So you want to be a better speaker? This might be the best advice you will ever get!

When it comes to communicating the Gospel, some of the best advice I can give you, is just ...  BE YOURSELF. 

Do me a favor and say your name out loud. For real. Go ahead. On the count of three say your name  - 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... 

If you did not say Francis Chan, Matt Chandler, Steven Furtick, T.D. Jakes, or Craig Groeschel; then don’t act like them on stage. If you want to be an effective communicator, then you are going to have to be yourself. 

There are some amazing communicators in the Kingdom of God right now. Each and everyone of them have this unique gift that works extremely well. Because of this we naturally want to copy them. We think to ourselves, “If I will simply do what they do, I will be as good as they are and get the responses they get”.

That sounds good, but that thought could not be further from the truth. Steven gets the results Steven gets because he is Steven. Matt gets the response that Matt gets because he is just being Matt Chandler. They are not trying to be someone else. They are just being who they naturally are. The reason these gentleman are such an incredible gift to the body of Christ is because they have taken the gift of who they are and used it where they are to its absolute fullest. 

Listen to me ... you will never be like them! So don’t try! 

Even though those men are incredible, gifted and talented. The adults in your church or the students in your youth ministry don’t really know nor do they care who these other superstars are. However, they do know and care about you! Each week they come to hear you speak. So just be yourself. Embrace the gift and gifting’s that God has placed inside of you and speak life to the people that come to hear you speak every week.

God does not make mistakes. He made you, who you are, placed you where you are, for a purpose, a plan and a person. If that is case, for the city and the Church that God has placed you; you are better than any superstar communicator that you follow. If God wanted them to be the Pastor or Youth Pastor of your Church, then he would have given them to your people. But He didn’t. He gave your people you! So when you stand up every week to speak, just be yourself.

To find out more about how you can become an even better leader / communicator CLICK HERE and enroll in a one year ministry course that we have created. 

Successful leaders live by the 80% rule. Do you?

Like so many others there have been times on my leadership journey where I have struggled with sharing my responsibilities with the people on my team or church. If I am honest part of the reason I've struggled with this is because, I incorrectly felt like, if I gave this responsibility over to them, I would lose authority and control. However, I have been discovering that when we as leaders share what we have (responsibility / tasks) with those around us it does not take away from authority it actually gives us more. 

In fact, allowing others to do the things that we have been given responsibility to oversee, not only gives us more authority it gives us what we crave the most...more time! 

More time to develop other leaders.

More time to expand our vision. 

More time to do the things that only we can do. 

It can be so difficult at times to handover our responsibility as leaders, especially when we don't think they can do it as well as we can. However, I've learned (and sometimes the hardware) that "they won't do it as good as me" is just an excuse and a poor one at that. You and I will never be the leaders we could be and have the impacting organizations that we want to have unless we begin to develop and empower leaders more effectively. 

In his book titled, "How successful people lead", John Maxwell says ... 

"A good rule of thumb for transferring ownership of a leadership responsibility to someone else is the 80 percent rule. If someone on the team can do one of your task 80% as good as you can do or better, then give him or her the responsibility. If you want to be an effective leader, you have to move from perfectionist to pragmatist. "

Here are some questions:

If you had more time, what would you do with it?

Are you afraid of losing authority?

Are you too busy?

What are the people around you good at?

Can they do that task 80% as well as you?

What steps will you take this week to delegate that task to them?

10 items you need to take on your leadership journey in 2018.

1 - Personal Pursuit of Jesus

I Timothy 3:1-7 

Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?)  He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.

The reason you should pursue Christ is not so others will follow you more effectively,  but because you are a sinner, in desperate need of a Savior. That being said, you cannot lead someone anywhere that you either have not been or are not going. You cannot lead people to follow Jesus if you are not passionately pursuing Him yourself.

2 - Unwavering Courage

Each week you are working with the toughest thing on the earth - PEOPLE 

People are a tough crowd. They have their own language. They have their own style. They think they know everything. There will be weeks where you feel like you are absolutely waisting your time. In those moments you are going to need, courage. Courage to keep talking to someone that doesn’t seem to care. Courage to keep serving someone that doesn’t seem to want your help. Courage to look past who this person currently is, and see who they could be in Christ. 

If you are going to be successful, you are going to have to have and model unwavering courage. 

3 -  Self Control

A leader can’t expect to control others, if he is not able to control himself. 

If there is one thing I would encourage you to control, it would be your thoughts. What you think, is what you speak. What you speak is what you do. What you do becomes habitual. Your habits will develop your character and your character will determine your destiny. Who you are and who is around you in five years will be in direct proportion to what you think today. 

4 - A Road Map

No one will follow a person if they do not know where they are going. Because of this, a great leader takes time to map out where they are going in great detail. It is very important to have short, medium and long range goals for the ministry you lead. What is your small group, registration team, or worship band, going to be like in 3 months, 6 months, 12 months? If you don’t know, why would anyone join you?

5 - Unity

Amos 3:3 says "How can two walk together unless they be in agreement." It's going to be very difficult for you and your team to move forward if you are all going in different directions, or stabbing each other in the back as you walk. As a leader you have to keep everyone focused on the journey ahead and walking there together. If that is not happening, you either have the wrong destination or you have the wrong people walking with you. 

6 - Something EXTRA

The only difference between ordinary and extraordinary is the word, extra.  If you want to do extraordinary things in life or see God do extraordinary things in the lives of people. Then you are going to have to add something“extra” to all the ordinary things you do.

When you give extra-time, extra-study, extra-prayer and extra-planning, you open the door for God to do the extraordinary. So give something extra. 

 7 - A People Personality

A leaders greatest asset is not money, facilities, or programs. His greatest asset is people. A great leader knows how to communicate with, respect, enthusiasm and love for people. Here are some tips for having a people personality. 

Smile.

It is very hard to be distant or “shut off” to someone that is smiling at you. So every time you talk with someone, pull them in and open their heart with your beautiful smile. 

Ask questions about them.

Peoples favorite word is their name and their favorite story is their own. When you talk with people ask them questions about themselves. Get them talking about their life and they will love you.

Leave your problems at home. 

Don’t carry your stress, drama and life issues around with you. Carrying that stuff around makes us angry, irritable, and frustrated. Those three things do not open peoples hearts to God. So check that stuff at the door and turn your heart towards the people and not the problems around you. 

8 - Great Communication

There is nothing that we will ever do in ministry that only effects one ministry. Everything we do will include other departments of the church in one way or another. Because of this, we need to keep other people and ministries in the loop with all of the pertinent information. 

Without teamwork, we will fail. To be a great leader you will need to communicate well to the people above you, beside you as well as under you in ministry.

9 - Attention to Detail

It’s not the big things that will hurt you. It’s the small details that will kill you. Pay attention to details. 

10 - Responsibility

If you are going to be successful you must be willing to accept responsibility not only for your own mistakes and shortcomings, but also for those of the people under you. When things go well in your department give the credit to those around you. When things go wrong in your department, you step up and take responsibility for your team.  

Nothing ever gets accomplished by pushing the blame off on others. We all make mistakes from time to time. 

Three things to do when you make a mistake. 

1- Own up to it. 

2 - Learn from it. 

3 - Move past it. 

Which of these do you poses and which ones do you struggle with? I would love to hear from you in the comments below. 

Making statements will not improve your team, but asking questions will. Here are four questions to ask when wanting to build great teams.

I've found that statements like "I need more help", "I have too much to do", or "I can't do this on my own", never changes anything for the better. Statements don't cause change, questions do. 

Here are four questions I ask myself to help build a team .... Why - What - Who - How 

Why ... are we doing this ministry?

It is so important to clearly define why you are doing what you are doing. If people don't know why they are doing something ... they will quickly stop doing it. Give people a cause to role their sleeves up and rally around. 

What ... needs to be done each week?

What are the things that need to be done each week? People need to be greeted.  We need to gather the information of all first time guest so we can follow up with them? Guests need a great worship experience and message that will inspire them to change. 

Because these things are what need to be done; we established a ministry department for each of these items. We wrote up job descriptions for First Impressions Team, Worship Team,  Production Team, Kids Ministry and more. 

It is important to note that we always write up job descriptions before we recruit the workers. God will never give us anything that we are not ready for. We create the ministry and then God will give us people to do the work of the ministry. 

Who ... do I know that I could personally invite to be a part of ministry?

I've found through the years that many high level volunteers are not primarily moved by corporate pushes to volunteer but rather personal invites. So I when I need help, I always ask myself, "Who do I know that would be great to serve in or run this ministry department". Then I set up a coffee meeting, cast the vision of "why", hand them a written job description of "what", and invite them to join the team. 

How ... can we get larger amounts of individuals to volunteer their time? 

One of the best ways to inspire a large group of people to begin to serve in our ministry is:

1 - Inspire them with a message on serving. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. So teach a message on the "why" of your ministry and give them the faith they need to serve. 

2 - Give them an opportunity to respond quickly. In the lobby or online have people sign up to attend a special VIP Banquet to hear about the roles they can play. 

3 - Announce and offer sign ups for at least 3 weeks after your message. This will give more people a chance to sign up, and allow potential attendees to put the date on their calendar. 

4 - Hold the VIP Banquet. Feed Them. Inspire Them. Inform Them. Give them a chance to sign up. 

We have walked this type of corporate serving push many years and always add new members to the team!  If this will work for us, I know it will work for you. 

What do you do when things aren't working?

You just picked up your phone and saw that one of your friends just moved into their new facility, another hit an all-time high in attendance, and your buddy from college is speaking at a ministry conference you can't even afford to attend. 

What do you do when the life you are experiencing doesn't look as good as your friends social media posts? 

Lets get more specific ...

What do you do when things just aren't working?

What do you do when the budget dries up?

What do you do when attendance goes down?

What do you do when you've dropped the ball?

What do you do when you just received a phone call that changed everything?

If you don't answer these questions correctly, things will only get worse. 

Here are four things you have to do when things get tough:

1. Don't jump ship.

In Acts 27 the Apostle Paul goes through a tough time. The ship is is sailing on is getting ready to crash. Many people think about jumping ship, but Paul encourages them, "unless we stay with the ship we cannot be saved". 

Many times like the men Paul was traveling with, when things get tough, we want to quit the ministry, leave the church, dump the friend, jump ship and move on. But what good will that do? Running away from the tough times will not change anything. Keep trying. Keep pressing. Keep believing. Don't jump ship. 

2. Hold onto what you believe. 

In the same story in Acts 27, once the ship ran aground the men held onto pieces of the boat that had broken off. They held onto those pieces and floated safely ashore. 

When things start getting tough, you have to hold onto that you believe. 

Hold onto that passage of scripture. Hold onto that statement of faith. Hold onto what you know to be true. It just might be what it takes to get you safely to shore. 

3. Trust God for supernatural provision. 

God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above that which we can ask or think. When tough times come, trust him to provide, protect, deliver, and change the situation. 

God parted the Red Sea for Moses, held the sun still for Joshua, surely He can help you.  Don't jump ship. Hold onto what you believe and trust Him to do something that only He can do!

4. Don't become bitter. 

There are very few things in life that we can control. We cannot control other peoples actions, words, or deeds. However, we can always control our heart. 

Scripture teaches us, "Above all else guard your heart for it is the well spring of life".

When your ministry is not growing, but your buddy is busting at the seams, guard your heart. 

When your Pastor pulls you into his office to correct you and you feel that he is not being fair, guard your heart. 

When you lose something or someone that was very dear to you and you don't understand why, guard your heart. 

Guard your heart against bitterness. Bitterness is a small monster that burrows it's way down deep and grows in the darkest place of our heart. But bitterness never stays there. It grows and begins to claw its way into ever area of our life. 

When things get tough. Choose to not become bitter. 

It would be so great to live in a world where there were no problems or opposition. But that is not the world we live in. Jesus once said, "In the world you will have many troubles, but don't worry, I have overcome the world".  

Your story is not over.

Jesus tomb is empty. 

Don't jump ship. Hold onto what you believe. Trust God to do the supernatural. Never become bitter.