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I can’t deny it. There was a smirk on my face as the vaccination doctor explained to my wife Nora the series of shots she was about to receive.

I really tried to appear sympathetic. Really.

It’s just that having been vaccinated myself a year earlier it meant I could simply sit back and read a magazine while Nora received vaccination shots against all manner of exotic diseases. I just found that to be somewhat, well, funny.

In a few weeks Nora and I are privileged to be traveling with World Vision to experience some of the work they are doing in South Africa. Now, having made this trip myself a year earlier and having been vaccinated at that time, I somewhat smugly pointed out that I didn’t need to get shots again this year.

The doctor looked at my file and clarified an important point. “The reason you don’t need to be vaccinated is not just because of the shots you received a year ago,” he explained. “It’s because of what happened afterwards.”

Closing the folder on his desk the doctor looked up and continued. “You see, you came in for a follow up booster shot six months later. With that follow up shot you’re good for 20 years.”

Here was yet one more example of something I’ve been thinking, and writing, a lot about recently; the importance of the follow up. I’ve been especially emphatic about the importance of follow up as it relates to The Global Leadership Summit.

Every year I see thousands of Canadian church leaders attend the Summit, and I’ve realized that those who get the most out of it always have some sort of follow up ‘booster shot’.

I recently talked to one of our Summit host pastors, Jeff Lockyer, about the importance of the follow up booster shot. Check out what he had to say in this short video clip.

My vision is to see every leader who attends the Summit receive some sort of follow up booster shot in their leadership. So roll up your sleeve and let’s get at it!

What does your Summit booster shot look like?

Several years ago my dad served as an unpaid staff administrator at a medium-sized church near Vancouver, BC. Fresh from a top level corporate career, some of what he encountered on a church staff left him a bit puzzled as to how things work in the church world.

For instance, on one occasion he had to ask one of the pastoral staff to carry out an assignment slightly outside his usual “job description”. Now, while my dad clearly had the authority to issue this assignment, the pastor gracefully declined. He explained that he simply didn’t have a burden for such a job.

“I didn’t know you could say this to your boss when you work in a church,” Dad would later mention to me.

What he didn’t realize, but would quickly learn, is that sometimes church leaders play the “burden” or “calling” card, when what is required is the “servanthood” card.

A burden, or calling, is that God-given passionate holy discontent that drives you to make a significant Kingdom impact with your one and only life.

Servanthood is an ongoing posture of doing whatever it takes to get the job done.

Here are a few guidelines:

• When you’re mapping out where God is directing you to go in the long-term, it’s time for the burden card.
• When it’s all-hands-on-deck cleanup day at the church, it’s time for the servanthood card.
• When you’re making ministry career choices, play the burden card.
• When your supervisor asks you to help another department complete a project, play the servanthood card.

Managing the tension between these cards is an important part of leadership development. When we get it wrong the Kingdom feels the strain. But when we get it right God can leverage our leadership and submission for maximum results.

Add to this list of burden versus servanthood guidelines and I’ll post them at a later date.

During our recent strategic planning process we came to a point where we had to call a “time out” and address the fact that something fundamentally had shifted in the local church in recent years.

As a ministry we always have been, and always will be, about equipping leaders to build an Acts 2, “prevailing” church. But what we were recognizing was that God was doing such a new thing in the local church that the very definition of what it meant to “prevail” was changing.

Not long ago we would have identified the hallmarks of a high-impact church as one whose various sub-ministries were firing on all cylinders. We would look for a church where the children’s ministry was rocking, where the youth department was leading kids to Christ, where small groups were flourishing, and so on.

And while we still want to see these things happen, something has changed.

Here’s the way we articulated this change in our planning process:

The local church in Canada is reaching her full potential not based solely on having robust ministries, but more so by virtue of her robust leaders, on mission, wherever they are.

What does this mean? Well, for one thing, it means that one of the indicators of a prevailing church is that her people are living life fully on mission for the King in the workplace, in their neighbourhood, at school, wherever God has placed them. In other words, that person might very well be living out their Kingdom call not by serving on the finance committee of the church, but by impacting the lives of the finance department in their office.

It’s a new day for the local church. And we’re re-calibrating The Leadership Centre Willow Creek Canada to help church leaders build a new kind of prevailing church.

How do you think the “missional movement” will impact the local church in Canada?

“If your story could be summarized on the back of a DVD case, would anyone want to rent it?”

I listened to this challenge again from Donald Miller on a Willow Creek Defining Moments recording on my way home from Victoria, BC this weekend. According to Miller, in order for a life to be fully maximized there needs to be a strong purpose, and an element of tension or conflict.

Otherwise your life’s DVD summary might read something like this: “This is the story of someone who gets up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, and does it all over again the next day.” Not very compelling.

Instead, Miller challenged, there needs to be purpose, tension and struggle. How much more interesting for a DVD to read, “This is the story of someone determined to make a lasting impact in his world. Along the way he encounters opposition, but rises to the challenge and perseveres against all odds.”

The idea of looking at life as a story was fresh in my mind after spending the previous two days at our staff retreat, where our special guest Dan Reinhardt from CREST Leadership led us through an exercise in examining our own life’s story.

We were given the opportunity to map our story on a graph, showing the highs and lows, and then shared our story with the team, adding explanation, clarity and learnings.

It was a compelling exercise, and one which has me looking at my life like a story editor, wondering what notes I should put in the margins. Would I write, “Compelling! Riveting! Persevering through adversity and making great Kingdom gains!” Or are there times where I’d jot down, “Pretty tame; not much action.”

Bottom line; God has given me one life to live, and I want my story to glorify Him by being as compelling as possible.

How would your life be summarized on the back of a DVD?

Last week The Leadership Centre Willow Creek Canada presented Bill Hybels in a coaching session with about 120 church leaders in Surrey, BC.

After fielding questions on a wide range of church leadership topics, one question in particular caused everyone to lean forward in anticipation of Bill’s response.

The question: “What advice would you give to a pastor whose church’s attendance has plateaued?”

Bill responded immediately: “I’d say ‘Call a meeting!’ Gather the congregation together and teach them the importance of the weekly gathering. I’ve done this at Willow, and I would usually give them four compelling reasons to make weekly attendance a higher priority. Would you like to know what these four reasons are?”

Not surprisingly, pens were poised to jot down Bill’s four points.

1. Jesus made it his custom

Bill quoted Luke 4:16 where it says that Jesus went to gather with God’s people “as was his custom.” In other words, Bill pointed out, if gathering with God’s people on a weekly basis was important to Jesus, it ought to be important to all of us.

2. Scripture instructs us to gather regularly

Bill quoted Hebrews 10:25, where Christians are implored to “not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing.”

3. In the weekly gathering, room is provided for God to do something in our lives.

Bill related several incidents where God has ministered to him in profound ways during a weekend service, leaving him to realize the blessing he might have missed had he chosen to skip attending the worship service that weekend.

4. It’s important to model regular worship for our children

Bill reminded everyone that children take their cues from their parents, making regular church attendance all the more important.

Bottom line? If your weekend attendance has plateaued, there may be an important step to take before launching a new marketing campaign to attract new visitors. It might be time to challenge your existing congregation to make the weekend service a higher personal priority.

How have you tackled the issue of plateaued attendance?

Last week The Leadership Centre Willow Creek Canada presented Bill Hybels in a coaching session with about 120 church leaders in Surrey, BC.

For several hours Bill sat on a stool before these leaders and simply answered questions, which ranged from his latest leadership learnings, to the most complex church related insights.

Here’s a summary of a few of these interactions from that day. In most cases, Bill’s answers were in-depth, using many examples, flip chart illustrations and personal applications. I’ll simply present here the essence of Bill’s responses. Please note that these are not word-for-word transcripts of Bill’s comments but do, I think, capture the essence of his response.

Q: Willow has gone through a fairly tumultuous season in its small group ministry. What have you learned through this season?

Bill: (paraphrased) The value of “community” is far more important than just being in a small group. We used to emphasize that everyone needs to be in a small group. The REVEAL study showed us, among other things, that a structured small group environment is still very important to new believers, but for Christ-centred people the value of community remains strong, but not necessarily in a traditional small group.

Q: What do you think of the house church movement?

Bill: (paraphrased) I have nothing bad to say about the house church movement, as long as they’re functioning as an “Acts 2” church. Some house churches are merely a few couples getting together without living out the model of Acts 2:42-47.

Q: You often talk about your “gift mix.” What are your spiritual gifts, in order?

Bill: (paraphrased) My top gift is leadership, followed by evangelism, then teaching. Here’s what I’ve found. When you operate in your top gift it will give you energy. When you operate in your 2^nd gift it might be a wash in terms of energy. Operating in your 3^rd gift, and lower gifts, will actually drain your energy.

Q: What do you think of the marketplace ministry movement?

Bill: (paraphrased) I’ve had a change of thinking in this area. I used to think that when a person of influence in the marketplace came to Christ, the benefit to the church was to see that person become a high capacity church volunteer. Now I’m seeing it differently. It could well be that the place God wants that leader to serve Him is right there in his or her marketplace setting. Now, what does that mean? Well, what it doesn’t mean is that the person should become some sort of Christian neon light. Instead the marketplace leader who follows Christ should aim for external and internal congruency. What Christ has done on the inside should be lived out consistently on the outside. People will notice.

Q: You have a lot of data to draw from at Willow which helps you make decisions. Do you ever leverage your leadership based purely on a gut feeling?

Bill: (paraphrased) Absolutely. A leadership axiom that often informs my decisions is, “If something feels funky, engage!” Sometimes you just get a feeling that something is not quite right in a certain part of your organization. Pay attention to those feelings, and act on them. Call a meeting, or just wander into that part of your church and talk to people. You’ll often discover the most interesting things!

Q: What advice do you have for pastors whose church attendance has plateaued?

Bill: (paraphrased) Call a meeting. You’d be amazed at how much of my leadership takes place in the context of a meeting. The first thing I would do is to call a meeting of your congregation and lay out your concerns and call them to higher levels of engagement. And here are the four things I would tell them…

To discover the four challenges Bill would lay out for a congregation where attendance has plateaued, subscribe to my RSS feed and stay tuned to my next post

Having served for five years as executive pastor in one of Canada’s larger churches, I’m frequently asked about the role of the EP, and specifically about when a growing church should think about hiring someone for this role.

Usually a senior pastor will start thinking about hiring for this role when weekend attendance climbs over 1000, pushing quickly toward 1500. The staff starts to grow, and the once simple church operation begins to grow more complex.

But how do you know when the time is right to pull the trigger and hire your first EP? Here are four signs to look for;

1. The senior pastor has insufficient time for staff leadership.
As the complexities of a growing church mount, one of the first areas often sacrificed is the senior pastor’s care and management of his staff. When this happens, staff morale suffers, ministry silos are built and a lack of strategic alignment is inevitable.

2. “Cracks” appear in areas such as budgeting and facility management.
A strong indicator that it’s time to consider bringing on an EP is when department cost over-runs are not being caught in a timely manner, or when issues of facility repair are given higher priority than a facility plan.

3. The gap between ministry activity and a ministry plan is widening.
Every church, whether missional, seeker, or purpose-driven, requires some sort of shared understanding that drives ministry decisions. If no one is ensuring that ministry resources are flowing toward activities which are achieving the results you believe God is calling you to, it may be time for an EP.

If signs 1 to 3 are appearing, the 4th sign is inevitable:

4. Core senior pastor functions are suffering.
Almost every church looks to the senior pastor for strong biblical preaching, compelling vision casting, and other core functions. If these are starting to suffer under the weight of the growing complexity of ministry, it may be time for an EP.

What other signs have you found which indicate it’s time to hire an executive pastor?

Helpful resources:
- SecondChairLeaders.com
- ExecutivePastorOnline.com

Chances are, if your church board functions like most, part of your mandate is to ensure the care, support and accountability of your lead pastor.

And chances are, if your church board functions like most, this vital function often gets overlooked.

Because let’s face it, this crucial role played by board members can often be awkward, and sometimes even be completely misunderstood.

On some boards the following sentiment gets inserted in a monthly board meeting agenda. With the pastor sitting at the end of the table the chairman will announce, “We will now check in with the lead pastor. So, pastor Bob… How’s it going?”

“Fine.”

“Great,” replies the chairman, crossing this item off the agenda. “Next item, repaving the parking lot…”

Here’s a practical suggestion to address this vital board function. Appoint a standing “sub-committee” whose sole purpose is the care, support and accountability of the lead pastor.

I serve on this group at our church, and this week’s coffee with our lead pastor reminded me again how important this role is.

This group, only three of us, meets four times per year with our pastor and includes:

• Performance review. No sugar coating. We celebrate successes and press for results.
• Support. To ensure his success we explore training opportunities and other resources.
• Soul Care. In this safe setting we can look him straight in the eye and find out how he is doing…really. And we can respond with whatever spiritual care he requires. We are also on official “stand-by” to respond quickly should he require immediate care or counsel.

Bottom line? This week when we asked him “So, how are you doing, really,” we actually found out. For our pastor, our board and our church, that was a win.

How do you ensure the care, support and accountability of your pastor?