by Chase | Leadership
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr., here are eight influential quotes from a man who stood for his convictions, even in the face of adversity. To learn more about Dr. King, head to The King Center website.
8 Influential Quotes From Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “The time is always right to do what is right.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
by Chase | Leadership
This is a post (used with permission) by Jon Koloff, Worship Arts Pastor at First Christian Church in Canton, Ohio and blogger at jonkoloff.com. To view his original post, click here.
____
One of the best things about worship music is its ability to proclaim truth. When we get together to worship, we profess the truth of who God is and what He has done. We proclaim the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus; we declare the gospel. We sing of His power, faithfulness, grace, love, goodness, mercy, and on and on.
But we also lie a lot in worship. Just the title of a song like “I Surrender All” shows us that. Or lyrics like, “All my heart is yours,” “Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders,” “Where You go, I’ll go,” “My heart will sing no other Name, Jesus, Jesus,” “In Christ alone my hope is found,” and we could probably do this for most songs that we sing. I know, at least for me (and I think for everyone), that I cannot sing “All my heart is yours” and have it be true. I haven’t surrendered to Jesus in every area of my life, I don’t really want him to lead me beyond what I can trust, I don’t really want to go wherever He leads, my heart focuses on a lot of other things than Jesus, and my hope is not truly in Jesus alone.
We even often lie when we sing true things about God. We sing that God is faithful in every circumstance, but our thoughts and actions prove that we don’t really believe that. We shout out his power and strength, but we don’t live like He is bigger than any circumstance. We sing of the transformative power of the gospel, but we still sin every single day.
So should we not sing these lyrics because they aren’t true of us? No, because to put it simply, God doesn’t want our words, He wants our hearts.
I believe there’s something prophetic about worship music. I can sing “All my heart is yours” to Jesus and be authentic because even though it is not true of me right now, I desire it to be. There’s something about proclaiming the gospel, proclaiming truth, proclaiming that we surrender, that actually begins to make it happen.
There’s a song by Elevation Worship called Great Things (Worth It All). A lyric in the song says, “Thank You for the lonely times.” To be honest, at this season in my life, I can’t thank Jesus for the lonely times and mean it. I’m not thankful for being lonely, but I sing those lyrics anyway, because I want them to be true of me. I want to one day be able to say “Thank You for the lonely times,” because You showed me Your faithfulness, because I was drawn closer to You, and because I heard Your voice in the silence.
You may have heard this idea when talking about spiritual disciplines, that even if you don’t necessarily want to pray, do it; or want to read your Bible, do it anyway. Because if you are faithful in those things, the Spirit will work in them and eventually change your heart to where you want to do them. I think it can be the same with the words we sing in worship. We have the opportunity to proclaim things that may not be true at the time, but that we desire to be, and then have the Spirit begin to change our hearts and minds.
So you might be in a place where you doubt God’s goodness, but sing about it anyway. You may not agree right now that His faithfulness never ends, but sing about it anyway. Maybe you haven’t surrendered your whole heart to Jesus, but sing about it anyway. You may not have decided to follow Jesus anywhere, but sing about it anyway. I do every Sunday. I can promise that if you truly desire these things to be true of you, the Spirit will work to bring them about.
I love the way The Message version translates Psalm 51:16-17, “Going through the motions doesn’t please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you. I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.” God doesn’t want our words, our performance, our great singing, our musical skill, He wants our hearts.
So come to worship and just offer your heart. Sing prophetically, sing for what is to come. If you’re in a place where you can’t worship because you’re hurting, because you doubt God’s faithfulness, because you can’t see His goodness, I want to invite you to come worship anyway. You have never and will never escape God’s notice. He wants to meet with you in worship, even if you don’t think you’re ready, or good enough, or surrendered enough, that’s ok, He just wants your heart.
____
This is a post (used with permission) by Jon Koloff, Worship Arts Pastor at First Christian Church in Canton, Ohio and blogger at jonkoloff.com To view the original post, click here.
by Chase | Kid Min, Student Min
“Am I already home?”
Chances are, you have asked this question before as you have driven into your driveway after a long day at work. Perhaps we were mentally consumed with a problem or just singing along with the radio, but the truth is that we can’t remember ANYTHING about our drive home! It isn’t that you are a horrible driver. You slipped into autopilot.
Truth is, you often operate by autopilot with your family, job, and relationship with Jesus.
At the end of the day we are left wondering, “What did I do today??”
Another way to describe autopilot is with the idea of muscle memory.
Muscle memory is a stored physical response that you draw upon when the time is right. Think about a golf swing – thousands of practiced swings compound into the next swing as the golfer seeks to swing perfectly each time.
For a while, our family ministries have operated on autopilot. Much of what we do is out of muscle memory – our processes, events, and programs.
Now, muscle memory is not a bad thing! The goal is to make great habits second nature. But often, we pickup inefficiencies or take shortcuts and it starts to negatively affect our muscle memory. Great athletes and artists have perfected muscle memory to hone their skills. Michael Jordon worked on the fundamentals of basketball daily to perfect his game.
For ministries and discipleship groups, we often forget about the fundamentals – meeting people, maintain our personal walk with Jesus, being intentional with visitors, striving to offer clear communication.In a rush to do more ministry, we tend to neglect the foundations that support solid groups.
Before you start planning your next quarter, your group or ministry should take some time and discover who you are, what God wants your group to be, and how you will operate.
Here are a few questions you can pass along to your group or ministry and get the conversation started:
- If we had unlimited funds, volunteers, and resources, what would God want us to do?
- In what ways has your personal spiritual life fallen into a negative cycle? Pray that God will reveal to you how you should break the negative habits you have developed.
- What were opportunities the group failed to capitalize on last year? (This could be as simple as following up with absentees…)
- What are the needs of our community – physically, emotionally, and spiritually? How can/are we meeting needs to provide an avenue for people to meet Jesus?
Now What?
These are a few questions to kick around and get the conversation started. Retraining you ministry’s muscle memory will only happen when you engage the entire group in conversations about where God is leading your team.
by Chase | How To, Leadership
Your Favorite Word: Delegation.
If you have had a job more than three seconds, you are all too familiar with this elusive concept. At times it may seem easier to collect compelling evidence for the existence of Bigfoot than to develop a practical strategy to delegate.
As a leader, your primary job is to keep everyone working toward the vision. Ministry leaders are trying to work on the ministry (administration, vision, and tweaking processes) while they are simultaneously working in the ministry (doing the day-to-day operations).
Everyone knows they should delegate, but few figure out how to get ahead of the curve.
Here are six steps that I have picked up over the years that help me decide what I can delegate and who needs to help.
Six-Step Process to Delegate More Effectively
1. Plan ahead
You cannot delegate until you know what in the world you are doing! Planning ahead doesn’t have to be a stressful endeavor. Typically, I begin Mondays with a 30-minute weekly review. During this time, I confirm any appointments I have, plan when I am going to accomplish specific tasks, and see where I am on long-term projects.
By coming up with a weekly review, your brain will be trained to think through your tasks and deadlines.
Also, without advance planning, you cannot ethically ask someone to help you with work.
My mom has always said, “Your lack of planning is not my emergency.”
If you have waited until the last minute, YOU need to complete the task. Don’t pawn it off on a volunteer or employee. That is a surefire way to lose good workers.
2. Establish the essentials
Many of the tasks we stress about are not the essentials. After you have surveyed the work, ask yourself what is absolutely necessary. This doesn’t mean that you cut the creative elements. Trust me, those are of the utmost importance! Simply cut out the areas, steps, and processes that will cause you to spin your wheels.
3. Are you the ONLY person who can complete the task?
If the answer is “Yes,” then you need to schedule time to complete it.
If the answer is “No,” then you need to delegate it.
This is typically where leaders get in trouble. For instance, if there is a problem that needs to be addressed, the leader, not an administrative assistant, needs to pick up the phone and work it out. Don’t forget to weigh the importance of each task, including the ones you don’t want to do.
4. Choose the best person for each task
When you find a task to delegate, the next step is to find out who will complete it. Remember to match tasks with people’s skills and abilities when you are able.
Another consideration is time. Can the bookkeeper run the report by noon if he is responsible for payroll that morning?
Many tasks can be outsourced to companies or contract workers for pennies on the dollar. Logos, videos, and website design will be done correctly by experts instead of by a church administrative assistant who can barely use Microsoft Word.
5. Set clear expectations and deadlines
Tasks will be completed to your standards when you effectively communicate your standards. Don’t drop a project off and run for the hills!
Send written instructions (preferably in e-mail) so your worker knows what he is responsible for and when he should have it done. This will also give the worker an opportunity to communicate if he is unable to take on the assignment.
6. Follow–up on the project
No one needs a micromanager, but leaders must ensure tasks are completed. Checking in on the assignment is necessary to ensure YOU will not be completing the task last minute! It also gives the worker a chance to ask questions, get clarification, and feel connected to the bigger picture.
If you get ahead of the curve and start delegating, you will create space for the tasks only you can accomplish.
How do you pull other staff members and church volunteers into the ministry projects you have going on?
by Chase | Kid Min, Leadership, Student Min
Resolutions, goals, or whatever you may call them are about to blow up your newsfeed and conversations.
Your friends and co-workers will be talking about losing weight, saving money, or how they want to learn conversational Pig Latin (I tried a few years ago but sadly gave up).
Now, this post is not about how to keep a resolution. For information about that, Michael Hyatt has great content and insight to help you with that, like this post about the persistence needed to reach your goals.
This is less about how you should accomplish a goal and more about which goals you should be thinking about as a ministry leader.
Last year you made several mental notes about what shifts need to be made during your small group, the changes needing to happen for next year’s camp, and how you can spread the Gospel to more people.
Brainstorming can be exhausting. Thinking about everything that needs to be tweaked and the scores of people who need a little TLC every now and again can make you anxious, overwhelmed, and fearful that change will ever happen.
As you survey last year’s small group, ministry, or event, here are a few resolutions every ministry leader needs to make this coming year:
3 Essential Resolutions for Ministry Leaders
Daily – Connect With Jesus
Let’s be honest, your spiritual life is not perfect. Ministry is a tricky beast to tackle. On one hand, you do have a responsibility to put in the best work that you can to help the ministry or group you lead. But on the other hand, you are serving King Jesus.
He has promised to be your strength, wisdom, guide, and provider.
When we lose sight of Jesus and our spiritual disciplines lack, we tend to lose focus in our ministry positions.
If nothing else, this year you should plan to be closer to Jesus than you have ever been in your life. Remember, the point is not to maintain a perfect bible-reading plan; the point is to maintain connection with the perfect Savior, Jesus.
Weekly – Communicate With People
Often we are so rushed to maintain programs that we neglect investing in people.
Why don’t you make it your aim to personally communicate with one person per week?
I’m not talking about a weekly leaders email or parent newsletter (you should continue doing those things, though).
I’m suggesting that you pick up a pen and write an encouraging, personal note to one person per week. If not an encouraging note, you can pick up the phone and call someone midweek just to check in and pray for him or her.
There are creative ways to communicate with people. Make sure that you are investing quality time encouraging your parents, volunteers, and leaders.
Monthly – Care For Your Community
When is the last time you have taken an off day to serve your community?
I’m not talking about a church-sponsored community event that you led or were expected to attend.
When was the last time you chose to use your precious time off to enrich someone else’s life?
Many church leaders serve only when they are on the clock. This year try serving once a month, in some capacity, when you are off the clock.
As we share the Gospel of Jesus outside church-sponsored events, the Gospel transforms our heart for the broken.
This coming year you will expect many parents, volunteers, and leaders to sacrifice their free time to help serve in some way.
Are you willing to make the same sacrifice to serve others?
Do you have any other resolutions ministry leaders should consider in the upcoming year?
