This series of blogs is about three incredible people who have influenced my life in a big way. Each of them have been a coach to me in different seasons of my life. I am so thankful for all they have done to help me grow in my leadershi

p and relationship with Christ.

Sam Farina is the one who really taught me how to be a ministry coach.

When I was 15 and 16, for two summers, I had the incredible opportunity to travel with Sam. I got to meet Reggie Dabbs, Gary Grogan, Mike Shields, Rich Wilkerson- all these incredible people and friends I have today. He taught me how to pray in the altar with people, he brought me to Chicago Outreach- so many people I know and have relationship with are because I got to travel with Sam.

One of the greatest things he let me do that summer was to sit in the room with some of the most incredible leaders every evening after the service. Those summers taught me 2 things: Who I wanted to be like, and who I did NOT want to be like.

There were all of these people who were mean to teenagers.

There were speakers who were one way on the platform and totally different off of it.

But then there were the people like Gary Grogan and Sam who just loved me for being ME.

The first “honorarium” I ever received was a $20 bill with a note from Gary Grogan that said, “You made a difference this week at camp.” I didn’t even want to spend the money because it was such a big deal!!

At MinistryCoach.tv, Sam instructs The Coaching Guide course, and I can’t think of anyone better to do it. He’s an active member of the International Coach Federation, and he’s a powerful communicator.

To learn more about Sam, click here.

To check out his course on MinistryCoach.tv, click here.

This series of blogs is about three incredible people who have influenced my life in a big way. Each of them have been a coach to me in different seasons of my life. I am so thankful for all they have done to help me grow in my leadership

and relationship with Christ.

I became a youth pastor in 1989, and when I started I was only 17 years old. I was blessed to get to go meet Jeanne in Rockford, and she just loved me and took me under her wing. She is the queen mama of youth ministry! She just poured encouragement out on me, helped me, told me I was the greatest, just like she has for so many over the years. Her legacy is HUGE.

Jeanne’s successful ministry has placed her in high demand as a youth ministry and youth leadership communicator. She travels around the world, speaking to teenagers, college students and their leaders. Now one of her greatest joys during these travels is to re-connect with some of her hundreds of spiritual sons and daughters in full-time ministry all over the world.

In the “Flip That Youth Group” course on MinistryCoach.tv, Jeanne walks leaders through how to apply the principles she has used over the years to grow incredible youth ministries across the United States. Check out more about her course here.

Jeanne also hosts an annual conference for youth leaders and it is INCREDIBLE! If you’re a youth leader, you will not want to miss the Canvas Conference in Atlanta on March 12-14th. Click here for more info.

This series of blogs is about the incredible people who have influenced my life in a big way. Each of them have been a coach to me in different seasons of my life. I am so thankful for all they have done to help me grow in my leadership and r

elationship with Christ.

As I’ve mentioned before, Dr. Sam Chand was the catalyst for the creation of MinistryCoach.tv. He is a former pastor, college president, chancellor and now serves as President Emeritus of Beulah Heights University, but his singular focus in this stage of his life is equipping leaders. In the course he instructs on MinistryCoach.tv, Dr. Chand helps pastors to decipher their church’s particular culture to effectively implement vision and strategy.

I can personally tell you: THIS WORKS.

In his book, “Cracking Your Church’s Culture Code,” he basically says in Chapter 8 that if I can do it, anybody can. Check this out.>>

To learn more about Dr. Chand, click here.

To check out his course on MinistryCoach.tv, click here.

Format

This series of blogs is about the incredible people who have influenced my life in a big way. Each of them have been a coach to me in different seasons of my life. I am so thankful for all they have done to help me grow in my leadership and relationship with Christ.
As I’ve mentioned before, Dr. Sam Chand was the catalyst for the creation of MinistryCoach.tv. He is a former pastor, college president, chancellor and now serves as President Emeritus of Beulah Heights University, but his singular focus in this stage of his life is equipping leaders. In the course he instructs on MinistryCoach.tv, Dr. Chand helps pastors to decipher their church’s particular culture to effectively implement vision and strategy.
I can personally tell you: THIS WORKS.
In his book, “Cracking Your Church’s Culture Code,” he basically says in Chapter 8 that if I can do it, anybody can. Check this out.>>
To learn more about Dr. Chand, click here.
To check out his course on MinistryCoach.tv, click here.
Path:

It’s impossible

to be successful in business, ministry, or in life without learning to manage the expectations of others.

When I first became pastor of The Oaks, I sat down with the elders of the church and I asked them to write down on a card all the things they expected from me as their pastor. I wrote down everything they put on a card on a white board in the room. There were 36 different things. I looked at them and said, “This is impossible for one person to do.”

I’m glad they all agreed.

So I began asking them if it would be okay if I had someone else do most of the hospital calls. They said, “Sure, as long as they get done.”

I said, “What about counseling? Can I get someone else to do that?” Again they said, “Sure, as long as it’s handled with excellence.”

We were able to erase (delegate) everything on the board but three things. They wanted me to:

1. Be the visionary leader of the organization (this included raising funds).

2. Hire, train, and fire the staff of our church

3. Show up to preach

I learned 3 HUGE things through this process:

1. You have to clearly set expectations, or you will never know when you are meeting them. If I would have left it up to the nine men in that room to judge my success, each one of them would have defined it differently, leaving me with the impossible task of trying to meet 36 different expectations on the board.

2. If you aren’t going to be able to meet expectations, manage them. If you can’t deliver what you promised, or can’t get it done on time, you better let people know. If I tell my wife I’ll be home at 6PM and I get home at 7, I will be in big trouble. She’ll look at me when I come through the door and say, “Why are you so late? I thought (expectation) you were going to be home at 6. You could have at least called (managed my expectation).” Let people know where you are and how you are doing so they won’t be surprised when you don’t meet their expectation.

3. If you want people to be amazed at your work, exceed their expectations. If you want to bring the WOW factor to your work, you can’t just do what’s in your job description. You’ve got to do more than they expect. Do what you are supposed to do, but get it done early, or come in under budget, or get an ROI on the investment that is above what they were expecting.

For more on this topic, click here to check out the “Managing Pastor-Board Relationships” course on MinistryCoach.tv.

I was reading a book the other d

ay that said, “If we fail to manage our time, nothing else in our lives can and will be managed.” That’s a powerful statement, and it’s true. In order to make a difference, you have to manage your time as a leader in a way that supports your focus and gives you ultimate productivity.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Make time for what really matters. If you don’t schedule it, it won’t happen. You have to be intentional about doing the important things. When you don’t schedule the priorities, the less important things will dominate your time.

2. Understand when to say no. People know you can’t do EVERYTHING, but they want you to do THEIR thing. When you are gifted and successful at what you do, you will receive good opportunity after good opportunity, but you have to be able to see through the GOOD opportunities to see the GOD opportunities. You’ve got to able to say no to things that don’t fit your focus.

3. Have a process for saying yes. It’s essential to process every opportunity through the filter of your strengths and calling. When you accept every opportunity without processing it first, you will be in real danger of giving your life to things that take a lot of activity without productivity.

4. Delegate tasks that don’t fit your focus or strengths. As a leader, you should always ask yourself if someone else in the organization could be doing the tasks you are doing. If they could, they should. If you will delegate the tasks that others can do, you will have more energy and focus to give to the things that only you can do.

If you feel like you’re running around in circles with lots of activity but no productivity, you may want to consider what made the difference for me: a coach. Check out the courses and coaches at MinistryCoach.tv here.