As a senior pastor of a large church it’s hard to grow yourself in your position without feedback.  That’s why many years ago I started conducting an annual Senior Pastor review.  Based on my job description to lead the church, feed the body and weed out anything that distracts us from our mission, I created a template of simple open-ended questions and asked my deacons to fill them out anonymously.  They were collected and compiled by my chairman of the deacons and then given to me.  Over time I extended the review to all leaders. Like anyone, I quickly skipped over anything positive and nice and went straight for the negative or critical comments.  After spending a few days chewing on them and fighting back self-justification, I finally came down to a succinct list of needed changes, improvements or emphases.

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

Over the last 14 years of doing this job, one common complaint I’ve heard over and over, is that the church does a poor job of communicating.  So it was certainly no surprise when I saw this theme again this year.  Communication is key for a leader.  People simply cannot follow what we do not adequately share.  Someone once said, “People are down on whatever they’re not up on,” and I’ve found that to be true.

So, after resisting the world of blogging for the past 14 years, I finally decided to give it a try.  My hope is that by making a commitment to regularly share what’s brewing in our church, bubbling in my mind and burning in my heart, our people will experience greater clarity on what’s happening and connect to where our church is heading.

Oh, and one more lesson.  I’ve also learned that communication is a TWO WAY commitment.  I can’t count the number of times we as a church have attempted to promote an event by sending out letters, emails, phone trees, and postcards; put it in the bulletin for weeks, made multiple announcements, and blasted social media only to have someone comment, “Why didn’t anyone tell me about it!”

So here’s the deal.  I’ll commit to write it, but you have to commit to read it.  Get it….Good!

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