are building attenders and not disciples. Why do I say this? The modern church movement has created a sub-culture of leaders and attenders who will do whatever it takes to limit commitment and make people comfortable (Read Luke 9:23).

Snapshot of my philosophy of ministry: In student ministry the goal is to build healthy relationships with others in order to share God’s grace and to equip the believers for the work of the ministry. I have been challenged to move away from a ministry built on programs and move toward a ministry developed around relationships. Jesus called a group of people to follow Him. He poured His heart and life into them throughout his ministry and prepared them to lead His church. Jesus left us with a calling and responsibility – to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20).

Philosophy matters! If you haven't realized it, many churches have different ideas of what success is in ministry. This is all stems from "why" and "how" question of ministry.

A few questions to ask to discover a ministries philosophy:

Church questions:

• What is the vision of the church?
• Why do we have the student ministry at this church?
• What are your expectations of me as a student pastor?
• What does a mature, disciple of Christ look like?
• Does numbers represent growth alone or is there more to it?
• What is your theological view of salvation?

Pastor questions:

• What is your leadership style?
• What are your personality characteristics and attributes?
• How do you view a student minister? (Pastoral staff, activities director, etc)
• What frustrations have you had with past youth ministers?
• What are the expectations for my spouse?

What questions would you add to discover the "why" and "how" behind the ministry?