In the 13 years I’ve been at North Point Community Church I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been amazed at the quality of people the church continues to attract. Their ability to make high quality leadership decisions in order to stretch their organization to reach the world for Christ is worth taking note of.
This weekend Andy Stanley announced Joel Thomas as the new campus pastor for the Alpharetta Campus. If you’re thinking “isn’t that the main campus, the mother ship?” you’re right. Andy’s moving out of that role and into an advisory role over what will soon be five local campuses for North Point Ministries. Joel has been with the church for more than a decade and will not only fill that role but probably exceed what has been accomplished with it to date.
If you hold a leadership role in your organization here are a few things worth thinking about.
1. Leadership is the lifeblood of growth
Great organizations have great leaders. Great leaders are in the leadership development business. They constantly find people with the competence and character to fuel their organization. Growing leaders is a process that’s more like a crock pot than a microwave, and there isn’t a guaranteed recipe. You’re going to have to get your hands dirty with people helping them through some personal barriers to leadership before they can really break out.
So who are your up and coming leaders? How can you invest regularly in a couple of them? Are their people who aren’t on staff who should be?
2. Only do what only you can do
Ok this isn’t the first time you’ve heard this, but how are you making it happen? For most of us either you can do this or you can’t. We have to do it all. However, “only doing what only I can do” should be a goal, even if it’s a long term goal. Do you know what it is that only you can do in your organization? Could you make a list of those things? What are the things you do that anyone in your organization could do? How can you delegate one or two of those things today? While you’re at it, what are one or two things you do that nobody in your organization should be doing? If you’re in a church and you’re not leveraging people in your congregation for some of those things, you’re denying them the growth that might come from serving in that capacity.
3. Cast Vision and Stand Back
You may not be the best leader on your staff. I know that might be hard to swallow, but hopefully it’s true. If you’re going to reach your goal of only doing what only you can do you have to develop a lot of people who can do things better than you can in other areas. Let go of the wheel systematically and over time. Create a culture where failure is not only accepted but encouraged.
Which leaders in your organization need to make a regular appearance on your calendar? Send the invitation right now!
Lead well and multiply!
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Well said Richard!
You blog is so lovely that speak the words right out my month. The familiar perspectives on this topic really calls for a drink. I bookmarkt you so that we can talk about it in details, see ya, pal!
Fabulous posting bro. This important is just a tremendously nicely structured post, just the critical info I was looking just for. I praise you
Thanks for this! I’ve been searching all over the web for the info.
Loved this post man. Loved everything about it. Sharing it with our staff team this week. Thanks for your passion and thanks for writing it!!
“Lead well and multiply”–that’s just what Jesus did. Great stuff.
Thanks for the feed back Adam, means more to me than you know.