Off the Agenda: Conversations for Building Church Leaders

I’ve never been a great runner. My high school has a storied cross country program, but I spent most of my high school career as the seventh (and final) runner on our varsity team. Even though seven runners compete in a varsity race, only the top five factor into the team’s score. So every race, I ran my 3.1 miles knowing that unless two people got hurt—or horribly lost in the woods—my time wouldn’t really matter.

My former teammates, however, were exceptional runners. After high school, six of them went on to run in college. One of my former teammates recently competed in the Portland Marathon, and he finished sixth in a field of more than 9,000 runners. His time (a little over two and a half hours) qualified him for the Boston Marathon. And he’s not even the fastest marathoner from my old team. Another former teammate competed in the 2008 U.S. Olympic marathon trials in New York. His personal best is 2 hours and 21 minutes.

Continue reading "Leading from the Back of the Pack"...

Needless to say we as a country, and indeed a world, are in a unique time of financial upheaval—times which can bring with them deep concern and fear.

While not wanting to minimize the personal pain and sacrifice that many will suffer as a result of the meltdown, I do wish to sound a note of encouragement in the midst of it all. We know that God is aware of and present in all circumstances, so let’s look at some potentially bright sides of an otherwise very dark situation.

• We are being reminded of reality. The warning signs and predictions that things could not continue as they were have been present for some time. In the times ahead, some basic principles around living within our means, avoiding consumer debt, and saving for the unexpected will undoubtedly be adhered to by greater numbers of people.

Continue reading "A Note of Assurance"...

Most evenings these days, there's a knock at the door shortly after my wife and I get home from work. We know who's there: three young girls from our apartment building.

When my wife took an interest in them, she quickly became their hero. First she played with them in the hall. When they got permission from their parents, we allowed them into our apartment. Now they come to our apartment regularly for art projects (my wife is a former art teacher) and to play with our kitten.

But with both of us working, the visits began taking a toll. My habit of watching the nightly news was interrupted by girlish laughter and my wife was getting worn out.

Continue reading "Unlikely Opportunities for Ministry"...

Drew Dyck is the associate editorial manager of BuildingChurchLeaders.com.

If I had no time or budget limitations, I could probably pass all of my days working on do-it-yourself projects around the house. To me, it doesn’t really matter what the project is—big or small—as long as it’s moderately creative and will make a noticeable improvement (that is to say, I don’t like changing light bulbs or servicing the lawnmower.) I wouldn’t want to build a house, but I love to take on small tasks—especially when I have someone to share them with.

For some reason, when I think about ministry, I forget that I’m happy doing small things. This was particularly true when I was a pastor. It’s not that I believed certain responsibilities at the church were below me. Rather, the problem I had was being unsatisfied with progress that was too small or unspectacular. I didn’t want to invest my time in the couple who lived next door to the church but never attended; I wanted to grow our congregation from 20 to 200 in a month. I wasn’t content planting flowers outside the church entry; I wanted to plant a community garden that would provide subsistence for poor families. One thing’s for sure: I did not lack vision.

Why is it that I so often think everything I do in Jesus’ name must be earth shattering and world changing? After all, we’re not commanded to change the world. We’re called to mundane sorts of things—be fruitful; go and make; love your neighbor. I guess I feel pressured, as a representative of Christ, to accomplish extraordinary things.

I just finished a book that helped put this issue in perspective for me.

Continue reading "Let’s Build Something Together"...

Brandon O'Brien is assistant editor of Leadership journal and BuildingChurchLeaders.com.