How To Think About Your Pastoral Leadership - And Get Better!

Today, Monday, August 26, 2013 we are going to interview Pastor Dan Reiland for a series of podcast episodes we will deliver to you through the rest of this calendar year. He has been an executive pastor for many years, leading other pastors as they each shepherd their area of the church. That is why Dan is the perfect guy to talk with about pastors raising up leaders in their local churches – he has been helping pastors of smaller segments of his congregation do that for over twenty years! 

Here is a brief video highlighting his book that will be the subject of our talks with him…

On Wednesday, the first of five episodes with Dan will be released. The final four will continue to be released on the last Wednesday of the month, September – December.

This week’s episode will deal with Part One of Dan’s book, Amplified Leadership – Five Practices to Establish Influence, Build People, and Impact Others For a Lifetime. Part One is all about establishing a relationship with people, connecting at the heart level, and appreciating people for who they are. We will be talking about selecting potential leaders in your 200church.

How do you think about your pastoral leadership? 
Do you think in terms of “How can I accomplish everything I have to do – how do I get it all done?” Do you attack your task list and your schedule with vigor every morning, excited to be involved in the “work of the ministry”? We would like to suggest a slightly different way to think about it.

What if you thought...
“Who can I raise up today to join me in the work of the ministry in our church?” What if your focus was on not what, but WHO? Who can I encourage today? Who can I unleash today, with their unique Spirit-given gifts and abilities? Who can I lift up today in leadership in my church? Who can I invite onto our team of servants? What volunteers can I equip, encourage, and support today? WHO is just waiting to be asked, invited, recognized, encouraged, or inspired to serve Jesus today?

And… 
When we think WHO, let’s also remember that our people’s influence and ministry does not happen only in our church facilities – far from it! The ministry impact of our people is felt every day in their homes, neighborhoods, families, workplaces, schools, businesses, and circles of influence. We do our people a disservice if our mindset is that their ministry is limited to the four walls of our facilities. The impact of our church is so much greater.

This week we are going to begin a conversation about amplifying our leadership so that we are not solo or lone ranger leaders, but so that we lift others up to achieve their full potential in the body of Christ. Now, that is exciting!

Why You Should Listen
We want to reiterate that this is not the usual book promotion interview – at all! His book has been out for over two years. We are going to dive deep into the content of the book, as it is extremely practical for us as pastors – dealing with the nuts and bolts of ministry leadership. Over the course of five podcast episodes – over two hours – we will try to cover the teaching of the book so that we will all be better leaders and shepherds, for Jesus, and for our congregations.

Dan Reiland’s mentor, John Maxwell, once said “It is wonderful when the people believe in the leader, but it is more wonderful when the leader believes in the people.” God wants us to believe in our people, because they are the body of Christ, called, gifted, and empowered by his Holy Spirit to do amazing and marvelous things in service to the King, Jesus. We get to be a part of it.

That is how we want to think about our pastoral leadership! 
We love you pastors of 200churches, respect you, and pray that our conversations with Dan will be an encouragement to you, and an affirmation and recognition of your leadership significance in the Kingdom of God.