Drew Boswell

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Asking Hard Questions: an essential key to achieving success

Jesus regularly asked questions. He did this as a way of teaching the disciples and to help them understand who He was. When Jesus asked questions it also helped those around Him to understand what was important to Him.

  • What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he? (Matthew 22:42)
  • Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? (Matthew 23:17-19)
  • When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up? (Mark 8:19)

Jesus’ ability to ask well crafted questions helped His followers to understand very deep and life changing spiritual lessons. As a leader, it is important to learn to ask the right questions, at the right time, to the right people. We call this evaluation. Questions help to accomplish various things in an organization but consider the following:

  1. Evaluation helps everyone on the team to define a “win.” In organizations there are as many definitions for “win” as there may be staff working for the organization. In church life you may have a staff, support staff, and volunteers who are all working for the church but they may all have a different expectations of success. If the church has a service on Sunday – “WIN!” If there is a new family that ventures through the door – “WIN!” If there are no sound or audio/video issues – “WIN!”

When you sit down and ask the hard questions then everyone is able to see what is important, just by what questions are asked. If the organization is not asking questions of evaluation, then that in itself speaks volumes. In sports, identifying a win is easy. Did we win the game? Anything else is a loss. Coaches and players are evaluated by how effective they are at putting points on the scoreboard and winning ball games.

In your organization, what is a “win?” Does this help you move toward something? Also, in sports each season is brand new. You get to start over. In church life, every year builds upon the previous one. There are no “mulligans.” Forward steps are made while pulling the weight of the church’s past. The first step in evaluation is to have an agreed upon “win” for whatever it is you are trying to evaluate. The older the church is, the more people have to be led to “this is a win.”

  1. Evaluation helps to align budgets with expected outcomes. To continue our sports metaphor, there are agreed upon rules, set number of players, and basic needed equipment (balls, bats, helmets, shoulder pads, etc.). It is obvious when a sports team spends money on things that don’t help it to win – because their winning, scoring, etc. is affected (or their new scoreboard is the size of a small planet).

If a football team decides not to hire an offensive coordinator and let a volunteer handle it when they have time, then they may see the drastic effects of this decision on the first game of the season. So while the gold rims on the team’s bus may look nice, they will lose because they put the money in the wrong place (and they probably are getting horrible gas mileage).

If a new coach is hired (because the previous coach was not winning) and they have a losing season, it won’t be too long before he/she will be replaced. Why? Not because he was not a nice guy, or loved sports, but because he was not leading the team to win ball games. Churches have different definitions for success, but you can determine what they feel is important by where they put their money. Are you utilizing your resources to accomplish the win? Are you wasting precious resources on things that are not helping you to “win?”

  1. Evaluation helps one to better manage time. There is the famous illustration of the college professor who displays an empty jar and has several large rocks that he then places in the jar. He then asks the class, “Is the jar full?” They say, “yes.” The professor then gets out pebble sized small stones and pours them over the larger stones. He then asks, “Is it full?” They say, “yes.” He then pulls out sand, etc… you get the idea. Evaluation helps us identify what are the large stones, the most important things in one’s life. Those large stones have to go in first, they won’t fit if you have already put the pebbles, sand, etc. in first. Evaluation asks, “What are the large stones and are they getting into my life first?”

I would argue that the most precious resource that you have is your time. If you want to get more out of your day, or accomplish those big goals you have set, then they have to be prioritized – they won’t fit once you have dealt with the constant urgency of the present. Evaluating helps the leader show where he/she feels time should be spent by the organization. Asking, “What is consuming most of our time?” and “is it being effective in helping us accomplish the win?” is incredibly important. What are the “big rocks?” and are we delegating/prioritizing the needed time to see that they are getting done?

  1. Evaluation helps to clarify mission. If everyone in an organization has a different definition of a “win,” then leaders will budget and calendar with their definition in mind. This difference leads to different goals relating to different missions and values within the same organization.

This leads to an “every man for themselves” mentality. If you need something then you compete for resources and personnel against other staff or leaders who are trying to accomplish their own mission. When you evaluate and ask the hard questions then resources are directed toward a common direction. Calendars are aligned to accomplish the same things. Mission begins to be clarified among the organization because the win has been defined and questions are being asked to determine if what you are doing is being effective at accomplishing it.

Luke 14:28-30 “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’” (ESV)

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Click here to read more articles written by Drew relating to asking questions and evaluation. 

Didn’t We Just Decorate the Christmas Tree Last Year? Evaluation and Goal Setting

goalsChristmas shopping is in full swing, radio stations are blaring Jingle Bells, and the end of the year is roaring at us like that toy train at the bottom of the mall Christmas tree. With the end of this year and the beginning of a new one, it is important to take time to evaluate and plan. Tis the season is the best time to sit down, sip some gingerbread latte, and look forward into 2015. There is a wonderful gap in time right after Christmas and before New Years Day when the world’s spinning seems to slow down for a moment.

If we are not careful we will find ourselves repeating the same year again, and again, and again. If we allow ourselves to be swept away by the current of the day we get pulled into an undertow of allowing everyone and everything to dictate our lives. Year after year, after year. . . we will look back on our lives and realize we have gone no where. The way to avoid this is to set aside time to evaluate the previous year and determine a plan for the upcoming year.

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Why set goals?

1.   Goals allow us to direct our lives instead of being directed by circumstances and other’s priorities.

The statement “the squeaky wheel gets the oil” is a very true statement. But if you are constantly putting oil on immediate squeaky wheels you will never have time to determine what is making them squeak and stopping it. Let the wheel squeak for a while and take time to step back and think. Carving out time can be extremely difficult. But understand this time of evaluating and goal setting to be an investment in the overall health of your life and those that you lead.

2.   Goals help you to identify what are the most important areas in your life and establish plans to guard those priorities.

Sit down and choose five major areas of your life. They may be things like family, marriage, ministry, church, friends, education, relationship with God, etc. For example, if you know that you need to spend more time with your spouse, then take this time to figure out what is keeping that from happening.

3.   Goals help you to move forward as a person.

When was the last time that you did something that really stretched you? Goals help us to move from a wish to making something a reality. What is it in your life that is keeping from trying something really big? This may be the year when you need to cut off personalities that are constantly having a negative impact on your life. Set a goal and go for it!

The leader has to train himself to listen to the correct and healthy voices in his life. There will always be those that discourage, irrationally criticize, and are just negative. And there are those that give healthy criticism, and helpful suggestions. There are also that are encouraging, give energy to a situation, and add light to your life. Also, be aware that sometimes that negative critical spirit may even be you. So take some time and think about what you are hearing, who you are hearing it from, and intentionally surround yourself with people who will encourage you to go even further than you have ever been before. You can do it. I do believe that it is so important to reach a little further, and stretch yourself beyond what you feel comfortable doing. [Click here to read this entire article.]

4.  Calendaring With Vision and Goals in Mind.

Now as you look into the new year take your goals and put them on the calendar. For example, if you know you need to take batter care of yourself then put times at the gym on the calendar. It is up to you to guard those goals and times on the calendar. If you and your spouse have set aside Saturdays to be family days – don’t allow something of less importance to crowd out that set aside time. It is important to also build in “margin” or extra space into your calendar so that when life happens and you have to enter into that time you had set aside for something else, then you can still have time to accomplish what was originally in that time slot.

5.   Communicate Your Goals with Those Around You.

Letting other people know what you are working on will communicate to them what is important to you. It can also serve as a point of accountability when you begin to get off track with your goals.

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So What Now?

Vision – what does the end of the road look like? What vision do you have for your life, or far more importantly, what is the vision that God has of you life? Write it down. No one knows the whole life big picture, but you should have some idea for the next year.

Goals – Now after you have seen a picture for the next year, then establish some goals based upon the vision. Goals are not wishes. Wishes have no plan; goals are a vision that you have developed a plan to accomplish.

Mile Markers - Goals are then broken down into reachable steps or “mile markers.” If your goal is to run a half-marathon, then study and research to see how you would train and spread that out over the needed length of time.

Regular evaluation – how are we doing? Are we moving forward? Take time to regularly (daily, weekly) epaulet to see if you are on track to reach your goal and accomplish your vision.

No organization is autonomous from the community at large – how is the progress you are making affecting those around you? Sometimes your goals and forward movement can have a positive (or negative) affects on those around you. Recognize that others may not like your growth because it may challenge them — others may see it as a source for inspiration. Either way, keep moving forward.

Look I Can Put My Brain In a Jar; Evaluation and Systems

doctorI went to the doctor last week for my annual health check-up. I put on the paper snuggie, sat on the cold exam table, and waited the perfunctory forty-five minutes. There was the rustle of the clipboard being taken out of the plastic box on the other side of the hollow exam room door, a soft cough, and a knock. The doctor entered complete with white coat, nice tie, and went immediately to the small sink to wash his hands.

He smiled and after a short glance at the file, he said, “ok, let’s get started.” He said he wanted to start with the muscular system, where he then reached through my chest and with a great pull removed all the muscles from my body. Then he gently laid them on the floor beside the table and said, “The muscles look good.” He then went to the skeleton removing it in a big shake and leaned it in the corner.

braininjarNow a pile on the floor his hand reached down and separated me, piece by piece. I thought, as my mind rested in a glass jar, “this is different.” System by system, piece by piece was separated and examined. Then with surgical precision he put me back together again.

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Ok, so why don’t doctors do things this way? The body cannot function if it is separated into autonomous pieces, instead it functions as a whole unit. The systems do not operate independently; they are intricately bound to the other. When one system has disease, the entire body is affected. When a system is healthy it supports the overall health of the entire body. The body does not function if all the systems are not present and doing their intended function.

So in any organization when it is time to evaluate, this principle must be taken into account. If a department is doing well it is because of the support of the other departments (even if the support is not done consciously or intentionally). If a department is doing poorly, it is not standing alone in blame. We must look to the other departments to see how they have added to this decline.

The entire organization must be evaluated if there is “disease” because no department operates completely independently of the others.[1] Often times it is easy to identify a problem (i.e. a broken bone). This is a skeletal problem, but all systems are needed for healing. The bones are needed to act as a structure for the rest of the systems, but the other systems are needed to keep the skeletal structure healthy.

The Systems of the Human Body
  • Lymphatic
  • Skeletal
  • Nerve
  • Excretory
  • Circulatory
  • Muscular
  • Integumentary
  • Reproductive
  • Endocrine
  • Respiratory
  • Digestive
  • Urinary
  • Immune

If a department is doing well then often times the leader is praised. If a department is doing poorly then the leader may be dismissed. It is much easier and less labor intensive to simply recognize or remove the leader, but the organization as a whole should be evaluated to see how it has led to or participated in the decline.

bonesIf the blood supply is not delivering blood to the bones, or if the bones are not getting the needed nutrients from other systems,  can you really only blame the skeletal system for being broken? Perhaps the eyes did not function as they should have and led the body to step on a hole. Perhaps the circulatory system did not deliver needed nutrients and the bone became very brittle. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps, . . . to simply blame the bones because they are broken is short sided, a lazy diagnosis, and naive.

To blame a department in an organization for some shortcoming without taking into account the organization as a whole only sets up a system for the same issues to be repeated in the future. You simply don’t know if the true cause was the leader or were there contributing factors that are still present and will continue to cause problems for the replacement leader.

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[1] Click here to see article on “silos” and how they hinder performance in organizations.

The Importance of Master Planning (Part Two)

We will begin our master planning discussion with three simple questions:

  1. What do we want the children to know? (foundational knowledge)
  2. What do we want the children to do? (lifestyle choices, wisdom)
  3. Who do we want the children to be? (character and heart, who they are in their soul)

Then every decision and activity is shot through this screening matrix. If we begin with question 1, we will develop a scope and sequence of a given grade or group of students complete with learning objectives. They need to know what the Bible says, before they can ever begin to apply it to their lives.

The second question leads us to plan activities and lessons that will show them how to exhibit the lifestyle choices that will bring glory to God (i.e. a daily Bible study time, Scripture memory, service in the church, etc.) You could establish some organizational goals like the following for each child:

  • Have establish a series of habits in their lives that were not there before (daily quiet time, tithing, telling others of Christ, etc..)
  • Have gone on one mission trip/event every three years (for a total of two before they move to youth ministry)
  • Have a place of ministry in the church, which they do regularly.

The third question is much harder to evaluate and plan for, but as a children’s ministry we desire to guide children toward an ever increasing love for God. Their hearts should be changing (sanctification) as we guide them along life’s journey. Our ultimate goal is life change, where children love God more and more every day.

In your master planning (specifically children’s ministry) consider the following major areas:

Communication

  • Job descriptions
  • Newsletter
  • Who is working this Sunday? The next?
  • Parental idea of the week/how can parents continue to teach their children at home during the week.

Advanced Planning

  • Learning goals
  • Calendar
  • Special events (VBS, Backyard Adventure Camps, Operation Christmas Child, Outreach projects, Retreats, Camps, Miss Patty Cake, Go Fish Guys, School Supply Drive, etc.)

Recruiting

  • Who, When, Where: What the process? Is it in writing?
  • How are we actively recruiting new volunteers?

Security

  • Name badges
  • T-shirts (a different color for a given week)
  • Written policy that is pertinent to your location and ministry setting (i.e. what is the plan is a child wanders away?) https://drewboswell.com/happy-mothers-day-two-days-late

Check-In and Check-Out

Goals For the Calendar Year

  • Every year seek to make your ministry better than then the last. Set some goals for improvement, and then establish a plan to make them happen.

Training

  • Late Summer Orientation (setting the vision for the new school year) and equipping new volunteers.
  • Winter Training (use the slow time of the winter to reenergize the troops and to give them invaluable skills to be a better minister to children).

Facility Management

Follow Up

  • Guests
  • Irregular attendance
  • Birthdays
  • Recitals, special events

Volunteer Encouragement

  • Weekly thank yous
  • Annual Banquet

Identify the Mission, Vision, and Values for the ministry

Website/Brochure/logo development

  • Mascot?

How will the children develop relationships? (with their teachers, helpers, friends in the classroom)

Evaluation

  • How do we know how we are doing?
  • How do we know what children know?
  • How do we know what they are doing?
  • Are they exhibiting a Christian lifestyle?
  • How do we know that their hearts are being changed?
  • How is the ministry going as a whole? In individual departments?

14. Budgeting (What should you budget for?)

  1. Curriculum
  2. Camps
  3. Kidology.org membership (online web site memberships)
  4. Subscription to professional publications (Children’s Ministry Magazine, etc.)
  5. Mentoring/training/coaching
  6. Leadership recognition (Nov-Dec)
  7. Outreach events (Spring-Summer)
  8. Children’s Retreat (Fall)
  9. Teacher Training (Winter)
  10. Supplies
  11. Administrative (i.e. background checks)
  12. Printing
    1. i.     Manual (orientation)
    2. ii.     Name badges/lanyard
    3. iii.     Diaper bag tags
  13. Teacher/volunteer orientation (Late Summer)
  14. “Adventure” books – How are we going to encourage them to exhibit certain Christian lifestyle habits?
  15. Logo development/website
  16. Offering goals – to go toward a missions effort (Compassion Child)
  17. Children’s Worship/Sunday School – equipment/sound, set, costumes, etc…

 

Dealing With Irritating Personalities

I love the beach. I love the way the sand feels between my toes, the smell of the salty air, and the sound of the crashing waves on the surf. It is relaxing, reenergizing, and a place of solace and reflection.  Then kids came along and the beach as a place of vacation has become a place of annoyance.

We (meaning me) have to carry wagons, shelters, toys, towels, lotions, coolers, diapers (or the swimmy kind, I forget what they are called), and various other necessities that a family of six need in order to go to the beach (on vacation). Our dune destinations are always about two hundred yards from where we park the car.

Going into the breach between the dunes, and traversing the sand with all the equipment is a pain going in, but it is a dreaded nightmare coming out. There are many times where I have seriously thought about just leaving it, and buying all new “stuff” just so I won’t have to carry it out. But, my limited budget and the desire to dine at the local seafood “restaurant” always wins out.

Here’s a little secret you may not want to know. As I have swam in the sea, built castles out of sand, ran and played with my children, and watched the sun traverse the sky, there have been millions of tiny pieces of sand stuck to my body. What began as a necessity of vacation, by the end of the day has now become a source of great pain with each excruciating step (burdened under mounds of necessary stuff).

In an organization, say like a church, mistakes will be made and there will always be “technical difficulties.” But if we do not learn from our mistakes and continue to make them over and over, then like sand in the bathing suit, those little mistakes add up to one big excruciating pain.

One little misspoken word, or a job done haphazardly, a poorly worded e-mail, a forgotten task, and various other miscommunications begin to add up to disaster. One of these things alone will easily be overlooked (after all we are human), but continued and constant mistakes add up to poor management and lackluster leadership.

Irritant Personalities in Ministry

For our discussion let’s put a face to these “grains of sand” and look at various personalities:

1) The Hero – aka “adrenaline junkie”

Some people just get bored with the well-run machine. They enjoy waiting to the last minute, rushing in, and doing their task. And if there is an eventual snag (and there will always be a snag sooner or later), they enjoy the challenge of fixing it with seconds left on the clock. They feel that this is the time when they shine and are at their best. So either consciously or subconscious they create situations where they will be “challenged.”

These are great people when you are starting something new, and launching into new initiatives.  But left there too long, they will begin to sabotage the work because it has grown boring to them. But let’s face it, there are some jobs that need to be done every week, the exact same way, and if these tasks aren’t done, then it leads to extreme aggravation at the least, and disaster (people leaving the organization) at it’s worst. This person would do well to train others to do their task, so that they can focus on launching new initiatives and feel the rush of risk taking once more.

How does your church place individuals in ministry? And once a person is serving is there a non-obtrusive way to evaluate how they are doing and to let them know how they are doing? It may be that the adrenaline junkie is just in the wrong ministry position.

2) The I’m Too Busy – Poor Time Management

Everybody’s kids play some kind of ball, are involved in Scouts, dance, swimming, underwater basket weaving, or whatever is the suburban trend for today. People are involved in all kinds of civic organizations, volunteer fire departments, PTO, PTA, NRA, NBA, etc… Yet your church still needs leadership in order to function properly.

Is it so wrong to say to people, “I want you to make church and your position of leadership to take a higher priority than stuffing envelopes at your kids school, carpooling, or something else you need to say “no” to?” When you lead in an exemplary fashion you are making the church stronger, and therefore it can reach more for Christ.  When too many leaders, have too many commitments, and church slips down the priority list, then the church as a whole begins to show signs of irritation.

But inevitably mistakes continue to happen in your organization, and it becomes very apparent that people just are not putting in the time needed to do the position of leadership properly. Why? Because there is a world vying for their time, attention, sweat, concern, resources, and their heart.  If you look around, we live in a time where few people have “tons of time” on their hands.

So, you can’t ask the leader to step down, who would replace them? Instead, ask them to make their commitment to the church a higher priority.  You have to say “no” to some good things, to simply have the time for the greatest thing (i.e. the eternity of others[1], and laying up treasures for yourself[2]).

I will deal with calendaring in another entry, but encourage this person to get as organized as they possibly can, and plan as far ahead as they possibly can.  The problem may be that they need some help prioritizing, organizing time, and how to say “no.” Effective planning ahead requires a coordinated effort. So be prepared for when they ask you for your events on your calendar.

Poor time management (in relation to your organization) may also be a reflection on the value they see in their efforts toward the church. In other words, they may have a sense of obligation, but lack a sense of over-all vision.

If you can show them how important their ministry is to the over-all church they may be willing to give it more time. They may be highly organized and motivated for the soccer team because they are able to see immediate results. What results are you looking for that they can immediately see and that will have a high value for their lives?

3) Poor Leadership Performance

Honestly, the thing I dread the worst in ministry has to be talking with someone when they simply are not doing their job very well. I put it off, I try to give them time to turn things around, but in the end, I just know that if I don’t say something, things will only get worse.

This is one of the hardest skills of a leader – loving accountability. Low accountability is where a person is allowed to do whatever they wish, and perform their tasks at whatever level of professionalism they deem appropriate. The leader’s job is to maintain a high level of professionalism and even increase it as time passes.

If the over-all leader allows poor performance for a long enough period, then that area and the entire organization suffers. If you set the accountability too high then, the person will just quit which most of the time is undesirable.  You don’t want the person to quit, just to improve their performance because (among other things) it is causing serious irritation to the rest of the organization. Ministries should not operate independently but as an organic whole – where each needs the (healthy) other.

It is especially difficult for the leaders who do their ministry well and take pride in their work, only to have their work become discredited by another’s poor efforts. This eventually causes the high performing leaders to get frustrated and simply lower their standard of operating and transition the time that was spent on the church to something else; or worse case, quit.

So does your organization have an agreed upon standard of professionalism? What does it look like in the day-to-day operations? How are low performing individuals encouraged to raise their standard of performance? How are you training leaders to perform at ever increasing levels?

Taking a Shower at the Beach

Before we get into the car to head back home we stop by the showers and all rinse the sand off. The water is always freezing cold, but you don’t care because it gets the sand out from where it should not be. What a great feeling! The last fifty feet back to the car feel great; we’re cool, the sun in setting, we’re tired (the good kind of tired), and ready for a meal at that fancy seafood place. You have to wash the sand off, or it gets in the car and stays with you forever.

You have to deal with the irritants.


[1] Matthew 28:18ff.

[2] Matthew 6:19-21

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"Your greatest life messages and your most effective ministry will come out of your deepest hurts." Rick Warren

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