If you’re the “complete the right task”-type of leader, you better be real smart. You’ll need to know how to do everything. Then you’ll have to make sure your subordinates know how to do it too. You’ll be the one that has to come up with all the ideas. You’ll be the person that is responsible for policing the troops to make sure they’re staying in line. Ironically, if something goes wrong, you’ll probably blame it on people.

If you’re the “find the right people”-type, you are constantly trying to build the right team and then get out of the way. When you have talented people around you, you don’t need to know all the answers. The team generates the ideas, so it’s not all on your shoulders. The right people are as concerned about the mission as you are, so you don’t have to spend time keeping them in line. If something goes wrong and you have a great team, you see it as a systems or communications problem rather than a people problem.

Not getting the results you desire? Maybe it’s time for a little self-assessment. What path are you on? You may want to change your leadership focus.

I’m in the passenger seat of our minivan as we head down I-75 towards home. Emily is driving this leg of the trip, and I’m online. I’m tethered to my Droid. (Can your iPhone do that yet?)

Since the advent of Twitter, I rarely take the opportunity to share highlights from our vacations. This feels a little retro, but here’s what we’ve been up to the last week or so:

• We started the trip in Pittsburgh. That included catching a Pirates game at PNC Park. For Kayla and Jacob, that was the 11th major league ballpark they’ve visited.
• After the game, we ate at Primanti Brothers. The sandwiches are served with cole slaw and french fries…on the sandwich. They’ve been featured on Man vs. Food.
• Last year we watched Independence Day fireworks under the arch in St. Louis. This year we saw the fireworks along the river in downtown Pittsburgh.
• After a couple of days in Pittsburgh, we drove to the Cleveland area where we visited my Grandpa Connavino, an 89-year-old veteran of WWII where he was honored with the Purple Heart. And, we stopped to visited my almost 88-year-old Grandma Morgan, who I’m quite sure is more active than most of you.
• We then drove down to the Columbus, Ohio area to visit with Emily’s family. One of the highlights of that stop was a visit to Marmon Valley Farm where our kids and their cousins had the opportunity to ride horses.
• The kids got some swim time in at the Groveport, Ohio aquatic center which is just down the street from their grandparents’ home.
• After our stop in Columbus, we headed to Piqua, Ohio. That’s where Emily and I grew up.
• Prior to our visit to the National Museum of the US Air Force, Jacob won a PSP out of a game room at a Cici’s Pizza.
• We took the kids to a drive-in movie. That’s the first time I’ve done that since high school. And, seeing Buzz Lightyear talk Spanish was worth every penny.

Those are the highlights of our summer vacation. The next big trip Emily and I are planning will be without kids. It should be bloody marvelous. I hope to share more about that in the next several days.

You like the folk/rock sound of Bruce Springsteen? Then you might really like the music from John Mark McMillan. His new album, The Medicine, released this week from Integrity Music (one of my fave partners). Head on over to iTunes to preview the album and download it for your listening pleasure.

And, if you’re a worship artist, check out the fun project Ben is pulling together for Story featuring JMM’s “How He Loves”.

This Friday, July 9 is the deadline for applications for two new coaching networks. One of the networks will be in Atlanta. The other one will be in Dallas. Just as a reminder, here are the details:

• My friends at Fellowship Technologies have agreed to host the Dallas network. I will be there for all the sessions.
• Both networks start in August. We meet six times over six months.
• These networks are for senior pastors, executive pastors and other staff leaders ready to engage ministry strategies with like-minded leaders.
• We will hit a number of ministry topics including staffing, leadership development, communications, financial stewardship, volunteer team development, weekend services, ministry structure, discipleship, multi-site and more.

Here are all the details.

Here is the online application.

If you have additional questions, email me. Please pass this opportunity along to your friends and encourage them to apply.

Have you heard a good story lately?

Psychologists theorize that people in ancient civilizations learned about dangers and benefits through personal exposure and through the stories of trusted others. From this tradition, our minds instinctively grasp onto stories and testimonials at a deeper level than statistics and advertising slogans. In one test, researchers discovered that when a subject is even reading a story, our brains function as if the story becomes a memory or an event in which we are actively participants.  This is why I can hear statistics about the staggering needs in many third world countries without batting an eye, but if I hear a missionary or someone from that region tell me about their daily struggle for water or education, it resonates with me deeply.

Recently, West Ridge began a series called One Story, to capture some of the life-change that has been happening in our church. Ultimately, all these stories are episodes in one big story — Christ redeeming his people. It seems to me, that if our brains are hard-wired to powerfully experience and remember stories, they are one of the best tools we have in order to share Christ with others and encourage believers. Stories will be remembered longer than census data, great theology and the three points in last Sunday’s message. However, stories also reconnect listeners with data, theology and last Sunday.

After all, some of Jesus’ most important teachings about the Kingdom of Heaven were in the form of stories, or as we call them, parables. I’m guessing you might remember the story of the persistent widow and the judge or the good Samaritan, or even the one about the shepherd who leaves 99 sheep to find the one he’s missing.

Maybe it’s time to begin using stories more strategically. What stories do you have about God’s work in your church? How have you used the power of stories in the past? When can you use a personal story to illustrate a larger point that you are making? How can you share these stories with your church family?

In the mean time, check out this article regarding the power of stories.

You missed some good stuff last month. Here are the posts that generated the most traffic last month in order of popularity:

1. The 100+ Blogs That I Follow
2. Introducing Our New Chief Launch Officer
3. What motivates us? (It’s not money.)
4. Summer Strategies for Weekend Services
5. 10 Ways to Improve Marketing Without Spending Any Money
6. The Unbiblical Role of Pastors
7. Grow Your Student Ministry for Free
8. Canceling Sunday Services to Serve the Community
9. West Ridge Church is Starting Over
10. My Life Before Ministry

This top ten list is brought to you with the help of Google Analytics. It’s the easy, free way to track stats for your website.

There are certain common refrains I hear as I’m talking with growing churches across the country. This is one of them. I’ve heard many leaders in recent months acknowledge that they’re trying to shift the ministry to volunteers rather than continuing to hire more staff. Likely, the economic challenges have precipitated that shift in strategy. Whatever the case, I think it’s a good thing.

Today, over on MinistryStrategies.com, Eric Geiger offered this thought as is relates engaging volunteers in ministry. He explains how pastors and other paid staff may actually be hampering spiritual growth by holding on to ministry:

“People who are gifted by God and called to serve Him are put on the bench as they watch the professional ministers make the ministry happen. Instead of fostering a serving posture among believers, this kind of “ministry” develops consumers. By keeping ministry from the majority of the people, they are taught to be moochers and consumers of the faith rather than participators and contributors. As their spiritual gifts go underutilized, they miss the joy of experiencing Christ by serving others.”

Wondering where your church stands on this topic? Do a little math. Take the number of people who volunteer somewhere in ministry at any given time each month. Divide that by the total number of students and adults at your church. That’ll give you a percentage. Here’s my suggestion:

• If the percentage of students and adults serving is over 45%, you are in a healthy range for engaging volunteers in ministry.
• If you are in the 30% to 45% range, you’re doing okay but there’s room for improvement.
• If you are under 30%, you need a volunteer strategy adjustment.

Now, I can hear the critics and skeptics already. You’re probably thinking, “The larger a church gets, the more likely they are to have a big staff team handling the ministry of the church.” It might surprise you to learn I see the direct opposite. For whatever reason, smaller churches I work with have a tendency to rely on the pastors and paid staff to carry the ministry load. In fact, the highest percentage I’ve ever seen (close to 60%), comes from Granger Community Church — a church of several thousand people.

Check out the rest of Eric’s article on this topic. If you’re interested in coaching on how to improve your volunteer strategy, contact our team at MinistryStrategy.com. We’d love to help.

Change is difficult. Change when we think it’s a permanent change is even more difficult. Fortunately, thanks primarily to the companies that develop software and web solutions, we’ve all come to know and embrace the role of the beta version. The beta version allows us to test drive a solution and make sure it does what we intended it to do. In addition to that, there’s an understanding and expectation that there’s going to be a revised version that will be even better.

The church, of course, has a rich tradition of avoiding change. In fact, we’re rather religious about it. One way we can combat that nature of our organizations is to embrace the freedom to deliver a beta version and test drive new ideas.

Here are some advantages of “test driving” new ideas:

1. You deliver solutions faster. Rather than waiting for the solution to be perfect, you can move forward more quickly knowing the solution will ultimately be improved over time.
2. You can take advantage of feedback from your users. People who engage the solution will let you know what worked and what didn’t work. That will help you make better improvements because you won’t be guessing about what the end-user needs.
3. It keeps solutions simple. When we think it needs to be perfect, our tendency is to overwork a solution and load it up with features. That usually leads to more complicated solutions that generally are less effective and more difficult to maintain.
4. It encourages the freedom to fail. You don’t have to make any permanent changes. It’s just a test drive. If it doesn’t work, you can unplug it.
5. It makes it easier to undo a change. Because everyone goes into the beta version knowing it’s only a test period, it’s easier to undo a change and revert back to the old solution or try something different.

How might this play out in church world:

• Wondering if different service times might be beneficial? Test drive it.
• Curious to know if a new outreach effort will impact your community? Test drive it.
• Deciding whether or not your new discipleship strategy will help people grow spiritually? Test drive it.
• Think you may need to shift the style of your service to reach a different demographic? Launch a new service and test drive it.

In the church, we have a tendency to overcook solutions. We study. We pray. We talk about it. We have meetings. We pull together committees. We pray some more. We check to see if another church has done it. We take votes. We do a lot of things to avoid the solutions that might actually help us fulfill God’s vision for our ministries. Rather than do all of that, let’s get a little bit more action-oriented. If you sense that God’s leading you in a new direction, test it out before making a permanent change.

When was the last time you rolled out the “beta version” of something at your church? What did you learn? If given the freedom, what would you consider test-driving in the future?