I didn’t get to a blog last week because each week an additional activity seems to put me farther behind. I’m not complaining. I always wanted to be busy in ministry. I try to avoid busyness, but I’ve never been shy of hard work and long hours.
That being said, I do have a concern that my schedule will cause me to not give things my best effort. I’ve learned the principles of Delete, Delay, Diminish, and Delegate from a Time Management Course I took, but implementing them has proven to be another thing. Also, being that this Easter I will complete 5 years of ministry here at Calvary, I had hoped to have so much more in place. That way I could move more towards interaction with people and not be so involved in administration and the organizational structure of the church.
Yet, we are making progress. Susan and I are getting out more and more among our members and people in the community. Beginning in 2012, I also started meeting once a month with a small team of people who were overseeing the various areas of Calvary’s ministries. I wasn’t sure why, but I knew I needed to develop a new leadership core. Not a consensus, but a core. Mostly we ate lunch together and speculated on our areas of ministry. However, a clear vision for why we were meeting had not yet become obvious. Until this year.
Our leadership team is on a year long journey to grow in our leadership ability and in unity of heart and mind. Based on a plan revealed in Scott Wilson’s book Ready, Set, Grow, we are investing materials into ourselves as a team. It was a rocky start. Some were not sure that simply reading could bring about the changes we needed. Others have demanding schedules already. Four members of our team have jobs. Nevertheless they are joining the journey with mutual consent. We chose 24 books to read this year and got to work.
Diving into our first book was a no brainer. In January we read The Art of Pacesetting Leadership by Dave Williams. Even though the discussion was mostly based around my prompting, our team understood that excellence in ministry is what Calvary has to strive for.
Next came Becoming a Contagious Christian by Bill Hybills. I’ve read many of the books we chose before, but this one was new to me. Pastor Mike Burk recommended it to me from his classes at ISOM. It was a challenge for several on our team. Especially since we read a second book each month as part of our journey too. This book, however, showed me some work we need to do with the core values of our church. Donna said it succinctly this month at our Leadership Lunch when she stated, “We have more in-reach than outreach.”
The turning point for us was the messages and materials I presented to the church in March about core values. It showed a broad spread of values across our church that marginalize our focus in any one direction. When we took this to our Leadership Lunch and began to discuss our core values and mission as a church, what we were working on began to take shape.
I was extremely interested in what I was hearing, partly from our newest book, Ministry Nuts and Bolts by Aubrey Malphurs, and partly from a new passion arising in our leadership. I know this much about what we are doing — we want to get it right and then we want to get to work. Everyone is beginning to show a proactive interest in forming the mission of Calvary for this generation.
We have nine more months of investing in our core team at Calvary before we move onto the next step. However, I already feel a chomping at the bit in some of our leaders. We must realize that education trains our minds and disciplines our bodies, but the critical phase is whether we can instill our newfound passion into the others of our church.
Beginning in 2015, we will once again endeavor to build ministry teams here at Calvary. The team approach is much more beneficial to a church which changes personnel regularly, than to a church with a paid staff. Maybe one day Calvary will be hiring full-time staff positions, but we will never get to that point without passing through this point of trained volunteers.
In the team approach each team leader is recreating themselves in those who serve under them. Whether the team leaders take on a new role in the church or they leave for ministry elsewhere, another leader is already trained and passionate about moving into the newly available leadership role.
The Lord spoke to me many more things than I realized when I first came to Calvary. Some of them got buried in the conflict we had to move through and some of the attacks of the enemy. Now though, in their proper time, these things are resurfacing. One of those being building a new generation of leaders for our church.
Another thing that rejoices my heart — our church is behind our leadership like never before. The criticisms have ceased, the know-it-alls have vanished, and the oneupmanship has crumbled into humility and service. Each person at Calvary is pulling their load with one hand out to help another along the way.
The thing I want you to note about our rebuilding process is, never start building until you have cleared enough of the debris away to reveal the true foundations once again. Saints, we are there. Foundation stones are once again being laid on the solid rock of what we value most. There is vision rising in the hearts of our leaders. They are hearing God speak to them to reach out to our community and minister at their point of need. I can sense an on-target attitude about our leaders. I believe their best efforts in ministry are just ahead of them.
It has taken time and I am grateful for the patience of our people as even I had to grow into this new area of responsibility. I am encouraged by the team that God had surrounded me with. I am blessed to have a great Board of Trustees to work with, whose experience is invaluable in this rebuilding process.
Finally, Sunday night we held our Annual Membership Meeting. As I surveyed the attendees, I saw some of the most committed people I have ever experienced as a Pastor. It is proven in their giving. Although attendance has not risen over the past year, their giving has. We once again are approaching $100,000.00 in contributions. Much of which we have invested in other ministers, churches, missionaries, and our Indiana District and camp. I burst with pride at the church we are becoming — a church of regional influence.
Still much work remains, but we are gaining momentum once again. Visitors are beginning to show up in our services, members are looking out for one another, prayer is solid towards the hurting and the grieving, and genuine love and compassion is being shown through our lives. If we can turn this loose on this community this year, growth is inevitable.
“I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.”
John 4:35, NIV.