Interim Executive Administrator

Posted on April 1, 2014 Written by

When a pastor leaves a mid-size or larger church, the pastor vacates three critical roles (and a myriad of smaller ones): the primary preacher, the chief of staff, and the staff person who coordinates the decision-making bodies of the church. Below is a description of the reality and non-traditional solution for churches whose pastors leave.

Reality

  • A mid-size to larger church will have 18-24 months without a senior pastor before the next one comes
  • The current staff needs to remain focused on their primary areas using their skill sets without the distraction of meetings outside their respective competencies
  • The church will experience a vacuum of someone who can coordinate and administer the church governance and personnel due to the absence of a senior pastor

Concept

  • The church hires an Executive Administrator (the title is flexible) whose focuses on
    • Working with decision-making teams
      • Church business meetings
      • Coordinating Council
      • Personnel and Finance Teams
      • Pastor Search Team
      • Other teams as necessary
  • Communicating, coordinating with, and leading campus staff members
  • Assisting, as needed, with Pulpit Supply Committee to find speakers
    • The traditional model is to find someone who will speak every Sunday during the interim
    • Alternative solution – to get speakers for three months at a time. That lets the church see a variety of styles and people. It also prevents the church from “falling in love” with their interim and asking him or her to be the permanent pastor.
    • The role of the Executive Administrator is to help the church resolve any lingering baggage from the previous pastor and help the church leadership set the stage for the next pastor. The goal is to set up the next pastor for success.
    • The church must have a point person who, “in the meantime” can make or at least suggest tough decisions. Otherwise, the current staff will be inundated with requests for which they are unprepared.
    • This person must have experience in working with large churches, multiple decision-making teams/committees, and finance and personnel management. Business experience is valuable but non-profits use the legislative process more than executive directives (source: Jim Collins).
    • This person will not be a Sunday pulpit person since those roles should be filled by interim preachers and existing staff. This person will work with decision-making groups. Together they will keep the church informed regularly and invite church members to provide their input and attend meetings as they wish.

Coordination

  • The last verse of Judges: “In those days there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
  • The church does not need a king, but it does someone to lead the staff and who can work with the church leadership so that the church and staff work together to achieve goals together instead of each person doing what they want to do.
  • The departure of a pastor puts the church at its own crossroads – there are multiple paths from which to proceed, even backwards. The church needs someone with knowledge of churches and their inner workings but who can also help the church leadership determine what is needed in their context to help the next pastor and the church grow for the next generation.

Lead On!

Steve

 

 

Filed Under: church staff, strategy, wisdom Tagged: , ,

Rational Conversations on Emotional Subjects

Posted on December 31, 2013 Written by

I’ve noticed an interesting thing about most human conversations. Sometimes one person approaches the subject in a thoughtful manner while the other person, may have rational point of view and an emotional link to the subject. Occasionally, both sides have emotional connections to the topic. Infrequently both sides talk about a subject in a completely rational manner.

When emotion enters into any conversation, it becomes difficult to talk in a balanced manner. Emotions usually trump reason; feelings are more powerful than thoughts and frequently control human actions.

As you have a conversation with a colleague, vendor, church member, volunteer, family member, or anyone, keep in mind your own emotions and how they are affecting your point of view and what you are saying. Likewise, recognize the feelings that the other person has and how those emotions affect the topic in ways that you don’t know or understand because they’ve had a different life-experience than you’ve had.

Emotions will always affect every decision that is made but emotions should not control the outcome of all decisions. Decision-making should be based on the best information available until more or different information is available. By definition, feelings will affect decisions – and that is a good thing. The key is to ensure that in the end, there is a well-thought out decision which is in the best interest of everyone involved.

Lead On!

Steve

Filed Under: leadership, strategy, wisdom Tagged: , ,

Olive Trees

Posted on December 10, 2013 Written by

Olive trees are rather amazing. I’ve never worked in an olive grove, but I did grow up in Spain, which has about 40 million olive trees. I couldn’t help but learn about olive trees as I drove across the country and saw olive trees from one horizon to the other.

There is a saying that when a farmer plants an olive seedling, he is planting it for his children. Olive trees mature slowly; an olive tree is 25 years old before it bears fruit. Not many farmers today can wait 25 years for a crop to come in.

But the olive tree is also amazing for its longevity. An olive tree will live about 1, 000 years, and some are even 2, 000 years old. So once an olive tree is 25 years old and begins to produce olives, it will continue to do so for the next 1,000 years if it is cared for properly.

Olives are harvested in a rather harsh fashion. Cloths are spread out under the tree and the branches are beaten with long poles. A hail of olives falls on the cloths. The cloths are gathered, and the olives are poured into buckets. These olives are used for food, pressed to make olive oil, or planted for another generation’s benefit. The olive tree doesn’t grow tall; it is smallish. Its trunk is not straight, so its wood is not good for construction. The olive tree is a humble tree that in maturity gives results for centuries to come.

It may be a stretch, but I’d like to compare church buildings to the olive tree. Typically they are not grandiose architectural masterpieces but are functional. They take many years to plan and build, but they will be with us for generations to come. Every generation or so, churches add a structure—knowing the primary beneficiaries will be their children and grandchildren. And, at some point in the unknown future, a decision will be made to tear down the building that the current generation labored so hard to construct.

Church buildings should be seen as investments:

  • First is the money that is raised to pay for the land and the building itself. It usually takes years to raise the money and pay off the principal and interest on the construction debt. If the generation doesn’t pay off the debt, then we saddle the next generation with debt plus the expense of maintaining the facility.
  • The second and greatest investment we make in our new building is people, especially our children. The building is a tool, not the goal; the measuring stick is how many lives the building affects for the Kingdom. We must ensure that the classrooms have the best teachers and leaders and they have all the training and resources they need to do the volunteer job they’ve been asked to do. The result will be people who leave the structures each day to go into the world knowing and sharing the love of God with each and every person they meet.

As we invest our money and our lives in church buildings, only God knows the fruit it will bear over the next several generations, because we planted a seed.

Lead On!

Steve

Filed Under: church administration, church finances, future, strategy Tagged: , , ,

Advice for Experienced Leaders

Posted on November 12, 2013 Written by
  • Value Training, Be a Mentor  New and young leaders need someone to teach them how to be a wise and good leader. Experienced leaders must share their knowledge, experience, and expertise with the next generation. And the best way to do this is one on one (same gender to same gender, too, lest there be any mixed signals). Be intentional about finding, mentoring, and developing future leaders. Your investment of time and skill will return benefits for decades, perhaps forever, as your mentee becomes a mentor later. And, when you’re almost finished with one young leader, find another one and keep it going.
  • Employee Evaluation  Employee evaluations should be done every time an employee meets with his or her supervisors, as every employee should know every day what their employment status is. The annual evaluation time is merely to fill out paperwork, not to go into in-depth evaluations. Employees who do not know what their status is may feel a Damocles Sword hanging over their heads and thus might not be as productive as they could be because they’re wondering when or if they’ll be terminated. Keep your staff informed, and let them know each month when you meet with them how they are doing.
  • Set the Stage for the Next Generation  Over the years your organization has taken on your personality traits; that is a truism in business. However, these ruts and routines created by you will probably not be helpful to your successor who, frankly, needs to create his or her own. As you end your career, you need to be intentional about who is on key committees, what processes are being done “because the boss wants it” (and not because it helps the company per se), what “minefields” need to be cleared out so your successor doesn’t wander into them, and what personnel need to be moved on so they are not a headache to the next leader. Set up your successor for success; clear the launch platform of unnecessary things so the next leader can shoot for the stars.
  • Make Stakeholders Uncomfortable  For the most part, stakeholders in organizations want things to continue in the same ways so that their personal investment is not threatened but is instead honored. Stakeholders may be current or former employees, board members, longtime customers or vendors, major and minor donors, etc. Organizations cannot live in the status quo, and going forward often involves risks. It is up to the leader (hence the term “leader”) to nudge or even shove the organization and its stakeholders forward. Experienced leaders know the key stakeholders and will work with them to move everyone forward so that the organization doesn’t die from valuing the status quo over progress.
  • Foment Wealth-Sharing  You have tremendous experience and knowledge. Do not hoard that; share it with your community by serving on non-profit boards, volunteering in community-based organizations, and helping your church. You are responsible for leaving your neighborhood, church, and city better off than you found it. You stood on other people’s shoulders in order to achieve your status as a leader – you need to pay it forward by helping your community and its leaders be even better than where they are now. AND, you must challenge, prod, and encourage other leaders to do the same. You are rich in life – share the wealth!
  • Teach Wise Risk-Taking  Risk-taking is part of business, but it is not intuitive because everyone wants their “risks” to be certain successes. Experienced leaders know that failure is part of risk, but failures can minimized by taking “wise risks.” That involves asking lots of questions, doing an incredible amount of due diligence, and training people well. Risks are a necessary part of leadership – not taking risks means the person in charge is managing, not leading. Risks should be done strategically so that the “win” is clearly defined. AND, when the risk turns to failure, wise leaders know when to stop the venture cut the losses. Experienced leaders must teach the next generation how to take wise risks.

Lead On!

Steve

Filed Under: church staff, future, leadership, wisdom, young adults Tagged: , , , , ,

Tools for Your Staff

Posted on November 5, 2013 Written by

One of my favorite sayings is that all staff members need proper tools to do the jobs you’ve asked them to do. And then I follow up by saying that if I don’t give you the tools to do a job, shame on me. But if I do give you the tools and you don’t do it, then we’re going to have a serious talk about your future.

What are the tools that a staff person needs? Actually there are lots of them, but let me try to hit the top few:

  • Time
    • A staff person must know how long they’ve got to do a job
    • They need your time to meet with them so they know what to do
  • Knowledge
    • Staff members need to come with basic skills to do a job
    • They need to come with an attitude of being willing to learn new skills
  • Money
    • Staff members need a budget to do their job
    • They need to know the organization as a whole has sufficient funds to keep going so that they are not distracted by whether or not the organization will fold
  • Job Description
    • All staff need to know what their job is in clearly defined terms
    • The job description is also the standard by which their performance will be measured
  • Praise and Criticism
    • All staff need to hear positive things about their work, because those kind words go a long way in helping people feel good about themselves and their role in the organization
    • All staff need to hear some constructive criticism so they realize they have room to improve and stretch; the criticism should never be demeaning but must be a way to push the employee beyond where he or she is now
  • Challenges
    • Humans get into ruts all the time, but that isn’t good or healthy because you can’t see very far when you’re in a rut – the routine becomes the norm
    • Goals which are just beyond our grasp are good ways of making employees push and reach just a little farther than they thought they could

Give your staff the tools they need and in turn, watch them flourish. Nurture that growth and you’ll be impressed and amazed at what they can do. They might even grow so much you’ll need to promote them, and that is an excellent thing!

Lead On!

Steve

 

Filed Under: church staff, leadership, strategy, wisdom Tagged: , , ,

David & Solomon: Setting Up Your Successor For Success

Posted on October 22, 2013 Written by

David ruled Israel from 1000-960 BC and his son, Solomon, ruled from 960-920 BC. David was Israel’s greatest king: he unified the country, defeated the Philistine threat, built major civic projects and palaces, and prepared the way (and supplies) for Solomon to build the first permanent temple in Judaism. That temple lasted about 350 years and was the focal point of Judaism. Its restoration became a rallying cry of Jewish nationalism.

1st Kings in the Bible describes the materials, construction, foremen, and laborers needed to build the temple using a LOT of detail. The person most responsible for prepping for the temple was King David, but he never saw it. His job was to gather all the things needed to build the temple so that his son, Solomon, could do the actual building. David’s job was to create a platform so that his successor could be a success.

Pastors who are within five years of retirement have one primary job – to take care of things in the church (some of which have been lingering for years) so that his or her successor is set up for success. This involves making some hard decisions about personnel and/or volunteers, reallocation of budget figures, changing some of the expectations of the church about its leaders, and in general ensuring that all the minefields within the church have been cleared. A longtime and soon retiring pastor should have enough clout to do all these things and still retire gracefully. His financial future will not be dependent on the church when he retires, and that knowledge should free him up to make long-delayed decisions which can help the next generation.

David ruled and finished well as king. He made mistakes and he was vain, but for the most part his motives were pure. Yes, David was used by some of the people around him, including the conspiracy regarding his successor. But David knew that all that he did over the course of his 40-year reign could fall apart if he didn’t gather the materials and wise counsel his son and successor would need. In turn, Solomon was able to stand taller on his dad’s shoulders than he could have on his own. Solomon completed some of his dad’s unfinished stuff (the temple) but did a lot on his own (foreign relations). Solomon’s time was good for the country and good for him (albeit he made some unwise choices in his wives and advisors). Solomon’s success is directly related to David’s setting him for success.

Are you a David who will retire in a few years? If so, what are you doing to intentionally set up the next generation for success? Are you finishing well or just barely crossing the finish line? Be like David and help your successor be a success.

Lead On!

Steve

Filed Under: church staff, future, leadership, strategy, wisdom, young adults Tagged: , , , , ,

Missional – Institutional

Posted on September 17, 2013 Written by

All churches start with the passion of a person or group of people. They are excited about the opportunities and sometimes approach the impossible with a can-do attitude. They face lots of problems and often overcome them. This is the “Missional Church” – the church that starts with a mission to reach people with the Good News of Jesus Christ and will not be deterred from that task. There are discouraging times along the way, and there are setbacks every now and again. But the leaders and the members who stick it out know they are doing what God wants them to do.

And then, almost without exception, every Missional Church hits a roadblock. They buy a building, and that structure frequently stops the Missional Church in its tracks.

Too often the Missional Church becomes the Institutional Church. There is now something to protect, a debt to pay off, a place to focus resources, a building that consumes more and more financial and personnel resources. Left unchecked, the Institutional Church takes away almost all of the passion of the Missional Church.

I’m not saying church buildings are bad—far from it—but there must be some moderation. I am saying that the church must not lose its initial passion for people, but it should never let that energy be redirected toward bricks and mortar.

I celebrate the Missional Church and encourage it. I just want that church to never lose its desire to keep the main thing the main thing. And in church, the main thing is always, always, always PEOPLE. So, buy a building, make it a nice one so that people will come, and then find ways for those who come inside to then go outside to minister to others. Never believe that a building, an institution, is the endgame. It is a tool, not an institution.

Lead On!

Steve

 

Filed Under: church staff, leadership, strategy, wisdom Tagged: , ,

Judges 21:25

Posted on September 10, 2013 Written by

In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes. (NRSV) The book of Judges picks up from where Joshua left off: in Joshua we read about the invasion of the Promised Land, pitched battles for Jericho, Ai and other cites, dividing the land among the tribes and settling in. Judges 2:16-19 is the book in a nutshell: God provides a leader (Deborah, Gideon, Samson, and many others) who guides the people to follow God’s ways; when the leader dies, the people cease to follow God’s ways; God provides a new leader and the cycle repeats. Time and again the Bible says that when the people had no leader, everyone did “what was right” in their own eyes. But 21.25, the last verse of the last chapter, is different. Let’s go through that verse:

  • In those days
    • The author refers to a prior time, not the present time, as if to say “back when we were not as advanced as we are today.”
  • There was no king in Israel
    • Israel didn’t have a leader. It had been proven time and again that Israel needed a governor to rule and guide them, and now they had no one.
  • All the people
      • Everyone, no exceptions.
  • Did what was right
    • They were doing the right things, and that was a huge improvement over what they had been doing before.
  • In their own eyes
    • But everyone was doing what they wanted to do.

Everyone in Israel was finally doing the right thing which God had been training them to do for a couple of centuries. However, there was no leader or king to guide everyone so that they were working together for a common goal. Instead, everyone was working for their own purposes and not for the best interests of the country. For the lack of a leader, the nation went in a million different directions, all of them good. A good leader can help his or her staff and followers pull together so that they are unified in rowing the ship toward the same horizon. If everyone is rowing in different directions at different times, then the ship is going in circles. The ship is moving; it’s just not going anywhere. A ship is meant to sail on the high seas with the work being done by the sailors who are led by the captain. Organizations, including churches, are meant to be intrepid and taking risks under a leader who uses his or her people wisely. I implore leaders to be leaders, to guide wisely, and to unify followers in a common goal.

Lead On!

Steve

Filed Under: leadership, strategy Tagged: ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »