Surface To Soul

I like nothing better than starting out my day with a cup of French Roast coffee. I savor the sound and smell of brewing coffee and that first cup seems to launch me into my day with a sense of hope and possibility.

Many congregational meetings and events I’ve attended recently seem to lack energy, hope and vision. Leaders appear frazzled, worn out, and disconnected to their role of ushering people into God’s presence. They need a jolt of spiritual caffeine.

How do your words and actions point people to Jesus and help others wonder what God is up to in their lives? My day starts with prayer and ends with prayer. It’s filled with inspiring passages and a few jokes to lighten my spirit. It’s filled with caring conversations and time to count my blessings. These daily rituals and faith practices bring back my mojo, helping me be energized by the Spirit and a blessing to others. Please share how to you maintain a fresh-brewed faith that’s open to the Spirit.

My oldest son asked me yesterday if I had ever considered getting a tattoo. I told him, “No, I don’t subject myself to pain if I can avoid it.” It’s the first time I’ve talked about tattoos with my family but it’s a common topic of conversation at Vibrant Faith Ministries. We talk about how people often dabble in faith practices, hoping to create a culture of vibrant faith, but what they experience is often just skin deep – like a tattoo. If vibrant faith is to become part of our home and congregational DNA, where it permeates everything we do, then we must go deeper. One place to start is with cross+generational ministry. How do we create worship experiences that engage and involve all generations? When we celebrate milestones, do we make sure that children, parents, grandparents and great grandparents are all part of the celebration? Consider going through the last 12 month’s of church newsletters, picking out all the events that could become more intentionally cross+generational. Where might you go deeper with cross+generational ministry, milestones ministry or practicing the Four Keys? How might you ensure that practicing faith becomes part of your DNA and not just a tattoo?

This past week 22 students attended Certification School held at Wartburg Theological Seminary. The school includes high ropes activities which are reflected upon afterwards. We discussed how easy it is to be immobilized by fear, and how we, as Christian leaders, must move beyond it.

Suggestions for moving beyond fear included creating a network of colleagues and cheerleaders to encourage us to along the way. Others mentioned keeping focused on the reward rather than the risk. Another suggested staying focused on the next step and blocking out everything else.

In what ways does fear immobilize your ministry? What can you and others do to move beyond it?

There was a time in my life when I was responsible for “recruiting” a sufficient number of teachers in order for the Sunday School program to run smoothly. As time went on, however, I began to realize the importance of “calling” the right people into teaching ministry as a way of helping them discover, develop and deploy their gifts for God’s glory.

When you invite people into ministry, do you do so through the lens of one’s vocation? Do you look at it as a vehicle for bringing out the best in others? As a training opportunity to develop their gifts?

Inviting people into ministry is not about filling slots but rather about helping people live into their sweet spot while serving others in the name of Christ. What are your motivations for inviting volunteers into ministry? What are your plans for developing their areas of giftedness? In what ways would your inviting process be different if you invited volunteers to serve based on fulfilling their vocation rather than fulfilling the needs of your program?

One of the traits of an effective leader is being willing to speak one’s truth in a grace-filled manner. None of us typically enjoy having these crucial conversations with one another yet we all suffer when they don’t occur. When we fail to address problems or challenges when they’re small, we allow them to become larger, more intractable ones. We might think they go away but more often than not, they simply go underground and show up elsewhere.

Crucial conversations and confrontations are a natural part of life. They’re a key to bringing out the best in ourselves and others. They need to take place in our work and ministry settings as well as in our homes. For me, these conversations often show up as part of our Saturday evening “family meetings.” In coaching relationships, they occur during our monthly “check-in” times. If dealt with early, they’re usually brief conversations. And let’s face it, there’s almost never a “right” time to have these encounters – let’s learn to simply have them as they occur.

What holds you back from caring enough to confront? What price do you pay for not addressing problems as they occur? What words or scripts do you use to begin these types of conversations? I welcome your insights.

One of the challenges I frequently hear from congregational leaders is, “How can I provide leadership when I’m not the one officially in charge?” Frustrated and immobilized, “second chair” leaders often discount their ability to influence other people’s mindsets and behaviors. Effective second chair leaders recognize that they can make a difference. They acknowledge that playing a “victim” role serves neither them or their organization. Second chair leaders are most effective when they’ve taken time to nurture a relationship with their “first chair” leaders that is built on trust and a common vision. They are willing to share, “This is what I need from you to do my best work.” They are willing to ask, “How might I best use my gifts and efforts to further the mission of this organization?” I believe that all leaders have the capacity to be positive change agents – it’s really a matter of whether they choose to live out of their commitments or choose to live out of their excuses. What are you willing to do to lead more effectively from the second chair?

For projects to move forward, every team member needs to do their part at the appropriate time. Unfortunately, balls often get dropped by one or more team members which delays the entire project. How do we ensure that this doesn’t become a common occurrence? I find that reviewing commitments made and their deadlines at the end of a meeting helps. I send brief emails or text messages to project coordinators one week BEFORE the due date to ensure that sufficient progress is being made. My pet peeve is to come to a meeting and find out that most of what we hoped to accomplish in the meeting cannot be due to reports not written, phone calls not made and assignments not completed. When I serve as a project coordinator or meeting convener, I realize that much of my work is behind the scenes, checking with each team member to ensure that we have what’s needed to make decisions and move forward as a team when we meet face to face. I’m curious what you do to keep projects on track. I’m curious what you do when when balls get dropped. Please share your thoughts and insights.

In Certification School, we emphasize that trust is foundational for all good relationships and for building great teams. Lack of trust is evident when we no longer trust a person’s motivations, or that one will follow through on a project. Lack of trust is present when we no longer believe that a person will speak their truths directly to us, but will refrain from speaking, or will address their concerns with others instead. Lack of trust often occurs in relationships where each party chooses not to be be authentic, available and affirming. Where do you see lack of trust show up in your homes or ministry settings? What are you currently doing to build trust among your friends, family and colleagues in ministry?

When interviewing congregations about their hopes and dreams, I often hear about their desires to increase membership and increase giving. What I don’t hear as much about is their desire to help people grow spiritually and to help people live into their vocation. A question I often ask leaders is, “Assuming that we get people to coming to the congregation and becoming members, then what do we want to with them?” A reply I often hear is “we’ll get them on a committee.”
Jesus reminds us that we are to go and make disciples. My personal mission statement is to be a courageous follower of Christ everyday, everywhere. What’s you’re understanding of what it means to be a disciple? In what ways are you helping people grow in the likeness of Christ?

As I’m preparing to lead a webinar on “How to Communicate Your Vision” this week, I’m reminded of how important it is to make our primary message meaningful and memorable. How do we make it stand out among all the messages we hear every week so people aren’t hunting for the key message like we do in a Where’s Waldo picture. We might begin by asking, “Is our mission and vision crystal clear?” We might consider how frequently the main message is reinforced during worship, activities, websites and publications. Realizing that “less is sometimes more,” we might reduce the “information clutter” in our words, websites and publications that get in the way of the main message.

What do you do to ensure that your main message is heard, understood, and passed along to others?