Lessons about leadership at the 12 year mark (part 1)

Next month Foothills Community Church will turn 12 years old! Over the last 12 years I have learned some valuable things about leading a church.

Many of the lessons I have learned, I have learned from fellow Pastors and leaders who are ahead of me on the journey.

Much of what I am learning these days is also from some of the younger Pastors that are blazing new trails that have some amazing thoughts and insights.

And throughout the last 12 years, much of what I have learned have come from lessons the Lord has taught me from my own mistakes! But the bottom line is that I am committed to being a life-long learner, because I believe what Rick Warren says; "The minute you stop learning, you stop leading."

I thought that I would reflect on some of what I've learned in hopes of helping others that may be facing some of these things. So here are some very random thoughts:


** You can't do it all yourself.
Most people who plant churches, have to be a jack-of-all-trades in the early days. Here are just a few of the things that I did at some point: Drove the trailer to the High School. Unloaded the trailer. Set things up, put up signs, made sure the bathrooms were clean-- and clean them if necessary, greeted people, preached messages, stacked tables, etc, etc. The problem for many Pastors is that they never get past that mentality. They feel the need to control everything, and they soon become the bottleneck to the growth of the church. You can't do all yourself. Learn to delegate, and find good people with the gifts and passions to get things done.

** You have to be committed to the Vision God has given you.
Being committed to the vision helps you make decisions. It helps you know what to say "Yes" to, and what to say "no" to. I have discovered that almost everyone has an opinion about the direction of the church. (and they're not shy about giving you their opinion!) We chose early on that we would operate by God's vision rather than people's opinions. You have to be willing to die for this. You have to be willing to let people leave because of this, you have to be willing to protect this at all costs.

* Never apologize for being a leader.
Pastor, please hear me clearly on this. God has called you to lead that church, don't you dare apologize for leading. I talk to many Pastors who are afraid to make decisions. But here is the key: Walk with God, seek the Lord's guidance, pray, spend time in His Word, listen to the voice of the Lord, seek wise godly counsel, and make decisions. Will you always get it right? No, but that's OK (most of them need to be right though!) Here's what I've discovered, people will follow a godly, confident, decisive leader. So don't be afraid to lead!