Why Teams Rarely Rise Beyond the Level of Their Leader
Leaders: If you’re frustrated at the level of your team or vendor’s performance, then look no further than the mirror. Only in vary rare cases will a team perform better than the level of their leader. Why? Because it’s the leader who sets the boundaries, deadlines, and guidelines. It’s the leader who creates the culture, and sets expectations. As a result, no matter how gifted or creative a team is, if the leader is incompetent, insecure, or inexperienced, the team can only work within that framework. Read more
Don’t Take That Job or Promotion
It’s the American way. Keep moving up the ladder. Success is measured by how far you climb. Your self-worth depends upon it.
You’ve heard those clichés. Perhaps you’ve been pressured by those societal pushes. Granted, a number of people continue to move from promotion to promotion, better pay to better pay, and they thrive in their new challenges.
But for a number of people, that next job is a disaster waiting to happen. It could be in another organization, or it could be a promotion where you are right now. And though it’s not always considered “the American way,” sometimes the best thing you can do is say no. Read more
10 Tips on Managing Church
Advice on how to approach the many details of ministry. Read more
Five Qualities to Look for When Hiring — Rainer on Leadership [PODCAST]
This week, we explore five qualities to look for when hiring a new team member. These qualities apply to any level of employment and in both church and secular hiring processes.... Read more and play or download podcast
Ten Insights to Help Us Better Relate to Others
We make people choices every day. We decide whom we will invite to lunch. We make our meetings shorter when the person with whom we are meeting is a complainer. Our choices tell us who gets our call, emails, and texts. Our people choices determine our spouse and people we hire.
Anthony K. Tjan recently wrote an article in Harvard Business Review that provides the guidelines to understand people. The article is very helpful. But we must caution that these guidelines do not necessarily mean we are to avoid those who don’t measure up on all ten points. To the contrary, as Christians we are called to relate to people who might not “normally” be our best friend. We are to have big hearts that have room for a host of hurting people.
Nevertheless, his points are definitely insightful and helpful to help us understand people better, even ourselves. Here is my summary of his ten points. Read more
How Many Hours Must a Pastor Work to Satisfy the Congregation?
I recently wrote a post based on a survey I did on a pastor’s workweek. I also included better research and more accurate information from five-year old data from LifeWay Research.
In this post, I want to approach the issue from a slightly different perspective. I want to ask the question: How many hours must a pastor work each week to satisfy the congregation? Ultimately, I prefer to hear from pastors and church members and get their perspective. Read more
Guest Post: Learning to Ask for Help
Somehow in the midst of younger and more idealistic days, I came to believe that anyone doing full-time ministry, counselors, and especially anyone living overseas, was above the problems of everyone else, that these people didn’t struggle with normal human pain or sin. I’m not exactly sure what is to blame for this, but I do know that I sauntered into full-time ministry wearing some very rose-colored glasses. Read more
10 Tactics to Set the Next Pastor Up for Success
You’ve made your decision; it’s time to resign your pastoral position. Or perhaps it’s been made for you; either submit a “constructive resignation” or be terminated.
How do you set the stage for the next pastor to succeed? Read more
A Pastor and His Wife
Perhaps the most important decision a pastor makes in his life and ministry is choosing the woman who will become his wife. Through my years of pastoring and leading churches, I have always found that a pastor and his ministry will not surpass his marital relationship in terms of healthy growth. If his marriage is healthy, his ministry has a much greater probability of being productive and effective. Conversely, if his marriage is unhealthy, his ministry will be extremely limited and affected greatly. Read more
3 Challenges of Being a Pastor's Wife
Ministry can be hard on families. The constant burden of loving and leading a local church is taxing, and the pressure a pastor feels inevitably impacts his wife. In recent years, my wife has frequently facilitated groups for pastor’s wives. As she has interacted with them, she has found the three most common challenges to be.... Read more
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