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Unpacking the Drive Conference Pt. 2 (Staffing -Hiring and Firing)

I attended 2 breakout sessions at the Drive Conference last week that worked nicely in tandem with one another: "Building a Strong Staff-Team One Person At a Time" by Rick Holliday and "Making Tough Calls" by Lane Jones.

You could summarize the first one as "having a strong hiring process" and the second as "having a strong firing process." Both are very critical to the health of an organization. Both are very challenging and require a lot of time and energy. Both are sometimes necessary, but if you get really good at hiring you won't have to worry as often about firing (though you may never be ably to completely avoid it.

I can't adequately summarize 2 breakouts sessions in one blog post, but I do want to share some key points from the sessions that might be helpful for you to know or at least learn more about:

Hiring:

• Nobody is better than a warm body (the wrong person will do the opposite of what you hope for; create more work, tension and challenges)
• Remove all the guesswork (have a very strong hiring process including things like several people interviewing the person and the use of tools like StrengthsFinder, personality profiles, etc.)
• Staff MUST fit the organization's DNA (many evaluate character, competence and chemistry, but don't forget they must fit the CULTURE or there will be challenges)
• Pay attention to early warning signs that things aren't working out (bad fits can slow down the progress of an organization and they must be reassigned or released ASAP)

Firing:

• Personnel changes are a necessary part of a healthy organization (sad but true; for example sometimes people simply don't or won't grow with an organization)
• Principle: always sacrifice the one for the many, never the many for the one (because we feel bad sometimes we keep the wrong people around, not considering what we are doing to the rest of the staff, the organization and even that one person) [people expect leaders to make tough choices]
• In a church setting, do all you can to preserve the relationship and minister to the person however possible (financially, with encouragement, etc.)
• Have a ministry don't hire one (this is huge and churches violate this principle all the time; unless you are a very large staff, you can't afford to hire a ministry "project")

In the business world and the ministry world I have had to hire people and to fire people. And because I have had to live with the good and bad consequences of each, I don't take these things lightly. Neither should any other church leader! I haven't always gotten it right, but I am committed to growing and improving in the area of staff development for the sake of the staff team we are building and the church as a whole.

Unpacking the Drive Conference Pt. 1 (Vision Casting is a Team Sport)

Last week the Calvary Fellowship staff attended the Drive Conference. It was awesome and at times overwhelming. I can't possibly share all I saw, heard and experienced, but this week I will share some of the things that were most meaningful or applicable to me.

Vision is a word that can become annoying because it tends to be overused in conversation. Ironically, vision also tends to be underutilized in practice, so it is important to keep discussing. Jeff Henderson (who looks a lot like Superman and thus should have called his talk "X-Ray Vision" just for irony) did a great session that inspired me, challenged me, and still has my wheels turning even now as I review the notes.

If you are in church leadership I recommend you get this talk, but regardless here are some great vision thoughts from Jeff (like me you may have heard much of this already, but it helps to hear it again):

• If vision is reserved for 1 person, there is a lid on the potential of any organization
• Vision casting is a team sport (we need vision casters, but also vision carriers who in turn cast vision into their spheres of influence)
• Thriving organizations (church, business, etc.) are laser focused at moving people from benefitting to participating in the vision
• EVERYTHING we do casts vison (the right or the wrong one)
• Vision casting is not just communicating information, it is convincing people to care
• Vision casting is not a one-time event
• A vision not repeated is just a one-time dream
• Vision casters and carriers are great story tellers
• Vision is a friend of the under-resourced (hello, chuches!)
• The Vision Question "What did I do TODAY to cast vision for our church?"

That last thought will be a daily exercise for me for the forseeable future...

Weekly Mind Dump 4.3.11

• The staff and I had an awesome time of learning and reinvigoration at the Drive Conference this past week (I'll be blogging some of my top takeaway this week)
• It was great to see my family and my good friend Jason while I was there
• The rich spiritual climate in GA stands in stark contrast to the spiritual apathy in CT (we were amazed that there was a church on almost every corner we traveled in)
• Living in Connecticut, I cannot even fathom that my Mom has 4 contemporary Christian channels preset on her FM radio (it is possible to listen to Chris Tomlin 24/7 with the right dial surfing there!) -We only have 1 Christian station here and well...nevermind
• Super-geeked to try out my new gadget
• We have a good number of people that attend Calvary work at ESPN, and I am thrilled that I will finally get a tour this week!
• I am also excited to do a church swap with Chris Goeppner this upcoming weekend (Calvary peeps, you're in for a treat!)
• I finished today's message, "Being a Responsible Christian" in 38 minutes including an invitation...after 54 minutes last week this a big win and a small miracle (I cut a lot of content and talked a little faster to make it happen)
• The West Hartford News published this article about our Easter service/Egg Hunt today
• Easter is 3 weeks away; I can't wait!!!

How I prepare a mesasage Pt. 5 -The Practice (Repost)

How I prepare a mesasage Pt. 5 -The Practice

In this final post in this series on preaching I'm talking about practice; which I define as a commitment to constant development and improvement as an effective communicator. To me, here are the essentials:

• Evaluation -I invite feedback from people. I really appreciate the encouragement, but the loving criticism helps too. As a staffer at CF Miami Lakes I had to deliver my message a week ahead to all of the staff to mercilessly rip apart...this was NOT fun, but helped immensely. I also practice self-evaluation by listening to my messages each week critically to seek ways to improve
• Equipment -Just like in any profession you need the right tools to do your job effectively. Thus it is important to make sure you have the right software, commentaries, and resources to effectively study and prepare your messages
• Education -Just like you need resources to help you prepare week in and week out you need continuous education to help you get better at your craft. There are many books, conferences, seminars, magazines, podcasts, etc. devoted to help you improve, you should get some. I cannot recommend strongly enough one that completely revolutionized my goal in preaching recently. It's called "Preaching to the Heart" by Tim Keller...if you preach, you should buy it now!
• Experience -In the above-referenced resource, Keller made a remark that has completely liberated and encouraged me about preaching. It went something like this: "Young pastors spend far too much time on their sermons attempting to sound good. The reality is that your first 200 messages, regardless of how much work you put into them...all stink...period! So the best thing you can do is try to get through them as best as you can without killing your church and eventually...you'll get good." I cannot tell you how much this encouraged me in a strange way. His point, the main thing you need for effective communication is practice, simply doing it. I believe that is true, thus Experience is the primary way a preacher gets better.

I recently shared Keller's remarks on preaching to our church in a sermon and told them, "Thank you for your patience, and please hang in there with me. I will soon reach the 200 threshold...so my sermons will stop stinking pretty soon..." Amen! (Note: I've long since passed that mark since this was written almost 3 years ago; I hope the messages stink less now!!!)