Michael Todd Wilson is a licensed professional counselor and founder of Intentional Hearts and co-founder of ShepherdCare, a ministry to ministers. He is the co-author of Preventing Ministry Failure, published by InterVarsity Press.
Question 1: What are the negative effects of working outside our calling?
Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” If we’re called to do something, there are other things by definition we are called not to do. It’s a simple concept, but many church leaders have never seriously considered the implications of this reality. Actually, do the things we’re not really called by God to do not only robs others of the opportunity to serve but unnecessarily overworks us in the process!
Like Moses, we can’t do it alone. Our ministry isn’t receiving our best if we’re spending time working in areas we aren’t suited for. We can get others involved in the process by teaching them how to do things. We can then take on the duties only we are equipped to do and let others handle the rest.
In my counseling practice where I spend a lot of time with church leaders, I find they have no true north. Perhaps a simple purpose statement that can serve as a guide and filter is a great step to take. This can take some time to develop, but if there is no intentional effort, then there will be no effective result.
Question 2: How can I re-energize myself?
Many church leaders are tired and stressed for numerous reasons. Here are a five primary excuses I hear as to why church leaders will not give themselves time to re-energize:
- “I just don’t have time” (a problem with stewardship)
- “I have other more important things to do” (a problem with prioritizing)
- “I have too many responsibilities to deal with” (a problem with delegating)
- “People expect me to be available” (a problem with approval seeking)
- “I don’t feel like I need a break” (a problem with denial)
- rest – this refers to the physical repair and rebuilding of the body and mind. When we exert ourselves physically or mentally, we ache for the restoration of our energies. We must plan times to rest. Taking a power nap, reading a good work of fiction on a day off or taking 15 minutes out of our workday to listen to your favorite genre of music are all examples of rest.
- recess – adult bodies and emotions still require and even yearn for playful activity to release stress. It is helpful to disengage from work and allow our body and mind to engage in things a bit more entertaining. Playing a pickup game of basketball, working on a tedious hobby, playing a favorite board game with your spouse or checking out the latest exhibit at a local art gallery are all examples of recess.
- renewal – our spiritual vitality longs for the practice of the spiritual disciplines and intentional times of spiritual refreshment. Practicing a neglected spiritual discipline, creating a plan to develop your oratory skills or working on your dissertation are all examples of investments towards personal renewal.
Question 3: How can I know when it’s time to move on?
Leaving or preparing to leave a ministry location is a significant step and should not be taken lightly. Here are some questions to help you navigate this sometimes ambiguous time in life:
- Are we spiritually discontent? During a season of spiritual discontent, God may place vision, expectations and relationships on hold, causing our heart to contemplate future potential. This isn’t about dissatisfaction with God or his provision. God may be preparing our heart to embrace something new.
- What has God been speaking to you about? Scripture plays a prominent role in the discernment of God’s calling. What themes have been prevalent in our personal study? We might listen when our personal time centers on a theme that seems to prepare us for transition.
- Do we possess a consuming new passion? God may be creating new vision that cannot be accomplished where we currently serve.
- Is there an open door? We can create honest dialogue with our intimate relationship about these opportunities as they present themselves. Mentors, ministry coaches, spiritual directors, supervisors, pastors, close friends and our spouse all may have beneficial insight on our situation. Not only may they be spiritually insightful, they also care about us and often may have better objectivity about our lives. Each relationship can provide a nugget of wisdom from that relationship’s unique vantage point.
Tim Elmore is the founder and president of Growing Leaders, an Atlanta-based nonprofit organization created to develop emerging leaders. Since founding Growing Leaders in 2003, Elmore has spoken to more than 300,000 students, faculty, and staff on hundreds of campuses across the country. Elmore has also provided leadership training and resources for multiple athletic programs, including the University of Texas football team, the University of Alabama athletic department, and the Kansas City Royals Baseball Club. From the classroom to the boardroom, Elmore is a dynamic communicator who uses principles, images, and stories to strengthen leaders. He has taught leadership to Chick-fil-A, Inc., The Home Depot, HomeBanc, and Gold Kist, Inc. He has also taught courses on leadership and mentoring at nine universities and graduate schools across the U.S.
Question 1: How do you learn and grow?
The primary ways I learn are reading two books a month; listening to audio CDs or podcasts while I drive daily; subscribing to 11 magazines, attending a handful of training events each year and meeting with six mentors on a regular basis, where I drive the agenda and ask the questions. To use one of our Habitudes—I work to avoid becoming a “Starving Baker.”
Question 2: Do you have a writing regiment?
I schedule a writing day once a week. This past year it has been on Thursdays as a rule. I stay at home in my office and get completely alone. I will also write blog posts and articles while on trips when I am away from the noise of our office routine and in a quiet hotel. This seems to work for me. I carry my MacBook wherever I go.
Question 3: Why did you write Gen iY: Our Last Chance to Save Their Future?
This book is for adults—parents, youth workers, employers, coaches, teachers and pastors…who have realized change is in the wind, but aren’t sure how to put their finger on it. Generation Y is the most stuided generation in history. They have been called Millennials and a million other names. Generation iY represents the second half of that generation, the kids born since 1990. They are different than their earlier counterparts born in the 80′s. In the book, I outline the specific changes, why they have occurred and what solutions can be employed to develop those students. It seems as though the world of technology, the chemicals in their bodies and the parenting styles of these recent kids have caused their “emotional” muscles to atrophy. Empathy is down; and so are graduation rates, while narcissism is up along with a prolonged adolescence. The book is about what adults must do to connect and equip them to lead the way into the future. I believe this is a crucial time to lead students, but we cannot do it the way we’ve always done it in the past. You can find the book at Save Their Future Now or on Amazon.
Tony Morgan is the Pastor of Ministries at West Ridge Church near Atlanta. He’s also a strategist, coach, writer, speaker and consultant who equips leaders and churches to impact their communities for Christ. For more than 10 years, Tony served on the senior leadership teams at NewSpring Church and Granger Community Church. He has co-authored Simply Strategic Stuff, Simply Strategic Volunteers and Simply Strategic Growth. His newest book is Killing Cockroaches. Tony has also written several articles on staffing, technology, strategic planning and leadership published by Outreach Magazine, Rev Magazine, the Christian Management Association, Pastors.com, and PurposeDriven.com.
Q1: To you, what are the 3 most important qualities in a leader?
They need to be able to maximize the potential in the people around them. Leaders need to have a big vision. And, they must embrace humility. It’s my version of “faith, hope and love.” You need to have faith in the capacity of the team to outperform the individual. You need to have hope for the future. And, you need to love others in a way that can only be accomplished through a right perspective of who you are… and, maybe more important, who you’re not.
Q2: What decision have you made that required more faith than ever before?
My most difficult decisions have always been those that have most directly impacted my wife and kids. They are my primary ministry calling, so I take decisions impacting their lives very seriously. That said, I’ve never been 100% sure about a big decision. I’m lucky to get to 75 or 80%. At that point, you really need to trust that God is in control. And, sometimes, you have to take the first step into the river before you find out he’s actually going to part the waters.
Q3: As a leader who oversees many pastors and directors, how do you create an environment of teamwork?
Honestly, I think the biggest key to teamwork is for the leader to recognize they’re not that smart and they’re not that talented. There’s a reason why God designed the church to be like the body. The body is stronger and healthier when it leverages all its parts. Any team is similar. When you help every player reach their potential within the gifts and passions God has provided, then the team will certainly always outperform even the most talented individual. Again, that’s where humility comes in. Leadership is not power. Leadership is not position. Leadership is identifying a specific calling and then recognizing the power of others to reach that goal. Because of that, great leaders are actually serving the great people around them.
Carol Phillips is President of the consulting firm, Brand Amplitude, LLC and adjunct professor of Marketing at The University of Notre Dame. She consults with clients on strategies for engaging Millennials, as well as conducts market research and creates brand strategies on behalf of Brand Amplitude’s clients. Her clients include JC Penney, Blockbuster, Whirlpool, and the YMCA.
Q1: What do you see as the top three brands Millennials respect?
Just three? That’s hard. It’s much easier to talk about what makes brands Millennial-friendly. Ironically, Millennials have the most respect for brands that seem to do the least marketing. Brands that are perceived as being ‘true to themselves’ or ‘authentic’ resonate the most with Gen Y values. Brands that try to hard to be irreverent, trendy or cool end up being exactly the opposite.
Gen Y responds to brands that stand for something meaningful and act it out, rather than just talk about it. This includes some older brands that might surprise you like Vogue magazine, Coca-Cola and In N’ Out Burger. It also includes newer brands like Google, Under Armour, Trader Joe’s, Jet Blue, Facebook and Zappos. Personality brands that resonate now for their authenticity are Conan O’Brien, Neil Patrick Harris, Shaun White and Lady Gaga.
The brand named most often when asked for brands they admire is, of course, Apple. Steve Jobs symbolizes much of what Gen Y aspires to be. The PC guy / Mac guy commercials create a clear ‘be yourself’ identity that Gen Y responds to.
Pepsi seems to have captured spirit of optimism and altruism that Gen Y aspires to. I am particularly interested to see how Millennials are responding Pepsi’s “Refresh Everything” social media campaign, where consumers nominate and vote for deserving causes. The students I have talked with about the campaign are strongly positive about it.
Q2: How can a company or church utilize marketing to engage Millennials?
Millennials are spiritually hungry and even consider themselves more spiritual than their parents. But they are the group least likely to attend church regularly. They have a ‘consumer’ orientation to spirituality; they shop around and select from among the ‘choices’ available rather than simply adopt the ‘faith of their fathers’. (Which is strange because they adopt their parents brand of bank, car and education quite readily!) Twenty-five percent consider themselves ‘unaffiliated’, yet two-thirds of those were raised in a religion. What a ‘marketing’ opportunity!
To reach Millennials, a brand, church or organization needs to make them feel as if they made a ‘discovery’ – it can’t be shouted at them. The values of churches and synagogues are very much in alignment with Gen Y values. They need to see how a church’s values fit with theirs. Once engaged, make it easy for them to share their discovery with others. Millennials love to share. They are connected communicators and they are always looking for ‘social currency’ to spend with their network of friends. Churches can offer that currency. Give them something to talk about and a way to act out their deep need to make a difference in the world. Give them a way to participate in their faith, not just talk about it.
My 16-year old son recently became involved with a small group of high school boys his own age led by a dynamic young adult. He didn’t even realize at first that it was sponsored by our church. He thought he had been ‘invited’ to participate in a special group of athletic, smart boys. They meet every week and he never misses it. It immediately led to participation in a retreat, Sunday night fellowship and finally worship services. He’s going on a mission trip this summer. He is now inviting others. I think this is a good model for churches to reach young adults.
Q3: Can you sum up the Millennials in three adjectives?
Just three again? I’ll rely on the three words I use on my blog to summarize marketing to Millennials: Be Quick. Be Meaningful. Be Shiny. Millennials are all about efficiency, making a difference and creativity.
Ben Arment is the founder of The Whiteboard Sessions, STORY Chicago, and Dream Year. He is also an avid blogger and author of Church in the Making.
Q1: Where do your creative ideas come from?
Creativity is a form of rebellion. The great dancer Fred Astaire once said that he danced out of anger. I don’t know what he was angry about, but I understand it. He was rebelling against the conventions pressed upon him, and I feel like I do the same thing with projects that I undertake. It makes me upset when I see church leaders repeat the same things over and over again until they’re not longer effective. They jump from idea to idea like a colony of mice jumping from sinking ship to sinking ship. As leaders, we should be far more comfortable with change and new approaches than we are. We should always be ahead of the curve.
Q2: What scares you the most about your first book, Church in the Making, coming out in April?
That no one will read it.
Q3: What excites you the most about your first book, Church in the Making?
The prospect that it could forever change how churches are planted. For decades, we have believed that faith, courage, and calling are good enough to plant an effective church. But they’re not. There’s a hidden X-factor that determines whether a church will flourish or flounder. This book explains it. God is constantly building root systems for healthy churches under the surface. When we identify and join the work of God, we will see tremendous spiritual fruit. But if we try to initiate the work of God elsewhere, our efforts will falter.
