My development of leaders begins with a clear purpose. I’m always asking, “How can I add value to the person I lead?” I advise pastors not to go to a new church and ask, “Who’s going to help me?” Instead, look around, find out who the leaders are, and ask, “How can I add value to them?”
We can do this in several ways.
One is to ask people to be part of a great vision. Having a cause worth dying for is the greatest reason to live. This is enhanced when you treat people as your greatest asset. We all believe this is true when we first meet people, but after we’ve worked with them awhile and seen their weaknesses, it’s a little tougher to believe.
Adding value to people also comes from listening to them. If I know their hearts, I know exactly where to add value. I can help to develop the part of them they want to see developed, not what I happen to need at the time. This prevents me from using people.
Or I ask, “What is their unique contribution?” Then I equip people according to their gifts and desires.
For example, our new marketing manager for INJOY is a young man named Kevin. Kevin brings some excellent skills from the business world to our ministry. For the next several months, he’ll be traveling with me and getting to know my heart while I get to know his. I’m putting all the leadership material I can find in front of him, and he’s digesting it as quickly as I can provide it. I’m feeding a hunger that is already there.
Then, of course, I coach people. When Dan Reiland was a member at Skyline, he felt called to ministry and went to seminary. During this time he came back for a year of internship on our staff. Dan is smart and highly task-oriented, but also melancholic and nonrelational.
His first week on the job he walked right past me and seven or eight other people in the lobby. He never said hello or acknowledged our presence. With his briefcase in hand, face forward, he headed for his office, work on his mind, I thought, He didn’t even see us.
So I followed him into his office and said, “Dan, you just passed by your work.”
“What do you mean?”
“We were standing in the lobby, and you walked right by without speaking.”
“Man, I’d like to talk, but I’ve got work to do.”
“These people are our work, Dan,” I said. “We’re in the people business.”
What I love about Dan is that when he saw his need for change, he did something about it. I began to teach people skills to him. After five years, he became my executive pastor and did nothing but people development and oversight. He came with me to INJOY, and he told me the other day that 140 people are coming to his house for Memorial Day. He has become the Pied Piper.
John Maxwell; Growing Your Church Through Training and Motivation; The Potential Around You; pp. 16-17.
