the    sides

After the conference I was struck with a couple of things.

First - and I don’t say this judgmentally but a “it is what it is” thing - there seems to be more and more under-equipped pastors serving in our churches.

That’s not a slam on youth pastors. It’s a slam on two things - our seminaries/colleges and senior/lead pastors. Seminaries/Colleges are easy targets and I’ve come to the realization that there are some things they can do well (teach sound theology, Bible, skills, how to study, academics) and there are some they just don’t get and won’t get (practical life on life experience, leadership training, common sense).

The bigger slam is on the leadership culture and team of the local church. When a church hires a new youth pastor (any staff really), the primary job of that lead pastoral/elder team becomes developing and deepening that person you just hired. It means relational investment, professional investment. It means that a lead pastor’s primary job is NOT all the other stuff but investing in the life of his team and creating a culture around that team that develops people, not run the church.

And that’s what I heard this week…a bunch of guys in churches where the focus of the pastor/team is running the church, not developing people. And it’s killing their souls.

For me - it was a huge eye-opener and a moment of thanks for guys like Gene Wilkes, Mark Schartzman, and Ray Schwartz. Yes…we “run” the church but those guys spent just as much time in developing people. Especially, Mark Schatzman.

Second, because of this void, most church staffs are just as broken and dysfunctional as the families they serve. If a pastor can’t be real around the office because he has to walk on eggshells…that church is in deep weeds.

Third, this lack of leadership and authentic community around the staff team is the greatest crisis facing our churches - not the economic situation, political climate, or post-christian/modern/emergent/e-i-e-i-o garbage.

thoughts? comments?