I was hired seven years ago when our then portable church was cresting at 1600 attendees across 3 Sunday morning services. I believe that’s the critical mass at which volunteer dynamics change dramatically. The perceived need for quality in all areas grows because of your greater visibility in the community. You’re able to hire for positions you couldn’t afford when you were half the size. It’s also a phase of ecclesiastical puberty in which you look to larger churches for direction. You try on different personalities like Peter in the Brady Bunch episode, “The Personality Kid.” (Porkchopsh and appleshaushe…) God knows we’ve tried on a little Saddleback, a little Willow, and a little North Point in finding our own groove. It’s natural.

Cornerstone had just rolled out a new website with a custom content management system to make it easy for volunteers to update. It became clear that with a public website, our greater visibility required more in terms of quality and accountability than a volunteer team could provide. I was hired primarily as the webmaster and that allowed me to wear the audio engineer hat as well.

I offer this bit of personal history to preface this: I was not prepared for the bait-and-switch my new job handed me. The bait was being hired to do things I love to do (and do well) like mix a Sunday service. The switch was the responsibility for leadership, training and development of volunteer teams. I felt like a drive-by victim of the Peter Principle, promoted to the level of my incompetence. I failed miserably at team building in the early years and it’s still my weakest suit. The thing is with techs and artists, it’s hard to find a good leader and a good doer under the same batch of skin.

Nowadays, church staff members around the country are being laid off in droves and if you keep up with church-related blogs you’re in touch with the panicked rush back toward volunteerism. I got an email from a tech director at a church in Danville asking how we “do volunteers.” Just this morning at a geeky audio message board I frequent, a guy asked the same question to the world, “how do you train your volunteers?”

Hidden within these questions is a deeper question: “How do we train our volunteers to the level of quality and style we expected from our staff?” Some churches are accustomed to certain standards of excellence, and that’s fine because that same excellence is why many people started attending those churches. Cornerstone is no exception. I think of our excellent children’s ministries who have intentionally pushed back to a more volunteer driven model and are slowly seeing great results. It’s a whole new game and it looks like they’re winning. Many people started coming to church here because of our children’s ministry.

Anyway, I preach to myself a lot. Here’s what it sounds like lately…

In this climate, just doing your thing isn’t an option any more. You must become a good leader no matter what your Strength Finders test results tell you. That means you get to do what you love to do less, other people get to do what you love to do more, and you get to learn that people are more important than your sense of quality and style; all within limits of course. To be blunt, it’s just part of growing up. Step up or step aside.

This year I have consciously applied myself to becoming a better leader and I’ve discovered something I hope is helpful for other folks like me.

One of the greatest laws of the universe is this: If you want what other people have you have to do what they do. It’s that simple. You have to trade your old ideas for ideas that work. The hard part is pushing yourself to try something new. The simplicity lies in just doing what other leaders suggest to do.

Of all the leadership books out there today the one that resonates with me the most is “25 Ways to Win with People” by John Maxwell and Les Parrott. It contains short sections with examples of great leadership principles and action steps that are all based on being a good human being if not a good Christian. I hope to do as many of these things this year as I am able. The beauty is they’re simple enough for me to try.

If you find yourself doing something that feels terribly foreign, like writing personal thank-you cards to team members, remember that it doesn’t equate to insincerity just because it’s not your style. Putting your ego aside is always good practice, especially when it comes to team building and volunteer training. Who knows? Maybe we’ll all become better people for it.

I’d sure appreciate comments from anyone with suggestions for good leadership books – short, simple, and with clear action steps.

I started at Cornerstone as the webmaster.  When first skimming the website I discovered that the men’s sexual addiction group was named “Rock Solid.”  I couldn’t stop laughing, and mostly at the thought that I might have been the first to laugh at all.  Seriously?  Rock Solid?  Freudian slip or pure genius?   Clearly, sanctification has been a slow process for this here pilgrim; straight up.

Today was an interesting day for the media team.  I asked if I could write about three items that came through; a day in the life of the media office.  They’re funny items, sure, but I believe this is important stuff to talk about.

This rest of this post is more PG-13.  If you’re not easily offended then please read on after the jump…

Ram Dash Rod Dot Org

That’s a mouthful but please emphasize the “dash” or the “org.”  Our men registered the domain name www.ram-rod.org to promote their event, Rimz & Ribz.  It’s a yearly car show and BBQ hosted at Cornerstone gaining traction and credibility every year.  I’m not the only one who finds ample Junior High School humor in the domain name.  It makes me miss Beavis and Butthead a little.  ”huhuh, you said – ram… rod…”  From years of experience I can confidently say that word-of-mouth promotion of ram-rod.org will prove disastrous.  Most people type “dot com” at the end of any address the first time and dashes are rarely remembered.  A word to the wise:  Don’t search “ram rod dot com.”  Trust me.  That’s where one out of three guys will end up on their first try.  ”No honey – really – he told me it was his church thing.”

Chicks with Sticks

Believe it.  “Chicks with Sticks” is an 18-hole women’s golf tournament.  My friend, Jake is 16.  We hung out tonight over burritos and enchiladas.  When I told him about this, he stared at me in unbelief like I was making it up and it wasn’t even funny.  ’Nuff said.

Fiber Fantasy

To be fair, Fiber Fantasy is a company that makes knitting tools but after a day like today it’s the Jenga block that brought the tower down when suggested as the event name.  ”I’m going to Fiber Fantasy tonight.”  ”What?!”  ”Oh, it’s a church thing.”  ”What?!”  Exactly.

Here’s the deal…

In any business, and especially in our business, credibility is one of our greatest assets.  Likewise, the loss of credibility is one of the greatest damages we can suffer.  Like it or not, Western culture has undergone a quantum shift under the influence of internet culture.  The English language is rife with innuendo.  It’s more of a generational gap than any of us like to admit so let me be forthright and generously blunt here.  If you’re over, say, 40 and haven’t kept current with culture, fashion, social networking and The Office then you are more out of touch than anyone wants to tell you.  It’s a plain fact; not a judgment.  I’m not saying you are irrelevant.  Not by any means.  Your wisdom and experience are needed now more than ever.  Spiritual and emotional human needs are timeless but the way we communicate must be considered very carefully.  This is serious stuff.

Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.
 - Proverbs 15:22

Protect the credibility of your church, ministry, organization or business by seeking the counsel of many advisers.  Add young advisers to your group, run ideas by them and listen to them!  You don’t want to see your event poster on www.failblog.org which, by the way, you should know about.

If you’re a Cornerstoner or if you’re an originator of one of these items please understand that I mean no judgment or harm.  If you feel I am out of line please come talk to me.  I am poking a little fun but better here and now than after your thing has gone public, don’t you think?  I honestly doubt I’ll have the enabling grace to resist submitting a “Chicks with Sticks” church event poster to failblog if I get the opportunity.