I’ve had a string of conversations recently with supervisors related to troubling staff. Few things seem as frustrating as working with underfunctioning or incompetent staff persons. Ironically, the overwhelming feeling by supervisors is one of powerlessness in the face of ineptitude. Other common dilemmas that get supervisors stuck are: the trap of needing to be liked, wanting to be seen as “fair” and “understanding,” and the fear of making a tough decision that will affect another’s life.

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There are many factors that influence Christian education programming in congregations. Two of those factors are staff leadership and congregational size. While we may desire otherwise the fact is that congregations are highly dependent on program staff for leadership, development, and effectiveness for educational programs. And often, educational program leaders are the last staff hired (the typical order of staff hires are: pastor, musician, part-time youth/children staff, full-time youth/children staff, then, educator). Which means that any educator who is the first full-time program staff person in a congregation likely has to deal with years of neglect in the area of church-wide educational programming.

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Over the past several months I’ve talked with various church staff about some money issues. One interesting aspect of these conversations is how they parallel. All of them involved a variation on: (1) a church member wanting to give money to, or fund, the staff person’s ministry area, (2) the offer of a personal gift of money to the staff member in appreciation, and (3) observations or questions about how different staff persons in the same church handle these situations.

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For a recent course we invited several guest speakers visit the class and share their experiences and thoughts about ministry. After each visit students in the class posted on the course website “Best Quotes” they heard in the presentations.

Here are some “best quotes” from our guests that the students posted:

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Previously we shared some thoughts from Lynn Turner, Associate Pastor of Youth, Career, and Discipleship at the First Baptist Church of Richmond, VA. We asked Lynn to share her thoughts about how to success in ministry with seminarians in my course on “Thriving and Succeeding as a Congregational Ministry Associate.” Here are her thoughts about “The Five ‘Must Do’ Things for Ministry Staff Success”:

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Previously we shared some thoughts from Lynn Turner, Associate Pastor of Youth, Career, and Discipleship at the First Baptist Church of Richmond, VA. We asked Lynn to share her thoughts about ministry to seminarians in my course on “Thriving and Succeeding as a Congregational Ministry Associate.” Here are her thoughts about “Five Hazards for Second Chair Leaders”:

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A recent guest lecturer in one of my courses was Lynn Turner, Associate Pastor of Youth, Career, and Discipleship at the First Baptist Church of Richmond, VA. Lynn was asked to share her thoughts about ministry with our seminarians. Here are her thoughts about “Growing Into Ministry: Nine Tips I Have Learned”:

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I’m teaching a new course titled “How to Thrive and Succeed as a Congregational Ministry Associate.” The course features a narrative component that consists of visits from “practitioners.” These are ministry associates, “second chair” leaders, currently in congregations. The visitors were at several stages in the trajectory of professional ministry. Some were just starting their first or second years in ministry and some were seasoned veterans with many years of experience. Each was asked to share about their calling and to tell the story of their professional ministry experience.

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Peace - it sounds like such a nice word, but what does it really mean? What does peace really look like? How do we preach peace - especially every year at Advent?

These are just a few questions that went through my head as I was preparing to preach last week.

Below is the sermon I preached last week, Dec 9th, on the second Sunday of Advent.

Title - Yeah Right!
Texts - Isaiah 11:1-10, Matthew 3:1-12
Focus - Peace takes work
Function - To challenge

Other information:
Size/style of congregation - average 150 in attendance on a Sunday, Pastoral Style
Spirituality - Head
Advent themes - Hope, peace, joy, and love (some churches focus on peace first and then hope).
My position - Associate Pastor - preaching as a “second chair”
Technique - I like to “weave” the text with present and real life issues and situations, even if it is a line or two here and there.
Other - Some of the organizations listed are particuar to my congregation and surrounding city

Enjoy:

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One of the most important qualities in any organization is the ability to solve its own problems. Organizations that cannot solve their own problems are in trouble. It won’t take long before they become overwhelmed as one unsolved problem begins to affect another. At that point the issues become systemic, and the only solution is to fix everything at the same time together. That’s a task that is more complex and overwhelming than most organizations can pull off.

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