Who Am I? The Question of Pastoral Identity

THE QUESTION OF PASTORAL IDENTITY

Are You Properly Insured for a Lawsuit?

How to Talk About Women in Ministry — And Why Big Dreams From the Dream Center

f ars o ple! e Y eo Ten ting Jewish P a r b Cele ope to ing H Bring

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REASONS TO SUPPORT JACOB’S HOPE

and Its Efforts to Serve the Jewish People Around the World

1.

IT’S BIBLICAL. “And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:3, NASB).

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THE GOOD NEWS IS SHARED. As the world becomes more dangerous and divisive, Israel has served as a beacon of hope. Jacob’s Hope is connected with a respected Pentecostal organization that believes in bringing all people to faith.

3.

IT DEMONSTRATES GRATITUDE TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE. Through the Jewish people and Israel, both the Old and New Covenants were given. Jacob’s Hope provides support by helping meet needs. The blessings received from this compassion-driven outreach to the Jewish people are used to partner with Jewish believing congregations, leadership training, and more.

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Since 2009 Jacob’s Hope has worked around the world to bring hope to the Jewish people through compassionate ministry and evangelism.

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Partner with us to bring hope to the Jewish people in Israel and the nations.

Love. Hope. Messiah. jacobshope.com (417) 865-3295 jacobshope@jacobshope.com P.O. BOX 1046, SPRINGFIELD, MO 65801

Acct. No. 390907

MAGAZINE

THE SHAPE OF LEADERSHIP INFLUENCE MAGAZINE

S U B S C R I P T I O N S

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articles, photographs, images, and illustrations are protected by copyright and owned or controlled by Influence magazine of The General Council of the Assemblies of God.

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Michael Beals, Stephen Blandino, Matthew Barnett, Tommy Barnett, Sam Chand, Ernest Clover, Chris Colvin, Frank Damazio, Jody Dow, Paul and Christina Hanfere, Paul Palmer, Kayla Pierce, Joy Qualls, Christina Quick, Chris Railey, Jerry Sparks, Ryan Wakefield, Dillon Wilson, George P. Wood

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Copyright © 2019 by The General Council of the Assemblies of God, 1445 N. Boonville Ave., Springfield, MO 658021894. Permission required for reprints. All rights reserved.

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taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan (www.zondervan.com).

All rights reserved worldwide. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™ Influence magazine (ISSN: 2470-6795) is published six times a year in January, March, May, July, September and November by Influence Resources (1445 N. Boonville Avenue, Springfield, MO 65802-1894). Periodicals postage paid at Springfield, Missouri, and at other mailing offices.

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CONTENTS

ISSUE_23/ MAY_JUNE 2019

8 If You Ask Me

R E F L E C T I O N S O N L E A D E R S H I P

Anticipating the Best

10 Get Set L E A D E R S I M PA C T I N G T H E C H U R C H A N D C U LT U R E

Co-Pastoring for the Good of the Community A Q&A With Paul and Christina Hanfere

12 Like a Leader TOOLS FOR PERSONAL AND CONGREGATIONAL GROWTH

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• Live: Always Say ‘Thank You’

• Think: The Life-Giving Power of Constructive Criticism

• Learn: Selected Book Reviews

20 Playbook S T R AT E G I E S F O R E F F E C T I V E M I N I S T R Y

• Build: Marketing Your Church for Growth

• Know: Grace for What Is, Not What If

• Invest: Are You Properly Insured for a Lawsuit?

30 Perspectives O N E I S S U E , T W O P E R S P E C T I V E S O N M AT T E R S A F F E C T I N G T O D AY ’ S C H U R C H

Should Pastors Be Close Friends With Church Members?

32 WHO AM I? THE QUESTION OF PASTORAL IDENTITY

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All of us instinctively ask the penetrating question, “Who am I?” Few people, however, come to satisfying answers.

SAM CHAND

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42 HOW TO TALK ABOUT WOMEN IN MINISTRY — AND WHY

Talking about women as leaders matters to the memories of those who paved the way, to women who seek to lead today, and to future generations.

JOY QUALLS

52 STRATEGIC CHURCH LEADERSHIP

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Building thriving, healthy churches requires strategic leaders who are strategic thinkers making strategic changes.

FRANK DAMAZIO

60 Multipliers

LEADERS LEVERAGING THEIR GIFTS FOR GOD’S KINGDOM

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Big Dreams From the Dream Center

• Matthew Barnett: Hearts Going in the Same Direction

• Paul Palmer: Changing Lives by Meeting Needs

• Jody Dow: A Dream (Center) Come True

• Ernest Clover: Living out the Gospel

70 Make It Count

AN EIGHT-WEEK STUDY FOR LEADERSHIP TEAMS

Followership: Eight Keys to Becoming a Great Follower

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80 The Final Note

Power to Forgive

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IF YOU ASK ME

Reflections on leadership

Anticipating the Best CHRIS RAILEY ne of the most quoted, tweeted, hashtagged, and, if you ask me, overused sayings in the church world today is #thebestisyettocome! Be honest, how many of you have thrown this in a social media post about your church in the last month? Scrolling through my feed and looking back at my own recent sermons, I’ve noticed this cliché shows up everywhere. It rolls off the tongue, is the perfect addition to any church-related post, and fits nicely with any sermon introduction or conclusion.

But what if we’re dealing with a problem we can’t seem to fix or facing an obstacle we can’t see our way over? What if things get worse before they get better? Or what if we simply don’t feel as optimistic as those in our social media feed? Is it helpful or even true to say, preach or post that the best is yet to come?

This is one of many examples of things that, while true theologically, have lost their depth

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Chris Railey, D.Min., is executive director of Influence Resources and senior director of leadership and church development ministries for The General Council of the Assemblies of God, U.S.A.

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through a hijacking by Christian pop culture.

I have to admit, I sometimes cringe when I hear it — not because it isn’t true, but because it’s become little more than filler from the platform or the obligatory add-on to a Sunday afternoon post about church that day.

In reality, “the best is yet to come” is one of the truest and most meaningful things we can say. It’s not our ability or what we hope will happen that makes it a powerfully true statement; it’s God’s ability and what has already happened! It’s Christ’s work on our behalf that creates for us a better future, as well as our faith to believe in that future even when we can’t see it from where we stand. That’s the point the author of Hebrews makes in Chapter 11: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (verse 1).

Such faith creates a contagious expectation of what God will do, even when we’re going where we’ve never gone, doing what we’ve never done, and feeling what we’ve never felt.

We look forward to a future that’s bigger than anything we could build — one God alone can create. The heroes named in Hebrews 11 believed the best was yet to come, even as they faced hardships and death.

Whether you’re in a season of increase or despair, hold in faith to this fundamental truth that in Christ the best for you and your family and your ministry is always yet to come. Say it, preach it, and post away ... and let it be a sincere reminder of the goodness and faithfulness of God! This issue of Influence magazine features content that will inspire you to take your next step of faith. In the cover story, Sam Chand explains why embracing God’s grace is crucial to understanding your identity as a minister and Christ follower. Frank Damazio offers advice on strategic church leadership.

And Joy Qualls considers how we can talk more effectively about women’s leadership.

We pray this issue will encourage you to trust God for a bright future. We’re truly believing with you that the best is yet to come.

GET SET

Leaders Impacting the Church and Culture

Co-Pastoring for the Good of the Community A Q&A WITH PAUL AND CHRISTINA HANFERE

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Paul and Christina Hanfere serve as co-pastors of Overflow City Church (AG), which launched on Sept. 9, 2018, in Silver Spring, Maryland, near the nation’s capital. The Hanferes are helping make a difference in one of the most unchurched communities in the nation.

INFLUENCE: What were the keys to Overflow

City Church’s successful launch?

THE HANFERES: The first was a personal dependence on prayer. This carried over into our launch team meetings. We went on fasts and multiple prayer walks around our future meeting facility and the surrounding areas.

Prayer has been the heartbeat of our church from day one, and will continue to be. St. Augustine said, “Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.” This is something we try to live by.

Receiving a God-given vision for the church plant was invaluable to our launch as well. There are many good visions; what makes a difference is having God’s vision for the church. Once the vision was received, we began to cast it in a clear and strategic way for people to understand and remember it, because vision leaks. It was woven into everything we did so everyone could connect what we were doing to the vision.

Lastly, we were intentional about engaging with our community in meaningful ways. We fostered relationships with local city representatives, business owners and people in the community.

How is the church’s presence making a difference in your community?

The greater Washington, D.C., area is one of the wealthiest, most educated, and most influential places in the world. However, it also has some of the nation’s highest drug addiction, divorce, homeless and poverty rates. If finances, legislation or education could have solved these issues, things would have been fixed a long time ago.

We believe the only solution is Jesus. That is why the message of the gospel is at the core of every gathering, and is preached and taught unapologetically. We give an opportunity for people to make a decision to follow Christ every Sunday. By doing this, we have seen people make that choice nearly every week since we launched.

How do you make the co-pastoring arrangement work for you and your church?

Open and clear communication is necessary regarding all ministry and marital matters.

When communication breaks down, other problems will follow. Something that has helped us keep the communication channels open is counseling sessions. We also work to create healthy ministry and life boundaries.

We have technology blackout times every day and once-a-week date nights.

OCC’s ministry philosophy is to do a few things exceptionally well. What are some of those things?

We believe that less is more when it’s done in excellence. Part of our vision is for people to encounter God. So at our Sunday gatherings, we want to create a worship experience that’s done in excellence while making room for God to move.

Children’s ministry is not a babysitting service at OCC, but a ministry that is just as vital as it is for the adults. We work hard to create a fun and safe environment where children can learn about Jesus in a way that is relevant to their age and grow in their relationship with God. All of our children’s workers are passionate about serving in this area, and seeing children grow in their faith.

In just a few months, we have also done numerous focused outreaches to impact our community for Christ. A saying that’s common around OCC is, “There is no such thing as a successful church in an unsuccessful community.”

“ There are many good visions; what makes a difference is having God’s vision for the church.”

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LIVE LIKE A LEADER

Always Say ‘Thank You’ DILLON WILSON

What I learned from an NCAA Division I football coach.

Dillion Wilson served as the young adults pastor at the Oaks Church (AG) in Red Oak, Texas, a position he held for three years. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

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will never forget the moment I received my first letter from Hall of Fame Coach Bill Snyder. I found it early one morning when I arrived at my locker. Opening it, I recognized the purple ink from the pen my coach held in his hand every day at practice. This was not a generic letter.

It was to me, on purpose, and from a man for whom I had the utmost respect.

I played football for the Kansas State University Wildcats from 2011-16. During that time, we played in five consecutive bowl games and won a Big 12 championship. The victories were exhilarating, the bowl rings flashy, and the friendships strong, but what I most remember are the 4-by-8 letters I received in my locker. These letters inspired me in a way nothing else could. Here is why: Coach Snyder’s words held weight. The words in purple ink were special to me, because they came from someone I highly esteemed. When a leader has gained respect, the words that leader speaks are weighty.

They penetrate just a little deeper into one’s heart. Coach Snyder’s words were all of those things to me.

Coach Snyder’s time was intentional.

I knew how busy Coach Snyder was, and every time I received a letter from him (whether it was a two-word “Happy Birthday” or a longer letter addressing a monumental moment), I thought, Amidst all of his responsibilities, Coach sees me. He knows what’s happening in my life, and acknowledges me as someone worth taking time for.

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Coach Snyder valued people over performance. There was no person too small or too insignificant for Coach. I was a backup kicker for five years, playing only twice my entire career. Coach still made time for me. He didn’t write because of my ability to perform, but simply because he wanted to acknowledge the personal wins in my own life, as Dillon.

You may be wondering how to integrate this practice into your life and ministry. A good place to start is with the church staff and volunteers you lead. Consider the impression your intentional words of encouragement could make.

I began implementing this practice in ministry by writing a letter a week. Over time, I created a system that allows me to do more.

In my calendar, I now have a 25-minute spot blocked off three days a week for this purpose. I created a list of people I write to regularly, and another list of those I write to on occasion. Instead of writing a generic thank you note, I look for something specific and positive I can call out.

Whether you write a note or find some other way to let those you lead know you value them, develop a habit of making time for relationships. Don’t just lead your team; personally invest in your team members.

Small, heartfelt gestures — like handwritten letters in purple ink — can make all the difference.

Coach, thank you. Your purple ink is imprinted on my life. And I am still feeling the ripple effects of your influence.

THINK LIKE A LEADER

The Life-Giving Power of Constructive Criticism KAY LA P I E R C E

Four recommendations for giving essential feedback.

Kayla Pierce is the kids’ ministry director at SouthGate Church (AG) in South Bend, Indiana. She is also a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of Notre Dame where she studies group processes, emotions and identity. You can find out more about her research at kayladrpierce.com.

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iving negative feedback isn’t easy.

We don’t want to discourage people who care deeply about their work and invest many hours serving.

For most people in ministry, what they do is a vital part of who they are. Their identities as pastors, staff members and volunteers are important to them, which is great! It means they feel invested in the mission.

Yet the more important an identity is to a person, the easier it is for them to feel slighted and become defensive when they hear a critique. For this reason, it’s tempting to sidestep this responsibility.

However, Scripture is clear about the benefits of constructive criticism. Proverbs 15:31 says, “Whoever heeds life-giving correction will be at home among the wise.” To fulfill God’s vision for our communities, we need our team members to grow in wisdom. That makes constructive criticism essential.

So how do we give feedback that is constructive? Social science research provides good insight. Daniel Ilgen, former president of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, is an expert on constructive criticism. Along with his colleagues, Ilgen developed these four recommendations: 1. Don’t delay. Opportunities for feedback often follow a specific event. Research shows that dragging your feet and delaying the delivery of feedback makes the information less effective. Take a day or so to gather your thoughts and ensure you can deliver the feedback in a positive tone. But don’t wait until

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the event is a distant, fuzzy memory.

2. Ask the individual to reflect on and assess his or her performance. People are generally hyper-aware of their weaknesses. Listening to people talk about themselves will help in understanding their thought processes, enabling you to identify strategies that will help them overcome their weaknesses in the future. I recommend doing this conversationally, and not through a written document, which feels rigid and formal.

Allowing an individual to talk through a situation first not only takes some of the pressure off you, but research shows that self-criticism does more to increase performance than criticism from leaders. It may even prompt them to ask you for advice, which serves as an invitation for feedback.

3. Be specific. To reduce embarrassment, don’t give feedback that is vague. We hope the person will connect the dots between recent events and our general feedback, but that’s not usually the case. When you give feedback, talk through specific examples.

4. Focus your critique on behavior, not character. Targeting a team member’s personhood will result in defensiveness or, worse, rejection of your feedback.

Acknowledge people’s good intentions, and communicate that you want to help them grow. Remind individuals that if you didn’t believe in them, you wouldn’t invest in them.

Remember, giving feedback makes you a more effective leader. Not only does your team desire to succeed, but they also want to please you. Giving them feedback helps achieve both of these goals.

LEARN LIKE A LEADER Selected Book Reviews

EVANGELIZING “CHRISTIAN” AMERICA atthew 7:21–23 is among the most sobering passages of Scripture. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus says, “but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

Dean Inserra opens The Unsaved Christian with this passage because it so starkly portrays the self-deception of self-identified Christians whom Christ cannot identify as His own. Inserra explains: “These petitioners Jesus spoke of loved to say, ‘didn’t we?’ when they should have been saying, ‘didn’t He?’” In other words, they practiced self-righteousness, attempting to merit salvation through spiritual works, rather than receiving God’s gracious gift of righteousness in Christ through repentance and faith.

Today, few self-identified American Christians claim to exorcize demons or work miracles, but the central insight of The Unsaved Christian is that they are nevertheless as lost as the “evildoers” of Matthew 7:23. They are Christians in name only, practitioners of cultural Christianity.

“Cultural Christianity is a mindset that places one’s security in heritage, values, rites of passage (such as a first communion or a baptism from childhood), and a generic deity, rather than the redemptive work of Jesus Christ,” writes Inserra. He goes on to provide a taxonomy of eight types of cultural Christians: 1. Country Club Christian 2. Christmas & Easter Christian 3. God & Country Christian 4. Liberal Social Justice Christian 5. Good Guy Next Door Christian 6. Generational Catholic Christian 7. Mainline Protestant 8. Bible Belt Christian These are ideal types, but they do describe a lot of the features of what passes for Christianity in contemporary American culture.

Inserra explains the errors of each variety, identifies starting points for evangelistic conversations, and shows how the

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“Sadly, many people in the Bible Belt are haunted by the idea of Christ, while not understanding His love for them.”

Books reviewed by

George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine.

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gospel challenges falsehoods and provides a remedy for them. Take Bible Belt Christianity, for example. It is typically found in the South, which Flannery O’Connor described as “Christ-haunted.” Its “unofficial liturgy” is country music, and Inserra provides an insightful look at the religious outlook of three contemporary country songs.

Based on those songs, Inserra comments: “Sadly, many people in the Bible Belt are haunted by the idea of Christ, while not understanding His love for them. … With an awareness of God and our sins, but not the gospel, one is only left with country music theology, hoping God will let us into heaven one day after we have some fun on earth.”

Inserra closes with three things necessary for evangelizing cultural Christians: “a refusal to be in denial, gospel clarity, and boldness to speak the truth in love” (emphasis in original). As a pastor, Inserra writes to church leaders and other concerned Christians. Distinguishing between authentic and nominal Christianity is never easy, especially in a supposedly Christian nation, but it’s an evangelistic necessity, lest we leave people thinking what we did, rather than what He did, saves us.

BOOK REVIEWED Dean Inserra, The Unsaved Christian: Reaching Cultural Christianity with the Gospel (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2019).

TRANSFORMING CHARISMATIC CHRISTIANITY Readers of a certain age remember Kathryn Kuhlman (1907–76). She was “the miracle lady,” whose catchphrase, “I believe in miracles because I believe in God,” inspired millions to seek Jesus and the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit.

Kuhlman played a crucial role in what biographer Amy Collier Artman calls “the gentrification of charismatic Christianity.”

Until the mid-20th century, classical Pentecostalism was the primary bearer of “Spiritfilled Christianity.” Starting on the wrong side of the tracks, socially and ecclesiastically speaking, it increasingly moved toward respectability, as symbolized by the Assemblies of God joining the National Association of Evangelicals as a founding member in the early 1940s. (Today, it is the NAE’s largest denominational member.)

It was charismatic Christianity that accelerated the popularity of Spirit-filled beliefs and practices in the second half of the century, however. Artman writes, “Kuhlman was a leader in the transformation of charismatic Christianity from a suspect form of religion to a respectable form of religiosity that was accepted and even celebrated by mainstream Christianity and culture by the end of the twentieth century.” The Miracle Lady tells the story of how this happened, focusing especially on Kuhlman’s skillful use of talk-show television.

Rather than broadcasting her services, Kuhlman invited people to share their testimonies of salvation, healing and Spirit baptism — first on Your Faith and Mine in the 1950s, then on I Believe in Miracles from the mid-1960s to mid-70s. Kuhlman was an early adopter of the talk-show format, which was perfectly suited for introducing viewers to charismatic Christianity.

Artman also discusses how Kuhlman navigated the tensions of being a woman leader in a conservative movement. Kuhlman adopted a rhetoric of “negation,” often stating that she wasn’t God’s “first choice,” but since no man was willing to step up and do the work, she volunteered. Even today, unfortunately, Spiritfilled women sometimes justify their ministries through negation rhetoric like Kuhlman’s.

A 2008 Barna study estimated that 80 million Americans self-identified as either “Pentecostal” or “charismatic.” This happened, at least in part, because of the efforts of Kuhlman to mainstream Spirit-filled Christianity and broaden its appeal. For that, Kuhlman deserves to be remembered.

“Kuhlman was a leader in the transformation of charismatic Christianity from a suspect form of religion to a respectable form of religiosity. …”

BOOK REVIEWED Amy Collier Artman, The Miracle Lady: Kathryn Kuhlman and the Transformation of Charismatic Christianity (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2019).

IS CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY CHRISTIAN? If Christian book publishing trends are any indication, contemplative spirituality is a hot topic among Christian readers — hot in the dual sense that it arouses intense interest as well as intense opposition. Proponents claim it is an ancient Christian practice capable of deepening a person’s love for God and neighbor. Opponents counterclaim that it is biblically subpar, smacks of medieval Catholicism, and opens the door to New Age mysticism.

In Embracing Contemplation, John H. Coe and Kyle C. Strobel assemble a team of theologians to assess the appropriateness of contemplative spirituality for evangelical Christians. These various authors examine the Bible, church history, and the writings of contemporary authors and arrive at a measured appraisal of contemplative spirituality.

Coe and Strobel conclude: “Contemplation

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and the contemplative life is fundamental to the maturing Christian life.”

This approval of contemplation should not be interpreted as a blanket approval of everything that calls itself “contemplative spirituality,” of course. In his chapter, “The Controversy Over Contemplation and Contemplative Prayer,” Coe identifies forms of contemplative spirituality that are “sub-Christian.” Similarly, in “A Distinctively Christian Contemplation,” Glen G. Scorgie differentiates authentically Christian contemplation from what is found in other religions.

Because contemplative spirituality is often seen as a Catholic practice, several authors show how Protestant Reformers and well-known evangelicals practiced a gospel-based form of contemplation. This includes three “Johns” whose evangelical credentials are not in dispute: John Calvin, John Wesley, and Jonathan Edwards. See

RECOMMENDED READING FOR LEADERS

BOOK REVIEWED John H. Coe and Kyle C. Strobel, eds., Embracing Contemplation: Reclaiming a Christian Spiritual Practice (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2019).

By Influence Magazine

LOVE YOUR ENEMIES Arthur C. Brooks (Broadside) American public discourse is angry.

Worse, Arthur C. Brooks argues, it is filled with contempt, “an enduring attitude of complete disdain.” The antidote to such contempt is love. Written for a secular audience but suffused with Christian values, Love Your Enemies outlines how Americans could, and why they should, practice a more loving form of disagreement with others. “My point is simple,” Brooks writes: “love and warm-heartedness might not change every heart and mind, but they are always worth trying, and they will always make you better off.”

CITYSERVE Dave Donaldson and Wendell Vinson, editors (Salubris) According to Dave Donaldson and Wendell Vinson, “The local church isn’t adequately equipped to meet the growing complexity of spiritual, mental, and social brokenness in our communities,

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Ashley Cockworth’s “Sabbatical Contemplation?” for Calvin and Tom Schwanda’s “To Gaze on the Beauty of the Lord” for Wesley and Edwards. Of particular interest to Pentecostal readers is Simon Chan’s chapter, “Contemplative Prayer in the Evangelical and Pentecostal Traditions.”

Throughout the book, the authors do a good job of placing evangelical theological commitments at the forefront of the conversation about contemplative spirituality.

What is consistent with those commitments is allowed; what isn’t is discarded. This measured approach is better than a kneejerk rejection or simplistic embrace of what passes for contemplative spirituality today.

which has resulted in outsourcing compassion to government and national nonprofit organizations.”

CityServe addresses that deficiency by curating 47 articles from multiple authors on various aspects of church-based compassion ministries. The result is a useful collection of “proven leadership principles and best practices from industry-leading professionals.”

SOUL SET FREE John Lindell (Charisma House) “The gospel is the key that will unlock your soul and set you free,” writes John Lindell. “It changes everyone and everything it touches.” And it can be expressed in a single word: grace — “the distinguishing feature of the gospel, what sets Christianity apart from every other world religion.” Drawing on Lindell’s gifting as an expository Bible preacher, Soul Set Free walks readers through Romans 1–8, showing how the apostle Paul’s ancient message has eternal relevance to the personal struggles of today.

PLAYBOOK BUILD

Marketing Your Church for Growth RYA N WA K E F I E L D

Why your church should use innovative marketing tools to reach out and start new relationships in your community.

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spent my early childhood coloring pages under the pews of an Assemblies of God church in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. I remember growing up listening to the stories of that church. How it was founded in the early 1900s. How the people rebuilt it after it burned down. How they set a national Sunday School attendance record. And all they did to get word out about the church.

I remember hearing a story from the 1970s about the pastor dressing up a volunteer in a devil costume and having him march in the town parade wearing a sign that said, “I hate Broken Arrow Assembly.”

Another time, this pastor took out a fullpage ad in the local newspaper that said UFOs

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were going to appear over the city. Then he hired a local pilot to drop invitations to the church printed on paper saucers.

I love those stories, but you and I know what worked for attracting people to church decades ago may not work today. How do we market our churches effectively in today’s world?

Perhaps you’re wondering whether a church should even be involved in marketing. If the marketing includes manipulation, slimy tactics and deception, the answer is no.

But the truth is, if you have a website, Yellow Pages listing or Facebook page, your church is already marketing. In its most basic form, marketing is using tools to start new relationships. We can use marketing to share the gospel and invite people on the incredible journey of following Jesus together with the Church.

Marketing is necessary if your church wishes to leverage the tools you have available to reach more people in your community. Let me first clarify that the most important thing a church can do is focus

on the main things. Preach the Word, point people to Jesus, cover everything in prayer, and follow the leading of the Spirit. Any attempt to reach people without that foundation will do more harm than good. If you already have that solid foundation, it is appropriate to find tools your church can use to reach out and start new relationships. But how do you do that well?

We wanted to figure out which tools actually help a church reach people, so we put together our Church Marketing Strength Assessment. After 2,000 churches took the assessment, a clearer picture began to emerge of key things growing churches are doing that plateaued or declining churches aren’t doing.

That assessment revealed seven characteristics of growing churches: 1.

They prioritize reaching the next generation.

2. They consistently capture and share photography.

3. They collect people’s contact information for following up.

4. They utilize new tools, like online preregistration for the children’s areas.

5. They have five or more positive Google reviews.

6. They set aside part of their budgets to invest in marketing.

7. They measure and evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing.

Notice how many of those findings bring us back to the importance of a church reaching young people. In our limited research, we found that only 38 percent of churches in decline made that a priority, compared to 68 percent of growing churches, and 88 percent of rapidly growing churches.

The bottom line is churches that market well are using these tools to help them develop relationships with people in their communities — especially with younger families and people who did not grow up in church. Many people in those groups are unfamiliar with or even skeptical about local churches. So any tool that can help build trust is vital.

Ministry flows out of relationships. God’s people must constantly look for ways to share their faith. The goal of using marketing tools should be to help in that process, rather than trying to replace it. At various times, the printing press, radio, airplanes, television, websites, mobile devices and social media have all been new tools church people could see as either threats or opportunities for sharing the gospel.

If you are an aging church, you may already feel overwhelmed by the rapid changes in culture. I’d encourage you to take simple action steps and commit to making 1 percent progress each week. Imperfect action implemented beats a perfect plan with no action.

God has called us to the greatest mission on the planet: to share the greatest news with our communities. Seek the Spirit’s guidance on how your church can use innovative marketing tools in that endeavor. Then boldly follow His leading!

God’s people must constantly look for ways to share their faith. The goal of using marketing tools should be to help in that process, rather than trying to replace it.

Ryan Wakefield is co-founder of Church Marketing University and director of Social Church in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.

PLAYBOOK KNOW

MICHAEL J. BEALS

God’s grace in real time is powerful and present every day.

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ore than a few times I have asked the Lord, “Why would You give me an imagination, and then ask me not to

worry?”

The imagination is an amazing gift. This fountain of creativity is one of the clearest ways we reflect the image of our Creator. When I submit my imagination to the

cleansing and redeeming work of God’s Word and Spirit, it fuels vision and hope that come to life as I walk in faithfulness.

The unredeemed imagination, however, has just the opposite effect. Bent by fallen human nature, the imagination not surrendered to the glory of God becomes an engine of self-will and fear that drives us away from the life and ministry God designed for us.

We’ll leave a discussion of the predatory

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Through painful ministry experiences and walking with my beloved through breast cancer, I found God’s grace in real time — powerful and present every day.

Michael J. Beals is president of Vangurd University in Costa Mesa, California.

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power of pornography on the unredeemed imagination for another time. For now, let’s look at the power of human imagination yielded to the authority of Jesus Christ to find victory today and every day amid the expectations and anxieties we face in pastoral leadership.

The blessings and benefits of our calling are immeasurable, but the pressure is relentless.

How we deal with that pressure determines, in large measure, both the effectiveness and longevity of our service in any particular ministry assignment.

Continually reminding myself of who I am and whom I serve is a critical discipline. In Psalm 94:19, David shows us how: “When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul” (NASB).

The consolations in this verse are not only the words of comfort the Holy Spirit speaks to my heart. They are also the creative self-reminders of my calling and God’s promises that energize me and enable me to stay joyfully in the game. It is the deployment of the redeemed imagination that extends the horizon of hope and possibility and creates space for God to work powerfully, supernaturally for His highest glory and my highest good.

There is a natural tendency for us to look at our current circumstances and project them on the future, especially when we feel frustrated or threatened. This erodes the inner sense of God’s assurance. He certainly wants us to plan for the future, but God wants us to live today — to trust Him today.

This is clearly what Jesus is teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. On the heels of His reminder of our value in the created order and the promise of the Father’s provision and care for every need, Jesus says, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34).

The lesson here is plain: God gives grace for what is, not what if. His grace is abundant in real-time challenges, but if we ask Him for comfort and assurance for what might happen, we may be disappointed. We can choose to imagine possible futures that feed either

fear and insecurity or a false sense of control, but we should not expect the consolations of God’s grace to comfort and assure us in the face of these what-ifs.

Many years ago, as a young husband and pastor, I sometimes wondered and worried about what the future held, and what losses might lie ahead. Looking back over 39 years of marriage and 38 years of pastoral ministry, I can say that nothing turns out like you think it will. Sometimes it’s better, and sometimes it’s worse, but at all times the grace of God is constant and sufficient. Through painful ministry experiences and walking with my beloved through breast cancer, I found God’s grace in real time — powerful and present every day. I found grace for what is, not what if.

The redeemed imagination is not merely a gift. Like our character in Christ, we must cultivate it in partnership with the Holy Spirit, yielding to His transforming work in the heart and mind. It is a contact sport that involves actively rejecting the temptation to predict futures apart from the providential hand of God. It is the posture of a servant, of living out the conviction that obedience is not a pathway but the point of our lives. The apostle Paul describes it this way in 2 Corinthians 10:5: “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

Do you feel your confidence wavering as you look ahead? You’re not alone. We’ve all been there, and Jesus understands our human frailties. Hebrews 4:15 assures us that “we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet he did not sin.”

The writer of Hebrews goes on to say, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (verse 16).

Enduring confidence across the seasonal contours of ministry is not possible without daily grace. God will give you grace for what is.

PLAYBOOK INVEST

Are You Properly Insured for a Lawsuit?

JERRY SPARKS

What insurance coverage should your church have to minimize financial liability in case of a legal challenge?

n a perfect world, lawsuits would never happen. Of course, we don’t live in a perfect world, so we must be prepared. If your church faced a legal challenge, would insurance protect you and the people God has entrusted to you? With a few crucial adjustments to your policies, you can confidently answer with a “yes.”

To understand what needs to change, it’s important to know where things can go wrong and how to make them go right. Rich Hammar, legal counsel for the General Council of the Assemblies of God, carefully tracks court cases involving religious organizations. Each year, he analyzes lawsuits across the nation to learn what issues are leading to litigation.

(See the chart.)

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According to Hammar, the top three reasons churches end up in court are sexual misconduct with a minor; property disputes;

Top 5 Reasons Religious Organizations Were in Court 2011-17 2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Sexual abuse of a minor 12.1 %

Sexual abuse of a minor 13.6 %

Sexual abuse of a minor 13.2 %

Sexual abuse of a minor 1 1.7 %

Sexual abuse of a minor 1 1.7 %

Property disputes 8.7 %

Sexual abuse of a minor 12.1 %

Property disputes 10.2 %

Sexual abuse of a minor 8.3 %

Property disputes 9.3 %

Property disputes 7.9 %

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Insurance Personal injury Personal injury coverage disputes 7.6 % 7.2 % 9.5 %

Insurance Personal injury coverage disputes Religious freedom 9.5 % 7.5 % 7.3 %

Property disputes 6.9 %

Personal injury 9.5 %

Personal injury 8.3 %

Personal injury 8.8 %

Zoning 6.2 %

Property disputes 6.8 %

Property disputes 9.1 %

Insurance coverage disputes 6.6 %

Zoning 4.9 %

Insurance coverage disputes 6.6 %

Zoning 8.4 %

Insurance coverage disputes 5.2 %

Zoning 5.4 %

Personal injury 8.2 %

Zoning 4.5 %

Insurance coverage disputes 7.4 %

Affordable Care Insurance Act coverage disputes 5.7 % 4.5 %

and personal injury. With that in mind, let’s consider what insurance coverage you should have to minimize financial liability in case of a suit in one of these areas.

Sexual Misconduct

Many insurance companies don’t even offer sexual misconduct coverage, which should be a red flag that you don’t want to do business with them. Some insurance carriers will only pay for defense in a lawsuit, and they stop paying if there is a settlement offer.

Examine the actual coverage and the specific limits that can protect your church. For sexual misconduct coverage, I would suggest a minimum of $300,000 and a $1 million limit. (The limit should be higher if you have a school affiliated with your church.)

Practice proper risk management. Nothing is more important than protecting your children and teens. Good risk management also helps protect the church against a large settlement. Check to see what your local school district is doing to protect children, such as background and reference checks. Schools set your community standard. With proper coverage

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It is most important to deal with an insurance agent and company who specializes in writing church insurance.

and risk management strategies, your church, your children and your workers will be as protected as possible.

Property Disputes

Most churches have property insurance, but that doesn’t mean they have the proper amount of coverage. Many don’t realize there is a coinsurance clause on their property policy. This clause encourages policy holders to carry a reasonable amount of insurance.

If there is a failure to maintain the amount the clause specifies — usually at least 80 percent — the insured bears a higher proportion of the loss.

Churches should purchase coverage limits sufficient to replace or rebuild facilities with contract labor and new materials. Do not assume the amount you paid for the church or the amount of the loan is the correct value.

Ask your insurance agent to calculate the property value you need, and have the insurance company waive the coinsurance clause.

If you have an older building that may not be up to current building codes, you may need to install sprinklers or add an elevator when rebuilding.

Ask for building and ordinance coverage.

This extends coverage to the following three areas: the value of the undamaged portion of the building that requires demolition, the expense attached to the demolition and removal of the undamaged building, and the increased cost of construction due to a change in building codes.

Know whether you have coverage for wind/ hail, named storms, earthquakes and floods. If you are in an area prone to these events, realize your policy may have an exclusion for such insurance. Many insurance policies now specify a percentage deductible for this coverage.

Personal Injury Jerry Sparks is president of AG Financial Insurance Solutions in Springfield, Missouri, and a specialist in church risk management and insurance.

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General liability pays if the church is legally liable for bodily injury or property damage to others; it also pays for defense in a lawsuit.

But general liability does have limitations and may not cover certain kinds of damage. Thus, your church may need additional coverage.

Be sure you have the following types of coverage: • Pastoral counseling coverage to protect leaders against claims arising from pastoral direction.

• Director’s and officer’s coverage for officers and board members.

• Cyber liability coverage for the costs associated with restoring or replacing lost or damaged data, credit monitoring, legal fees, forensics, notifying those affected and ransomware.

• Hired and non-owned auto coverage for individuals who use personal vehicles for church business.

Avoid using 15-passenger vans. Don’t buy or rent these vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration considers them dangerous; disregarding these warnings brings additional liability.

Don’t overlook coverage for missions trips.

Some churches buy an accident medical policy, but few think of their potential liability when traveling abroad. Most general liability policies and auto policies have a coverage territory of the United States and its territories, so if someone on one of your trips suffers an injury, your church may be liable. The Assemblies of God offers Mission Assure, a program that provides foreign liability coverage and medical insurance, including repatriation back to the U.S. if someone is hurt.

It is most important to deal with an insurance agent and company who specializes in writing church insurance. Ask your agent how many churches the company underwrites and what percentage of its clients are churches.

Of course, your church’s primary concern should always be the well-being of the people to whom you minister. But part of that responsibility includes stewarding ministry resources wisely.

Lawsuits are expensive, and they can negatively affect your reputation. Make sure you are protected by having the proper insurance coverage, agent and company to minimize financial liability in a lawsuit.

For more information, visit agfinancial.org/ insurance.

PERSPECTIVES

One Issue, Two Perspectives on Matters Affecting Today’s Church

Should Pastors Be Close Friends With Church Members?

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inistry can be a lonely profession. Pastors may feel like lay people can’t relate to them. And church members can easily isolate ministers unintentionally.

Of course, loneliness is a problem throughout society. More than half of the U.S. population (54 percent) is lonely, according to a 2018 survey from Cigna Health

YES astors can and should be friends with the people who attend their church.

Consider Jesus’ ministry. In Matthew 11:19, people criticized Him for being a “friend of tax collectors and sinners.” And in John 15:13–15, Jesus called His disciples friends.

Jesus wasn’t afraid to develop close relationships with those to whom He ministered.

In fact, Jesus established a paradigm for how ministers should relate to their congregations. He traveled with them, ate with them, cried with them, taught them and sent them out to teach. Jesus didn’t see them as servants or adherents. He treated them as friends. Pastors should do the same.

Churches are a great place for people to find close friends. The members of your congregation should be building relationships with one another. You want to see them strengthening, encouraging, sharpening and praying for one another. And they need to see you modeling this kind of friendship.

As a pastor, you are not just leading a church; you are part of that church. You are following Jesus and growing in your faith along with

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everyone else. Why not grow together, in the context of authentic friendships?

You are already close to those in your church. They share some of the most personal details of their lives with you. You share interests with them. And you already have a faith connection with them. At least once a week, you gather together in the same place to worship. These principles are foundational for healthy, Christ-affirming friendships.

Where else besides your church will you find friends who are closer, share more in common and have a deeper faith connection? It would be hard to find them. Don’t neglect the best circle of friendships God has provided.

We understand that friendships can be complicated. But any relationship can be heavy with problems and tension. Think about those you minister to. You often see them at their worst, when they need the most help from you. That level of vulnerability can create fear and insecurity.

But it’s also an opportunity for freedom.

You also see your church members at their best. And by being a friend first, you can share grace and hope on a whole new level with them. You get to show them a picture of Jesus, who is our first and best Friend.

and Life Insurance Company and the market research firm Ipsos. But pastors face a unique dilemma, since figuring out where to find friends can be just as difficult as forming those relationships.

Like everyone else, pastors need friends.

And it only makes sense that they would find them within the one group they spend the most time around: their church. On the other hand, friendships can be complicated. Is there a risk in befriending members of your congregation?

NO here is a difference between being friendly and being friends. Of course, every pastor should be friendly with congregants. A personable and relatable minister is more effective. And authentic goodwill is a foundation of any influencer.

However, when it comes to developing close friendships, pastors are well advised to look beyond the walls of their church. If you truly value friendships and what they mean, it is incredibly difficult to pastor someone while being close friends with them.

There are really three reasons this is the case. First, being friends with members of your church can lead to partiality. Even the most well-intentioned pastor can fall into this trap. As you spend time with a select few members of your congregation, they have your ear on certain matters. Their opinions will naturally shape yours. But by maintaining a distance from your flock, you can remain objective in all matters of church work.

Second, when you have friends in the church, you are tempted to play favorites. When others

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Should pastors become close friends with church members? In this issue’s Perspectives, we’ll look at two sides of this question. One argument is that pastors can and should seek out friendships among attendees. The other is that pastors can best serve the congregation when they seek close friends elsewhere.

In the end, there may not be a definitive answer. But looking at the question from different angles can help you make a more informed decision on how to develop friendships as a pastor.

in the church see that you are spending time with one or two or even several people outside of services, they may wonder why they aren’t included. As a result, being friends with some in your church may undermine your efforts to come across as friendly to all.

Finally, friendships require vulnerability.

Are you ready to share your struggles with people in your church? Yes, you need to show openness and honesty to everyone. But you may also need to keep details of your personal life to yourself — not to hide sin, of course, but to protect yourself and your family. That can make for a somewhat one-sided and inauthentic friendship.

But pastors do need close friends. How do you find that level of relationship with those who understand and can relate to you?

The best place to look is not in your own church, but in other churches. Seek out and develop friendships with other pastors and ministers. That may require some creativity — such as developing long-distance, or even online, friendships. Having a person close to you who understands your position and can be a safe sounding board for all your struggles is invaluable. It may be that the only person who can fill that role is another minister like you.

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A LL OF US INSTINCTIVELY ASK THE

PENE TRAT ING QUESTION, ‘‘ WHO AM I?’’ FEW PEOPLE, HOWEVER, CO ME TO SATISF YING ANSWERS.

THE QUESTION OF PASTORAL IDENTITY SAM CHAND

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meet with some of the most successful leaders in the United States and around the world. They have incredible talents and have seen remarkable growth in their organizations. But when I peel back some layers of their obvious competencies, I often notice a striking similarity: Many of them live with a significant measure of insecurity. It shows up in comparison, competition and flashes of self-doubt. I’ve learned to recognize this often-buried but common trait in leaders because I’ve struggled with it myself.

The Search for Security

All of us instinctively ask the penetrating question, “Who am I?” Few people, however, come to satisfying answers.

We all have inestimable value, but we continue to look for security in something else — anything else!

• We long to be seen as successful, and we’re haunted by the prospect of failure.

• We live for affirmation, and we wilt when we’re ignored or criticized.

• We admire people who have great wealth, and we feel deflated — even exposed as a failure — because we don’t have as much.

• We think the next step up the ladder will finally give us the fulfillment we long for … and it does, for a few days, and then we feel empty and driven again.

• We compare the size of our organizations to those of our peers. We feel superior to some and inferior to others, but pride and shame are poor sources of identity.

All of these longings promise to fill the hole in our hearts and finally put the stamp of validity on our lives. They promise the moon, but they leave us with hands full of dust. Ironically, the experiences of success, fame, wealth and organizational growth don’t necessarily change a person’s self-perception. I know people who have achieved all of these things and still feel they need to prove themselves by building the biggest house, driving the fanciest car, wearing the finest clothes and going on the most lavish vacations. They’re trying to mask their insecurities, and they’re desperately trying to impress people, so they’re always marketing themselves.

Please don’t misunderstand me. There’s nothing in the world wrong with success, pleasure, approval or power, as long as those don’t define us. When they are products of a life lived out of a full heart of gratitude and the security of God’s limitless love, we can thoroughly enjoy them and share our abundance with others.

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HE EXPERIENCES OF TSUCCESS, FAME, WEALTH AND ORGANIZATIONAL GROWTH DON’T NECESSARILY CHANGE A PERSON’S SELF-PERCEPTION.

Years ago, I served as the pastor of a small church in Hartford, Michigan, far out in the sticks. We had to travel more than three miles to find the closest blinking street light, and the nearest McDonald’s was 18 miles away. I was the only dark-skinned person in the county, so I assume some of the people who attended our church came for the novelty factor.

One week, a traveling evangelist spoke at a series of meetings at our church. It was a shattering experience for me. He said the same things I’d said to our people dozens of times before, but they acted like it was Pentecost all over again, shouting praise to God and singing hallelujahs.

At first, I was amused, but as the service went on, I got angry. Why were they so moved by this guy but sat on

their hands when I spoke every week? Then, I realized the answer: The evangelist walked as he talked, and I always stayed behind the pulpit. That was it. That was the secret of his success.

The evangelist left town on Wednesday. The next day, I drove to the nearest Radio Shack. I was on a mission. I walked up to the counter and said, “I need an audio cord — the longest one you have in stock.”

The man looked in his catalogue for a minute or two, and then he looked up and said, “We don’t have it in stock, but will 60 feet work for you? We can have it in two days.”

“Perfect!”

I was thrilled. On Saturday morning, I made the trek back to pick up the cord. It weighed probably 20 pounds,

but I didn’t care. This was going to be my ticket to stardom! That afternoon, I went to the church and plugged the cord into our sound system. I practiced walking back and forth across the platform, in front of the seats, and down the aisles. To be thoroughly prepared, I wrote instructions in red in my sermon notes: “Move away from the pulpit.”

“Pick up the microphone.” “Start walking.” “Go in front of the podium.” “Walk down the left aisle.”

I was sure the power of my message would get through now!

The next morning, I was eager for the singing to conclude. I had business to take care of, and I was ready. I followed my notes, walking all over the church as I preached, and was masterful at slinging the cord just right so I could

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make the turns. I was so happy! Near the end, I had enough presence of mind to shift my focus from my performance to the faces of the congregation. They weren’t standing, shouting or singing. They were looking at me like I’d lost my mind, or maybe an alien had taken residence in their pastor’s body! Their body language was teaching me a very important lesson: Don’t try to be something or someone you’re not. Stop comparing. Use and hone your talents. Be yourself. Be your best self, but be yourself.

Measuring ourselves by how we stack up to others is natural, but it’s eventually destructive. In geology, the underlying fact of tectonic insecurity may remain hidden for years, but at some point when it’s least expected, the damage can be overwhelming. The fault line in the Indian Ocean had existed for many years, but on December 26, 2004, the plates violently shifted. The 9.2-magnitude

earthquake under the sea created a 100-foot tsunami that raced in every direction, drowning about a quarter of a million people in 14 countries.

In the same way, fault lines of insecurity in our lives may stay hidden for a long time, but a sudden shock of disappointment or the gradual wear of unrelieved stress can cause a psychological quake that devastates us and those around us. We can be masters at disguising the fault lines. We smile when we’re dying inside. We compliment others, hoping they’ll return the favor. We drive ourselves to work long hours to prove we’re worthy. We hide from risks or take foolish ones. We deny our fears. We minimize our doubts. And we hope no one has enough insight to look beneath the surface to see what’s really going on inside. Sooner or later, however, we can’t resist the underlying pressure any longer and the quake strikes. We try

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ERHAPS A BETTER QUESTION THAN, ‘‘ WHO AM I?‘‘ IS, ‘‘ WHOSE AM I?‘‘ TO WHOM DO I BELONG? WHO IMPARTS LOVE AND MEANING TO ME? WHO BELIEVES IN ME NO MATTER WHAT? WHO FORGIVES ME WHEN I FAIL AND CELEBRATES WITH ME WHEN I SUCCEED?

to minimize and deflect, but our tidal wave of hurt, fear, shame and anger washes over the people near us.

history. He was also reluctant to see the picture I was painting for him. For him, it seemed too good to be true.

Size or Impact

A Different Question

Comparisons can consume our thoughts and rob us of joy. Too often, we use the wrong measuring stick. I sometimes talk to leaders who are ashamed of the size of their organizations. They say something like, “I have a small company,” or “I’m the pastor of a little church of 80 people.” Their tone of voice and the look in their eyes tells me they feel embarrassed that they aren’t more successful. In their own eyes, they’re not measuring up. Yet the question of significance isn’t size; it’s impact.

Many years ago when I was a pastor, I had a good friend, Edgar Kent, whose church had about 25 in attendance most Sundays. My church had about 130 each week, so he thought I had hit the big time. One morning as we had breakfast together, he poured out his confusion and consternation.

“Sam, our church is small. Sometimes, it grows to 40 or even 50, but after a few months, it declines back to 25 again. This has happened a dozen times while I’ve been the pastor. I don’t know what’s going on.”

I picked up a napkin and took a pen out of my pocket.

I asked, “Edgar, when these people leave your church, where do they go? Do they leave the faith? Do they go to other churches?”

He thought for a few seconds, mentally scanning the faces he’d seen over the past few years.

“No, they don’t leave the faith,” he said. “Some of them are going to other churches, and some have started new churches.”

Something clicked. I said, “Tell me who has started churches. What are their names?”

He began naming people who had planted churches. He paused for a few seconds between some of them, and then he remembered another … and another. I wrote the names on the napkin. By the time he couldn’t remember any others, I had a list of 18 people who had started churches.

I pushed the napkin in front of him and said, “Edgar, God has used you to plant all these churches.”

His eyes widened with astonishment. He had never thought of these people in this way. He had seen them as dissatisfied with him and his leadership, never recognizing that he had inspired people to establish outposts of God’s kingdom in new areas. The size of his church hadn’t expanded, but his impact was exponential. Edgar was surprised when I gave him my interpretation of his church’s

We need new metrics to determine our identity. When we answer the identity question with measures of performance, popularity, power or wealth, we’ll remain empty, confused and desperate — but, of course, we’ll try our best to look confident so no one guesses we feel insecure. But there’s a far better answer.

We are relational beings. We don’t thrive in isolation; in fact, we can’t live very long in isolation without going insane.

Perhaps a better question than, “Who am I?” is, “Whose am I?” To whom do I belong? Who imparts love and meaning to me? Who believes in me no matter what? Who forgives me when I fail and celebrates with me when I succeed?

If we are convinced that God’s opinion means more than anyone else’s, including our own, we can get off the treadmill of always trying to measure up. We can stop comparing and replace our desperation with gratitude. We may be walking while others are running, but God gave both the tortoise and the horse enough time to get into the ark.

Our journey may have unexpected twists and turns, just as Joseph’s did when God took him on an extended tour of Egypt (Genesis 37–50). Time and again, those who looked at Joseph failed to see what God saw. His brothers saw a useless dreamer. The Midianite traders saw a source of profit.

Potiphar saw a gifted slave. Potiphar’s wife saw a potential lover. The prison warden saw a hopeless case. But all of them missed God’s plan. God saw Joseph as a leader whose spiritual maturity and organizational skill would save two nations: Egypt and Israel. God’s perspective of Joseph was far more accurate and far more important than the view of any person. God often sees things we don’t see. Throughout the Bible, where others saw limitations, God saw potential: • God looked past the advanced age of Abraham and Sarah and blessed them with a child (Genesis 21:2).

• God looked past Moses’ lack of eloquence and called him to lead His people out of Egypt (Exodus 4:10).

• God looked past inexperience and selected David, a young shepherd, to become king (1 Samuel 16:1–12).

• God looked past gender barriers and used Esther to save the Jewish people (Esther 2:17; 4:14).

• God looked past ethnicity and placed foreigners, Rahab and Ruth, in Jesus’ family tree (Matthew 1:5).

• God looked past Paul’s history and called a former church persecutor to become His spokesman (Acts 9:3–9).

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• God looked past physical appearance and noticed the seeking heart of Zacchaeus, who was short in stature but long in desire to meet Jesus (Luke 19:1–6).

• God looked past the reputation of Mary Magdalene, a former demoniac, and made her a first witness to Jesus’ resurrection (Luke 8:2; John 20:1–18).

• God looked past Peter’s failures, choosing him to lead the Early Church (Matthew 16:18).

God knows we’re slow to get it. We’re driven, but often in the wrong direction. We’re confused, so we make poor decisions. No matter how many times God has told us about His love, His grace and His purpose for us, we fail to fully grasp it. But He never quits.

Most of us see ourselves in a kind of courtroom every day — the courtroom of public opinion — and our performance is our only evidence. The prosecutors are the people who find fault with what we think, say and do. To be honest, sometimes we’re on that side of the room, blasting ourselves with blame for being so insensitive, ugly or shallow. We try to plead in our own defense, but it just doesn’t work. Then Jesus steps up and says, “Your honor, the price has already been paid. The verdict is already in.

My client is completely forgiven.”

Do we live like the verdict is still out and we have to plead our case by showing we’re acceptable to the people around us? Do we live with nagging guilt and the sense that we’re never quite enough? Or are we convinced the verdict is in, the debt is paid, and we’ve been set free?

The real Judge steps down to adopt us as His own. He tells us, “You are My beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.” He’s not pleased because we’ve done everything right. He’s pleased that we belong to Him! Instead of performing to earn a good verdict (and defending ourselves when we or others question our performance), we realize Someone has taken our place, paid the price we couldn’t pay, and given us a status we could never earn. This is the impact of God’s grace in our lives, and it changes us from the inside out. We still perform, but for a very different reason. We work, we strive and we pursue excellence — not to prove ourselves, but out of a deep sense of gratitude and a desire to represent the One who has done so much for us. In these two motivations, there’s a world of difference.

God’s grace, then, is the true source of our security.

When we’re secure, we walk out of the courtroom of public opinion and we get off the treadmill of performance to prove ourselves. We no longer have anything to prove, so we can relax. We’re no longer competing with other leaders, so we’re not threatened when someone is better at

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something than we are. We used to avoid high-level leaders, but now we seek them out so we can learn from them.

Insecure leaders don’t attract the very best employees and staff. Secure, sharp people don’t want to work for insecure leaders. These leaders won’t give credit to others, don’t affirm creativity and boldness, and feel threatened when others receive praise. Insecure leaders cut off others in meetings, claim others’ ideas as their own, and patronize people, treating them like children.

Secure leaders are just the opposite. They stimulate creativity and value others’ contributions, so they attract the best and brightest. These leaders aren’t afraid to look in the mirror and be honest about what they see, and they look out the window at the horizons to lead their organizations into the future. They aren’t consumed with inflating or guarding their reputations, so they can focus on the people around them to teach, affirm, encourage and direct.

Leaders who have inner composure realize they stand tall on the shoulders of those who have come before them.

They live with a wonderful blend of courage and humility, passion and compassion. They aren’t crushed by criticism, and they don’t resist people who speak the truth to them. They have cultivated the fine art of listening; they understand that to go higher, farther and faster, they need the input of other secure leaders. They aren’t obsessed with controlling people and programs. They hire carefully, delegate clearly, and then let others fly.

But What About … ?

Do we understand the concept of God’s grace and believe it applies to us at the deepest level of our hearts? Grace is an exceptionally hard concept to grasp. Martin Luther spent his life trying to communicate grace to everyone who would read his books and listen to his messages. He said grace is at the heart of our faith in God. “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times,” Luther said. But he also recognized our natural desire to prove ourselves instead of trusting in God’s grace. He told church leaders that it is necessary for them to study grace, know it well, “teach it unto others, and beat it into their heads continually.”

We aren’t consciously resistant to God’s grace, but many of us think it’s too good to be true, or painful experiences in our past scream that God can’t love us unconditionally, or we’d rather earn approval from God and others instead of receiving it as a gift.

God’s magnificent grace isn’t something He dispenses

once when we become believers and then we’re on our own. Pastor Rick Warren observed, “What gives me the most hope every day is God’s grace; knowing that His grace is going to give me the strength for whatever I face, knowing that nothing is a surprise to God.” If God’s grace is so amazing, why is it so elusive?

We need to boldly ask ourselves, What prevents me from letting the grace of God penetrate the deepest crevices of my soul?

The Remedy

The principles of identity apply to the people you’re leading, but first, they apply to you. Let me give you a process to identify and replace false ways of thinking with the truth about who you are and whose you are. You can choose the

content of your thoughts and your self-concept.

First, notice your compulsions and fears. As you’ve read this article, have you identified with the paragraphs about comparison and competition, with the ones about feardriven compulsions to please people or dominate them, or with those about defensiveness and control? Sure, you have. Admit it. Don’t rush past these observations. Live with them. Ask yourself follow-up questions: Where did that perspective come from? How has it affected my relationships?

Quite often, leaders become so focused on the future they don’t pay attention to the voices from the past. We don’t want to live in the past, but the past can haunt us if we don’t address the pains and sins buried there. Let them surface.

Yes, it’s uncomfortable, but it’s good for you. Take plenty of time. There’s no hurry. And be sure to tell a trusted friend.

O WE UNDERSTAND D THE CONCEPT OF GOD’S GRACE AND BELIEVE IT APPLIES TO US AT THE DEEPEST LEVEL OF OUR HEARTS?

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W

E MAY FEEL WORTHLESS, BUT OUR VALUE TO GOD HASN’T CHANGED AT ALL. WE ARE CREATED IN HIS IMAGE, AND WE ARE STILL CALLED TO BEAR HIS IMAGE TO A LOST AND BROKEN WORLD.

Flush the waste. Too often, we’ve let toxic thoughts linger far too long. They haven’t just sat there. They’ve poisoned our relationships and become a constant stink we’ve learned to live with. Don’t live with them any longer. Get rid of them by forgiving those who hurt you, experiencing forgiveness for your wrongs, grieving the losses, and healing the hurts. Again, this takes time, but it consists of dozens of intentional decisions to get rid of the waste in your mind.

Continually fill up. Find books, podcasts, articles, and

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messages on the amazing, unconditional love of God. Let people who have struggled to believe it tell you how they finally experienced the wonder of God’s grace. You aren’t alone. It’s hard for all of us to grasp, but it’s necessary to dedicate ourselves to pursuing it.

Guard your mind and heart. If we don’t pay attention, our grasp of God’s grace as the source of our security will atrophy. That’s what has happened to some of us. We experienced God’s love and presence in powerful ways years ago, but the stresses of leadership and unfinished business from the past have slowly eroded our sense that the verdict is in and we’re God’s beloved children. We need to be on guard to prevent slipping back into the inevitable insecurity of living for approval, power and success.

Identity and security. When I speak on the topic of identity and security, I often use a $20 bill as an illustration. I ask the audience, “Who would like me to give this to you?” Everyone is eager to get the money. I then put it in my hand and crumple it into a wad. I turn to the crowd and ask, “If I take this to the bank, would they give me $18 for it?” They shake their heads, so I ask whether they still want the bill, and the response is the same. I then drop the bill on the floor and stomp on it. I suggest to the audience, “Maybe the bank would only give me $10 for it now.” They laugh because they know that’s not true. I ask again who wants the money; of course, they all do.

I tell them, “My friends, you have witnessed and now understand a valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the $20 bill, it didn’t decrease in value, and you still wanted it. Many times in our lives, we’re crumpled, dropped and ground into the dirt by the decisions we’ve made, the decisions others have made, the opinions of others or circumstances beyond our control. We may feel worthless, but our value to God hasn’t changed at all. We are created in His image, and we are still called to bear His image to a lost and broken world.

You are special. Don’t forget that! Never let yesterday’s disappointments overshadow today’s grace or tomorrow’s dreams.”

Sam Chand is a leadership architect, consultant, author, change strategist and speaker. This article is abridged from Chapter 4 of his recent book, New Thinking, New Future (Whitaker House, 2019) and is used with permission. For more information, visit samchand.com.

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How to Talk About Women in Ministry And WHy Talking about women as leaders matters to the memories of those who paved the way, to women who seek to lead today, and to future generations.

JOY QUALLS

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am a fourth-generation Assemblies of God adherent. My husband and I are raising a fifth generation. It is a badge of honor that I wear proudly, both in the context of the church we are a part of and in the work I do in the wider world of evangelical Christian higher education.

My great-grandparents, Scandinavian immigrants, came to Christ through the ministry work of Blanche Britton, the Pentecostal sodbuster who planted 25 churches in the state of North Dakota, including one in my hometown of Crosby. People had told her not to try planting in Crosby because it was a den of iniquity and not worth the time.

At one point, those who opposed the work of Britton and others burned a revival tent the ministry team had set up on Main Street. Britton persisted, ministering out of the local Masonic temple until the fledgling congregation could construct a building.

Today, where that tent burned sits a church that has existed for more than a century — the only Pentecostal church within a 60-mile radius on the upper plains. It was in that church I met Jesus as my Lord and Savior, but it is also the place where God grew my faith and revealed His calling for me. Britton’s picture hung on the back wall for several years during my childhood.

While Britton remains the only woman pastor in the church’s history, her ministry gave birth to the call of G. Raymond Carlson and his wife, Mae. (G. Raymond Carlson served as general superintendent of the Assemblies of God from 1986–93.) Britton’s ministry also changed the trajectories of countless others, including many members of the Edert and Olena Anderson family, my great-grandparents.

We never talked specifically about women as ministers in the small church in Crosby. We simply learned that we should all seek the call of God and the empowerment of the Spirit, as people created in His image and under the mandate of the Great Commission.

At Bible camp and youth conventions, we waited at the altars, sometimes for hours, to discern God’s calling to ministry. No one ever discouraged me from seeking that call. No one ever suggested to me that God doesn’t call women. There was just an assumption that, as a woman, I had as much opportunity for that calling as my brothers and my male cousins and friends.

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It was not until I started college — at an Assemblies of God university — that I encountered language suggesting women shouldn’t serve as pastors or church leaders. The university did not teach these ideas, but some of my fellow students had grown up with this theology and knew how to articulate it. I had little in the way of theological justification or scriptural understanding to refute them, so I determined to study our theology and the Scriptures, and to seek God anew.

I may not have received a personal call to pastor, but I had family and friends who had, both men and women.

God called me to the work of rhetorical study. Much of my work has focused on gender and ministry — not just the ways we think about women in ministry but also how we talk about them. The words we use impact not

Why is there not more overt teaching and empowerment of women as leaders? I believe the answer lies in our rhetoric, or how we talk about women, ministry and leadership.

just women, but also the Church and its mission.

For the past 15 years, I have researched the theological development of our unique position in the Assemblies of God regarding women’s leadership. I have pored over countless documents and historical accounts.

The result was a book I wrote, God Forgive Us for Being Women: Rhetoric, Theology, and the Pentecostal Tradition (published in 2018).

There are other evangelical denominations that allow women to pastor and serve as ministers, but the Fellowship’s position goes beyond that. Ours is all-encompassing in terms of ministry roles, and the obligation of women to seek the call of God to ministry. It is, as former general superintendent George O. Wood has stated, as distinctive as our doctrine on the Holy Spirit.

Since the mid-1930s, this doctrine has been enshrined in our bylaws: The Scriptures plainly teach that divinely called and qualified women may also serve the church in the ministry of the Word (Joel 2:29; Acts 21:9; 1 Corinthians 11:5). Women who meet the qualifications for ministerial credentials are eligible for whatever grade of credentials their qualifications warrant and have the right to administer the ordinances of the church and are eligible to serve in all levels of church ministry, and/or district and General Council leadership (Bylaws, Article VII, Section 2, Paragraph l).

So, given this very direct and solid statement on the affirmation of women as ministers, why are we still talking about the role of women in ministry within the Assemblies

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of God? Why is there still debate in some places within our Fellowship? And if this is a distinctive that identifies the Assemblies of God like our beliefs on the Person and the work of the Holy Spirit, why is there not more overt teaching and empowerment of women as leaders?

I believe the answer lies in our rhetoric, or how we talk about women, ministry and leadership. Our language influences both our beliefs and our actions. How we talk about our doctrines has a direct impact on those in our pews, our district and national meetings, and our universities.

Mae Eleanor Frey, the woman who spoke the words that inspired the title of my book, took to the floor of the Southern California District Council nearly 90 years ago, asking why the “woman question� was coming up

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again. Women then made up around 25 percent of our credential holders; today, the share is roughly the same.

The intention of this article is not to advocate for just an increase in the number of credential holders. Sheer numbers are not an indication of healthy affirmation. I hope to challenge readers to consider that our words are impactful, and we, as individuals, bring meaning to those words.

How we talk about women as leaders in the Assemblies of God matters. It matters to the memories of those who paved the way. It matters to those women who seek to lead today. And it matters to future generations. It matters to young girls like my daughter, who, at 5 years old, expressed a clear call to ministry and missions that I want to be sure we cultivate and nurture.

Like Mae Eleanor Frey, I want the next generation to have no need to take up “the woman question” because women of their generation are leading and thriving in the Assemblies of God.

The Power of Rhetoric

What does rhetoric have to do with it? When we think about rhetoric, we often think of bombastic talk, or, worse yet, ideas wrapped in colorful language that manipulates.

Historically, however, rhetoric has been about persuading others through arguments grounded in logical (logos), emotional (pathos), and credible evidence (ethos).

We could define rhetoric as the human use of words to form attitudes or actions in other humans. In other words,

rhetorical action is one person trying to get another person to behave, think or feel differently. Our interests and perceived interests join people to one another. This is how we identify with one another through language.

When the words we speak reflect our attitudes and beliefs, it reinforces the acceptance of certain ideas, people, and institutions and the rejection of others. Those with whom we communicate then have the opportunity to agree or disagree. Through this process, we are constantly seeking to bridge the gap between one another through identification to shape attitudes and beliefs and then adopt similar language that connects us to those who shape us and those we seek to shape.

God created us in His image and designed us for relationship — with Him and with one another. Language is the primary means He gave us to engage in relationship, and also to influence one another.

We believe in the power of language in many aspects of our faith — so much, in fact, we take for granted that preaching, teaching and prayer are rhetoric. How we talk about things matters. As leaders (both ministers and lay leaders), how we talk about what we claim to believe has eternal implications.

So how can we, as leaders in the Assemblies of God, talk more effectively about women’s leadership and, in turn, shape and form a holistic understanding of our beliefs, attitudes and actions regarding the role of women in the Assemblies of God?

Shaping Belief

How can we, as leaders, talk more effectively about women’s leadership and, in turn, shape and form a holistic understanding of our beliefs, attitudes and actions regarding the role of women in the Assemblies of God?

Formulating and shaping belief comes through both study and teaching. While I understand there are differing views on the theology of women’s leadership in the Church, there is no ambiguity in the position of the Assemblies of God. If you are unsure of what you believe and find it difficult to teach on the subject, I challenge you to read and study the history of our position and the theological basis for its adherence. Study the Scriptures, but also the works of Pentecostal theologians and historians.

Study the stories of women who were part of the Fellowship from the beginning — women like Rachel Sizelove, Amanda Benedict, Hattie Hammond and Alice Reynolds Flower. But also study the ways in which the Assemblies of God wrestled with the influence of other theological positions, cultural implications and the practical needs of ministry work.

Talk to women who have answered God’s call to lead,

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Talk to women who have answered God’s call to lead, and practice identification with them as you hear of both the blessings and the struggles of women pastors, missionaries and evangelists.

and practice identification with them as you hear of both the blessings and the struggles of women pastors, missionaries and evangelists.

Teach on the doctrine of women’s leadership from the pulpit and in classes or small groups. As I stated earlier, I never once heard a sermon growing up that addressed whether I could or could not receive a call to ministry based on my gender. I just assumed I could because preachers talked about the calling of believers, regardless. One might think this is enough, but the Bible says we should always be prepared to give an answer for the hope that we have (1 Peter 3:15).

No one equipped me to speak of why I believed I could receive a call to pastoral ministry, or to refute those who disagreed with me. Teaching can be a powerful form of communication for both persuasion and reinforcing existing belief.

Strengthening Attitudes

Personal experience with something or someone can go a long way toward changing attitudes. As pastors and

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church leaders, we should consider the language we use to talk about who we are and the roles we fill.

When talking generally about pastors, missionaries and other leaders, be thoughtful to use both male and female pronouns. Be intentional about using the title of pastor when speaking of pastoral staff who are women, in the same way you do for male members of your staff.

Research on women’s leadership roles reveals that women who are in leadership positions are more often referred to by their first names, which is familiar and casual. Their male counterparts are referred to by their titles and last names, which is more authoritative and formal. Talking about women as church leaders and showing them honor and respect helps reinforce that women are pastors, missionaries, district leaders and national officers.

We reinforce and strengthen attitudes about our doctrine on women’s leadership when we talk about women in the roles they play and the positions they have earned.

We can also make a difference by encouraging women to seek licensure and ordination.

aims to inspire, challenge and resource the entire spectrum of leadership, from lead pastor to lead volunteer. Check out our print, digital, and social media resources.

Web: influencemagazine.com Downloads: influencemagazine.com/downloads Back issues: influencemagazine.com/issues Podcast: Google Play Music, iTunes, Spotify Facebook: @ theinfluencemag Twitter: @theinfluencemag

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These credentials are the means by which we in the Assemblies of God endorse those who work in ministry.

We don’t want women to pursue credentials just to boost our statistics, but rather so we can speak about those serving in our churches and parachurch ministries as fully endorsed by the Fellowship.

Taking Action

Over the course of our history in the Assemblies of God, we have done well to speak highly of those women who led the way in the Pentecostal movement. However, we can also be tempted to think of it as a golden age where all women operated in their gifts, and men and women always encouraged one another.

The reality of our history is much more nuanced and complex. For every story of women who led with esteem and valor, there are many other stories of frustration and disappointment.

If we want women to thrive in ministry, in spite of challenges that will come their way, we have to do more than just inspire and encourage women to lead. We need to confront rhetoric that is contradictory to our theology and doctrine.

Every year, those who hold credentials with the Assemblies of God sign paperwork stating they will uphold the doctrines of the Fellowship, namely the Assemblies of God 16 Fundamental Truths, and adhere to the Constitution and Bylaws. Any minister who is undecided about the role of women in ministry should consult with those in district and national leadership.

We should always discourage teaching that opposes our governing documents and encourage further education in our theology and history.

There is room for ongoing discussion, but our actions should follow our talk. We need to put feet to our words and not just passively accept women’s leadership as a position in the Assemblies of God. Rather, it should be an action we carry out across all areas of leadership. We have seen the impacts of this action in the election of Melissa Alfaro as the first woman to hold an Executive Presbytery position not explicitly representing women and in the election of Donna Barrett to the position of general secretary.

Men and women throughout the Assemblies of God will speak about these offices differently because of the women who now occupy them. The intentional discussion on forming specific positions for women at the district and national level created the situation that allowed

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a woman like Beth Grant to serve as a national leader.

How we talk about women creates space for women to serve as leaders in every office our bylaws allow.

Proclaiming the Message

How we talk about women matters to the gospel. As a young woman growing up in the Assemblies of God, it never occurred to me that I could not serve and lead in my Fellowship. One might argue that the lack of talk regarding women as leaders helped foster that understanding. However, when confronted with an opposing view, I lacked the resources I needed to answer effectively.

While no one discouraged me from seeking the call to ministry, I also lacked the encouragement to shape and form the possibility in others who did not grow up in the shadow of women like Blanche Britton.

Aristotle argued that rhetoric is both a moral and a practical art. How we talk about things has implications for how we believe and how we act. Our talk also has implications for how we shape and form belief and actions in others.

The founders of the Assemblies of God, men and women together, believed there was a great urgency to the message of Christ’s salvation and the Holy Spirit’s empowerment. There was no time to waste, as the consequences were eternal. They set out to embark on the greatest evangelism the world has ever known. We are the inheritors of that urgency, and we must carry on the task to engage this mission.

Our message is of the Savior, Spirit Baptizer and soon-coming King! He is worthy of a rhetoric that proclaims His call upon men and women to share this good news.

Women ministers — such as my friends Amy Farley, Kathy Kerfoot Cannon and Nicky Stade (who is also my pastor) — will be the subjects of stories told for generations, should the Lord tarry, about the ways God used them to bring people from across the globe into the kingdom of God. This is good news indeed!

Joy Qualls, Ph.D., is chair of the department of communication studies and an associate professor at Biola University in La Mirada, California.

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FRANK DAMAZIO

Building thriving, healthy churches requires strategic leaders who are strategic thinkers making strategic changes.

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T

he face-to-face meeting with the pastor and his leadership team was a normal setting for me, as the focus of my leadership ministry is on helping leaders. The atmosphere was an open, lighthearted discussion with a Q&A time. I asked the lead pastor questions I’ve asked dozens of pastors whose churches average between 200 and 5,000 in weekend worship attendance. Size is not the concern with these questions; it’s more about the leader, the style and the focus.

I asked, “What are the things you do overall most of the time as a pastor and pastoral team?”

The pastor’s answer was similar to those I hear from other pastors: “I lead, I preach, I work hard, I raise money. I find volunteers, I dream big. I have strong values, I believe in evangelism. I worship, and I try to grow the church.”

Sound familiar? We all do these things as pastors and leaders, differing only in the amount of time we give to our areas of focus.

Then I asked my second big question: “Is it working for you?”

Again, his answer was similar to those I commonly hear from other pastors: “Well kind of, but not as good as I want. Honestly, I’m frustrated. I am tired of working so hard with so few results.”

Does this sound familiar too? Being a good leader whose church experiences biblical, identifiable growth is certainly the sincere desire of most pastors. But the fact is, it’s a tough road to travel, and it has a lot of potholes, curves and steep hills — and not enough signage.

The challenge to all pastors and leaders is to become more strategic in leading the church through the many different seasons of church life. Many times, the demand on the pastoral leadership team spreads them out and forces them to become generalists, leaders who do the many things expected of them and put upon them.

This style is not bad at certain levels of pastoring. For instance, a pastor taking over a new church with no staff and few willing workers must be a generalist, using all of his or her knowledge, aptitudes and skills.

But there comes a time when you move from generalist to strategic leader. Without this change, the leader may burn out, live in overload land or keep the church at the size that fits the old style of leadership.

The good news is that every pastor, team leader and team member can be a strategic leader. The challenge is that many of us were trained for the work of pastoring people, rather than becoming strategic pastors of people or architects of strategies.

To be strategic pastors and leaders, we must understand that times have changed. We live in a complex day of church decline in North America. We are seeing slower progress, a decline in influence and slippage in attendance throughout many mainline denominations.

Most U.S. churches have 80 or fewer worshippers each week, and fewer than 45 percent of churches have grown more than 2 percent in the past five years,

Strategic pastors and leaders will make the necessary changes to position their churches for success in the biblical definition of church success.

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according to a study from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research.

Our collective culture when it comes to the church has become like the king who “knew not Joseph” (Exodus 1:8, KJV). We face the information age, postmodern thought, pluralism and marginalization of the church. But don’t go jump off the nearest bridge!

There is hope for leaders who want to build a powerful, impacting, thriving, healthy, biblical church, whether in a small midwestern town, an urban area on the east coast, or somewhere in between. We can do this, but it is going to require strategic leaders who are strategic thinkers making strategic changes.

Strategic leaders have several things in common: • They become skilled in developing workable and successful strategies for every ministry of the church.

• They answer the important questions. What do we do? For whom do we do it? How do we excel?

• They skillfully move from a vision to a plan and process.

• They communicate a powerful, clear vision, establish simple organizational structures that match the vision, and allocate resources toward those structures.

borrow strategies from other churches, as they were probably in sync with the season of that church and may not fit your church.

What is the season of your church? Is it a new church plant? Is it in a succession situation, with a pastor leaving and a new one coming on board? Is it in decline, plateaued, or even dead in some areas? Is it in a season of revitalization, repositioning and revision?

To strategize effectively, you need to know where this church has been and how it got to where it is now. Facts are important, and the history of the church plays a role in knowing what the best strategy is going forward.

You must also consider your demographics. A demographic study can help. Such a study gathers information about the characteristics of your particular population, including ages, income levels, nationalities, education, religious beliefs, occupations and family structures.

This is a key step toward being more strategic, as it allows you to understand in detail what is going on in your field of reach — your mission field. This is valuable when planning to reach particular people groups, organizing community outreach events, and looking for the best opportunities for advancing the gospel and connecting your church with the community.

Strategic Analysis

Strategic Ownership

The strategic leader does the work of strategic analysis.

What is the spiritual state of your church today? Understanding the life and times of your church is essential before you develop strategies. Strategy has to match the season of your church.

You don’t announce a building program right after a church split or a moral crisis in the church. You can’t

The strategic pastor and the entire leadership team must understand the chosen strategic direction, and everyone must own it. Strategic leaders assess, analyze and then set strategy to achieve direction. They choose the right people to lead teams — individuals who share the established values, methods and models that unify the direction forward.

Wise leaders show the way forward by communicating

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clearly and often, by giving ample time for all leaders to buy in, and by providing a pathway that is easy for people to perceive, understand and interpret. Alignment among leaders and teams won’t happen without a crystal-clear pathway that lays out where you are taking the church and the steps to get there.

One young pastor succeeding a seasoned pastor in an older church said this about his strategic process: “As we began to shift the culture here at our church, I had to bring clarity to who we are and why we do what we do in order to take steps forward. I had to start bringing clarity to our elder team first and get them on the same page as to why we exist, which is still a work in progress. From there, I really had to spend tons of time with staff members, sharing vision and imparting to them the culture we desire to become. I then brought that to our Sunday morning gatherings through different series. However, all of that started with reading a lot of books on culture and vision and reading books on what I was sensing the Holy Spirit had for us. I also invested in relationships with those who are either doing the same shifts as me or are further along in the process than I am. I even have an outside mentor to help ask probing questions and give advice on how to get where I believe God is wanting me to lead and go.”

This is strategic leadership. It rises above ambiguous, clouded and vague communication. If confusing objectives and priorities muddle the church mission, those attempting to fulfill the mission will be less focused, less

Overworked pastors are at high risk for burnout. Bivocational leaders, especially, must do the best they can with the ministry while setting aside personal time for family and their own spiritual health.

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effective and less satisfied. I see this kind of problem often when leaders have great vision but poor communication; they present a fuzzy path forward and don’t link decisions to process.

Strategic Oversight

Strategic leaders understand how to maximize the impact of their church, regardless of its size. Most churches in the U.S. have fewer than 300 attendees. These churches can and should be spiritually healthy, with an atmosphere that invites the presence of God. They should offer solid Bible preaching, a prayer culture and a vibrant worship experience. They should see believers becoming disciples,

members serving the community in specific and impacting ways, and active involvement in world missions as an integral part of the vision.

Small things can make huge differences. A single stone killed a giant; an army of 300 defeated thousands; five loaves of bread and two fish fed a multitude; and faith like a mustard seed still moves mountains. Don’t limit your vision. One towboat can pull 40 barges, each carrying 1,500 tons. Such is the power of one small church not thinking small!

Just because the church is small doesn’t mean you don’t need good strategy. Small-church leaders have a lot to juggle. Strategic pastors and leaders who are bivocational are becoming increasingly common. According to a Faith Communities Today study, fewer than 62 percent of U.S. churches have a full-time pastor.

Bivocational pastors are heroes who make many sacrifices for their churches — and they’re in good company. The apostle Paul was bivocational, a tent maker and an apostle. The bivocational leader must be strategic in training leaders, delegating as much of the church work as possible and allowing people to share in the ministry.

Use your time strategically. Overworked pastors are at high risk for burnout. Bivocational leaders, especially, must do the best they can with the ministry while setting aside personal time for family and their own spiritual health. If you are a leader in a small town or an

impoverished area, you can still dream big and remain strategic with what you have and what’s available to you.

As you grow, it’s also important to use your facilities strategically. Constructing a bigger building may not be the wisest choice. Smaller buildings with multiple services create more cash flow without more overhead. More cash flow means more resources for new ministries, staff positions and mission opportunities.

Strategic Shifts

Strategic pastors and leaders will make the necessary changes to position their churches for success in the biblical definition of church success. You are intelligent,

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the Holy Spirit is in you, and the Holy Spirit is the best strategist ever. We have an edge, an Insider who understands cultural complexities and has the ability to prepare the way for the work God wants to do in our communities.

Jesus said, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18).

He continues to build His Church today, through ordinary men and women who look to Him in faith. You are a church builder, and you can become a better church builder.

The size of the church is not the same as the health of the church. You can be unhealthy small or unhealthy large. The size of a church may depend on geographic and demographic variables. The health of the church has to do with its spiritual vitality and its community, cultural and world impact.

Be a strategic leader in the right things at the right time with the right leaders to do what is right for your church. The frustrated pastor I met with was doing the work but needed more strategy. So begin your strategizing with these questions: • I lead, but am I producing leaders?

• I preach sermons, but am I moving the church forward with my preaching?

• I work hard, but do I delegate and build team leaders?

• I dream big, but do I dream strategically?

• I have strong values, but do I cross-pollinate with others who are different from me?

The difference between good and great is often smaller than we think. What seems like a small adjustment can — and often does — grow larger over time. You can produce highly qualified leaders with the modern technology available to you. Online resources are everywhere, and much of it is free.

Don’t limit your training of leaders — worship leaders, children’s ministry leaders, youth ministry leaders, etc. — by only using what you have residentially at your church. Be strategic!

Dr. Frank Damazio is a 40-year ministry veteran, speaker, and author of over 30 books. He leads Frank Damazio Ministries, which offers web resources, leadership coaching, and leadership intensives.

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Be a strategic leader in the right things at the right time with the right leaders to do what is right for your church.

MULTIPLIERS Leaders Leveraging Their Gifts for God’s Kingdom

Tommy Barnett, co-founder, LA Dream Center

BIG DREAMS FROM THE DREAM CENTER “Our mission is simple: Find a way to serve the people nobody wants.”

— Tommy Barnett

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ommy Barnett had a dream. As a young man traveling the country preaching revivals, he often sensed God telling him he would one day start churches in many of the cities he visited.

After years of leading the same church in Phoenix, Barnett wondered how that would ever happen. Nevertheless, the dream began to take shape in two major ways. First, Barnett started the Pastors and Leaders School

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(now the Dream Conference), which has since trained thousands of ministers to plant churches in those same cities.

Second, Barnett founded the Dream Center.

That network now includes more than 200 churches in some of America’s hardest-toreach places. The origins of the Dream Center were not about growth but about a cause.

“Our church needed a cause, something bigger than us,” Barnett says. “And we asked,

‘What’s the biggest challenge we can find?’

The answer was the inner-city, specifically in Los Angeles.”

The outreach team ministered to people on the streets, but making disciples was difficult in an environment of drug pushers, sex trafficking and gangs. So, they sought out housing for those needing refuge. Once those houses were full, they found a larger place, the former Queen of Angels Hospital, 15 stories high with 1,400 rooms. That building became the first official Dream Center.

Getting drug users and prostitutes off the streets is just the first step. The Dream Center offers discipleship and ministry, drug rehabilitation and GED classes. Most of all, people are encountering the hope of Jesus.

“We’re the go-to center for many of the law enforcement agencies and the court system,” Barnett says. “Our mission is simple, pretty much what has driven me throughout my ministry: Find a way to serve the people nobody wants.”

Over the years, volunteers have flocked to the Dream Center from churches all over the country to assist, intern and see the ministry in action. Many have returned home with renewed passion and a God-given dream for reaching their own communities.

“When you empower people, they will

do amazing things,” Barnett says. “So, go for your dream!”

In this issue’s Multipliers, you’ll read profiles of individuals who have gone for the dreams God planted in their hearts. First is Barnett’s son, Matthew. He has been living the dream alongside his father for the past two decades. As co-founder of the LA Dream Center and the lead pastor of Angelus Temple, he is seeing the power of God transforming lives.

Next, you’ll read about Paul Palmer and the Atlanta Dream Center. Palmer and his team started the outreach at the same time they planted a church. Today, both ministries are flourishing and connecting people to Jesus.

Then, meet Jody Dow of Springfield, Missouri. As a young girl, she dreamed about making an impact as a missionary. Eventually, she and her church launched the Springfield Dream Center.

Finally, Ernest Clover never expected to end up in ministry. But while working and volunteering in the nation’s capital, he discovered the power of discipleship. Eventually, he helped start DC Dream Center.

What God-inspired dreams are you holding onto or holding out for? These stories of success will inspire you to keep going for them and trust the Lord with the outcome.

Chris Colvin is a contributing editor to Influence magazine and specializes in sermon research for pastors and churches. He lives in Springfield, Missouri, with his wife and two children.

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Hearts Going in the Same Direction A Q&A WITH MATTHEW BARNETT INFLUENCE: In 2001, the LA Dream Center started to expand into a network. When did you sense it was time to spread what was happening in Los Angeles to other parts of the country?

BARNETT: In light of the growth of short-term missions work, where young people were coming from all over the country into LA to serve, we started seeing a passion become like wildfire. After their experience here, people wanted to go back and do it in their cities.

We knew that, one way or another, they were going to do it because it was so tangible and so simple.

Churches started to realize that impacting your community doesn’t require a big facility.

It takes a condition of the heart, Jesus touching you to celebrate what He’s given you and using it to serve.

Matthew Barnett is co-founder and director of the LA Dream Center and senior pastor of Angelus Temple in Los Angeles.

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Why do you think it spread so quickly?

We’ve always believed, and this comes from my dad’s heart for ministry, it’s important to give and serve more than you get in return. When pastors come here, they see that in action.

For instance, our food program reaches out to the 16 percent of Los Angeles County who

Dream Center food programs feed more than 40,000 people monthly.

never know where their next meal will come from. We are able to distribute over half a million pounds of food every month. We also serve through adopt-a-block programs, clothing outreach and even foster care initiatives.

The Dream Center even offers a fitness program to the community, just another way to reach our neighborhood.

How did you build partnerships with other churches?

It was important for us to identify those churches who had the same heart as us. They don’t have to be the biggest churches in the world, and they don’t have to have the biggest budgets. They just need a heart that is going in the same direction as ours.

What do you tell churches who are interested in starting a Dream Center?

The launching aspect is challenging. It takes resources and money. There are amazing churches with those resources who want the Dream Center expression to be a component of the outreach they already do. We can provide a model that proves it can be done.

For churches who are getting off the ground in those areas, we can show them how to do it.

For more information, visit dreamcenter.org.

Metro Kids provides spiritual, emotional and academic support to children and their families through weekly Sidewalk Sunday School, discipleship, an early learning program, group mentoring and more.

Changing Lives by Meeting Needs A Q&A WITH PAUL PALMER INFLUENCE: You founded the Atlanta Dream

Center at the same time you planted a church there. How did you manage that?

PALMER: We planted the church in August 2003. The next day, we started a school of ministry. We had been hosting Metro Kids Ministry for three weeks by that point. So within a month’s time, we had all these things up and running.

Our situation may be very different than others. My wife and I have 11 children, and most of them had experience at the LA Dream Center. We had a lot of hands and feet to accomplish the task.

I don’t know if I would recommend anyone else do it that way. For us, because of our kids, it made it doable without too much stress.

Paul Palmer is executive director of the Atlanta Dream Center in Georgia and an AGUSM missionary.

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Why Atlanta?

Our second grandson was born in Atlanta. We came to visit and drove around downtown.

We saw the disarray in some of the communities, and my wife, out of the blue, said we needed to come start a Dream Center.

Today, the Atlanta Dream Center reaches the world around us in many ways. One way is Metro Kids, which combines Sidewalk Sunday School with afterschool programs and

mentoring to keep kids out of gangs, drugs and other things before their impressionable years. Our I Am ministry to the homeless has multiple ways to help by giving a hand up instead of just a hand out.

How are you changing lives by meeting needs?

We started with an adopt-a-block program, just mowing lawns and cleaning up vacant lots so kids could have places to play.

We serve over 900 preschoolers in after school and busing ministries. And our Out of Darkness ministry, where we help women escape from sexual trafficking, has seen over 1,400 rescues in seven years, with a nearly 50 percent residual rate. According to the FBI, the rate for other charities is only 11 percent.

That’s the power of our holistic spiritual approach.

How have people responded to your presence in the community?

When we see a need, we act. Meeting needs in the neighborhood has attracted conversation and curiosity. People ask, “Why are you here? Why are you doing this? Where’s your church?” We didn’t use fliers; we just became known by what we did. It is a great way to evangelize and multiply.

Each Wednesday, the Springfield Dream Center hosts a free, family-style dinner open to anyone in the community.

A Dream (Center) Come True A C O N V E R S AT I O N W I T H J O D Y D O W ody Dow has had big dreams since she was a young girl. At age 11, while attending chapel services at her Christian middle school, Dow heard missionaries share about their work.

“There was something different about how they talked,” Dow says. “They saw missionary work as relational. They served with love and dignity.”

In college, Dow was on track to earn a degree in personal relations when a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, her junior year, changed her trajectory. That’s where she encountered a Dream Center for the first time.

“I felt like God was saying, ‘This is exactly what you were made to do,’” Dow says.

After graduation, Dow joined the staff of North Point Church (AG) in Springfield, Missouri. This gave her an opportunity to lead community outreaches, but she knew God was calling her to something much bigger.

When Pastor Wilfredo “Choco” De Jesús of New Life Covenant Church (AG) in Chicago visited North Point, he encouraged Dow to persevere in her God-given dream and to trust the outcome to Him. “He told me, ‘You will never be ready to take a jump of faith like this,’” Dow says. “He even

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Jody Dow is executive director of the Springfield Dream Center in Missouri.

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told my pastor that if North Point didn’t open a Dream Center for me, I would just go open one myself. And he was right!”

Having a church behind her was important to Dow, and it helped open doors. Another local church was relocating and offered North Point its existing building. That facility is now the home of the Springfield Dream Center.

The Springfield Dream Center is more than just a building in a neighborhood. It’s a way to provide help for today and hope for tomorrow.

The ministry offers classes to young moms and families, helping them with everything from high school equivalency exams to learning basics about financial stability.

On Wednesday nights, the Dream Center hosts family dinners for the neighborhood.

Other outreaches include block parties, a food pantry and a clothing closet.

“Every day, I meet people who need love, but they also have dreams that are dying or dead,” Dow says. “They want a future for their own children, but they also need to know their dream is still alive and well.”

Dow knows the dreams God gives are always worth pursuing. A leap of faith is never easy, but when God is behind it, failure isn’t an option. As the Springfield Dream Center continues to change the community, that reality is more evident than ever.

Living out the Gospel

A C O N V E R S AT I O N W I T H E R N E S T C L O V E R rnest Clover went to Washington, D.C., to pursue a career in politics, but God had other plans for him.

“I was telling God, ‘OK, here’s my plan. Now bless it,’” Clover says. “What I should have done is ask God for His plan.”

Working as a volunteer with a local mentoring program helped Clover begin to see his calling more clearly.

“I saw how Scripture wasn’t meant to just be read, but to go into your hands and your feet and lived out,” Clover says. “That was radical to me.”

In August 2017, National Community Church (AG) launched the DC Dream Center with Clover at the helm. Mentoring is a big part of the program. But it also involves living out the gospel each day by being God’s hands and feet in many different ways.

“We truly believe in the one-on-one relationship as the biggest factor in life change,” Clover says.

Discipling a young person is not just about teaching them Scripture or how to pray. It often begins with helping them gain basic life skills like navigating a grocery store or getting a driver’s license. And as staff members and volunteers share their lives, they also have opportunities to share their faith.

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Ernest Clover is executive director of the DC Dream Center in Washington D.C. 8 8 66 4

An annual Harvest Party, art and music lessons, and academic tutoring are among the programs for kids offered by the DC Dream Center.

The DC Dream Center offers much more than just mentoring. It’s a place where hope becomes habit and young people receive encouragement to dream and discover God’s plans for their lives. After-school programming includes academic tutoring and lessons in music and art. Allowing kids to express themselves helps identify their God-given gifts and values.

The DC Dream Center ministers to adults as well, offering a variety of outreaches — from weekly prayer breakfasts to Easter parties, summer cookouts, Thanksgiving basket giveaways, and Christmas toy drives.

Job fairs that attract hundreds of individuals seeking employment is another way the DC Dream Center is meeting tangible needs while pointing people to Jesus.

On Wednesdays, the Dream Center offers “reconciliation lunches,” during which leaders facilitate discussion and involvement.

The name reflects the goal of relationship building among people of different races, generations, socioeconomic backgrounds and neighborhoods. After all, coming together is the first step toward reconciliation.

The DC Dream Center may just be getting started, but it is already making a big difference in the community by sharing the love of God and changing one life at a time. That’s what living out the gospel is all about.

MAKE IT COUNT An Eight-Week Study for Leadership Teams

FOLLOWERSHIP: EIGHT KEYS TO BECOMING A GREAT FOLLOWER STEPHEN BLANDINO

WHAT IS MAKE IT COUNT?

Week after week, you invest time and energy into making every Sunday count. But you also have to think about staff meetings, board meetings, and meetings with key volunteers and other church leaders.

Juggling so many meetings can seem overwhelming, especially as you think about developing the leaders around you. Effective leaders are continually looking for great leadership content they can use to develop and mentor other leaders. Make It Count is a powerful, little tool to help you accomplish just that.

Each Make It Count lesson is easily adaptable for individual or group discussion, allowing for personal application and reflection among your ministry leaders

and lead volunteers. The lessons are useful as devotionals in board and staff meetings and in departmental meetings with your lead volunteers. Studying and growing together is key to building strong and healthy relationships with your team members, and it is a necessary component to building growing, flourishing churches. These lessons can help Blandino make each moment count as you lead and develop the leaders around you.

The following eight, easy-to-use lessons on keys to

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here’s a great deal of writing, speaking and discussion on the topic of leadership.

That’s important, and I would encourage any existing or aspiring leader to learn as much about leadership as possible. Leading is hard work, and learning to lead well will pay huge dividends in whatever area God has called you to serve. Less popular is the topic of “followership.”

Followership feels less ambitious, less noble, less significant. But the truth is, that’s where all of us start. And to be honest, no matter what level of leadership you attain, you’ll never stop following. The question is this: Are you a good follower? If you don’t follow well, you probably won’t be the kind of leader people will want to follow.

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines followership as the capacity or willingness to follow a leader. Notice, there must be both capacity and willingness. One without the other will disable your ability to follow well. So, what does a good follower look like? In this issue of Make It Count, we will explore eight keys to becoming a great follower (which, in turn, will help you lead well too). We’ll cover what it means to do these things: • Follow Christ • Follow your leader • Follow the vision • Follow with accountability • Follow as a servant leader • Follow as a team player • Follow as a hard worker • Follow with flux As you read and discuss these studies with your team, it may require an extra dose of humility to help team members feel heard and valued. You want to create a good environment that fosters healthy conversations, so that everyone (leaders and followers) become more of who God wants them to be. Good leaders make it easier to be a good follower, and good followers help leaders lead more effectively. These studies can help accomplish both.

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becoming a great follower are written by Stephen Blandino, lead pastor of 7 City Church (AG) in Fort Worth, Texas (7citychurch.com). He planted 7 City Church in 2012 in a thriving cultural arts district near downtown Fort Worth. Blandino blogs regularly at stephenblandino.com and is the author of several books, including Do Good Works, Creating Your Church’s Culture, and GO! Starting a Personal Growth Revolution.

HOW TO USE MAKE IT COUNT

We are pleased to offer the Make It Count Discussion Guide in a downloadable PDF, available through the “Downloads” button on Influencemagazine.com. Each lesson in the PDF Make It Count Discussion Guide is divided into a Leader’s page

and Team Member’s page. The Leader’s page corresponds directly to the material in this print issue of the magazine.

We encourage you to print multiple copies of the PDF Discussion Guide from Influencemagazine.com for all your ministry leaders and the team members they lead in your church or organization.

You will notice that key words and concepts are underlined in each lesson on the Leader’s page. These underlined words and phrases correspond to the blank spaces found on the team member lesson pages. Team members can fill in the blanks as you progress through each lesson’s material.

We trust these lessons will help you make each moment count as you lead and develop the leaders around you.

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Followership: Eight Keys to Becoming a Great Follower

Follow Christ Assess: When and where did you decide to follow Christ?

Insights and Ideas

ood leaders first learned how to follow before receiving the reigns of leadership. Understanding followership early on will help you exercise better leadership later on. But followership isn’t seasonal.

Even if your leadership title expands, you will always find yourself in the role of a follower.

You might report to another leader, a board of directors, or a group of overseers. Whatever the case, leadership is never fully separated from followership. That’s especially true as a follower of Christ.

If you’re a leader in charge, it’s essential to remind yourself daily that you are first and foremost a follower of Christ. Your identity is in Him. Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

This verse gives us three insights into what it means to follow Christ: 1. Surrender. Jesus began by saying that His disciples must “deny themselves.” As a follower of Jesus, we have a calling to live in continual surrender to His lordship. That means denying our selfish interests. Author and pastor Gerald Brooks often says, “When you become a leader, you lose the right to think about yourself.” Our primary focus is one of continual surrender to Jesus and His perfect will.

2. Sacrifice. You will make sacrifices in leadership, but God also calls you to sacrifice in followership. Jesus said His disciples must “take up their cross daily.” While we wear the cross as a beautiful piece of jewelry, the truth is, it’s a symbol of humiliation, suffering and death. It represents the sacrifice Jesus made for all of us, and it’s a reminder of the sacrifice He calls us to make as His followers. How often? Jesus said “daily.”

3. Submission. Jesus concludes by saying, “Follow me.” Followers always submit to a leader. As followers of Christ, we recognize and readily admit that our allegiance is to Jesus, and He is the One we follow. We must be willing to submit all of our plans, strategies, hopes and dreams to Christ, the Head of the Church.

The longer we lead, the more tempted we are to expect the perks and privileges of power.

That’s one reason why maintaining the posture of followership is so critical. It keeps us grounded. If we ever forget that we are followers before we are leaders, we will be more prone to poor leadership. Simply put, how we follow Christ affects how we lead others.

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Reflect and Discuss

1. What does surrender, sacrifice and submission to Christ look like for a follower of Jesus?

2. How does following Christ keep you grounded in your leadership?

3. What would it look like to make following Christ more of a central part of your leadership?

Apply

It’s important for leaders to stay centered. One way this happens is by continually reminding ourselves of whom we are following, and that our leadership is ultimately in submission to God. Spend a few minutes in prayer, recommitting yourself to Christ, and choosing a life of surrender, sacrifice and submission to Him.

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Followership: Eight Keys to Becoming a Great Follower

Follow Your Leader Team Review: How have you felt challenged to make following Christ more central in your

leadership?

Assess: What are the marks of a good follower?

Insights and Ideas

f you are working for a company, a school, a nonprofit, a church or any other organization, you likely report to somebody. Your boss is your leader, and part of your assignment is to help your leader, and the mission of your organization, excel. That’s your No. 1 goal as a follower.

Where we get into trouble is when we confuse the roles — when we seek the position of leadership rather than being comfortable with the posture of followership. If you do a good job following, God tends to take care of the promoting. So, how should you follow your leader? Here are three steps: 1. Be secure as a follower. The landscape of leadership is riddled with insecure leaders.

Unfortunately, the fallout is often ugly. Part of following your leader is being OK with your role as a follower. Secure followership is always better than insecure leadership. If you can be secure in your role as a follower, you are more likely to exhibit security when God promotes you in leadership.

2. Be committed to your leader. God has assigned you to follow the leader who is in your life right now. He hasn’t called you to follow a famous preacher, the author of a best-seller, or the leader of a worldwide movement. God has called you to serve your leader, not somebody else’s. Be OK with that. Don’t expect your pastor or leader to be an inauthentic version of somebody else. Let your leader be the person God created him or her to be, and then commit to that leader’s success.

3. Be faithful as a follower. If your boss is the leader, that makes you the follower. Each is a unique role. The Parable of the Bags of Gold reveals the job of both the follower and the leader. The master in Matthew 25:21 said, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.

Come and share your master’s happiness!” According to this passage, the follower’s job is to be faithful, and the leader’s job is to be a promoter. When the first two servants doubled their master’s money, they exhibited faithfulness. When the master put the servants in charge of more opportunity, he acted as a promoter. Promotion without faithfulness leads to entitlement. Faithfulness without promotion leads to discouragement.

When you follow your leader as a secure, committed and faithful follower, you add value to your leader and prove to God you are trustworthy. Those are the followers God promotes.

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Reflect and Discuss

1. What does it look like to be a follower and a leader simultaneously?

2. Why is security (as a follower and as a leader) so important?

3. How can you become more faithful as a follower, or a better promoter as a leader?

Apply

Take a few minutes to think about the leader God has called you to serve. What are three ways you can become more secure as a follower, more committed to your leader, and more faithful as a follower? What will you do this week to apply those three ideas?

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Followership: Eight Keys to Becoming a Great Follower

Follow the Vision Team Review: What steps have you taken to better follow your leader?

Assess: What is the vision of your church or organization?

Insights and Ideas

here is a consistent pattern throughout Scripture where God entrusts vision to the leader of His people. God gave Moses a vision to deliver the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. “So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:10).

God gave Joshua a vision to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them — to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses” (Joshua 1:2–3).

And God gave Nehemiah a vision to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. “They said to me, ‘Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace.

The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.’ When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven” (Nehemiah 1:3–4).

In each case, God birthed the vision, and the people’s responsibility was to follow.

The same is true for us today. When God gives a pastor or leader a vision, our job is to follow it, not hijack it. Vision hijackers create dissension, division and disunity. If you can’t agree with the vision, then you’ve become sideways energy to the vision. The best strategy is to follow the vision enthusiastically. How? 1. Follow the vision personally. The first way to personalize the vision is by choosing not to create your own vision. It’s a commitment to maintain unity, and a singular focus on the vision of the house. When you put the vision before your own preferences, ideas and ambitions, you demonstrate loyal commitment.

2. Follow the vision practically. Once you personalize the vision, your next step is to live it practically in your day-to-day life. Following the vision in practical and applicable ways moves the vision from a corporate statement to a personal stance. It elevates your commitment.

3. Follow the vision publicly. You follow the vision publicly when you enthusiastically share it with others. This is where you inspire teams with the vision, and champion the vision so others can run with it.

The prophet Habakkuk records the words of the Lord: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it” (Habakkuk 2:2). Following the vision personally, practically and publicly is the best way to run with the vision.

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Reflect and Discuss

1. How have you seen split visions create division within a church?

2. What are some personal and practical ways to embrace and live your church’s vision?

3. What have you found to be the best way to communicate a vision publicly and rally people to pursue it?

Apply

Write down a simple plan for personally, practically and publicly following the vision of your church. Then put at least one of those steps into action this week

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Followership: Eight Keys to Becoming a Great Follower

Follow With Accountability Team Review: What action step did you take last week to embrace the vision — personally, practically and publicly?

Assess: Why is accountability so important in leadership and followership today?

Insights and Ideas

ost people would readily admit that accountability is important in life and leadership.

James said, “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly” (James 3:1). Paul said, “So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God” (Romans 14:12). And Jesus said, “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them” (Matthew 25:19). All of us will be held accountable.

What impact does accountability have on a team? Author and consultant Patrick Lencioni offers some great insight on accountability in what he calls the five dysfunctions of a team: • Dysfunction 1: Absence of trust • Dysfunction 2: Fear of conflict • Dysfunction 3: Lack of commitment • Dysfunction 4: Avoidance of accountability • Dysfunction 5: Inattention to results How does one dysfunction lead to another? It begins with an absence of trust among team members, resulting in a fear of conflict. In other words, when we don’t trust one another, we’re not willing to disagree or engage in hard conversations. As a result, we lack commitment when there is a decision to go a new direction. It doesn’t mean it’s a wrong decision; it’s just not a decision we agree with, and because we don’t agree with the decision, we naturally avoid accountability. The last thing we want is for someone to hold us accountable to implement a decision we don’t support. That lack of accountability causes us to stop paying attention to results.

We’ve all seen churches that stopped paying attention to results, ultimately becoming insider focused and losing sight of the mission God called them to fulfill. We’ve all seen organizations that stopped paying attention to the scorecard before multiple years of decline thrust them into irrelevance, or even bankruptcy. Here’s the truth we have to embrace: Accountability isn’t fun, but inattention to results leads to a less-fun outcome.

If you want to be a great follower, don’t avoid accountability. Embrace the direction of your team, set specific and measurable goals, and then be willing to let someone else hold your feet to the fire. Just because the direction isn’t the choice you would have made if you were in charge doesn’t mean it’s not the right direction. Mature followers understand this insight and are better for it.

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Reflect and Discuss

1 What scares followers and leaders about accountability?

2. How have you seen an avoidance of accountability negatively impact a team, church or organization?

3. What’s a practical way to ensure accountability is a part of goals, team performance and ministry progress?

Apply

What is your attitude toward accountability? Rather than waiting for someone to hold you accountable, share your goals with someone, and ask that person to hold you accountable.

Arrange to meet once a month and track your progress.

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Followership: Eight Keys to Becoming a Great Follower

Follow as a Servant Leader Team Review: What is one goal or area for which you are asking someone to hold you

accountable?

Assess: What does servant leadership look like as a follower?

Insights and Ideas

ollowership implies a commitment to serve someone else. Interestingly, serving is also the essence of the most effective form of leadership. In short, serving is at the core of followership and leadership. Jesus said, “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave — just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:26–28). Whether you’re a follower, or a leader, servanthood is the fuel that propels ministry forward.

Followers exhibit servant leadership when they possess two traits. These traits have a profound effect on our ability to follow well, and they prepare our character for greater levels of responsibility. How we follow is the prophet of how we will lead.

1. Humble service. Both of these qualities — humility and service — fight against our natural desires. Author Richard Foster once said, “More than any other single way the grace of humility is worked into our lives through the discipline of service ... nothing disciplines the inordinate desires of the flesh like service, and nothing transforms the desires of the flesh like serving in hiddenness. The flesh whines against service but it screams against hidden service. It strains and pulls for honor and recognition.”

When humility and service are combined, the motive and method of leadership are sanctified. Humility keeps self-centeredness and personal kingdom building from driving our motive. And service ensures our method for leading keeps the good of others in focus. In other words, power should benefit, not burden, others. Some leaders exhibit one trait; few exhibit both.

2. Entitlement restraint. It’s easy in leadership to shift into an entitlement mode, where you feel you deserve certain privileges, honor and acknowledgement. It’s one thing for people to give those to you; it’s another for you to seek after them. This same feeling is common when you’re a follower who feels overlooked or underappreciated. The best followers are servant leaders who exhibit restraint when it comes to entitlement.

Simply put, servant leaders aren’t hung up on the three P’s: perks, position and promotion. They do their job and trust God to take care of the rest in His timing.

A good litmus test of servant leadership is found in Elisabeth Elliot’s words: “The best way to find out whether you really have a servant’s heart is to see what your reaction is when somebody treats you like one.”

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Reflect and Discuss

1. What’s one of the best examples of servant leadership you’ve seen on your team?

2. What would be a practical expression of “humble service”?

3. Which entitlement is your biggest temptation? Why is it so hard to show restraint when you feel like you deserve the three P’s: perks, position and promotion?

Apply

Do a personal audit on your commitment to servant leadership. Which trait is your biggest challenge: humble service or entitlement restraint? What can you do this week to model servant leadership at work and at home?

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Followership: Eight Keys to Becoming a Great Follower

Follow as a Team Player Team Review: What step did you take last week to be a servant leader at work and at home?

Assess: What qualities mark the best team players?

Insights and Ideas

o fully realize a vision, the entire team has to work and lead in the same direction.

Ecclesiastes 4:9 says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.” To be a follower who produces a good return on your labor, you need to exhibit the traits of a great team player. Being a “team player” is one of our team values at 7 City Church. We describe a team player as someone who exemplifies the following: 1. Vision supporter. Team players aren’t inventing new visions that are out of alignment with the vision of the house. They get behind the singular vision of the church and avoid vision drifting, platform building and silo thinking. When coach Lou Holtz arrived at the University of Notre Dame, he removed the players’ names from the back of their football jerseys. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Holtz said, “You’re playing for ND; you’re not playing for yourself. To win, it’s always about putting the team first.”

2. Relationship builder. Effective teams take time to get to know one another. The more you know someone, the more you’re willing to trust them. Author and consultant Patrick Lencioni said, “In the context of building a team, trust is the confidence among team members that their peers’ intentions are good, and that there is no reason to be protective or careful around the group. In essence, teammates must get comfortable being vulnerable with one another.”

3. Culture enhancer. Culture is “the way we do things around here.” If you go to another country, you will bump into its culture the moment you step off the plane. You’ll encounter its governing structure, language, clothing, food, music and a hundred other things revealing how things are done in that country. Every church and organization has a culture too, a way of doing things. The best team players work hard to learn the culture, live the culture and lead in a way that reinforces the values of the culture.

4. People developer. Great team players are always expanding the team by embracing the words of the apostle Paul when he challenged leaders to equip the body of Christ for “works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12–13). That’s great advice — not just for leaders, but for followers too.

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Reflect and Discuss

1. Which quality of a team player is your greatest strength?

2. Which quality of a team player is your biggest challenge? Why? 3. What can be done to cultivate the four qualities of a team player in your setting?

Apply

Identify one step you can take to become a better vision supporter, relationship builder, culture enhancer, and people developer on your team. What is a resource (book, article, podcast or person) that could help you improve? Who would be willing to hold you accountable?

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MAKE IT COUNT Study

7

Followership: Eight Keys to Becoming a Great Follower

Follow as a Hard Worker Team Review: What step did you take, and what resource did you access, to become a better team player?

Assess: In practical terms, what does it mean to be a hard worker?

Insights and Ideas

t’s easy to assume we have a strong work ethic; after all, nobody wants to be a lazy sloth. However, an honest evaluation can sometimes reveal unseen gaps. Scrolling endlessly through your favorite social media channel, gaming on the job, and engaging in long hallway conversations are not reflections of hard work. Yet how often do these activities distract us?

The apostle Paul gives us a picture of hard work when he writes, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23–24).

As followers of Jesus, we recognize that He is our true employer. So, how would Jesus score your performance on the job? Are you working with all your heart? What kind of reward would He give you for the work you do?

To put this in really practical terms, hard work generally reflects three qualities: 1. Effectiveness: The right priorities are in focus. Followers are only effective if they are allocating their time, talent and resources to the priorities that matter to the organization for which they work. You might deliver outstanding results on a priority that matters to you, but if it doesn’t matter to the organization, can you really claim to be effective on the job?

Efficiently accomplishing the wrong priorities isn’t a definition of success. Effectiveness for followers begins by identifying what matters most to their leaders.

2. Efficiency: Priorities are executed smoothly. Once they identify clear priorities, hard workers execute them efficiently. They implement systems that deliver the results their leaders desire. To describe the qualities of a good system, author Nelson Searcy uses the acronym S.Y.S.T.E.M.: Saves You Stress, Time, Energy and Money. When you can implement solutions to attain your leader’s highest priorities in a way that reduces stress, maximizes time, leverages energy, and saves money, you are moving in the right direction.

3. Excellence: Priorities are executed with quality. Finally, a hard-working follower does his or her job with excellence. Mediocrity isn’t the goal. Doing enough to get by isn’t success.

Give your best, recognizing the Lord deserves nothing less.

When these three qualities mark your work, you become the type of follower leaders like to promote. They can trust you to focus on the important things and deliver results quickly and with high levels of quality.

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Reflect and Discuss

1. Who’s the hardest worker you’ve ever known? What made that person a hard worker?

2. How do Paul’s words in Colossians 3:23–24 challenge you?

3. Which of the three traits of hard work do you need to focus on most?

Apply

Take a few minutes in prayer to ask the Lord to evaluate your effectiveness, efficiency and excellence as a worker on your job. You’re ultimately working for Him, and His perspective should matter most. Ask the Lord how you can improve, and then seek Him for wisdom to take the right next step.

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MAKE IT COUNT Study

8

Followership: Eight Keys to Becoming a Great Follower

Follow With Flux Team Review: What step did you take to become a harder worker?

Assess: How do you find the balance between pushing your new ideas and simply doing what your leader asks you to do?

Insights and Ideas

f you became the leader of your ministry, organization or church, you would probably like to change something. That’s natural and normal. You have fresh ideas, and you see things from a different perspective. The challenge as a follower is knowing when, and how, to bring those ideas and perspectives to bear in the place where God has called you to serve. The key is mastering the two sides of flux: 1. The “push” side of flux. Authors James Kouzes and Barry Posner describe the “push” side of flux perfectly when they talk about “challenging the process.” This practice involves challenging the status quo, and taking risks, so the organization can improve. Young leaders, and people who are new to an organization, love this practice because it provides an opportunity to make things better. Every organization needs the “push” side of flux. Jesus said, “No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins” (Mark 2:22).

It takes maturity to know when to pour out your new ideas to your leader. Push, but do so with wisdom, sensitivity and a teachable spirit.

2. The “pull” side of flux. While there are times to push by “challenging the process,” there are also times to pull back, yield to your leader, and be sensitive to what’s important to him or her. Pushing your ideas too hard can break trust, permanently handicap your ability to lead up, or spotlight immaturities that you’re unable to see.

First Peter 5:5 says, “In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders.” Learning to pull back and yield is a sincere expression of submission.

Both leaders and followers must engage the push and pull of flux with humility. Peter continues verse 5 with these words: “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another.” Those first three words — “all of you” — are addressed to elders and young leaders. For young leaders (or followers), a response of humility will help you learn the most nuanced and less black-and-white aspects of leadership. For leaders, a response of humility may be the key to the next breakthrough in your church as you listen to the input of your team. The flux between pushing forward and pulling back is ultimately a tension to manage.

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Reflect and Discuss

1. When was a time you were challenged to push forward as a follower? How did it go?

2. When was a time you pulled back as a follower? What did you learn in that process?

3. How can you practically manage the tension between pushing forward and pulling back?

Apply

In what area do you need to push forward, or where do you need to pull back? What would be the best and most honorable way to proceed? Is the timing right? Sometimes the best step is to have an honest, respectful and cordial conversation with your leader.

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THE FINAL NOTE

Power to Forgive CHRISTINA QUICK life-giving relationship with God requires forgiveness — not just from God, but also toward others. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught that unforgiveness is a serious issue: “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14–15).

It’s concerning, then, that nearly a quarter of practicing Christians in the U.S. (23 percent) say there is someone they can’t forgive,

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Christina Quick is assistant editor of Influence magazine.

23%

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CHRISTIANS WHO SAY THEY CAN’T FORGIVE

according to a recent report from Barna Group. Of those harboring unforgiveness, only 28 percent even want to let it go.

In an increasingly hostile culture, grudges are more familiar territory than grace — even among many who claim the name of Christ. Nevertheless, God calls us to forgive freely, serve humbly, and love selflessly. Of course, He doesn’t ask us to do these unnatural things in our own strength. He gives us the power of the Holy Spirit.

In the absence of mercy, spirituality rings hollow. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing” (verses 1–2).

As we approach Pentecost Sunday, may we seek God for a fresh outpouring of His Spirit on our churches — and a renewed revelation of His grace among our people. Against a backdrop of rage and offense, few things stand out like a gentle, forgiving heart. Love that extends even to our enemies and those who have wronged us points to a God with whom all things are possible.

In an increasingly hostile culture, grudges are more familiar territory than grace — even among many who claim the name of Christ.

28%

GRUDGE HOLDERS WHO WISH TO FORGIVE