josh whitehead

This afternoon I was mowing the grass and when I mow, there’s a lot of time to think. My thoughts focused in on the challenges of leadership ~ no matter how much I study and learn about leadership, it is hard and often unnatural.

In the church world, we most often lead through volunteers. After sitting in a lot of meetings, I have determined that we as church leaders just struggle to get “it” sometimes. Here’s what I often hear church leaders say (I’ve said it too):

We just need volunteers to step up in ministry and lead.

But, although that is partially true, that is the WRONG perspective. Here’s what I believe to be the right perspective for those in ministry:

As leaders, we need to empower volunteers to lead – and to lead BIG.

So often volunteers can’t lead because I can’t get out of the way. Instead of setting the parameters, letting them go and guiding them along the way, I play leadership pinball with them. In pinball, the person pushing the flipper buttons has all the control. We as church staff are often using volunteers as our flippers.

So, we need to empower them to lead. But that’s not how we think, so we have to change our thought processes on leadership. Who are you waiting for to “step up” instead of empowering them to lead? Why don’t you call them and talk to them about how they can become even more effective in the Kingdom (but only do it if you’re willing to get out of the way).