“We have a leadership deficit.”
Those are words many of us have spoken and all of us have heard from others. We know how vital it is for every church to have and fill a solid leadership pipeline. But for many, some of the steps involved in that process seem overwhelming, and many don’t know where to start.
I’m a small-town, simple-minded pastor that has difficulty with complicated processes. So here is a simple pattern I’ve learned to get new potential leaders on your radar and start a process to move them through.
1. Find them. You will never see what you aren’t actively looking for. I’m guilty of this all the time! I can get so busy with “stuff,” I can’t see. If you need leaders, don’t look for them to come to you; you have to go to them. But you first have to find them. So look for them, pray for them, seek for them, and then you will find them. Write down a three-step plan for finding them.
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2. Feed them. Once you’ve found these great gems, you have to feed them. Feed them things like the vision, passion and direction of the church. Feed them leadership principles that you’ve found valuable and would consider essential to leading beside you. Write out the three main essentials you plan to feed those you find.
3. Free them. Once they are on board with the direction of the church, don’t hold them under your thumb. Have a plan in place for them to expand and grow in responsibilities with the freedom to fail. Don’t hoard them just for yourself. If you don’t have space for them, release them to go and grow somewhere else, but don’t leave them. It’s so vital that you help them make it to the next place of growth. Write down the three steps you will take to help your leaders find their next place.
Artie Davis is the pastor at Cornerstone Community Church in Orangeburg, S.C. He heads the Comb Network and the Sticks Conference. He speaks and writes about leadership, ministry, church planting and cultural diversity in the church. You can find his blog at ArtieDavis.com or catch him on Twitter @artiedavis.
For the original article, visit pastors.com.
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