MikeOharaLive the intersection of faith and life

5May/100

Know your role

I love John's response to his disciples over their concern that they are "losing" people to Jesus' ministry:  "God in heaven appoints each person's work." (John 3:27)

John had a confidence in and a clear understanding of his God-appointed role in ministry:  To prepare the way for Christ - "that is all." (v.28)  Nothing more, nothing less.

In a highly-pressurized ministry culture that says do more, grow more, multiply more, expand more, etc., can pastors and ministry leaders every say "that is all"? I think one of the keys to ministry is to know your appointed role, find satisfaction in your role, and stop trying to become like someone else or their ministry.

There is a distinction between "that is all" and "it is finished".  To be clear, the work of the Kingdom is never finished until Christ's return.  When John said "that is all" he wasn't declaring mission accomplished; he was simply saying I know my role on the grander stage, and I won't try to overreach and play someone else's role.

In short, know your role.

Tagged as: , , , No Comments
21Apr/100

Breaking barriers

Yesterday Dane and I listened on CD to the first hour of Nelson Searcy's Breaking Growth Barriers workshop.

One of the first growth barriers a church will face is space.  At some point your facility begins to feel full even when it isn't full.  Searcy uses the "70% rule": when you are filling 70% of your seats your are full.  Technically, the space isn't full, but people perceive that it is.

When this happens people
• stop inviting guests
• stop talking/connecting to others
• attend erratically

At GBCK we are facing this barrier in our 10am service.  We are hovering right at 70% capacity.  In order to create more space we will shift our service start times a half-hour later to 9am and 10:30am in order to give people more options to attend and to invite.  The change happens on May 16.

I believe GBCK is poised to reach our next growth increment of 300, which means the Gospel is growing and bearing fruit (Col. 1:6) and that disciples are being made (Matt. 28:19).

As we heard on the CD, sometimes all it takes is one little tweak to bust through a growth barrier.

Tagged as: , , , No Comments
27Oct/090

Saying the Hard Thing

Incredible start to the week with a couple of meetings with key leaders.  What I admire about these leaders is their willingness to say the hard thing.  And because they are willing to do so, they help sharpen me as a leader and, in turn, make GBCK better.  You wouldn't call these meetings "feel good" meetings, but they are so vital for the health of our leadership team.

Here are some observations about saying the "hard thing":
1.  Each leader took time to think about what they wanted to say.  Rather than speak from raw emotion, they took time to pray, think, and even sleep on their thoughts.
2.  They said the right thing in the right way.  Sometimes you can say the right thing in the wrong way and it sours the conversation.  Each leader said their thoughts in a way that was clear, forthright, and respectful.
3.  When someone is willing to say the hard thing it shows they care; their heart is in it.
4.  It's never personal, never.  In the end, we're still friends.
5.  Saying the hard thing is always a risk because you don't know how the other person is going to react.  Still, it's a risk worth taking.

As I said, these types of meetings are never comfortable, but in the end, it's saying the hard thing in love that makes us better.

Tagged as: , No Comments
   
Mikeprofile_black

Recent Posts

Categories

Tags

GBCK Bloggers