4 Questions To The Leadership Team

1. How are you doing spiritually?

As a young pastor, I don’t remember many people taking an interest in my personal spiritual life. My pastor was phenomenal at teaching us the Bible (and for that I’m forever grateful). But most of my early mentors didn’t help me develop my own disciplines for spiritual growth.
When I meet with staff members, I want to know how they’re doing spiritually.

In ministry, it’s way too easy to substitute ministry for our time with God. Doing ministry without spending time with God is like trying to drive a car without refilling the tank. Eventually, it just won’t work anymore.

Bill Hybels once said, “The way I was doing the work of God was destroying the work of God in me.” I don’t want that to happen to those who serve with me.

2. Who is speaking into your life?

If it's just me, PC, then you need to expand that. That’s why I want to know, “Who is speaking into your life?” Who’s rattling your world? Who thinks so radically that they give you a headache? Who’s correcting you when you need it?

One of the reasons we want to give you books to read is so you have people speaking into your life. If you're not a reader, you're not a leader.

3. How is your family doing?

My family is a big part of ministry. Hopefully, I’ve raised future Christian leaders who will bring glory to God in the world. My kids are grown and working toward leaving the nest.

Churches and ministry can be harmful to families. We put such crazy scheduling demands on pastors and leaders that having a strong family is almost impossible. I believe a strong ministry is an overflow of a strong family.

If I haven't said this before, I'm saying it now: your family comes first. If you invite someone to church and they come - you have the "day off" of ministry responsibilities so you can focus on them. That's more important.

Guard family time. No one will do it for you. What about you? How is your family?

4. When is the last time you failed?

This may sound like an unusual question, but it’s one of my favorites to ask. I want to know, “When is the last time you failed?”

When you’re not failing, you’re not growing. Some of the most valuable lessons the disciples learned from Jesus immediately followed failure. Jesus allowed them to fail.

I’m glad to say that I’ve tried things that didn’t go so well (as most of you well know!). The good news is: When I fail, it gives me the chance to learn. When I fail, I increase my tolerance for failure, helping me not to become complacent. When I fail, I continue to inspire others to take faith risks.

What about you? When is the last time you’ve failed?