Lead Well

When working with other leaders, the question I hear often is, “How do I lead up?” They may not use that phrase exactly. It usually comes out like, “Why won’t my leader do this?” or “How can I get them to see it my way?” This is a common theme among any leader who must submit to the authority of someone else.       Every leader who must submit is faced with two options: They can sit on the back row and criticize every move their leader makes, or they can move to the front row and bring about the change they know needs to happen.    The thing is, it’s always easier to sit in the back. You don’t have to do anything but criticize and talk about how much better it would be if they would just do it “your way.”  Back-row leaders get a certain joy out of seeing their leaders fail and convince themselves that they know the right way. Back-row leaders are ultimately poisonous to the organization because of their negativity. They do bring change, but unfortunately it's usually t

This year I set out to read only 10 books.  I guess I went a little overboard and read 18 instead.  I became a parent in early 2015 and started leading a parent lifegroup in 2016, so I spent a lot more time reading parenting books than I ever have before. I've also gone all in on the Rethink Group's ministry philosophy of Orange, so I read a lot of those books as well.  Here's the list with links. Talk Now and Later by Brian Dollar  The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson It's Just a Phase by Reggie Joiner and Kristin Ivy The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey Creating A Lead Small Culture by Reggie Joiner, Kristin Ivy, and Elle Campbell Children's Ministry Leadership by Jim Wideman  Good or God by John Bevere Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath One and Two by Reggie Joiner and Kristin Ivy Connect with Kids by Jim Wideman  Don't Miss It by Reggie Joiner and Kristin Ivy Parent Chat by Matt McKee The 3 Big Questions for a Frantic Family b

I'm always reading, and this year, I read more than I've ever read.  I tried to mix several different subjects on leadership, discipleship, church growth, and even a baby book. So, without further ado, here is the list. Ready, Set, Grow   Developing the Leader Within You Developing the Leaders Around You   Spiritual Maturity  The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People  Love and Respect   Good to Great  Breakout Churches   No Perfect People Allowed   Three Big Questions for Frantic Families   Deep and Wide  A Tale of Three Kings   You Lost Me   Children's Ministry Leadership   Lead small  Volunteers that Stick  The Circle Maker   All In   Jesus is   David and Goliath  I Blew It  Stretch   The Bible   Baby Wise I'll be posting my 2015 reading list in a couple of weeks.  What books have you read recently that were interesting?

I recently had some time on my hands and got to watch one of my favorite movies, Patton.  It's the story of 4 star General George Patton and his exploits during World War 2. Written by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North, it's based on the biography,  Patton: Ordeal and Triumph  by Ladislas Farago and Omar Bradley's memoir  A Soldier's Story.   If you know anything about Patton, you know that he was a great leader.  He had many faults that got him into trouble frequently, but no one can argue with his numerous victories including his most heroic at the Battle of the Bulge .  So here are 10 things we can learn from General Patton. Honor your men . Patton was quick to give out recognition and even medals for valor.  He made it clear frequently his appreciation for their sacrifice and heroism. Keep an eye the big picture . Leaders can see all the moving parts and how they fit together. However, many leaders make the mistake of watching just the big picture or

What makes an organization great? What separates two companies that sell the same product to the same people where one is incredibly successful and the other is a dismal failure? Several books, including Jim Collins classic, Good to Great , explores these questions and attempts to answer them. John Maxwell says that everything rises and falls on leadership. Show me a strong organization, ministry or business, I can show you a strong leader at the helm. Collins says a level 5 leader is what takes an organization from being just good to great.  While few of us will every reach level 5, we can all endeavor to be better leaders, and in turn, make the ministries and businesses we serve in better. So here are the 5 levels of leadership as outlined by Collins. Highly Capable Individual : This is the most basic level, where we start out and people start to give us more responsibility and tasks to complete. These people don’t really lead others, but they are beginning to lead themselv

In a few weeks, I'm going to do one of the scariest things I've ever done with volunteers.  I'm going to give them the opportunity to quit. In many ministries, we recruit volunteers or volunteer ourselves with no end in sight.  We very infrequently recruit for a specific time.  After studying the recruiting strategies of several different large churches that have hundreds of volunteers and lots of prayer, I decided that I needed to trust my volunteers. So every six months the volunteers in all of Kidtricity will be given the opportunity to quit.  Of course I don't frame it this way.  I ask our volunteers to re-enroll in their ministries.  This gives them the opportunity to change their Sunday, their service, or even their department. After all of this moving around is done, I may have some vacancies, but I think it is worth it. My hope is that new people will take this opportunity to step into a new adventure in children's ministry.  Think about it.

Last week I attended the Orange Conference .  It was a great week of equipping and refocus for me and my wife Liz.  In our last break-out session the leader, Joy Bowen , made us promise not to "puke vision" when we come back home. I though that was funny and a good reminder to leaders.  How many times do we go away to a conference, meeting, or trip to just come back and tell our team all the things we are going to do.  Sadly in our excitement we don't allow for essential buy-in or to even think through our ideas.  We end up scaring our team as well as hurting our integrity, because we end up doing only half (if we're lucky) of what we said we were going to do. So as I check myself, I beg you don't puke vision.  Take the time to think through your ideas, make a plan, organize resources, build buy-in, then roll out the ideas when the time is right.  Maxwell says that the right idea at the wrong time is still the wrong idea.  Let's commit today to do the nece