Accountability

Accountability is a necessity!  In fact, accountability is one of the most essential things that everyone must have in their lives.  This is especially true for those in leadership.  There will never be a time in your life when you reach the point where accountability is no longer necessary.  Leaders who think this way will eventually fall flat on their face.  If you don't believe me just take a moment to research every CEO, company president, or politician who's fallen from their lofty status.  At some point during their tenure, accountability grew lax.  This cannot happen in your own life.  Below are a couple of suggestions as to how you can remain accountable in your life as a leader:

1. Keep your spouse in the know.  Your spouse does not need to know every little detail, but make sure they know the big picture and what your day consisted of.
2. Keep a detailed scheduled.  A lot of people find this difficult, but it is very necessary.  Every luncheon, meeting, training time, etc., needs to be in your calendar.  This will allow your assistant to know where you are at all times, and not open the door for accusations that you are wasting your time or not doing anything.
3. Have someone monitor your internet history.  Don't allow a one-time mishap become a life-long struggle.
4. Avoid collecting money.  Have someone else be the designated money collector.
5. Have an accountability group.  You need a group of 2 or 3 close friends that you can meet with at least once a week to open up and be completely honest with.

These five things seem so simple, but if you are not careful, you can slowly squeeze them out of your life and leave yourself open to a painful fall.  Always remember that accountability is too important not to do.

The Local Church is Sinking and Most People Don't Know it.

When a ship hits an iceberg and begins to sink, no one needs to tell the passengers.  Everyone knows what has happened and they know that it is not good.  No amount of arguing or disagreeing can change the fact that the ship is in trouble and action must be taken.  In fact, failure to acknowledge the problem will do nothing but lead to a passengers' own demise.  This is especially true if the captain denies that anything is wrong.  Just picture it:  You are a passenger on a luxury cruise line and suddenly you are tossed to the ground due to a sudden impact. You then realize that you're cabin is slowly starting to fill with water.  Suddenly, the captain comes over the PA system and announces that nothing is wrong and for everyone to keep going on as normal.  How foolish would that scenario be if you found yourself in it.  Of course something is wrong.  Otherwise there would not be water filling up your cabin.  To deny that truth does not change the fact that it is true!

With all that being said, I would like to make an announcement to most local churches:  YOUR SHIP IS SINKING!  You might be in denial,and hoping that it is not true, but that does not change the fact that it is happening rapidly all across America.  The worst part about this truth is that most churches do not even realize it.  We have basked in past successes for far too long and in the process are losing an entire generation.  May I suggest that the time has come for church leadership to stop trying to ignore the problem and to come out and let the people know that we are in trouble.  I know that it's not the best news in the world, and I know that no one likes to paint a dismal picture.  However, if we are unwilling to acknowledge that there is a problem, how can it ever be fixed?  My biggest fear is that the American church will continue to sink and that everyone, including the captain, will go down with her.  

There is a silver lining in this gloomy post, and His name is Jesus.  If you look all throughout the Old and New Testament, you will see example upon example of a God who is in the business of bringing renewed life and revival to desperate situations.  A couple of suggestions:

1. Admit that the ship is going down and let everyone else know too.  There's no reason to mask the problem any longer.  Share it with your people.
2. Point everyone back to the cross of Christ.  This may sound cliche, but the answer is found at the foot of the cross and no where else.  You cannot rip the rug out from underneath everyone without giving them hope as well.
3. Pray earnestly.  Somewhere along the way the American church stopped praying corporately   I'm not speaking of praying for every boo boo that everyone has, but earnestly praying for revival.
4. Be prepared to make tough decisions.  I will try and put this as delicately as I possibly can.  WHAT WE'VE BEEN DOING IS NOT WORKING.  We have to be willing to change in order to be effective once more.
5. Be willing to put in the time.  As far as I see it, leadership and laity have one of two options.  We can either abandon ship, or we can roll up our sleeves and work together to fix the problem.  Which choice will you make?

Few Leaders Lead

Leaders lead.  Sounds like a simple enough statement.  If one wants to be a leader, then he or she must lead.  Even though this statement is an easy one to grasp mentally, I have discovered that it is an extremely difficult one for people to execute.  There are a large number of people who are in leadership roles that do not know how to lead.  Now please don't misunderstand me.  Hear what I am not saying.  I'm not saying that people don't know how to lock themselves in their office and come up with some sort of direction for their ministry.  I'm not saying that people in these positions are not motivated to do good and desire to see great things happen.  I'm not even saying that success does not occur on some level.  What I am saying is that a large number of people in ministry have been thrust into a leadership role never having been taught how to lead others, and because of this, a lot of ministries are floundering.

I am going to do a dangerous thing and assume that a large number of ministers in leadership positions are praying for their ministries.  I'm also going to assume that biblical truth is being taught and that your own walk with the Lord is growing.  I'm also going to assume that the vast majority of ministers are frustrated that nothing is happening within their ministries.  I do not claim to have all of the answers, however, I do believe that lack of leadership stiffles growth and can even paralyze a ministry.  What if a couple of small tweaks in your leadership style helped to catapult your ministry forward instead of it remaining stagnate.  Allow me to make a couple of small suggestions:

1. Make long term plans.  Leaders should constantly be asking the question, "Where are we heading."  Unfortuntatly, so many leaders are just trying to keep their heads above water that they neglect to cast vision to their organization.  If you do not have a vision for the future, no one else in your ministry will either.
2. Communicate, communicate, communicate.  If you think that you have overcommunicated something, then people are just starting to hear what you are saying.  Overcommunication is always better than under communication.  Find multiple ways to communicate.  E-mails, social media, lunch meetings, videos, etc.  The more you communicate, the better off you'll be.
3. Recruitment never ends.  Just because you have all of your sunday school spots filled does not mean you should stop looking for future workers.  Constantly be in recruitment mode.  If you are in a smaller church where help is hard to find, this is doubly important.  Find someone and begin investing in them NOW.
4. Encourage your team.  Encourage them during the good times and encourage them during the bad.  Write notes, send an e-mail, take them out for lunch.  Find ways to encourage the team that's around you.