To My Friends, and My Staff

I love you guys.  I consider you to be my best friends which makes what we do one of my greatest joys and also one of my greatest challenges.  I know that the demand of ministry can be great and the pace of ministry can be fast.  Because of that, I wanted to take a few minutes and clarify what I need from you as my teammates.

I need you to love Jesus. This should go without saying, but I’m gonna say it anyway.  Your greatest ministry will flow out of your walk with Jesus.  I don’t need you to love Jesus because your job depends on, I need you to love Jesus because your life depends on it.

I need you to love your wife. Your greatest accomplishment will come from your home, not your job.  I fully believe this and will do my best to model it for you.  I would rather lose you than for you to lose your marriage.  As much as I want to believe that we will all serve together forever the reality is that we may not.  It is my hope that your marriage will be stronger as a result of serving this church.

I need you to represent Lifepoint well. There is no such thing as “off the clock” when it comes to ministry.  Unfortunately, ministry comes with a glass house and people are always watching.  I want you be comfortable being yourself but know that you are always representing God and Lifepoint in all you do.

I need you to live with complete integrity. We live in a world of compromised convictions.  Let your Yes, be Yes, and you No, be No.  I expect that the person that people see on stage is the same person they would see off stage.  We can not tolerate even a hint of immorality.  I’m tired of hearing about friends in ministry who lost everything because they couldn’t keep their pants on.  The solution to this is to have healthy boundaries, accountable relationships, and a close walk with Jesus.

I need you to rest. You will function best when you rest.  Rest is not for the weak it is for the godly.  I expect for you to work hard and rest well.  Go to bed at a decent hour.  Enjoy your time off.  Use all your vacation days and don’t feel guilty about it.  You don’t get bonus points in my book for arriving early and staying late.  It tells me that either there is too much on your plate and we need to change your role or you are not working efficiently.  Don’t be afraid to talk to me about your workload.

I need you to be healthy. I want you to be in ministry for the long haul.  It is easy to care for everyone in the world and neglect yourself.  Hit the gym.  Lose the gut.  Get in shape.  It will change your energy, honor God, and speak volumes to those around you.

I need you to spend money wisely. Everything we have belongs to God.  Every dollar we spend has been entrusted to us to advance His Kingdom.  I need you to budget wisely and spend sparingly.  If you need it, I want you to have it.  Don’t allow money to limit your creativity.

I need you to be on time. If a meeting starts at 3pm I need you to be there at 2:55pm.  Your punctuality says that you value your teammates

I need you to be prepared. I expect you to come to a meeting prepared to discuss the action items you were responsible for.  I don’t need you researching it during the meeting.  If you don’t come prepared you will lose your invite.

I need feedback. It pumps me up to hear what is going on in your ministries.  I am never too busy to listen to a story about what God is doing throughout your team or read an email celebrating a win.  In my book, “no news” usually does not equal good news.

I need honesty. I don’t want “yes men.”  If you haven’t learned by now, I have a new idea everyday…and not all of them are good.  When I’m sharing an idea, I’m looking for dialogue.  I want to know what you think even if you disagree.  Your opinion is worthless if you don’t share it.  Behind closed doors I want us to discuss, debate, and disagree.  Once a decision is made we must all own the decision.

I need positivity. I don’t believe a follower of Jesus has the right to be negative.  Never forget that on your worst day you’re still going to heaven.  A negative attitude is a cancer to an organization.  We’re all gonna be guilty of negativity from time to time.  In those moments, shut your door, give it to Jesus and get on with your work.  We can’t charge hell with our heads up our tails.

I need you to dream. I get energized hearing the dreams and thoughts that run through your head.  I love to live in “what if” land.  Dreams exist at the intersection of margin and passion.  A lack of dreaming is usually a lack of either of those two things.

I need you to shepherd. Regardless of your role, you are a shepherd.  God has entrusted us with a bunch of people who are looking for someone to care for them.  I need to know that you are committed to pastoring the people under your care.

I need you to grow. The demands of ministry tomorrow will be different from the demands of ministry today.  You have to grow with the role.  The day any of us decides to stop growing is the day we sign our own resignation letter.

I need you to lead. You are on staff because you have the gift of leadership.  I need you to own your teams and responsibilities.  Your job is not to do everything but to ensure it gets done.  As a leader you are not just a vision carrier but a vision caster.  Leadership is not easy but it is essential.

I need you. As long as God has placed you on this team your input and insight are important.  I can’t do it without you.  I need your prayers, encouragement, challenge, friendship, and teamwork.  I am honored to serve alongside each of you.

Thank you for being on the Lifepoint team.

Your Pastor,

Jeff

I need you to grow. The demands of ministry tomorrow will be different from the demands of ministry today.  You have to grow with the role.  The day any of us decides to stop growing is the day we sign our own resignation letter.

I need you to lead. You are on staff because you have the gift of leadership.  I need you to own your teams and responsibilities.  Your job is not to do everything but to ensure it gets done.  As a leader you are not just a vision carrier but a vision caster.  Leadership is not easy but it is essential.

I need you. As long as God has placed you on this team your input and insight are important.  I can’t do it without you.  I need your prayers, encouragement, challenge, friendship, and teamwork.  I am honored to serve alongside each of you.

Thank you for being on the Lifepoint team.

Your Pastor,

Jeff

I need honesty. I don’t want “yes men.”  If you haven’t learned by now, I have a new idea everyday…and not all of them are good.  When I’m sharing an idea, I’m looking for dialogue.  I want to know what you think even if you disagree.  Your opinion is worthless if you don’t share it.  Behind closed doors I want us to discuss, debate, and disagree.  Once a decision is made we must all own the decision.

I need positivity. I don’t believe a follower of Jesus has the right to be negative.  Never forget that on your worst day you’re still going to heaven.  A negative attitude is a cancer to an organization.  We’re all gonna be guilty of negativity from time to time.  In those moments, shut your door, give it to Jesus and get on with your work.  We can’t charge hell with our heads up our tails.

I need you to dream. I get energized hearing the dreams and thoughts that run through your head.  I love to live in “what if” land.  Dreams exist at the intersection of margin and passion.  A lack of dreaming is usually a lack of either of those two things.

I need you to shepherd. Regardless of your role, you are a shepherd.  God has entrusted us with a bunch of people who are looking for someone to care for them.  I need to know that you are committed to pastoring the people under your care.

I need you to be on time. If a meeting starts at 3pm I need you to be there at 2:55pm.  Your punctuality says that you value your teammates.

I need you to be prepared. I expect you to come to a meeting prepared to discuss the action items you were responsible for.  I don’t need you researching it during the meeting.  If you don’t come prepared you will lose your invite.

I need feedback. It pumps me up to hear what is going on in your ministries.  I am never too busy to listen to a story about what God is doing throughout your team or read an email celebrating a win.  In my book, “no news” usually does not equal good news.

I need you to rest. You will function best when you rest.  Rest is not for the weak it is for the godly.  I expect for you to work hard and rest well.  Go to bed at a decent hour.  Enjoy your time off.  Use all your vacation days and don’t feel guilty about it.  You don’t get bonus points in my book for arriving early and staying late.  It tells me that either there is too much on your plate and we need to change your role or you are not working efficiently.  Don’t be afraid to talk to me about your workload.

I need you to be healthy. I want you to be in ministry for the long haul.  It is easy to care for everyone in the world and neglect yourself.  Hit the gym.  Lose the gut.  Get in shape.  It will change your energy, honor God, and speak volumes to those around you.

I need you to spend money wisely. Everything we have belongs to God.  Every dollar we spend has been entrusted to us to advance His Kingdom.  I need you to budget wisely and spend sparingly.  If you need it, I want you to have it.  Don’t allow money to limit your creativity.

I need you to love your wife. Your greatest accomplishment will come from your home, not your job.  I fully believe this and will do my best to model it for you.  I would rather lose you than for you to lose your marriage.  As much as I want to believe that we will all serve together forever the reality is that we may not.  It is my hope that your marriage will be stronger as a result of serving this church.

I need you to represent Lifepoint well. There is no such thing as “off the clock” when it comes to ministry.  Unfortunately, ministry comes with a glass house and people are always watching.  I want you be comfortable being yourself but know that you are always representing God and Lifepoint in all you do.

I need you to live with complete integrity. We live in a world of compromised convictions.  Let your Yes, be Yes, and you No, be No.  I expect that the person that people see on stage is the same person they would see off stage.  We can not tolerate even a hint of immorality.  I’m tired of hearing about friends in ministry who lost everything because they couldn’t keep their pants on.  The solution to this is to have healthy boundaries, accountable relationships, and a close walk with Jesus.

To My Friends, and My Staff

I love you guys.  I consider you to be my best friends which makes what we do one of my greatest joys and also one of my greatest challenges.  I know that the demand of ministry can be great and the pace of ministry can be fast.  Because of that, I wanted to take a few minutes and clarify what I need from you as my teammates.

I need you to love Jesus. This should go without saying, but I’m gonna say it anyway.  Your greatest ministry will flow out of your walk with Jesus.  I don’t need you to love Jesus because your job depends on, I need you to love Jesus because your life depends on it.

“Go-To” people don’t usually have anyone to Go To!

What about you?  Who do you talk to when you are facing difficulties?  In my own life I’ve found that the more our church has grown the fewer people I feel comfortable opening up and sharing my struggles with.

When the going gets tough, many Leaders don’t have anyone to go to.  This needs to change!  Nobody outgrows the need to have others involved in their life.

Flying solo is stupid.  We need people.

Personally, my wife is my greatest asset when it comes to seeking wisdom.  I also have great friends around me that have an all access pass to my life.  I meet with a professional counselor on a monthly basis.  I have a weekly phone call with two incredible Pastor friends.

What about you?  When the going gets tough, who do you go to?

• I was most excited about this move because it wasn’t birthed out of a strategy session but an intense time of seeking the Lord.
• I saw our leaders take ownership of their teams more throughout this move than ever before. I am so proud of each of you guys and ladies.
• We kicked off a series called People of The Second Chance.
• Major shout out to our parking team!  I heard you guys got a workout!
• Parking is our biggest challenge but our team is up for it.
• PERMANENT SEATS!  Can I get an amen!
• Our set design team did a fantastic job using re-purposed materials.
• I got to give huge props to John Gibson and Brad Barbour for their amazing design skills!  The banners and material looked stellar!
• Our Kidzone team straight up owned that gym and made it look incredible.  My kids said they had a blast!
• We added a new spindle with invite cards on it and it was cool to see people grabbing handfuls of them!
• Standing in the courtyard after the services was neat.  I got to speak to tons of people!  Their was definitely a buzz about the place.
• We launched an outreach partnership with The A21 Campaign to fight human trafficking.  In our support of A21 we sold “keys to freedom” and gave away 10% of our offering!  We sold all the keys!  Some people gave $40 for a $10 key.  We truly have a generous church!
• We got to send $2800 to A21 today!
• We set off the fire alarm…we’re gonna try not to do that again!  We know NOW!
• I was so proud of Chris Cox and his usher team for doing such a great job seating everyone!  You guys were like pipe and drape ninjas!
• I love the energy of people lining up to get in church!
• We had a bunch of new friends join us yesterday.  68 First time families.
• We saw 23 people pray to begin a relationship with Jesus!  THAT IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT!
• All our dream team members received new Lifepoint shirts that looked amazing!
• The stories of life-change are already coming in.
• We ran out of parking 2nd service.  We’ll have an even better strategy this week.
• We have 695 usable seats.  Our 2nd service was at 74% capacity.
• Some of our 11:15 folks are gonna have to become 9:15 folks.  Never thought I’d have to say that after the first service.
• One of my highlights of the day was seeing my friend Diana come back to church!  Her story is one of God’s unrelenting grace.
• Our Volunteer HeadQuarters was off the chain!  I’m so excited about what Terry and Celeste have done to serve our team.
• People were lined up to stop by our First Time Guest tent following the service.  Neal and Dee did a great job with their team serving our guests and giving away free T-shirts!
• What can I say about our Greeter Team???  They were EVERYWHERE!  Janell and her team did such a terrific job making people feel welcome.  I had several guests brag about how welcomed they felt!
• Our band sounded incredible!  Fantastic job by Craig on the board this weekend!
• We were blessed to have our friend and insane musician Cait Plage with us this weekend!
• Jeff Smith and the production team were knocking it out of the park.  New Screens, projectors, lights, and venue is no challenge for them!
• I’ve got to say, I serve with the most humble and gifted servants on the Lifepoint Staff!  These guys and lady have worked their tails off over the past month to make this move happen.  Your hard work was not in vain!  God used you guys greatly!
• I want to thank the 13 that joined me for an impromptu prayer gathering on Thursday night!  We’ll never know the full impact of our prayers until eternity but we do know that they were effective.
• I’ve got to say thanks to the best Executive Pastor on the planet, Daryl Strickland! God worked through you in a powerful way during this transition.  Thank you for your leadership and friendship!

With all that went on this weekend I’m sure I’m missing a bunch of things that happened so why don’t you guys give a shout out in the comments section below.

On top of all the exciting stuff we’ve got going on around Lifepoint we are throwing a little fuel on the fire with our special guest and friend Cait Plage joining our team for worship this Sunday.  We had Cait lead worship for us about 2 years ago and it was incredible.  She has since been in Nashville touring and recording her new album.  You can check some of her music on her myspace page.

See you this Sunday at Roland-Grise Middle School–9:15am & 11:15am