ritchiemiller.org

Principle # 4 – You Must Have A Confident Leadership Style.

Confidence is necessary in a leader. Do not confuse confidence with pride or arrogance. They are not the same. The kind of confidence you must exhibit as a church leader is also known as faith. Hebrews tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith. It also tells us that real faith has evidence that supports it and that it engenders hope.

People must see your confidence and your faith or they will not follow you. We must always lead people in faith and confidence based on the evidence of God’s promises, what He has done in the past, and our belief in what He will do in the future. Faith is risky but it is impossible to lead without it.

Confidence, or faith, also engenders hope in people. Great churches and great organizations are filled with hope. Without a confident faith you will never inspire people to great heights. You simply will not grow.

What are your thoughts? Let me know what you think. You can learn more about our Avalon HOPE Pastors Coaching Network by clicking here.

Ritchie

Principle # 3 – You Must Have A Commitment to Empowering and Releasing.

If you are going to lead your church to grow and reach more people with the Gospel you can’t try to do everything yourself. God has put all the tools and gifts that you need in your church. It is His body, so He is sufficient in all things. You must be willing to empower people and release them into ministry. Here are a few principles concerning it:

• Your leadership style must change as the church grows. When we started Avalon Church 8 years ago we had 19 adults in addition to Kim and me. I have had to learn that the kind of leadership style that worked when we had just a few people on roll does not work now that we have several thousand on roll. You have to be able to adapt and lead differently as God grows the church. You do not love differently, you just lead differently.

• You must become the leader rather than the manager. This is a difficult switch, at least for me. I like to know everything that is going on and control things. If you are not willing to change that about yourself you will never grow beyond a certain point.

• Discover that less is more. I have learned that the fewer things I do the better the church is. The church grows when I spend the most of my time doing the few things I am good at. When I do the things that only I can do the church grows. You have to decide whether you want everyone to think that you are really busy or if you want to see your church grow.

• Don’t be the bottleneck. We used to have the world’s worst organizational chart. I was in the center and everything pointed at me like spokes on a wheel. That was dumb. Not only did it cause me great stress, since I made nearly every decision, it also limited our church growth. Do not be the bottle-neck guy. It never works.

• Invest in your staff. This is a whole chapter unto itself so I will not try to deal with this extensively. Invest in your staff whether they are paid or volunteer. They need your focused energy even more than they need your time.

Let me know what you think. You can learn more about our Avalon HOPE Pastors Coaching Network by clicking here.

Ritchie

Principle # 2 – You Must Have A Clear and Simple Process.

I think most church leaders do not intend to muddy the waters of their church’s growth, it just happens. Things creep up on us like the proverbial frog in the kettle. The idea that you must have a ministry for every whim in order to grow the church is simply not true. I think this is especially true for church plants or newer churches. Here are just a few thoughts about simplifying your process for ministry.

1. Simplify your process. It sounds easier than it is. Leadership requires that you guard diligently the ministries God has called you to have and not get enamored with trying to do everything. We have all heard the laser versus a flash light analogy. Our church has very few ministries. That is on purpose and I work very hard to keep it that way.

2. Give yourself permission to do it differently. This was a big deal for me when we started Avalon Church 8 years ago. I had to give myself permission to break the mold of my past experiences. There is certainly nothing wrong with your past. We need to remember it; we just don’t need to live there.

3. Don’t feel guilty about it. Once you have decided what to simplify, what to keep, and what to get rid of you do not need to feel guilty about your choices. To this day I have to fight feelings of guilt when I hear about a church that is doing a kind of ministry that we do not do. You can’t do everything, so do not feel guilty about what God has called you to do.

4. It is ok if not everyone agrees with you. Not everybody outside your church is going to agree with your choices, ministry style, or philosophy. That is OK. My dad used to tell me that if somebody was kicking me in the tail it meant that I was out front and they were behind me.

Let me know what you think. You can learn more about our Avalon HOPE Pastors Coaching Network by clicking here.

Ritchie

Principle # 1 – You Must Have A Clear and Compelling Vision.

Vision may be one of the most important things you possess as a leader. As a pastor prayer, a relationship with God, and many other things are certainly important, but I would argue that very few things are more important than having a clear and compelling vision and communicating it with clarity and consistency. Here are a few thoughts on vision:

• You must find your vision and stick with it. Don’t waffle. The path to reaching the vision, the programming, and plans will change and must change from time to time. Not too often, though, or you will confuse people. The vision, however, must always stay the same.

• You have to own it. Know where you are going but be flexible on the route. You are the guardian of the vision. As a leader you will need to share most of your responsibilities in order to be effective. You must spend most of your time doing what only you can do and give away everything that others can do. You must share the vision but you will be the primary vision caster.

• You have to repeat it often because vision leaks. Just ask people who come to your church to articulate the vision and you might be shocked at what you hear. I know that I have often thought that I have pounded the drum of vision enough and then found out that it was not as clear and apparent as I thought.

• Vision comes from listening to God. You must spend time with Him if you expect to hear from Him. If it does not stretch you it is probably not from God.

• Your vision will determine your philosophy of ministry. It should never be the other way around. Too many have let traditions stifle their growth. Even “contemporary” churches will get into a rut of doing things the same way. They are quickly becoming the new traditional.

Let me know what you think. You can learn more about our Avalon HOPE Pastors Coaching Network by clicking here.

Ritchie

Can a brother get a minute here? I need to take a break from all the writing about church, leadership, HOPE, and the other stuff and just “cry over spilt milk,” “cry in my beer,” lament, moan, belly-ache, gripe, and vent.

It is about my North Carolina Tar Heels men’s basketball team. They of the rarefied air of championships, wins, beat-downs, number one recruiting classes, and humiliations galore of the other team. Yes, they just won their 2000th game. Yes they have 5 NCAA championships and one other national championship in 1927 before the NCAA was born. Yes they have won two national championships, been to three final fours, won four ACC regular season titles, and two ACC tournament titles since 2005 alone. They are college basketball blue bloods, royalty, kings. Only 3 or 4 other programs can even be considered to be in their league.

But alas, the emperor has no clothes this year and his pasty paunch, his knobby knees, and his tightie whities be showin’… and they are ugly. 16-14 heading into the last game of the season with Duke, aka, the spawn from hell. (What else can you call a blue devil?) Anyway, at least Duke lost last night to Maryland. The Tar Heels have a chance to ruin their season if they can beat the “dookies” at Cameron Indoor Stadium this Saturday. Fat chance.

The Heels have an amazing recruiting class coming in this fall. I can’t believe what I am getting ready to say. I now know what that foul, fetid taste is that so many Georgia football fans have in their mouths at the end of each football season. It comes from uttering these rank words…”I can’t wait until next year.”

Know what I mean?

Ritchie

Did you know that over 80% of Christ-followers received Christ before their 18th birthday? That not only means that it is much harder to lead a person to Christ once they become an adult but also that children’s ministry and youth ministry are extremely important. In fact, I am not sure that I can adequately convey to you how important.

That is why I am asking you to do two things. First of all, I am asking you to support our children’s and youth ministries. You can support these ministries by praying for the staff and volunteers that lead them. Krista Maddox leads our Small Town Kids ((birth – 4 years old). Cory Boerm leads our Down Town Kids (K-5 through 5th grade), Matt Ford leads The Resistance (middle school), and Kirk McDonald leads The Uprising (high school). You can also support these ministries by volunteering and serving in them.

Secondly, I am asking you to GET YOUR KIDS INVOLVED. I can’t emphasize strongly enough how imperative it is for you to make sure that your children are in their particular age-related ministry each Sunday. It is not enough to come occasionally, or when the weather is great, or if the mood hits you just right. Just look around you. There is a battle for your child’s eternal soul and you play the most important and decisive role in who wins that battle.

I am so glad that we have a church that loves children and teenagers. I am also very confident in the leadership that God has given us in each of these ministries. We have invested time, energy, and resources in making these ministries the best they can be. Take advantage of it!

Ritchie

If you do not have your children involved in the Down Town Kids or Small Town Kids at Avalon Church I have just one question.

Are you nuts?

After all, we only have the best staff, leaders, volunteers, curriculum, program, and environment around. All they do is teach your child about Jesus, character, love, sharing, obedience, the Bible, and other life-forming and soul-saving things. Let’s hear it for Kids Town!

I have to be honest. I love sleep. I do not sleep overly much but I do love the sleep I get. Nothing beats a good night’s rest, especially on a great mattress. My sleep patterns change a lot though. I have gone for years and never slept more than 5-6 hours per night. Then, inexplicably, I will sleep 7-8 hours a night for several months. I am an early riser, although, I was not always. For years, from age 18-37, I never got in bed before 1 AM. That changed a few years ago and now I get up very early. Right now, partly because of my recent two week trip to South Africa, I am sleeping about 6 hours a night and waking up between 3 and 4 AM. I really enjoy getting up early because I can drink coffee and get lots of work done before anyone wakes up. Kim does not like it though! She says I am loud, even though I try to be very quiet. Anyway, I have too many things to do to sleep my life away. The problem is I tend to get tired and fall asleep at the most inopportune z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z…

Ritchie

I read Luke 14 this morning and in that passage Jesus told us not to try and be the big shot and seek out the highest acknowledgment and honor, but to humble ourselves and be content with little or no recognition. In seeking out the “place of honor” we will likely be embarrassed because someone else will probably be more celebrated anyway, but by being content with working out of the spotlight there is a great chance that we will be honored. In this way you will never feel slighted or unappreciated. When we live like Jesus said, as a servant simply doing our duty, we will never feel jealous of another’s recognition or like we were overlooked. On the other hand, if and when we are recognized or honored it brings great joy and appreciation because we did not really expect it in the first place. In this way I live for the praise of God rather than the praise of man. It keeps me from getting my feelings hurt. Wow! What a way to live!

On the other hand, the Bible says to be thankful and to give honor to those who deserve it. Why not let someone know that you appreciate him or her today? It could make his or her day…and yours.

Have I told you that I appreciate your reading this? Thanks!

Ritchie

Kim and I are back home. We look forward to seeing everyone on Sunday. You had better be there too or I am going to come by your house and pour cold water on you! We will show some pics and will talk about our future plans. I will also start a new series called “Fish Tales.” See you there!

Ritchie