Final post in the series…
#5 - Staff Betrayal
Pastors, please hear me on this…sooner or later IT is going to happen. Someone you love/care about…who has worked along side of you and has shared in ministry with you is going to leave…it will be nasty…and you will be hurt.
I won’t go into the details of how this has happened to me personally on this site…but I will say that when this happens you’ve got to…
- Forgive - which is HARD!
- Move on - if you allow betrayal to control you then Jesus’ voice will grow more and more faint!
- Do not become bitter - YES, this will happen…but if you are going to be an effective leader you must STILL continue to trust people…even after someone close to you hurts you deeply.
It’s easy, when betrayed, to begin to look at everyone around you through the lens of doubt and fear. But PLEASE do not punish everyone around you because someone hurt you! It’s not fair to them and it’s not fair to the Kingdom!
“But it hurts!” Of course it does…and Jesus understands that better than any of us do!!!
#6 - Disappointing People
I hate telling people “no!”
I want people to be happy…and even more than that, to be fired up about the vision.
So…when I am in a meeting and am casting vision…and I see that there is that one person who isn’t seeming to be excited about it…often times I am tempted to begin to talk in a way that will pull him or her in and make them be excited because I don’t want them to be disappointed!
WRONG RESPONSE!!!
One of the facts I MUST learn to deal with is that as a leader I will often disappoint the other leaders around me. AND…what I have found is that 99.9% of the time the other leaders are perfectly fine with that…as long as I give them a chance to express themselves to me honestly and openly.
#7 - The Thought Of Having To “One Up” Ourselves After We Have An Amazing Service.
It used to seriously BOTHER me when we had an awesome worship service…because…I wouldn’t even get off the stage before THIS thought hit me, “What in the world are we going to do next…there is no way it could ever be better than this!”
Until it hit me…it should never be our job to try to be better than the time before…it should be our job to teach the Scriptures in an excellent creative manner, all the while begging God for His Spirit to dominate the entire program from the planning to the execution of it!!!
God is not into us “one upping” ourselves…He’s into changing lives through His church…and our call is to LISTEN to HIM and REMAIN COMPLETELY OBEDIENT!
Besides, when it comes to creativity…HE IS THE MASTER! We’ve NEVER gone wrong listening to Him! EVER! Don’t try to be better…try to be more obedient (which, I honestly believe will result in amazing and life changing worship services!)