Drew Boswell

a place for us to share ideas, talk about life, and learn together.

Choosing to Move Toward the Complex: One Leader to Teams

org-chartThis past summer we had our largest Vacation Bible School and this past weekend we wrapped up our largest Fall Festival in decades for the church. In both of these instances we had a follow up meeting with those who helped lead these ministries and outreach efforts. In both cases we came to the same conclusion/agreement – we have to move from individual leader/s to teams. This transition marks a very important change in the church culture (at least in the children’s ministry).

What Happens If We Don’t Change How We Operate?

If we continue to grow while maintaining the same structure, it will cause damage to the organization. Its similar to a child wearing shoes several sizes too small — pain, discomfort, and eventual discarding the shoes all together. Those leaders who are in key places of your effort, if they are pushed past a certain point, then they will grow overwhelmed as in a wave of a tsunami. Growth can always be challenging, but if it is not properly managed it can lead to burnout and people bing hurt. We begin the process by asking:

Do We Really Want to Continue to Grow?

 It is easy for organizations and leaders to get to a point where they are happy with the size. They say to themselves “this far and no further.” If we don’t change how we operate then damage will happen, the performance that is driving the growth will stop, and the growth levels will stop and adjust to how you have reacted to these new challenges. Change is necessary at every step of growth. So, as the leader you have to determine if this is the point where we need to change, or do we continue to do what we are doing because it is working.

For our team, the next step of growth is to push down to another level in the organization. In Vacation Bible School one leader cannot do crafts, Bible story, etc. we must transition to a team of people leading crafts, Bible story, etc. Our rooms are not big enough, and there are simply too many people in a given area.

With Fall Festival there are simply too many details that have to get accomplished in a limited window of time (after church but before the event starts). In Fall Festival we need to move toward a team of people leading with one person over food, another over games, another over registration, etc. In both of these instances we are moving from one leader to teams.

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What are the Challenges to This New Growth Step?

  1. Communication. When moving from one person leading everything communication with multiple levels of people can be difficult. Once they could simply send out a letter to helpers, have a meeting, and all information is easily communicated. But when a level is added to the organization communication becomes more complex. In an age of Facebook, twitter, etc. look for tools that will help you in this developing and more complex effort. Everyone does not need to know ever detail – now you must divide communication into who needs to know what is essential to their departments.
  1. Training. Leaders move from doing everything themselves to delegating to second tier leaders. The primary leader shouldn’t do anything that deals with (insert responsibility, food ex.) instead he/she should delegate this item to the (insert team leader, food ex.) and trust this team to take care of it.

This is often difficult for a leader who is used to doing everything themselves. In this process of handing off responsibility to others, the main leaders should make sure people know what they need to know and have the resources they need to do their job.

  1. Recruiting. With this new tier of leadership there are new people in the room. The main leader and their team are comfortable with how they have done things up to this point, and there is probably a level of rapport. These new leaders have to be allowed into the leadership circle. The old days need to stay in the past and not brought to the table — a new day is here with new people at the table.
  1. Budgeting. Spending can get out of hand quick if teams are given free reign on spending. With one leader, it is much easier to keep track of spending, but now individual departments have to be given budgets to make sure things stay on track. 
  1. Meetings. Meetings are held as departments instead of the team as a whole. There is nothing more frustrating than to be in a meeting that has little to do with you or your department. There will be times when the whole team needs to meet (vision casting, theme reveal, discussing the event as a whole, etc.) but many times it would be better if individual teams meet at a time convenient for them, and they can discuss what is essential to them.

I am very excited to see what God is doing in our ministry, and am constantly challenged by Him in areas where I need to grow. This is the wonder of ministry, our job is never done, and we are never able to say, “done.” There will always be families and friends that need to hear about Jesus. The more He stretches me and grows me, the better equipped I am to reach the lost. How about you? What challenges are you facing in your ministry?

Is the Resurrection of Jesus a Fairy Tale?

storytelling_30526Mankind loves a good story. When it is told in an engaging way it allows the hearers to let go of reality and believe what they know is a deception. They cry for characters when they experience tragedy or lost love, and rejoice for them when the character experiences the happy ever after. They allow themselves to go on a journey, a roller-coaster-ride of emotions, all while knowing what they are hearing and seeing if false, fictional, or took place in a far away place or distant time.

Good story telling causes us to feel and enter into a mindset of believing the false, what Tolkien calls “secondary belief.”[1] All good stories have the same main parts: love found, love lost, and then love found again; good overcoming evil; the journey of a hero who overcomes impossible odds; defeating aging and time travel, fixing our past mistakes, etc. So even in a time of science and with all the advancements we have made as a species – we still want and crave certain things from this life. We still are searching for happiness, completion, and purpose.

Mankind wants to stop growing old and overcome death, to find true love, to know and be known, to overcome their past, to be noble, etc. We seek them in our stories and entertainment. Great books, movies, art, or theatre engage us in this journey as our hearts desire to touch upon these common themes. This desire to be caught up into these stories and to be carried along for a time is so prevalent that a whole cottage industry of making costumes and going to conventions dressed as characters has developed and is incredibly popular.[2]

We love stories and our hearts desire to enter into a world where we can find the answers to what we long for. Tim Keller shows in a talk he gave at Belhaven that “all human beings underneath feel there should not be death, that we are not meant to die, we shouldn’t lose our loved ones, good should be triumphing over evil, there ought to be a supernatural world, we should not be stuck in time and then we are dead. . .”[3]

Keller goes on to discuss how Tolkien said that people have been told and experience reality (there is death, good does lose to evil, etc.) but our hearts know that these things are true in “reality”, but it is in a fantasy story that mankind can know a truer reality of the ways things can be.

This is why the gospels hinge on the resurrection of Christ. Our hearts experience a reality of death, hate, despair, heartache, separation, loss, etc. Our spirits search to fill a longing and we escape into stories. We are caught in “Life as it is, and life as it ought to be.” Jesus breaks into our broken lives from another reality – and shows that there is another reality and “other place” and does it through miracles, and explanation, and culminating in the resurrection. Jesus enters our reality from somewhere else and He then leaves to go back to that the other reality but leaves a promise to return.

The wonder of the gospel is that it takes all the parts of the ideal (good overcoming evil, victory over death, fixing all past mistakes, truly being known, peace, finding true love, etc.) and brings them to our broken reality. It is no longer a fairy tale or myth to be able to experience these things. They can be found in Jesus Christ, even while living in our reality. Writers and artists have been pointing to Jesus since creation – they wanted to show that another way is possible they just didn’t know how. They believed that there should be another reality than what they experienced, so they weaved their stories. We have the greatest story ever told in the person of Jesus Christ – and it is not a fairy tale or myth, this “other reality” is true.

Jesus and His resurrection make those things we thought were real to be false, and shows that what was thought to be unreal and impossible to be real and possible. Yes there is evil but it has been defeated. Yes, there is death but it has been overcome. Yes, you have past mistakes, but they can be forgotten. Yes you have loss, but it can be restored. Yes you feel all alone, but there is a Creator who knows you with an infinite knowledge and loves you with an unimaginable devotion.

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Below is a wonderful video of Tim Keller and his discussion of this topic. The first 3/4 of the video discusses an apologetic of the Bible.


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[1] “Not all authors believe that suspension of the disbelief adequately characterizes the audience’s relationship to imaginative works of art. J. R. R. Tolkien challenges this concept in his essay “On Fairy-Stories“, choosing instead the paradigm of secondary belief based on inner consistency of reality. Tolkien says that, in order for the narrative to work, the reader must believe that what he reads is true within the secondary reality of the fictional world. By focusing on creating an internally consistent fictional world, the author makes secondary belief possible. Tolkien argues that suspension of disbelief is only necessary when the work has failed to create secondary belief. From that point the spell is broken, and the reader ceases to be immersed in the story and must make a conscious effort to suspend disbelief or else give up on it entirely.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_of_disbelief

[2] http://tampabaycomiccon.com/about-us/

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o6nxKhbbF8 30:00/39:04

I Need to Cut My Grass, Trim My Nose Hairs, and Wash the Dishes

f68a0d99a1df8b07bdec7a1a4d17a8b3As I drive up into my driveway I see them. They cry out as they reach for the sky. I know the longer I put it off the more the machine will struggle to bring them back down to size. The weekday evenings are filled with activity and shuttling children to one activity to the next. While we hurriedly pull in and then reverse back out – there they remain, taunting me.

Weekends are spent with even more activity and shuttling to activities. But eventually I begin to feel the burning stares of the neighbors and almost feel the breath of their loud sighs as if I alone am bringing down the value of their homes. Eventually we can’t find the dogs, and the children begin to carry machetes to go to the bus stop in the mornings.

I say to myself, “I have got to cut the grass!”

Cutting the grass is an activity that I enjoy and I do feel that to be a good neighbor I need to keep the bahia under control but where do I fit in time to do it? When I see manicured lawns I say, “wow,” and ask “where do they find time to make it look that good?”

During the summer months and the early fall I have a lingering box on my weekly “to do” list that often times does not get checked off; cutting the grass. I know I need to do it, but there are so many other things that seem to crowd out time to do it. There are only so many daylight hours of the day.

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Do you have a “cutting the grass” item on your “to do” list that keeps getting pushed to next week’s list again and again? For some it may be “go to the gym” (and actually work out), “eat right,” or “spend time with my kids.”

After the Christmas break last year my son Joshua wanted me to help him build a catapult for a school club that he wanted to join. We talked briefly about the requirements, drew out a design, and even made a mock up with a model. Then life stepped in and started stealing time. Weeks went by and every week continued to be filled with one activity and then another.

One important activity after another were placed on the calendar and religiously followed. Eventually we never ended up making the catapult – I still feel horrible about it. He has never brought it up and we are on to another school year but the reality is that I allowed other things to take priority over our plans. I missed an opportunity to have a special time with my son. To be honest I don’t even remember what those “important things” were that stole the moment away.

I have found that this is often the case – the immediate “crisis” robs the long-term truly important items. I would not put Joshua’s project on the same lines as “get a haircut” or “paint the house” but if things are continued to be put off until another day then people will eventually start calling you “honey” from behind and your neighbors will finally riot with pitchforks saying, “kill the beast who doesn’t cut his grass!”

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So how do keep things under control where our homes are (somewhat) clean and neat, our personal hygiene is presentable, and our children know we love them? May I suggest the following:

  • Everything has to have a priority order. Your children, spouse, and home are more important than anyone else’s – because they are yours. You are responsible for them, no one else. So, therefore, your priorities will be different than your friend’s. So when life happens, you have to measure this “crisis” in light of how it will affect what you alone are responsible for.

If it is happening to someone else it is always a “priority” and a “crisis” for them – but it may not be for you, and it doesn’t have to be. How many times do you think you can miss your kid’s ball games, performances, wedding anniversaries, etc. to rush off for someone else’s “crisis” before your family will know that they are not very high on your priority list?

What about the grass? Well, you may be getting an idea for why my grass is knee high and there are dishes in the sink.

Sit down. What I am about to say may cause you to become light headed. Ok. Are you ready?

  • It is ok to say “No.”

. . . . .ok are you back with us? Here, put this cool rag on your head. Yes other’s priorities want an answer. Others want you to do stuff, constantly. But, there will come a time, when they will want you to place an item higher on the priority list than it should be (above family, wife, children, etc.) and you will know that you should say “no.” It’s ok. They may even get mad, but at the end of the day your kid’s won’t resent you and you won’t be sleeping on the couch.

  • Create margin in your life. I am a pastor, so my calling in life is to minister to other people. I am expected to be there during times of crisis in people’s lives, and I am glad to be there. I am honored to be there, and for people to call me during times of crisis. But honestly, this doesn’t happen every day.

But when it does happen, I need to run to my car, and leave. For those times when this does happen, it has to be measured against many times when I was there. But not just there. I need to be engaged, present, and participating in what is going on in the family. When I do this, they will understand that when a crisis does hit, then I need to go. For some it may be business trips, sales calls, etc. so when you need to be away – let that time away be balanced with other time spent with them. Don’t overcrowd your schedule and “to do” list. Give yourself time for those emergencies.

So what if they don’t happen? Then cut the grass.

  • Give yourself a break. Seriously. So what if your grass is getting high, there are dishes in the sink, or the beds are not made? Life will continue, the earth will continue to rotate, and “this too will pass.”

Your kids will not always be with you, they will not always come to you when they scrape their knee, and eventually will drive themselves to wherever they need to go. The schedule will eventually slow down when they drive off to college or walk down the aisle. There will be days later for clean houses, manicured lawns, and trimmed nose hairs – for now I have to go. It’s time for Cub Scouts.

 

Why Did Jesus Speak in Parables? Matthew 13:10-15

parablesMatthew 13:10-15

“Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” 15  For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’”

The setting of this conversation between Jesus and his disciples seems to be as a huddle while the crowds stand waiting to see what else Jesus may say or do. The disciples are picking up from the reactions from the crowd that they do not understand what Jesus is saying. So they ask the question, to the side, “Jesus, why are you speaking to them in parables?” As if to say, “Jesus wouldn’t it be better to speak to them directly, without the stories?”

Jesus responds to the disciples question by making a statement that balances divine sovereignty with human responsibility.[1] The first comment is definitively predestinarian in nature, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” The disciples were chosen by Jesus, and therefore given the secret of the kingdom of heaven; which is how He [Jesus] was completing prophecy and was the promised Messiah who would save the world from its’ sin.

The disciples were allowed in on the secret of who Jesus was and what His plan was, even if they didn’t fully understand it or know it fully at this point. The crowds were not allowed in on this secret. Therefore, Jesus’ teaching of the gospel and the kingdom of heaven were not irresistible in nature, the people had a personal choice to make.[2]

That which is given or taken away in verse 12 is insight or understanding of the gospel. By telling the crowd the secrets of the kingdom of heaven as a parable those sinners who want redemption and salvation from God may have it, but the religious self-righteous and prideful will never see themselves as the character in the stories Jesus tells and therefore never see the connection between Jesus and them being saved from their sin. The self-righteous think they are without sin and therefore don’t need saving.

Jesus then says, “because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” He chose to teach in parables because the crowds were hard hearted in their response to His previous teachings. Tasker says in his commentary on this passage, “Men can and do reject it. Indeed, it can be accepted only by those whose hearts have been made ready to receive it, just as seed can produce a crop only when it is sown in ground prepared for its fertilization.”[3]

Think of Jesus’ teachings as truth that moves toward the person. Our eyes, ears, and hearts act filters, and if it makes it through the filter then it affects our perception and understanding of ourselves and of God. But we have control over these various filters. We can choose what our hearts pursue and even love.

We can choose to look but not see what is right there in front of us. We can listen but only hear what we want to hear or read in our own thoughts and perceptions into Jesus’ teachings. The truth can be right in front of us, but because we are not willing to perceive it, or change our lives to be shaped by it, we can voluntarily ignore it. So those who are open to Jesus’ teachings and are willing to change their lives based upon them will understand “the kingdom of heaven” further. But if you have had some understanding of the gospel, but choose not to change, even that perception that you had will soon disappear.

In passages such as these it would be easy to become enthralled in a discussion of Arminianism, Calvinism, predestination, election, etc. and completely miss the point.[4] If you have been given grace enough to understand that you are a sinner then run to the cross. In Jesus’ teachings we find salvation and a life of freedom and forgiveness. If He has shown you an area of your life that needs work, forgiveness, or action, then allow Him to lead you in doing it.

In verse 15 it says, “For this people’s heart has grown dull,” It is a progression taken with multiple decisions to step away from God and toward rebellion. Increased understanding of God comes from obedience and chasing after Him in steps – a dull heart is produced from being disobedient, self-righteous, and walking away from His grace.

James 2:14-17 “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (ESV)”

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[1] Craig L. Blomberg. The New American Commentary; Matthew; vol. 22 ( Nashville, Tennessee; Broadman Press) 215.

[2] RVG Tasker. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, Matthew (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Inter-Varisty Press), 137 & Ibid.

[3] Ibid. 137.

[4] Even if one tends toward Calvinism, we still have Jesus presenting to all while knowing that most would not receive His message.

*** For further information on Calvinism and it’s current role in the Southern Baptist Convention see  E. Ray Clendenen. The Southern Baptist Dialogue; Calvinism (Nashville. Tennessee; B&H Publishing Group) 2008.

Establishing Trust in the Local Church

trust

In ministry all you have is trust. There are no promises of wealth, power, or property. Most move away from home and place themselves at the complete mercy of the local church. The mortgage, the food you feed your children, braces, the car payment, etc, they have to trust the church to do what they said they would do regarding salary, benefits, etc. But the church also expects to be able to trust the staff person.

So, when it is all-said-and-done it all boils down to trust. If the church does not trust their pastor or the pastoral staff or they do not trust each other then growth, planning, stability, or even team cohesion is greatly limited or eroded.

There are ways that one gains trust (just do the opposite of these to break down trust):

A.  Consistently doing or exceeding their job expectations over a period of time.

Even little things like being prepared for meetings, being on time, doing what you say you will do.

B.  Maintaining one’s character and moral moorings over time.

This may include not being alone with someone of the opposite gender that is not in your family, telling the truth even when it makes you look bad, etc. Yes, you will sin, but there should a regular practice of praying, Bible study, repenting, and making things right with other people. No one expects you to be perfect (if they do then it is unreasonable) but you should be growing in your walk with the Lord like all other Christians.

C.  Being able to balance family, marriage, and ministry over time.

They may not like that you said “no” to something they asked you to do on your day off, but they will respect that you are guarding your family time. Again, you are not always going to get it right at home with the family – but there should be learning how to make it work. Your family is more important than your ministry. Please go back a reread that last sentence. Once you leave a church, in five years they won’t even remember your name, but your kids will remember you as dad forever. It’s up to you to determine if it is a good memory or a bad one.

D.  Communicating what you are doing to others; i.e. staff, boards, elders, deacons, parents, etc.

If you are not communicating in the gaps, then people will fill in the gaps with their own assumptions. And people naturally tend to be negative in their assumptions no matter how long or how faithful you have been.

Does the church, pastor, staff members, etc. know what is going on? What is the mechanism that you use to keep people informed and is it consistently updated (i.e. Facebook, e-mails, staff meetings, etc.)?

faithfulness + time = trust

Once you have an opportunity and privilege to minister to others, then do it to the best of your ability and continue to do so for a long time. This is a good way, if not the best way to gain trust. One should not expect trust to be there the moment you put your books on the shelves in your office. It will take time, especially if your predecessor was not trusted or had to leave for nefarious reasons.

When one takes a position where this may have happened then you should expect to inherit the distrust that is there for the man before you and to climb the mountain of trust to even be able to do your current position. I have several friends who are in this situation and are incredibly frustrated because of even after years of faithfully doing their job, the church still does not trust them.

Any staff position candidate could ask, “What actions have the church taken to intentionally deal with the broken trust that has taken place?” And “how will the church help the incoming pastor/staff to rebuild this broken trust?” If no action has taken place, or they don’t see it as their responsibility to help in this situation then the church does not understand how this will affect the incoming staff person.

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Let’s be honest. Everyone in ministry makes mistakes and blunders. The only way to avoid this is to never do anything new, stay with what’s safe, take forever to make decisions, and not take any risks. But these actions (or lack of them) will eventually catch up with the leader in a negative way and they will be criticized anyway. Songs grow stale, programs loose enthusiasm, and people get bored. But let’s assume that you are an awesome leader and want to lead toward new horizons and reaching new people for the gospel. So what do you do if you have done all of these things (faithfulness + time = trust) consistently over a long period of time and you are still not trusted?

Why is it that I don’t feel that I am trusted?

  • Are you in a position to where you should be included in certain information loops, budget discussions, or whatever the topic may be? Figure out if what you are feeling is genuine or have you jumped to a false expectation? Sometimes our feelings can guide us to false expectations.
  • What actions have been taken to make you feel that you are not trusted or excluded? Can you give specific example? If so, write them down and begin to look for opportunity s to talk with the leadership about these instances.
  • One of the main keys to building trust is time on the field. Has a reasonable amount of time passed to where people should trust you? If you have only been there a few months then you should not expect to be trusted yet (but you should be taking advantage of the honey moon period: see below).

If you have been there more than two years and are still not trusted then there is a problem and you should spend some serious time trying to figure it out why. Knowing where that balance should be is a matter of prayer and calling to a specific place of ministry. If your predecessor was dismissed then expect that time period to be even longer.

“The Honeymoon period

Every person in a new ministry position has about one year that is commonly called the “honeymoon period.” You can forget people’s names, not know where something is stored, forget appointments, etc. and everything will be ok (within reason of course). But after this period your second year will be rough. Now people expect you to know everyone, everything, and to know “how things work here.” Take advantage of the honeymoon period. If you need more money for your budget, ask for it. If you need staff, ask for it. If you need equipment, ask for it. Strike while the iron is hot. You will not be in the honeymoon period for long.”

What blunders have you made and are these things big enough to push back the timetable of trust?

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Tokens

Every new staff person is given a few tokens to spend (they are free during the honeymoon period) Every time they do something well they get more tokens. But to take action they have to spend tokens, and the bigger the action the more tokens it costs. So to take big actions they can cash in all their chips and if it works, then things are wonderful. But if it fails they are tokenless and have to save up (over time) more tokens. It may take a long time to rebuild the savings after a big blunder. Let me caution you against using phrases like, “The Lord has told me we should do this . . .” or “I’m the pastor, staff position, etc. and I say this is what we should do!” You have a direct link to the Lord through prayer but so does the rest of the congregation.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith." Ephesians 2:8

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