I currently serve as Director of Connections at my church, and it has been an incredible learning experience. Our church has seen exponential growth since we launched in 2019. When we started, we didn’t have our own space or our own building! Every Sunday, a team would start early in the morning (4 a.m. early!) to set up our church experience in a local middle school.
You’d be amazed at how you can transform classrooms into nurseries, a gym into an elevated sanctuary, and a stinky middle school boys’ bathroom into a pleasant experience. We knew that God would provide our own space one day, but we wanted to be good stewards of what He had already given us.
Don’t you know that when there seems to be no way—God makes a way.
January of 2022, we had our first church service in our very own building. An old grocery store that looked abandoned was made new with a lot of prayer, a lot of paint, and a lot of hard labor!
As our serve teams grew rapidly in our new home, we found it was difficult for a single level of leadership to pastor all those people well. Not only did the teams under them feel disconnected, but the leaders were also becoming overwhelmed and burnt out.
Our leadership team began diving into what the Bible teaches us about leading others well and we began to apply Jesus’ leadership style to our own strategy.
To build strong teams, it is imperative that each leader is not overseeing a large group of people to pastor. Through Scripture, we see Jesus leading the 12 disciples, but He really poured into the three men of His inner circle: Peter, James, and John. Jesus set the example for us! If we want to build strong teams, we must start with healthy leaders and that means setting them up for success with manageable teams.
Encouraging healthy leadership can feel like an overwhelming task at times; keeping up with careers, family, and church leadership is hard for an unpaid team member! We knew that there were certain qualities that bring out the best in people and create sustainable leaders. When that happens, those serving under their leadership naturally grow and become passionate about what they are doing.
Leaders have to have heart … or more specifically H.E.A.R.T!
H- Healthy
A healthy leader commits to improve spiritually, emotionally, physically, relationally, financially, and mentally.
E- Energy Bringer
A leader who is an energy-bringer is life-giving, chooses joy, celebrates others, and believes the best is still ahead!
A- All In
An all-in leader is faithful, consistent, teachable, and selfless because they have a heart for the house.
R- Relational
A relational leader is approachable, responsive, believes the best about others, and values who people are becoming over what they are doing.
T- Take it Personally
A leader who takes it personally goes first, hustles, takes initiative, assumes responsibility, and has an owner’s mentality.
When a leader has heart, not only do they improve in their own responsibilities, but it triggers a domino effect … your teams will become healthier, feel fulfilled by their service and be eager to go above and beyond!
Every organization, whether a church, nonprofit, or corporate business, struggles to identify and build up strong leaders that can navigate personal development and shepherding attributes of leadership.
I’m confident that no matter the structure of your organization, your teams will benefit by putting a focus on building leaders with HEART!
Let the professionals at Infinity Concepts help you build healthy leaders and create thriving teams!
CLICK HERE or call us today at 724-733-1200.
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