David Whiting Live

Why I Wouldn't Want Any Other Job

I've been reflecting on the blessings and disadvantages of pastoring a larger church (part 1, part 2, and part 3). And today I've been reminded of why I think I have a greatest job in the world:

• I get to go to work everyday to do what I love to do - and very few people get to do that. 
• I get to go to work everyday to do what I am best at doing - and very few people get to do that.
• When I have a long, long day at work - I'm getting to do what I love doing and am good at doing.
• I get to see radical life-change up close and personal almost every single week. There is nothing like seeing lives transformed by the power of the Gospel.
• I get to hear amazing stories of transformation - most of which I never get to share - that energize me every day.
• I get emails on a weekly basis from people that God allowed me to impact in their walk with Christ.
• I often get to hear, "You were talking right to me. I feel like you've been a spy in my home!" That makes the hard work of preaching worth it.
• I get to work with a team of committed volunteers at church who, for zero pay, give amazing amounts of time, energy, and sacrifice to help us be more effective in what God has called our church to do.
• I also get to work with 17 amazing people who could likely make more money in a different line of work, but for the love of the mission - come to work day after day and get to do what they love with me.
• I've seen many marriages rescued from the brink of disaster.
• I've seen men trapped by sexual sin freed through the power of the cross.
• I've seen relationships mended that seemed hopeless.
• I get to daily strategize about how to fulfill the mission of making more and better disciples. 
• My daughters enjoy hearing me speak. I can't think of a better compliment. (And I think they actually mean it - or at least I choose to believe they do.)

I know it may sounds crazy, but I actually believe I have the greatest job in the world.

 

Lessons I've Learned About Limiting My Access

I've recently blogged about the blessings and burdens of pastoring a larger church. You can see part 1 HERE and part 2 HERE.

As I've determined (through the leadership of the other pastors and Oversight Team) that I need to limit access to me - there are things I've learned along the way that make limited access to me very difficult for me:

• I've determined at this point of my life to only give up three nights a week for church-related meetings. I am doing all I can to be home four nights a week. I am in the final years of parenting teenagers. I want to do it well. It can't be done well without presence. 
• I've learned that people expect pastors to work around their schedule. It is interesting to me how often I will give someone a time to meet with me (based on a request) and they ask for a different time (a weeknight or weekend). If they wanted to see the dentist because they needed a root canal - they will go whenever the dentist can see them. They don't say to their dentist, "Can you do the root canal on Tuesday night or Saturday morning instead?" No, they will take the afternoon off of work to "meet" when the dentist is available.
• I've learned that many people won't understand that I'm not available to do what they want me to do. They know I can't meet everyone's expectations, but they believe they are the exception. I've also learned that when I don't meet their expectations, it hurts their feelings. 
• I've learned that if someone really wants help - they will meet with anyone I tell them they should meet with. It may stroke my ego that they believe I am the only one who can help them, but it just isn't true and actually shows they may not truly be ready for help.
• I've learned that I must focus on only doing what only I can do, and what others are able to do - I need to let them do. Otherwise, there will continue to be massive demands on my time that I can't meet. 
• I've learned that I need to strategically give my time to things that best help our church make more and better disciples. Therefore, I prioritize groups over individuals (more impact). And I prioritize leaders (trickle-down impact). I think all our church leaders (formal and informal leaders) find that they still have very reasonable access to me.
• Finally, I've learned that the reason I need to say "no" more often is so that I can keep doing well what I do best. If I say "yes" to a majority of meetings and emails - I can't keep doing what I do best and what most helps our church make more and better disciples.   

So - that is a long explanation (yesterday and today) of the biggest disadvantage of pastoring a larger church, and I don't want it to feel imbalance as if it is a huge burden. I am definitely doing what God wired me to do. I wouldn't want to do anything else. I love going to work everyday, and I can't wait to see what God will continue to do at Northridge Church! God's blessing is totally undeserved, but it is such an exciting, fun ride!

The Biggest Disadvantage of Pastoring a Larger Church

Yesterday I shared four of my favorite blessings of pastoring a larger church. You can read that HERE. 

As I think about the burdens, many come to mind - especially when I'm tired or having a selfish (sinful) pity party. But, by far, the biggest disadvantage of pastoring a larger church is choosing how to spend my time.

I've discovered that every time our church doubles in size - the demands on my time triple or quadruple. If we've grown by 400%-500% over the last twelve years - the demands on my time have increased well beyond that 400%-500% - literally more like 1000%.

Here are a few examples:

• Daily, I receive a lot of church-related emails. My email load is the biggest time hog in my life. If the emails didn't need answers, it would be fine, but many of them are fairly intense (I REALLY wish I could give you some examples). But even though a majority are quickly dealt with, I can spend three or more hours a day doing emails that aren't helping me do my two main tasks (teaching and leading). 
• Weekly, I receive theological questions via email that deserve an answer. Those emails aren't usually answered in a paragraph, and often require a bit of research to answer well and point them to Scriptures and resources to more fully answer their question.
• Weekly, I receive emails of great questions like: "What does Northridge think about...?" "What do you believe about...?" "How should I respond to this...?"
• Weekly, I receive multiple requests for meetings or counseling. 
• Some people that were at Northridge when we were a church of 250 - still expect or assume that my relationship with each person won't change as we grow. That isn't realistic, and they know it if they think about it, but it is just assumed that I will simply gain more relationships as we grow.
• People who are new make some assumptions. Because I'm the one that communicates up front most regularly - and if my communication has connected with them - they assume and truly believe that I'm the best one to answer their quesitons, solve their problem, or help them in counseling.
• Many of our regulars will invite people to come to Northridge. When their friend shows up and says, "I would really like to talk to him (me) about..." That long-term attender at Northridge who LOVES their lost friend will do everything they can to get that desire fulfilled. I don't quesiton their motive. They want what is best for their friend who is far form God. 
• The amount of administration with a staff our size (18 employees) is more than I would anticipate for a small organization like ours.
• There are days every week when I tell Sue at the end of the day that I don't feel anything accomplished that day. And what I mean by that is that all I did was put out fires, answer emails, deal with moment-by-moment situations that arise from the staff, and have meetings - where I always seem to walk away with more to do.

Here is the issue:

• Therefore, the staff and Oversight Team have been calling on me to limit access to me so that I can do all that God has called me to do.
• To do what I do best (speak and lead) - I have to focus on what I do best which means I can't meet everyone's expectations.
• Everyone recognizes that I can't do everything people ask me to do, but their personal request makes so much sense - to them.
• Because I can quickly fall back into a people-pleasing sin, it creates disappointment in people and it creates stress inside of me. And too often, instead of disappointing people - I let down my family or simply overwork.

Here is what I am trying to do:

• A little over a year ago, we created our first organizational chart. Now - not all the staff have immediate and direct access to me on a daily basis. If they want to meet, they have to go through the proper channels. That is hard for some when they used to have easy access to me, and it's hard for me - as I feel like I'm letting them down. This is still very hard for me (even a year later).
• I am saying 'no' to all long-term counseling. At times, I may have one meeting with someone and if they are a church leader, a member of my community group, or staff - I will do counseling, but there is staff member who has more experience and training than me, and this is part of the reason we hired him. This is hard for those who are convinced I am the one who can solve their problem. And this is hard for me - as I want to help and I feel that I can help, but I've learned others can help - and many of them can do it better than me.  
• I am attempting to limit access to me by email. I've begun to use an auto-reply option letting people know that I will read it, but it may take a while and it may be someone else who answers. Others have and will be dealing with my email for me at times. I still will read it all (for now), but I let others answer if possible. We are at the early stages of this, but this will be a huge burden off of me. 

Some of you are in large businesses where you have had to limit access to you. Help me with my thinking. What am missing? How did you go about the process of limiting access to you? 

 

The Blessings of Pastoring a Larger Church

The second month of my ministry at Northridge (February 2001), our church averaged 249 Sunday AM attendees. We had averaged 287 my first month. I'm not sure if we actually lost 38 people in my first month or if everyone wanted to come check out the "new guy" so attendance was higher. I'm guessing it is the latter, but I'm not sure. So I think the 249 is a more accurate number for our attendance twelve years ago. This year, we've begun to cross the 1400 mark on some Sundays.

I've discovered that leading a church of 250 is much different than leading a church of 1400.

There are great blessings of pastoring a growing church and there are some significant burdens.

Let me share with you four of the greatest blessings of pastoring a larger church:

• I get to spend more time preparing for my sermons than I used to. When I first started here - there were three church employees - our church secretary, Dave Boehm and me. The other paid employee was our janitor who didn't attend church here and likely wasn't a believer. Now we have a lot more employees which allows me to focus more on my sermons than I used to. That is a huge advantage to our church.
• I get to focus on doing what I do best. I'm not a great counselor. We have staff who do that better than me. I wouldn't lead Community Groups well (I don't even lead my own community group well). I wouldn't be a good youth pastor anymore (I may have been a dozen years ago - although the jury is still out on that one). I wouldn't be valuable brainstorming on ideas for children's ministry. If I led Starting Point, it would be a disaster (I'd want to "tell" everyone all the right answers). The larger we are, the more I can focus what I am best at - teaching and leading, and let others do what they do best (and what they do much better than me).
• As a church, we have a bigger footprint. We recently gave away tens of thousands of dollars to other ministries. We couldn't have afforded to do that twelve years ago. I love that we have more resources to be more effective at what we do. We received an offering that was about 2.5 times the normal size of our weekly offering and we gave 100% of it away! 
• The quality of everything we do is way higher in a larger church. Our music is better. Our facilities are better. Our ability to meet needs is better. I love all of that.

There are also some burdens with leading a larger church (although 1300 isn't huge - it is larger than any church I've ever attended). Tomorrow I will mention the most significant disadvantage of pastoring a larger church.

Good to Great - part 3

For those who have never read "Good to Great" (and likely never will) - here is a summary of what it takes for a company, non-profit, or church to move from good to great.

1. LEVEL 5 LEADERSHIP - This was the big surprise of the study. Compared to high-profile leaders with big personalities who make headlines and become celebrities, the good-to-great leaders seem to have come from Mars. Self-effacing, quiet, reserved, even shy - these leaders are a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will. They are more like Lincoln and Socrates than patton or Caesar.
   
   
2. FIRST WHO... THEN WHAT - You would expect that good-to-great leaders would begin by setting a new vision and strategy. What was discovered instead is that they first got the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats - and then they figured out where to drive it. The old adage "People are your most important asset" turns out to be wrong. People are not your most important asset. The right people are.
   
   
3. CONFRONT THE BRUTAL FACTS (yet never lose faith) - Every good-to-great leader embraces what they called the Stockdale Paradox: You must maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, AND at the same time have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.
   
   
4. THE HEDGEHOG CONCEPT (simplicity within the Three Circles) - To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence. You must learn to see what is essential, and ignore the rest. All good-to-great companies attained a very simple concept that they used as a frame of reference for all their decisions, and this understanding coincided with breakthrough results.
   
   
5. A CULTURE OF DISCIPLINE - All companies have a culture, some companies have discipline, but few companies have a culture of discipline. When you have disciplined people, you don't need hierarchy. When you have disciplined thought, you don't need bureaucracy. When you have disciplined action, you don't need excessive controls. When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great performance.
   
   
6. TECHNOLOGY ACCELERATORS - Good-to-great companies think differently about the role of technology. They never use technology as the primary means of igniting a transformation. Yet, paradoxically, they are pioneers in the application of carefully selected technologies. We learned that technology itself is never a primary, root cause of either greatness or decline.
   
   
7. THE FLYWHEEL AND THE DOOM LOOP - Those who launch revolutions, dramatic change programs, and wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap from good to great. No matter how dramatic the end result, the good-to-great transformations never happened in one fell swoop. There was no single defining action, no grand program, no one killer innovation, no solitary lucky break, no miracle moment. Rather, the process resembled relentlessly pushing a giant heavy flywheel in one direction, turn upon turn, building momentum until a point of breakthrough, and beyond.

If you are an essential leader in an organization you believe in, you really should read this book!

Good to Great - part 2

I'm reading "Good to Great" with a bunch of friends at work and couldn't resist blogging some of my favorite quotes... (you can read part 1 HERE)

Seven of my favorite thoughts/quotes from the second half of the book:

• The cancer of mediocrity... (I love that phrase) (p. 121)
• Create a "stop doing list" and systematically unplug anything extraneous. (p. 124)
• In a sense, much of this book is about creating a culture of discipline. It all starts with disciplined people. The transition begins not by trying to discipline the wrong people into the right behaviors, but by getting self-disciplined people on the bus in the first place. Next we have disciplined thought. You need the discipline to confront the brutal facts of reality, while retaining resolute faith that you can and will create a path to greatness. Most importantly, you need the discipline to persist in the search for understanding until you get your Hedgehog Concept. Finally, we have disciplined action... This order is important. The comparison companies often tried to jump right to disciplined action. But disciplined action without self-disciplined people is impossible to sustain, and disciplined action without disciplined thought is a recipe for disaster. (p. 126)
• A great company is much more likely to die of indigestion from too much opportunity than starvation from too little. The challenge becomes not opportunity creation, but opportunity selection. It takes discipline to say, "No, thank you" to big opportunities. The fact that something is a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" is irrelevant if it doesn't fit with [your purpose]. (p. 136)
• Do you have a "to do" list? Do you also have a "stop doing" list? Most of us lead busy but undisciplined lives. We have ever-expanding "to do" lists, trying to build momentum by doing, doing, doing -- and doing more. And it rarely works. (p. 139)
• Indeed, the real question is not, "Why greatness?" but "What work makes you feel compelled to try to create greatness?" If you have to ask the question, "Why should we try to make it great? Isn't success enough?" then you're probably in the wrong line of work. (p. 209)
• The single biggest danger in business and life, other than outright failure, is to be successful without being resolutely clear about why you are successful in the first place. (p. 213)

 

Good to Great

My favorite non-Christian book is a business book - "Good to Great." I think so much of what the author says about companies can apply to churches. I just finished reading it for a third time since much of the staff is reading it for the first time and we will be discussing it Wednesday over lunch.

Seven of my favorite thoughts/quotes from the first 100 pages (I tried to limit it to five, but I just couldn't do it):

• Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great. We don't have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don't have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life. The vast majority of companies never become great, precisely because the vast majority become quite good - and that is their main problem. (p. 1)
• The good-to-great companies did not focus principally on what to do to become great; they focused on what not to do and what to stop doing. (p. 11)
• The good-to-great companies paid scant attention to managing change, motivating people, or creating alignment. Under the right conditions, the problems of commitment, alignment, motivation, and change largely melt away. (p. 11)
• We've extracted three practical disciplines from the research for being rigorous rather than ruthless. PRACTICAL DISCIPLINE #1: When in doubt, don't hire - keep looking; PRACTICAL DISCIPLINE #2: When you know you need to make a people change, act; PRACTICAL DISCIPLINE #3: Put your best people on your biggest opportunities, not your biggest problems. (pp. 54-60)
• Indeed, one of the crucial elements in taking a company from good to great is somewhat paradoxical. You need executives, on the one hand, who argue and debate - sometimes violently - in pursuit of the best answers, yet, on the other hand, who unify fully behind a decision, regardless of parochial interests. (p. 60)
• Members of the good-to-great teams tended to become and remain friends for life... The people we interviewed from the good-to-great companies clearly loved what they did, largely because they loved who they did it with. (p. 62)
• THE STOCKDALE PRINCIPLE: "This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end - which you can never afford to lose - with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be." (p. 85)

Overestimating the Power of One

It seems to me...

• Most pastors tend to overestimate the power of ONE sermon and undersestimate the power of MANY sermons.
• Most parents tend to overestimate the power of ONE conversation and underestimate the power of MANY conversations.
• Most small group leaders tend to overestimate the power of ONE meeting and underestimate the power of a semester of meetings.
• Most teachers tend to overestimate the power of ONE lesson and underestimate the power of MANY lessons.
• Most people tend to overestimate the power of ONE spoken "I love you" and underestimate the power of a lifetime of "I love you's".
• Many people tend to overestimate the negative impact of ONE unhealthy meal and underestimate the power of a year of healthy or unhealthy eating habits.

What other ones come to your mind?

 

4 Questions Every Church Leader Should Ask Themselves

This article comes from "The Resurgence" website. You can find the original article HERE.

My counselor told me of a study that was performed in 2007 of people in the ministry. He said that around 90% of the people entering the ministry do not finish—they either disqualify themselves or flat out quit! In light of this I wanted to share four questions I believe leaders should ask themselves:

1. Did I Really Think This Would Be Easy?

Read Luke 9:23...seriously, go ahead! "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." Where in the world did we ever get the idea that this was supposed to be easy? We are followers of Jesus who went all the way to to cross, yet for some reason we think he's called us to recline. Saying that ministry is hard is like a Navy Seal complaining to his commanding officer that his job is too hard! The CO would simply respond, "Of course it is...you are a Navy Seal!" The same can be said in ministry—it will never be easy but it will always be worth it. Thinking that ministry should be easy is one of the quickest ways to lose heart and quit!

2. Did I Really Think I Had This All Figured Out?

There is no way you could possibly begin to know what God is going to do in your church in the next 3-5 years. I know I will probably get roasted for this, but I honestly think that 3-5 year strategic plans are stupid! We have no idea what the condition of the world will be in the next 3-5 years...much less what our church is going to look like. We've simply got to learn to listen to the voice of God and follow Him one step at a time. And when our well devised plans and strategies seem to fall short, it's probably just going to get our attention to focus on him instead of trying to get him to put his stamp of approval on our well developed plan! (Acts 2 was not the result of a well thought out strategy but rather a group of men and women who were completely focused on Jesus and filled with this Holy Spirit!)

Thinking that ministry should be easy is one of the quickest ways to lose heart and quit!

3. Did I Really Think I Could Please Everyone?

Read Luke 4:14-30 and keep in mind this is JESUS and, after his sermon people took him to a cliff to throw him off of it! That's a rough response to a sermon! If he could not please everyone, neither can you. Please see Galatians 1:10; our call is to please him, not "them!" When we make it our goal to keep the sheep happy we will wind up disappointing the Chief Shepherd and live a ministry life of disappointment and frustration.

4. Did I Really Think I Could Do This On My Own?

So, read Zechariah 4:6...seriously! One of the things that success can do to us (if we are not careful) is force us into a mindset that we are somehow responsible for God's blessing, and we've got to work really hard to "out-do" ourselves. The result of this type of thinking is always burnout and unbelievable stress. God called us so that he would work through us and his power working through us is always the difference maker. Allowing him to work in us, preparing us, revealing himself to us and shaping us is the best way we can do what he has called us to do.

Those questions are helpful to me. I have read and re-read them several times over the last year.  What self-asked question would you add to the list?

16:5 Conference Coming Back to Northridge!

Last year we had our first 16:5 conference. We are having a second one this year! The conference is based on Acts 16:5 which says, "So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers."

The idea of the conference is that you don't have to choose between reaching people OR growing people. You can and must do both. It is all about more and better disciples. The conference is for pastors, church leaders and key volunteers.

Check out the website HERE to see a short video introducing the conference.  The dates are March 19-20, 2012. Send the link to a pastor or church leader and encourage them to attend the conference.

Also, like last year, we need a bunch of volunteers. If you are willing to help us (from about 11 AM on the 19th until about 2 PM on the 20th) - please let us know!