A simple tilt can turn something ordinary and commonplace, something well understood and familiar, into a powerful and unalterably different force. Any leader can provide the tools and instruction to enable someone to serve. Classes will be taught and church programs will be staffed, but boredom and burnout are likely and turnover is high. With a few small changes, however, you can be a leader who inspires people to serve boldly and lead others to passionate ministry as well. This subtle shift from being a leader who equips people for ministry tasks to a leader who empowers people to become ministers themselves can have untold impact on the church and the wider community.Each chapter looks at a leadership basic from a new angle, offering the tilt needed to lead others into true discipleship.With practical tools and exercises throughout the book, the reader is challenged to examine those things that keep us from releasing control and consequently prevent us from empowering others. Readers will rediscover hope and energy for their own ministry as they lead others to active and inspiring ministry as well.

TILT

Small Shifts in Leadership that Make a Big DifferenceBy Erik Rees

Abingdon Press

Copyright © 2010 Erik Rees and Jeff Jernigan
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4267-0579-3

Chapter One

Becoming an Empowering Leader

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. —Ephesians 3:16-17 NLT

How willing are you to be honest about what really counts when it comes to success in ministry? If it were possible to identify with certainty the kind of leader you wanted to be, know you can be, and know that God has gifted you to be, would you be willing to ask the question? God has a game plan for each of us, and he is waiting to pour that game plan into us the moment we are honestly ready for answers.

Here is a secret: You already know the answers. They have been part of your design from the very beginning.

Like many committed people in ministry, I have fallen prey to the Mr. Potato Head syndrome. My experiences speaking, consulting, and ministering around the world have a common thread running through them. We have all the pieces to the puzzle already. In fact, all the pieces are in one box; but, like Mr. Potato Head, they have not been put together in the right places.

The concepts and principles in this book will help you find new passion, new purpose, and new ideas to help you grow your ministry and so fulfill God's plan for your life. You will discover and assemble all the pieces. Imagine the power to be released as you help others discover and fulfill their God-given strengths for service!

When your purpose breaks upon you with the clarity of a new vision, and you seize your purpose as the kind of leader God has designed and called you to be; your church, your ministry, whatever it happens to be, will forever be changed.

It starts with simply wanting to know God's plan, discovering his purpose for your life as a leader, and trusting God for the results. And what a wonderful companion we have on this journey of discovery! Jesus will reveal himself to us (John 14:21) and through his Spirit living in us, he will teach us all that we need to know (John 14:26).

I love to run. Competing in a race totally energizes me, and what I really enjoy is a long-distance run. It challenges me physically, mentally—even spiritually—as nothing else does. It reminds me, too, of what ministry can be like. A lot of us in ministry can relate to the marathon runner. Marathon runners will tell you there's a point in the race, somewhere about the two-thirds mark, where they "hit the wall." Their physical endurance has been pushed to the limit. Their brain is telling their body it just can't go on—and their spirit is starting to listen. When a marathon runner is completely exhausted and there are still five or six miles to go, he finds out what he's really made of.

Maybe you're there right now. Your church or ministry isn't growing and you are completely exhausted. Physically, you are on the verge of burnout. Mentally, you are out of ideas. Spiritually, you are about to give up. All of us have been there at one time or another. And those who haven't will be there sooner or later. It's like running in place: Your legs are pumping but you're not getting anywhere.

Whether you are in that place of exhaustion now—ready to give up on your ministry—or you are looking to prevent a burnout you see headed your way, you are to be applauded for being proactive. Your reading choice says a lot about you and your desire to become the leader God created you to be.

You certainly are not alone. A recent study I conducted of more than one thousand church leaders found that 57 percent of them didn't have an avenue in ministry to express their God-given strengths and passions on a weekly basis. That news crushes my heart! This misalignment of design and duties leaves leaders feeling frustrated and fatigued rather than fulfilled and fruitful, which is what God desires for all of us to experience in our ministries. This book, first and foremost, is about finishing your race well, in victory!

Our desire is that God will give you the confidence to share your new ministry with those you lead. Through them God will move your ministry into a future far greater than you have imagined, even in your wildest dreams!

Training for the Race

One of the most empowering aspects of serving at Saddleback Church is that Pastor Rick Warren does not just tell us what we should do—he leads the way. He shows us how to release our members into ministry by setting the example. By motivating his staff in this way, Rick lets us know that we—and I—must also model this to our teams so they will follow our lead as we follow Rick's.

Who is the Rick Warren in your life? Who inspires you to want to be like him or her and in so doing look a little more like Jesus? Finding and focusing on a mentor to model your life after could be just the second wind you need to finish this marathon race called your ministry.

A mentor, intentional or unintentional, may be something you want to add to your personal development. Let's talk about what to subtract from what you do for a moment.

A principal reason many church leaders are not maximizing their strengths and passion is that they are doing too much. Admit it; many of us have serious control issues. One pastor said to me, "Erik, I would rather do it all."

"If you try to do it all," I told him, "you will end up doing nothing."

Do you see a wick coming out of your head or your feet? God didn't design us to burn the candle at both ends. Rather, the Bible calls church leaders to share their ministry, so the church can reach its full potential.

If you are one of those who want to do it all, you are in good company. Most church leaders I work with have some level of control issues. If they deny it, that's a good sign they are wrong.

Rick Warren told me about his experience of trying to do it all back when he was a young pastor. One day he woke up and found himself in a serious state of depression. It was there that God got hold of his heart and showed him his job was not to do it all, but to empower those he led to play their part. That way—and only that way—everything that needs doing can get done.

I admit it: I struggle with control issues in my life and ministry. (Just ask my wife!) I have a long way to go! My confession today as a broken man is that God is the hero of everything I do.

When God called me out of corporate America to join the Saddleback Church staff, my control issues were at an all-time high. I was used to doing everything by myself and for myself—but Saddleback Church did not operate that way. Over and over, Rick would pull me aside and say, "Erik, only you can be you, so let go and let God lead."

Today I see that embracing his sage advice was the first time I was asked to "tilt" my life and my leadership style. We explored the concept of a "servant leader," the idea that I didn't have to make it happen in order to get things done, the revolutionary thought that I should "let go" in order to provide more direction, and the reality that leadership is not just a skill but a quality of my character. It wasn't a...