Need Leaders…Pursue.
So we’ve prayed for leaders, we’ve prepared to receive them,
what’ next?
Pursue simply means to go after. There’s nothing passive about the
concept. In fact it’s quite active.
A leader will get in mind someone they should ask to join
them in ministry for the first time or to move to the next level of leadership. However, instead of pursuing they hesitate
and wait. Oftentimes too long, and at
great cost.
Innovative leaders by nature aren’t good at sitting
still. They want to make a difference
and if they can’t find the on ramp into leadership, they’ll just go create
their own. Which there’s nothing wrong
with that, other than missing the opportunity to have that leader innovating on
your team, making it better.
There are other leaders who may not be able to innovate as
quickly on their own, so they need your team in order to help them become a
growing leader. This type of leader left
untapped over a period of time can become comfortable, complacent, and crippled
in their leadership. Simply because no
one pursued them.
Which greatly costs the individual and costs the team. –
Probably one of the biggest ministry fails is around this issue. I confess that there are times I did not steward the
leadership resources God had entrusted me with.
It hurts to know that I played a role in crippling someone’s leadership. Because I didn’t have the guts to pursue them as a leader.
Some reasons I didn’t pursue a leader when I should have…
· I was afraid of rejection. – Honestly, this is a pride issue, thinking
ministry depended upon me and not upon God.
When I depend on God I gain the courage and confidence to do all kinds
of things that stretch and grow me.
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am
helped (Psalm 28:7)
· I felt “they were probably too busy”. – Weather
someone is too busy or not isn’t really for me to decide. I learned over time to “never say people’s no
for them”. I had people saying no before
I ever gave them a chance to say yes…and that’s just dumb.
Now, that being said, I do think leaders do
have a responsibility to coach leaders to focus their time serving to no more
than one or two areas. And through
pastoral care, help them make those though choices to focus their ministry for
effectiveness, leadership development, and so they don’t’ crash and burn.
· I glorified myself by proving “I could do it
all”. – Well, that’s just a pride thing too that I had to learn to let go of. Thinking I was raising my level of leadership
by “doing it all” actually shrunk my leadership.
I was the “lid”, the cap at which the
organization I was leading could grow.
Which is particularly sad to me, because lack of growth in my ministry
meant lack of growth in the church, which meant less people were coming to know
and follow Jesus because of my pride.
OUCH!
John Maxwell gives a talk on “The Law of the
Lid”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCjr62gCAtc
· I’m an introvert and beginning conversations
with people I don’t know wasn’t natural to me. But, I began to push through that, I learned,
I grew, to the point where now initial meetings are one of my most favorite
things to do. I found a great resource
from Amplified Leadership by Dan Reiland and great strength from this passage:
But
he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made
perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my
weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in
weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For
when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
Now that's not to say that being an introvert is a weakness per say. But I had to learn to just be myself and get real comfortable with just being me in front of others. Withholding authenticity was leading to others not fully trusting me. I spent a year working specifically on just "showing my heart" with others. It was a lot of work, that has continually paid huge dividends in pursuing leaders.
So there’s the stuff NOT
to do.
But what DO we do to purse those God leads us to?
1. Have an “I See In You” conversation. These conversations often have a “prophetic”
word from God in them. Where you begin
to honestly speak to the potential leader about the fruit you see coming from
their lives. Here are a few examples of
“I See In You” conversations I’ve actually had with people:
“I see in you this great joy that
makes everyone in the room feel welcome”
“I see in you the ability to relate
to and mentor students”
“I see in you the desire listen and
give great advice to people”
“I see in you the ability to teach”
“I see in you how you take great
attention to excellence and detail”
2. Invite them to meet with you. After you’ve expressed what you are seeing in
their lives, invite them to meet with you about that. An example might be:
“I’d love
to talk with you more about that and hear your heart”
3. Meet with them. This meeting generally has four
major parts.
1. Connecting With Them –
How did they come to the church? How did
they begin following Jesus? What are the
passions God’s been speaking to them about.
This requires listening and discernment.
You may have an end goal of asking them to take on a leadership role,
but you want to make sure it fits with what God’s been telling them. So take the time to listen and be careful not to push your agenda...remember they are a person.
2. Share Your Heart – Let
them see my heart for ministry, what is it that God has laid upon my heart for the ministry I'm leading? Children coming to
know Jesus? People taking next steps
towards Jesus? A place where people can belong and become? A community transformed
for Christ? How did I get to where I’m
at now?
3. Make a SOFT Ask – Weather
you like it or not, pursuing leaders is a “sales call” you are helping people
decide how to spend their most precious commodity - THEIR TIME! Believe it or not, there’s a respectful and
honoring way to handle this pursuit.
After listening to their
story. After sharing what it is that you
hope to accomplish through the ministry you lead. If you discern it’s a match, make a soft
ask.
This means you pull out the job
description paper for the role you’d like them to consider. Say, I’d really like you to spend some time
thinking, praying, and talking with your family about this role. I wonder if it might be a good fit for you
and the team we are building here. One
of these responses is to be expected:
·
They could say yes on the spot: If so, make sure they talk with their family
about the commitment before you accept their yes and say: Great lets get together next week to discuss
more details. At which point you can
discuss all of the policy, procedures, and details you already prepared.
·
They could be very interested: If so, ask them to think about it for a week
and that you’ll follow up with them in a week.
They shouldn’t feel pressured there on the spot, they may need to think
about what they’ll have to say no to in order to say yes to this, there may be
some logistical things to work out, and prayer is always recommended.
·
They could be a little hesitant: If so, ask them where the hesitation comes
from. Maybe they are overcommitted. Maybe there’s a stress at home. Maybe they just don’t see in themselves what you are
seeing. Either way, there is care and
coaching you can provide that person.
Not as a prospective team member, but as a human being. Ministry is people.
·
They could be totally uninterested and flat
out say no: If so, encourage
them in what they are doing. Thank them
for their time. Pray for them as a
person. Then, ask them to pray with you
on the role you are hoping to fill someday.
Ask them to let you know if they know anyone who they think would be great for the role.
4. Always Follow Up. Remember after an initial meeting there’s
always follow up to be had, schedule the follow up call into your planner, send
a note of encouragement, still talk to them as a person if they say no. Remember people are not the agenda to accomplish the ministry, people ARE the ministry.
Overall I have found this way of pursuing leaders to be
encouraging, honoring, respectful, and flat out fun. Need leaders…pray, prepare, pursue.