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Guest Post: Lori Capace

Today’s post is brought to you by Lori Capace. One year ago today, Lori joined our team as my assistant. She is doing an incredible job of keeping me straight and representing me to the various volunteer leaders in our ministry. Every pastor should have a Lori on their staff.

Without further ado, everybody welcome Lori {insert applause here}.

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Pastor Bryan recently asked me if I would write on his blog about leadership. I laughed, then he narrowed it down and said write about the part most don’t know. As I pondered that for about a split second I grinned and thought to myself, hmmm this can be fun.

For a few years I’ve wanted to write a book titled Inside Ministry Exposed. It would be a manual for those who have no idea what it’s like to be a pastor or work in ministry. I’d hope it would give insight to help them relate to their leaders.  Too often I think Pastors and church leaders are lumped into assumptions made by people who have no idea what it’s like to hold the responsibility of leading people where GOD wants to take them. Ministry leaders constantly live under a microscope. They could choose not to, but then who would lead? Ah, I hear someone saying, I could do it. Ok, let me conduct an interview and see if you’re qualified. How many years have you been preparing for this position? Do you have the support of your spouse? If so, how do you plan on balancing this responsibility and your relationship with your family? Do you have what it takes to lead a multi-faceted and multi-generational congregation? Are you willing to continually be shaped and molded by God even when it’s not convenient? Are you willing to say yes when everyone else is saying no or no when everyone else is saying yes? Do you have the ability and stamina it takes to be pulled in several different directions at once yet not be influenced by what others are thinking of you and what you should do?  How are you doing so far? Is there more, you ask? Yes, much more.

On Sunday morning most can see a passionate group of leaders, especially the pastor, deliver an incredible service with a heart provoking message. This is only a small part and glimpse of their lives. A leader can face a number of scenarios during a week that could make most people want to quit halfway through Monday. For true leaders quitting is not an option. They carry the heart of God and desire to be a part of what God is doing to build and advance His Kingdom. This is no easy task!

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Unauthorized Guest Post: Jeff Kapusta

My good friend, Jeff Kapusta, is the lead pastor at Lifepoint Church. He is a part of Perry Noble’s Coaching Network (I will not be jealous, I will not be jealous). This morning, he posted some of his notes from their last coaching day. This is some amazing stuff. So, I am openly plagiarizing Jeff. Enjoy!

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During the coaching network Perry drew this picture on the whiteboard.

The picture breaks down into 3 levels.

The Dream Zone/Ministry:  10-6

• God calls us to live here.
• This is where you are hitting on all cylinders.
• We love what we are doing.
• We are always asking, “What’s next?”
• You still have bad days but they don’t ruin your day.

The Drained Zone/Tired:  5-2

• You are always tired.
• You are always stressed.
• You can’t enjoy the big days because you believe it’s just going to drop next week.
• You are Pessimistic.
• You goal is to just keep the plates spinning.
• You tell yourself that things are gonna slow down soon.
• When in this zone you face 4 dangers:

Pride-You think, “I’ve got to do more.  Be first.  Nobody can do it as good as me.”

Fear-You think, “Everything’s gonna fall apart.”

Insecurity-You think, “Maybe I can’t do this.”

Burn Out-This is where you quit or disqualify yourself from ministry.

• NOTE:  It takes a life altering decisions to get out of the drained zone.

Danger Zone:  2-0

• At this point a person usually falls Financially or Sexually.
• When you get here, only repentance will save you.
• At this stage you think, “I hope nobody catches me.”

Where are you? I believe Gods plan is for all of us to function in the Dream Zone.  However, most of us are living in the Drained Zone.  What life altering decision do you need to make to get out of the Drained Zone and into the Dream Zone?

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Tomorrow Jeff will post Perry’s thoughts about getting out of the Drained Zone. You should go subscribe to Jeff’s blog so you don’t miss it.

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