Archives for the Leadership category

Lessons For Leadership From Birding (Part 1)

Are there lessons to be learnt for leadership in a hobby like birding? Well, I have been doing some serious bird photography since the beginning of 2010 – the upgrade to a bigger zoom lens made it possible for me to get that much closer to birds! There are 953 bird species in Southern Africa and my goal is to photograph each one. So far I am sitting on 311 – you can check out my online album at this link.

I recently realised that my hobby is teaching me a great deal about life and leadership. Recently I got to share devotions with the 60 or so leaders of the church where I serve as youth pastor. I spoke about lessons for life that birding has taught me. Hey, Jesus did the same thing when we said to his followers: Consider the crows. They don’t plant or harvest. They don’t even have a storeroom or a barn. Yet, God feeds them. You are worth much more than birds. (Luke 12:24). You can download the PowerPoint presentation I used that features some of my favourite birding pics from here.

Here are some lessons that I have learnt while doing bird photography:

Lesson 1: Be Early. There is a great parable that says: The early bird gets the worm. It is true, birds feed early in the morning and as a photographer I know that I have to be up and about early in the morning to get the best shots while the sun is rising! The Message translation of 2 Corinthians 6:3 says: Don’t put it off, don’t frustrate God’s work by showing up late, throwing a question mark over everything we’re doing. When we arrive late for meetings with people we communicate that they are not important and we arrive stressed and therefore unprepared. As a soldier in the military I was trained to be not just on time, but early to be prepared for anything unexpected. So get there early so that you can lead the meeting effectively.

Consider the Birds: How are you doing in terms of being punctual? What do you need to do to improve in this area?

Lesson 2: Be Prepared. There is a parable that says: A wise owl knows how to feather his nest. The wise owl spends time preparing the nest so that when the egg is hatched it is well protected and the chicklet will grow into an owlet. As a bird photographer I had to be prepared at all times. If I have a full-memory card or flat camera battery or the wrong camera lens is on my camera, I will miss the shot. A leader must always be prepared. The Message translation of Ephesians 6:13 says: Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Great leaders don’t wait until the last minute to get things done. They think everything through twice and cover all the bases. A bit of thinking and preparation beforehand will ensure that we do not suffer later.

Consider the Birds: How are you doing in terms of being prepared? What is getting in your way?

Lesson 3: Be Patient. There is a parable that says: Do don’t run around like a chicken without a head. My best pictures are ones that required me to wait for just the right moment before I could get the shot. When I go running around the bush trying to cover a large amount of ground, the birds hear me coming and disappear into the thickets. When I settle down and wait for them to appear and come to me, I get the shots that I need. In life it is true that good things come to those who wait. The Message translation of Romans 5:4 says: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. God will work in our life, but it takes time and I have to surrender to what He is doing in my life. As a leader I have to be patient with people and not force their development.

Consider the Birds: How are you doing in terms of being patient? How can you be more patient with people?

Lesson 4: Be Relational - There is a parable that says: Birds of a feather flock together. I have gained immense value in learning how to identify birds by interacting with others birders in online forums where we are able to post pictures to have bird identities confirmed. I also post my pictures online so that others can benefit from what I am doing. The Message translation of Hebrews 13:16 says: Make sure you don’t take things for granted and go slack in working for the common good; share what you have with others. Great leaders are those who freely share what they create with other leaders. It frustrates me immensely to see leaders who just work in their own area and never share what they create with others. We have so much to share with our peers. Each month I get together with other youth pastors in our community and we spend time catching up about our lives and sharing what we create with one another.

Consider the Birds: How are you doing in terms of being relational? Do you intentionally hang out with, and share with, other leaders in your area?

Lesson 5: Look Good. There is parable that says: Walk proud like a peacock. Obviously God does not want us to be proud, but there is nothing wrong with looking our best and striving to be the best that we can be in every area of our lives. The Message translation of Colossians 3:12 says: So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. We must clothe ourselves with the fruit of the Spirit! After all, we represent the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Consider the Birds: How are you doing in terms of looking good? What fruit of the Spirit do you need to work on?

Hey, that’s just part 1 – I will be back with some more lessons for leadership from birding!

Approaches to Strategic Planning

I was asked this week to give someone some fresh ideas to doing strat planning with different ministry teams for a new year of ministry. I came up with the following suggestions:

1. Ten Rules of Strategic Planning
See the Ten Rules of Strategic Planning article for a set of guidelines for strategy planning.

2. SWOT Exercise
I recently led a non-profit youth ministry team through a strategic planning process and incorporated a SWOT and Transformation analysis exercise. I know SWOT is old, but I made sure that we identified Critical Success factors arising out of the analysis and then creating an Action Plan (as in, “who will do what by when”). There is a fun exercise in the handout where people look at the letters to the churches in Revelation as sample SWOT analyses. You will find a handout and a presentation for this exercise at my website – on the Strategy page – it is the first item mentioned on the page. The website is: http://www.ymresourcer.com.

3. Transformations Exercise
The Transformation exercise looks at what transformation is taking place in our ministry, what is causing it, what is hindering it and what we must do to see even greater transformation take place. You will find a handout and a presentation for this exercise on the Strategy page of my website – it is the second item mentioned on the page.

4. The Balanced Scorecard
This may be a bit too complex an exercise, but it is a 7 level strategy planning process that is ultimately focused on Performance Measurement. It is called Performance Measurement and there are links to the resources on the Strategy page of my website.

5. The 7 Practises of Ministry
I presented a session on the 7 Practises of Effective Ministry some time back at our church and believe that it could be used to guide a strategy planning session – ie. you start by identifying what is the win for the ministry; then you think through the steps you are working on to reach your strategy; then you start to narrow the focus of all that you do; etc. You will have to read the outline and look at the Improving Your Game items for each of the 7 practises to use it as a strat planning tool. It is what I used to create the original igniteYOUTH strategy when I arrived at the church that I now work in some five years ago. The resource for this is also on the Strategy page.

6. The GTD Mind Sweep
I have used the David Allen idea of a Mind Sweep (or mind dump) and we would spend about 45 minutes just getting everything possible that has been running around in our heads out and onto a couple of sheets of butcher paper. It is not a brainstorm but rather just a clearing of every incomplete loop, any ideas we have had that have not been put on the table, or acted on recently, any areas that need to be developed. We were allowed to look back and forward in dumping out thoughts – but it was not a review of event that have taken place. It should be followed up with an Action Plan session where we make a decision as to what to do with each item that was raised and complete a Who will do What by When action plan for each item.

7. Sonlife Strategy Planning Process
There is also the strat planning process I have taught to thousands of leaders across the continent of Africa with great results. It is aimed at getting a ministry to write a ministry vision with goals. They write a ministry purpose statement, identify KRA (the Key Result Areas that they need to work on to ensure they achieve their mission), write a descriptive statement of each key result (it is what that key result area looks like when it is fully functioning); then they do a SWOT analysis on each KRA (what are the strengths, weaknesses opportunities and threats that will impact on the achievements of results in each area); then create goals for each KRA (both faith goals that go in their prayer journal and work goals that go in their calendar. There is a worksheet that is created for each Key Result Area. Look at the this document for a template to use.

8. The Ground Zero Strategic Planning Process
The document Strategic Planning presents an approach to strategy planning that I have not personally used, but it looks like a comprehensive process as well as a document that have fresh ideas for different parts of the planning process.

9. The P.L.A.N. Strategy by the Crossroads Consulting Group
I came across this approach to strat planning a while back – it has 4 steps using the PLAN acronym:

A. Priorities (What we want to accomplish)
* What are the most important things we need to do in our key ministry areas to move our mission forward?
* What are things we need to do and complete in the coming year?

B. Lasting Results (Setting the targets for performance)
* What will be the results that will help us know we have accomplished our priorities?
* How will we set these targets so that they become an exercise in faith as well as effective leadership?

C. Action Strategies (Setting the stage for execution)
* How will we go about accomplishing what we want to see happen?
* What are the appropriate strategies, or best practices, that we might employ?

D. Next Steps (Making our “to do” lists)
* Who will do the work?
* When will it be accomplished?

10. The 3 Horizon Strategy by Diann Feldman
See the document 3 Horizon Strategy that has a detailed approach to strat planning.

11. The GTD Horizons of Focus
The 6 Horizons of Focus that David Allen created for the Getting Things Done approach to action management is a great resource for strategy planning.

If you have any other approaches to strategic planning – please leave a comment with some information about it so others can benefit from your experience.

What Happens When Teens Fight?

A youth group is supposed to be this well behaved group of model teenagers, right? Well, not if you are creating an environment in which unchurched and pre-Christian teens feel at home while they encounter Christian youth and encounter Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.

At our group last night we had just wrapped up our review of the term at the end of a Chill ‘n Connect evening to end off a great 8 weeks of youth ministry. It was looking like the night was a great success and good connections had been made with regulars and new teens who felt comfortable to attend for the first time.

A leader confronted me and suggested that I urgently make my way downstairs to the carpark where a teenager had been beaten black and blue. The site that confronted me was truly horrific. A teen who has been in our ministry for around 5 years had been viciously attacked by two teen girls – one who has been attending for about 9 months and the other who had visited for 2 weeks. Her face had so swollen up that she was barely recognisable. From stories we had to piece together, it looks like an allegation of rumour spreading had caused the 2 girls to gang up on the 1 girl and she had no way of defending herself – until other teens had intervened and pulled them apart.

The rest of the night – up to midnight – involved a number of interventions that I have chosen to share in this blog so others can learn from our experience on the night:

1. Meeting with the three teen girls to try to piece the details of what had happened together as accurately as possible. Despite the savageness of the attack it was still important to as objectively as possible to seek to gain the whole whole truth and not prejudice our investigation based on who was new as opposed to a long time member of the group.

2. Meeting with the parents of the three girls to ensure that all knew what had taken place and helped with what actions to take as a result of the events of the evening. The mom and sister of the girl who was beaten arrived at church so we were able to interact with her right at the scene, I called the father of one of the two girls who had been the protagonists and he arrived so we could talk things over, and I left to visit the mother of the other girl who had thrown the punches.

3. Driving the girl who had been beaten to the police station so that a case of assault could be opened. This was the response that the mother requested and we felt it our duty to help with transportation. One of our youth leaders took her, her sister and three witnesses of the assault to the police station (we concluded that it would be quicker to do this than sit around waiting for the police to arrive).

4. Taking the girl who had been beaten to the hospital so she could have a thorough medical examination, including x-rays to determine whether any bones had been broken. We were somewhat relieved to discover that the extent of the injuries were contained to severe bruising.

5. Alerting our church’s lead pastor as to what had taken place on the church property that night. I believe that it is vital that senior leadership do not learn second hand of things that take place at youth events. This was take well as he could see that we had things under control and were covering all the bases.

So what can we learn from the experience?

Firstly, we need to ensure that there is adult supervision of teens at all times while they are on the church property. The father of one of the two protagonists asked where the leaders had been when the attack took place. We said that it was at a vulnerable moment when we had just dismissed the teens and had not yet dispatched a leader to supervise the congregating and leaving in the car park. We know that we will be working hard at this before the group re-opens after the school holidays!

Secondly, we need to ensure that we contact details for the parents of all the teens that attend our youth ministry. We were fortunate that we were able to contact all the parents involved and know that it could have been a worse situation and we might not have been able to contact parents in an emergency.

Thirdly, we need to ensure that all parents are contacted before the police are contacted – unless the situation is of such a nature that immediate calling of the police is critical. The mom of one of the girls did express disappointment that she was not called to the property before the leader left to take the victim to the police station. She felt that the parents could have resolved things together without calling the police. We suggested that her daughter’s out of control temper could well end up benefiting from the seriousness of the case that had been opened at the police station.

Fourthly, we need to follow up with the teens involve and even provide counselling for the teens that witnessed the events and also for the rest of the teens who are all talking about what happened and forming their own opinions. We need to ensure that it is treated as a learning opportunity for everyone involved and not something that could destroy the great work that is being done in and through the youth ministry.

May God guide us as we seek to minister among teens who will clash and who will manifest tempers and aggression – after all we live in an environment historically and presently plagued by violence and we cannot assume that teens will be immune to what is going on in the wider society.

Being a Resource Church

I am sitting in a seminar with Peter Butt, a church leadership developer from the UK, and he is talking about different kinds of churches and how that our church, His People Christian Church in Joburg, is called to be a resource church. You can imagine how this has pricked my ears given my focus on being a resourcer.

These churches could also be called apostolic church planting centres. These churches exist to resource other churches or ministries and not just to care for people within their community.

He began his address with an emphasis on the church as the instrument through which God expresses and extends his kingdom on earth. Ephesians 3:9-11 we are told that God manifests his wisdom to principalities and powers though the church on earth. Through the church God wants to touch, influence and change the nation.

The question we must wrestle with is, Is our church significantly influencing our nation?

Biblical Expressions of Being a Resource Church

The book of Acts is an account of the gradual spread of the gospel from small beginnings. – the church was established in most of the world’s great cities of that day. Acts 1:8 is the key verse – we will receive power after the Holy Spirit come and we will be witnesses into Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the end of the earth. The church first got established in Jerusalem, then in chapter 8 in Samaria, then in other cites to the ends of the world from chapter 13 onwards. By Acts 17 they said that they guys had turned the world upside down. This was done through apostolic resource centers that change the world.

There were three key churches:

1. Jerusalem
Here are some of the marks of thec resource church in Jerusalem: (a) It had apostles, evangelists, prophets and pastors. (b) It was devoted to prayer (Acts 1:24; 2:42; 3:1; 4:24; 6:6; 10:9; 12:5). (c) It was an outreach and church planting centre (Acts 2:47; 8:4-12; 9:31-32). (d) It was a discipling and teaching center (Acts 2:42; 11:27). (e) It had pastoral care (Acts 4:34; 6:1). (f) It was a theological centre (Acts 11:15). (g) It was a miracle centre.

2. Antioch
When people got saved in Antioch and started meeting together, the church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to establish the church there. Here are the marks of the resource church in Antioch: (a) It had an apostolic team (Acts 11:22-26, 13:1-2). (b) It was a prayer centre (Acts 13:1-3). (c) It was an outreach and church planting centre (Acts 14:27). (d) It was a pastoral center (Acts 11:29-30). (e) It was a theological centre (Acts 15). We speak of Paul’s missionary journeys but they were apostolic church planting efforts.

3. Ephesus
Here are the marks of the resource church in Ephesus: (a)  It was a church with a high calling (Eph 3:9-11). (b) It had an apostolic team (Eph 4:11-16). (c) It was a discipling and teaching centre (Eph 4:11-16). (d) It was a prayer centre (Eph 6:17-19). (e)  It was a miracle centre (Acts 19:11-12). It was an outreach and church planting centre (Eph 3:9-11, 4:11-16).

Conclusions and Observations:

* Patterns not programmes distinguish resource churches – it is not what we do as much as that we have the right things as a part of our DNA, in our our core values.

* Each church is unique and different – you can’t copy from another resource church – we respond to our context.

* It is organic rather than institutional.

* Apostolic leadership is essential.

* An apostolic team is essential for healthy growth and development.

* It requires committed to discipling, teaching, and training for believers for leadership.

* They are committed to prayer – worship and fasting are critical.

It is key for individuals AND churches to discover what they are and what they are not!

Leading With Grace

I have been reflecting much recently on how leaders need to step up and be leaders – followers want to know that they are being led, but they don’t want to be at the receiving end of a draconian-style of leadership that is demanding and punitive.

I was recently on the receiving end of some pretty harsh treatment from someone who was supposed to be serving our ministry and ended up doing everything in my power to make sure that I could avoid them because it was not pleasant to be belittled or treated in a demeaning way. I hated feeling like I was an inconvenience and I simply adjusted my path to avoid having to deal with the person.

This got me thinking about my own style of leadership and ensuring that I am always positive and kind in the way that I deal with people – especially my staff members – even when I feel the need to rebuke or directly address below-par performance.

Just recently, in our team context, we had taken certain decisions about an upcoming events and it had been one of those meetings where through much arm-wrestling and back and forwards dialogue I felt that we had made some hard fought gains and were all on the same page. When, at a follow up meeting to finalise details about the event, one of the team members  started talking about details for the event that totally disregarded what we had decided, I was furious. Instead of exploding, I found myself expressing disappointment that the person had not taken seriously what we had agreed on previously, but also expressing an openness to consider changing our plans. I also worked hard at the event to respect his decision, given that we had entrusted the event to him, and be as positive as possible.

I received the following text message a day later from the staff member: Hi, Mark. Sorry for all the headaches I caused you this week. Thank you for bearing with me but still being firm about what needed to change. Thanks for all your willingness to jump in and help last night even though you still had doubts. You are awesome, blessings.”

I work really hard at never saying, “I told you so” and rather get the person to reflect on their action and look for what they have learned from it.

So, are you leading graciously?

Shepherding Teens Into a Move of God

The igniteYOUTH team, that I lead, spent the whole of this morning grappling with how we need to repond as a youth ministry within a church that is starting to experience a significant moving of God. As a church leadership we have been experiencing amazing visitations at our Tuesday morning staff meetings and at occasional God Evenings that take place on Tuesday nights once a month. The church has set aside three Tuesday nights during the month of September to bring the wider congregation into the outpouring.

The move of God is characterised by an increased sense of God’s presence in our midst and God’s power in our midst particularly in healings, the pophetic and even dramatic physical manifestations among people.

Our time praying and grappling as a youth staff was prompted by a question from one of our senior leaders who asked whether the teenagers would be joining the church at the Tuesday nights God Evenings. My initial response was that we had tried with mixed results in the past to get teenagers out to mid-week events like cell groups and that our main focus is on our Friday night and Sunday events as well as school contact and one on one mentoring. Some of the leaders mentioned that they would be willing to come and teach and minister within the youth programs if the youth don’t attend.

This got us going as a team. We realised that our ministry at present is foundational, personal and issue-driven – and not leading in areas like openess to the supernatural realm, or teaching on faith. We sense that we need to bring our teens to the place where their faith is developed to receive from God.

But we also do not want to forfeit the opportunity for teens at His People to miss out on what God is doing – so our tentative (i.e we will commit this to further prayer in next two days) decisions are:

1. We will promote the God Evenings in our Friday and Sunday events – sharing how we have been experiencing God in deeper ways lately and have set aside these evenings to seek God for a wider outpouring of His Spirit.

2. We will personally speak with teens who are following after Jesus to encourage them to start preparing their hearts for what God is going to do and have them pray about attending the sessions.

3. We will communicate with their parents at some stage probably via letter to inform them of where we believe that our church and ministry is heading in terms of openess to God.

4. We will continue to develop an environment of trust between adult leaders and teenagers  so that our teens know that we are on a journey together and are not without direction and focus.

We came away from our meeting with a firm conviction that we are responsible to shepherd the teenagers at His People Christian Church into this new season in their lives and the life of the church.