A friend of mine recently gave me a book by John Wooden, “Wooden on Leadership,” that I’ve started reading. I’ve become overwhelmingly convinced that as a pastors we spend too much time focusing on the other church in the neighborhood and what they’re doing right and spend way too much time focusing on what we’re doing wrong as a church. This quote from the Coach’s book caught my eye in the introduction:
Compete only Against Yourself
“Remember my father’s advice: Set your standards high; namely, do the absolute best of which you are capable. Focus on running the race rather than winning it. Do those thing necessary to bring forth your personal best and don’t lose sleep worrying about the competition. Let the competition lose sleep worrying about you. Teach your organization to do the same.” (Coach John Wooden on Leadership Pg. 9)
I find myself worrying a lot about what we’re not doing well at as a church. I’m always keeping my ear to the ground on the latest and greatest thing. What I should be doing is helping my team focus on what it is that God has called us to be and to do it well.
Our focus the last couple of years as a small community church has been on finding what it is that God has called us to be in a community that doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles of a thriving metropolis. We’ve determined that one of the things that we do well is caring for kids in our community. We’ve added a class room and a nursery for babies. We know that there are young families in our neighborhood who might be looking for a church that ministers to children and youth.
We’ve recently started searching for a part-time youth coordinator to help us start a youth ministry. Again, something that we feel as a church we can provide and do well at. We’ve continued with the vision of serving those in the community who are hungry. We operate a local foodbank on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month where we receive support from the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.
These are just a few things that we do as a faith community in our efforts to set our standards high for Christ and to do our absolute best, not as a way to receive the accolades and the high fives from the world, but to be obedient to what Christ has called us to be and to do in the kingdom and in our own neighborhood.
Here’s a standard I know that we all can better at as the church universal in reaching our neighborhoods for Christ and something that obviously Wooden did well at in his own life:
1 Thessalonians 2:8, “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.”
I was recently asked to help coach our 8 year old’s little league baseball team. Deb’s the team mom and I’m the manager of the Farm Team of the Boston Red Sox for a bunch of 8 year olds. I hear the laughing. Go ahead. It’s okay. Laughter is healing for the soul.
Now stop.
In the spirit of Easter and with the start of a new season of baseball, we’ve recently begun a series of sermons in church with the theme, “Come and get into the game.” We’re using John 20 as a backdrop for how Jesus invites each and everyone of us into the game. As followers of Jesus we’re given the gift of grace and peace as a means for being living examples of how God transforms us in Christ.
What’s keeping you from receiving the gift of God’s Spirit and his invitation to get into the game?
More thoughts to come.
And in case you’re wondering…
Coach K.C. and his Farm Team of Boston Redsox are 6 and 3.
I must confess I am not a blogger of worthy status. I admit I fell into the “fad” of blogging a few years ago and yes I do more on Facebook than blogging. Sometimes I don’t know if I have much to offer to the blogging world. I don’t have the time and the brain power to write and to reflect on the issues of the day.
Here are a couple of thoughts I have kicked around these last few weeks. I have learned that I am a better pastor when I am practicing the art of being intentional with family, friends, and most of all church folks. When I was a youth growing up in a large church what I remember most about those who I considered mentors was the mere fact that they were always present. Presence is a gift and I can count at least a dozen folks who were very present in my life from youth leaders to youth pastors. These folks understood what it meant to be intentional.
As I got older I don’t think I ever got a phone call or a visit from any of my pastors. I don’t even remember getting a note. I do remember one of my pastors taking me out for a steak dinner to celebrate something. It was a great dinner. The steak was awesome and the potato was as big as my left foot. To be honest though I don’t remember the reason why we went out, I just remember that he was being intentional with me. I remember another pastor and his wife taking us out to dinner just as I was departing for seminary. We talked mostly about what it is like to be in ministry and the joys and struggles of being a pastor and for Debbie the joys and struggles of being a pastors wife. Again, don’t remember details, just remember that this pastor was intentional with us.
I remember another senior pastor I served with in New Jersey while I was in seminary. I was an intern and I had the chance to watch him from afar. He wasn’t the greatest at preaching. He wasn’t the most charismatic of persons. His gift was that he was intentional with those he pastored. He always remembered names. I remember one church member saying to me, ” We continue to come here because the pastor remembered our names.” The man actually helped the church through a building campaign and both he and an awesome associate pastor led the church with the gift of intentionality.
So? What am I learning right now in my life?
Be intentional.
It might be the best gift of bringing about peace and reconciliation to anything I will ever do as a pastor.
Word on the street?
It acutally works. Am I still growing? Will I forget what matters most to being a Christ follower especially a pastor when it comes to being intentional with those I’ve been called to pastor and lead? Yup! At least today it feels good to know that it does actually work.
Over these last few months I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be transparent as a leader? How do you model transparency in the things you say and do daily? I believe that there are times when transparency led by the spirit is of great help to the kingdom. I have thought of the issues of transparent leadership often as I help lead a small congregation in making a difference for Christ. I come across folks who are looking for real genuine leadership.
How much do you reveal of your true self as a leader? What moments in your ministry do you lay your heart on the line? How does a leader uses his or her mistakes in a way that brings about change? How does one use the word sorry in a way that encourages others to do the same with the hope of the reconciling grace and mercy of God to intervene in those places that God needs to restore? I point you to Mr. President who is doing something that I have not seen in my lifetime from a president.
I point you to another pastor friend who is doing some real good blogging on leadership issues in ministry.
