Leading When You're Tanked

Leadership 101.1

Are you tanked? Do you ever feel like you’ve lost your strength to do ministry? Are you exhausted by the burden? Tired? Burned out? Even thinking about quitting? You are not alone. Thousands of pastors leave the ministry annually. Thousands of Christians give up on leadership, volunteering, and sometimes give up on the church altogether.

September 2010 was perhaps the most exciting time in our church’s history. We were a 6-year-old church plant hitting 1600+ in attendance in Salt Lake City of all places, and we were on the verge of starting a second campus, fulfilling the first part of our dream to be a multiplying church. At the time I was the Children’s Director.
As a guy who wants to see churches grow, I could not be more thrilled to be a part of this team. But the following 24 months were about as painful as anything I have ever experienced. After one month, the campus pastor went on a leave of absence and never came back. I ended up co-leading the campus with the worship leader. Then three months later my legs went numb. I had Gillian-Barres syndrome, a rare neurological disease that demyelinated my nerves. The pain was excruciating. But I still have to lead. Every week there was a 4 AM Sunday start time. I was barely able to stand, but went in with the team to set up four trailers worth of equipment, then run two services, and tear it all down. By God's grace, people were coming to know Christ! But before our new campus hit our two year mark, some key staff members resigned, and we ended up closing the campus when the 2012 economy tanked.

Tanked. A great word to describe how I felt during that season. During those two years, my physical pain was so intense that I had a hard time concentrating. Not good for a leader. But somehow, by God’s grace, I survived, and our church has survived. I have never more resonated with the words of the Apostle Paul: “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:10

We are now in a season of rebuilding, reorganizing, and are ready to move to a new facility. I am physically regaining my strength, but still have where I fill drained and suffer pain. Our church is beginning to regain it’s strength with renewed vision, but still have many hurdles to overcome. John Maxwell once said, “Failure isn’t final.” James said, “the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:3-4)

If you’re going through tough times in your church now, remember, God is on your side. You may be tanked. You may feel drained of strength, lacking focus, or physically diminished. Your church may not have gone as planned. You may even be ready to give up. But remember, when you are working for Christ’s sake: “when you are weak, then you are strong.” I would encourage you to gather around yourselves a couple people who you can share your weakness with. Ask for prayer, admit your human frailty, ask for help. Let God’s grace abound, and even save the very ministry He is calling you to.

dave.elshaug@intentionalchurches.com

by church leaders //
for church leaders

3 Ways to Grow Your Church

I joined the staff of K2 The Church in Salt Lake City 8 years ago, just a few months before their 2nd Anniversary. The church had already grown to 800 people, and would double in size over the next few years. Below are three principles we lived by that brought growth. I’ve also asked some questions you can ask yourself and your staff if you are serious about seeing your church grow.

1. Be different. What makes your church unique? If you were to ask a lost person in your town, “What makes our church different from other churches?” What would they say? When we planted our church, there was nothing else like it in Salt Lake City. We started a hybrid weekend service, which I can best describe as Seeker Church meet Believer’s service all wrapped up with a bow on top. To those believers bogged down bunker mentality churches, this was a breath of fresh air. To the unreligious, it was intriguing enough to give it a shot. To the Mormons it was culture shock.

2. Go after those nobody else is reaching. Have you ever looked at the demographics near your church and asked, “is there people no other church is reaching?” Have you ever made a list of the types of lost people in your community? Nearly every church plant in the history of Salt Lake City came to reach the Mormons, or create an outpost for their denomination. But there was an entire population in the city of people fleeing from religion, not interested in God, or so burned by religion, they’d never darken the door of a church. That was our target, and by God’s grace over 10,000 individuals have attended one of our services in 10 years.

3. Lead with Reckless Faith. Do you believe you are called to reach your city? Or are you just holding Christian services? What’s the most reckless thing you’ve done out of faith in the last year? At our church, we just believe that Jesus will change lives, and that we are called to reach them. We’ll do whatever it takes to reach one more. And we continue to be flooded with people who are far from the God who loves them dearly.

If you want to grow, pose the questions above to your staff or elder board. Ask them to be truthful. See what they think. Then ask them if they are satisfied with the answers, or not.

If I can be of any help, please contact me. Dave.elshaug@intentionalchurches.com

by church leaders //
for church leaders
intentionalchurches.com

Helping Churches Grow

If you're a pastor or Christian leader, I'm sure you’d agree with me that every church is designed by God to grow. It is a living spiritual organism that is to bring the life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and broken world. Yet, it is no secret that every church, no matter the size, has growth challenges. When attendance plateaus or declines, we become concerned. When attendance grows too quickly, there are organizational and leadership challenges that arise.

Intentional Churches helps pastors discover a strategic growth plan around how God designed your church to reach your community. IC’s team is made up of dedicated church leaders who want to see your church succeed. intentionalchurches.com

As a member of the IC Team, and would like to talk with you about helping your church discover a fresh strategy for growth. I have a passion for the seeing the local church reach it’s full potential. I am dedicated to helping churches reach and disciple more people for Christ. I would like to offer myself, as an Intentional Churches Facilitator to help create or revive a strategic growth plan for your church.

If you would like to discover how Intentional Churches could partner with your church please contact me. I’d be glad to answer any questions you may have.

dave.elshaug@intentionalchurches.com

reach your potential - overcome barriers - grow your church and leaders - deploy your team – work together – reach your community

How do you love 2.5 Million People

How do I love like God? How do I love 2.5 Million people? These are exciting times here in Utah, at least in my little sphere. I'd love to share them with you, and if you want to join me in prayer, please do. There is an overwhelming feeling that comes over you when you're on a mission, and it seems insurmountable. That would be the mission we are on here in Utah, reaching over 2 million people who have never heard the gospel of grace and truth. And that's the majority -- maybe even 95% of the people. K2 The Church: This week the leadership is praying and fasting for God's leading for a property. We've just maxed out every square inch of our current facility, and are lacking essential ministry space on the weekend. We're praying for unity and direction as we seek the place God wants us to go. How is this love? Because God loves every person who has yet to know him. And so we must make room for all the people he is drawing to our church and more. We are seeking a new property out of love for the people of our valley! Loving Utah: I'm excited about a new Church Planting Network that we are launching on Thursday, called Loving Utah. A group of Pastors from different churches and denominations, are joining forces to welcome, train, recruit and encourage church planters for the work here in Utah. We've been pretty grass-roots up to this point, but we will be gathering to pray with over 50 church leaders, church planters, educators, and denominational leaders to share how lovingutah.org can be a blessing to them. How is this love? Jesus said that the world will know his love, if we are in unity, and love each other. We want the people of Utah to know they are loved! Nick Vujicic: Utah Governor Gary Herbert has invited Nick to address every High School and Middle School in Utah on the subject of suicide and bullying, an epidemic here in Utah. Utah has one of the highest teen suicide rates in the country, and bullying is a big problem too. Nick was born with no arms or legs, but is filled with God's Spirit and has the opportunity to reach thousands of people on March 7-9. At the school assemblies, Nick will invite students to three evening events, where he will share his faith. God's love is going to shine like the sun when Nick speaks. So how do you love 2.5 million people? Loving one person at a time. Praying for God's leading. Obeying Him daily. I've got to go pray now! Will you join me?

homeless dirty HIV+ crack whore

Tuesday was a typical day. I had a full day of meetings at the church office: One meeting after another from 6:30am to 4:00pm. Afterwards I took a half hour collecting my things, answering a few emails, and I was the last one in the office, ready to lock up and head home for dinner with my family when up rolled Josie* to the side door. She told me she just got kicked out of the shelter. It’s not unusual for a homeless person to walk into our church office looking for a little help, and usually a couple bucks, or a couple cans of food from our pantry fixes the need and they are off. But Josie needed something else. First, she needed pants. The smell of urine burned my eyes as I talked with her. We don’t usually have an extra pair of pants hanging around, but she asked me if I’d look for some. I obliged her. And to my surprise, in a closet, I found two pair of pants in her size. While I was looking, Josie discovered a counter filled with 2-liters of Coke left over from our church Big Game party. She helped herself to a cup. “Coke is my favorite” she said. In the meantime I called my friend who works on the streets near the shelter to see if he had a solution for Josie. I hoped the solution would take him 15 minutes or so, it turned into an hour. In the meantime, I just got to know Josie. It didn’t take but a few moments for her to tell me her life story, that she was a homeless HIV positive former crack whore. She showed me her 14-inch scar from her recent knee surgery. She has a mom and dad, a sixteen-year-old son, but pretty much has burned those bridges. Now she’s sleeping on a matt on the floor in an over-flow homeless shelter. She claimed they kicked her out because she can’t control her bladder. I’ve been asking myself recently, “What would happen if I loved everyone like God loves?” Josie presented a pretty challenging test of my love. My friend arrived an hour after I met Josie, we got her into his car. I gave her a 2 Liter of Coke, a hug and a smile. The look of surprise on her face was priceless. God is love. God blesses. God redeems. God loves us even in the filth of our sin. “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” Hebrews 10:23-24 *not Josie’s real name

What if Christians loved like God?

What if Christians loved like God? "For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16. That's the standard -- the base line. "Whoever does not love, does not know God, because God is love." 1 John 4:8. As a pastor starting out my third decade in ministry, I've come to realize that all distractions, disunity, disagreement, disloyalty, disappointment, discouragement, disruptive and all the other dis's stem from a lack of God's love. And at the core of all of these are a result of sin, which always fights against love. You see, God's love is unstoppable, unending, undeserved, unexplainable, undeniable, unbelievable, understanding. Recently, the Holy spirit pointed out to me that I didn't love a man I do business with. I was always kind to him. I treated him with respect. He's not always the easiest person to interact with, but I've always tolerated him. Then I imagined John 3:16 saying, "God so tolerated the world that he . . . ." So I decided just to love the guy. I treated him as someone dearly loved by God. I looked at him as a lost person who Jesus loves, and who the Father wants to spend eternity with. So what was my excuse? Why didn't I love him. Because I didn't want to. And for me, that was a sin! If the love of God is in you, than all the qualities of God's love (which would take an eternity to describe), are IN YOU! But you must tap into it. If God's love is in you, you can love the whole world. Think about someone you tolerate. Now ask yourself: "Do I love that person?" If not, ask yourself "why?" Now Think about someone you can't stand being around. Now ask yourself: "Do I love that person?" If not, ask yourself "why?" It's not enough that you believe God loves those people. God put them in your life, so YOU have to love them. And you can love them, because the Love of God is in you. Tap into God's love today. What if you loved every person you interacted with like God loves that person? How would your relationships be different? How would it change your heart? How would people react differently towards you? Try it!

Utah Church Planter's Summit

Church Planters Summit: Millions of People in Utah have never heard the Gospel. Hearts are now open more than ever. Now is the time for a church planting revolution. Please Mark your calendars for February 21-22. Pastors, Planters, Lay-Leaders, Agency and Denominational Leaders, and anyone who loves church planting are all invited to join us in the great discussion of the future of the Kingdom of God here in Utah. On Thursday evening we'll be discussing the future of Church Planting in Utah. On Friday we'll be sharing some exciting new developments in the world of disciple-making. We will be sharing, praying and discussing how each of us can follow God's leading, and how together we can make a greater impact for the Gospel here in Utah. We will end the evening Friday with an amazing worship concert. The Summit is free. Friday Lunch $10, Dinner on your own. Location: Alpine Church, Layton, UT. RSVP today: ross.alpinechurch@gmail.com.