Karen on our staff has been asking Cheryl to do a guest post for the Grace Community Church website for months and she finally agreed. She chose the title “Who me – a pastor’s wife?”. Let me say that I believe one of the most important jobs in the church is that of the pastor’s wife. I’m thankful I have such a good one. For more of my thoughts on Cheryl, click HERE or if you want to know how to honor a pastor’s wife, click HERE.
I think where I have landed, at least for now, is that bigger than the issue of evaluation, is the issue of continuance. The fact is that I really do believe growth is occurring in individual lives, not just in the total numbers of people. We are accomplishing our objective to “make growing disciples of Jesus Christ”. I still want to consider ways to validate that belief, and I have some ideas I’m working on there, but the key word for me now is sustainability. I want us to be able to continue doing what we’ve been doing.
Carlos Whitaker is one of the most creative and inspiring leaders in today’s church culture. Carlos also has one of the most read blogs among Christians. Carlos is an architect of visions and his current work is with the launch this Spring of Soul City Church in Chicago. (I wrote about Soul City’s Jarrett Stevens HERE.)
I have only recently started following Jarrett Stevens closely, but I am instantly inspired by his vision. Jarrett has a pedigree resume, having served in key roles at Willow Creek Church and North Point Church. He is the author of The Deity Formerly Known as God. The part of his story that inspires me the most is his current venture. Jarrett and his wife Jeanne are leaving the comfort of the mega church to launch Soul City Church in Chicago. It is one of the most publicized and talked about starts of a church of which I have been aware.
Today we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The impact he had on society is plentiful, but, as a fellow preacher, I love that Dr. King made a difference at city hall, yet he never left his calling as a pastor. That passion encourages me to use my influence as a minister wisely.
Do churches need a marketing plan? I realize even using business language bother some church people, but personally, I think we need to learn to market our message. We are trying to tell people who do not necessarily want to hear our story about the love of a God they do not know. Sounds to me like we need a plan.
Part of growing an organization is delegating, or getting more people involved in the process of accomplishing the overall goals and objectives of the organization. It cannot be overemphasized that if you want to grow the organization, you must learn to delegate. The part of delegation, however, that many leaders have the hardest time doing is letting go of his or her right to control the work being delegated.
Is your passion more for Christ or more for growing your church?
I was honored this week when Jesse Phillips with CatalystSpace blog called me a “seasoned leader”. I feel I still have more to learn than I have learned, but it did cause me to reflect on some of the experiences I have had and people that have influenced me in my leadership ability.
In the four years Grace Community Church has been a church we have received much praise from people that love what we do. Hundreds of lost, hurting people have chosen to unite with us. We have had some previously churched people join us who felt we were a better fit for them or their family, but mostly we have reached people who previously did not attend church. Most exciting to us is that we have baptized more adults than children in our four years, indicating to us that we are truly evangelizing and not just helping people swap churches. It has been a wild, exciting, thrilling time watching God shape us over these first few years.
