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6 Vital Conversations Before Making a Ministry Hire

April 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Few dynamics have a greater impact on the success of your ministry than building a great team.

That’s why it is so critical that you get your next hire right. And it all begins by having 6 vital conversations.

1.   The conversation with God
No decision should drive you to your knees in prayer quite like a ministry staffing decision. The entire process must begin and end bathed in prayer.

2.   The conversation with EVERY reference
It’s shocking to me how few leaders pay attention to this hiring essential.

Step 1 is to personally connect by phone with every reference listed.

Step 2 is to understand that because these references are, by definition, biased toward the candidate, you must ask probing questions. Don’t simply say, “Tell me about Joe.” Try something like, “Tell me about a time you saw Joe under great pressure.”

3.   The conversation with the “references of the references”
Conclude every conversation with a reference by asking, “Who else do you know that could give me some more background?”

For example, if you’re hiring a youth pastor you need to somehow drill below the references provided. You need to talk to his previous youth leaders, parents of the kids, etc.

That’s where you’ll find the gold nuggets of truth you’ll need.

4.   The conversation with the previous employer
Assuming the candidate is no longer working at his previous church, you MUST talk to his former senior pastor or supervisor, regardless of whether or not he is listed as a reference.

5.   The conversation with the spouse
Is the candidate married? Guess what; you’re hiring the spouse too.

By that I mean it’s almost impossible to have a successful run in ministry with someone whose marriage is in trouble, or who is not 100% supported by their spouse.

6.   The conversation with the applicant
Now you’re ready to interview the applicant. But you must go well beyond “So, why do you want to work here?” talk. Learn the craft of probing for character traits.

Take them out for lunch and watch how they interact with service staff. Get them to talk about a former employer and listen for signs of respect, or disrespect.

Whatever you do, never short-circuit this process because few dynamics have a greater impact on the success of your ministry than building a great team.

What conversations do you consider to be essential in the hiring process?

Filed Under: Featured, Ministry, Staffing Tagged With: , , , ,

Why “If Just One Person…” Reasoning is False & Dangerous

December 16, 2011 By 3 Comments

There is a growing trend among many churches to apply a false formula in many aspects of the budgeting process. I call it the “If Just One Person” false logic.

If you’ve found yourself falling into this trend you need to:

  • Be aware of the trend,
  • Recognize why the logic is faulty,
  • Know how to respond.

 dollar tree1.   Be aware of the trend

This trend typically unfolds in this manner. During the budgeting process someone will notice an unusually large dollar figure attached to a new or unproven outreach initiative.

The defender of the line item will then apply this logic. “Hey, if even one person makes a decision for Christ, then every penny will have been worth it!”

While I’m using outreach as an example, the same reasoning pops up in other budget discussions too, such as:

  • If just one person takes a big step towards God…
  • If just one person starts reading the Bible regularly…
  • If just one person invites someone far from God into their home…

2.   Recognize why the logic is faulty

In reality there is a dangerous false economy at work here. Suppose, for example, the outreach line item is for $20,000 and it is being justified on the “If Just One Person” logic. But could there have been a far more effective outreach initiative which, for that same $20,000, could have seen 10 people come to Christ? Or 20? Or 100?

3.   Know how to respond

When this logic is raised in your budgeting circles the key is to match the sincere value with a discussion of equally valid competing values such as the stewardship value and the wisdom value.

Have the courage to point out that even in an abundance economy (recognizing that God does indeed “own the cattle on a thousand hills”), there is still a leadership responsibility at play which requires a maximum return on each Kingdom dollar.

Why is this a big deal?

As a church leader you have a responsibility to ensure that each dollar is being applied for maximum Kingdom impact.

So be on the lookout for the “If Just One Person” false logic. If you speak into it in a timely, gracious but clear manner the Kingdom win can be huge.

How do you respond to the “If Just One Person” logic?

Filed Under: Leadership, Stewardship Tagged With: , , ,

How 2 Strategic Days Can Advance an Entire Ministry Year

September 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

When it comes to leveraging The Global Leadership Summit as a key strategy in your personal development, and that of your church, you are likely in one of three categories:

Category 1: You do not attend events like the Summit.

If that describes you, this post does not apply to you.
Category 2: You already committed to attending this year’s Summit, and you’re actively building your team to join you.

If that describes you, this post will encourage you.
Category 3: You are sitting on the fence. You might attend this year’s Summit, and you might encourage others to join you.

If that describes you, this post is vital for you.
Tim Schroeder has been one of Canada’s most influential pastors for 30 years. And in the 3 minute video message below Tim makes an impassioned plea to leaders in that 3rd category.

Tim goes so far as to say, “I’ve come to the place where I don’t apologize at all to urge you to attend this year’s Summit and to bring as many of your church leaders with you as you possibly can.”

Why does Tim bring so much energy to this? Click on the video link and see for yourself.


If you are a “category 2” leader like Tim, what would you say to encourage “category 3” leaders in regard to the Summit?

Filed Under: Leadership Summit Tagged With: , , ,

The Question that can Make or Break a Company …or a Church

July 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

We recently installed a technology in our house that has provided me with two things; great entertainment, and a great leadership question.

Last week we dragged ourselves kicking and screaming into the 21st century by having our first Personal Video Recorder (PVR) installed, and that evening we downloaded our first ‘on demand’ movie.

I don’t think I’ll ever step foot in a video store again.

entertainmentI quickly realized I’d never again have to worry about a movie not being ‘in stock’, I’d never have to worry about a late fee, I’d never have to leave my house on a rainy night to pick up or drop off a DVD.

And I realized too why video stores are closing by the thousands, and why on-demand movie services are flourishing; it’s all about understanding the difference between a value and a strategy. The value is convenient home entertainment. The strategy is the means by which that home entertainment is delivered.

Most video stores got this one wrong for too long. Instead of focusing on the value of convenient home entertainment, they simply looked for better ways to deliver their strategy (renting movies on DVD). Meanwhile on-demand movie services have won the day by zeroing in on the value of convenient home entertainment

Here’s the leadership question; if you’re trying to kick-start a stalled ministry are you focusing on a value or on a strategy?

In the leadership offices of major video store chains, there should have been a large banner hanging which read, “It’s about convenient home entertainment, not about renting DVD’s”.

Similarly in the local church there should be banners hanging in the meeting rooms of leadership teams which read,

  • It’s about biblical community, not about small groups.
  • It’s about worshipping Almighty God, not about music;.
  • It’s about life-transformation, not about sermons.
  • It’s about stewardship, not about tithing.
  • It’s about living out the gospel, not about being missional.

There are dozens more that could be added, but you get the idea.

Bottom line; focus your leadership energies on values before strategies.

There are thousands of video stores who wish they had.

What would you add to this ‘values versus strategies’ list?

Filed Under: Leadership, Strategy, Value Tagged With: , ,

How Leaders Measure Impact Beyond the Numbers

July 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

So, you’re thinking of pulling the plug on that ministry.

You’ve looked at the numbers. Participation is down. Volunteers are getting harder to recruit. Impact is diminishing.

But wait.

Before you send that ministry out to pasture, take a moment and be sure you’re looking at ALL of the relevant data.

It’s possible that the impact this ministry is having isn’t showing up on the normal metrics report. You may need to look beyond the numbers.

metrics reportYears ago I had lunch with a leadership mentor of mine, who served as Vice President of one of Canada’s largest, national grocery store chains. They had recently made the decision to open many of their stores 24 hours, and I asked him for the rationale behind the decision. Did their market research really find a sizable group interested in shopping at 2:00 am?

“Actually, no, we found very few customers interested in shopping at 2:00 am,” he laughed. “But what we DID find was that even though few of our customers were interested in shopping at 2:00 am, many were VERY interested in shopping at a store which they knew WAS open at 2:00 am…Even if they had no intention of taking advantage of it. In other words, it became very important to our customers who were shopping at 2:00 in the afternoon to know that their store cared enough about them to also be open at 2:00 in the morning.”

Bottom line? Impact doesn’t always show up on the normal metrics report, and leaders need to develop a 6th sense about where ministry impact is showing up outside the limitations of hard numbers.

So before you pull the plug on that struggling ministry, ask yourself these questions:

  • Could it be that the impact of this ministry is being felt ELSEWHERE, outside the constituents of the ministry itself?
  • Where else should we be looking for possible impact this ministry could be having?
  • Would the decision to end this ministry leave an unanticipated hole that could be hard to climb out of?

I’ve learned that effective leaders pursue answers to these questions with relentless fervour.

Because sometimes the most significant impact of a ministry just doesn’t show up on the normal metrics report.

How do you evaluate ministry impact ‘beyond the numbers’?

Filed Under: Ministry, Results, Wisdom Tagged With: , , ,
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