from 30K feet

Clearly Defined Problem

I have been listening to Andy Stanley's Leadership Podcast.  It gives great information in a short period of time. I try to listen to it while doing something like running and then go back through when I am somewhere I can actually take notes and pause the audio if any ideas pop into my head.

In one of these podcasts, Andy was talking about having a clearly defined problem that the team you lead is devoting themselves to solve. So I have been putting some thoughts to what our clearly defined problem is for the Fellowship Kids Staff.

It is beginning to take shape to sound like this:

There are two truths that influence what we do.

1. Someone's spiritual, moral, and emotional foundations are set by the age of 13.
2. What happens at home has the greatest impact on that foundation.

Based on these two facts, for next year and beyond, our focus needs to be about providing a clear process for spiritual growth of kids that parents can engage in. 

Clearly defined problem

It will require some very strategic ideas and teamwork beyond what we have done in the past.  It is worthy of our best efforts for if we fail to help parents be more successful, the world will continue to win the battle of influence on our children.

Defining the "Win"

As team we spent some time defining the win for us in Children's Ministry here at Southside. The process went something like this:

I posted several questions on the wall like:

 - What is the most important thing that happens on Sunday Morning?

 - If only one thing happened in Fellowship Kids, what would you want it to be? 

We then began writing ideas that answered those questions and others. We compiled our answers and put them in categories and looked for common themes. We came away with three things that define a win for us.

• Introduce kids to God
• Provide opportunities for life-impacting relationship
• Present the Bible in a practical way

We were very careful with our language.

Example: We want God's word to be central to the lives of kids but we cannot make that happen. But we can present the Bible in a practical way. This creates an environment for kids to make God's word a part of their lives.

We know relationships are important. We want kids to develop significant relationships with adults, peers and parents. But we cannot make this happen either but we can provide the opportunities for it.

Obviously we want kids to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus and develop in their relationship with Him. We want it to change their lives! But we are not in the life changing business. But we can introduce kids to Him and leave the results to God.  

Experiencing Setbacks

Whether in positions of leadership or not, we all make plans.  Sometimes they are plans that extend through the day or maybe weeks, months or even years. But what do you do when what you have planned gets messed up?

I have found that as a child of God, when I submit myself too Him, my plans often get changed. This comes from the truth that the plans of a sinful, limited human are often different than those of a perfect, all-knowing God. So how do you handle it? How do you respond? 

I have started 2009 with excitement about what the year would hold. The year was already filled with plans both personally and in ministry. However, on Friday night I experienced a setback to all my plans when I ruptured the achilles tendon in my left leg.

When we experience these kinds of bumps in the road we must look for what God is doing, even if it is not apparent at first. In the end, I want to be able to praise God and be thankful for what I might have missed if His plans didn't include my setback.

 

Day 1: after the surgery

Starting a new year

So how many blogs have you read where people talked about the new year ahead?  I didn't want to be left out so here you go.

This is my first New Year hear at Southside and it has really marked a transition time for our team. Mainly this came from the break the holidays created and the thinking it allowed me to do. Here are some of the things we are doing.

Meeting Structure: I changed the meeting structure for our entire team.  We used have Team Meetings every Tuesday.  This was beginning to be unproductive so I reduced our team meetings to 1 time a month and it will include both full and part-time staff.  I added a Directors' Meeting (key leaders) where we will begin planning for the next year which starts in August.

Assessment and Refined Focus: A part of planning for next year was evaluating what we have done well at and where we want to improve. From that we have also begun refining our focus for the next year. We will continue to plan for how we will reach the goals that are being set.

Personal Organization:In a previous post I talked about the "Handy Dandy Notebook" I have been using to organize my thoughts. This comes from a need to increase my own effectiveness.

Leadership and Organization

I read a lot of blog and one I really enjoy is Nick Blevins who is the Children's Minister of a church in Baltimore. He recently wrote about the practical aspect of organization in leadership in a post called Practical Leadership: Part 1 - Organization.

I recently went through some personal organizational "updates" and thought I would join Nick on this topic.

I am not a very organized person. The words "To Do List" make me sick to my stomach and I don't keep a very good calendar. Nick makes a great point that as leaders we must find a way to be organized (even if it is not your thing) so we can go further and faster as leaders. So if you are organizationally challenged, here are some things that have worked for me and might work for you.

1. If you are leading a team, confess your lack of organization skills and ask for ways they can help.  The team I lead understands my limitations and does a great job of stepping in where I am weak. It helps them have the right expectations and limits their frustrations.
2. If possible delegate what you are not good at.  I am lucky to have a ministry assistant who helps me keep my calendar and keep things from falling through the admin cracks.
3. Get someone who is organized to help set up a system that works for you. Recently another staff member sat down and listened to me talk about our plans for the future and from that created a customized notebook to help me be better organized. It helps me organize my thoughts more than my task lists or calendar but so far it has helped me think better.