Encouraging Words from Cary Schmidt » team

An Effective Staff Member Grows

caryschmidt — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 20:00:55 +0000

This is part two of a series on an effective staff member. You can read the first article here. The big question we’re answering is simply this: What qualities make an effective staff member? What characteristics produce winning teams? If God has placed you “in the middle” of the organization chart somewhere—welcome! Many of us are called of God to serve on a team.

In the first post we discussed commitment—an effective staff member fully commits to the Lord and to the team. Let’s move on to a second quality (and these are in no particular order):

An effective staff member grows!

One of the saddest places to be in your Christian life is the place where your spirit ceases to be teachable—the place where you have stopped longing for growth. Weariness, depletion, arrogance, experience, disillusionment, and even suffering—these things can cause us to stop thinking, to stop moving forward and growing in God’s grace.

The moment you stop growing—the moment you begin to believe you know it all and understand it all, is the moment you begin to become increasingly less effective. The longer I serve the Lord, the more keenly aware I become of how little I really know, and how much more there is to learn. I knew a lot more when I was younger!

In our quest to be effective staff team members, I believe a quest for growth and a healthy dissatisfaction with “status quo” is key. Here are a few areas an effective staff member is always seeking to grow:

Grow in Spiritual Life—nothing is more valuable than your understanding of biblical truth and your ability to transfer it and apply it to the lives of others. When you hit a “growth plateau” this is where to go first—renew your passion to grow in God’s grace and spend more time in His Word. But be ready—some times the tools God uses to create growth are painful. Some times they involve trials. Spiritual growth is often painful and uncomfortable. Do you want spiritual growth enough to endure the pain that might be involved?

Grow in Skill and Competence—this is about growing in your understanding of your role and the skills involved in fulfilling your job description. David Gibbs once said to our staff, “Nobody’s competence is static. You are always either becoming less competent or more competent.” What have you done recently to increase your practical skills for ministry? I have found that every hour I give to growing in competence—learning new software, developing a new administrative system, reading a book, attending training—every hour gives me back multiplied hours in the months to follow!

Grow in Gracious Leadership and People Skills—good staff members love people and love to help other people to grow and succeed. Therefore, an effective staff member will seek to grow in leadership—learning to compassionately nurture people. The ministry is no place for abrasive personality, harsh spirit, or caustic leadership. Leaders after God’s heart seek to be shepherds—to lovingly nurture people and to constantly express abundant grace toward them as God’s heritage.

I appreciate serving with a pastor and ministry team that has allowed me the opportunity to grow. As much and as often as I have failed, I’m thankful that every failure produced growth, and continues to do so.

Are you growing? Are you walking with God consistently? Are you reading, studying, and expanding your knowledge-base and skills? Are you seeking to become a more Christ-like individual in working with people?

Here’s the test: What intentional steps have you taken in the last thirty days to grow personally?

An effective staff member keeps growing. Stay tuned for part three.

Two New Books from Striving Together!

caryschmidt — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 00:58:55 +0000

What a great privilege and delight it is to be a part of Striving Together Publications! I thank the Lord for a great team of co-laborers who work with excellence to produce biblical resources for local church ministry and for personal spiritual growth! We are happy to introduce to you two new books that we pray will have a great impact in your heart.

First, The Ministry of a Baptist Deacon from Dr. Paul Chappell. This book is a two-hundred page manual for the office of a deacon in a Bible-believing church. It is filled with biblical, practical, and powerful instruction and resources. The first half of the book shares the biblical philosophy of deacon ministry. The last half of the book shares appendices filled with administrative information—from financial committees, to offering count procedures, to church constitution, to serving the Lord’s table. This book is comprehensive and covers everything we could possibly imagine about being an effective deacon in a healthy local church. It’s a must-have for every pastor and deacon, and it would make a great resource for training new deacons.

Second, God’s Passion, A Manual on Church Planting for World Evangelism by Dr. Bud Calvert. This book is a personal and powerful presentation of biblical advice on how to plant local churches, and it flows from the heart of a man with a great fire for local church planting. Dr. Calvert has successfully started many churches from his own church, and God has used him greatly. Chapter by chapter, this book provides practical insight and instruction for a local church planter, and for a planting church as well. It’s a must-read for every pastor who would love to lead his church to plant others. And it’s a must-read for every church planter who desires to honor the Lord in the way you carry out His commission!

Both of these books are available right now! Visit strivingtogether.com today and order your copy!

Communication on a Winning Team

caryschmidt — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 16:28:28 +0000

Communication is about sharing information with those who need it. But often communication is what is lacking the most on ministry teams. When we don’t communicate, we aren’t working together, and that causes things to break down. Here are seven quick principles that the Lord has challenged me to work at. I pray they will encourage you to be a better communicator on your team:

Don’t Make Your Leader Pull Information—Push it His Direction—Leaders must make informed decisions, and leaders always need more information—they thrive on it. Followers don’t always understand a leader’s need for information. Good communication always gathers information and pushes it to the people who need it. For more on this, see this article: “Why Leaders Needs More Communication.”

Be More Focused on Talking to Someone than about Someone—On struggling teams, people sit around and bite on each other. They are frustrated with others, and they need to air their grievances with sympathetic listeners. But this is destructive! On winning teams, people talk to each other and resolve their grievances. It’s simple, but HUGE!

Be More Focused on Providing Solutions than Pointing Out Problems—Some people are professional “problem-pointer-outers.” They see all the problems, but they never offer a solution, they never take action to be a part of the process of improvement. It’s not that winning teams are blind to the problems, they just view them differently. Rather than see only problems and gripe about them, they see the problems and immediately start working on solutions. This is an easy rut to fall into. Try to make it your goal to never bring up a problem unless you can offer several helpful solutions.

Be More Focused on Taking Responsibility than Fixing Blame—What is our human fixation with having to assign blame? Have you noticed how much attention on the recent oil spill has been spent on fixing blame, and blame-shifting? Winning teams don’t really care who’s to blame because whoever it is, they’ve already owned it! Winning team members take responsibility—they step up, raise their hands, and say, “This one is all my fault… I’m sorry!” This instantly allows the whole team to focus on a solution and recovery. Assigning blame is a diversion. As long as we are trying to find out who’s fault this is, we’re probably not getting a solution into place. Taking responsibility is a rare character quality in today’s culture.

Be More Focused On Giving Credit than Getting Credit—Winning teams don’t really care who gets the credit. Credit is pretty lame any way. We all know that ultimately God gets the credit for any good thing. And if He allowed you to be part of a good outcome, there were probably others who helped make it happen. Winning teams share credit and constantly thank others for their contribution to the good.

Be More Focused on Glorifying God than Getting Your Way—Losing teams are very territorial and fractured by personal agenda. When we are territorial we get tunnel visioned—about budgets, about schedules, about facilities—we want to fight for our piece of the pie. This isn’t how winning teams function. Winning teams see the larger perspective and work together for the good of the whole. This means territories and personal agendas have to give way to the larger perspective of giving God glory.

Be More Focused on Helping Others Succeed, and Rejoice When They Do—On losing teams, members step on each other to elevate themselves. Winning teams are focused on helping each other succeed. Winning teams have lots of really great players that are willing to be located in the middle of the flow-chart somewhere. For a winning team, the leader’s success is a win for the whole team.

Are you on a winning team? Ask God today to help you become a more effective team member by communicating in a way that helps the whole team move forward!

Skeptics, Spectators, and Servants

caryschmidt — Thu, 20 May 2010 04:36:59 +0000

In John 11, the amazing story of the raising of Lazarus unfolds. Not long ago, I was studying this passage and it occurred to me that there were three distinct groups of people at this resurrection, and those groups are still pretty much “alive and kicking” in today’s local churches.

Picture the scene—Jesus has waited for Mary outside of town, and “the Jews” have followed her, weeping (John 11:32-33), as she goes to meet Him. Then together they go to Lazarus’ grave, and the Jews follow. In the next few moments an unbelievable miracle occurs—Jesus raises a man from the dead! And in the midst of this amazing event, we see three groups:

First, meet the skeptics (11:46)—amazingly, these were people who, though a man was just raised from the dead, all they could do was run to the pharisees to stir up trouble! When I read that verse, I want to scream at them, “Are you kidding me?! What are you insane?! A man was just resurrected! Are we living on the same planet here?” Plainly, these people were nuts—absolutely disconnected and dysfunctional in every way.

Skeptics. They are everywhere, and no matter what happens, they just can’t accept truth. In modern ministry, these are the people standing in the shadows, arms folded, sporting an obviously cynical attitude—no matter whose life is changing! They are self-appointed, self-righteous cynics who set out in any endeavor to doubt and question the actions and motives of others. They are professional murmurers whose built-in paradigm paints everything in a negative light, regardless of how pure or true it may be. Skeptics never participate in God’s work. They just tag along with those who do, so they can criticize them later.

Second, meet the spectators (11:33, 11:45)—at the same scene were Jews, friends of Mary and Martha, who were not yet followers of Jesus. But they were curious about Him. They followed Mary to meet Him. They watched as He spoke with Mary. They even commented and speculated as to what Jesus was saying and how He was feeling. And a few moments later, they saw the miracle and finally believed!

In modern ministry, these are the people standing on the sidelines without an attitude or negative paradigm. They are intrigued—curious. They are interested in what’s happening. They are still evaluating. They like the excitement of a growing church, a dynamic environment, or an energetic group of joyful people. But they are not participating—yet! (Emphasis on yet.) For now they are just watching. Spectators don’t have any ill-will. They aren’t an enemy. Sometimes they are just a bit fearful or hesitant to take a risk, make the sacrifice, commit to a decision, or really “get involved.”

Spectators are inviting you to convince them—to win them. They are looking for a compelling reason to believe. They are waiting to see if you are for real. And notice that Jesus didn’t chase them off. Quite the opposite. The whole miracle was for these people, that they might believe (11:42). Don’t be a spectator hater. Just patiently help them see and believe. And be patient. Sometimes it takes time.

Finally, meet the servants (11:41)—somebody moved the stone. The Bible says, “they.” I don’t know who “they” were, but I sure like them! They weren’t skeptical, and they weren’t spectating. They were obedient. They stepped up, heard Jesus’ seemingly nonsensical command to “take away the stone,” and they just did what He said! Amazing! What faith. What hearts. What simple, servant-hearted people.

In modern ministry, these are the people fully engaged in the work of God. They are immersed in the ministry, the effort, or the energy in motion—simply because they love the Lord and want to obey Him. They are gladly giving of themselves and willingly expending themselves in faith. They are engaged in serving so that others around them might believe. They are up earlier, awake longer, working harder, and loving every minute of it! They relish not just seeing God work, but actually participating in God’s work! They don’t want to criticize a great work. They refuse to just watch a great work—they have to be in the work! They are addicted to the ministry. (1 Corinthians 16:15)

Simple question—who are you? Are you a skeptic? A spectator? Or a servant? When you are found in the midst of a ministry miracle, which group do you join? Are you standing in the shadows, arms folded, sporting a scowl and eager to run to your lair to pick it apart? Are you watching on the sidelines with curiosity and intrigue, not quite sure you believe? Or are you rolling up your sleeves to join the guys who are moving the stone?

As for me—I don’t want to live my life in the critic’s lair or on the spectator’s sideline. I want God to thrust me into the action of authentic ministry! Let me be one of the guys that moves the stone so that others might see God’s miracles and believe!

Why Ministry127.com?

caryschmidt — Fri, 14 May 2010 23:17:34 +0000

Two months ago, we launched a new website—Ministry127.com. It has had a wonderful start. Friends and co-laborers from all over the world have written and expressed appreciation for the site and the resources it contains. Contributors have continually sent in submissions that are practical and helpful. The site has been overwhelmingly received and used in just these first two months. And this is just the beginning!

To me, it’s one of the most exciting projects I’ve ever had a part in, and I wanted to share with you the “why.” Why would Pastor Paul Chappell invest the time, the staff, and the resources to create such a website—and then make it FREE? What’s the motive in building a site that isn’t “about our ministry” and isn’t generating income? What’s the point behind Ministry127.com?

The simple answer is that it’s a true reflection of Pastor Chappell’s heart and philosophy of ministry. As long as I’ve known him, he’s a man who avoid politics and stays focused on local church ministry, and equipping others for ministry—soulwinning, discipleship, and service. He’s a man who desires to bring people together around solid biblical values. He’s a man who loves to encourage pastors and church leaders. But beyond that, there are some core values that drove the decision to create Ministry127.com. Here are just a few:

We believe in local church—this site is designed to help facilitate and encourage ministry in local, New Testament churches. Each article and resource is chosen to breathe life and ideas into local churches. And the heart is especially to help and encourage smaller local churches who may have limited staff and resources. We believe in God’s work in your local church.

We believe in the value of encouragement and edification—there’s plenty of carnality and bad attitudes among Christian leaders today, and for those genuinely desiring to serve God, that carnality can be discouraging. And for some reason, the internet became the default parking place for much of that carnality. We felt it appropriate and biblical to launch an entire site committed to the purpose of encouragement and edification.

We believe in the principle of synergy—independent Baptist churches have a lot of success stories happening all over the country. Many of our leaders are being greatly used of God, but often out of the “limelight”—their stories are not heard the way they should be! Our prayer is that Ministry127 will bring great content from many dynamic voices that others may benefit from what God is doing in many places.

We believe in the value of ministry resources—we’ve experienced first hand how difficult it is to find trustworthy resources and fresh ideas for ministry. What better way to share ideas and glean from ministry successes than a website like Ministry127? Whether it’s a sermon idea, a graphic, a video, or a challenging article—we believe there is great value in the things we’re adding to this site.

Bottom line—Pastor Chappell really has a heart to help equip and encourage spiritual leaders in the ministry. Pure and simple, Ministry127.com is an online outpouring of that heart. As God has blessed our local churches, we desire to bring those blessings to a table where others can use them as well. To that end, we sincerely pray that Ministry127 will be a destination for your team for years to come—a place where you can find encouraging friendships, trustworthy ideas, and powerful resources for your local church.

Before You Criticize Your Pastor…

caryschmidt — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:02:31 +0000

Ever noticed that some people relish the criticism of pastors? Like kids and candy—they addict themselves even though it’s rotting something in them. While choosing voluntarily to stay under his leadership, they commit themselves to finding and exploiting every possible imperfection. I’ve never understood this thinking. Selecting a pastor, only to proceed to condemn the selection doesn’t make sense. It’s a strange, sad little game that brings some bizarre satisfaction.

The next time you are tempted to join this crowd and participate in “roasted pastor” after Sunday services, take a moment to remember this list…

Remember the sacrifice he makes to be in the ministry—good pastors would be good at a lot of other things, and most of them could make a lot more money in secular employment. He stays in the ministry because he loves you!

Remember the biblical nurture he provides for your life and family—his study and prayer time have proven effective in feeding and nurturing your spiritual life. He labors in the Word so that your Christian life can be stronger.

Remember the qualities that caused you to appreciate his leadership—at some point you voluntarily placed yourself under his leadership and influence. Take a moment and remember the good qualities that originally led you to this decision!

Remember the victories he has led you towards in life—because of his leadership you’ve probably had a part in some personal and ministry victories—some joyful, abundant moments. Delight in those memories!

Remember the spiritual decisions you have made because of his influence—because of his preaching, you’ve probably avoided some traps, been spared some bad decisions, and seen some real spiritual growth. Take a moment to reflect on those decisions.

Remember that plenty of others are criticizing him—anybody can be a critic, because everybody is imperfect! Look long enough and you’ll find fault with everybody. Too many people join “the dark side.” There’s nothing virtuous or valiant about finding fault and pointing it out—any unspiritual nitwit can do it. It takes a lot more spiritual maturity and depth to be steadfastly committed to a perfect cause with an imperfect church family!

Remember he’s probably bearing burdens he cannot tell you about—outside of my petty little world, my pastor is probably dealing with big things—a man whose life is falling a part, a family on the brink of destruction, a dying loved one, a personal spiritual attack, a church member facing a trial, a child who’s been sexually abused, a wife whose husband just left. He can’t tell you about it all, but it’s still there and it’s all very, very real.

Remember he probably has information you don’t have—critics never have the full story, and usually they grossly distort the few details they do have. It’s their modus operandi! They don’t want the full story—because it removes their ability to imagine and distort it in their favor with their troll-ish followers. I used to believe everybody wanted the truth. Boy was that naive! The few times I’ve tried to approach a dedicated critic with the truth, they either ignore it, don’t believe it, or refuse to hear it. When you don’t understand a decision, just remember, the pastor probably sees a part of this picture that you can’t see.

Remember he would be by your bedside praying if you were sick—yes, even the critics are loved by the pastor. He would drop what he’s doing, leave the dinner table from his family, or change a day off just to be there to visit and pray with you.

Remember he would be standing by you if you faced a hard trial—he would pray, support, and strengthen you during a difficult time, even if he couldn’t know the details.

Remember he would be waiting with you if a family member was hanging between life and death—he would be sitting there, probably weeping with you, and praying for God to intervene with a miracle.

Remember he would be sitting beside you in a lonely courtroom—innocent or guilty, your pastor would be there to pray for the best and encourage you through the worst.

Remember he would give you counsel during a difficult decision—he would help you see through the fog of your own surroundings, sort through the options, and apply biblical principles for a wise decision.

Remember he would still love and support you if you completely failed—if you came to him with the worst news, right now, he would still love you and help you do the right thing in response. He would graciously sit down with you, your family, and those involved and help rebuild what is broken, restore what is damaged, and recover what is lost.

Remember the Lord said to acknowledge and remember him—This is really all God’s idea. Hebrews 13:7 says, “Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.”

Remember he is God’s shepherding gift to your life—God says it this way in Ephesians 4:11, “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;”

Remember your critical spirit makes you and your family vulnerable—resisting God’s structure of authority is wrong for you just as it’s wrong for your children. Criticism of your spiritual authority opens the door for spiritual attack and it messes up your kids.

Remember no pastor on Earth is perfect—this is a no brainer. Your next church will have just as imperfect a pastor as your present church. Imperfect pastors are as epidemic as imperfect church members!

Remember he doesn’t have to be a pastor—he could walk away tomorrow. Many do. Many finally reach an end—tired, weary, and wounded. Many finally have enough. They realize they don’t have to put up with the public criticism. They can return to private life and live according to their own concerns. Don’t push your pastor that direction—plenty of others already are. Pull him the other direction with your encouragement!

Remember your criticism is more a reflection of your spirit than his faults—wrong-spirited criticism is a product of a impure heart, not an imperfect pastor. If your heart was pure, your criticism would not be criticism. It would be concern and it would be shared one on one with the person of concern. Critics don’t seek to resolve concerns and restore relationships—they seek to fester, stir up, and exaggerate issues. They relish turmoil—even if they have to fabricate it.

Remember your criticism ultimately hurts you—the spirit that drives criticism is like a festering cancerous sore of the soul. It robs joy, clouds vision, skews perspective, and destroys your ability to live joyfully and abundantly. Beyond the internal damage, criticism always damages your testimony. Wise people start avoiding you.

For the record—I don’t believe in hero worship. I don’t believe in dictatorial leadership. I would have no part of spiritual abuse or the manipulation of God’s people. These things are a blight on God’s original intent of spiritual leadership. They are unbiblical, man-centered, and just wrong. Having a biblical love and respect for a godly, servant-hearted, growing pastor is just right—from God’s Word. It is not man-worship. It isn’t blind. It isn’t mindless. It doesn’t violate the priesthood of every believer, the authority of every father, or the individual soul liberty of every person. It’s just wise.

The next time you want to criticize the sincere, godly man you call “Pastor,” remember this list. Stop and think about it. Someone wisely said, “Nobody ever erected a monument to a critic.” Take the high road of spiritual maturity and keep a right spirit. Over the long term, you’ll be glad you didn’t throw away your joy to such mindless, base behavior.

Benjamin Franklin said, “Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain—and most do.”

Teddy Roosevelt said, “It’s not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doers of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who was actually in the arena, whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood, who knows at best the triumph of high achievement and who if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat”

Hey, I have an idea—why not pick on someone who picks on you—like your dentist!

8 Reasons to Follow a Great Leader

Cary Schmidt — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:23:26 +0000

Everybody, in some respect is a leader, and everybody is a follower. Few are called to be the key leader. Many more are called to follow and support a key leader. For instance, a family may have many members but should have one father. A team can have many players (and leaders) but only one head-coach. A church can have multiple leaders, but one senior pastor that clarifies the vision and sets the direction.

How about you? Do you have to be the “lead-leader?” Or has God called you, like most, to follow (and lead) from somewhere in the middle of the pack? If He has, then here are some great reasons to love what God has called you to do:

1. To Be Like Jesus—repeatedly Jesus reminded us that He was sent here by the Father and was on mission from Him, under His authority. (John 4:34, “Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.)

2. To Function How God Designed You—God designs some to be visionary and others to implement vision. I’m the latter. That’s not to say that I (or you) are not capable of vision, but simply that I would much rather administrate, strategize, and execute the vision than originate it. For example: Make me think of what should be done—and I’ll flounder in an ocean of endless possibilities, never getting anything done. Tell me what God has put on your heart to accomplish and immediately my mind and heart engage in processing a plan to make it happen.

3. To be a Part of a Great Team—One of Pastor Paul Chappell’s favorite statements is, “Teamwork makes the dream work.” Though we have a large team of leaders at LBC and WCBC, we are all very different and all fulfill very different roles. It’s true—together our strengths complement each other. We accomplish much more as a team than we would individually.

4. To be Stretched to Your Potential—Everybody wants to reach their potential, but few want to actually go there. We fail to consider that “reaching potential” is one hair’s breadth away from “total insanity!” For instance—if you stretch a rubber band to it’s full potential, you are one hair away from “SNAP!”—a broken rubberband. Are you sure you want to reach your potential? If so, be prepared to be stretched way out of your comfort zone.

5. To Develop a Vision Bigger than Self—this ties into point #2. Dynamic, visionary leaders attract people who want to partner together for something great. Everybody likes to be on a winning team!

6. To Hear and Pursue the Truth—you can’t hide from a winning team. You can’t really float or coast with a winning team. If you’re not working hard, pulling your weight, and adding value to the team—everybody knows it. The team creates a natural accountability and motivation that keeps you fully engaged, or convicted when you’re not!

7. To See Your Own Weaknesses–A good leader will help you see your weaknesses, help you play to your strengths, and place you on a team that compensates for your weaknesses. Many people are not willing to face their weaknesses, but a great leader will always help you accept and grow through them.

8. To Enjoy a Great Adventure—no doubt, working for a great leader puts you in places, positions, and circumstances that you would have never placed yourself! (Looking at that statement in light of my last 20 years of ministry, it’s seems like to understatement of the century!)

I’m privileged to work for Pastor Paul Chappell—a great leader. Whether you are a church member, a staff member, or a student, if God gives you the joy to partner with a winning team, you are most blessed! Embrace that second position and prepare for a great adventure!

What blessings have you enjoyed by following a great leader? Add your thoughts below.

Why Leaders Need More Communication

Cary Schmidt — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:47:34 +0000

WARNING: Failure to communicate frequently and effectively will bring distrust, tension, and grief in any valuable relationship.

A large percentage of our problems in work, family, and ministry could be attributed to communication failures—either miscommunication or a lack of communication. Everybody has people in their lives with whom they should work at communicating more effectively and more frequently. If only the people in our lives could automatically “just know” all the things they need to hear from us! How much easier would life be—right?

If you’re somewhere in the middle of the organizational flow chart, then you have the responsibility to regularly communicate “up the chain”—to someone responsible for your workflow or your projects. A failure to communicate will bring grief into your world and will cause trust, dependability, and connectedness to suffer. This responsibility to communicate falls to you (and me).

Simply put—does your leader have to PULL information out of you? Or does your leader get information PUSHED from you?

Do you have to be tracked down and asked? Or do you voluntarily generate information to someone in leadership?

Busy leaders need reliable co-laborers to generate communication—needed information—with which they can make well-informed decisions. When we fail to generate this communication (as I have many times), we inadvertently decide to withhold information that might prove valuable in the decision-making process of the leader. This isn’t good. This isn’t team. Frankly, it’s just stupid. (Yes, I’m pointing at myself.)

The question is—how much communication does your leader desire? I’ve made the grave mistake of trying to “not bother” the leader, only to find out that more communication was needed or wanted. Good leaders usually desire a lot of information from those they lead. It’s not about trust. It’s not even about accountability. It’s about leading effectively. The more informed they are, the better they can lead.

Part of the reason you are on your leader’s team is to help keep the leader well-informed in the areas where you serve. Just remember, it’s not about being “lorded over” or merely “giving account” for your work hours. It’s about building trust, reliability, and dependability. It’s about helping the leader lead well.

So—practically speaking—find out how much communication your leader desires, and then make sure that leader gets it. Make brief, informative, and thorough communication a regular part of your daily workflow.

Unfortunately, this is one lesson I’ve learned the hard way. How often over the years I have wished I had communicated more thoroughly. How often my simple lack of communication has caused grief to myself and others!

Communication is a really good thing. Hopefully this post will challenge you to push more needed information in the right direction—and for the record, this principle also works really well in marriage too!

What are some ways you have found effective in communicating?

The Right Spirit Toward Spiritual Leaders

Cary Schmidt — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:40:58 +0000

There are two very different attitudes towards spiritual leaders. Some Christians seemingly never see anything good, and in fact have given themselves over to criticism and fault-finding. While other Christians opt to be prayerfully and joyfully supportive and encouraging toward leaders. Which position have you taken in life? Just a couple of quick thoughts to challenge your thinking:

1. Spiritual Leaders Need Encouragement and Support—they are just as human as you and I, and they have opted to carry a larger burden in life—the burden of public scrutiny and influence. Influence brings with it both blessings and burdens, but the burdens are greater. A leader’s easiest path would be to leave the podium and re-enter private life away from the scrutiny of others. If you have a leader who has embraced the burden of influence, make that burden lighter by being an encourager.

2. My Spiritual Leaders Have Always Looked Past More Faults in Me Than I Have in Them—critics always miss their own faults because they are so consumed with the faults of others. Encouragers are not blind to the faults of leaders, they just recognize that the ground is level at the cross. I’m grateful that God has filled my years with spiritual leaders and influencers who have been patient with me. They have always put up with more faults in me than I have in them—that’s for sure. Before you get too critical of a leader, take a close look at what your leader has to put up with in you.

3. Anybody Can Find Fault, but Wisdom and Maturity Chooses Encouragement—critics amuse me because they really think that they are the only people who really “get it.” Everybody else is an idiot. They forget that anyone with an IQ of 10 can find a problem or a fault. Faults are everywhere in all of us—welcome to the fallen human race. The only reason anything happens for Christ is that people choose to love each other and labor together in spite of their faults.

4. Whatever You Do, Don’t Join the Dark Side—unmet expectations, unrealistic expectations, or a lack of focus on Christ can lead to deep bitterness. That root of resentment will defile your whole life, rob your joy, and defile others as you share it, gossip about, post about, etc. What a tragic way to live even five minutes of life! Time is too precious to give to such destructive living.

Recently I was reading a biography of a great influencer. The author shared this quote about this spiritual leader who had greatly influenced her. It makes a nice period to the point of this post:

“Keep your eyes only on Jesus. Never, ever, ever eulogize spiritual leaders and put all of your confidence and trust in them. It is so easy to criticize and find flaws in leaders, especially those who are doing the most for God’s kingdom. It is so easy to be critical and judgmental. There can be hurt feelings, disillusionment, and bitter roots that begin to grow. Satan is at the constant ready to infiltrate, weaken, undermine, ridicule, hurt us, and destroy the effectiveness of God’s servants.

I think of the words of the chorus: ‘Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.’ If you are carrying around a grudge or hurt feeling against one of God’s servants, get rid of it. Confess, repent, and change your focus.”

Today—why not live your life with a right spirit—a spirit of support and encouragement toward someone in spiritual leadership!

“Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:”
(2 Thessalonians 3:1)

Honored to Work with a Winning Team

Cary Schmidt — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 04:53:25 +0000

What an awesome privilege it is to work on a team with incredible, talented, godly, committed people! The people I get to work with truly are great, in every sense of the word. Over the past week, I have been reminded, humbled, and sincerely blessed over and over again at the spirit and heart of our team—particularly those I serve closely with. Here are just a few things I believe make them great:

A Winning Team Believes in the Cause—This team is not made up of hirelings! They have bypassed worldly ambition—as every one of them could have been highly successful in the world’s eyes. They have embraced the eternal cause of Christ, and they contribute their gifts, abilities, and personal strengths without reservation! It’s awesome to work with people who are so committed to one cause, that literally, none of us have a “plan B”!

A Winning Team Has a Positive Spirit—Today we met briefly about two major projects, among others that must happen in the next twelve days. When one might expect some reservation or negativity, this team didn’t talk about “if” it could happen. They just talked about the right solutions—with energy, excitement, and anticipation. It was awesome to see. I love the “we can make this happen” spirit of a winning team.

A Winning Team Rejoices in Collective Success—Teams accomplish more together, and that’s an amazing experience. When I look back over the past three months, I’m speechless at how our team has labored and served and invested themselves. The fruit is abundant and the results honor the Lord. It’s great when everybody on a team is interested in everybody else’s success.

A Winning Team Has No Individual Agendas—A personal agenda in a team environment is like a blinder—it drastically limits your perspective and your vision, so that you will accomplish far less, and alone! Dropping personal agenda is like being freed from yourself—it’s taking the blinders off and being a part of something far greater than just one miniscule person or perspective.

A Winning Team Sacrifices Together—It’s often at this time of year that our team comes to a collective realization that some longer work days, or nights, are ahead. Not only do they embrace the challenge, they almost anticipate it. Having “clock-watchers” on a team is like trudging through mud—they slow everybody else down. Because even when they are on the clock, they’re watching it so much that they accomplish very little. Having a non-clock-watching team is a refreshing experience. (And that doesn’t mean they live out of balance either.)

A Winning Team Appreciates Different Strengths and Personalities—No two members of our team are alike, which makes for some of the best discussions, ideas, and collaborative efforts. It’s amazing to watch God take so many different personalities, strengths, and gifts, and gel them together to produce spiritual and fruitful outcomes. These are often the things that pull teams apart—but that goes back to the point of “no individual agendas.”

A Winning Team Serves with Little Recognition—With a winning team, no one really cares much who gets the credit. It seems, almost constantly, that various people on our team are getting credit for the work of others on the team. (Sometimes that goes both ways—successes and failures.) But, it’s great to actually see people laugh at it and seem to secretly relish the fact that someone else got credit for something they did! That’s just a great spirit—and one that God will bless on any team!

A Winning Team Delights in the Details—This one is big! How often do people on teams get bored with repetitive details?Each member of a team often does the same things over and over… and over again. How many times does a secretary make a phone call or type a letter? How often does a designer lay out a page? How boring can filing music be after 500 weeks of it? On a winning team, everybody owns their details with fresh energy every day.

A Winning Team Celebrates Together and Gives God the Glory—For our team, this has something to do with sushi! It’s just good to end every day or to complete a large project knowing that you served with a spiritual team in the will of God for the glory of God. I thank the Lord for the excellent spirit and the tremendous heart of the people on our team. It’s humbling to be a part and to see God use them. I thank the Lord every day for allowing me to labor in the presence of such greatness!

“…who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellowservant in the Lord.” (Colossians 4:7)