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Resign Today!

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Last Thursday our entire staff team gathered at the Greenville campus. I think we have just over 100 folks on our team now. That includes the folks from the Florence, Anderson, Greenville and the Internet campuses.

Our entire staff meets once a month. This time, we had a time of worship, prayer and teaching. Then our team ate barbecue together. It was a lot of fun.

During the teaching, though, Perry shared this challenge:

“If you’re not working your dream job, resign today.”

The day before he shared that with the staff, Perry asked a few of us if he should be that bold with that challenge. We encouraged him to lay it all out on the line. In fact, we decided in advance that we would provide a three-month severance package for any staff member who agreed to resign within 24 hours.

We want staff leaders that are passionate about the mission of NewSpring Church. We believe that what we are doing is critical to the lives of thousands of people. People’s eternities are at stake. There’s an urgency to our mission that requires a team that’s fully engaged in our cause.

  • We can’t afford to pay people to be bitter about their job situation.
  • We can’t afford to pay people to try to figure out what God wants them to do.
  • We can’t afford to pay people to wish they were someplace else doing something different.

As Perry suggested, you can go to Hardee’s and flip burgers (or Carl’s Jr. if you’re on the left coast) and get paid to do that, but we’re not going to pay you to do that at NewSpring.

This was a challenge for NewSpring staff, but I think it’s a challenge for any person in any job. If you’re not doing what you are created to do, you should resign today. If you aren’t passionate about what you are doing, you should resign today. If you can’t commit fully to the mission of your organization, you should resign today.

Any way you cut it, life is too short to just work for a paycheck. Figure out what God created you to do, and go do that.

Finding Talent

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I wish I had the time (and the brain) to come up with just a small percentage of the insightful thoughts that Seth Godin generates. Until that happens, chew on this quote from Seth from earlier today:

“…Organizations that work best with extraordinary talent are almost certainly not investing enough in finding and developing it. If marketing works so well that you spend a fortune on it, why aren’t you marketing your jobs? If talent is so important that you are betting the company on it, why aren’t you actually investing in finding and retaining that talent?”

What do you think? Does this principle apply to ministry organizations with either staff or volunteer roles? Have you noticed any non-profits that are doing this effectively?

Finding Mr. or Mrs. Right

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Curtis emailed me this morning asking me to blog about interviewing tips. I’m assuming it might be related to this job opening at Fellowship Technologies. I’ve shared some of my philosophy in the past. Here’s a snippet.

Just like with a marriage relationship, your business relationship is more likely to last because of the intangibles you’ll discover over time rather than the details you might find on someone’s resume. For a moment, forget about education, experience and skills, and answer these questions:

  • Does this person love our church (or organization)? Have they demonstrated that they fully embrace our mission, vision and values?
  • What motivates this person? Will they soar in the role I’m offering, or will it just become a job to earn a paycheck?
  • Does he or she want to continue to grow? Does she like to read? Does he take time to think? Does she make it a priority to dream and to create?
  • Is this person a leader? With a limited amount of money to invest in staff, I need someone who will help me multiply the ministry. Will this person help me do that?
  • Does this person have a track record of success? Do they have the potential to help the church (or organization) reach the next level?
  • Do I like this person? Does he or she have a fun personality? Am I going to enjoy spending fifty hours or more each week with this person? (This one is HUGE! Listen to your gut…that’s probably the Holy Spirit giving you direction.)

In my experience, when trying to find the best talent, these types of questions are far more important than learning whether or not someone has a big, fancy resume.

Here’s the rest of the article on Pastors.com.

Summer Interns Have Arrived!

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Our summer interns started this week and I (Jennifer) had the awesome opportunity to get to orient them as a part of the NewSpring Staff. We welcomed nine new faces and two returning interns. I must say we have an awesome group this summer! Here’s a few details about the internship program at NewSpring:

  • It’s offered during the fall, spring and summer semesters.
  • Interns have the opportunity to apply in one of eight different ministry areas.
  • They work a total of 25 hours per week.
  • Each semester is around 11 weeks.

This program really gives the interns an idea of what life is like in ministry and offers them some very unique experiences. If you think you might be interested in the internship program or want more details then check out NewSpring – Job Opportunities.

Welcome aboard summer interns!!!!

The Highly-Skilled-Techies are Few

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As churches become more tech-savvy and grow to rely on technology to reach today’s culture with the Gospel, it’ll be interesting to see how ministry competes for the best talent in tech-related fields. To be completely vulnerable, we’re finding a challenge attracting highly-skilled experts (IT, media, web, etc.) to join our team. Part of the problem is because there appears to be a shortage of talent for the demand that exists in today’s technocentric world.

The other reason is because our expectations look different than the “normal” organization. For example, we need someone who…

  • Loves Jesus.
  • Is fully committed to the unique vision and mission for NewSpring’s ministry.
  • Is highly skilled in their field of expertise.
  • Has technical knowledge and understands how that translates in a ministry setting.
  • Is willing to sacrifice financial gain to work for a church.

As an example, our media team is trying to fill a key role. We’ve heard this same story from several folks. They’ve shared that most Christ-followers who are talented with media production aren’t clamoring to join a church staff. Instead they’re heading to Hollywood. Who can blame them? If you could use your specialized gifts, influence today’s culture, have more freedom to create, enjoy less-restrictive deadlines to fine tune your craft and make more money doing it, wouldn’t you go?

I used to think developing leaders would be the ultimate barrier to growth. I’m beginning to think finding highly specialized technicians may be just as big of a challenge. Yes, outsourcing is part of the solution. But, you still need someone on the team who can see the big picture, manage projects and talk whatever language of geek-speak is appropriate to manage those partnerships.

Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matthew 9:37-38). The truth in that passage is more real now to me than it ever has been.

Am I alone on this one? Are you sensing this same challenge?

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