Reading: Building A Great Team Of Leaders (Slides)

 

Building A Great Team Of Leaders

Henry Reyenga

Number 1: Great teams will always have a shared mentality that strives for the bigger picture. 

This does not mean that every person on the team is a big picture thinker. On the contrary. It does mean however, that the outcome of every decision on every front has the big picture of the ministry in view. They are always asking how each decision affects the ministry as a whole, the vision as a whole, and the mission of the entire ministry. This is the major difference between a committee led church, and a team led church. Committees are concerned how the decisions of the ministry affect their area. Teams are concerned how their decisions affect the overall ministry.

Number 2: Great teams always come back to what the vision and mission is. 

For the vision is solidified in the hearts of the people of your church, you will have to continually fight for it. Make no mistake here. Distractions in the form of good ideas, motivations, and needs will shout at you from every direction. 

Crumbly, Douglas (2013-03-01). Church Planting 101 (Kindle Locations 823-825).  Kindle Edition. 

Number 3: Great teams are not moved by issues, instead, they move issues with their mission emphasis. 

This one is the most difficult to teach from a laboratory setting. It's one of those things that you can practice and become proficient at while in the clinic, but until you are faced with this, you'll still not be able to grasp the toughness of this one.

Crumbly, Douglas (2013-03-01). Church Planting 101 (Kindle Locations 827-830).  Kindle Edition. 

Number 4: Great teams do not make decisions based on the whims and knee jerk reactions of a few loud people. 

This sounds a lot like number three, and it may be very similar. When you plant your church you will have many, many people making many, many suggestions about what you and the leadership of the church should be doing.

Crumbly, Douglas (2013-03-01). Church Planting 101 (Kindle Locations 842-845).  Kindle Edition. 

Number 5: Great teams are not afraid of conflict among the team members. 

In fact, conflict is encouraged. This is the one part of team leadership that I enjoy teaching to spirit-filled leaders the most. We are so used to not questioning our leaders, praising the celebrity status of some, and fear that we may in some way touch God's anointed that we fail to use the gifts, strengths and anointing that God has given to us. The people whom God sends to you are not there just to serve your every whim.

Crumbly, Douglas (2013-03-01). Church Planting 101 (Kindle Locations 852-856).  Kindle Edition. 

Number 6: Great teams are not afraid to pay the price for greatness. 

In his book, The Indisputable Laws of Teamwork, John Maxwell spells out that there are four prices each team member must pay for the team to be successful. They are as follows: 

1. Sacrifice

2. Time Commitment 

3. Personal Development

4. Unselfishness

 I strongly suggest you insure all of your team members have job descriptions that clearly spell out your expectations. This won't solve all of your issues, but it will go a long way in making leading your church more manageable.

Crumbly, Douglas (2013-03-01). Church Planting 101 (Kindle Locations 864-870).  Kindle Edition. 

Number 7: Great teams are leading teams. You will have to know the difference between leading and managing. 

Leading always has the future in mind, managing always has the present in mind. Leading asks, "Where can we go?", managing asks, "Where are we at?". And while both are necessary, please hear me, in the beginning there will need to be a whole lot more leading than just the management of the church.

Crumbly, Douglas (2013-03-01). Church Planting 101 (Kindle Locations 870-874).  Kindle Edition. 

Leader Qualities For The Launch Team

BEFORE they are asked to serve on your launch team: 

Look at their FaceBook page. And not just the current posts, go back a couple of years or as far back as you can. If you see a few posts that are red flags to you, you better pay attention to them. Any flaws in character will only be magnified and harmful if put into a leadership position. 

Crumbly, Douglas (2013-03-01). Church Planting 101 (Kindle Locations 883-889).  Kindle Edition. 

Leader Qualities For The Launch Team

Ask Their Former Pastor:

How long were they with you? 

2. How well did they serve? 

3. What are their strengths/weaknesses? 

4. How did they treat people? 

Crumbly, Douglas (2013-03-01). Church Planting 101 (Kindle Locations 883-889).  Kindle Edition. 

Leader Qualities For The Launch Team

Do a spiritual gifts AND a Strengths finder profile on them. 

Run a nation-wide background check on each leader as well as have one ran on yourself.

Crumbly, Douglas (2013-03-01). Church Planting 101 (Kindle Locations 883-889).  Kindle Edition. 

Leader Qualities For The Launch Team

Your team needs to be made of of people who are loyal to the vision, the leadership team , and are full of intense passion for the new church plant. In short, you are looking for people of integrity, character, and who also have a good temperament. This is not the place for insecure people who are pouters or hotheaded. They need to be people of their word, loyal and of course, spirit-filled. 

Crumbly, Douglas (2013-03-01). Church Planting 101 (Kindle Locations 898-902).  Kindle Edition. 

Reality Check

Think about it. Leadership is Leadership. If you cannot get people to attend and be active in the Sunday School class you lead, how in the world are you going to be successful at launching a church? If you can't get along with team members serving in a children's ministry, how will you ever build a top leadership team for the entire church with high impact leaders? If you are not able to host and grow a small group of twelve people in your home, how will you grow a church to a hundred plus?

Crumbly, Douglas (2013-03-01). Church Planting 101 (Kindle Locations 912-915).  Kindle Edition. 

The Church Planter Leader’s Lid??? 1

The lead pastor's inability to recognize that he is the one keeping his church from being effective has put a lid on the top of the organization. Regardless of how hard they may try to grow the church they continually keep hitting the same lid never realizing they are the problem! 

Crumbly, Douglas (2013-03-01). Church Planting 101 (Kindle Locations 930-933).  Kindle Edition. 

The Church Planter Leader’s Lid??? 2

This is the reason many pastors tell me that their church will reach a certain level of growth, stop, fall back and grow to that level again. The whole cycle continues to repeat itself year after year. And MANY times leaders are needing a breakthrough, but have no idea that the kind of breakthrough that they need is not always spiritual! Sometimes, and most of the time, it's a breakthrough in leadership.

Crumbly, Douglas (2013-03-01). Church Planting 101 (Kindle Locations 932-935). Kindle Edition. 

Conclusion

Years ago a wise instructor taught me something very valuable about releasing those around me to lead. It was in the form of a question that I have never forgotten. He asked, "Why would God search all over the world in answer to your prayers, send you Spirit-filled, anointed, and gifted people with a passion for what they are called to do, and then expect you to not allow them to lead?" This is a question that every church-planter should ponder often.

Crumbly, Douglas (2013-03-01). Church Planting 101 (Kindle Locations 942-946).  Kindle Edition.